October is my favourite month in New York City, because you get the bright blue skies and warm sunshine of late summer followed by the crisp air and golden foliage of autumn.

I flicked back to my October 2019 recap before beginning this post, and was reminded of how stressed I’d been about my upcoming visa application so I could start work in the US. My visa trip was very stressful and frustrating, but I also ended up having the best time visiting Perth for the first time and seeing my friends and family in Brisbane and Melbourne. I can’t believe that was a year ago! It seems like yesterday…but also like a lifetime ago, in a pre-covid world.

We’re leaving New York City.

We made the difficult decision this month to move back to Australia (and I am finishing this post in November, from Sydney hotel quarantine). While I’m sad to have our time in New York cut short, I’m genuinely grateful for the time I got to spend here and the lessons I learned along the way.

While part of me is sad to leave, I’m also really looking forward to the future. My quality of life in Australia is undoubtedly higher than it has been in NYC, even though I’ve had a lot of fun here. New York City is an amazing place and I will always love it, but 2020 has asked me to re-prioritize.

I’ll write more about this in a separate post soon!

Highlights

Autumn in New York City!

Autumn is the most beautiful time of year to be in New York City. Beautiful fall foliage has started the city’s annual glow up, especially in Central Park which gets more beautiful by the day in October. Pumpkin spice is out in full force, and this year I found a Pumpkin Spice Latte I actually like – the Pumpkin Pie Late at Urban Backyard in Nolita is delicious! And nothing like the saccharine Starbucks version. Plus, Urban Backyard has adorable pumpkin (flavoured & decorated!) cupcakes.

A perfect lazy Saturday morning.

After being woken up between 3am-5:30am thanks to three garbage trucks idling, reversing and generally clanking outside our apartment building, I didn’t rush out of bed and had a nice lazy morning. When we did get up, we walked to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village, stopping at Third Rail Coffee on the way for to-go coffess and a muffin. We sat in the park, listening and watching the world go by. Washington Square Park is always a hive of activity, even when the rest of the city is so much lonelier due to the pandemic. We listened to the fountain and the orchestral buskers, and a distant chant of “USA, USA, USA.” We watched lots of dogs, including one of the teeniest, tiniest puppies, people exercising, a one-to-one personal defense or martial arts class, and a group of elderly gentlemen playing bocce (and being interrupted by the aforementioned tiny puppy).

After we left the park, we had beakfast at Waverley Place Restaurant, one of the city’s most quintessential diners. Diner pancakes are delicious!

Beautiful red foliage in Father Demo square.

This small square in West Village was the first place I saw in New York this year to reach the brilliant red “peak” foliage.

A night out in Tribeca

David & I met our friend Lachlan in Tribeca, after unsuccessfully trying to get a table by the water, we walked further into Tribeca and had dinner at a cheap & cheerful Mexican spot followed by drinks at Brandy library.

A Weekend in the Hamptons!

We finally got away to the Hamptons for a weekend, after a super busy summer spent working. We stayed in Southampton, and visited East Hampton and Bridgehampton while we were there. I loved it – the beaches were lovelier than I expected, and I loved the country-meets-coast vibe in the backstreets and in the towns. We really wanted to come back for a weekend in Montauk before we left New York City, but we ran out of time.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden

I visited Brooklyn Botanic Garden with my friend Sally one Sunday afternoon, and made the most of the beautiful autumn foliage. My favourite spots were the Japanese Garden and the Rose Garden.

Empire State Building & Dinner in Koreatown

We’ve spent nearly two years in New York City and yet we’d never been to the top of the Empire State Building. Since the city is tourist-free right now, it’s a great time to go. We got straight up to the top with our timed tickets (I’ve read it usually takes 1-2 hours) and we had plenty of space on the viewing deck. Afterwards, we had dinner in Koreatown which is right nearby. I love Koreatown, and am so glad we got to go back before we left!

Central Park & The Upper West Side

Before we went to the Empire State Building, we took a walk through Central Park. We sat by the lake for a while and admired the beautiful fall foliage and the people watching. Note that we just took our masks off very briefly for this photo, we were masked up the rest of the time and had plenty of space between us and others. On our way there, we stopped at Grey’s Papaya on the Upper West Side, which is a NYC institution. Hot dogs start at $2.50 and are surprisingly delicious!

