What a difference a few weeks can make – New York has gone from being snowy and miserable into a sunshine-filled spring! I started my first weekend back at my friend Dara’s brother’s gig (Michael Blume – check him out on Youtube – he’s really good!) at Rockwood Music Hall which is a great place for free live music in the city.

We decided to pretend we lived in Gossip Girl on Saturday morning and headed for brunch on the Upper East Side to a restaurant/wine bar called Uva whose website just does not do it justice. Cute rustic decor, a buzzing but not crazy atmosphere (I snapped the photo below when that table had just left to steal decor ideas for my future home), great frittatas and then a stroll in Central Park to make you feel wholesome on a Saturday morning.

Sunday morning was even more virtuous as Dara and I had signed up to the run the four-mile, hilly inner loop of Central Park with the City Parks Foundation. My alarm went off at 6.45am, and I sleepily dragged myself onto the balcony to see the sun was shining ahead of a beautiful day. I had a bit of time to kill before it started so I wandered down to Bethesda fountain and enjoyed a few moments of peace before heading to join the 9,000 others in this race. Pretty proud of my photography skills below…

I’m proud to say I ran the whole thing without stopped, considering I haven’t run outside since about October, and it was great to be outdoors again after a long, cooped up winter. The early start even meant I managed to get showered and dressed before church to watch my friend Cynthia get confirmed at St Bart’s – all before lunchtime! I spent the rest of the afternoon revising CFA on the lawn on my roof – being up in the clouds definitely helps to take the edge off studying! (Also check out the new banner picture – a panorama from the roof!)

People seem to be coming out of hibernation now the weather has turned, meaning the city has a lot more buzz. This always makes me want to go out and about so I set about trying a few more restaurants. My friend Alex and I tried out Cookshop which prides itself on sourcing everything locally and in season. To start, I had my first taste of devilled eggs (below) – basically boiled eggs with toppings – a Southern Staple:

We shared a pizza and a steak for main but the standout was dessert: “Apple Crisp Galette – flaky pastry, local apples, oat crisp topping, served warm with buttermilk vanilla ice cream” – bet that makes you hungry just reading it!

Cynthia and I went to Bistango on Wednesday, a really nice Italian near where I used to live and had a great time catching up. Dessert was once again my favourite part – a classic key lime pie! Maybe I have a sweeter tooth than I thought….

I can’t wait to tell you about what I got up to today (hint: it invokes two lakes and lots of incline) but you’ll have to wait until the next post! Have a great weekend!