Wrestle….What?

28 04 2013

 

 

 

I should probably have mentioned what the purpose was of this pilgrimage to New York.   And although I have to say that for myself, the journey was much more entertaining and rewarding than the final destination….try telling that to a fourteen year old who is on his way to WrestleMania.  Also, try telling him that WWE Wrestling isn’t 100% real….those conversations don’t go to well…or rather they go round and round in circles, until I give up and hope this  fanatic fascination is just a phase (and that it ends soon).

And so, I graciously said, ‘No, don’t worry about me. You guys go…I’m sure I can find ‘something’ to do in NYC’.  So the boys headed to Metlife Stadium, without me.  You can imagine my waves of disappointment and the crocodile tears I cried (kidding).  I prepared them as best I could – tickets in hand, pocket hand warmers, toques, gloves, jackets, etc.  Because who thought it was a good idea to have a show at an outdoor arena in the beginning of April in the NorthEast?  The entire week prior to the show we kept an eye on the weather forecast.  At one point it said 38 degrees, but feels like 34 degrees.  Umm, not even the flames shooting from the stage are going to keep you warm in those temperatures.

But, the weather warmed up a little bit, it only kind of rained on them, and surprisingly the flames shooting from the stage did create a little warmth (and possibly singed some eyebrows).  The crowds cheered and heckled as the matches began, one after another, and crowd favorites The Undertaker, The Rock, John Cena, etc. made their way into the ring and battled a completely fair and in no way staged fight.

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But, although not my cup of tea, there must be something special happening that attracts over 75,000 people to sit in the cold, bring their own homemade signs, scream their voices out and watch grown men battle in shortie shorts.





To: New Experiences in the City

19 04 2013

We had a short opportunity to explore the city and it seemed like the theme of this visit was…..Brooklyn.

We went for dinner at Talde, a restaurant in Brooklyn that is run by Top Chef winner Dale Talde and ate a delicious meal of Korean Fried Chicken, sweet hawaiian bun sliders with pork, fish and portabella mushrooms, pretzel pork and chive dumplings, crispy oyster and bacon pad thai, banana leaf sticky rice and a whole roasted branzino.  The meal was delicious and of course we couldn’t leave without dessert.  Their specialties of the night:  an award winning salted chocolate cookie crumb square, which was given the seal of approval from Cookie Monster, himself, and a Talde take on the Filipino dessert – Halo Halo.  Nothing could prepare you for this dessert, and sadly I don’t have a photo, but when I describe it, I think you’ll get the idea.  Shaved ice with evaporated milk.  Coconut pieces, fresh grapefruit and mango slices.  Tapioca squares and Captain Crunch.  What???  Yes.  Captain Crunch.  Everything mixed together in one big bowl.  At one point Nathan asked if there was a piece of fish in his dessert, it turned out to be the mango, but we wouldn’t have been surprised if there was.  It was the oddest dessert we’ve ever had (and we’ve had a lotand you couldn’t even get used to it because every single bite was a surprise.

Saturday, aside from making an early stop to Carlo’s Bake Shop, we took advantage of the sunshine and headed into the city. We headed in with the intention of heading to the oyster bar at Grand Central Terminal, but in a snap decision we ended up heading towards Battery Park (an area of town we haven’t explored in the 4 years we’ve been going to New York).

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Statue of Liberty (view from Battery Park)

 

 

In an effort to do something a little bit different during this trip we walked through the Financial District, strolled down Wall Street, saw the infamous bull, and Nathan visited his money at the New York Stock Exchange (apparently it didn’t recognize him).  And then we had a couple hours to kill ….so, decided to tackle the Brooklyn Bridge.

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My intention was to make the trek across to visit Jacques Torres for a cup of rich, creamy hot chocolate….but we stopped at the halfway point before realizing that we had to be on our way to Wolfgang’s Steak House to enjoy the best thick sliced bacon I have ever had and an aged steak that I wish I could share with everyone.  And that’s not even counting the chocolate mousse cake with homemade schlag…….yum!

And after a glass or two, or three, or four of wine, the tastiest steak I’ve had the pleasure of eating, and the sweet chocolate mousse cake and key lime pie for dessert, it was time to say good bye to Tribeca and head out of the city.

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NYC after a Great Night!





This Screams Tourist

18 04 2013

 

 

Sometimes you just have to be a tourist.  And on an early Saturday morning, that was one of those days.  Kick yourself out of bed and stumble on over to Hoboken, NJ to already see a line up forming in front of Carlo’s Bake Shop (from the reality show Cake Boss).  Here we thought the early bird would get the cannoli, but alas, so did the tour bus that was heading back to Ohio.   I would hate to see the sugar high and the inevitable crash that will follow for all those people on the bus, considering the huge boxes of pastries they were carting out of the bakery.

