Foodie Review - NY

You may already know this about me but... I love food. Not just eating it — everything about it. Cooking it, reading about it, watching TV and movies about it... you name it. As I type, I'm struggling to stay focused because I have Food Network on. I thought it would be an appropriate mood setter for this post :)

I come by my love for food honestly. The Klein family is all about it. Kameron has a good chuckle pretty much any time I'm on the phone with my family because 9 times out of 10, food will come up. We want to know what you ate, where you ate, what you're going to eat, what you're cooking. Guess it's God's grace that we're not all a bunch of fatties!

Moving along, this is why I have a post devoted solely to the food we got to enjoy during our time in New York. If it bores you, I apologize — but I know some of you out there will really appreciate it!

Before I begin, let's not forget about the best.steak.ever that we got to experience while in Brooklyn. It definitely deserves a shout out on this post and you can read all about it here.

Let's start with pizza, something you just can't get away from while in New York! Here are a few of the places we got to sample...

The famous Grimaldi's! Check out the line in front of us. I'm so glad we were mentally prepared to wait.

Here's a view of all the goods as well as all the great company!

Some more of Kam's fabulous faces while modeling with our Olde Brooklyn Root Beer. The KamPughs love their pizza and root beer...

Post Grimaldi's smiles! I love eating good food with my husband. 

The next place [which may have been our favorite] was L & B Spumoni Gardens. I've included a quick video below from the TV show Man vs. Food. He visited Spumoni Gardens and this clip shows how they make their pizza. Spoiler alert: the cheese is underneath the sauce. Oh my...

Another table of wonderful pizza and sweet community. We all came here after Jill's baptism. 

Left: Yummy Sicilian pizza - "the square" // Right: We had to try the Spumoni at Spumoni Gardens. It was... interesting. I'm still not sure how I feel about pistachio. 

There were many other NY pizza experiences that I failed to document - one of which being Nino's. This was right down the street from us in Bay Ridge and I was definitely a fan [shout out Kristi Cabe!]

Moving right along... here are some shots from our Shake Shack experience.

We went to the original one in Madison Square Park. Shake Shack is another place where you must be prepared to wait in line. This was our third attempt to eat at Shake Shack (we bailed the first two times because of our state of hunger and the length of the line!). So this time we arrived before they opened to get in line- hardcore. 

Best eating buddy EVER - and definitely the cutest :)

I took the picture on the right so that we could check out the menu and get our order down before we got up to the window. Gotta love that super zoom...

Our burgers, cheese fries, lemonade, and vanilla shake (after all, it is called the Shake Shake) were definitely worth the wait.    

The next place I'm about to showcase may have been the most dangerous— Max Brenner. Oh my chocolate...

Our first visit (yes, there was more than one) to Max Brenner's was with Molly and Justin Rigoloso. Not only are they wonderful, fun people, but they know where all the good food is. My kind of people :)

Just hanging out with some huge vats of milk and white chocolate. No big deal. 

Why hello best dessert ever. This beauty involved two sweet waffles topped with one scoop of dulce de leche ice cream and another scoop of chocolate ice cream. Throw in some whipped cream, chocolate covered crispy things and an additional vial of  melted chocolate goodness and you have a winner. My goodness I want some more now.

So happy...

Bad lighting, but this was our second time at Max Brenner. We took my family when they came to visit. This time, we ate dinner there too (not just dessert). They have wonderful regular food as well. We were very pleased! 

Now that I'm salivating... I'll close with some fun shots of us truly getting the NY food experience.

First food truck experience! It was much better than we expected, but also more expensive than we expected...

So maybe a 7-11 slurpee isn't iconic New York, but it definitely became a classic experience with some of our Bay Ridge friends [the Cabes started it...]. This is Kameron at 11:00pm, the night before he preached at Cornerstone. An extremely large Mountain Dew slurpee with a Sour Punch slurpee straw [yes, you read that correctly] is just what every young pastor needs for optimal sermon prep :)

Well that concludes this Foodie Review. Thank you to those who stuck with me through the entire post. You may now go raid your refrigerator.

The Many Faces of Kam

For those of you who do not know, my husband has some great facial expressions. That's probably why 90% of the pictures we take together are ridiculous, because we're more comfortable looking dramatic than normal. As you can imagine, this can make life living by his side quite entertaining. Just take a look...

