Ahhhhh New York City! We knew we were back in NYC when at the airport, 90% of the women (and even the little girls) were dressed in the prerequisite black leggings and boots. I felt like such an outsider in my newly adopted home. Next time I may have to tuck in an NYC re-entry outfit as part of my luggage. On the Shuttle bus back from LaGuardia airport, I sat across from an older woman (at least older than me ; > ) who was wearing big Chanel sunglasses (as indicated by the bling on the temples) and leopard skin pumps! Too much fun.....My little 7 month old grand niece is visiting later this week and I think I will look for a tiny pair of black leggings and boots that she can wear while here so she will be styling like the natives.
We got off the shuttle at the Port Authority Bus Station on 42nd (just one block from our apartment) and we're back in all the glory of Times Square--our home neighborhood. It was a very satisfying moment. I hope I don't ever lose that sense about Times Square. I know many New Yorkers absolutely loathe it but it has it's purpose in helping to define NYC and so should be embraced rather than distained. Again, I think that now--who knows what I will think in a couple of years.
We had a most excellent time with Amma and the many others who attended the programs she led. Great way to start the holiday season and be back in touch with so many of our Seattle friends. A big SHOUTOUT to all who let me know they are reading my blog!
So this next week should reap lots of new entries and hopefully some good pics and links as I join my niece, her husband, and their baby on futher discoveries in NYC during their upcoming 5 day visit.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Friday, November 19, 2010
I already miss NYC
Bob and I are leaving tomorrow for a nine day trip to CA and MI to spend time with our beloved spiritual teacher and other devotees. While I am looking very forward to seeing Amma and many friends of ours, I am already missing New York. I've been doing a lot of walking around the city this week, sometimes 6 to 7 miles a day. As I discover more and more of it, I just get sucked in deeper and deeper into loving this city. Pretty much every neighborhood I wander about in, I can see us living in that neighborhood (sans the East Village or too far north Manhattan). With Christmas just around the corner, the magic is really starting to rev up here. It's quite special to be witness to it. I've been doing a lot of power discount shopping this week, checking out all the Housing Works thrift stores as well as the major discount designer stores throughout the city (east village, gramercy, UES, UWS, west village, midtown) . I've been having a lot of fun finding dirt cheap designer clothes to build up a more NYC fashion look. We also saw two plays this week, All Through the Night, a one man show about African American men. The actor, Daniel Beaty, is absolutely amazing in his fluidity to be able to populate the entire play single handedly for all the characters, male and female, adult and child. I scored cheap complimentary tickets with my Gold Club theatre mania membership. What a great treat to see this play. It was performed in a theatre off of Union Square, so it was fun to be in that part of town for the evening, just a 15 minute subway ride from our apartment. Loving it! Then tonight we went to see the Pitmen Painters, a rare non-musical on Broadway. It was a very well done production. We had a bit of a celebration tonight because our house is SOLD! The sale closed today for us and that chapter of our life is now behind us. For the first time in decades, we are completely debt free. Pretty amazing when you really think about it. We had dinner at a really great sushi place just a block from where we live, can't remember the exact name but it was really good. I can see us being regulars there. Cruised through four special holiday artist bazaars today (midtown, grand central station, St.Barts, Bryant Park). Saw some really beautiful creations but all pretty pricey--not quite there yet feeling comfortable dropping that much cash on anything. It was fun just to look. Got some bad news about my psychology license. Turns out it will take a lot longer than I expected--more requirements than I initially understood. It's mostly a waiting game now with WA state having to go through their archived records to find the necesssary info to mail to NY state but it could take months. So just plodding along with the process. So this will likely be my last entry for a while...........Happy Thanksgiving!!
Monday, November 15, 2010
more observations about Brooklyn
The other observations I forgot to mention was that immediately coming off the Brooklyn Bridge on the Brooklyn side is the preponderance of buildings owned by the Jehovah's Witness. They have a complex of buildings with the Watchtower logo that spans across several blocks, exceptional prime real estate I would think. It was interesting. Another thing is that we didn't see one single taxi while walking from the bridge to Prospect Park in Park Slope. People drive themselves I guess. Lastly, there was a very dense Middle Eastern business section where we were walking between Brooklyn Heights and Park Slope. If we had more time, we would have poked around in some of those stores or had a bite to it. Okay, that's it.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Rhythms of Life in NYC
After two plus months of living in NYC, a rhythm of life is starting to emerge for how the time goes. Every morning starts with my spiritual practice of meditation, chanting, and prayers. I've been able to expand my spiritual practice now that I live at a much slower pace. It's one of the best parts of having more time. Mondays are shaping up to be days for "maintenance" : laundry, groceries, cleaning the apartment, and making a stab at tackling all the reading that has accumulated with the delivery of the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday New York times and the weekly New Yorker and New York Magazine that arrive on Mondays. Reading the paper when it arrives on the weekend is hard to do because the weekend is usually packed with activity. It's sometimes a bit overwhelming seeing that stack of reading material staring me down. I feel obligated to plow through it since I don't like wasting money and I did subscribe to all these reading sources. Part of the "problem" is that they are all well written and all have great informative articles across the spectrum and list after list of happenings for activities in and around the city. So to stay "au courant," I make every effort to get through the stack. Middle of the week is catching up on emails, errands, READING, internet related searches for upcoming travel or whatever, figuring out my work situation (still trying to get my NYC professional license secured-just hit another snafu and I applied for a part time job, also still doing some UW work related things) etc Wednesdays, I've started to have a weekly phone call with a friend in Vermont which is very grounding for me. It's good to have a regular connection with someone who knows my history. Long walks exploring a new part of the city is always part of the weekdays. Fridays seems to get here before I know it and that means DATE NIGHT for me and Bob. We've had this tradition of date night for forever........it's quite lovely and sweet and fun. Then Saturday and Sunday are all about exploring new places and activities in and around NYC. Once the holiday busyness is over, I am hoping to add a yoga class to my weekly routine at least twice a week. Sonic Yoga is just up the street on 9th a few blocks away and it gets really good ratings for all levels of practice. I am looking forward to getting that underway.
