Day in Central Park

After 6 weeks of more heat, humidity, and rain than any summer should have, we were treated to the perfect summer day yesterday (today, too!). I spent it at a doctor's appointment, but that doctor's office is near Central Park, so I went there after, took lots and lots of photos, and this short video. It's been ages since I've been in that part of the park. And since it wouldn't embed here, you can view it over on flickr if you're so inclined. And I'll just add a photo here.

Toy Boats in Central Park

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End of Year Festivities

Not much posting here because life has gotten a bit dull. There was a Chanukah dinner at my sister's with lots of food -- and she gave me some chocolate truffles as a gift!

Also, earlier this week, a friend and I braved the chill to take pics in midtown Manhattan of the holiday decorations. Here are a few of the shots I got.

Cartier

Rockefeller Center

Lord & Taylor Window

Bryant Park Tree Ornament

Giant Tree Lights on Sixth Avenue

Giant Red Ornaments on Sixth Avenue

Light Show and Angel at Rockefeller Center

Feeling: festive, still

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Two Photos for Your Viewing Pleasure

It was a busy week. Lunch with a friend, doctor's appointment, an afternoon touring DUMBO (Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass neighborhood in Brooklyn) and some of Brooklyn Heights with a couple of friends, and Paul Taylor Dance Company at the New York State Theater in Lincoln Center last weekend and today.

And as I mentioned the other day, a visit to Jacques Torres was included. Here's what I brought home from there: Blue Peeps dipped in dark chocolate and looking like they're wearing tuxedos. They got a bit squished on the ride home, but they were still yummy.

Peeps a la Jacques Torres

And finally, the week had another treat in store for me: my first tulips sighting!

Tulips!

Feeling: tired

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Chocolate Lives in Brooklyn

Spent a delightful afternoon in Brooklyn with a couple of friends, walking around, enjoying the sights, having great pizza for lunch, and stopping in at Jacques Torres chocolate. Of course, the one photo I really wanted to show you all didn't come out -- too blurry -- but the rest look good. The one that didn't was a pic of chocolate spoons with a sign that said:

"Chocolate spoon--A spoonful of chocolate helps the medicine go down."

Yummy Pizza

Jacques Torres

Chocolate Fishies

Hot Chocolate

Piggy Chocolate

Chocolate Cows

A Variety of Chocolate

We tasted a bit of Wicked Hot Chocolate (just a hint of spice), which was a bit odd for a day when it was pushing 80 degrees F. The stuff was amazing, though, well worth a bit of extra warmth.

All in all, a lovely day. Even if it felt like summer instead of spring. :)

Feeling: content

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The Yummiest

A friend and I had lunch today at Kutsher's Tribeca. We each had traditional matzoh ball soup, followed by potato pancakes. Both dishes were very yummy, but it was the desserts that won us over. She had a Chocolate Babka Bread Pudding and from the little taste I had of it, it was divine.

Chocolate Babka with vanilla ice cream

I had a Rainbow Cookie Hot Fudge Sundae, which was amazing. This delightful concoction featured marshmallow fluff, which was made in-house, as were the cookies and hot fudge sauce. In fact, they make everything in-house. And to my delight, not only were there 2 rainbow cookies on top, which I quickly devoured, but an ice cream-drenched cookie was at the bottom, a treasure I was thrilled to find, as if it were a coveted prize. Then I ate it. :)

Rainbow Cookie Hot Fudge Sundae

If you're visiting NYC, or are local, it's worth a visit to Tribeca to dine on modernized Jewish comfort food and desserts to die for.

Still having work-related dreams, btw. I wish they'd stop, along with the feeling I need to go back to work after my "vacation." I'm retired, damn it! This is not a vacation; it's life! :)

Feeling: sated

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Much Ado about Mousse

chocolate mousse

Dessert from last night: the yummiest, chocolatiest, thickest mousse at Markt, a wonderful restaurant featuring Belgian food. The food there is wonderful, the bread is to die for, the butter must be freshly made because it's a lot better than what you typically get, and the desserts are rich and yummy. I had to take a photo showing a few spoonfuls removed from the mousse so you can see how rich it is. Just blogging about it is making my mouth water. If you're in NYC and have time for a trip to the Chelsea/Flatiron District in Manhattan, this restaurant is worth trying.

