Hello, me again! This one took me a while to pull off – suddenly my real life has started happening at a bit of a faster speed. But I’m here to talk more about Thanksgiving in New York and how our dinner went. 

After visiting the Empire State Building we started making our way to Haven Rooftop where we’d made a dinner reservation. About that – I was lucky enough to snatch a table a couple of weeks in advance. I planned this trip without realising we were going to be there for the holidays so most places were either booked up or astronomically priced. Initially I had dreams of going to Katz; I love an all you can eat but with my stomach scrunched up against my sternum (pregnant…remember?) I figured $90 per person pre tax pre tip is a bit on the expensive side. Our 3 course dinner at the Haven was $65/pp (no tax, no tip, no drinks) and our bill total came to somewhere around $250. Drinks are expensive even when you don’t consume alcohol, turns out. 

There was a warm, cozy atmosphere inside and it felt like the perfect place to go for a meal out with friends. I can imagine it’s pretty popular with the hip crowds during summer – I sure remember liking the name of some of the cocktails. I for one was hoping for a bit more of a romantic vibe but to be honest, the amount of pain my shoulder was in, this was the least of my worries. After all, the place is a rooftop terrace converted for winter and it’s great at being just that.

I had crispy calamari to start with, turkey as my entree and pumpkin cheesecake for dessert. The turkey was cooked beautifully and for a meat that’s generally dry, that’s no easy feat. It was served with sweet potato mash, stuffing, gravy and cranberry sauce which, coming from the UK, is a plate lacking a bunch of vegetables. There was however plenty of meat, three words that sum up our NY culinary experience pretty well. At this point I also have to mention I’m not sure I understand Americans’ obsession with pumpkin everything around this time of the year. Be that as it may, the cheesecake was unexpectedly delicious – perhaps I’ll try to replicate it (if anyone has a decent recipe for pumpkin cheesecake, hit me up). If you’re in NY and fancy a nice view, a decent bite to eat and friendly vibe I can definitely recommend this place. But if I went for Thanksgiving again, I’d perhaps choose to spend a bit more and go somewhere a bit more “elegant” (I was however very grateful I can just wear my jeans and boots so from that perspective, Haven was amazing). 

I realise I’ve  left the story of my semi broken shoulder unfinished, so here goes. Thing is, my whole experience of NY has been through the lens of physical pain and uncertainty. There were a couple of times where we thought we ought to go to the hospital but the picture of bankruptcy before the baby arrived did not look pretty. The nights were challenging as I could only sleep on one side and I was waking up pretty paralysed in the middle of the night. The advice is also against sleeping on your back when pregnant, so that was one less option. I was trying to limit the amount of paracetamol but sometimes the pain became unbearable. Upon our return, after much deliberation and other scans, NHS finally referred me to physio yet I’m still to make an appointment. I’ve mostly regained mobility in my shoulder but I can’t do certain types of exercise; this has not been an issue as the main gym I frequent is the sofa.  

After my fall we stumbled across a coffee shop near the Flatrion Building – it’s there I realised the pain will not just go away as I was unable to open the door. I remember sitting at a table crying with a husband concerned people around would think he upset me. 

I’m generally pretty good with writing things down or you know, allowing my phone do the work for me but considering we’ve returned to this coffee place a number of times, I forgot its name. Luckily, my visual memory is what helps me navigate through life and as I remember whereabouts by the Flatiron Building this was…Google maps reminded me it’s Idea Coffee we went to. I can’t tell you much about their coffee but what I can say is that they have the best Chai latte. As I mentioned, we did go back for it a few times; the place itself was what you’d (or I’d ) expect from a coffeeshop in Manhattan – think industrial meets hygge vibes, with a few communal tables, and a hip crowd working on their laptops. If you visit New York, it’s likely you’ll be in the area so do yourself a favour and grab a beverage (almond croissant was nice, too). Stopping every now and then and watching life happening is really special – even more so when you’re experiencing a different culture.