Road Trip to New York City

Famous

Last weekend I went to New York with B. for the Campus Moviefest Northern Regional Grand Finale. B. and his friends made this short film, which won Best Picture at OSU and Best Comedy at the NRGF. Oh, and if you fly Virgin Airlines anytime soon, you can watch it during your flight!
In June they move on to the International Grand Finale at Paramount Studios in LA.

World Champions

It was super exciting and we all got to meet Judah Freidlander from 30 Rock. The whole awards ceremony was fun and hilarious.

On to the food!

I was a little nervous about being thrifty and keeping myself fed on this trip, so I packed a few bags of trail mix, some apples, and a few Luna Bars to snack on in case my friends decided to go to a steak house or somewhere where it would be hard for me to find a substantial meal. Luckily, I had amazing luck with the restaurants.

On the way to Connecticut, where we stayed with Mike's, the Director of Safety Rape's, parents, we stopped at a subway and a few gas stations. Subway is easy-- I can always get a veggie sub on whole grain.

On Saturday we took the train into the city. I had coffee and an apple for breakfast, which isn't much, but we went directly to the restaurant to meet some of our friend's family. We ate at The Park. I was excited to see their lunch menu posted on the outside of the building. I was planning to get either the warm lentil salad on arugala or a three sides as an entree (ginger spinach, sweet potatos, and asparugus--mmm!). When we were seated, though, we found out it was actually brunch until 3. Whoops.

Everyone else was jazzed for the brunch menu-- I think there were 5 orders of Challa French Toast stuffed with Carmelized Bananas at our table. I had a moment of panic, because I really didn't want to get a freakin' fruit plate at a fancy pants NYC restaurant. I wound up checking with the waitress about the Rigatoni with Oven Roasted Plum Tomatoes, Niçoise Olives and Basil, and, ordered without cheese, it was vegan. I was suprised at how absolutely delcious this meal was. It was salty, savory, just packed with good flavor. It went perfectly with the homemade gingerale. Craig's parents were crazy nice and paid for all our dinners, so thanks, Pentaks!

Suprisingly Amazing

For dinner, we found ourselves at Oneil's. They had a vegetarian pasta dish that sounded good, but after my pastalicious lunch, I decided to take advantage of the 3 sides as entree option. I got Roasted New Potatos, Wild Mushrooms, and Spinach. I asked for it to be prepared without butter and that seemed to work out fine. This meal was on Mike's parents-- so I got to eat two fancy delicious meals for free. Thanks Karnell's!

3 Sides = 1 Yummy Meal

After celebrating all night, we woke up and went to lunch before heading back to Ohio. We stopped at this cute deli market place in Mike's town. I got the Jetter: a roasted vegetable wrap with hummus. Yum!

Number 16

Our final stop on the road was at this horribly scary home-cookin' restaurant that smelled like chicken and grease.

Eww

I didn't have much of an appetite, but the menu, among things like Country Fried Steak, had a Veggie Burger listed as "vegan." I wondered what the quotation marks were supposed to mean. But as I said, I wasn't that hungry so I just got a salad and some fries. The fries were probably the greasiest fries I've ever had. They were probably coated in meat fat, now that I think of it, but I only at like 4 of them.

So now I really want to go back to NY. I really had an amazing time!

Love the creepers back there