NY Adventure Part 1: My 41st Birthday!

Hi everyone! I hope you're all doing well. I'm sorry I missed Saturday's post! As you can see from the title, I had spent some time in NY and was so drained from the travel day back I just rested all weekend. But I'm excited to share some highlights from my trip and some delicious meals that I had! Unfortunately, I'm out of practice and only photographed a couple of my meals so I can't share all of the amazing vegan meals I had, but I do have some pretty great ones to show you!

Before I get into the photos for this first post (there will be another post this weekend about my adventure at the Storm King Art Center), I'll share a little bit about the trip that wasn't documented. I noticed that flights to NY were VERY inexpensive for my birthday week and my mom really wanted me to come back so she treated me to a flight to visit. I'm so incredibly grateful and lucky to have a supportive family who didn't want me to be alone for my birthday and I had such a great time visiting. I went in with very few plans and once I got home my calendar filled up and I ended up being so busy! I was exhausted by the time I got back but my heart was full from all of the love that I received from my family and friends.

I knew that I really wanted to try to get to the newly reopened Cindysnacks, which had moved locations and is now a vegan deli and market. Their menu looked incredible and I am such a sucker for vegan breakfast. Within the first day or two of getting home I spent some time with my brother and he drove me out to Cindysnacks and treated me to this amazing breakfast sandwich! It's called the McCindy and it is a vegan version of a McGriddle, and had vegan sausage, egg and cheese between two pancakes. You guys. This thing was incredible! It was made fresh and so amazing. They add maple syrup to the pancakes and the combination of sweet and savory is perfect. I'm so glad I got out to Cindysnacks and was able to try this sandwich!

Since they are also a market I picked up a few hard to find items, including the vegan Kit Kats!! They are delicious and I am so glad that they had them and that I got to try them!

Once we picked up my sandwich, we found a local tiny beach and I enjoyed my breakfast (ok brunch) with a gorgeous view.

As you can see, it was an absolutely beautiful day!

Look at that sky!!! 😍

I absolutely adore the desert but I do miss the water while I'm away.

My birthday was later on that week and I tried to figure out a way to have my family have kind of the same kind of meal. I'm the only vegan in the family and wanted to figure out something that everyone would enjoy. I wanted to stay in rather than go to a restaurant so I decided on Italian food. I thought I could grab my meal from a restaurant with a vegan menu and my family ordered from one of their favorite places. I ordered vegan baked ziti with vodka sauce instead of marinara and it was delicious! I got many meals out of this dish and I think the dinner worked out perfectly!

For dessert I really wanted to get some Shuga Pies. These are a vegan dessert almost like a whoopie pie but so much better! I knew my family would love them. My mom and I took a ride out to the store that morning and ordered a bunch of flavors fresh that morning and after I took these photos we cut them up so everyone could try different flavors. My favorite was the bottom right of this top photo with the drizzle. It was a coffee hazelnut chocolate flavor and it was incredible!

Here are some additional flavors that we tried, including funfetti and death by chocolate. They were a huge hit with my family and it's always a win when everyone can enjoy vegan treats together, whether you're vegan or not.

As I mentioned, I was thoroughly spoiled this trip and had a lot of really great meals. Some unpictured meals include a dinner at my favorite Chinese restaurant in NY that has a vegan menu, a great diner for birthday breakfast with my mom (also has a full vegan menu), NY bagels, and a meal with some more friends at the same pizza place I picked up my birthday dinner. As you can tell by this list, I hit up all the New York staples that I miss the most when I'm away: Chinese food, diner food, pizza, and bagels. It was all delicious and I'm so grateful to everyone for making my birthday so special!

That's all I have for today! I hope you all have a wonderful week and I'll see you this weekend to wrap up my NY trip! 💜