NYC 10 Years Later- Day 4

Tues. Sept. 13, 2022 NYC: Brooklyn

I woke up before 9am and said no. Back to sleep. I needed more sleep, 30 minutes later I was up. Even though I had gone to bed at 11pm. The line at Starbucks was way too long, but I had plenty of options, I found one a few blocks down and on a side street. It had no tourists, just a few office workers. The vanilla cream cold brew was surprisingly good. A nice change up and I will add it to my regular rotation. 

Our first stop of the day in Greenwich Village was the Stonewall Inn. Except we went right instead of left and had to backtrack. There was a sombre memorial park across the street. Up next was Donut Pub! I was very excited for it. We ended up getting three donuts: a chocolate cake donut (last place), Boston cream iced like a black & white cookie and the cronut. This is the one they are known for and it was the best of the three. As we walked to the exterior apartment from Friends, we mistook a random apartment building for it. Until Brent looked at his map and realized we weren’t there yet. At an intersection while we waited for the light to change, we overheard a lady on a bike telling the most ridiculous story: she waited for 35 minutes, there were 7 elevators and they were always full. We saw a group of young women, carrying iced coffees and talking animatedly, walking toward us. Yep, we were headed in the right direction. We got there and saw a guy standing in the intersection, mildly embarrassed, telling his girlfriend to hurry up and take the picture. It was so obvious though.

Up next was the Goethe Institut, and we walked right by the Stonewall Inn again. Ah well. The Goethe Institut was more of a library, there were no exhibits, just books you could read. And a bathroom. I was so confused by their system, it was almost Dewey decimal but then would veer slightly off course. It was mildly infuriating, and all of the cutters didn’t match either. We walked to the National Academy of Design but the building said the Arts Club. It was confusing because it was the right address. We went in and talked to the guy at the front desk, there was a sign saying to register first. He seemed annoyed by us. Why have that sign then?! We were just following the rules! There was an exhibit of works from members of the Pastel Society. They were incredible, pastels can be so hard to work with. Some were so realistic, I was very impressed. 

We had an 11:45am lunch reservation at Gramercy Tavern, just down the street. It was barely 11am and they didn’t even open until 11:30am. Our morning plans had taken less time than originally thought. We wandered around. Apparently Gramercy Park is private, nearby residents need to pay for a key?! We looked like fools, trying to enter a park with a locked gate. It was very uninviting. We passed by Teddy Roosevelt’s birthplace but it wasn’t open. We walked over to the Flatiron Building. This time I got to see it from the backside, alas there was ugly scaffolding all around. We still had time. We went into Eataly to see if it was any different, ours was way better. The LEGO store next door was a disappointment. I was so excited to see that they had Mario themed stuff, but it was only giant sets. All I wanted was a little Princess Peach and Mario LEGO figurine. 

Thankfully Gramercy Tavern wasn’t too busy and we were seated early. By 11:40am we had already placed our order, as opposed to our original reservation for 11:45am. This meant we would have more time for our afternoon in Brooklyn. [I have no clue how, but somehow, I forgot to write about the actual food]. We were seated in the tavern area (as opposed to the dining room). We started with roasted oysters, that were topped with little crispy bits of puffed rice. It was so good! The textures complimented each other and the hint of paprika was perfect. Brent had the grilled pork shoulder for his main and it was so delicious. I am not a fan of spaetzle, but this one was incredible. Maybe it was the addition of the sesame? And the pork was fall-off-the-bone soft, just perfect. I opted for the lumache, which I learned was a type of noodle. It came with chorizo and cheese. It sounds heavy, but it was oddly not. It was comforting and filling, but I did not feel gross or too full at the end. I really liked the addition of the squash as well.  We were too full for dessert, plus we wanted to get hotdogs at Coney Island. 

My feet were blistered but somehow didn’t hurt. It was more my muscles that hurt. And it was boiling hot outside. We had dressed up for lunch. Now it was time to go back to the hotel and change. As we were walking up Broadway, I saw that we were crossing Tin Pan Alley. We took that across to 6th, we had to. I had listened to a whole episode of Stuff You Should Know about it. At the hotel I switched to a bigger purse and grabbed my rain shell. They were forecasting isolated thunderstorms for the afternoon. 

We got on the subway around the corner from our hotel. We took the B train all the way to the end of the line to Brighton Beach, just like the maps app told us to. Apparently, the Q line, which would have taken us to Coney Island, was having troubles. This worked out better, Brighton Beach was a location in GTA VI so we had a bonus sight to see. I was falling asleep on the subway, listening to Stuff You Should Know: Georgia Guidestones. It was a long hot walk along the boardwalk from Brighton Beach to Coney Island. Sun beats down was our refrain. Most of Coney Island was closed for the season. Mercifully, they had left the toilets open. A few food stalls were also open. Brent got in line at Nathan’s while I went next door to Ruby’s Grill for soft serve. In my head, soft serve was a thing that you ate on the boardwalk. I came back and Brent had not moved. The family of three at the front was having a really long conversation with the cashier. It was definitely beyond hotdogs. They kept talking. Then the kid in front of us bailed and stood to the side. The manager opened up a second till and before I could get to it, that damn kid was somehow back in line in front of me. He goes up to order and asks her what they have to drink. She starts naming each individual option. I am losing it. Then he can’t pay until the other cashier finishes, because that machine accepts Apple Pay, and this one doesn’t. So, I keep standing there. Sharing incredulous glances with Brent. The people in front of him are having a discussion about onions with the cashier. She thought they wanted two hotdogs, but what kind of onions? Grilled? Fresh? Turns out they wanted onion rings. She had to print the receipt and go through it with them line by line. It had been over 20 minutes at this point. Only that chatty family of three had been served and were now waiting off to the side. It’s our turn. One hotdog. Pay. They hand us a hotdog. Done. It took under one minute. I had finished my soft serve ice cream long ago.

