I'm a little behind on writing this series, but my life kind of exploded last week, almost literally so I had to tend to some other things before making it back. That's for another post though.. #PositiveVibesOnly

The good news is Little Duck and I had the BEST time together in the city during her visit. So much fun it's going to take me alllll week to talk about all of the stuff we did! So let's get to it!

Fresh off a red-eye flight, Little Duck and I reunited at the airpot and wasted no adventure time making it back into the city. I tried to play it a little low-key on the first day -- she did fly across the country all night and all -- but because I had to work during the week while she was here I wanted to make the most of the weekend. Spoiler alert, there was definitely a lot of walking that happened. Visitors beware, I'll make you walk.. a lot!

After dropping her bags it was off  for a delicious treat at Alice's Tea Cup and off to Central Park! There was a big water fight happening which started quite the controversy earlier in the week, which ended up getting me featured in the amNewYork and on TV! Yep, really! You can watch that right here --> NBC New York "Planned Water Gun Fight at Central Park Moved After 64,000 People RSVP"

And once you've been quoted in the media about something obviously you have to go! And so we did just that! We made it to the park a little early to enjoy the sunshine a little, eat some of the treats we picked before the crazy started to unfold. 

A little bit before the fight was set to start people started going at it outside of the Great Lawn. The Central Park Twitter account had vowed that the event would get shut down and well, after about 5-10 minutes, the Parks Department showed up to crash the party. "Vacate the premises the water fight is now over" was broadcasted through their megaphones.

Just as soon as the Parks Department shut down the first fight you could see a crowd of people walking in the Great Lawn from the north. Then just like a movie scene all of the people who had been broken up rushed the Great Lawn and headed towards the middle.

I don't think the Parks Department was very pleased, but as soon as everyone made it into the center of the lawn there was no shutting it down. Now that is a water fight! Besides, the grass needed some watering on that hot day anyways!

"Look moms, we didn't get arrested at the water fight!" Our parents' one request for our first adventure.

After the water fight, we spent some more time in the park walking around and seeing some of the different views.

By the mid-afternoon we figured it was time to start to wrap up our day adventures and we headed through a food festival to pick up one of Little Duck's favorites, mozzarepas. I don't know what it is about those little cheesy delicious guys but you definitely don't see them in the PNW so it was definitely a NYC trip bucket list item. From there we made one more stop at the Union Square Farmer's Market and then it was back uptown for a low-key evening of BBQing on the balcony and getting off our feet. I know I said it was a chill day but while I wasn't wearing my Fitbit there's no doubt that we walked at least 10 miles. Little Duck is a trooper though and even after traveling all night she made it all the way until like 10:30pm! 

The next day we headed back to the park for a different adventure.. brunch at the Loeb's Boathouse. If you're looking for a very New York brunch, I totally suggest going to the Boathouse. Sometimes the wait can get a little long, but the view is so pretty and it totally gets me in the mood to watch some of my favorite chick flicks that it's featured in. 

I'm a big fan of their macaroni and cheese too. Definitely a solid choice if you check it out!

Oh heyyy duckies! Thought this was kind of perfect for our #DucksTakeNYC trip ;-)

Post brunch we headed out of the park to be extra touristy and hop on a double decker bus. I had actually never done one here so I thought it would be a fun thing to do and you totally always learn cool things about the city on them. Plus I thought it would be a good way for Little Duck to get a little bit more familiar with the neighborhoods. I told her by the end of the week she was totally going to be a NYC pro and I think she'd agree that she made the rounds on her trip! We ended up getting tickets for the Go NY Bus Tour and had a really great time! We took the downtown loop that took us through most of the high-trafficked neighborhoods with most of the notable landmarks. 

Our tour was a hop-on hop-off but we just ended up staying along for the ride to get the full tour. If you were looking for a tour that offers good transportation options though I'd definitely recommend them. Our second tour guide was super awesome too! Some of those guys are so entertaining!

Once we did a loop and a half, we decided it was time to cool off a little. So we headed to the East Village for some Big Gay Ice Cream. When you're visiting you have to make the most of every meal!

Stay tuned tomorrow for where our #DucksTakeNYC adventures took us next!

Well, winter hasn’t quite decided to take a vacation yet! The snow may have continued throughout the day, but Chris and I decided to get out of Manhattan and head to Brooklyn for some comfort food bites.

First up on our agenda? A trip to DuMont Burger. While I will definitely be back to try their burgers.. this trip was all about their mac and cheese. 

Let’s just say this ‘food tour’ wasn’t exactly on the healthy side.. but hey walking through the snow can work up quite the appetite (or at least I’m telling myself that). Chris and I decided to split a side of their onion rings and their famous mac and cheese.

I enjoy a good onion ring and DuMont does this just right. The Spanish onions are cut thick and then covered in a tempura batter that is the perfect combination of fluffy and crisp. I’d happily come back just for a side of these with their special sauce.

Next on our order was their mac and cheese. They offer a bacon add-in, but I suggested we opted for it plain. In my view, to really test out how great a mac and cheese is, you need to do so without any of the extras first. Otherwise it ends up shadowing the cheese mix a little. Their mac and cheese is made with radiatore pasta and a mix of parmesan, gruyere and cheddar cheeses. 

So how do I think it stacks up? I was a big fan of the style of noodles. It’s a little different variety than most restaurants select and the noodles soak up the cheese just right. The cheese blend was a nice combination with a great combination of creamy without being too heavy. Finally, the mac is topped with a nice crust of melted cheese on the top which really finishes off the dish.

After we were filled up on fried and cheesy goodness we headed a little further out in Williamsburg to check out one of my favorite donut joints. 

We first had Dun-Well Doughnuts in the fall at Smorgasburg and I’ve been wanting to have another go at their donuts every since. At I continue my quest to find the best donuts in the city, Dun-Well currently sits a top of my list. The dough that their creations are cooked with is just perfect. 

I follow their accounts on Facebook and Instagram so my mouth was watering before we even made it in the door. We didn’t make it in until the afternoon so they had sold out of a lot of their varieties, but they still had the mini pie options that I had saw on social that morning so I was happier than a clam!

Okay… take a second to check out the bottom right menu item. Doughnut Sundae!?!? That’s just all sorts of fatty deliciousness sounding. If it wasn’t snowing I probably would have went with that route but since we were still pretty full from lunch we opted to take our treats to go. 

Now here is the part that kind of blew my mind a little… It turns out their donuts are vegan! Now I’ve certainly had delicious vegan options in the past, but being someone who doesn’t like missing out on ingredients.. my mind often just assumes that gluten-free or vegan bakeries are just missing a little in their treats, even if that’s a terrible theory.. Well, it’s time I officially throw that mindset out the window because Dun-Well proves that doing things a little different can have even more amazing results. I mean, look at these babies below!

Once we had our treats, it was time to head back to Manhattan. Not before snapping a picture of OMG Taco though. Um, how awesome is that name??  

I’d say our snow noms tour was a serious success. Delicious, and the perfect way to fight off some of the winter blues. Scoots wanted to say hi too :-)