For a brief couple of weeks there seems to be a decrease in the tourism, at least here in the Times Square area. With the days much shorter now (dark by 5pm now) and the weather cooling down (though this weekend was like summer, unseasonably warm and sunny), there are a lot less tourists out and about. The streets are far less crowded and it's so much easier to wheel my granny cart around when I am out getting groceries. I expect this will end this week as New York City prepares for the onslaught of visitors to the city for the Holidays. Slowly the city is transforming itself into the magical image that it is famous for around the holidays. The skating rinks at Bryant Park, Rockefeller Center, and Wollman Rink in Central Park are all up and running. The big landmark stores are starting to put together their very famous Christmas themed windows and instore decorations. Even the street food cart vendors get into the spirit with green, gold, and red garland on their trucks. Lots of twinkly lights on the trees and the salvation army bell ringers are out as well. I am excited for when the whole city is made up--I was here visiting Bob last year before Christmas and it was pretty special to be in NYC around Christmas time. I am looking very forward to seeing lots more of the HOLIDAY DRESSED NYC when my niece and her husband and baby come to visit the first week of December.
Tis also the season for buying a good winter coat. The stores are just overflowing with coats of all different styles and materials. PETA has not made any ground here in NYC it seems. Fur coats and fur trimmed or fur lined coats ABOUND here. It's almost hard to find a coat WITHOUT some fur on it. Maybe it has something to do with the early history of New York being a major player in fur trading. Puffy feather and down coats seem to be the most functional armor against the brutal winter cold here. Yet, the true battle is finding one that doesn't make you look like the Michelen tire man. I found one that is reasonable looking on me and hopefully will be warm enough. This is my first winter here and there is lots of speculation that it could be a killer winter because of how unusually hot the summer was and how warm the weather has been so far this fall season. Guess it is a wait and see game. I just hope it doesn't mess up our trip to CA for Christmas with our families.
I will say that not everyone in NYC is in the Holiday Spirit. Bob was out running errands Saturday morning and spotted an open man hole. He wanted to see what was down in the belly of NYC but by the time he got to the opening, the city worker pulled the manhole cover over the hole. Bob said, "Oh I wanted to see what's down there," and the guy looked at him and said "NOTHING....RATS." And that was pretty much that in quashing Bob's curiosity.
So back to Friday night Date Night. We found a really great Mexican hole in the wall place, Burrito Box on 9th and 57th. It reminded me of the really great burritos at a Taquiera place we used to like to go to in West Seattle where the people there barely spoke any English. After that we went on this thing called The Ride (check out their link at http://www.experiencetheride.com/) I was able to get cheap same day complimentary tickets to this rather overpriced excursion. Anyway, it was pretty corny but probably good if you've never been to NYC before as it gives a fair amount of history about NYC and several of the landmarks. There are also performers on the street that break into song and dance as the bus goes by. The interesting thing about this giant bus you ride around in is that one entire side of the bus as well as the ceiling of the bus are all clear windows. So while you are looking out at all the sites and street performances, people are also looking in at you. Lots of people wave and smile and point. We are encouraged to do the same to those on the street. It's a little interactive that way. Going at night was cool in that of course the city is all lit up which brings a whole different atmosphere to the event and one of the very best parts was going around Columbus Circle with the fountain lit up and they had a ballerina with all kinds of twinkly lights attached to her that made for a very magical performance as she and her partner danced around the fountain. That was really cool.