Feeling: content

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What I Did On My Day Off

After physical therapy for my shoulder, I went for a walk in Central Park around the Duck Pond. The sun was playing peek-a-boo with the clouds, but it warmed up a bit and despite there still being some ice on the surface of the pond, there were duckies out enjoying the afternoon.

Central Park Duckies

And of course, I had to have some lunch, so I got a waffle with spekuloos spread from the Wafels and Dinges cart. Yum! Truly, there are things as good as chocolate to eat and this is definitely one of them.

Liege Waffle with Spekuloos Spread

All in all, a perfect afternoon.

Feeling: content

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Some Cool Blogs I Just Found Out About

Someone asked Joseph Mallozzi (a writer/producer of Stargate) what blogs he reads and he suggested some good ones. I really like The Hot Librarian, though there hasn't been a new post for over a month. One of her posts led me to a brief list of funny amateur blogs, which led me to this priceless bit of inanity: Ugly Outfits in New York. I've seen plenty that would qualify, but sadly, have never been able to get my camera out and snap the pic in time to either get a shot in focus or to avoid being seen by the subject and having either my camera or face broken, or perhaps both. People can be so sensitive about their fashion choices.

BTW, here are glimpses of the less glamorous side of snow in NYC. You'll note it warmed up a bit and has started to melt, leaving many Manhattan corners resembling mini frigid lakes.


I had the day off for New Year's (yeah, it makes as much sense to me as it probably does to you), so I went to get my comics and on the train, had to listen to a group of tourists all armed with little guides to NYC. In the summer and during the holiday season, I especially hate the 49th Street stop on the Broadway line because there are a lot of hotels in that area and tourists flood the subway at that point. I had to listen to such comments as "Where's the business district?" "Check page 28." "I want to see the Empire State Building." "That's the other way. How about the Statue of Liberty?" "That's what I meant. The Statue of Liberty." "Where's Lincoln Center?" I came thisclose to grabbing the book out of the hands of the one I guessed was the mother and telling her Lincoln Center is the other way, in the W. 60s, and why didn't you bother figuring all this out before you got on the train? Instead, I reminded myself that tourists pump money into the city's economy by paying for hotels, food, and funny little souvenir hats.

I end this randomized post with a picture of some of the delicious petit fours a grateful library patron sends us every year for the holidays. My boss and I managed to eat most of them.


Feeling: still mellow




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Whoopie!

There once was a church that became a notorious nightclub called the Limelight that got closed a few times for drugs, and ended up being sold in bankruptcy court. It has reopened as the Limelight Marketplace, home to lots of tiny boutiques that include... wait for it... chocolate!

This is a yummy Whoopie Pie from Wanna Hava Cookie.

I bought this fine specimen of chocoliciousness during the afternoon and didn't eat it for a few hours, saving it for a before-bedtime snack. It was wrapped in cellophane and retained its freshness. The icing was smooth and rich and the cake was moist. I'm sure I'll be buying more of these, once I sample what the other chocolate vendors have to offer.

Feeling: sated



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A Walk Along the River

Jeero, Ox, and I went to Roosevelt Island today. I went to have lunch with a friend who works there and after, I walked along the East River and took a lot of pictures. It was such a beautiful day. At night, hubby and I went to watch the Mets lose.

Feeling: content

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Technorati Tags: New York City

A Grand Day

A friend and I went to the High Line park today and I can report that it's very nice. The city did a great job and it'll be even nicer when it's extended to 34th St. But it was too hot and humid to stay out for long.

