Start Spreadin' the News...
...I got back today...
I was SUPPOSED to get back yesterday, but today it was. When we arrived in Minneapolis our flight had been cancelled so we got to spend the night in a swanky, okay, unswanky hotel in Minnesota. Okay I do NOT know how people live there. It was friggin' cold!! I do believe this morning with the wind chill factor it was -23. People live there. People choose to live in -23 weather. On purpose! How? Explain this to me? I get whiney when it hits 40.
But that's the END of the story...let's go back to the beginning.
We decided to try to make the most of our time by taking a redeye Monday night and arriving early Tuesday morning. Continental managed, in less than 9 hours to:
-Book us in seats in separate rows despite the fact that we were the first people to check in for the flight.
-Get us in late to a connecting flight.
-Misprint the connecting flight ticket so it had a gate, but no concourse which left us running around the airport looking for the right place to go. We ran and JUST made it before they closed the doors. It was SO like a movie...and not a good one either.
-Lose our luggage.
-Proclaim at one point when we called for a third time to see if they'd located the luggage that "Oh, you know how it is..." Um, no. See in MY world how it is is this...you get off the plane and your luggage goes WITH you to your destination!
Blessedly there was a sale at The Gap. Saved by the Clearance tag!
We were booked into a sleazy little fleabag of a hotel on 49th. The price was right, the location sublime, but the room was so small you didn't have to bother with any of those annoying "let's go back to the hotel and relax" moments. The bathroom was big. It was, in fact, as big as the sleeping area. The view was spectacular...there were three pigeons and a brick wall. Let me tell you, pigeons are NOISY in the middle of the night! Darn little feathered rats.
But who cares? We were in a hotel with a wonky elevator, a tiny room, a view of plaster and bird crap, but we were in a hotel in New York City!
We were, in fact, in a hotel in New York City while the country was orange alert and terrorists were sending thinly vieled threats our way...but were we worried? Okay, yeah maybe a little...but hey, life is for the living, right? Besides, there was NO shortage of police. Literally every block had at least a dozen police officers in full riot gear and automatic weapons. It was kind of strange. On New Years Eve there were 1200 police officers in uniform, a number in plain clothes, all entrances into the Times Square area were blocked off, everyone was searched, helicopters were overhead, and we played a rousing game of "spot the sniper" from the rooftop.
Speaking of New Years Eve, yeah...we did it. We stood in the freezing cold in Times Square with 1,000,000 of our closest friends for SIX hours so we could watch a ball drop. We stood outside for six hours to watch a 10 second event. You know I like to consider myself an intelligent woman, but I'm beginning to reconsider.
Anyhow, about four hours in I was SO done...but there were still two hours left and by god I said I was going to watch the ball drop in Times Square so I was going to watch the damn ball drop! We couldn't hear the performers. We couldn't see anything. There was a drunk little twinkie behind us (who apparently didn't realize that you really don't STAY drunk for six hours when you don't have anything more to drink...or was, perhaps, going for a Tony playing a tacky cheap drunk). We were cold. We couldn't sit or use a bathroom. Good times!
11:59:50 we counted down. 12:00:00 I snapped some pictures. 12:00:02 New Years Kiss. 12:01:00 sprint back to the hotel (which was blessedly just down the block). By 12:10:00 soaking in a hot bath, thawing and saying "That was a once in a lifetime experience...and we only need to have it once in a lifetime."
So what else did we do? Well we walked a LOT. Roy wanted to take a tour bus but it was closed the day we went to get a ticket and I was glad. I really prefer to discover new places on my feet. I feel like I get more of a sense of a place if I can walk. We'd just head in a direction and go (using common sense, of course). We did all the touristy things; Empire State Building (tall, overrated), wandered Central Park (about halfway around the park...it was really beautiful that day and I thouroughly enjoyed it), bought knockoffs from a street vendor, shopped on Fifth Avenue, visited Ground Zero (it looks a lot like a construction site right now, so it doesn't evoke the emotion you'd expect but I'm still glad we saw it), visited Ellis Island (fascinating history), visited Lady Liberty (much smaller than I imagined, but really neat), wandered through some of the smaller parks that dot the city, bought pretzels from street vendors, ate in a few dives (including a funky little diner where the waiters all perform), marveled at the spectacle of Grand Central Station, took a subway (dirty, but handy), ice skated in Rockerfeller Center, took tons of pictures (will post soon), and wandered around Times Square at all hours of the night and day just taking it in.
