Necessary NYC, such a necessary city!

I <3 New York!!!

I was so excited to finally meet NYC! And people are right when they say that you are surrounded by nice tall buildings, amazing fashion stores and people from all over the place! Finally I listen some portuguese in the streets! ;) It's kind of a melting pot in a concrete jungle! For me, it sounds awesome!
Our flight was cancelled because of the storms so our trip was reduced for only 2 days :( So, we just had time to see Manhattan and its must go places. And I feel like I didn't had time to take nice and different photos. My eyes were too tourist. I have to go again and fill my SD card with nice pics.
And do you want to know something? NYC has actually the same latitude as Aveiro (my hometown), isn't it nice? Cool! Just the ocean apart!

What NYC does have? (from the upper side to the bottom)

• Central park!! Huge Central Park! I really liked to have a walk there, it was so refreshing and revitalizing!
• Rockfeller Plaza, that is so 30 Rock! Go to the NBC store, they have nice merchandise about NBC TV shows.
• Walk the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, ... avenues... be amazed with all of the fashion stores. Just look at the fashion windows!
• You have to go to Times Square, specially at night. Go every night! Ah! And don't forget the M&M store: so original and colorful.
• Climb the Empire State Building! I was there in the evening (around 7pm) and it was magnificent! Some lights on..The view was super super amazing! But make sure that you have your coat on because was freakin' windy! I want to go there again, take more pictures and analyze each building! :D

• It has a little, little Italy (near by the big, big Chinatown :)) where you should definitely eat! Specially because some cute guys will come at you offering the menu.
• Since you are at the Lower Manhattan, go to the Brooklyn bridge (I should have walk to the other side.. 2km of length). I wish the weather was better, it was to cloudy. iac!
• Go to the 9/11 to get some chills :/ Is not finished but you can imagine the twin towers there..
• From the bottom of Manhattan, you can see the Statue of Liberty. And I just saw it from Manhattan's. The ferry seemed to me so romantic: crowded and shaking all over the places.. lol

And the art on the streets, god! I didn't have time to go to MoMa museum or the Metropolitan but I was so inspired in the streets, people and energy of the city! I <3 NYC!


Kiss,
JB*

Real Richmond!

I don't know how to start.. But Richmond is definitely a different city.. It doesn't have so many tall buildings like NYC, neither a lot of museums and memorials as DC neither the ocean so near as in Boston. I'm here since November and I'm still exploring this city.. For instance, yesterday I went to Broad st. for the First Fridays Art Walk. That was awesome! Every first friday of the month, the art galleries are open with new exhibitions, we can found street animations, live music.. that street just came to life! 

So, what does Richmond have?

• Maymont park with a mini-zoo and a beautiful gardens like the Japanese Garden.
• The white Virginia State Capitol surrounded by nice squirrels.
• Lovely Victorian style houses (I definitely have to do a post for this!)
• It has Jackson Ward, a historically Afro-American neighborhood. I like the houses with front porches, the barber shops full of people, the cars parked there..
• James river full of rapids and pools; nice for fishing, rafting and for swim (like a little Jacuzzi pool, maybe not so hot lol)
• The special Cardinal birds; so unique!
• It doesn't have subway :(, only bus (and it sucks on weekends!)..
• The Cary st. is awesome: the west side is good for shopping (stylish vintage stores) and the east side is for the pubs
• The beach is not that near (Virginia Beach is 2h away from here..) but it has the same latitude as the beautiful beach in Zambujeira do Mar, in Portugal.. Almost summer,yes!

I found that Richmond is very real and raw! Welcome to Richmond!


Kiss,
JB*

PS: Hey, by the way, did you already click LIKE on my facebook page? You will receive the updates from my blog and I will post also some photos from my everyday life..I hope you like it!

Me want cookies!

Oh cookies, cookies! I'm the kind of girl that is crazy about sweets: not candies or gummies but homemade cakes, cookies, muffins and chocolate..There must be two types of girls: some crazy about sweets, others crazy about salty.
And today I'm going to talk about COOKIES! Cookies are not a thing that I remember my mom or even my grandma doing.. I don't know, perhaps Portugal doesn't have a large history in cookies, I don't know.. However I always had some cookies at home, at least a packet of Maria cookies (I miss them!) :)
I was doing some research and I found that the word cookie originally came from the Dutch keokje, meaning "little cake" and the Dutch first popularized cookies in the United States. Cookies are consumed in 95.2 percent of U.S. households. Americans alone consume over 2 billion cookies a year, or 300 cookies for each person annually.
So, of course, I had to try the american cookies!!


Cappuccino Cookies with espresso and white chocolate. This was my first tray of cookies, and it turns out they were a success. Check here the recipe, her blog is adorable! She is american so nothing better than learn from her. You can try with some dark chocolate chips and pecan nuts too. The taste of coffee is something fantastic!

 
Chewy Low Fat Banana Nut Oatmeal Cookies. Another recipe that you have to try is these light cookies. The recipe is here. And by the way, this blog is very nice because Gina makes delicious low fat recipes.

Oh cookies, cookies! You are awesome, you know that? I have an entire book of cookies recipes to try! but you know what..the summer is almost here... I'm so sorry mister cookie! in another time (but I will assure you that will be on this life! c;)

Kiss,

JB*
P.S.: let me know if you have any questions about the recipes ;)

WoW Washington DC!

Next stop was: Washington DC, the "District" of Columbia! Is not a part of any state: neither Virginia nor Maryland. Is a sacred land! So it means that the Washington Dulles and the Ronald Reagan airports don't belong to Washington but they are actually from Virginia. hehe
So, after landing in Dulles, we took the subway to no man's land :P! Do you want to know what did we experience right before we arrive? Hot as hell (calor do catano!)! And, again, we weren't ready for that! God! So first the wind and cold in Boston..and now the hot,hot,hot weather in DC. grrr! In fact, we don't have many travelling experiences ...we are the so-called "the beginners"!
What did I think about DC? Well, built to be the capital of US. Basically, it's a nice and new city, with some tall buildings..and then, when you get closer to the "center", you have a sacred and immaculate strip of land full of MEMORIALS, MUSEUMS, MEMORIALS and more MUSEUMS! I mean, you don't imagine how big is that and how many things you can watch/visit and take photos. So, don't try to do that in one day! The center has all those museums but nothing else... I mean:and for that I mean: no starbucks, no deli markets, no stop subway stations,.. so funny right? You just have these yellow cars with hamburgers, hotdogs and pretzel, that took over the immaculate strip of land.
I enjoyed the city, we had some lucky with the hotel, very near from the immaculate strip of land..Oh, and guess what? When I had lost hope, with my luggage ready to go to the next stop, I finally found Zara, H&M, American Apparel, Macy's and Forever XXI in the same block...sweet!

What DC has?

• Mister Lincoln seated, looking at the city.
• It has a reflecting pool, but at the time it was under construction :s
• mini Chinatown (very light, considering the Chinese things lol) with some food and very important: Smoothie King..oh God!After our long walks (under the sun, should I remember you!)..nothing better than a fruity smoothie.
• nice Aquarium, fresh and protected from the sun :D
• a lot of Museums: we "just" saw the National Museum of Natural History and the National Gallery of Art.
• White house with Obama and his family doing a Easter party. hehe
• Madame Tussauds, because it is always fun to chill out with some famous and Very Important People (V.I.P.)
• Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, George Washington, Ronald Reagan, John Kennedy,etc.: they were all there!! ;)

Amazed?

Kiss,
JB*

PS: DC has the same latitude as Lisbon =)