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| Times Square: Toys R Us was amazing! |
I recently returned from a trip to New York with my sisters and mother; hopefully the start of a tradition in order to get my mom out and about to see the world beyond her 5 block radius. We did some of the usual things: The Met, The Museum of Natural History, Central Park, Times Square, and blew through the rest of New York on double decker tour bus. Negative impressions were that it was really busy and crowded and smelled of urine everywhere. Most things were pretty expensive. The good: taxis were abundant and relatively cheap, food was really good, shopping was great, and yes, it was a busy and exciting place (but a little overwhelming).
One highlight was Planet Donut, where for $4, I got a stupid big, out of this world, coconut yeast donut. It was square, filled with coconut cream, yet had a hole. Not too sweet and so light and fluffy.
Another is Chelsea Market, full of good things to eat. I particularly enjoyed throwing convention to the wind by having Nutella crepes and raw oysters for breakfast.
Something non-edible that I enjoyed was Century 21. Kinda like a Winner's on steroids. The deals were great but I had no patience for the crazy line ups for the change rooms. Like I said, too crowded.
Finally, my favourite moment had to be Ninja New York. A Japanese-American theme restaurant with a subtle entrance that leads to an underground "ninja village."Yes, ninjas would pop out at you and "HI-YAH!" you every 3 seconds. Also amusing was that our ninja servers were white, Columbian, East Indian, and Russian. I expected our "ninja magician" entertainer would do smoke bomb disappearing tricks but instead, he did card tricks and other slight-of-hand tricks. He was adorable. Probably paying for college.
The food was an odd mix of items (cesar salad, sushi, steak, chocolate mousse, etc.) but the portions were enough to keep the Great White Ninja, Chris Farley, pleased. Some signature dishes came with a "ninja presentation" which usually meant they were going to set something on fire or use their weapons to serve, or both. All in all, we had a great time in New York and even my mom had a couple of laughs.