The Q was back up and running. As we walked over to the station, I saw the ORIGINAL Nathan’s Hot Dogs stand. Dammit. If the subway hadn’t been down and we’d taken the Q, that’s where we’d have gotten hotdogs! Not the farce that was the boardwalk stand. But in the end: hotdogs are kind of a boardwalk food. It took us a few tries at the machine, trying to buy tickets. I had to ask the conductor if we were getting on the right train (Brent had gotten confused, as it was the end of the line, there was no wrong direction to go in). We got off at Prospect Park and walked over to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. It was very pretty and peaceful. In the heart of it you couldn’t even hear the traffic. Just birds chirping and so many different bees! Throughout the gardens were various bird houses designed by artists. The best one was a library ref desk one. Can’t beat that. There was also a children’s garden, where kids can register and get a small square plot. Such a neat idea. We didn’t have time for the whole botanical garden, it was enormous. But we walked through a good portion of it. 

We walked half an hour to the green subway. We passed by one place that looked like an auto repair shop, there was a van up on cinder blocks and there was a repetitive squeaking sound. Except when we passed by the open garage door it smelled like straight up shit. Pure poop. Brent glanced in and apparently there were hundreds of chickens. The squeaking was squawking. But it wasn’t a proper place, maybe just an industrial butcher shop? It was weird and incongruous. On the subway there was a 5/6-year-old kid. No one gave up their seat for her, despite it being a packed subway car. She stood there like a pro. This was the most NYC kid I had ever seen. 

We were going to The Alligator Lounge because it was featured in Nathan Fielder’s show The Rehearsal. We were so excited!! Once inside, it was not busy at all. We were able to get THE table. Right behind it was a chalkboard with a drink special: The Nathan Fielder (amaretto, rum, cranberry juice and lime). I loved that they were leaning into it.  For my second I was going to order orange juice no pulp, but then I saw on the cocktails menu on the table that they had a drink called Ab-Solutely No Pulp. Which just made us crack up even more. That was a nod to his production company. When we ordered our second round of drinks, we got tickets for pizza. I went to order a cheese pizza and he told me to come back in 10 minutes. Except when I went back, he gave me two, I had only intended to redeem one of my tickets. But the pizzas were small, so it worked out. They were surprisingly good. And I enjoyed watching him make the pizzas and slide them into the brick oven. The Alligator Lounge was awesome. It had a good atmosphere, the pizza was great. There was death metal playing on the speakers and we were having so much fun. As Brent was settling the bill, a couple came in and started looking around. I asked if they were looking for THE table. Brent came over and said “if your grandma has brain cancer, you can have the table, I understand.” We laughed more than they did. They kept walking around the bar, and as we left, I heard “ooh the pizza!”

I accidentally put on coloured lip balm, as I was rooting around in my bag for a kleenex to wipe it off, I found a Lindor I had grabbed from work last week. Bonus snack! I was too full to get Dunkin’ Donuts for the subway ride back. The stupid ticket machine was giving us troubles again. I tried to ask for help but she just told me to buy a ticket from the machine. We tried a few more times and then I saw that there was a new person. She told me that we could just tap on with a credit card. THIS WOULD HAVE SAVED US SO MUCH TIME.

The subway only took us to 14th street and the idea of walking back, when we only had 40 minutes felt like too much. We switched lines and rode to Penn Station. When we got out, I realized we were right next to DSW. I had been shopping for sandals on their website the night before. I ran in to look at the Ugg sandals but they were a no-go for my wide feet. I need proper sandals, not strappy little fashion ones. 

Back at the hotel we had 15 minutes to change. We had a 7pm dinner reservation at Keen’s Steakhouse. It was literally 3 doors down from our hotel. We had tried to change it to later but there was no availability. Except when we got there, a couple had just been told that the next table would be available at 9pm. That could’ve been us! The interior was so cool, with dark wood everywhere. They had old pipes hanging on the ceiling and it felt like an old-fashioned steak house. Though, at first the pipes looked like mice. I could totally see women not being allowed in.

We ordered a shishito app to start. Except it was an enormous plate of peppers! It was more than I would have cooked at home for four dinners! Brent ordered the “legendary” mutton chop. I was wary of it, as the menu offered a smaller portion. I was right to be worried. It was massive, easily the size of half my head. I originally wanted to order a reasonably sized 8oz filet mignon. Instead, continuing the Seinfeld trend, I ordered the TBONE steak. I cannot stress this enough: IT WAS SO MUCH MEAT.  I managed to eat 2/3 of it, the bone in the middle was very small. The mashed potatoes we got on the side were an absolute necessity in between meat bites. I don’t think I even touched the spinach. We couldn’t stop laughing at the absurdity of how much meat was on the table between the two of us. Unimaginably, when I was done and throwing in the towel, Brent finished my steak! I was ready to get it doggy-bagged, no shame. To drink I had a delicious Brooklyn Cider House little wild cider. I had been tempted by the southside cocktail with gin, lime and mint but I was way too full for any more anything. I was also sadly too full for dessert.

