First off, I have to say WOW! The Great Fundraising Act raised over $26,000 thanks to everyone’s contributions and help. Witnessing so much compassion amongst people revived my outlook on people. Sometimes in this day and age where people seem to not care, I saw that there are so many people that do!

Reading your answers on dreams also got me thinking. I think dreams sometimes tap into ideas or thoughts that have been going through our minds, but not in a straightforward way. There have been times where I’ve woken up and contacted a friend that I’ve lost touch with because they appeared in my dream. Our dreams can be highly elaborate and sometimes seem nonsensical–sounds like creative inspiration to me! I’ve heard that even what we eat can affect our dreams. Well, if that’s the case then I must’ve had sweet dreams when I was in New York.

Since hearing so many rave reviews about ABC Kitchen, it was on my list of go-to places.

This place actually won the 2011 James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant. You have to make dinner reservations a month in advance to get a table!

They décor reminded me of Anthropologie, so this would be their cafeteria if they had one (like how Ikea does).

I wouldn’t have been surprised if the menus were actually handwritten, but they still had a DIY look.

My lovely lunch date!

Erica and I have “known” each other for quite some time. I’ve always admired her beautiful photography, and we are alike in so many ways. This time around we finally got to meet each other in person. If I move to New York, she’s one of my reasons!

They gave us bread to start, which we weren’t that into but it was useful for scooping up the dish right below.

To start we both ordered roasted beets with their housemade yogurt.

Oh my! I thought I was the only one who combined yogurt and beets, and theirs was truly delicious. The yogurt was creamy and tangy with a generous amount of olive oil and balsamic. This is something I definitely want to recreate at home.

For her entree she ordered the Roasted Summer Squash & Heirloom Tomato Sandwich.

I got the Roasted Carrot and Avocado Salad with Crunchy Seeds, Sour Cream and Citrus Dressing.

I love roasted carrots, and have been especially loving nuts and seeds lately. The croutons were bits of bread that seemed to have been soaked in olive oil and toasted. Crunchy, flavorful bites all around!

Time for dessert

First up: the cookie platter

On this dainty plate came two linzer lemon drops, a dark chocolate chip cookie, a  chocolate chip pecan bar, a big raspberry linzer cookie (our favorite), and some sort of cherry bar I believe.

I’m going to be real here… the star of the whole show was the salted caramel ice cream sundae!!!

Just looking at this picture makes me want to rewind (or fast forward!) to New York and get that perfect spoonful of the salted caramel ice cream, whipped cream, caramelized peanuts and popcorn, and scoop up some of that delicious chocolate sauce! Gosh, how much could I fit into one spoon? This was something I could write a whole post about alone. I’d even make a video trying to convey this experience. For those who are also keen on textures when eating, this dessert is for you! For those are keen on taste (I’d say everyone) this is for you!

Another day I was walking around the West Village and came across this little treasure, complete with a hunky Brit.

This store had everything a lover of British food can imagine. One of the many things I love about New York is that no matter even if you hail from England, you can feel at home when you come across places like this. There’s something for everybody. So it was rightfully named “Tea & Sympathy“. Despite the hot weather I ordered a cup of lavender chamomile tea. You see I love tea no matter what.

I’m sure the Queen does too.

Finally, I made it to my intended destination.

Victory Garden NYC is this neat little shop started up by Sophia Brittan that serves fresh goat milk soft serve made with local ingredients. “Following Middle Eastern tradition, the dessert often incorporates floral essences that are meant to please the palate and elevate one’s state of mind.” They also have toppings like cocoa nibs, fresh sugar plums, and Liddabit honeycomb candies.

On that particular day they had Victory Garden’s herbal blend, orange blossom vanilla, salted caramel, and chocolate soft-serve, but their list of flavors is ever-changing as the seasons and kitchen-experiments change.

They were so nice and let me try whatever flavors I wanted–curly q!

It was seriously hard to choose because it was a hot day and everything tasted so refreshing and delicious!

I ended up choosing the Salted Caramel flavor… just realized that was the flavor of the ice cream over at ABC Kitchen as well!

I’ve heard great things about their chocolate, and this time I wasn’t making the mistake of leaving New York without trying it.

My friend once told me that Mast Brothers’ ‘Almond & Sea Salt’ chocolate bar is her favorite, so you know that got my attention. Next time I’m going to check out their chocolate factory in Brooklyn to see how they actually make their chocolate.

The ingredients were wonderfully bold!

I still have some more New York City adventures to share with you all, but that’ll be in my next post.

What will the next recap reveal?