On Saturday, our chosen excursion was to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and explore Brooklyn a bit so as to make more of a first hand assessment rather than a knee jerk reaction to it as a lesser borough. The weather was SPECTACULAR for such a walk, sunny and warm. We subwayed to City Hall and on our walk to the pedestrian entrance to the bridge we were just awed by all the beautiful architecture, fountains, gardens, skyscrapers, and on and on. The pedestrian walkway is wood planks that go for the mile length of the bridge. I think they are original planks. The view of the city as we walked across the bridge is so worth it to take this walk. Once we reached the Brooklyn side, it was VERY CLEAR we were no longer in Manhattan. Not to sound snobbish but really that is the only way this is going to sound, we had an immediate impulse to want to run across the bridge as quickly as we could to get back to Manhattan. It's that distinct of a difference. Ultimately the best thing about Brooklyn is its proximity to Manhattan. Now to be fair, we only explored from Brooklyn Heights to Park Slope. We didn't get to Williamsburg, or Fort Greene or Greenport or other places deemed as the really COOL parts of Brooklyn. So our opinion is probably rather premature (and OtO might even say immature). Unfortunate too is that the famous Brooklyn Flea Market was not being held in this really cool bank space so we didn't get to experience that, our attempt to get into the Brooklyn Botanical Garden was marred by a never ending search to the entrance of it and the sidewalk along one full side was strewn with so much trash, it reminded us of India--not a good connotation when it comes to trash. To add insult to injury, we had been looking very forward all day to finally getting to Difara, supposedly serving the best pizza in NYC. We trained there specifically and it was CLOSED when we arrived and wasn't going to open for TWO HOURS. So we didn't get that Brooklyn experience either. We did enjoy a picnic lunch at the little park on the East River that faces the Brooklyn Bridge and has great views of Manhattan (of course we loved that spot because it viewed Manhattan!!) Brooklyn Heights to Park Slope is new family CENTRAL. Seems that about 90% of the people we saw were pregnant, pushing a stroller, and/or had small kids in tow. This is apparently the place you go to incubate future Manhattanites. We aren't sure when our next venture into Brooklyn will be but this excursion didn't exactly whet our appetite for more. If we ever do go back to Brooklyn, we do have the advantage of getting there fairly directly as there are several direct subway lines from our Times Square subway station.
Given our disappointment of not being able to eat at DiFara's, we trained back to Manhattan, got off in Chinatown, and ate dinner at Vegetarian Dim Sum, picked up some ginseng filled vials for Bob, and bought some really beautiful pomegranites from one of the street vendors. We enjoyed our walk around Chinatown more this go round than last time. Not sure why, just did.
Kelly is in town this weekend and she and her friend David came to our place for brunch today. It is so nice to have her in town, a rare treat for us. She along with other African American medical students are charged up to propose changes in the UW med school curriculum to increase the thoughtfulness and relevance to information about treating people of color. They are a determined group--I hope the UW can be positively responsive.
To end this entry on a very whimsical note, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE take a few minutes (less than 4 to be exact) to check out this incredible You Tube video. Kelly's friend, David, showed it to us today. It is so sweetly amusing......the link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF9-sEbqDvU&NR=1 and it is titled Marcel the Shell with Shoes On.
For a brief couple of weeks there seems to be a decrease in the tourism, at least here in the Times Square area. With the days much shorter now (dark by 5pm now) and the weather cooling down (though this weekend was like summer, unseasonably warm and sunny), there are a lot less tourists out and about. The streets are far less crowded and it's so much easier to wheel my granny cart around when I am out getting groceries. I expect this will end this week as New York City prepares for the onslaught of visitors to the city for the Holidays. Slowly the city is transforming itself into the magical image that it is famous for around the holidays. The skating rinks at Bryant Park, Rockefeller Center, and Wollman Rink in Central Park are all up and running. The big landmark stores are starting to put together their very famous Christmas themed windows and instore decorations. Even the street food cart vendors get into the spirit with green, gold, and red garland on their trucks. Lots of twinkly lights on the trees and the salvation army bell ringers are out as well. I am excited for when the whole city is made up--I was here visiting Bob last year before Christmas and it was pretty special to be in NYC around Christmas time. I am looking very forward to seeing lots more of the HOLIDAY DRESSED NYC when my niece and her husband and baby come to visit the first week of December.
Tis also the season for buying a good winter coat. The stores are just overflowing with coats of all different styles and materials. PETA has not made any ground here in NYC it seems. Fur coats and fur trimmed or fur lined coats ABOUND here. It's almost hard to find a coat WITHOUT some fur on it. Maybe it has something to do with the early history of New York being a major player in fur trading. Puffy feather and down coats seem to be the most functional armor against the brutal winter cold here. Yet, the true battle is finding one that doesn't make you look like the Michelen tire man. I found one that is reasonable looking on me and hopefully will be warm enough. This is my first winter here and there is lots of speculation that it could be a killer winter because of how unusually hot the summer was and how warm the weather has been so far this fall season. Guess it is a wait and see game. I just hope it doesn't mess up our trip to CA for Christmas with our families.