After dinner we went to our favourite beer shop to restock. After that we popped into Forever 21. The ones in Canada had closed and I wanted some new headbands/hair accessories since cutting my hair short again. I got a sporty headband, it turned out to be $1! I thought it was $3 on clearance, a nice surprise. And some flower hair clips and a crop top to use as a bralette. Even though we were so close to the hotel it was still a long, tired walk. The Kopparberg pear cider was nice and refreshing, it really hit the spot and it wasn’t too strong. Plus, it was small. I was so tired and my knees were sore, one was throbbing. My notebook was full of metro tickets at this point. We had seen so many dogs I was pitching a video podcast Dogs of New York. We still had to pack and watch Jeopardy! I was looking forward to some time spent sitting on the train tomorrow. We had walked 34,000ish steps.

 

NYC 10 Years Later- Day 3

Mon. Sept. 12, 2022- Day 3- NYC: Manhattan

I slept longer this time, until 9:45am. The Payday bar made a good breakfast. We walked to the new location of the Whitney Museum. For coffee I chose Gregory Coffee. I was intrigued by the odd logo of the chain. A head with glasses and hair. It was just a hipster Starbucks. I had waited for so long for what appeared to just be a drip coffee. But it was damn good. 

I had packed my rain shell and left my sunglasses. New mistake to learn from. Always pack sunglasses. My poor eyes. The weather had changed. At the Whitney it was cool to see their Biennial. We had never been to one. The theme was keeping quiet and had been planned pre-pandemic. There was a sign for an Ed Hopper exhibit going up soon and I had a brief moment of FOMO until I realized I had him mixed up with Ed Ruscha. There was a rooftop sculpture garden. But we didn’t last very long. The sun was searing us. We barely looked at the sculptures, distracted by the views of the skyline and the Statue of Liberty off in the distance. I remembered passing a place the previous day that had been called The Donut Pub and I was intrigued by the name but Brent suggested looking up the best donuts instead. And guess who was on that list? I chose Sullivan Street Bakery over them because the name seemed familiar (I have no clue why). Some of the floors of the Whitney were closed, so of the five we only saw three. We were done in no time. 

We walked back via The High Line. This part of it was new to us, having only been announced when we last visited 10 years ago. I saw a guy up ahead with a square bright red backpack. It had a tag hanging off it that said “live bird.” I sped walked to catch up. In fact, there was a beautiful red macaw sitting on a perch inside the backpack, looking out through a mesh window. The High Line had bleachers where people could watch the traffic on the road below. They really know their audience: tourists who love looking at stuff. 

At the bakery we got two bombolini: a seasonal one (raspberry rhubarb jam) and a chocolate one. I also ordered a coffee. The seasonal one was far and away the better one. Maybe I am getting old? Overall, the “donuts” were good, but not what I was looking for. I wanted donuts, not bombolini. 

We stopped at Duane Reade and got sunscreen. Brent had to throw it out at the Yankees game as it was not allowed in the stadium. The kicker being that we didn’t even need it, it had rained. We also got some Junior Mints, continuing the Seinfeld trend. Because The Whitney had taken less time, we stopped in at the giant Macy’s. Brent had to see the old escalator. At first it seemed like it was closed, but it was just the one. We went up a floor and rode down on it. It is still as scary as I remember it being last time. Wandering around I noticed that there is an Auntie Anne’s and a Carvel ice cream. I made note of it for later if we needed snacks. I’ve only had Carvel once and when I looked it up in the hotel room, I really wished I had gone in while we were there. The soft serve sounded amazing!!!

We had a little time to kill before lunch. A chance to rest our legs and for me to catch up writing in my notebook. My legs were toast. We had lunch reservations at Le Bernardin, which I had mistakenly thought was Thomas Keller’s restaurant, when in fact it was an Eric Ripert joint). This was the furthest we had walked up Sixth Avenue, we usually veered off at some point because of a red light. But lunch was right off Sixth. We walked by Tesla Park and saw a statue of him. There were so many people walking so slowly. I was in heels (albeit, old lady 2in Clarks heels) and still going faster. We walked by News Corp and I joked that the Museum of Illusions (which we had passed that morning) had a second location. We also saw Radio City Music Hall and the HOPE sculpture (not as cool as the LOVE one). 

For lunch we had two options: 3 course prix fixe or the 7-course chef’s special. Given that we were having dinner at a fancy restaurant, we opted for the 3 courses. Before the apps, they gave us a starter: salmon and chives spread with sourdough toasts. It was really good, but we were too conservative with our potions at first, having to pile it on at the end. It was so damn good, everything else just didn’t stack up. Brent had the tuna pounded flat over foie gras and I had the lobster with fennel grapes (it took the last place of the meal, it wasn’t bad but not as good as the rest). For mains: I had the skate in browned butter (the browned butter is what earned it third place) and Brent had the hiramasa (yellowtail amberjack) with shiitake mushrooms. The mushrooms weren’t enough to beat out the other dishes, fourth place. The real winner here was the dessert. Brent had the selection of four ice creams (ranked best to worst): pistachio, Tahitian vanilla (I had no idea vanilla ice cream could taste so good!!), salted caramel and dead last was the chocolate. It was too rich and almost mousse-like. It was heavy. We had to try it because it was Ripert and Bourdain’s chocolate, we had seen a whole episode about it. But there was just too much chocolate in the ice cream (apparently there is such a thing). The pistachio ice cream with pistachio mousse and chocolate covered pistachio praline was amazing, almost as good as the salmon starter, but not quite so it was second place. To go with lunch, I had a glass of Marsannay wine because the winery was Pere & Fils, a name I recognize. There was one wine that was $50…for one glass. As an after-lunch after-dessert we were given tiny little financiers, they were ok but nothing outstanding. Overall, the lunch was good but below expectations. We had gone in thinking, fine dining! Eric Ripert! So hard to get a reservation! And not a single wow dish. There was an old rich guy at the table next to ours and we could not stop listening in. He complained about unions and the government. He complained about having to spend $800k to a corporate lawyer when the FBI raided his office. He also said it in a way that made it sound like chump change. We were so curious about what he does. His wife would pipe up sometimes but immediately get ignored and go back to silence.  The other two guys with him were in finance because they were complaining about getting audited and having to share their address books and all of their emails, including ones they sent to the CEO of Costco. I almost wish we didn’t have to leave and could keep listening. During lunch, Brent had gotten one tiny spot of sauce on the table cloth. While our plates were being cleared the server placed a napkin over it. If anything, it brought more attention to it than hiding it. 

