What diet?
Dropping Roxy off...
The weather in New York continues to be wonderful. Temperatures that are not too hot, blue skies with billowy white clouds, and moderate humidity make for good times in the city.
M. and I got a workout in followed by lunch at the Grand Canyon Cafe in Brooklyn Heights (where the TV Cosbys lived) where they serve my favorite burger (and you should know by now that I'm a huge burger freak) in the city. I've noticed that my New York entries have had a lot of pictures of my food and in most cases, the food has looked a lot better in person than in the pictures that I've posted. Just know that the food mostly has looked and tasted better than it would appear in these pics.
After lunch, M. and I took our free excursion on the Staten Island Ferry. The FREE ferry ride over to Staten Island leaves from the most Southern tip of Manhattan and takes you across the New York Harbor in front of the Statue of Liberty. The trip on the ferry itself took about thirty minutes and I had visions of Melanie Griffith riding the ferry to Manhattan in the opening scene of the movie Working Girl. It really made me realize how many much New York is present in scenes in movies and TV. Anyway ... We had to wait a half hour for a returning ferry, but on the way back we had a view of all four of the Waterfall Installations that are up in New York for the summer as part of a public art program. Before getting to New York I was very excited about seeing the installations, but because of the scale of everything in New York, the installations just seemed rather inconsequential and rinky-dink. Interestingly, unlike my food, the waterfalls are things that actually look better in the photos on their website than they do in real life. But, hey, I say that we should give the city an "A" for attempting and funding public art of any kind!!!
After the return trip to Manhattan we went to the tiny Skyscraper Museum in Lower Manhattan. While it wasn't wouldn't make my list as one of the "must see" museums in New York, it was pretty interesting and I was happy that we took the time to find it.
We made our way uptown past Ground Zero where construction of the new Freedom Tower has begun, then we met up with our new tenant, S. for dinner at a Cuban restaurant in Chelsea.
Another really nice day.
Tomorrow, we're heading out to the Museum of Modern Art because admission is free on Fridays between 4-8pm and we need to save on the $20.00 a head admission fee.
- today is my brother frank's 33rd birthday...happy birthday bro! we're getting together with some friends for thai food and then we're going to watch pineapple express. i can't wait. i love to celebrate birthdays especially when they are other peeps'.
- tomorrow i am off, woo hoo! we're having a mini family reunion out of town. i am really excited and cannot wait to see my aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.
- i've been on an interpol kick and cannot stop listening to them.
- i've been thinking of getting a laser procedure done for my embarrasing clammy hands. i think i have a nervous tick..ugh. need to do more research. what say you?
- the other day i went furniture shopping with my bff. we had a great time checking out some really nice and some really awful looking furniture. i'm looking for a chocolate leather sofa chair and ottomon..no luck. he ended up getting a tv stand for his plasma. it's very unique and very him...60's style. i cannot wait to share the pic with you guys...i can't even explain it right now. we had dinner at a little greek place in larchmont. i had chicken with 3 different types of cheese, roasted bell pepper and onions wrapped in a filo dough with a side of veggies and lemony potaoes. delish!!!
- i met an old friend for coffee the other night. we hadn't seen each other for over a year and a half. we talked for a longgg time, said some "i'm sorry's", had some good belly laughs, played catch up and cannot wait to get together again. *sigh*
- life is good.
We spent a very nice quiet day in Brooklyn today. We worked out, then came back to our place in Flatbush and went out to the laundromat and did two loads of laundry.
We went out for an early dinner with friends in our building and their eleven month old. They introduced us to a restaurant called Pomme de Terre that was great. A real highlight was just getting to the restaurant. We always catch the subway so we often don't get to see parts of Brooklyn away from the subway lines. As we drove through the neighborhood, we came across some gorgeous tree lined streets and mansions that I never would have believed existed in Brooklyn. For dinner, I had a summer beet salad, followed by roast duck confit with duck sausage and green beans, and topped off with an apple tart tartin. Everything was scrumptious.