I will say that not everyone in NYC is in the Holiday Spirit. Bob was out running errands Saturday morning and spotted an open man hole. He wanted to see what was down in the belly of NYC but by the time he got to the opening, the city worker pulled the manhole cover over the hole. Bob said, "Oh I wanted to see what's down there," and the guy looked at him and said "NOTHING....RATS." And that was pretty much that in quashing Bob's curiosity.
So back to Friday night Date Night. We found a really great Mexican hole in the wall place, Burrito Box on 9th and 57th. It reminded me of the really great burritos at a Taquiera place we used to like to go to in West Seattle where the people there barely spoke any English. After that we went on this thing called The Ride (check out their link at http://www.experiencetheride.com/) I was able to get cheap same day complimentary tickets to this rather overpriced excursion. Anyway, it was pretty corny but probably good if you've never been to NYC before as it gives a fair amount of history about NYC and several of the landmarks. There are also performers on the street that break into song and dance as the bus goes by. The interesting thing about this giant bus you ride around in is that one entire side of the bus as well as the ceiling of the bus are all clear windows. So while you are looking out at all the sites and street performances, people are also looking in at you. Lots of people wave and smile and point. We are encouraged to do the same to those on the street. It's a little interactive that way. Going at night was cool in that of course the city is all lit up which brings a whole different atmosphere to the event and one of the very best parts was going around Columbus Circle with the fountain lit up and they had a ballerina with all kinds of twinkly lights attached to her that made for a very magical performance as she and her partner danced around the fountain. That was really cool.
On Saturday, our chosen excursion was to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and explore Brooklyn a bit so as to make more of a first hand assessment rather than a knee jerk reaction to it as a lesser borough. The weather was SPECTACULAR for such a walk, sunny and warm. We subwayed to City Hall and on our walk to the pedestrian entrance to the bridge we were just awed by all the beautiful architecture, fountains, gardens, skyscrapers, and on and on. The pedestrian walkway is wood planks that go for the mile length of the bridge. I think they are original planks. The view of the city as we walked across the bridge is so worth it to take this walk. Once we reached the Brooklyn side, it was VERY CLEAR we were no longer in Manhattan. Not to sound snobbish but really that is the only way this is going to sound, we had an immediate impulse to want to run across the bridge as quickly as we could to get back to Manhattan. It's that distinct of a difference. Ultimately the best thing about Brooklyn is its proximity to Manhattan. Now to be fair, we only explored from Brooklyn Heights to Park Slope. We didn't get to Williamsburg, or Fort Greene or Greenport or other places deemed as the really COOL parts of Brooklyn. So our opinion is probably rather premature (and OtO might even say immature). Unfortunate too is that the famous Brooklyn Flea Market was not being held in this really cool bank space so we didn't get to experience that, our attempt to get into the Brooklyn Botanical Garden was marred by a never ending search to the entrance of it and the sidewalk along one full side was strewn with so much trash, it reminded us of India--not a good connotation when it comes to trash. To add insult to injury, we had been looking very forward all day to finally getting to Difara, supposedly serving the best pizza in NYC. We trained there specifically and it was CLOSED when we arrived and wasn't going to open for TWO HOURS. So we didn't get that Brooklyn experience either. We did enjoy a picnic lunch at the little park on the East River that faces the Brooklyn Bridge and has great views of Manhattan (of course we loved that spot because it viewed Manhattan!!) Brooklyn Heights to Park Slope is new family CENTRAL. Seems that about 90% of the people we saw were pregnant, pushing a stroller, and/or had small kids in tow. This is apparently the place you go to incubate future Manhattanites. We aren't sure when our next venture into Brooklyn will be but this excursion didn't exactly whet our appetite for more. If we ever do go back to Brooklyn, we do have the advantage of getting there fairly directly as there are several direct subway lines from our Times Square subway station.
Given our disappointment of not being able to eat at DiFara's, we trained back to Manhattan, got off in Chinatown, and ate dinner at Vegetarian Dim Sum, picked up some ginseng filled vials for Bob, and bought some really beautiful pomegranites from one of the street vendors. We enjoyed our walk around Chinatown more this go round than last time. Not sure why, just did.
Kelly is in town this weekend and she and her friend David came to our place for brunch today. It is so nice to have her in town, a rare treat for us. She along with other African American medical students are charged up to propose changes in the UW med school curriculum to increase the thoughtfulness and relevance to information about treating people of color. They are a determined group--I hope the UW can be positively responsive.
To end this entry on a very whimsical note, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE take a few minutes (less than 4 to be exact) to check out this incredible You Tube video. Kelly's friend, David, showed it to us today. It is so sweetly amusing......the link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF9-sEbqDvU&NR=1 and it is titled Marcel the Shell with Shoes On.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
one more thing......about the music
At the request of my 4 year old grand niece who fancies herself a ballerina, I've added a collection of ballet music to my ITunes collection so that we can dance to it when I see her at Christmas time. It's also my way of prepping myself for taking advantage of seeing world class ballet while here in NYC. I also downloaded a great album of the 50 Essential Classical Music pieces to get myself better familiarized for future performances we will be able to see at Carnegie Hall and the Lincoln Center. It would be such a waste to live in NYC and not make it a point to take in the classics of dance and music.
