Last night, I went to The Collective for my friend Laureen’s birthday dinner. Formerly known as One Little West 12, this restaurant is smack-dab in the Meatpacking District, which made me a bit wary of how much I would enjoy it.
For those of you who don’t live in NYC, the Meatpacking District is a “trendy” area of the city where bridge-and-tunnel folk and those who just moved to NYC attempt to prove to each other that they are too cool for school. Meaning, it’s not my scene.
This restaurant was definitely interesting. With tables on top of each other on one half of the space, and a dance floor on the other half, it definitely had a clubby vibe. But the food was actually pretty good. It was mostly comfort food, so I got the braised short rib with roasted parsnips and sauteed greens. The short rib was so tender that I barely needed a knife. Their signature dish seemed to be the mac ‘n’ cheese. That was a little too much cheese for me, but I stole a few bites off of Laureen’s plate.
After a little schedule changing this morning, I met Liz at the Javits Center, where the NYC Marathon Expo is being held. It was a little bittersweet for me to walk the floor of the expo for a race I wasn’t running. (I wore a Chicago Marathon t-shirt so that I’d feel more legit.)
It was the first time I’d seen Liz since Lindsay’s wedding almost two years ago, and it was nice to be told how awesome I look. I wandered around with Liz and her entourage (her mom, brother, husband, and friend) for a little while before peacing out—but not before taking a pic. [Apologies for blurry iPhone photo, blame it on Liz’s husband. I’ll swap it out once Liz sends me a better one.]
I left the expo pretty quickly, because it was incredibly overwhelming, but not in a good way at all. It was PACKED. I went to the expo in Chicago on a Friday, so maybe that’s why I had a better experience, but this was not enjoyable. It seemed really unorganized, cramped and packed. [Fitting, I suppose, for being in NYC.]
Afterwards, I ran back home. Literally. I had a mini-epiphany while running. Most people think that running is really hard or impossible. Most people don’t eat super healthily. I think running is so hard for a lot of people because they’re not eating right and giving their bodies the right nourishment to help it run. What do you think?
I ran almost 4 miles from the Javits Center to Battery Park, when I ran into my mom. She and her friend were coming in to have lunch with me and take Bailey so I can go out and watch the marathon and go to post-marathon parties tomorrow, and they were stuck at a light on the West Side Highway. My mom has a soft top on her car (but not a convertible), and I was able to see her car from pretty far away and run up to it and scare the crap out of her.
We went to Ulysses for lunch, and I got lentil soup and a veggie wrap with chicken.
Tomorrow, I’ll be out watching the NYC Marathon. Good luck to Ashley, Leslie, Liz, Tracy, Tiffany and everyone else running it!