The best thing, though, were the plays. Oh man...okay we love plays and that was why we went in the first place. Our favorite comedy is "The Producers." We first saw it shortly after my first surgery last year and we had said to ourselves "If Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick ever return to their roles, we have to go see them. Let's just do it." Well, they did...for a two month run, so we did. Sieze the day and all that, you know. The day the tickets went on sale Roy bought them online and surprised me with the news that we'd be ringing in the new year in NYC. We had tickets for New Years Day for The Producers. We knew we wanted to try and see at least one other play while we were there. We ended up seeing four and honestly, I wish we'd skipped some of the touristy stuff and crammed in at least one more. Would have loved to have seen Bernadette Peters in "Gypsy."
We saw:
Wednesday: "The Boy from Oz" starring Hugh Jackman. The life story of Peter Allen. Why someone decided to put the life story of Peter Allen to book is beyond me, but it was actually very entertaining and Hugh Jackman was really quite good. The little boy, P.J. Woodhouse who we had seen in Beauty and the Beast on its last tour, was the young Peter Allen and he was AWESOME! Bonus: We stood outside the stage door (because we're nerds) and got his autograph. He is VERY nice. He chatted with us a little, signed my lobby card and Roy's DVD of Oklahoma. Unfortunately he never did extend his razor claws ala Wolverine...maybe he only does that in evening shows. We saw a matinee.
Thursday: "The Producers" Okay, Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick were perfect in these roles. Okay if they could ressurect Zero Mostel (he's dead, right?) and con Gene Wilder into doing it that might have been a little better, but I'm not sure. I have loved both of these actors since forever. They were incredible. Funny! I mean side-splitting funny. Again, being complete dorks, we stood outside the stage door and got their autographs. It was a little depressing to see that Matthew Broderick is going grey. What's up with that? Ferris Bueller with grey hair? He's my age! He can't be grey because I am but a spring chicken!
Friday: Little Shop of Horrors...thanks to Tkts Tkts Tkts we got half price back row tickets, but FUN play! The theater was pretty small so we could still see everything clearly. The puppet of Audrey II was great! They really did her up right. The ending is a lot different from the movie, but funnier I think. The play and movie are actually pretty close, but the play is a bit darker. Acting was great. Hunter Foster made an awesome Seymour. I would have liked to have seen a little more "oomph" from Kerry Butler (Audrey) but she was okay. The voice of Audrey II was outstanding.
Saturday: Roy stood in line and put his name into a lottery for the back row tickets for Hairspray, which was sold out. He won the lottery so we got $25 tickets to one of the hottest tickets in town. Back row. Front row. Under the stage...it's worth it. This play is FUN! I've got the soundtrack and have listened to it over and over again and the play did not disappoint.
So we saw four awesome plays and had a lot of fun. It was hard to leave Sunday morning, but after a horrifying meal at HoJos (whatever possessed us) we took our lives into our hands, put our luggage in a cab, and braved the Northwest Airlines system that did not disappoint and screwed us over yet again by cancelling our flight. Ah well. We're home in one piece. We had a great time. Terrorists did not blow us up. All in all a pretty darn good trip!
But How Did the EATING Go?
So what you want to know is, did you just throw the whole eating plan out the window and take a huge bite of the big apple?