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An hour later we made it out, unscathed, with boxes filled with pastries that were heavy with cream filling.  Chocolate cannolis, a lobster tail, a hazelnut cream puff and a California Fruit cheesecake.  Delicious!

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The Other Side of the Hudson

14 04 2013

Sometimes you get so caught up with the bright and shiny, the hype and the frenzy, the minute details, that you forget about the big picture.  And nothing puts that into perspective than staring across the Hudson River, looking at the iconic skyline of New York City.  You see the city as a whole and can picture all of the tiny moving parts, the people, the taxis, and the decisions that are being made within.

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Skyline view from Hoboken, NJ

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A Quiet Kind of ‘Hustle & Bustle’

17 02 2012

Just when you think that you may be succumbing to the winter doldrums that inevitably take place sometime in January or February once the holiday festivities have come and gone, and you realize that the Groundhog hasn’t started spring cleaning just quite yet, it just takes a little bit of the hustle and bustle to revive you from that grey feeling.

And how do you get more “Hustle and Bustle” than New York City?

Even the skyline seems to vibrate with a certain energy.  And when you look out at those iconic buildings from across the way in New Jersey, you can imagine all those people, going in all of those different directions, with different agendas and different lives from your own.  And although you may not want to live any of those particular lives, you want to be part of that collective energy.  Because once you step off the train onto that platform, once you reach the sidewalk in front of Madison Square Garden, or Times Square, or any of those iconic locations, you pause, take a deep breath and you look up, before you are immediately enveloped into the crush of people and start walking twice as fast as you normally do.

After visiting NYC for the equivalent of three months over the last three years, we finally stepped inside into a different type of hustle and bustle.  A place where it’s okay to walk slowly, a place where you are encouraged to pause and get lost in the moment, and a place where it’s acceptable to take a break and rest a while (some go as far as taking a quick power nap, although I’m sure they say that they’re just resting their eyes).

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The MET)

The MET

Sketch Classes in Greek and Roman Art

Artistic Pottery

Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas

A Whole Lota Silver

Gold Masks and Sculptures

Modern Art Sculptures

A Modern Art Cat

A Lone Silhouette

Four hours later I was about ready to sit down and take a nap.  Sometimes you could feel the seriousness of the art like a physical weight on your shoulders.  So after getting a brief second wind in taking in the quirkiness of the Modern and Contemporary Art galleries, we were museum’ed out and vowed that Asian Art, Egyptian Art, Islamic Art and Musical Instruments would have to wait until the next time.

Some Dizzying Contemporary Art





Follow the Leader

4 05 2011

As luck would have it, we happened upon a perfect Spring Sunday in New York City.  After torrential downpour, whipping winds, rumbling thunder and lightning flashes on Saturday, we woke up on Sunday morning to sunny skies, and, although a bit breezy, nothing a lightweight jacket and scarf couldn’t handle.

We stumbled upon the new High Line green space park in the Meatpacking District and the local New Yorker of the group proudly led the way.  Up the staircase (20 steps we would find out) and then up the second set of steps (15), and then the third (15).  After 50 steps I wouldn’t take another step.  We are going the wrong way!  ‘No, no’, said our local tour guide, ‘this has got to be the way’.  She was so proud of her navigational abilities….that is until another 30 steps and she landed herself at the top of the staircase smack dab into a locked door.  Then, like the pied piper that she was, she led everyone (including quite a few European tourists) back down the stairs.  I met up with them once they reached 50 steps from street level, since that is where I stopped following behind.

We did finally make our way to the park (only 20 steps in total), which uses old railroad rails and stakes as part of its landscaping, where there’s a designated spot to watch the busy traffic and where I found some very cool art postcards of scenes from New York, taken with a cheap, old, film camera.  Looking through the stacks of postcards it really made me appreciate an artist’s eye, which can take trash on the side of the road and turn it into something so intriguing that I was compelled to send it in every which way to friends and family (you know who you are).

I spent the afternoon with our resident tour guide wandering around Chelsea Market, shopping at sample sales in the Meatpacking District, and snacking at local Italian eateries before we all joined together to end our day in Tribeca, at our good old standard, Wolfgang’s.  It was the epitome of a leisurely Sunday in Manhattan.

Cheers to sunny sunday’s, good friends and taking the time to enjoy both.  







Better Late Than Never…

9 01 2011

Merry Christmas!

