Happy Saturday my little chickadees! Today I’m bringing you Part 2 of my three part NYC travels from last week (or technically almost two weeks ago). If you haven’t caught on through my Instagram yet, I’ve been hashtagging #chickpeatravels on all of my posts so I can keep all of these memories on lock. I started doing this when I went to Kansas last year and now I’m hooked on it. The more I travel, the more fun it is to keep up with where I’ve been and get excited for where I’ll be off to next.

Where I last left off this past weekend, I chatted your ears (or eyes?) off on the first day May and I got into NYC (Sunday). Our second day was only infinitely better and we ended up walking 11 miles around the city and only took ONE Uber. There’s nothing better than exploring a city by just walking it out, especially when you’ve got brand new Nikes on your feet. Who’s with me?

We started the morning off with a barre3 class thanks to our gem of a friend Rachel who recommended it. I tried barre3 back in December when I went home to Cleveland for the holidays and absolutely loved it so was pretty excited to try it in NYC. Unfortunately I didn’t drink enough water beforehand so had to leave class half way through from dehydration but for what it was worth, it was such an uplifting environment with such a kick-ass instructor. Plus working out alongside two of your friends is always a pleasure.

After I almost passed out on the barre (oops), we stopped at Hu Kitchen for breakfast followed by a quick trip to Whole Foods to grab kombucha and coffee. What would food bloggers do without that dynamic duo?

If you’re a foodie and haven’t heard about Hu Kitchen yet, they’re a grab and go restaurant that focuses on getting “back to human”. They put their focus on eating wholesome foods without processed sugars, no soy, no GMO, no gluten and no emulsifiers. Pretty freaking sweet if you ask me. I picked up their No-Yo Primal Parfait (a vanilla bean and date sweetened chia pudding with berries and paleo granola), Quinoa Crunch Bar (dates, chocolates and puffed quinoa) and unpictured roasted cauliflower that was the best cauliflower I ever laid my mouth on. Truly.

At Whole Foods, I grabbed this Mocha from Love Grace Foods.

After our breakfast chilling in Whole Foods (does this surprise anyone?) we walked around a bit, stopped in at Toby’s Estate for iced almond milk lattes, the athletic clothing store Bandier and the largest Lululemon I’ve set my eyes on. The Lulu had this amazing space underneath it called “The Hub” that was just a giant wooden work space. The definition of a dream for a blogger. I wish I could have moved in right there and then.

Now moving onto the real star of the show of the trip… going to By Chloe. America’s latest and greatest spot for all things vegan, unprocessed and comforting. After eating it, I immediately thought it was just a fancier version of In N Out or Shake Shack made vegan with better marketing and a cute owner (Chloe Coscarelli) but I was obviously infatuated.

We decided to go between lunch and dinner time, about 3-4p.m. when we knew the line wouldn’t be out the door and around the corner. Literally, that’s what we’ve heard it’s like and we weren’t interested in waiting an hour for a vegan burg. I highly recommend going at this time!

But surprisingly, we got there and only had a few people in front of us! We ordered and had our food brought out in less than a half hour.

May got the spicy thai salad salad with apricot-glazed tempeh, edamame and quinoa, I ordered the classic burger (oh my god) with BEET ketchup and we both ordered a side of air-baked sweet potato fries and matcha tea.

Since you’re only in NYC once with your blogger friends, dessert isn’t an option. May and I met up with Rachel again and our other friend Leah to enjoy By Chloe’s sweets post our late lunch. Leah and Rachel both opted for the classic chocolate chip cookie that tasted as if you rolled out Tollhouse cookie dough and popped it right out of the oven.

May and I both decided on ice cream because personally, if I’m going to have any sweets… it’s going to be ice cream. It kind of runs in my blood. Both my mom and I are ice cream fans over cookies, cake and frostings. I got the coffee chia chip flavor and May ordered the kale cookies and cream. While I wasn’t a huge fan of my flavor because the chocolate chunks overpowered the ice cream itself, it was flavored with none other than STUMPTOWN COFFEE so…. I was a little excited.

After lunch, we walked through downtown SoHo as the sun set and went shopping at Aritzia (hands down my favorite clothing store). We ended up leaving Leah and Rachel, heading to the One World Trade Center and then walking back for an early dinner at Chalk Point Kitchen. Surprisingly, we were so stuffed still 3-4 hours after By Chloe that we only ordered two appetizers and Kalck Hoek Kale Martinis.

Yes, you heard me right. Kale martinis.

The martinis had absolut apple vodka, fresh pressed kale, lemon, cucumber and celery juices with ginger beer. Can you say my kind of martini? I don’t drink much but when I do, these are the kinds of drinks I’m into. Could you have guessed?

Our dishes were the spaghetti squash gratin with tomatoes, olives, anchovies and breadcrumbs (the best mock-pasta I’ve ever tasted) and their fresh chickpea and falafel hummus. Even after eating these two smaller dishes we were so stuffed we could barely breathe.

But then again, you’re only in NYC once! I wish we could have ordered some of their entrees like the organic half chicken with brussels sprouts and lentils (swoon) but I’m also glad I didn’t make myself burst into a million pieces from organic food overload.

It’s safe to say our second day in New York was long, tiring but at the same time so exciting. After my second day in, I wanted to stay forever and just hang out with my blog friends, eat and walk around the city all month long. Seriously can I just do this for a living?

I can’t wait to share with you my last and final day of New York City this coming week! I can’t believe it’s already been two weeks since I flew off. Ah, time flies!

In other news, I just booked a spontaneous trip to visit my best friend from high school back in Ohio in two weeks and my family is coming to visit next weekend for Easter so I’m sure you’ll be seeing plenty of Chicago food scenes in the next coming week.

Happy Saturday!

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