Ahhhh, New York, New York
We've been busy steeping ourselves in NYC traditions. There is a really great thrift store a few blocks from our apartment that raises funds for housing and advocacy for those with AIDS in NYC (Housing Works Thrift Shop). They have lots of donated designer clothes for incredibly cheap. I picked up a really nice pair of Italian made black leather ankle boots for 35 bucks and a couple of very nice wool sweaters for $15 each. It's fun to go in periodically and see what's new. It's a cheap way to experiment with dressing differently and not spending an arm and a leg.
On Friday night, we ate at one of the many cafes that line 9th Avenue. We finally tried a pizza place, Zigolini's, that has gotten a lot of great reviews. Bob really misses Serious Pie in Seattle, the downtown Tom Douglas gourmet pizzaria. Zigolini's is now our new favorite pizza here, really great gourmet pizza and considerably cheaper than Serious Pie. We had a really great dessert of honey, berries, crushed pistachios, and mascarpone.
Saturday was over the top busy.....we started with a subway ride at 7:45am to get to the upper westside at 107th to volunteer at Mother's Kitchen at St. Ascension Church. Devotees of our spiritual guru Amma, gather from early morning to late evening to provide a free multi course dinner to about 250 elderly people every first Saturday of the month. Bob and I got there for the early morning set up shift and then helped with some of the initial food prepping. We had to leave around noon to get back to mid-town for our next event. People come in at varying times of the day and evening to carry on the event. Next time we will stay longer, it's a really nice group of people doing a really loving selfless service. We are hoping to connect with more Amma devotees this way. As an aside, there happens to be a really outstanding bagel place right around the corner on Broadway, Absolute Bagel. Really great bagels, I would say better than H & H, hand rolled and boiled.
We had gotten free tickets to a matinee of the Broadway musical Chicago as incentive for joining a discount theatre ticket online service. We got really great seats in the orchestra section for this performance. No big recognizable names but they were so into their perfomances, connected really well with the audience in the relatively small venue, and the musical itself is prototypical Broadway--great singing and dance numbers, very fun scenes, great music. It was a VERY ENTERTAINING production--we really enjoyed it.
After that, we had a brief break and then we were off on our next event. We went on a ghost tour of the lower east side, it was definitely spooky for me and I had goosebumps for most of the 90 minute tour. We walked amongst several synagogues and churches and school buildings. The stories were very believable and supposedly authenticated by many people repeatedly reporting similar experiences. Our tour person was very theatrical and a little more than entertained by his own performance but he has the personality type to pull off these kinds of tours. Although the tour was at night and it was pretty dark, it did give us enough of sense of the lower east side and convinced us pretty quickly that is not a neighborhood we would ever be interested in living in. It's a neighborhood best known for it's night time bar scene and doesn't have much of the charm that the West Village has. I do want to go to the Tenement Museum in the East Village that is supposed to be exceptional in its historical accounting of immigrant life in the late 1800's.
On Sunday it was a fabulously beautiful sunny crisp fall day--perfect conditions for the New York Marathon. Thank god because Monday was miserable--cold, wet, and windy. What an amazing tradition the NY marathon is....lots of articles of present and past runners in the paper the preceding week. Prior to our move here, Bob and I were pretty oblivious to the NY marathon but this year we really got into it (not literally of course), a lot of our interest and enthusiasm came because a close colleague of Bob's was running this one as his first marathon. We watched the male and female winners on TV before we headed out to see Scott at points we thought we could spot him. It was crazy being out there with so many people lining the course and SO MANY people running--over a hundred countries were represented in this marathon. It was fun to watch all the different runners, some had on crazy costumes, hats, shirts, face paint, whatever would help them stand out. We tried to spot him coming off the Queensboro bridge at mile 16 but there were too many runners to track and too many people to look over to find him. After what we thought was long enough to figure we probably missed him, we headed over to Central Park to see if we could spot him towards the end. We stationed ourselves at mile 25 and did spot him, he was looking really good and finished in under four hours. It was really cool to be so close to the end and see all the determination on people's faces knowing they were so close to finishing.
After the marathon, we made our way over to the Flatiron neighborhood to cash in on a restaurant coupon I had bought a while ago with Groupon. It was for a Greek restaurant, Kellari Parea Bistro. We had to laugh coming off the subway because there before us was another one of the ubiquitous street fairs--this one seemed a little better than what happens at in Mid-town. I wonder how long into the fall and winter these street fairs go on for. Dinner was delicious, we had a bit of a tasting menu of most of the vegetarian side dishes and a cheese flambe. We finished off the meal with the fig ice cream and warm chocolate cake freshly baked just for us. We were very charmed by the neighborhood and could see ourselves living TOO in this neighborhood. LOVED IT!