We walked over to look at the Ed Sullivan theatre then headed down Broadway and 7th. Brent mentioned that the M&M’s store is a thing that people talk about. Eh, why not. We have the whole afternoon. I was expecting some wacky flavours but there was nothing. At most you could get custom M&M’s printed. Times Square had bleacher seating permanently installed. For what?! It faced a narrow island of concrete! People watching??? It was crammed and I wanted no part of it. We passed a group of young guys, who between the five or so of them had about 20 pairs of shoes in boxes in bags? Who needs that many??

We stopped at Dunkin’ Donuts so I could refuel. I was intrigued by the blood orange refresher. Apparently, it was like an iced green tea. Yes please! It didn’t really refresh or wake me up. I was still super sleepy. Rather than head back out, it made sense to hang out in the hotel. The Goethe Institut was south of us and near our lunch plans for the following day. Plus, we would have to rush to get back and change for our 7pm dinner reservation. I debated going to Macy’s and Nordstrom Rack down the block… as I fought to even keep my eyes open. Instead, I read my book and shopped online, looking for cute headbands. There were barely any in stock at the Forever 21 down the street from us. But they were also open until 10pm. I made a mental note of it for later. Before leaving we watched Jeopardy! on the iPad. It wouldn’t be airing until 7pm on TV, when we would be at dinner. It was the start of a new season!

It was a short and easy walk to Le Pavillon for dinner. This time I knew who the chef was, it was a Daniel Boulud restaurant. Thankfully it had warmed up and the threat of rain had passed so I could leave my rain shell behind. Apparently, we had walked right by it two days ago and didn’t even notice it, tucked away right next door to Grand Central Station. Another really nice restaurant space, just like at lunch. I ordered a cachaca drink because it had ginger in it. We were about to settle into another three-course meal. Except now we were ranking each part of the meal against lunch. Bread: sourdough was ok, the prosciutto bread was pretty good and the winner was the walnut bread (I made a note for my next bread to use walnuts). How did it stand up to the brioche and focaccia from Le Bernardin? It was better. And we got more. The walnut flavour really came through in the bread and I was impressed.

The amuse bouche was a compressed melon with ham. It was wacky but nowhere near as good as the salmon spread, point for LB. The appetizers were even worse. I had the octopus which was flat-out just not good, it was fishy and didn’t really go with everything else. The best part was the lentils and mustard, the cabbage lagged a little behind. Brent had the goat cheese onion tart. All I could taste was goat cheese. The onion was barely there and the toppings were so heavy I forgot about the tart underneath. It was way too heavy a dish for that size. Should have been little bite-sized tarts. For my, main I had the chicken breast. The skin was perfectly crispy and the sweet potato side was amazing. I had a bite of Brent’s sea bass but it was actually a little too spicy for me. It was a good kind of spicy, chili oil and lime. I took too long poking at it and slowly eating it that when we traded back it wasn’t full half-sies, but that’s ok. I was getting quite full. Here we couldn’t decide between the two places, the skate at lunch had been really good. We deemed it a tie. 

For dessert, Brent went with the cheese platter. I tried a nibble of each but there was no way we were trading. Of the four I barely liked one, it was sort of like Camembert. The others were goat-y or blue. I stuck with my apricot sorbet atop shortbread covered with mousse and drizzled with Empire State Riesling. It was refreshing and good but did not hold a candle to the pistachio dessert from Le Bernardin. The dessert amuse bouche was a choux craquelin that was so good and caramely, I would absolutely want to make it at home.

Dinner was more eventful than lunch. How can a story about being raided by the FBI possibly be topped? When we first sat down, Brent noticed that the guy at the table behind him was a dead-ringer for himself. I took a picture of Brent, with the doppelganger visible over his shoulder. We couldn’t stop giggling. The real action started between the mains and desserts when I noticed that the person walking behind Brent was none other than Daniel Boulud himself! I wasn’t sure if I was a dork for recognizing him so quickly, or for being so excited about it. It was actually kind of surprising to see him. He has a vast number of restaurants, so the odds of seeing him here were slim. When he passed again, I tried to get a picture but all I have is a picture of Brent with a blurry chef in the background. He was chatting up some people and we decided that the guy must be famous, he was wearing sneakers in a fancy restaurant and posing for pictures with Boulud. He went to another table to chat with some seemingly French people. Was he just doing the rounds or were these people he was scheduled to meet with? Would he pop by our table? At this point we had finished our meal. If he came by, I would ask for the recipe for the choux craquelin, they were so damn good.

The whole walk back we discussed the two meals. We had to look at each experience as a whole. Which meal would we rather have again? Le Bernardin wins. Some parts of the meal at Le Pavillon were just bad, whereas at Le Bernardin we didn’t have any dislikes. Le Bernardin still fell below our expectations, but Le Pavillon still was above. We had been expecting less at Le Pavillon, given how many restaurants Boulud has and in the past, we have walked away from them feeling underwhelmed. 