Nope! Not at all! In fact I found it surprisingly easy to stay on program in New York. There is a HUGE variety of food around. Certainly you could find your general "heart attack on a plate" on every corner, but there are lots of healthy alternatives. Here are the places we ate and my "rating" as to their Weight Watcher's Friendliness.
| Restaurant | Comments | WW Friendliness Rating |
Olive Garden
Times Square
| This was the first place we ate. We stumbled into town early Tuesday. Our hotel room wasn't ready and we were STARVING! The prices are higher than at home, but the food was still very good. Get the soup and salad all you can eat combo, dressing on the side. Two bowls of minestrone soup is 3.5 points. Two Tbs of dressing is 2 points. One breadstick is 3 points. Hold the cheese and you have a huge, filling meal for very low poings.
Another alternative is always the Chicken Giordino. Lunch size is 7.5 points. Dinner is 10 points. Definitely delicious and filling.
| ***** |
Bubba Gumps
Times Square
| Great atmosphere and I passed the Forrest Gump "quiz" with flying colors, impressing our server immensely. Unfortunately the "healthy" choices are few and far between which is too bad. Shrimp is so delicious and low in fat and calories! I had the shrimper's net catch which was steamed shrimp with corn, potatoes, onions, and some other veggies and a cajun spice. I assumed that meant without fat (I should have asked...you will ask, learn from my mistake) but when it came it was obviously covered with some form of fat. I had lots of points left so I enjoyed about 3/4 of it, counted it for 16 points (based on shrimp fajitas found in my WWCalc program) and let it go.
| ** |
| Au Bon Pain
| This is a healthy eaters DREAM! The food there is sooooo good and fresh. Why don't we have these on the West Coast? You can find them all over NYC. Sandwiches are made to order. Salads are fresh. Some have salad bars. The best part are the soups! They have (depending on the size of the store) four to eight different kinds of soups and I was always able to find at least one two-point (or less) offering. Some have the nutrition information on a computer right there! I had information with me from Dotties Weight Loss Zone so I was able to look over the menu before making a choice.
We actually ate at Au Bon Pain for almost every lunch while in NYC. They have a varied enough menu to do this.
| ***** |
| Empire Deli | Just your basic hole-in-the-wall deli, but they had an AWESOME egg white and lox omellete with onions. YUM! Most places now offer egg white only or egg beaters for their omelletes. | **** |
TGIFridays
Times Square | Okay I had my information from Dottie's website and had pre-chosen what I would eat there. We waited. We were seated. We opened the menu and guess what? NOTHING on the menu was in my information! NOTHING! It was all smothered with cheese, cooked in grease, etc. The only thing I could find that might be remotely healthy was a grilled chicken sandwich if I could get it with no fries (there was no option for a salad), no cheese, no mayo...not nuthin'!
We actually ended up walking out. I hated to do that, but honestly I'm not going to go over points and pay $18 for something I don't want to eat. If I'm going over points it sure as heck isn't going to be at TGIFridays! | -* |
| Subway
| Always a good choice! Curiously in this particular restaurant the bathroom was out of order, the diet pepsi was out of order, and they looked at me like I'd asked them if they had Soylent Green when I asked for fat free ranch dressing for my salad. Bring your own dressing and the rest is fine. (We just ate it without dressing. Since I like pepperocini that always adds enough "oomph" to a salad for me.) Got a diet Coke from the Papa John's Pizza in the same space. | **** |
Howard Johnson's
Times Square
| Why did we eat here? With all the choices in Times Square? Why did we eat here? Sure it was entertaining listening to the proprieter fight with his wife. But it was like stepping back into the 1960s, and not in a good way either. The menu advertises sugar free syrup for your pancakes, but my request was met with "We don' have". No sugar substitute on the tables (but they found the pink stuff for me). They do have egg beaters, but I chose pancakes instead. The blueberries were blue and I think they were berries, but they didn't taste like anything. Ick. Never again. | ** |
Ellen's Stardust Diner
Times Square |
Okay how cool is THIS place? Love it love it love it! Singing wait staff. Funky atmosphere! Relatively reasonable prices (for Times Square). I had a turkey wrap that I figured was about 10 points. It was fresh, tastey, and didn't need the Russian Dressing (I didn't count that in the 10 points) that came with it. They offered Diet Stewarts sodas, which was awesome. | **** |
| Food Emporium
| This is a combination deli and swanky grocery store down 49th street a block off Times Square. One of the things we always do when we travel is scope out a place to pick up some fruit, veggies, cereal (we like dry cereal as a snack), point-friendly sweets, diet sodas, and granola bars. We found this place right down from our hotel and it didn't disappoint. Fresh sushi was great if you got there before dinner. Prices were high, but it's NYC! We had a few meals here (there is some counter seating in the deli area). Lots of choices that appeal to everyone and TONS of low fat/no fat/low carb (if you're into that) foods available here. | ***** |
| Starbucks | I do not know HOW New Yorkers survive with Starbucks only on every fourth or fifth block! In Seattle you can find one literally on every block. But we managed. It was a hardship. I won't lie.