After, we went to Le Grainne Cafe for lunch and had crepes, then ice cream for dessert. I didn't have my macro lens with me, so this picture isn't as well focused as I would've liked. But the restaurant was nice and cozy and the food was wonderful. You can get the crepes with a choice of 3 fillings. I had chicken, egg, and bacon.

Finally, we ducked into the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church which has lovely gardens and is one of the hidden wonders of the Chelsea neighborhood in Manhattan. You have to leave a photo ID to gain entrance, but it's worth it.


Feeling: content

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Technorati Tags: chocolate

Happy Happenstance

Yesterday was one of those days that bring pleasant surprises. It started off fairly crappy. Had rained before I left for my haircut appointment and was overcast and humid. But I was determined to enjoy the day and take pictures -- I was on the hunt for a 195 for a flickr photo group NYC in Sequential Numbers -- so off I went down to the East Village, a neighborhood I love and where I thought I could find building numbers in the 190s as well as other fun things to take pics of. I did get my pic of a 195, but I also happened upon a mini sidewalk tribute in front of the Pearl Theater (on St. Marks Place, aka East 8th Street), similar on a much smaller scale to Grauman's Theater in Los Angeles.


As I was taking pictures of the concrete slabs with their autographs and footprints and/or handprints, a man came out of the upstairs of the building and started telling me about the autographs. Then, he realized he'd forgotten to put up a sign for his photography show in the small studio above the theater and he invited me in to see the photos while he got the sign. Turned out he's Lorcan Otway (and I just discovered he has a flickr account) and I guess he manages or owns the place and his photos were of neighborhood folks. He told me the stories of the photos, which of course, were stories about some of the street people of the East Village. I was enchanted.


After, I walked back on East 6th Street. There are a lot of private community parks in the area, but I found one called the Creative Little Garden that was open to the public. I walked around a bit -- no one else was there -- and took some photos. It was narrow -- almost a wide, leafy alley -- and utterly charming.

It's these little encounters that make me love New York. That, plus all the history and wonderful architecture. Mr. Otway told me he was considering applying for landmark status for the theater building. He should, because he also mentioned that Trotsky had lived for a while in the apartment being used for the photo exhbit!

Oh, and here's a fun link:
These toilet paper roll dolls are just about too cute to use.Found on Neatorama.

Feeling:

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Technorati Tags: NYC

A Monday Among Mondays

So, NY's governor is caught in a prostitution scandal. I was going to save this for my more political blog, but really, this is too juicy to not mention here, my main blog with more readers (I think). Aside from feeling betrayed by Spitzer, whom I voted for, I'm wondering about the chutzpah of a man who spent most of his career going after the criminal and unethical. He's been called "Mr. Clean." So for him to think possibly that he could get away with this just galls. And what? He couldn't find a mistress like other politicians? Sheesh. I'm pretty cynical when it comes to politics, but this stunned and disappointed me.

The BBC presents their Top 25 Putdowns. Link from Neatorama. My favorites:

• Arnold Rimmer - Red Dwarf. "Look, we all have something to bring to this discussion. But I think from now on the thing you should bring is silence."
• Edmund Blackadder - Blackadder II. To Lord Percy: "The eyes are open, the mouth moves, but Mr Brain has long since departed, hasn't he, Percy?"

and of course,

• Larry David - Curb Your Enthusiasm. "Switzerland is a place where they don't like to fight, so they get people to do their fighting for them while they ski and eat chocolate."

Still not feeling great, but the constant need to blow my nose has ceased. I'm counting my blessings.

Feeling:

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Technorati Tags: politics

A Nice Sunday

I had planned to just catch up with stuff at home today, but hubby suggested we go get new pics of the new stadium being built for the Mets. I've been taking pics of the progress since they started construction. And it was so nice out, we drove over to the waterfront where there's a great view of Manhattan and I took a lot of pics I spent most of the evening uploading to flickr, tagging, and posting in groups. Here's one.

The wide, rectangular building right of center is the UN.

Feeling:

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Technorati Tags: New York City