Back in the hotel there was nothing on TV, so Brent had football on mute while I wrote and read. The McKenzie black cherry hard cider was so good. I considered getting more versus trying more new ciders. The Graft tropical sour mimosa cider was wacky and it made me giggle because it was 6.9%. Online shopping ended up distracting me from reading. In total we had walked 22,000 steps. A light day in comparison thus far.

 

NYC 10 Years Later- Day 2

Sun. Sept. 11, 2022 NYC: Manhattan, Bronx

I didn’t sleep super great. I woke up at 7:45am because the stupid sun was coming in, turns out we had forgotten to close the blackout curtains. The JP Morgan library didn’t open until 10:30am. We walked over to see the UN building and the Bellevue hospital. We stopped at a Starbucks for my morning fix. I wasn’t feeling milk so I got a pineapple refresher and a cat-looking unicorn cake pop.

The UN building was confusing. We wanted the view of the flags all around a fountain but apparently that view is only from the inside or from the river. We were looking at the backside and very confused, like is this the right place? In our detour trying to even get to it we did get a glimpse of the river and the bridge to Queens. On the way we saw a lady running and wearing a race bib, except she was alone. What was going on? Was she a weirdo? (We later saw a few more people, turns out they were all running the Madison Mile). We walked up the “UN Way” stairs but the view was barely any better, back down we went. Off to our next destination: Bellevue Hospital. I was actually quite excited for this one, I had recently read an entire history of the place so I was keen on seeing it. When we got there, I realized that in all my purse swapping I had forgotten my mask. I got one from the security desk and we continued on. There was a big fancy modern glass atrium but it was built around the original historic facade. Along the corridor walls of the main hallway, they had historic photos and banners about all the innovations that happened there. It was also good because we got a bathroom break out of it. I did not expect that in our wanderings we would end up in a large waiting room that had a historic horse-drawn ambulance on display. It was way more than I had expected. I wanted to see the historic facade and the hallway of photos. This was a nice surprise.

We walked by a fire station at 10:30am. Bells rang out and we stopped for a moment of silence and Brent removed his hat. Fire trucks were parked in the street and we could hear the chief leading a prayer. It brought tears to my eyes (and again writing this). The JP Morgan Library was the true winner of our historic walk. Again, I wanted to see it because I had read about it in a historical fiction book. It was his house (now the gift shop), the library he had built plus contemporary additions. The contemporary stuff was meh. I did like the exhibit on how the museum was built. But the real reason we were there: the historic library with his collections in all its majestic glory. I was giddy. It was amazing and a definite highlight of the trip.

It had started raining very lightly but we had both brought our rain shells. I’d learned my lesson in Chicago. Thankfully it was a short walk, only a few blocks to Grand Central Station. It turns out that when they mean the Grand Central Station green line subway stop, they mean one block over from the train station but apparently close enough to warrant the name. It was a 30-minute subway ride to the Bronx. I was so sleepy on the train, I hadn’t brought my iPod so I kept nodding off. We knew we were on the right train because all around us were Yankees fans. The stop was right across the street from the stadium. We arrived an hour early, enough time to grab lunch and walk around. But it had started raining so we stayed on the concourse instead of sitting in our open-air seats getting rained on. We did a lap and grabbed garlic fries. They were the perfect starter snack. Up next was booze: the craft beer/cocktails vendor had the Cutwater cocktails I had fallen in love with! The Moscow mule was the perfect afternoon drink.  The hot honey chicken and waffles from Streetbird was alright, I was a fan of the chicken, not so much the waffle. It was kind of meh. The real winner was the King’s Hawaian roll cheeseburger. I had found them on a list, but they were not sliders as promised. Instead, it was one regular sized cheeseburger. And it was delicious. Move over potato buns, these might be my new favourite. I like the subtle sweetness. 

We had to eat standing by a wall because at this point, the game was in a rain delay and the concourse was packed. All the tables were taken. I ended up kicking over my beloved Moscow Mule but only a little spilled. I was so excited to see a Ben & Jerry’s stall, except the flavours weren’t clearly marked out and they, *gasp*, did not have Phish Food. I was appalled. Yet I still wanted ice cream. I settled for chocolate-something in a waffle cone. It hit the spot despite being super melty and making a mess of my shirt and face. Some people walked by wearing hats that were DJ cats, I wanted to chase them down and ask about it. But Brent explained that it was just Tampa fans wearing DJ Kitty Cat hats. (Current sidebar: it is a collector’s item and not for regular sale?!) 

The game was still delayed. We wiped down our seats and sat for a bit. They were playing the (Jets?) football game on the outfield screen. I was so tired, my eyes were heavy. I was falling asleep again. We went back to the concourse, Brent for another beer, me in desperate search of a coffee. It barely helped. Standing around we could see that the rain was letting up. The grounds crew came out and started removing the tarp. There was an announcement that the first pitch would be at 3:20pm… two hours after the original start time. An actual cheer arose from the crowd.

Lots of people were flying the American flag during the anthem and there was a 9/11 speech given. All of the Yankees players were wearing NYPD and NYFD hats. In the first inning: there were two guys on and the third guy hit a homerun and the pitcher switched out at the end. In the second inning: three more homeruns, two more pitchers (the third pitcher looked more like a player’s dad). All of these homeruns and the only thing that happens is that the lights flash. No mascot, no fireworks, nothing. The only thing they do is a whistle noise when the Yankees strike out a guy. And the people in the outfield in one section do a roll call, calling each player until he acknowledges them. Apparently, it’s a regular thing, done by one guy (who replaced the previous guy). We left at the end of the second inning, after an hour of baseball. These guys play fast, but when the game is two hours delayed it doesn’t matter. A lot of people were leaving, as it was close to the time the game would have been over. We ate. We saw the park. We saw a homerun.