This year the Christmas celebrations started in NYC and we bounced around like ping pong balls between all of the tourists taking photos of themselves in the Forever 21 interactive billboard in Times Square (us included) and staring in awe of the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Plaza.  But, amidst all of the holiday craziness we found a corner of peaceful holiday cheer…set up under the Manhattan Bridge.

And with 20 mile/hour winds the Brooklyn Bridge Park was deserted, which gave us a great opportunity to take in the skyline sights.

The “Christmas Day” holiday cheer found us in Stamford, Connecticut.  One brightly lit Christmas tree, two Canadian cats on a catnip high, three rounds of Christmas mimosas (for some), 4 hours of turkey baking, 5 (slightly burnt) decorated gingerbread men…..6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 (and beyond) colourfully wrapped christmas presents.

It was a full house of Christmas family cheer.  And of course Christmas isn’t complete without a little friendly competition and trash talking, which we took every opportunity to partake in during our first ever Christmas BAKE OFF and JUST DANCE 2 DANCE OFF. Let the record show that I wowed the judges with my chocolate chip cookies but we all got our butts kicked by an 11 year old at Just Dance 2 – although what the girls lost in points, we made up for in style!





The Rumours are True…

24 12 2010

I am officially off the market.

It took a lot of secret planning, patience, guts and a long call with my parents, but it was all worth it.  Nathan proposed to me in Little Italy in NYC on December 21st.

Nathan and I celebrated our engagement in the midst of the hustle and bustle of NYC with great friends, tasty food and bubbly drinks – we even had our own little paparazzi (Jonathan) snapping photos.

For all the crazy adventures that we have  had while traveling on the road, you can imagine that this adventure makes for a good story as well.  To share one of the stories, we stopped in for a celebratory drink at our place – Wolfgang’s Steakhouse in Tribeca, to spread our news and surprise some friends, and guess who was there?  Wolfgang himself (not Puck).  Nathan walked right up to him and told him we just got engaged and we were treated to a bottle of champagne and some heartfelt congratulations.

Vancouver.  Toronto.  Connecticut.  Minnesota.  Victoria.  California.  NYC.  New Jersey.  New Zealand.  Oklahoma.  Illinois.  Atlanta.  Halifax.  Detroit.

We shared our news with friends and family in all parts of the world.   But if you can believe it, the very first person I shared the news of our engagement with was not my family, or my best friends, or my coworkers but……..the bus boy at the restaurant.  I was sooo excited I couldn’t help but blurt it out as he was clearing away the chocolate lava cake and panacotta.  And the most surprised people to hear the news of our engagement, the commuters on the New Jersey transit bus leaving the Port Authority that fateful night.  As we boarded the bus, Nathan, glowing from the excitement and a bottle of bubbly, announced to the bus, ‘We just got engaged!  Clap it up people. Clap it up!’. I didn’t hear him say this (surprisingly) and I walked through a round of applause and shouts of ‘Congratulations’ from everyone on the bus.  It’s going to be a tough job keeping up with him, but I think I’m up for the challenge.

Thank you to everyone who has been a part of our journey and has shared in our experiences, our adventures, and our misadventures.  We are extremely happy to start this new chapter in our lives and to have been able to share this moment as a family with Jonathan.





Ice Cream Overload

6 07 2010

The last weekend in June included a 3am wake up call, a 5am set up time, the hoisting of a cow and a dog up 14 feet and 6 hours of watching a perfect event unfold on 5th Avenue in NYC.  In 6 hours our smartly dressed ambassadors gave away 15,000 ice cream samples.





Little Italy Meets Chinatown

13 06 2010

We finally made our way out to Little Italy the last time we were in NYC.  Unfortunately we had to choose the hottest, most humid day ever to make the trip.

Even though it was great to walk through the pedestrian streets with the “Welcome to Little Italy” signs, the decorative flowers, the sidewalk patios and little markets with fresh mozzarella and prosciutto, we really made the trip to visit the infamous pizzeria, Lombardi’s.  Which boasts itself as the ‘birthplace of new york style pizza’ with a coal-fired oven.

Very good pizza.  Although, I’m not going to lie, I think I might like Patsy’s better…

On to Chinatown, which pretty much looked like any other Chinatown in any other city.  Lots of sidewalk seafood displays.  Lots of fresh fruit markets (it just happened to be lychee season so I finally got to show Nathan what Lychee look like).

The one thing that stood out.  The chubby ginger cat that sits below the fish display, looking pleasantly full.  And I got a testimonial from a local that this cat eats some crazy stuff!