NYC part deux

 The Big Yam cruising around in his bonny togs

 Day 2 we ended up at the Manhattan Children's Museum, where the admission price for adults and all children over the age of 12 months is $11 (why a children's museum would create uniform pricing for adults and children is beyond me.)  It's basically a giant indoor playground with different learning areas, sand and water play, and some cheesy "exhibits" that are of questionable ethnic integrity and intent.

 Holla!  We hit up Doughnut Plant for the most delicious doughnuts I've ever had in my life.  I tried one of each kind - cake and yeasted.  The Tres Leches cake doughnut was out of this world but the yeasted doughnut was even better, if that's even possible.  It was light, airy, and filled with the most luscious, essence-of-coconut cream filling I had ever tasted.  Bomb!

The evening of Day 2 is the night we went to Brooklyn to eat at Betto and to visit with my chef friends S (who's the chef there), and A (who is a sous chef at Lincoln) and the Dotytron's buddy A and his gf, C.  It was a lovely, lovely dinner that stretched long into the evening.

 Day 3 we started by taking a walk on the High Line, which is an elevated train track that was converted into a park.  I can't even describe how lovely this was in the spring.  It's such a phenomenal idea and a smart and savvy use of space.  The Big Yam LOVED it.  He had been wanting to be outside the whole trip so the fact that he could run up and down and zip around was positively THRILLING for him.  I can't say enough good things about it.  Definitely a not-miss attraction.

 We saw this sculpture by artist Susan Sze, who I just learned is the wife of Siddharta Mukherjee, the author of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize winning non-fiction book, The Emperor of All Maladies, which I just finished two nights ago.  When I went to read up on him after finishing the book, I found out his wife was an artist and that I had recently seen her work!  Cool!  I'll review his book in an upcoming post.

 That day we had lunch at Parm, which is a sister restaurant to one of the newest and hippest kids on the block, Torrisi Italian Specialities.  There was no way we would be able to get resos at Torrisi, so we settled for walking in for lunch at Parm, which, in keeping with the unwritten NYC policy, doesn't have high chairs.  Of course.  They specialize in Italian-American red sauce classics. The value for the dollar is good - you get a big plate of chicken parm (me) or chicken francese (Dotytron) with salad or baked ziti with "gravy" for $15.

 Our last dinner in NYC we trekked to Brooklyn to eat at Pies'n'Thighs.  Fried pickles, fried chicken, biscuits, mac'n'cheese, and a fried apple pie?  Uh-huh.  Yeah, that's right.  

 My friends A & S live in an apartment pretty close to our hotel, so we went to visit them that night and hung out on their shared rooftop terrace.  This is the view of the Empire State Building from their place.  Pretty slick.

I'm a sucker, and the Big Yam was suffering from the beginnings of his walking pneumonia...so I had in the bed with us every night.  Best. Feeling. Ever.

And that wraps up our version of NYC this time around.  Like I said, it wasn't ideal.  There are obviously more high-profile restos I would have liked to have gone to and I would have wanted a more restful vacation than what I got toting my bambino around...but it was still nice to spend a good chunk of time away from our regular lives and whatnot.  I just love, love, love NYC.  It's such an awesome, awesome city.

That wraps up the NYC coverage.  Back to regularly scheduled posting tomorrow...complete with a book review and HUNGER GAMES MOVIE WEEKEND MADNESS!!!

Fin.

NYC!

I can finally tell you guys about NYC!  

Finished a long-overdue paper last night and I'm feeling pretty good.  Tonight we're going to see The Hunger Games with SMcKay, Lolly, R, and SMcKay's new beau.  To say that I'm PRETTY PUMPED would be the overstatement of the not-so-new millennium.  I'm BEYOND excited.  I've been waiting for this for what feels like years!  We're also doing a round of pre-movie AYCE hot pot, AND I just came back from Canadian Tire with 3 new Rubbermaid storage bins to do some reorganizing, which pretty much just launched this day into the stratosphere.

The Big Yam is doing his first sleepover at Nana's house tonight and there are plans a-foot for a late night mission to Pac Mall.  Sounds like the best damn night, in oh, I don't know, FOREVERS.  The only thing marring my anticipation is the knowledge that I didn't jump on that Hot Topic District 12 tank when I first saw it.  I went back yesterday on my day off to buy one and they're all sold out!  Sold out online, too!  Booooo...so sad!  I still might do up my hair in a side braid, though.  Squeeeeee!!! So excited!!!  

