New York City Part II - More food porn, the Met and Madame X.

Food! Food! Food!

If there's one thing that you'll definitely be spoilt for choice for in New York City, it's definitely food! From Zagat rankings to celebrity endorsements, most eating places in New York are plastered with such endorsements all over. For a foodie like me and KL, New York City is definitely an eating heaven.. a far cry from the heavily populated franchise restaurant scene in Orange County.

One of my favourite finds during this New York trip is A Salt & Battery.

It's essentially a fish and chips place, but the fish and chips is absolutely one of the best I have ever tasted! The owners were even involved in a throw-down with celebrity chef Bobby Flay and they won! And after eating at this place it's easy to see why:

KL and I got the seafood combo, which consists of fried fish and shrimp. (Sides or chips are a separate order.) The fried seafood is crispy, yet not oily at all, in fact the batter is so light but oh so-very-crunchy! And you taste the natural sweetness and freshness of the seafood through the batter.. I don't know how these guys do it but I didn't walk away with the oily, bloated feeling that I usually get from eating fried food. Seating is limited at A Salt & Battery though, so it's best to get there before the lunch/dinner crowds come in.

And literally by accident, KL and I found this hot dog store named Papaya King:

KL and I remembered seeing a feature on it on Food Network before, so we had to try the papaya drink that the signs plastered all over the store were hawking:

And you know what, the drink lived up to its hype! It's sweet and creamy, yet not overly so. We could taste the papaya in the drink and it was very refreshing. The hot dogs were good too, better than most I had tasted, but I personally preferred it without the onions which were hmmm, a little overpowering to me. One thing to note though, KL and I first tasted this at the Greenwich Village store and we ordered the same papaya drink again when we came across Papaya King a few streets away from the Met. It seems like the quality varies from store to store as the papaya drink at the Met location was really watered down and not at all like the manna that we had tasted the night before.

Did I mention the Met (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)?

I wanted so badly to see the exhibitions at the Costume Institute when I was there but it was closed. Nevertheless the Met was a great visit, even for the second time, as there was plenty of stuff to occupy my and KL's time!

Ancient jewellery:

I'll gladly wear these cuffs!
Some serious bling:

I don't know what is it about me and ancient sculpture, but I am always tempted to do some cheeky (no pun intended) poses of the butt-pinching variety among them. Maybe it was just a desire in me to offset all the seriousness of the crowd brought on by the history of the pieces. Or the nudity was getting to my brain ;) I'm not too sure how my well my antics would have gone down with the stern security personnel nor the crowd, but nevertheless I managed to sneak a couple in:

Say meow!

One of my favourite permanent exhibits at the Met is the Arms & Amor collection:

The intricate details on all the armor and weapons are amazing, not to mention the skils it must have taken to produce them. What I find intrigung though is how small most of the suits of armor are...even to me. I guess people were really smaller back then!
A close-up of a burgonet in the shape of a lion's head. I believe it's Italian in origin...note the attempts at mimicking the texture of fur and hair using metal:

And for first-time visitors, the Temple of Dendur is a most see. It's a Nubian temple that was phyiscally relocated (yes, building, gates and all!) to the US and subsequently the Met in the 60s'.

This was a perfect opportunity to break out my "Walk like an Egyptian" pose, but the security personnel there was so tense and stern that he quickly dampened any enthusiaism that I had. He was always anxiously scanning anyone who approached the structure..hmm, first day on the job perhaps?

The painting collection of the Met is definitely impressive and I didn't have time to take it all in at my leisure. Yes, even on my second visit. I knew that there was one painting that I had to see again:

Madame X. The original It girl maybe? Once again another painting which I had studied in school that fascinated me then and still, today.

And here's a random outfit shot of what I wore that day.

Zara military jacket, helmut lang top, ksubi jeans, ann demeulemeester boots, miu miu coffer.

Next: Last night in New York City and all that jazz!