20-Dollar Dates: Madison Square Eats

This post is part of a series entitled 20-Dollar Dates.  As the name suggests, I write about the activities or experiences that my husband and I enjoy, together, for twenty-ish dollars total. 

It's no secret that Mr. W. and I enjoy food (really, who doesn't?).  He likes to cook, I like to bake, and we both love to eat.  Each month, a significant portion of our budget goes towards food and food-related experiences. 

For our most recent 20-Dollar Date, we wanted to do something that involved lots of great food for not a lot of money.  Madison Square Eats was the perfect option.  It's a month-long outdoor food festival/market where various New York restaurants and vendors sell small portions of their dishes at reasonable prices.

Mr. W. and I have gone to Madison Square Eats for the past two years and enjoyed ourselves both times.  This year, we teamed up with Mr. W's younger brother and his girlfriend.  This is one of those activities that makes for a great double date.  The four of us decided to use the "divide and conquer" approach: two of us found a table and saved seats for our group (tables fill quickly) while the other two scouted out the booths and stood in line to purchase food. 

My favorite part about Madison Square Eats (besides the good, cheap food) is that we were able to try an assortment of new restaurants and food purveyors at the same time, and in the same fun location.  It's also a great way to learn about the hottest food trends, if that's your thing. 


And, you can't beat the prices.  The four of us spent just $50 in total for lunch, or $25 per couple.  We tried eight different dishes and shared everything.  There was so much food that no one was hungry enough to even consider eating dinner.  So, really, $25 per couple for lunch and dinner.  That's a great deal. 

These are the items we tried:

• Two tacos, beef and chicken, from Calexico ($6)
• Cheese tamale from Mexicue ($4)
• Green chile macaroni and cheese from Mexicue ($4)
• Two Vietnamese-style hotdogs from Asiadog ($9)
• Teriyaki shrimp balls from Mimi and Coco NY ($6)
• Broccoli rabe arancini from Arancini Brothers ($4)
• Two empanadas, beef and chicken, from La Sonrisa Empanadas ($8)
• Pork dumplings from Hong Kong Street Cart ($9)

If you're in the NYC area, please stop by Madison Square Eats!  If you do, I'd love to hear your take.  It's running through Friday, May 31st.  For more info, read here and here.

This post was not sponsored by Madison Square Eats, Urban Space NYC, or the Madison Square Park Conservancy. 

20-Dollar Dates: The Zoo

For this week's twenty-dollar date, Mr. W. and I went to...the zoo! 




I remember loving the zoo when I was growing up in California.  My parents bought an annual family membership to the San Diego Zoo and we generally used it several times per year.  Like many children, I was most fascinated by the large, exotic mammals: elephants, rhinos, giraffes, zebras, and lions.  And pandas.  Definitely pandas. 

My parents thought it was important to take us to the zoo for the educational component.  With each visit, my mother would ensure we saw the polar bears and the penguins.  Then, she would instruct us to read those informational plaques about their respective habitats.  She was very concerned that we might mistakenly believe that polar bears and penguins lived in the same habitat.  You know, on account of those cheerful but misleading Coca-Cola commercials.    

 

Mr. W. also has fond memories of the zoo, with one glaring exception.  It's the "glaring exception" story that I find amusing.  See, when he was twelve years old, his parents planned a family vacation to Washington, D.C.  His family would spend a week visiting museums, monuments, and memorials.  They also planned to visit the national zoo.  As might be expected of a pre-teen boy, Mr. W. convinced himself that this was going to be the Worst Vacation Ever.  He also tried to express this opinion to anyone within earshot. 

But then, he learned that the national zoo had a Komodo Dragon.  He'd never seen a Komodo Dragon in person, and was excited by the prospect.  Suddenly, the vacation didn't seem so boring.  During the entire road trip from New Jersey to D.C., he learned as much as he could about the Komodo Dragon.  By the time they arrived in D.C., he was a Komodo Dragon expert: he knew what they ate, where they lived, how large they could get, how long they lived, etc. 

When his family visited the national zoo, they made a beeline for the Komodo Dragon enclosure.  Mr. W. could barely contain his enthusiasm.  But something was very wrong.  The Komodo Dragon enclosure was...empty.  Instead, there was a sign that read, "Komodo Dragon is currently on loan to another zoo.  We apologize for the inconvenience." 

