Tubing Day on the Delaware

We are back from our awesome weekend in the Poconos, but I am going to make you wait for that blog because I am so far behind!  So, we will start with last weekend and the trip we took with the Marstons to Frenchtown, NJ for some river tubing on the Delaware River.  We initially wanted to go out on Saturday, but the forecast was not looking very good and turns out, they were closed for the day due to rain.  We didn't have the greatest of expectations for Sunday either, but the weatherman said probably not rain so we were willing to take the chance.  As we got closer, it was not looking too good but at least the place was open when we got there!

We got already, and boarded the big blue bus to take us down the starting point on the river, and it was still cold and cloudy!  I really was hoping for some suntanning time.  I even wore my Suns Out Guns Out shirt as a good omen.

We got stuck in a line behind a few families that seemed to have a hard time figuring out how to work their tubes (by work, I mean sit in them), but, eventually we got in.  Still no sun, but it was so nice to be out on the water!

After about an hour, we arrived at our lunch stop, The River Hot Dog Man, we got hot dogs, chips and a drink.  We were hoping for beer but apparently drinking and tubing is against the rules.  The  hot dogs were pretty great and really hit the spot!  There were also some geese that knew some kids would drop their food.  Smart birds.

We headed out for the second half of our journey, still no sun unfortunately.  It seemed to be a bit colder, but still made for a lovely trip.

We hit some pretty wild rapids on the way.  Okay, not too crazy, but in a tube they were pretty fun.

By the time we finished and got cleaned up we were getting pretty hungry.  We headed into nearby Frenchtown to explore the cute little country town.  Adorable!  Makes you realize that not all of New Jersey is the crime capital of the east.  While Nicole and I explored the shops, the boys stopped in at the Frenchtown Inn for a beer.  

We walked overt the bridge that takes you to Pennsylvania.  Just beautiful!

On our way out we stopped at the cutest little used book store.  We could have spent hours in there.

We ended our day with a meal at Cracker Barrel.  Josh and I had never been, but the Marston's love it and we were excited for some southern cooking.  If  you ever go, try the grilled catfish. So good!  We finished our drive through the nice colonial houses and corn fields.  Made me miss home!

I hope you all had a terrific weekend and make sure to enjoy what is somehow getting down to the last weeks of summer.  I will be back a couple more times this week I hope with our Pocono adventure! XO

Fab Friday Faves 8.8.14 *1st Year of Blogging Edition*

Hello all!  As of tomorrow, it has been one year since I started blogging.  So, today for my Friday Five, I thought I would show five of my favorite blog posts from the last year.  It was not an easy choice, but these are some that really stood out to me.

Josh and I are leaving after work today to go to the Poconos for the weekend, and I am super excited. So enjoy the blog and have a fantastic weekend!

1.Machu Picchu Adventure

2. A trip to the Coast of Maine

3. Cooking Up Some Peruvian Flavor Part 1 and Part 2

4. Miranda Trip Day 7 & 8- Shopping and Jumping off a Cliff

5. Birthdays and Wine

Today I'm linking up with:

Jennie @ The Diary of a Real Housewife
Lauren @ The Lauren Elizabeth
Lauren @ Style Elixir
Clare @ Fitting It All In

An Afternoon in Brooklyn

Brooklyn, NY is somewhere that, even though I spent 6 months in Long Island City, only a couple miles from Brooklyn, I have spent very little time.  I think that part of that is because it is hard to get into my head that Brooklyn is now a very eclectic, beautiful and for the most part, safe area.  On Saturday, Josh and I decided we would go check out the Smorgasburg, a weekly food festival that on Saturdays takes place in the East River State Park in Williamsburg.  I had never actually been to Williamsburg at all, so when I walked off the subway and saw people everywhere and some amazing bars and restaurants, along with amazing street art among the old gang tags and graffiti, I was a bit shocked.  We headed straight to the Food Festival, because we were starving.

We did a small walk around but stopped at one of my main reasons for wanting to come.  The Ramen Burger.  I had seen this on many websites in the last few months and had to try it. It was actually voted one of the "17 most Influential Burgers of All Time" by Time magazine.  Basically, it is just 2 patties, made of ramen noodles.  It is pressed before, and then they fried it on a grill just like they were doing to the beef patties.   The beef patty is topped with arugula and some sort of home made relishy/BBQ kind of sauce called Shoyu sauce.

 This was the line we had to wait in for this burger.  It is the white tent to the direct right of the line.  20 mins was totally worth the wait haha.

 This is it!  With some watermelon lemonade and a gorgeous Manhattan view in the background.

Our next dish was one that we had seen a lot of people waking around with, and it looked great! It was from a place called Mofon Go.  The dish is a Puerto Rican dish called Mofongo.  I could have mistaken this for a Peruvian dish for sure.  The dish/crust is made from fried plantain (we got to love fried plantain in Peru), with pork cracklings, broth and garlic.  Inside is a mixture of stewed chicken (choice of chicken or veggie) with a thick spicy tomato sauce with veggies.  On top was some pork cracklings and cilantro.  Delicious!