On Monday I went to get fitted for a new bra (is that TMI for a blog??) and went to THE PREMIER theatre district bra, underwear and legwear store--Bra Tenders. They fit ALL the Broadway performers and TV and movie celebrities. They have all kinds of pictures, letters, cards, and lingerie signed by celebrities and famous personalities. It's a by appointment only and they really dote on you when you get your hour fitting. Another quite unique experience since living here.
I'm a bit under the weather today so have put exploring on hold for a few day. I am also so BUMMED that my dear friend Paul is not visiting after all...........turns out he has kidney stones he is dealing with. It's not very safe for him to travel. sigh..............
On Friday night, we ate at one of the many cafes that line 9th Avenue. We finally tried a pizza place, Zigolini's, that has gotten a lot of great reviews. Bob really misses Serious Pie in Seattle, the downtown Tom Douglas gourmet pizzaria. Zigolini's is now our new favorite pizza here, really great gourmet pizza and considerably cheaper than Serious Pie. We had a really great dessert of honey, berries, crushed pistachios, and mascarpone.
Saturday was over the top busy.....we started with a subway ride at 7:45am to get to the upper westside at 107th to volunteer at Mother's Kitchen at St. Ascension Church. Devotees of our spiritual guru Amma, gather from early morning to late evening to provide a free multi course dinner to about 250 elderly people every first Saturday of the month. Bob and I got there for the early morning set up shift and then helped with some of the initial food prepping. We had to leave around noon to get back to mid-town for our next event. People come in at varying times of the day and evening to carry on the event. Next time we will stay longer, it's a really nice group of people doing a really loving selfless service. We are hoping to connect with more Amma devotees this way. As an aside, there happens to be a really outstanding bagel place right around the corner on Broadway, Absolute Bagel. Really great bagels, I would say better than H & H, hand rolled and boiled.
We had gotten free tickets to a matinee of the Broadway musical Chicago as incentive for joining a discount theatre ticket online service. We got really great seats in the orchestra section for this performance. No big recognizable names but they were so into their perfomances, connected really well with the audience in the relatively small venue, and the musical itself is prototypical Broadway--great singing and dance numbers, very fun scenes, great music. It was a VERY ENTERTAINING production--we really enjoyed it.
After that, we had a brief break and then we were off on our next event. We went on a ghost tour of the lower east side, it was definitely spooky for me and I had goosebumps for most of the 90 minute tour. We walked amongst several synagogues and churches and school buildings. The stories were very believable and supposedly authenticated by many people repeatedly reporting similar experiences. Our tour person was very theatrical and a little more than entertained by his own performance but he has the personality type to pull off these kinds of tours. Although the tour was at night and it was pretty dark, it did give us enough of sense of the lower east side and convinced us pretty quickly that is not a neighborhood we would ever be interested in living in. It's a neighborhood best known for it's night time bar scene and doesn't have much of the charm that the West Village has. I do want to go to the Tenement Museum in the East Village that is supposed to be exceptional in its historical accounting of immigrant life in the late 1800's.
On Sunday it was a fabulously beautiful sunny crisp fall day--perfect conditions for the New York Marathon. Thank god because Monday was miserable--cold, wet, and windy. What an amazing tradition the NY marathon is....lots of articles of present and past runners in the paper the preceding week. Prior to our move here, Bob and I were pretty oblivious to the NY marathon but this year we really got into it (not literally of course), a lot of our interest and enthusiasm came because a close colleague of Bob's was running this one as his first marathon. We watched the male and female winners on TV before we headed out to see Scott at points we thought we could spot him. It was crazy being out there with so many people lining the course and SO MANY people running--over a hundred countries were represented in this marathon. It was fun to watch all the different runners, some had on crazy costumes, hats, shirts, face paint, whatever would help them stand out. We tried to spot him coming off the Queensboro bridge at mile 16 but there were too many runners to track and too many people to look over to find him. After what we thought was long enough to figure we probably missed him, we headed over to Central Park to see if we could spot him towards the end. We stationed ourselves at mile 25 and did spot him, he was looking really good and finished in under four hours. It was really cool to be so close to the end and see all the determination on people's faces knowing they were so close to finishing.
After the marathon, we made our way over to the Flatiron neighborhood to cash in on a restaurant coupon I had bought a while ago with Groupon. It was for a Greek restaurant, Kellari Parea Bistro. We had to laugh coming off the subway because there before us was another one of the ubiquitous street fairs--this one seemed a little better than what happens at in Mid-town. I wonder how long into the fall and winter these street fairs go on for. Dinner was delicious, we had a bit of a tasting menu of most of the vegetarian side dishes and a cheese flambe. We finished off the meal with the fig ice cream and warm chocolate cake freshly baked just for us. We were very charmed by the neighborhood and could see ourselves living TOO in this neighborhood. LOVED IT!