As we were riding on the bus one day in Manhattan, we realized we were passing the Plaza Hotel. If Home Alone 2 is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear "the Plaza Hotel," then you and my husband would be fast friends. So naturally we had to do a quick funny face in front of this fabulous landmark.

One of our first Saturdays in New York was spent at the Natural History Museum. It was interesting, but definitely not what I expected. When you are completely bombarded by an evolutionary worldview everywhere you turn, you have to find a way to lighten the mood. Enter Kameron Pugh and his dinosaurs...

And then there was the mammoth...

I'm thankful that the Lord has given me a man who can make me laugh and keep me entertained, all the while answering my serious and intense questions about the Lord and His creation. Yes I know, he's a keeper.

Speaking of being a keeper, I'll leave you with a Kam face that makes me weak :) I captured this one day while babysitting for the Tubbs (this is sweet Caleb). Here's a little foreshadowing for you of what's to come in the Pugh home— Kam, his boy, and his book. Hopefully they'll make room for me!

Emma

Here are some photos I've been editing of my beautiful niece from our time together in New York. Isn't she lovely?

Coney Island Adventures

Our dear friends in Bay Ridge just spent a day in Coney Island with some volunteer teams so I thought it would be appropriate to share about the day we got to spend there during our last week in New York.

It was a beautiful day and I was very thankful for the nice cool wind that was blowing. Coney Island is basically a giant fair on the beach, but in my mind it has a bit more legitimacy than those creepy ones they set up in abandoned parking lots [given its more appealing location]!


As we were walking on the beach, I realized that this was the first time I'd ever been at the beach with Kameron. Hooray for making memories! I guess it was Haddon's first visit as well — me and my boys at the beach for the first time ever :)

A handful of families joined us on our adventure, so the picture below gives you a glimpse of some of the Brooklyn folks that have a dear place in our hearts. As I was going through my pictures to pick good ones to show, I died when I came across this one! Apparently, I snapped a shot at the exact moment sweet Sophia had an accidental splash in the ocean. I thought it would be fun to provide you with an up close view of the action :)

A famous part of Coney Island is the Cyclone, a wooden roller coaster built in 1927. My pregnant self was unable to ride, but Kam got to enjoy the adventure with his boys, Kevin and Jeremy.

Don't you just love my husband? I didn't think I had captured this until I zoomed in real close. Haddon's going to be a mess…

Aren't you so glad he got to ride the American Legend? Apparently 3 people have died as a result of this American Legend... I'm thankful I heard of these occurrences after my husband was safely by my side. 

Another iconic piece of Coney Island is Nathan's. My family [the Kleins, definitely not my husband!] has been enjoying Nathan's franks for a while [Kam hates hotdogs...]. They really are the best hot dogs I've ever eaten. Well at Coney Island, we got the joy of eating at the original restaurant. I had been dreaming about a corn dog at Coney Island ever since I heard it existed. The dream was finally fulfilled.

I promise I do care about our unborn child. I'm sure he appreciated the fries covered in nacho cheese and the hot dog surrounded by fried battered goodness…

We ended the day by going to the aquarium. I must have gotten tired of taking pictures because I have nothing to show from our time there. It was fun though. I'm glad we got to finish our day out there. It was even better being able to go for free [thanks Lesley!].

Thus concludes our Coney Island experience. Hope you enjoyed the recap!

A Bagpipe, a Kilt, & a NYC Street Corner

I know I've been on a music kick here on the blog, so I might as well keep up the theme! This gem of a performance was welcoming us as we came out of the subway station at Union Square. I know nothing about bagpipes or the skills it takes to play one, but I'm pretty sure this guy was legit... Enjoy!

The Music Scene — Part 2: Hymn Sing

So I mentioned in a previous post, that my husband was 2 for 2 in his music discoveries during our time in New York. Here is number two...

We love hymns and we love Derek Webb and Sandra McCracken (Webb), so naturally we were delighted to find that this was going on while we were in town.

Kameron wanted us to pose for a picture underneath this banner, making the same facial expressions, but I wasn't ready for a photo op like that. Okay, so maybe that's not completely true. I may have suggested a pose of this nature, but only to make Kam nervous. I would never really make him go through with it :)

So how about that? A hymn sing in NYC with two of our favorite singer/songwriters! It was a refreshing night to soak in truths that have been sung for many years by many saints all over the world. It also added to the experience to be in the beautiful building where Central Presbyterian Church comes together to worship.