While  I was getting that dish, Josh was in line for another dish with a mile long line, the pulled BBQ brisket sandwich from the famous Mighty Quinn's BBQ.  The brisket just melted in my mouth and the coleslaw and peppers on top added some amazing flavor.  Yummy!

 We were hoping to eat a couple more things, but we were stuffed.  On our way out, we saw this...

Huge delicious looking ice cream sandwiches from The Good Batch.  There were 3 choices and we decided on the Goodwich, which is their original.  2 Oatmeal Cookies, with ice cream, sea salt and chocolate drizzle.  WOW!  The guy waiting behind us in line basically told us it was the best thing in life, and he was pretty much right.

After we were stuffed, Josh wanted to take me down to the Brooklyn Bowl, a famous bowling alley just a couple blocks away.  ON the way there, we walked by some really cool buildings and billboards.  My favorite was this Ninja Turtles Movie one that was actually a painted on mural!

We got to the Brooklyn Bowl, and I was pretty impressed.  It is huge, and super retro.  It is the home of daily concerts by some pretty big names and just super cool.  It was packed, and is also attached to the Brooklyn Brewery so it has some great beer and just a great atmosphere.

 After a quick stop there, we walked some more and headed toward the weekly flea market down the street.  Unfortunately, the flea market was packed, so it was hard to get a good look, but they had some great vintage finds ad awesome hand made jewelry.  Need to stop in when its not so crazy.  We found some more awesome street art, billboards and cool restaurants.

We stumbled upon a cool bar/restaurant called ShelterShelter, that was pretty unassuming from the outside just made of corrugated tin siding with random murals on it.  Love the US flag one! We went inside to check it out, and I must say it was one of the coolest bars I have ever been in.  Very wild west style, with antler chandeliers, taxidermy on the walls and old brick oven pizza ovens.  We had a drink and enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere.

It was time to head back to the city, so we wandered back toward the subway.  I thought this sign was pretty funny.

After a short subway ride, we walked back toward the PATH stop in the village and found this!  A Peruvian bar/restaurant!  We went in for a drink and while I was a little disappointed in the drink I got, I love the fact I found a place to get Ceviche and Lomo Saltado!

After this fabulous day, I have decided that I need to spend more time in Brooklyn, and I should have the first time around!  So watch for more Brooklyn blogs, and enjoy your afternoon!

Fab Friday Faves 8.1.14

It has been a crazy 10 days since I got back from Canada... A 12 hour drive to Maine, a wedding, some visiting, and a 12 hour drive back.  All in four days.  It was great (see blog in the near future) and amazing to see Luke and Vanessa get married, but the trip was exhausting!  Since we got back, I have been taking it pretty easy, onus a 10 mile walk through Hoboken yesterday with Nicole (again see a blog in the near future).  I am still missing everyone back home like crazy, but I must admit, it is nice to be back to some normalcy and just being able to chill.  This weekend we are planning a lazy river tubing afternoon with the Marston's but the weather is not looking great.  In any case, here are this weeks Fave Five.  I have to admit though, some of these are not from just this week!  Everyone have a great weekend, and see you next week!

1.  After we had already walked about 7 lies, Nicole and I decided to stop for a very healthy lunch at Napoli's Brick Oven Pizza on Washington St. in Hoboken.  It is owned by the Volpe family who also started my favorite NYC pizzeria, Lombardi's back in 1905.  $7 for two huge slices and a Coke along with a super friendly staff.  Pretty awesome!

2. My parents got me a Ninja Ultima for my birthday, and I managed to bring it back in my suitcase with me, with no issues.  I am so in love with it!  my first test drive was making my tomato gazpacho, and then a strawberry blueberry smote for Josh.  I love it!  Makes life so much easier, although I have sliced myself open pretty good on the blades already!

3.  on our way through Maine this past weekend, we stopped in Kittery at the outlets and for a lunch at Robert's Maine Grill.  I had read about Robert's winning the NYC Lobster Roll Rumble in June and I do love a good lobster roll so we had to stop to test it out.  I totally understand why it was the winner.  Not even kidding, to die for!  If you get a chance, stop in, but get there before the lunch or dinner rush because there was already a line at 1230!

4.  Across the street from our apartment is the Skylark on the Hudson, which has quickly become one of our go to restaurants.  We went the other night just for something light, and on the menu was the Spiked Watermelon Martini.  So good!  I love watermelon and it made for a delicious light sumer drink.

5. Back in Sask, the family made a roatrip to Grandma Doreen's surprise birthday party in Maple Creek.  The party was great and I loved seeing everyone, but honestly, the cake was the best cake I have ever eaten in my life.  I can't even describe it, it was moist and the icing was something out of this world, some sort of buttercream, but not normal buttercream... Just amazing!  I later found out it was made by Frosted Sweets, out of Elkwater, Alberta.  Delish!

Today I am linking up with:

Jennie @ The Diary of a Real Housewife

Lauren @ The Lauren Elizabeth

Lauren @ Style Elixir