So.  NYC.  Overall, not the best place to go with a baby the Big Yam's age, when you do NYC the way we like to do it.  That generally means, not a lot of museums, and a lot of hanging out maxing, relaxing all cool.  But it was still fun, and Momma D watched him one night so we could have a fabulous 5 hour meal with our NYC friends.

On the plane ride over, a man stopped to spend an extended amount of time talking to the gentleman half of the couple sitting in the row in front of us.  Finally, we heard the wife, say, exasperatedly, "He doesn't know you." which made me and the Dotytron almost die with laughter.  LOL!  This was made even more funny because the stewardess who gave us the "how to hold a baby on the plane" safety rundown had made a big show of "recognizing" the Big Yam and saying stuff like, "Oh, I remember this little man!  He's grown so big!" and telling the other flight attendant that the Big Yam was a "frequent flyer."  After hearing the "he doesn't know you" line, we wanted to use it on the flight attendant when she came back to offer drinks and make a big showing of knowing the Boobla.  LOL!  I mean, maybe she was our flight attendant when we flew Porter to Boston, but that was 8 months ago...I have a hard time believing that the Big Yam was the baby she was remembering.

 We stayed at the Tryp Hotel in Times Square.  It's newly opened and had the biggest rooms of any of the ones I had checked into (280sq feet).  It's also got some cool family-friendly features.  Our room had this little extra bar/counter area with an extra sink, an empty bar fridge, as well as free wi-fi.  The deal I got us also got us complimentary drinks one night.  Some of the other "family" rooms have murphy bunk beds that swing down from the wall, which would be perfect for a family of 4 staying together.  The rate we got was $169 all in, per night, which anyone I've told has said is insane and a great deal for Manhattan.  Momma D?  Not so much.  She said she was used to thinking of $100/night as her maximum for a hotel.  I didn't clarify if she was talking in like, Eerie Indiana or NYC in 1972 or something, but it was pretty funny.  

 Our first day we had lunch at Luke's Lobster, which is a great alternative to Pearl Oyster Bar.  They have multiple locations (no line!) and are routinely listed as one of the top 5 lobster rolls in NYC.  It's a great, classic lobster roll: top-split bun, the barest hint of mayo, huge chunks of lobster.  Served with a pickle, kettle chips and a boutique soda.  Perfect.  I think I prefer my lobster roll with a touch more mayo, but that's just me.  We got a lobster roll and a crab roll.

 This was my crew.

 At the MOMA.  I saw this Picasso and said to the Dotytron, "this is exactly what you look like naked."  *pause*  "I'm pretty sure that's a woman."  LOL!  We saw the Cindy Sherman retrospective which was awesome as well as a Diego Rivera special exhibit.  This was strictly for Momma D's benefit.  Left to our own devices, we're not really museum goers.  The Big Yam had fun listening to the audio tours, though:

For dinner we had intended on going to Shake Shack but with the weather being so nice while were there, the lineup in Madison Square park stretched almost around the whole perimeter.  We ended up at Hill Country Texas BBQ Market and am I ever glad we did!  It's kind of like a Marché type concept: all the offerings (meats, sides, desserts, drinks) are printed on a little card, you bring your card with you to the station, they serve you up, note what you ordered, and you pay at a cash when you leave.  Easy peasy.  SO DELICIOUS!  I am haunted by the taste of the juicy brisket, the beef shoulder, and their ribs.  The sides were divine, the corniest, creamiest corn pudding you ever done ate in your life.  

That was Day 1.  

Day 2-4 to come tomorrow.

Fin.

NYC!

We're heading out in just a little bit to one of my favorite places on earth.  Love, love, love NYC!  Can't beat it.  For a chowhound and a jazzer, it's the perfect city to satisfy both our desires.  This is what we have on our itinerary:

...and more!  

Roundup post upon my return!  Enjoy the next four days, all!

Fin.