On Monday I went to get fitted for a new bra (is that TMI for a blog??) and went to THE PREMIER theatre district bra, underwear and legwear store--Bra Tenders. They fit ALL the Broadway performers and TV and movie celebrities. They have all kinds of pictures, letters, cards, and lingerie signed by celebrities and famous personalities. It's a by appointment only and they really dote on you when you get your hour fitting. Another quite unique experience since living here.
I'm a bit under the weather today so have put exploring on hold for a few day. I am also so BUMMED that my dear friend Paul is not visiting after all...........turns out he has kidney stones he is dealing with. It's not very safe for him to travel. sigh..............
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Things I get to do more of now
One of the things that I get to do so much more now than pre-NYC is listen to music. I've been racking up charges on I Tunes more than I care to admit but music has definitely become my companion during stretches of the day when I am on my computer. I have mostly been adding music that I am familiar with and just never bothered to purchase since I didn't listen to much before. It's one of those things now where if I hear a tune or artist on TV, read about it in one of my many delivered publications, or when I am out and about (they play music EVERYWHERE in this city) I keep a mental note to check it out and buy it if I really like it. I've been leaning heavily towards R&B and peripherally related female artists as of late, but am open to suggestions. It's a really nice bonus to my life right now.
On becoming a New Yorker
I cast my first vote as a New Yorker on Tuesday. If I had known that Patty Murray was not a shoe in for the WA senate seat, I probably would have waited to change voter registration and voted for her via absentee ballot. It will be very disappointing if Rossi wins. Cuomo did not need as much support here for the governor posiiton. Anyway, it was kind of cool voting for the first time as a New Yorker, another official milestone. The lady volunteer at the polling booth had unwavering patience and people skills in checking in people with all kinds of foreign accents and names. She was a natural for that position. I complimented her on her patience and skill when it came to my turn to sign in. I have yet to get my actual NY voter registration card but apparently didn't need it to vote. When I called to find out the status of it, the woman told me there is such a back log for getting these out to people and because you don't need one to vote just as long as your info in on the list, there was a good chance I may not ever get a card!
The NYC marathon is happening on Sunday November 7th. We will be out on the lines with 2 million other people cheering on the 40,000 plus runners and keeping a very special eye out for Scott Solomon # 40716(BIG SHOUT OUT FOR SCOTT AND TEAM SCOTT), one of Bob's very close work colleagues who will be doing his first marathon. I am sure it will be very exciting and a crazy time on Sunday. It's a whole city wide event in that the marathon course goes through each of the five boroughs, starting in Staten Island, then Brooklyn, followed by Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx, then back to Manhattan and ending at Tavern on the Green in Central Park. All along the 26 plus mile route are entertainment stages, photo ops, cheering stations, etc. Quite the event for sure. Another baptismal initiation to living as New Yorkers. I suppose it would be most meaningful if I was actually RUNNING the marathon, but that just ain't a gonna happen, period. I have always been a better spectator than athlete, so it's good to do what you are good at ; > .
The NYC marathon is happening on Sunday November 7th. We will be out on the lines with 2 million other people cheering on the 40,000 plus runners and keeping a very special eye out for Scott Solomon # 40716(BIG SHOUT OUT FOR SCOTT AND TEAM SCOTT), one of Bob's very close work colleagues who will be doing his first marathon. I am sure it will be very exciting and a crazy time on Sunday. It's a whole city wide event in that the marathon course goes through each of the five boroughs, starting in Staten Island, then Brooklyn, followed by Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx, then back to Manhattan and ending at Tavern on the Green in Central Park. All along the 26 plus mile route are entertainment stages, photo ops, cheering stations, etc. Quite the event for sure. Another baptismal initiation to living as New Yorkers. I suppose it would be most meaningful if I was actually RUNNING the marathon, but that just ain't a gonna happen, period. I have always been a better spectator than athlete, so it's good to do what you are good at ; > .
