Christmas In New York

What are the three most important aspects of Christmas...?

Family, giving and food right?

Well I was spending my first ever Christmas away from my family. This was a little odd to say the least. I come from such a close family and this time of year especially, we don't spend a moment away from one another. Yes bickering is inevitable but it wouldn't be Christmas without the odd tiff right? 

But let's face it, I wasn't spending Christmas alone eating Chinese take out in front of the TV weeping into my chicken chow mein. This year I was spending Christmas with some of my closest friends in this fantastic city. 

With my friends not flying in from Miami till late Christmas Eve, it was my job to go Christmas food shopping. Now, as you all know eating is perhaps one of my favourite past times, but shopping for food may be even better. With no Waitrose or M&S to elbow my way through the isles to grab that glorious turkey, I opted for Whole Foods Market. Now Whole Foods isn't any old grocery store. Specialising in every cuisine imaginable and stocking all types of foods I couldn't wait to dive straight in to tick off my rather long list for our Christmas dinner. 

Now, I am used to a family feast. At least 18 dishes cooked by the whole family, and let's face it, I'm usually on 'laying the table' duty. This meant I had to call on the resident family culinary expert. With Daddy on FaceTime we tottered around the store together picking up everything from cheeses for our cheese platter, brussel sprouts, 3kgs of potatoes - yeah I was planning on cooking enough to feed the whole upper east side. But better to much than too little right?

Several bags later and much needed help getting into the taxi/apartment I got prepping. Chopping veggies all evening long whilst skyping my sister in Australia (it was already Christmas for her) and of course the family back in London just to make sure I was preparing everything to the family standard. 

Greeting my gorgeously sun kissed friends at the door they were all extremely pleased that all was prepared meaning that minimal time could actually be spent in the kitchen on Christmas Day.

Waking up bright and early Christmas morning with the sun streaming in through my window and blasting my all time favourite Christmas tune 'Simply Having A Wonderful Christmas Time'. 

After a deliciously traditional Dutch Christmas breakfast we all got suited and booted and headed off to Central Park for a Christmas Walk.

We were totally astonished by the ridiculous amount of runners in the park, who were spending part of their day working out rather than eating. Mind-boggling!

Admiring the view on the beautifully cloudless morning, and taking a million photos as only the foreigners do. We continued on our stroll through the park as any effort to warm up in the absolutely freezing temperatures.

Yeah, -6° meant it was too cold for that coveted white Christmas, but plenty of icy patches for Claudine to skate over to her hearts content. 

For those of you who have been to Central Park and specifically the boating pond. You'll know that it is never empty. As a matter of fact, no matter what time of day you go, there are always people around and especially tourists taking photos with Alice. But on Christmas this seemed to be a little different. Seeing the statue with no people at all around we seized the opportunity. Unfortunately none of us had brought gloves so climbing the brass structure was pretty damn freezing and near impossible.

But… we made it. 

The whole of Central Park was dressed up in their Christmas best.

Even the pooches!

Hopping in a cab to save ourselves from the absolutely freezing weather, we popped home to watch my favourite Christmas movie of all time, It's A Wonderful Life before starting on our Christmas feast.

Going a rather non-traditional route in terms of starters this year we opted for Bruschetta. Which was not only super easy to prepare, but catered for our resident veggie too - which is often rather difficult to do on Christmas.

Click here to check out the recipe for my Three Cheese Articoke dip.

Et Voila, our table was complete… Roast chicken, roast potatoes, mash potatoes, roasted vegetables, cauliflower cheese, brussel sprouts and of course gravy. Let the feasting commence.

A fantastic celebration with a wonderful posse. A little different from my traditional Christmas' (click here), but none the less an absolutely wonderful day.

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas!

Walk In The Park

What I'm Wearing: & Other Stories Beanie & Skirt, Zara Sweater, Kurt Geiger Mittens & Topshop Boots.

  

Spending the holiday's with friends this year is pretty damn great. I was a little hesitant at first to be celebrating Christmas away from my family as that's all I've ever known, and not getting to enjoy our traditional 15 dish Christmas Day feast would be one that I would find very hard to miss. But at the same time, I am certainly not one to say no to new experiences. I am extremely fortunate to have such great friends in the city and this Thanksgiving (my first ever Thanksgiving at that) was spent walking through the park, eating and drinking far too many glasses of wine with my wonderful friends. Well, would there be any better way to spend it? My darling friend Stayf Stefanie, took these snaps as we wondered through Central Park on the beautifully crisp day. The park was looking beyond splendid, packed to the brim with families who had all come into town for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and the most gorgeous little doggies all suited and booted in their little quilted coats. To say I am falling in love with this city would be an understatement.

Central Park

Manhattan is a city full of skyscrapers and grid-like streets with barely a tree or shrub in sight. However, as soon as you hit 59th Street you suddenly enter a beautiful oasis of green, with the smell of freshly cut grass seeping in through your nostrils. 

There is always so much to do in central park that all make you feel like your living in an episode of gossip Girl, but there were two activities on my 'to do' list which I had still left unticked;

1. Have a picnic in the park

2. Run round the entire circumference of the park

Of course one of these tasks is very simple. Who wouldn't want to sit on a tartan blanket, eat strawberries and sip on champagne whilst bathing in sunlight in one of the most iconic locations in America? However, the other task is one that I have continually kept on putting off, but unfortunately with no work, no more excuses and a beautiful blue sky above me, I just could not put it off any longer. 


So we set off. Whole foods bags in hand, to tick off two outstanding items on the New York bucket list.

Ever since reading Karen Swan's 'Christmas at Tiffany's' the "big run" has been something that I have always wanted to do (If you have not read this book, you really should! Ignore the fact that it has got 'Christmas' in the title - it is a perfect read for lying out on the sun-lounger on holiday in the sun!).

The route in red shows the killer 6.5 mile run that I managed to conquer despite the 90 degree heat outside. 

50 minutes later I got back to where I started and laid out (collapsed) for the whole rest of the afternoon whilst enjoying the glorious views of the great lawn and our even more glorious  (and well deserved) picnic.