As we got to the platform, we saw the subway getting ready to pull away. Brent ran for it and barely got on. I was not able to, he had pulled the doors open. Then the doors closed before I had a chance but someone else pulled them open again and tried to squeeze in but the door closed on their foot. I was not having it. I yelled. I swore. I flipped double fingers. Thankfully the next train was along in 5 minutes and it was also an express and we reunited at the next stop. Apparently, the people had booed him. He asked if I’d flipped him off and I coyly said no and that just made us both burst out laughing.

We went down to 14th Street for dinner at Corner Bistro. Anthony Bourdain had recommended it for burgers. They did not disappoint. The soft brioche bun. The meaty patty. I had ordered the mini bistro and was expecting something like a slider. Instead, I got a miniature behemoth. The only difference between the bistro and the others was the bacon. We split a side order of fries as well. My only complaint is the lack of ciders. That’s ok, at this point I was desperately chugging water.

On the walk back we stopped at Trader Joe’s again. After looking closely at the black garlic seasoning, I lamented not getting more (current sidebar: this happened again when I got home and used it for the first time, I lamented still not having enough). I got two more jars (for a total of 4). I also got a Strawberry Crate cider, for $1.67 I feel like I can’t really complain about it tasting only ok.

We had a 7pm reservation at the Empire State building. I was expecting to just go up in the elevator and walk out on the observation deck. First, we walked through an exhibit on how it was built, that was ok. Then there was the pop culture stuff, boring. Then in the elevator there was a fake movie on the ceiling pretending like we were ascending as it was being built. WHY??? From the 80th floor we had amazing views of NYC from all sides. It was kind of a unique view given it was overcast. There were markers letting us know what we were looking at. As per usual I got turned around and mixed up. I don’t know why this happens to me so often here, more than anywhere else. From the 86th floor the views weren’t as great, now we were in the thick of the clouds. Luckily, we hadn’t paid extra to go to the 102nd floor. It was a moody and atmospheric view, and somehow, I was confused again direction-wise. It wasn’t super busy at either floor, so we got to leisurely look from all sides without jostling for a spot. 

Earlier we had walked by Macy’s and I saw they had a banner that said “world’s biggest store.” We kind of questioned whether that was true. From up here it sure did look huge. On the way back down, we stopped at Walgreens on the main floor for movie snacks. There was nothing new or wacky but we did get Jujy Fruits because of that episode of Seinfeld. And an M&Ms mix bag: peanuts, plain and peanut butter. We passed by a lady who was wearing high heel cowboy boots, a white ruffled high-low dress, a cowboy hat and sunglasses. IT WAS DARK AND RAINING. I shook my head. Classic NYC.

We had a 20-minute rest in the hotel. I wish I had saved my cider, instead of drinking it before we went to the Empire State building. Instead, we snacked on Jujy Fruits, they were ok, except for the black ones which were gross. The Whatchamacallit really hit the spot. I was halfway caught up in writing in my notebook and it was time to leave. We walked north to the Lincoln Performing Arts Centre to see the movie Red. Times Square was a “god awful clusterf*ck nightmare” to walk through. I hated every slow second of it. It did not help that it was raining. Things were much better once we got over to 8th and then 9th. We passed by some Broadway theatres and I was confused: how can there possibly be a musical version of Kite Runner? We passed by a $1.99 pizza place, all I could think was it could not be good.

I was expecting a proper movie theatre. This was more a theatre for artsy screenings. The popcorn was pre-popped, and the drinks were kind of in a mini-fridge on the floor behind the ticket-taker/concession stand attendant. Hard pass. Plus, Brent had a stomachache. Once we were settled, I could see I would not be snacking. This was a decidedly different crowd. We were not here to see a movie. We were here to see a film. I was led to believe it was in Polish. The director is Polish. It was in French. Set in Switzerland. I did not enjoy it. The experience was fun, it was nice to sit. I liked walking about the performing arts complex with the nicely lit fountain but the movie itself: nope. 

We walked by the Port Authority bus terminal and laughed about the Simpsons joke about it being a point of interest. It was a slow, tired walk back. My shoes were starting to squish, it was still raining. I had blisters on my feet but somehow, they didn’t hurt (Clarks old lady sandals for the win!). They did dye my feet though.

I was so tired. I didn’t get to bed until 12:30 because I had to catch up in my notebook. And somehow at the end of all this I was hungry??? We had walked over 38,000 steps.

 

NYC 10 Years Later- Day 1

Sat. Sept. 10, 2022- Day 1- Toronto, ON to NYC

The 6am wakeup wasn’t nearly as bad given that it was cheat day and I had a mini bottle of Starbucks mocha in the fridge. Despite it having been a sleepless night. We took an Uber to Billy Bishop Airport and were there in 20 minutes. We got through security in 5 minutes. When Brent went up to the counter to verify his vaccine papers, he was offered a chance to switch to the earlier flight, instead of the 9am flight we would be on the 8am flight and would only have to wait 40mins! Heck yes! Except when Brent came to get me and we both came back to the desk, the lady in line thought I was cutting, even though we were already in the middle of a transaction. She later apologized. 