Deep thoughts

Here are some deep thoughts from me:


1) Remember bruschetta?  Remember how bruschetta used to be like, a thing?  Like, any restaurant you would go to, regardless of type of cuisine would have bruschetta and people saying, "I loooove bruschetta" and getting all weirdly faux-Italian with the pronunciation was a regular occurrence ("BROOOOSCHKKKETTTA")  I don't know why this came up recently, but I've been weirdly fixated on it.  Like, it was SO ubiquitous, guys!  As if chopped tomatoes with some basil on garlic on bread was the be-all and end-all.  You couldn't show up to a graduation party without it appearing.  I love it as much as the next person (in season), but I feel that the benefit of distance allows me to say that bruschetta is a b***h to eat in public.  The tomatoes get everywhere!


2) Last week we walked into Kernals to pick up some supplies for our planned Settlers of Cattan date with Dr. Rei and Hanbo.  While we were there, we met this guy who was basically the Kernals-version of Randal Graves.  Anyway, we were riffing with the guy about his job and then the Dotytron said something like, "yeah, and then 8 years later, you're still here" at which point I proceeded to die inside while the guy said, "8 years? Dude, I've only been here for 6 months."  When we left the store I was like, way to make that dude feel like he's doing a go-nowhere job for the rest of his life and he has no future.  LOL!  The Dotytron is all like, "what? Noooo...he got that it was a joke, right?" And then when the ramifications of what he had said sunk in, proceeded to feel really bad.  We realized that he picked a number that was all-too-feasible for a Kernals front-line employee.  It's really easy to meet the 8 year mark doing a gig like that.  The Dotytron should have picked like, 80 years or something to drive the joke point home.


3)  During what was a generally hilarious conversation later that same evening, the topic of the "2nd earth" (aka the Christmas Planet - worst name, EVER!  Why not just call it "unobtanium"?!?)   that had been dominating the news over the holidays came up.  Hanbo, ever the sensible one, asked, "How do they know the planet is so earth-like?" To which Dr. Rei and I, already on a spinning-each-other-up tear, responded at the same time (respectively): "They just do!" "They can see it........trails off uncomfortably"  LOL!!!  So typical us.


4) So, as some of you may know, the Dotytron and I availed ourselves of a 50% Porter seat sale to book ourselves a little 10th anniversary trip to NYC.  The big question mark was what to do with the Boobla.  My mum said no, it's a lot to ask of Momma D, and we weren't sure if we wanted to part with him anyway.  The interim solution (which allowed for maximum unfettered restauranting on my part) was going to be dropping him off with my sister so that she would take him into the daycare Little Big Cuz goes to and then picking him up.  Not bad all around (even if my heart did falter at the thought of him eating US institutional daycare food for 3 days).  Anyway, we were still up in the air about what we're going to do, until Momma D came up with the brilliant plan to come with us to NYC.  That way, she could watch the Big Yam at night while we did our own thing and all was right in the world.  So cute!  


...


Until I started getting the odd email with a food/restaurant suggestion (full disclosure: there have been 2 emails, and 1 of the restos was already on my spreadsheet).  I am such a control freak that it had never crossed my mind that in travelling with other people, THEY MIGHT NOT CEDE GASTRONOMIC CONTROL TO ME.  LOL!  Like, my family generally lets me do the meal planning, if something like that is available.  When I've traveled with other friends, it hasn't been an issue.  Either they're eaters like me that I trust implicitly, or, they're willing to cede control to me and eat weird random sandwiches on their own time (see: Dr. Rei and the Dotytron in Florence & Rome.  See: what a hard time they gave me when I refused to eat anything that wasn't on "the list").  Anyway, Momma D has been lovely about it and has as much as said that I can meal plan the entire trip but even the odd innocuous email suggestion stresses me out.  Because I'm a psycho.  LOL!  We're having to adjust our eating plans anyway to accommodate the presence of the Big Yam.   


It just goes to show you that in all things Lagerfeld, it's Lagerfeld's way or the highway.

  

Tonight for dinner we had braised squid and chickpeas with whole wheat couscous and light, simple, mixed green salad.  The braised squid was pretty terrible, I don't think I'll be making that again.


