{"id":423,"date":"2015-11-08T20:15:22","date_gmt":"2015-11-08T20:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/?p=423"},"modified":"2015-11-08T20:15:22","modified_gmt":"2015-11-08T20:15:22","slug":"weekend-in-long-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/?p=423","title":{"rendered":"Weekend In Long Island"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>For as much as I adore my hometown, sometimes I need a break from the relentless hustle and bustle of NYC.\n

As I\u2019ve mentioned before, one of my favorite places to unwind from city life is Long Island. I\u2019m very fortunate to have several loved ones who are LI residents and last weekend, I had the pleasure of catching up with two of them.<\/p>\n

Saturday, I headed out east to visit my cousin Carla. Our first stop\u2013Verace<\/a>, an airy Italian bistro located on Babylon\u2019s charming main street. The friendly staff was in the Halloween spirit, dressed as nerds while serving delicious fare (eggplant caponata pasta and flounder oreganata for me, burrata ravioli for C).<\/p>\n

\"20151031_210853\"<\/a>

The gypsy and the owl: Me and Carla at Molto Vino<\/p><\/div>\n

After dinner and changing into our own costumes, we headed over to wine bar Molto Vino. Bustling with spirited locals and a jovial waitstaff, it was the perfect spot for people watching (Marty McFly and a mobster were among the costumed characters) and enjoying a festive Halloween night.<\/p>\n

Settling ourselves at the bar, Carla and I savored a few glasses of red sangria as we talked about milestone birthdays and winter travel plans. It was the perfect Halloween night\u2013low key fun with one of my favorite family members.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, I spent the afternoon with galpal Julie. Our destination\u2013Bar Frites<\/a> in Greenvale, which with its buzzy vibe and French charm, reminded me of NYC\u2019s currently-closed Pastis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We both treated ourselves to the decadence of a croque madame sandwich while having the kind of soul soothing conversation that reminds you what a blessing it is to have good friends.<\/p>\n

One of the subjects that came up\u2013the mental shift that accompanies entering your forties. With three decades of life and learning behind you, this is the era of being truly comfortable in your own skin, of fully embracing your choices without apology or explanation. I\u2019m also discovering that it is a time for letting go of the past and focusing squarely on what\u2019s right in front of you.<\/p>\n

Like the saying goes, the present truly is a gift. Especially when you\u2019re fortunate to have wonderful people to share it with.<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For as much as I adore my hometown, sometimes I need a break from the relentless hustle and bustle of NYC. As I\u2019ve mentioned before, one of my favorite places to unwind from city life is Long Island…. Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"New Blog Post: Weekend In Long Island #nycgal","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[52,11,53,41],"tags":[140,138,139,141],"class_list":["post-423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catching-up-with-good-friends","category-dining-out","category-long-island","category-weekend-getaways","tag-bar-frites","tag-halloween","tag-molto-vino","tag-verace"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4J0fq-6P","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=423"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":428,"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423\/revisions\/428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}