Restaurants & Bars

Misi, Williamsburg – I have wanted to have dinner at Misi since before I even moved to New York City. Somehow I stumbled upon the restaurant’s Instagram account years ago, and have been hooked on their behind the scenes photos ever since. My friend Sally & I finally went to dinner there this month, and it did not disappoint! The negroni sour & the famed sheepsmilk ricotta pasta were my favourite parts of the meal.

The Musket Room, Nolita – It has been our mission to get to all of the restaurants in our neighbourhood before we leave New York City (Nolita is only 3×3 blocks). We nearly hit our goal – we missed Wayan – but one of the restaurants I’ve been most keen to try is The Musket Room. It was recommended to me by a chef I worked with in Australia, who knew the chef here. I think its changed ownership very recently, but the restaurant was founded by someone from New Zealand, and so I felt right at home – the interiors reminded me so much of a Melbourne restaurant. Gorgeous, understated and moody with a beautiful attention to detail. The Musket Room has a Michelin star, and is elegant without feeling pretentious or showy. I loved everything we ordered – we started with kampachi crudo with green apple, yuzu & gooseberry and uni toast with poached shrimp. David had the squab and I had a delicious chickpea panisse with carrots, and we shared osmanthus pannacotta for dessert (definitely save room for this).

Read more: Nolita neighbourhood guide

L’Artusi at home – We treated ourselves to delivery from L’Artusi, one of the most popular Italian restaurants in the West Village, which was a huge treat since they’ve only started doing delivery since the pandemic started (and reservations are impossible to get).

Keene’s Steakhouse – To celebrate David’s last day working in the New York office, we went for dinner at a classic New York City steakhouse. We chose Keene’s Steakhouse because it’s one of the oldest, oozes New York City old world charm and the food sounded pretty good. My fish was fine, but David’s steak was mind blowing. We had such a nice time!

Balzem & Epistrophy – We’ve been trying to support small restaurants in our neighbourhood more recently, so we had dinner at Balzem and Epistrophy this month. They’re both lovely!

Spring Lounge – Once we realized we were leaving New York City, we made sure to get to our favourite local dive bar a few more times. I love the totally relaxed, unpretentious vibes at Spring Lounge, which is always jammed with locals.

Drinks at The Wren – After dinner at Misi, Sally and I headed back to the city and stopped at one of my favourite local pubs, The Wren, for a drink before heading home. It’s so cosy!

Macao Trading Co – I met up with a friend in Tribeca, a neighbourhood I don’t usually hang out in much, and tried Macao Trading Co. The cocktails and dumplings here are seriously impressive, highly recommend this spot!

Reading

I was surprised to read in my October 2019 recap that I’d just finished reading my 30th book of the year. Coincidentally, at the start of this October I finished reading my 60th book of the year! All this extra time inside has been great for my TBR list.

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote – I preferred Breakfast at Tiffanys. In Cold Blood is considered a masterpiece, and began the true crime genre. It’s a remarkable and impressive novel, but I found it a bit grim.

The Medici by Paul Strathern – After watching the Medici TV series on Netflix, I was inspired to learn more about this fascinating family. I ripped through this book, which brings history to life.

Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily & Amelia Nagoski – I first heard of this book when the authors were interviewed on Brene Brown’s podcast. They discussed what I think is one of the most interesting parts of the book on the show, and I was keen to dive a little deeper. I really enjoyed the parts of this book that deal with stress management, but the later parts of the book lost me a bit. It’s an easy read and has some really important ideas for mental health and wellbeing, but I did find the tone grating – one on hand, it blamed a lot of things on the patriarchy and yet at the same time, dumbed down scientific content for their female audience…

The House of The Spirits by Isabel Allende – I first read this book in my final year of highschool, and it was the focus for my final essay for the English Extention class I was taking. I loved it at the time, and so was happy to re-read it ten years later for my book club. It’s such an important novel, and is beautifully written, although I think I found it a bit more depressing this time, than I did the first time round!

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman – I LOVED this book. This was another book club pick, and it’s probably something I would have passed up on my own. It’s witty, perceptive and kind. One of my favourite books I’ve read this year.

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