Fin.

i'm too tired to write...

and too excited by my impending road trip to lovely geneseo to bother with the long rundown. so here's a capsule photo montage. i don't know why some of the photos aren't showing up but i'm too lazycakes to fix it.

this is a cotton candy machine that was outside another of the izakayas in the east village.

on monday morning we had breakfast at good enough to eat, where i had the best corned beef hash ever (and i've eaten a lot of corned beef hash in my day, trust me), with big chunks of greasy, crusty potatoes, onions, and tender bits of real corned beef. it was served with fluffy yeasted biscuits and whipped strawberry butter. the strawberry butter was delightful. the dotytron had a regular farmer's breakfast with pork sausage patties, poached eggs, and a delicately flavoured onion-dill bread:

we rented bikes near central park and then biked around. we made a mistake and finished a small loop of the park in about 20 minutes - thinking we'd done the whole thing. MISTAKE. when we took the other fork in the road the bike ride was over an hour to circle the park - and some of it was ruthlessly uphill, which is deceiving because most of manhattan lulls you into complacency with its' flatness. we also biked along the hudson where i took horrible, ugly, unpicturesque photos:

our last dinner in nyc was in brooklyn, again in williamsburg, at fatty 'cue. zakary pelaccio has another restaurant (two branches, now) called fatty crab, which serves malaysian street food type stuff - laksas, curried crabs, etc. this is a southeast asian take on bbq with delicious, piquant results. this is a nam prik eggplant, which is served with chiccharones, green mango, radishes, and beans for dipping:

this is dragon pullman loaf from chinatown, toasted (the fluffiest white bread ever) served with fat from the smoker. somewhat predictably, i was the only fan:

this was pork belly, served with the most fragrant yellow curry custard - so good:

the dishes are meant for sharing and they arrive in no particular order. this was pulled lamb shoulder with house made pita and greek yoghurt with thai mint:

a cucumber salad and a celery salad with yuzu:

a smoked snapper that is then seared, served with chili sauce:

some of the juciest, most flavourful, most perfectly cooked duck i've ever eaten, served with a red curry custard:

brisket served with bone broth, bao, and condiments. the idea is you make little sandwiches with the bao and then dip in the bone broth:

this was a special that night, called "the legend" basically a cross section of the belly of the pig, smoked and then fried, served with more bao. sooooooooooooo good:

we had the snapper bones fried so we could snack on them:

i freakin' love that place and would go back in an instant. so good! so very, very good. lentz joined pingy, pingy's roomie, myself and the dotytron for dinner and he and the dotytron had a blast taking down the "recession special" at the bar and with dinner - a set of drinks which featured a shot of whiskey, a shot of pickle juice, and then a tall boy of pabst blue ribbon for $8. the pickle juice was really, really good! kind of gingery and not acrid briny at all.

the morning before we left we stopped at amy ruth's which is one of our favorite soul food restaurants, and also (according to the menu) a favorite of such african american luminaries as the reverend al sharpton and bill clinton. my stomach has been feeling a little sensitive and over-worked lately, so we kept it "light" so to speak. i had biscuits, virginia ham and eggs and the dotytron had bacon, grits, and eggs:

then we hopped on a plane and raced to our midwifery appointment and now we're all caught up.

last night we went to see stravinsky's petrushka at the toronto symphony orchestra. it was fantastico. i fell asleep through most of petrushka but stayed away for the pre-intermission bit, which was the second part of the three cornered hat (or something) which i LOVED and this nuevo tango number which i also LOVED.

i've been craving fresh, cold, salad-y things lately for dinner so i made us a GIANT pre-symphony greek salad which we had with beef souvlaki from sun valley:

it's been SO HOT and we don't have a/c in our house that i wanted cold crispiness. we're going to eat that again tonight before we drive down to geneseo.

squee! so excited to see my sis and outlaw bro and her family. we haven't seen them since easter. it was miss ramona's birthday a while back so i made up a certificate for her naming her aunt mercy and uncle do-do's "favorite niece of the year" and had a fill-in-the-blanks prize form for her to fill out and mail back which entitled her to a very special fun day with just us and her. she picked going to the strong museum (children's museum in rochester) and eating burgers for her activity. so we're definitely going to do that. otherwise it'll just be me and my sis rubbing our bellies together to get the cousins acquainted and eating and relaxing and watching MTOD. i'm hoping it's going to be hot and sunny enough that we can go swimming at stony brook, if it's even open yet.

happy memorial day weekend everyone!

i'm currently in love with this tune - it's so hands-in-the-air 80s:

it's made by the same guy who made her "hot'n'cold" which i kinda love, "since u been gone" which i TOTALLY love, and "party in the u.s.a." which is TOTALLY TOTALLY love. this guy, dr. luke, totally has me dialed in.

lol!

fin.