Just a little artsy pre-show shot for ya...

Above is a clip of some sweet husband and wife harmony action from the end of Thy Mercy My God.

So it was mainly the Sandra show with hubby as her backup [which was completely fine because she's amazing], but I do miss hearing Derek wail like he used to. Another clip for you...

Soon oh soon, when the trumpet sounds every knee shall bend, every heart will pound 

There will be a new world, where the servant is the King 

oppression will be over, and the slave set free 

Justice will roll down, oh justice will roll down 

From high upon those mountains with a mighty river sound 

It will roll down; It will roll down

This last video is one of my favorite Sandra songs so I definitely wanted to record it, but didn't have a good view of her. Therefore, I decided to give you a tour of the beautiful venue we were in. [lyrics listed below]

Not to be morbid, but I wouldn't mind this being sung at my funeral. [right J-Stow?]

Rock of Ages, when the day seems long 

From this labor and this heartache I have come 

The skies will wear out, but You remain the same 

Rock of Ages, I praise Your name. 

Rock of Ages, You have brought me near 

You have poured out Your life-blood, Your love, Your tears 

To make this stone heart come alive again 

Rock of Ages, forgive my sin 

Rock of Ages, Rock of Ages 

Bind your children til' your kingdom comes 

Rock of Ages, Your will be done 

Rock of Ages, when in want or rest 

My desperate need for such a Savior I confess 

Pull these idols out from my heart embrace 

Rock of Ages, I need Your grace 

Rock of Ages, broken, scorned for me 

Who am I that You would die to make me free? 

To give me glory, You took the death and pain 

Rock of Ages, my offering 

Rock of Ages, "It is done," You cried 

The curtain's torn and I see justice satisfied 

Now write Your mercy here on my heart and hands 

Rock of Ages, in faith I stand 

Rock of Ages, my great hope secure 

Your promise holds just like an anchor to my soul 

Bind your children with cords of love and grace 

Rock of Ages, we give You praise

The Cornerstone Setup

It's hard to believe that our time in Bay Ridge is done and I'm sitting in my living room in Auburn typing this post. As my husband so accurately put it, "We're excited to get home but not excited to leave." Well, we're home and it was sweet to be back with our Lakeview family, but I couldn't help but think and pray about our sweet Cornerstone friends gathering together 993 miles north [yes, I googled the distance]. I also had the added bonus of my husband heading out to New Orleans for the Southern Baptist Convention early this morning, so needless to say, I'm feeling really sorry for myself right now :)

Given my current sentiments, I thought today would be a good opportunity to give you a glimpse of what is happening every Sunday morning at the Gregory Hotel in Bay Ridge Brooklyn as the Cornerstone family gathers for worship. A lot of work goes into this set up, so don't neglect the opportunities to serve your church in what may seem like not very important ways. All manpower is a huge blessing to those that are doing this on a weekly basis.

So as I mentioned earlier, Cornerstone meets in a room they rent from a local hotel. The hotel is gracious to have chairs and tables already set up, but more often than not, they need to be rearranged :)

Due to people's schedules, music practice happens Sunday morning before the service.

Kevin is on the left. He and his wife, Kristi, came to Cornerstone in March through NAMB and are committed to serve for at least 2 years. He, like Nathan, is bi-vocational. David is on the right. He and his family were the first to join Nathan and Lesley as they began this new work in Bay Ridge.

David rocking out on the left. Nathan and Lesley [the Tubbs] on keyboard and percussion.

Jeremy doing it big in ProPresenter. He and his family are faithful members of the Cornerstone family.

There's always a guarantee of coffee and donuts for all to enjoy. Sophia [left] is Nathan and Lesley's oldest. Even [right] is David and Jill's oldest—they just had their second girl on the 1st.

Pre-service: main room, full view.

The other side of the room [which they block off with a partition] is transformed into the nursery. They have done a fabulous job of bringing this together to have a fun, safe place for the kids to go in order to free up their parents.

So there's a glimpse into what's going on Sunday mornings for the folks at Cornerstone. I pray that the Lord would continue to bring people their way to the point that they may need to do some rearranging!

And since I'm missing my husband, here's a little love shot of us at roomie Jessa's wedding a while back. Man he's good lookin... Happy Father's Day to that cutie!