Bob and I celebrated our 21st anniversary of our first date on February 1st. He took the day off and we had a lazy morning then bundled up to go see the Houdini exhibit at The Jewish Museum of New York City http://www.thejewishmuseum.org/exhibitions/houdini on the upper Eastside. It was very well done and quite fascinating all that he was able to escape from. There were lots of references to how so many oppressed people during that time took his escapes from bondage as a metaphor to their own lives of oppression and wanting to escape the social and economic bonds of their lives. He really resonated to the masses and at times as many as 80,000 people would show up to watch one of his public stunts. From what you could draw from the material in the exhibit, he remained a very grounded person despite the incredible fame he garnered. He was quite a showman and knew how to generate a very high level of dread, anticipation, and exhiliration from the crowd. There were also several artists featured with modern interpretations or representations of Houdini and his works. The rest of the museum was also very interesting and provided a very rich history of Jewish culture both historically and now.
Harry Houdini
Bob helping Houdini carry his milk can for next escape feat!
Since the Guggenheim is just down the street on 5th Avenue from the Jewish Museum and we could get in for free courtesy of Morgan Stanley Corporate Sponsorship, we popped into the Guggenheim to see some impressionist (Cezanne, Manet, Gaugin) and modern abstract (Picasso, Kadinsky) paintings. So wonderful to have the opportunity to just "pop in" and absorb the beauty and creativity of so many masterful painters.
I love the Guggenheim Museum design and the way they exhibit the art pieces in the fantastic spiraling walkways. Great architecture and gives a very different feeling of being in a museum. Here are some pics of the inside and out. They are putting in a new exhibit to open on Friday so we only were allowed into a very small portion of the museum while there and no pics allowed of the paintings themselves.
inside the Guggenheim looking straight up from the entrance foyer
Spiraling walkways where the art pieces are hung for exhibit
Outside pictures of the Guggenheim reflecting the inner spiral walkways
After the museums we went to dinner at Candle's Cafe, a well known vegan restaurant in NYC. We were given a gift certificate by one of Bob's work colleagues. We had a lentil soup which was delicious and seitan in a citrus marinade satay, also good but too large of a serving. We then both had one of the pasta entrees, I had the rigatoni in a cashew cream sauce with dried tomatoes, crimini mushrooms, peas, and tapioca cheese. Bob had the lasagna with tofu ricotta cheese. It was amazing how creamy and cheesy both dishes were without any use of dairy. They were both really delicious. We then ended with sharing a piece of carrot cake. Also very good, not too sweet which is the way we both prefer it. You get very large servings so it's definitely a good value and the menu is quite varied with lots of great options for entrees or collections of side dishes. We had eaten at the Candle's Restaurant a couple of year's ago which is more formal but I think the cafe does a really great job for more day-to-day meals. The only drawback for me was that I think I may have had a wheat overdose with eating both the large serving of seitan (gluten based protein) and the pasta, plus the cashew sauce was absolutely rich and delicious which may have also contributed to overloading my system a bit. Next time, I will know to order a different combination or eat less and bring some home. The food was so good I was eating more for taste rather than from hunger. We were there pretty early in the evening and it was a bad weather day, so not surprised it was kind of slow time for them.
Bob at Candle's Cafe for our 21st anniversary celebration of our first date
This looks like it could have been taken from a Dicken's novel and yet it is in a very nice Upper Eastside neighborhood very close to the uber modern Guggenheim Museum. I love that NYC is such a study in contrasts. Makes for it always being interesting to walk out and about.
Today my fellow Seattlite transplant (Margaret) and I took a tour of the New York Public Library. Truely mind boggling the amount of resources they have on hand. Their storage system goes on and on and on for hard copies of books, maps, periodical, microfiche, photos, dvds, cds, anything and everything that can be published aside from their electronic holdings--with no censorship of any materials. You can pretty much find anything published there--from the entire spectrum of the sacred to profane, mundane to esoteric, frivolous to academic, ancient to modern--you get what I mean. They are one of the premier libraries in the WORLD. Just loved the tour and learning more about one of my most favorite places in NYC.
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