I tried reading my psych book “Why Has No One Told Me This?” but I was in the section on anxiety which was just the last thing I needed to read about before getting on a flight and while missing Rudy. I switched to “The Cartographers” instead. Snacking white cheddar popcorn and Jos Louis was probably not the best breakfast. I ended up with cake all over my face. The flight was an hour and 20 minutes long. I spent the whole time immersed in my book. By the time we landed I had read 20%. I had originally grabbed a bag of almonds for my in-flight snack, but as soon as I had ordered coffee. I regretted my decision. I asked for a packet of shortbread and proceeded to dunk my cookies like a genius. 

There was a shuttle train that took us to the nearby train station. There was a tiny Dunkin’ Donuts in there but I couldn’t see any employees and it seemed barebones. From there it was just one train that took us into Penn Station in New York. There was a weird lady on the platform taking a video as the train arrived. Why??? Way off in the distance across the water you could see the Manhattan skyline but I couldn’t see it past the industrial ugliness near the Newark airport.

Penn Station was as shitty as I remembered. Maybe shittier now that Garrett’s Popcorn was closed. The toilets were ancient and gross. Walking around we could immediately see that John Wilson had no trouble finding footage for his show How To. I started keeping notes in my phone. There were two guys selling hats and ice-cold water at a Hop On Hop Off bus tour. The passengers hadn’t even disembarked! The guys were just yelling at them. I saw a guy wearing a black silk suit. Both top and bottom were pleated. There were five or six cop cars lined up around a corner and they were all huddled around…. a hot dog stand. It was lunchtime. We were on our way to visit Cait & John. We stopped at Ess-A-Bagel for lunch. The line was long but we had time. I was unsure of how the order ahead for pickup worked so we waited. A guy rode by on a bike with three bags of balloons tied to his handlebars. We waited for about an hour but once inside it was quick. We had already decided ahead of time what to order. Brent waited outside with our bags while I went in. The cream cheese & lox on an everything bagel was everything I had dreamt it would be. It was easily one of the best sandwiches I’d ever had. Brent had the chicken parm on a garlic bagel. The garlic bagel was so good and I made a note to try topping my next batch of bagels with garlic before baking. Thankfully I had anticipated the bagels being good and I also ordered a sesame bagel and a blueberry bagel. I had to solve the mystery of my homemade blueberry bagels once and for all. Turns out blueberry bagels just aren’t that good, it’s just not a good flavour for bagels. I hadn’t screwed up making them and now I could move on. The sesame bagel was amazing but it would have to wait. The bagels had the perfect crust and were so delectably chewy. It was well worth the wait. 

On the way we stopped at a Dunkin’ Donuts so I could get properly reacquainted with my love. I would not be swayed by their pumpkin spice. I could only have so much DD coffee and I was not about to risk it being a bad cup. Raspberry for the win!

We got to Cait & John’s apartment and checked in at the front desk. The concierge was very confused, thinking we wanted a key. We were just doing what we were told to do! As we turned the corner from the elevator, Brent thought that the garbage room was their apartment because the door was open and it was the first door on the left. It was the perfect set up for a joke about New York apartments. We stayed and chatted for a bit (while desperately trying to get rehydrated- it was hot out) and then we headed out to the Guggenheim, leaving our bags behind. It was a welcome reprieve. I had packed lighter this time, leaving the DSLR at home as I really only use it for nature and landscape photos. On the way we passed a rich bougie dad playing catch football with his daughter… in the middle of the sidewalk. WHY???

At the Guggenheim we found out that the discounted tickets were because most of the collection was closed as new exhibits were being installed. We didn’t get the full experience of walking up the ramp to each floor. Instead, we had to take the stairs. Boring. The exhibits started out kind of meh with “modern poetry inspired” works. I was not impressed. The next floor redeemed the museum: impressionism and cubism. I discovered a new Picasso work that I love, maybe it’s one of my new favourites? Gotta love his take on a bird. Walking by we could see the installation, one or two paintings were hung. The artist was Alex something and his work was cubist. Alas it was hard to see from so far away. Things got way worse at the museum. The final exhibit was a huge disappointment and gave me strong OCAD flashbacks. I will go on the record saying: I strongly dislike Eva Hesse’s work. I hate the texture of it, just looking at it I can feel it and ick. It reminds me of dried human skin and it was much worse being in the room with it than seeing photos in a textbook. I was glad to be out of there. 

We walked through Central Park, taking the scenic route.  In the park we saw some cute rats scurrying around some chipmunks. We stopped at a waterfall, the siblings had a mini photo-shoot. There was a sprinkler set up in a closed off street and in my notes, it says that it felt like a typical NY scene. We were on our way to the Hungarian Pastry Shop, it had been on my list except I failed to note why. Or where I had gotten the recommendation from. Eventually I figured out by process of elimination that it was a NY Times recommendation. There was a line, which kind of seemed to be the theme of my picks so far. But it moved quickly. There were so many delicious choices, in the end we got: apricot jam shortbread cookies, neapolitan sandwich cookies, a cherry danish and an apple linzer torte. Everything was amazing. The apple linzer reminded me of szarlotka (a Polish apple cake). The neapolitan cookies, I made a note to myself to try and make my own version. It was genius: a sandwich cookie with chocolate cream, one cookie is vanilla and one is strawberry. We also ended up with a bonus mini-tour stop: we were on/near the Columbia University campus.

On the way back we had a mini detour through another part of Central Park around a pond and to a rose garden. I could not believe how many turtles were in this pond. At least 40. And one diving bird. In the rose garden there was a fountain of children/small women, twirling in a circle. I wondered if it was a ring-around-the-rosie sculpture?

