It takes a bit of a leap of faith to defy the thermometer readings of 19 degrees and get out and about. So easy to just want to stay in the warm apartment. But once out and about, it's actually not that bad, except when the wind blows, and then it is brutal. Wind can bring the temp down to 0 degrees and you can really feel it. Any exposed skin takes a toll. Thank goodness for down coats, gloves, scarves, hats, and long underwear.
The frigid night time temps and steep movie ticket prices have steered Bob and me to take more advantage of the Movies On Demand feature with our Time Warner cable service. It's taken us awhile to figure out how to locate the movies we are interested in viewing but I think we've finally mastered the system. The Comcast cable server we used in Seattle was far easier and better. Now that we know how to use it, we will undoubtedly save a bundle of money. It costs us $22.50 to see a movie and that is with Bob's senior discount (side note: the lower age limit to qualify for a senior discount is getting younger and younger it seems--so hard for me to think that Bob could qualify as a senior for anything). Add any pop corn and we are up to $30. At this point, a movie has to really be worth it for me to want to see it on a bigger screen than what we have in our apartment. Given that Bob invested in a really nice video-audio system that we brought with us from Seattle, it makes a lot of sense for us to just cozy up on the couch, pop our own pop corn and be a little bit behind the curve in watching the latest releases. On cable we can rent them for anywhere from $2 to $7 dollars and they are generally reasonably current. Most recently we saw Winter's Bone (very gripping story-highly recommend it), Hadewijch and White Material--both foreign films that were a bit more oblique, leaving Bob and me befuddled as to the overall message of these films. We will see Tiny Furniture next, another indie film. The other option we will take more advantage of over time is viewing movies through the Museum of Modern Art Film series. I get in free now that I have the enhanced membership and can get a guest ticket for $5 dollars. MOMA previews a lot of up and coming movies, so that will be fun once we get a better sense of the schedule. Between the NY Public Library, MOMA, and Time Warner Cable, we will likely spend less time in actual movie theaters. In Seattle there is the great Crest theater which is such a bargain. I've looked for a similar theater in NYC and have not been able to locate anything similar.
This cold weather has also gotten Bob to making some really great daal soups from the cookbook, Lord Krishna Cuisine: The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking (Bob says it's a "Great, Great Book!"). We have quite a stock of different types of dal legumes that we need to eat our way through. On Saturday, Bob decided to try a new recipe and needed some things from an exceptionally well stocked Eastern Asian/Indian grocery store that is a mile and a half away from us (in the Little India section along Lexington). After multiple, multiple cajoling pleas and sweetness, he finally lured me into accompanying him in 19 degree weather on this little shopping trip. We had a very invigorating walk and truth be told, we both really love shopping at this store, Kalustyan's. Sometime when time is less pressing (we had to be back in time to turn the yogurt maker off), we will spend a more appropriate amount of time browsing through all the aisles and eating in the little mediterrean deli/cafe upstairs.
One good thing about buying Broadway tickets in advance is that it really forces you to go out because it would be too painful to pay that much money and then waste the tickets by not going. So later Saturday evening we bundled up again and went to see the Broadway play, Time Stands Still with Laura Linney, Christina Ricca, Brian D'Arcy James, and Eric Bogosian. It's gotten great reviews and it was really exceptionally well done. The acting was superb and the story and dialogue is very thought provoking. (Synopsis: Sarah and James, a photographer and a journalist, have been together for nine years and share a passion for documenting the realities of war. But when injuries force them to return home to New York, the adventurous couple confronts the prospect of a more conventional life.) We really enjoyed it, probably our favorite play of the ones we have seen so far. As we were walking out of the playhouse, we saw that the actors were already coming out through the side stage door so we decided to hang out a bit and see them. They stagger their departure so the fans get to talk with each one. We were very impressed at how friendly and down to earth the actors were with those waiting to see them after the play. They very willingly and patiently signed autographs, stood with fans for pictures, and chatted very amiably with everyone. It was really cool (and freezing cold!). It's so interesting to see these performers on stage because they seem larger than life and then when you see them really close up, they (especially the women) are so petite, Christina Ricci is tiny. So who knows, maybe we will hang out a bit more after the plays and get into having our picture taken with the actors. I will definitely post those pics if it ever happens. Our next play is The Merchant of Venice with Al Pacino, we see that one on Saturday, February 19th.
We had thought about going to a Hip Hop Dance competition at the Roseland Ballroom near our place but by the time we did our morning meditation, worked out in the gym located in our building, had brunch, and got into reading the Sunday paper, the pull to stay in was just too much to overcome. We did not buy tickets in advance so too easy to blow this event off. We decided instead to just hang in the apartment and watch football--more Bob than me, but given that the New York Jets are in the AFC Championship playoff today, it seems appropriate we should try to be supportive fans of our new home community sports teams (though never, ever the Yankees). NYC had a big rally in Times Square on Thursday for the Jets to wish them success for today. The Jets are the underdogs so if they win, things will get pretty crazy here. If they win the Superbowl, watch out!
It's been a really nice day of just having totally unfettered time at home together.
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