Monday, November 1, 2010
Seduction and Surrender
Okay, yesterday really made us more decisive to get a small click and shoot camera so I can add pictures to this blahg. It'll be a Christmas gift to ourselves. Our Fall Foliage trip up the Hudson River Valley was so rejuvenating for both of us. The colors were on their way out given that it's so late in the fall but it was still pretty spectacular--mostly golds, oranges, yellows, and occasional brilliant reds. The forests are SO THICK on the far off hillsides from our view points. It's like you could dig your fingers into sheeps wool the hillsides are so carpetted. New York State is so damn picturesque--it's impossible to not be seduced. You add the railroad tracks and trains you see hugging the river along with these tiny little villages dotting the road ways and you immediately want to plan a train trip to Montreal to see the whole valley from that vantage point. We had a most amazing stop at Blue Hill Stone Barn Farm near Tarrytown/Sleepy Hallow (which is where Washington Irving situated his Headless Horseman and Ichabod Crane classic story--The Legend of Sleepy Hallow). This farm is so cutting edge with their growing, composting, recycling, animal raising, etc. The animals on this farm were the happiest animals Bob and I have EVER seen, they literally FROLICK about their pastures and pens. We saw turkeys, chickens (laying and for meat), pigs (babies, teens, mama's and papas), geese, and sheep. Whether these animals know it is their dharma to become a feast for consumption is unknown, but wow, up to the day of slaughter, these animals appear to have the epitomy of an idyllic pastoral life. They actually looked like they were smiling when we watched them play about and socialize with each other. Bob even said that if he were ever going to eat chicken ever again, he would want to eat one from this farm. They have a very nice restaurant here (and another in Manhattan) where the vast majority of the food prepared for the seasonally changing menu is raised or grown on this farm. Even though it is a very pricey meal, seeing just how progressive this farm is makes you want to support them in every way possible with their mission and vision. You can walk freely about the farm and the beautiful stone structure/barn that surrounds a courtyard and includes the restaurant, a gift shop, a small cafe, reading and small conference/meeting/exhibit rooms, a small farmers market, and enclosed garden. There are two really cool silos that have been redone for use as small public spaces. The farm connects to a network of trails in the adjoining Rockefeller State Park Preserve. We took a most lovely walk around Swan Lake. The weather was sunny and a crisp fall day. Fantasies grew out of control of wanting a place here too! Ergo, the SEDUCTION part of this blog entry title. We bought a couple dozen of HUGE eggs and a loaf of the restaurant's famous potato and onion bread. We continued our drive as far north up to Newburgh, crisscrossed the Hudson River on a couple of bridges to capture scenic routes on both sides of the river. We were out for about 9 hours on our day outing and came home to Manhattan feeling very rejuvenated....so much beauty so close to our new home.
The SURRENDER part of the title has everything to do with knowing that we will NEVER have an easy time of getting off Highway 9 and being able to easily get to our parking garage on 43rd. We thought we had it down, mapped it out from several previously painful attempts (one time it took longer to get from the freeway to our garage 5 blocks away as the crow flies, than it did to take the trip up to the Botanical Garden 12 miles away) and still we were FOILED by some unforeseen street blocking at Bryant Park when we wanted to turn on 6th Ave. We were so excited as we got off at the right exit, had only one traffic cop yell at us for changing lanes in a no change lane zone (couldn't he see the desperation in our eyes for NEEDING to make THAT lane change), and barely got bogged down or side swiped in the bottle neck going down 40th. We naively thought we were home free as we approached 6th Ave to turn left but DAMN if there wasn't road block sawhorses and traffic cops stopping traffic cold. Bob and I just couldn't help but moan and laugh at the same time. We next sent up a prayer that Madison Ave would be open for a left turn and nothing else would be blocked on 43rd as a result of Halloween so that we did not spend the next hour trying to figure out how to get to the parking space. If you don't drive in NYC, it's probably hard to appreciate this story but our attempts to get to our parking garage have made for memories Bob and I will not soon forget....
Lastly, Bob had never seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show despite it being shown for the last 35 years, this last week's episode of Glee was his first introduction to it. I've seen it several times and have been to a couple of the midnight participatory shows in Berkeley and Seattle. So in honor of Halloween, we watched it on Saturday night. He loved it....I was glad because I wasn't really sure how he might react to it. If by chance, you've never seen it, treat yourself, it's wonderfully campy with great music.
It's sunny and cold outside now, I need to bundle up and head out for groceries now.
The SURRENDER part of the title has everything to do with knowing that we will NEVER have an easy time of getting off Highway 9 and being able to easily get to our parking garage on 43rd. We thought we had it down, mapped it out from several previously painful attempts (one time it took longer to get from the freeway to our garage 5 blocks away as the crow flies, than it did to take the trip up to the Botanical Garden 12 miles away) and still we were FOILED by some unforeseen street blocking at Bryant Park when we wanted to turn on 6th Ave. We were so excited as we got off at the right exit, had only one traffic cop yell at us for changing lanes in a no change lane zone (couldn't he see the desperation in our eyes for NEEDING to make THAT lane change), and barely got bogged down or side swiped in the bottle neck going down 40th. We naively thought we were home free as we approached 6th Ave to turn left but DAMN if there wasn't road block sawhorses and traffic cops stopping traffic cold. Bob and I just couldn't help but moan and laugh at the same time. We next sent up a prayer that Madison Ave would be open for a left turn and nothing else would be blocked on 43rd as a result of Halloween so that we did not spend the next hour trying to figure out how to get to the parking space. If you don't drive in NYC, it's probably hard to appreciate this story but our attempts to get to our parking garage have made for memories Bob and I will not soon forget....
Lastly, Bob had never seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show despite it being shown for the last 35 years, this last week's episode of Glee was his first introduction to it. I've seen it several times and have been to a couple of the midnight participatory shows in Berkeley and Seattle. So in honor of Halloween, we watched it on Saturday night. He loved it....I was glad because I wasn't really sure how he might react to it. If by chance, you've never seen it, treat yourself, it's wonderfully campy with great music.
It's sunny and cold outside now, I need to bundle up and head out for groceries now.
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