Healthy food offerings aren't great. There's always the fruit cup or the nonfat yogurt. Over the summer they offered these 60 calorie bakery twists, but I haven't seen them since July in any Starbucks. Fortunately an Americano with sugar free vanilla and a tetch of half and half warms the cockles of my soul and is good enough a sweet treat for me most of the time. | *** |
Pax Wholesome Foods
Times Square |
This is another great place that is all around the city. I had an egg white omellete with mushrooms, spinach, and onions for breakfast one morning. Prices are reasonable. Make sure when you ask for no butter on your toast that they listen (they didn't to me). Skip the coffee and go across the street to Starbucks! The coffee sucks and because they are "wholeseome" they have no fake sugar! Lots of great choices for every meal, though. | **** |
| Tastey D-Lite | At 10 calories per ounce, small is 4 ounces, med is 8 ounces, you canNOT go wrong with indulging in this frozen treat! I loved the peanut butter. The chocolate pudding was kind of bitter and the dulce de leche was too sweet, but the peanut butter was just right. The only bummer was it didn't open before we left Sunday morning so I couldn't get one last "fix" in. You'll find this in Times Square right next to the Texas Grill. | ***** |
| Popcorn Indiana | Not point friendly at all, but one night we had lots of extra points so we indulged. Bad. Bad. Whoever came up with the idea of putting chocolate over caramel popcorn is an unmitigated GENIUS! Probably a fat genius if he samples his wares very often, but if you have the points and lots of people to share with, this might be worth the "price". | * |
| Street vendors | If you stick to pretzels (3-5 points a piece) you're fine. Avoid the hotdogs. If you must have chestnuts roasted on an open fire (the guy who sold them to us even sang the song for us) they are 3 points for 10 chestnuts. I don't really like chestnuts, but you have to buy them while in NY at Christmas. It's the law. | ** |
| Other Ideas
|
- Skip eating breakfast out. Bring Pria Bars or Baker's Breakfast cookies. Pick up a coffee or tea at Starbucks and sit at the counter watching the city awake while munching on your own, calorie-controlled breakfast.
- Find a grocery store and stock up on low point foods.
- Carry a granola bar, some gum, maybe a piece of fruit with you. Don't let yourself get too hungry.
- Look at menus before you sit down. There are so many food choices that there is no excuse for giving in to "Well all they had was..."
- Walk EVERYWHERE! Seriously! Walk your butt OFF! Don't bother with a Grayline Tour unless you're disabled. You can get to everywhere with your feet, a sturdy pair of shoes, a $7 metropass and subway map. The subways are really easy to navigate and will get you wherever you want to go. From there, walk! Walking keeps your metabolism roaring and gets those APs in for the few splurges you indulge in.
- Bring your own lifesavers to the play. They charged me $2 for a pack of lifesavers! What the heck?
- If it's not too busy, ask for something special...no butter, etc. But be aware that when they are busy (like every restaurant seems to be from about 3:00 p.m. on) they often forget. I found that the "dives" were more accomodating than the over-crowded chains.
- Have FUN! Remember! You're in the city to enjoy the city, not to eat your way THROUGH the city! Keep yourself so busy mealtimes become almost an irritant rather than the focus of your day.
|