Mr. W. was devastated.  For all his tough-guy exterior, he's really a softie.  He was heartbroken that he still wouldn't get to see the Komodo Dragon.  As I'm sure you can imagine, the rest of the week in D.C. really was the Worst Vacation Ever.


Fast forward fifteen years. 


On Saturday, Mr. W. and I went to the Turtle Back Zoo.  As with the miniature golf course that I featured in last week's post, this zoo is county-owned.  We had been to Turtle Back before, but were looking forward to some of the newly opened exhibits. 

One of these new exhibits included a Komodo Dragon who was, thankfully, NOT on loan to another zoo. 




Komodo Dragon!

I've been to a few regional zoos similar to Turtle Back.  Here are some things that I like about these smaller-scale zoos:


Pros:

• Very affordable ticket prices ($11 per adult at Turtle Back.  By comparison, the San Diego Zoo currently charges $44.  The national zoo is free)
• Many exhibits focus on North American animals. 
• Smaller scale is perfect for families with young children since you can see the entire zoo in approximately two hours.
• Animals are less likely to be on loan to other zoos.  

Cons:

• No pandas.  Or tigers.  (but they have mountain lions and bears, oh my!)
• You can see the entire zoo in approximately two hours

It was a great date, especially since the Komodo Dragon was there. 

PS.  I saw this sign near the wolf enclosure. 

I think this "Fun Fact" is intended to reassure guests that wolf attacks are uncommon.  But the statement includes so many qualifications that any of the following could still be true without contradicting the "Fun Fact":

*In North America there have been human fatalities from provoked attacks by healthy wolves.
*In North America there have been human fatalities from unprovoked attacks by unhealthy wolves.
*In North America, there have been unprovoked, non-fatal attacks by healthy wolves.
*There have been human fatalities from unprovoked attacks by healthy wolves outside of North America.

P.P.S.  I'm not a wolf expert, so I'm not saying that any of those things are true.  I'm just saying that they could be true, based on the construction of the sentence.

20-Dollar Dates: Miniature Golf

A few weeks ago, Mr. W. suggested that we start arranging a weekly date night.  Although we're newlyweds, we've been a couple since April of 2005.  That's a long time!  After eight years, we're very comfortable spending time together.  We have many of the same interests and many of the same friends.  But we'd also like to keep our relationship interesting and exciting.  That's where date night comes in.  And really, how could I turn down a date with my husband?

Every week, one of us is responsible for planning a date night activity.  We also decided to set a $20-$25 limit for these dates.  In our household budget, we set aside $150 per month for joint discretionary funds.  In the past, this has typically gone towards dinner(s) at a nice restaurant.  But now, we'll use most of our joint discretionary funds towards our date night activities. 

For my first date, I decided on...mini golf! 

Image credit: Image credit: mg7 / 123RF Stock Photo

I honestly can't recall ever playing miniature golf before.  I must have played at least once, right?  Perhaps at a friend's birthday party or during a Girl Scout outing.  I feel like everyone plays mini golf some time in their childhood.  Well, it turns out that my lack of experience was readily apparent.  I'm pretty awful at it.  And Mr. W is pretty darn good, which was slightly irritating to me (not that I'm competitive, or anything).  But it was fun nonetheless. 



We went mini-golfing on a Saturday afternoon.  So I guess it was more of a "date day" than a "date night."  As we expected, there were lots of children.  But we were also pleasantly surprised to see that there were plenty of other couples without children.  This particular course had a safari theme, complete with a lion, a gorilla, and a hippo.  The theming was a little cheesy, but certainly creative.  It was an 18-hole course, which took us approximately 90-minutes to finish.  We went to a course that is part of a public recreation complex, so the tickets were less expensive than they would have been at a private mini-golf park.  Total cost: $8/each, or $16 total.  Score!


What's miniature golf without a lion?

This was the "desert" section.  Notice the camel and the pyramids. 

As long as Mr. W. and I continue our 20-Dollar Dates, I'm planning to make these posts a regular feature.  I'd love to hear about ways that you and your significant other plan cheap dates together!