One thing that is really nice is that in New York even when you don't go out to a museum you stumble upon art all over the place. It is hard to miss. I came across a small band playing Caribbean music in a tiny random alley in Brooklyn that was wonderful. There is even beautiful art in the subway stations. I know that ya'll are probably sick of hearing about me and the subways, but at the Transit Museum yesterday I learned that there was concern when the subway system was first being built that New Yorkers would not "go into caves" to ride transit. As a result, an effort was made to create spaces in the stations that were inviting which resulted in art being installed in the subway system. The plain old station at Church Ave. in Brooklyn has this beautiful mosaic that I didn't even notice until I got off of the train today.
i spent most of sunday with my youngest brother raymond. i just found myself reminiscing about that days events...i drove to his house in the south bay because we had planned to check out the 6 man volleyball competition in manhattan beach. how could i have passed up an event like that? beach+ sunny day+hot bods(meow)+good food and a little bro and sis bonding, come on you can't go wrong!
we spent a couple hours at the beach gawking at all the players and getting into the games, we hung out at
we had lunch at this cute little italian restaurant
it was really nice bonding with younger bro and the only thing i regret is not making time for it more often. come on bro, we need to start exchanging tips on photography, iphone stuff, and batman. get on it!
love ya!
Today was an absolutely beautiful day in New York! The sky was a bright hue of blue accented by these white puffy clouds that looked like they were drawn by a pre-schooler.
M. and I worked out at the New York Sports Club in Brooklyn Heights then M. went off to meet a friend and I went off on my own. I headed into downtown Brooklyn to find the brand new (Opened on July 10th) TKTS Ticket Office in Brooklyn. An organization called the Theater Development Fund operates ticket booths in New York where you can purchase same-day tickets for Broadway and Off Broadway productions for half-price. There is a TKTS booth in Times Square. It is by far the most famous one, but the wait for tickets there can sometimes be three or four hours long. There is another booth at the South Street Seaport that we've used for the past few years. The wait there is much better, but we still normally waited for about an hour each time. Today, I walked up to the window in Brooklyn and had the tickets in my hand in five minutes!!! I got tickets to a musical called [title of show]. I knew almost nothing about the show, but as it turned out M. and I both LOVED it!!! Totally original and very funny!!! Sometimes it is a great thing to take a chance and just try stuff out. This turned out to be one of those times.
Other highlights of the day included eating lunch at White Castle. I've wanted to eat at White Castle for years. I now understand that in order to enjoy White Castle you probably need to have a case of Mary Jane induced munchies ... I probably didn't enjoy the experience as much as Harold and Kumar ... But it was still worth a shot. Sometimes taking a chance doesn't work out, but that doesn't mean that it was a BAD chance ... Anyway, here's what lunch looked like ...
After my White Castle "lunch" I made my way to the New York City Transit Museum which was another less well known museum in the city on my list. What a FREAKIN' AWESOME MUSEUM!!! The Transit Museum is retrofitted into an old subway station that is no longer used. It shows how the subway, bus, and bridges were built and how they operate today. I know it sounds horribly boring, but it is AMAZING STUFF. Displays explain everything from how the subway tunnels were originally built, to how the current Metropolitan Transit Authority collects all of the money from stations through out the system on money trains, to how transit itself helped to shape New York into the community that it is today. Best of all is that on the bottom most level of the station, they have subway and trolley cars on display showing their evolution from the late 1800s through the late 1980s.
Hey people in Hawaii ... Vote to build the freakin' train already!!!! (I've become a certifiable freak of a fan of subway systems and mass transit ...).
on saturday my bro raymond invited our bro frank, hubby, and moi to a dodgers game. how were the seats? check them out for yourself...
the dodgers played against the az diamondbacks and it was going to be our first time watching the dodgers new roster addition, manny ramirez. i've never cared for this guy but i knew it was going to be a good game because he's a good player. according to everyone that i've talked to they say he's towards the end of his baseball career so he's not as good as before. i care?! LOL of course at his first at bat he hit a home run...
we also got to see a lot of the old players from the 80's...that was a treat! but even better was the food..oh the food!
Share a song from your favorite band.
Since I've been listening to Interpol a lot lately this song seems to stick out right now...love it!
Today's excursions were to the tiny Merchant's House Museum and Home Depot Manhattan.
The Merchant's House Museum is little known museum on Bond Street near Washington Square. At one time, the area was where the richest of the rich New Yorkers lived. The house was built in 1832 then purchased by a wealthy merchant for the huge sum (at the time) of $18,000. I'd imagine that, that in current dollars that'd be many millions. The family's history and a variety of circumstances lead to the house being incredibly well preserved and with most of the family's original furnishings in tact. It is a wonderful little gem of a museum and should not be missed if you ever make it to the city.
The weather was gorgeous and clear so I was able to get some great pictures of the Flatiron and Empire State Buildings, then we had dinner at a really good, but cheap Thai restaurant called Spice in Chelsea.
After dinner it was off to Home Depot to grab two gallons of paint so that we can get one of the rooms in the condo painted.
A quieter day, but sometimes you need a vacation from your vacation.
Today's video is of the subway ... Just because I LOVE the NYC Subway System!!!