Weekend #7

This weekend I finally made it to another borough of the City of New York! On Saturday morning I got on the #2 subway line and 45 minutes later I was in Park Slope, getting off at the Grand Army Plaza stop. When you exit the subway station to ground level you are welcomed by this fabulous arch celebrating the Union army. I then walked a few blocks to my friend Eliot's apartment, had a cup of tea with him, then walked a bit through Prospect Park and had lunch at a favorite Thai restaurant. This restaurant is on the 2nd floor on the corner of 7th and Carrol and it is across from a beautiful church. I then walked down 7th avenue to about 9th street and then back on 5th avenue to the Atlantic Avenue subway station heading back to Manhattan. Along the way I took some photos and one actually received a 10 of 10 score on Flickr (of course I also received much lower scores too) but here it is. You can see others on my Flickr site. Overall I liked Park Slope but Manhattan is still my first choice to live.

On Saturday evening I met up again with Eliot and he took me to this real authentic speak easy in the West Village called Chumley's. There are no signs whatsoever identifying it as a happening bar and restaurant but once you walk in that is exactly what you find. There is actually a second entrance, just in case the police raid the place!

Weekend #6

As always, more restaurants to report on. My friend Eliot is a tour guide and he is preparing an eating tour so he invited a few of us to join him to check out a Dim Sum place in Chinatown and then afterwards we had coffee and dessert in Little Italy. The Dim Sum place was Mandarin Court on Mott St. I think the consensus among the four of us was the food was good and the price right ($44 total not including tip). But I have to admit I have been spoiled when I was in San Francisco a few years back and had Dim Sum at a place called Yank Sing. I highly recommend that place. Nice decor, good atmosphere and the food was excellent. Ferrara is the name of the place we had coffee and dessert. Not only do they claim to be the oldest esspresso bar in NYC but the oldest in America. My cappacino was good but the St. Joseph zeppoli with cannoli filling was excellent.

One tip I should share. As in most places in Manhattan timing is everything. We met at Mandarin Court at 11:30 and there were plenty of tables available. Within 30 minutes the place was packed and the waiting line long. Same thing at Ferrara's. We again just missed the crowd arriving at about 1:30. In fact it was difficult getting out of the place due to the line of people waiting to get in!

Saturday I spent the day in my neighborhood taking photos and finding new places. A few restaurants that looked interesting enough to try out someday include: Luzias, Cafe Ronda, Rain and New Wave.

I also ran into a Roman Catholic Church, Church of the Blessed Sacrament, on 71st St. Very beautiful both inside and out. I'll be posting some photos on flckr soon. They also have free concerts. The next one is next Sunday at 3 pm and on April 2 at 3 pm the Opera Orchestra of NY is presenting "Souvenirs of OONY's Glorious Past".

For me the real find was the New-York Historical Society. I'm a bit of a history buff so I stepped inside to get some information and found out they have many interesting lectures and events. One I missed but wished I had attended was titled 'We the People: Active Liberty and the American Constitution' with Stephen Breyer (Associate Supreme Court Justice). But 'The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln' sounds interesting (March 30) as does 'The Supreme Court and the Struggle for Racial Equality" (June 13). Hopefully next week I'll see the exhibit 'Slavery in New York' before it closes next Sunday March 26.

My Photos Online

I like to think of myself as an amateur photographer and have taken quite a few photos during my weekends in New York. I've started to post them to a site called flickr. Check them out.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34724981@N00/

Weekend # 5

Laid back would be a good way to describe this weekend. No set plans were made, I was pretty much spontaneous all weekend. Fortunately for my stomach I called my friend Keri at the last minute today to see if she wanted to join me for lunch. We settled on hamburgers and ended up at the Burger Joint at the Le Parker Meridien. These were very good hamburgers and the $3 Sam Adams made them even better. Though I have to reveal my Jersey boy side. The best hamburgers are still at Barnicle Bill's in Rumson, NJ.

Continuing on the food theme I met some friends for dinner on Friday at the Bread Bar. The food was very good, I especially liked the Chicken Tikka but the acoustics were poor and I was straining all evening to hear the conversation. But on my way there, walking through Madison Square Park I walked past the statue of William H. Seward who was a governor and senator from New York prior to the civil war and secretary of state during the Civil War. It was note worthy to me because I am reading Doris Kearns Goodwin's new biography of Abraham Lincoln, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln and Seward is a main character.

Saturday I spent the day touring around Chelsea and then made my way to Union Square. For those of you not in the NYC area, Saturday was a gorgeous day with highs at least in the mid 60s and this weather brought New Yorkers outside like these five in Union Square. I also made it to the Chelsea Market on 9th and 15th. Lots of neat food stuff. I didn't realize the Food Network was located here but it makes sense.


I also spent the day taking many photos. I recently bought a new 50 mm prime lens. I'll try to post more of those photos but for now here is one I took of my nephew last weekend. My mother, his grandmother is in the background.

Weekend #4

Time sure flies. Its hard to believe that my fourth weekend in the city just ended. But hopefully there will be many more!

Weekend #4 was another good one. Back to eating well. On Saturday evening I met up with my good friends Eliot and Sabrina for pre dinner drinks at my place and then dinner at Pasha. As Eliot and Sabrina both recently visited Argentina, I served an Argentinian red wine which I enjoyed very much. It was a 2003 Daniva Reserva Roble Malbec from Mendoza.

Pasha is a very good Turkish restaurant on 71st and Columbus but also quite reasonable. Thanks to Sabrina's recommendation I had a chicken dish called Tavuk Gogsu Sarmasi. It's marinated chicken breast stuffed with a rice, pistachios and currants served on a bed of sauteed spinach with a white wine tarragon sauce. Just delicious. To finish the meal I had an apple tea which is a favorite of mine.

On Saturday afternoon I had lunch with my family in New Jersey at a place called the Garlic Rose. Every dish is made with garlic and my Chicken Mascarpone was excellent.

Besides eating well, shopping and more dancing were in the mix. On Friday evening I went downtown to J&R to buy a lens for my camera and pick up some CDs. Sunday afternoon was spent at a salsa intensive (4 hour) dance lesson. I actually enjoyed the salsa dancing very much and plan on getting out and dancing as much as I can. The dance studio I took the lesson at is called Dance Manhattan and if you are looking for a place to take dance lessons I highly recommend this studio.

Check the blog during the week for my observations on east side verse west side subways and New Yorkers' fears and misconceptions about New Jersey.