Outside of CVS I saw a dog licking his owner’s calf which was just adorable. Back in the apartment we had a chance to sit and rehydrate (again). While everyone else watched tennis, I couldn’t help but look at their book collection. It was mostly organized by colour. After a short rest we said goodbye and headed back out.

We passed two older gentlemen wearing matching white suits. We stopped at IT’Sugar candy store. I had heard of it because a Canadian location is set to open. I had to see for myself if it was worth getting excited over. It was not. It didn’t hold a candle to Dylan’s Candy Bar. I got an Australian version of a Crunchie bar (which was oddly better than the Canadian one?), cookies and cream Kit Kats (too cream. not enough cookies, too sweet) and a Charleston Chew.  We happened to walk by a Victoria’s Secret/PINK. I ran inside to see if they had the new high-waisted undies (yes, I am old) I had just found on their website and proceeded to grab a fistful, better than paying shipping. We walked by ritzy apartments on Park Ave, complete with awnings and porters. At one, there was a rich guy obliviously asking the door person if he had insurance. It was cringe-y as hell. It was odd to see groups of pre-teen kids just walking around, with no adults. They had to be super rich. We walked down Fifth and Madison and passed ritzy stores. I deduced that bold green (think Irish) was the colour of the season.

As we got closer to midtown the sidewalks became clogged with tourists. Walking slow. Stopping. Taking selfies of themselves holding a soft pretzel. But at least this was the start of one-way streets and we could jaywalk away from them. Except when cyclists and drivers don’t give a damn that pedestrians have the right of way and they try to aggressively turn right. Nope. Not having it. I would walk slowly in front of them. We walked by 30 Rock and the (famous?) church across the street had huge floral decorations. There was a fancy event happening at the NYPL.

The check-in staff at the hotel started out friendly but started getting suffocating. Where in Toronto are we from? Who cares! The manager would greet us every single time we came in or left. It was odd. During check-in he would periodically go to the back to cough. I switched out my travel bag for my Lululemon bag and we headed right back out. It was already 8pm but we still had plans! We were having dinner at Joe’s Pizzeria. On the way we stopped at a liquor store. The first one was a wine and liquor shop, I got two drinks: a pineapple margarita and a Long Island Iced Tea (for later). The beer shop was actually two doors down, oops. At first, I was disheartened, it looked like all they had were multi-packs. Until I looked at the price label. They were priced as individual cans and bottles!! Genius!! All stores should be like this!!! I still confirmed at the register before I started taking apart 6-packs. I had to take my time choosing. In the end I got: Austin East Cider passionfruit, Citizen Cider ginger, McKenzie black cherry and Graft Lost Topic mimosa cider. A great haul.

As we walked further south, I noticed that there were A LOT of nicely/interestingly dressed people. Was it because it was a Saturday night or was something else going on? It all felt vaguely familiar and then I remembered: when we were in New York 10 years ago (almost to the day) it was New York Fashion Week! A quick google search confirmed it. We walked past a Trader Joe’s and it was like a siren calling me in. I carried as many bottles of everything bagel spice, chili lime and red & green hatch chiles. I also noticed that they had flaked black garlic seasoning. Yes please! I grabbed one of those in addition to the two of each of the others. I wanted more but my hands were full. Along the way we saw a lady that looked a lot like Ms. Ellie, Paul’s mom. We even walked back a little to get a better look but Brent didn’t approach her. Instead, he emailed Paul to ask if his mom was by any chance in NYC. She was not. We were saved some embarrassment. But what a story it would have been! What are the odds that we run into her one day short of a year in a different 9/11-related place?!

It was dark out and the Cutwater pineapple margarita was a short can. Saturday night! Of course, I cracked into it. It was dangerously good… and potent. Turns out it was 10%, whoops, not a good idea when I hadn’t eaten much. It hit me fast. I had started it when we were still 20 blocks away. I was good and confused by the time we got to Joe’s. Earlier Brent had said that we would have one cheese and one pepperoni slice but now he was saying that was his order. It took me longer than I care to admit to parse that out. It was an easy fix: I would have a slice of authentic New York pizza with pepperonis. He tried to order it as two “pep slices” and was met with confusion. Then Brent was confused when he saw that I had (drunkenly, who am I kidding) tipped $6 on a $14 order of pizza. Only putting one bill in the tip jar didn’t feel like enough!! It was a damn good pizza slice and I would tip that much again to have another. It was the perfect amount of everything and I loved how thin it was. I finally understand why people fold it to eat it. But it got me thinking: aren’t you effectively just turning it into a sandwich??? I still contend that the pep slice was better than the plain cheese. You need that extra in-between texture. And a different kind of saltiness. I especially loved the char on the crust. Somehow, walking and eating this monstrosity did not result in me burning the roof of my mouth or getting any on myself. It was quite a clean affair. 

On the way back we stopped at McDonald’s but the caramel pretzel McFlurry was sold out. I cracked open the passionfruit cider but it wasn’t as good. We passed through a mini food-truck food-court and there were some cops/people in uniform telling a drunk guy (who could barely stand up) to leave, meanwhile I was covertly trying to hide my open drink. Thankfully it was another small can so less obvious. Brent held my drink (like a true gentleman hero) while I went into another McDonald’s, but they didn’t have the sought after McFlurry, there wasn’t even mention of it anywhere. 

It took me so long to write everything down, I was so tired. In total we had walked over 45,000 steps. From Penn Station to 86th to 111th to 36th to 3rd to 36th. My dogs were barking.