Fan for Life:)

So let's cut to the chase...the highlight of my day yesterday:  I GOT TO MEET JILLIAN MICHAELS!!!!!!!!!!JJJ

And can I just say that she was the absolute SWEETEST person EVER!!!!  She gave everyone a hug, posed for pictures, chatted for a few minutes and made everyone feel very welcome and relaxed;)  A far cry from that 'tough exterior' she has on the showJ  Loved her before and I REALLLLLLLLY love her now!  JUST. SO. NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So the rest of the day was spent on a probably "non-Jillian approved" activity:  Another 'Snack through the city day' in NYC:)  Ya gotta have those ever so often, ya know? J

Our first stop was to a place called "Trailer Park"....and much like it's name: 

....this place ROCKED IT OUT with gaudy/tacky decor.  I was in love the moment I spied Christmas lights and tinselJ 

Oh, and let's not forget the turntable of Tonya Harding memorabilia....AMAZINNNG! 

Their menu wasn't uber extensive...even though I still had a tough time deciding between a burger & a sloppy joeJ  But since I didn't want to make TOO much of a mess of myself at just our first food stop, a burger prevailedJ 

Loaded with bacon & grilled onions....and served with the highlight of the meal:  The TOTSJ 

And despite it's cheeky interior, the food was actually pretty quality!  Trailer Park is a totally cute & fun place to try out! 

And since the wind gusts had picked up once we left Trailer Park, we headed a few short blocks over to Mario Batali's new Italian food mecca:  Eaterly.  Do you want ANYTHING Italian??????  You'll find it alllllllll in this 50,000 square foot Italian fun house!  Everything from fresh pasta.... 

...rows upon rows of dried pasta... 

...fresh meats... 

...an OBSCENE amount of cheese... 

...as well as coffee, chocolates, pizza, bread, seafood, restaurants...you name itJ

And we couldn't NOT make a stop at the gelato shopJ I sampled the almond cookie (sooooo good!) and the fresh milk gelato (subtle & sweet)....

Both were delicious, but my friend got the CLEARRRRR winner in the Coconut!  (I know, WHY I didn't get it was beyond me! J) It was the most flavorful and smooth coconut gelato ever...YUM!!!! 

After Eaterly, the skies cleared up so we decided to take the looong walk down to Soho to this little place I happened upon the last time I was in the city: 

OK???  Now calling your shop straight up "The Best Chocolate Cake in the World" is a pretty BOLD statement, if I do say so myself, so your kinda just settin yourself up with that one.

We ordered a slice of the traditional (53% cocoa), as well as the bittersweet (70% cocoa) cake to share:

OK...and now here's the weird part:  It didn't really even taste like cake at all!!!!!!  It was almost sort of a mousse surrounded by a crust made of meringue and coated with chocolate ganache.  Was it bad?  Of course not.  But best in the world????  Well, not likely.....at least not in the CAKE division, since I repeat: It really didn't TASTE like cake at all.  The milk chocolate one pretty much dissolved in your mouth as soon as you tasted it from the meringue layers.  I'd definitely rank it as "The best strange chocolate experience in the world" hahahahaha 

And our last little food stop....well, this one took us from Italy to Japan;)  I had spied Minamoto Kitchoan in a book my friend had given me on gourmet shops of New York and was transfixed by the picture of these:

Fascinating, right??

And once I found out those little "Sakuranbos" were the specialty items for the spring (in honor of the Japanese 'cherry blossom festivals'), I knew it was time to make a pilgrimageJ

The shop was as modern as those "cherry ice cubes," with several cases stocked with intricate little delicacies... 

Unfortunately, the "ice cube cherries" were made of gelatin, which had partially dissolved when we opened their little wrapper.  So I don't have a good picture for you, but can say that they tasted like little cherry explosionsJ

We also decided to crack open this little treat, which was also a "spring/cherry blossom specialty" with a 24 hour expiration date (a little scaryJ).  It was a cherry...ummm....how to describe it??  The outer coating was a firm gelatin and was surrounded by a sweet bean center.... 

Between the "cherry cube" and the 'wagashi,' Minamoto Kitchoan certainly provided some of the most interesting sweets I've ever triedJ

But of course, the highlight of the day was heading over to meet Jillian!!  How funny is she?  She totally kicked off her shoes for the whole night (calling her publicist a bitch for making her wear heels to begin with...love herJ) and climbed up on the table to yell at the various "Biggest Loser" contestants who showed up for the night to make them mingle with the hundreds and hundreds of folks in the crowd waiting to meet her;) 

We caught glimpses of the current season's Olivia (she looks AMAZING!!!), Jay & Jen.... 

As well as last season's Mark & "Biggest Loser" winner Patrick (no picture of PatrickL)  

A super fun day capped off by me being a Jillian Michaels fan for LIFE!J  

Hope you enjoyed my NYC recap;)  I just mayyybbe brought a few goodies home with me that I'll show you over the next few days/weeks (some of that stuff just HAD to go right into the freezer for laterJ)

Have a great Wednesday!