I Need a Little Christmas
I won't lie. The last couple of months being back in New York have been a big adjustment. After such an incredible year at school it was bound to be a let down getting back to the city grind. I miss the friends I made and the constant creative stimuli. On top of that, I had to finish up my final paper (which is done!) and I'm still living in a temporary housing situation. The reason? Because the tenant I chose with such care last year to rent out my apartment while I was at school won't get out! I won't go into all the details, but it has been a constant source of frustration and anxiety the last six weeks. So, when my friend Jimmy suggested I join him to attend the Unicef Snowflake Lighting at 57th and 5th Avenue, I jumped at the chance. Somehow the beauty of 5th Avenue as the holidays approach never fails to lift my spirits.
As these holiday lightings go, the Snowflake is a bit of a dog and pony show. It's short and sweet; a kids' choir singing some holiday tunes, some remarks from the Unicef mucky-mucks and a beautiful celebrity like Unicef Ambasador Lucy Liu to flip the switch.
Et Voila! Merry Christmas! Just what I needed. But the best part was probably going out for burgers afterwards with Jimmy who loves a good greasy spoon diner as much as I do. Bacon cheeseburger deluxe, please. Ah,
La Parisienne Diner--
c'est magnifique!
Labels: Christmas, NY Restaurants, Only In New York
The Grom Phenomenon
While I was in Italy I couldn't help but partake in a daily custom there: gelato. It's Italian ice cream, somehow better and creamier than American ice cream and Italians love to enjoy it around 4:00 PM. There are gelato stands everywhere, sometimes big fancy ice cream parlors, other times modest mom and pop groceries, but no matter where you go it's hard to find bad gelato in Italy.
Well, now, I can enjoy real, honest to goodness, Italian gelato in America. The Italian gelato chain, Grom, has opened it's very first American store right in my neighborhood on Broadway between 76th and 77th Streets. Shortly after it opened a couple months ago I noticed lines forming outside the store almost every day. And still, lines for the creamy goodness snake along the block toward 77th street almost every night.
What makes gelato different from American ice cream is that the formula is slightly different. For one thing it's made with milk, not cream, and in the case of Grom, they import all the ingredients from Italy. Whether the dairy is processed differently there or not, I'm not sure, but anyone who has ever had Italian gelato can tell you it's different than our ice cream. Of course all those imported ingredients will cost you--a small cup or cone at Grom starts at around $5.50. But judging from the lines coming from the store, it's worth every penny.
Labels: New Yorkana, NY Restaurants
The Dazzling World of Mac
Brunch in
SoHo, sounds enticing, right? I thought so, too. Scott convinced me that there was a restaurant, a one,
Great Jones Cafe, worthy of taking 2 trains more than 100 blocks on a 30 degree day just for the
andouille sausage, eggs and New Orleans style grits. A recent Mac convert and since we were in the neighborhood and all, Scott first suggested that we pop into the
Soho Mac store.
The visit was strategically timed on the heels of my hard drive woes as I
teeter on the great divide between Mac and PC. Now if Mac is hip, then Mac in
SoHo is hip to tragic proportions. And I'll admit--the store is impressive. A grand staircase of
Lucite stairs (I snapped the photo myself) seems to transport one to a futuristic white plastic world where everyone wears black t-shirts. At the top of the stairs is a giant screen with theatre style seating, a kind of church where one can witness conversions from old PC users to new Mac die
hards. There are rows of
ipods, sound docks and laptops, one more shiny than the next. Oh, how they gleam! And then you look at the price tags.
I don't care how sleek and trendy they are, the Mac laptops cost upwards of $500 more than PCs with essentially the same capabilities. And if you want a black laptop as opposed to what I guess is considered the less desirable white, you'll pay $300 more for one that has the exact same guts. So, sorry Mac, but I'm going to need a little more convincing, I'm not buying your brand of crazy today.
After our little shopping trip, my blood sugar was so low I gobbled up my New Orleans style brunch in record time. It was
de-
lish and admittedly, worth the trip.
Labels: Computers, Consumerism, Corporate America, NY Restaurants
City Lights
Last night I met Scott after work. We schlepped around to all the tourist landmarks snapping photos of the holiday lights, me for the blog and him for the cover of the annual Christmas CD he burns for his family every year. It was a fun way to get into the spirit of the season. But after about two hours of fighting crowds and being pushed and prodded by tourists, we ended up at the Hell's Kitchen eatery,
Vynl, where I had two much needed glasses of wine with dinner. Cheers!
Radio City Music Hall
Sak's Fifth Avenue
Macy's, Herald Square
Macy's Herald Square
Columbia University Quad
Labels: Christmas, New Yorkana, NY Restaurants
"It's Christmas time in the city..."
Last night after a dinner at
Hi-Life, one of my favorite neighborhood eateries, Scott and I made our way up Amsterdam Avenue snapping pictures of signs of the season along the way.
Outside Cafe Lalo (of "You've Got Mail" fame) at 83rd and Amsterdam.
A Christmas Tree vendor at 99th and Amsterdam.
A festively decorated trailer from the same tree vendor where presumably he lives during the Christmas season selling his trees from upstate.
125th Street decorated for Christmas. Note the marquis of the Apollo Theatre in the background.
Columbia students sell trees outside the Met Grocery at Amsterdam and 123 St.
Labels: Christmas, New Yorkana, NY Restaurants
I won't lie. The last couple of months being back in New York have been a big adjustment. After such an incredible year at school it was bound to be a let down getting back to the city grind. I miss the friends I made and the constant creative stimuli. On top of that, I had to finish up my final paper (which is done!) and I'm still living in a temporary housing situation. The reason? Because the tenant I chose with such care last year to rent out my apartment while I was at school won't get out! I won't go into all the details, but it has been a constant source of frustration and anxiety the last six weeks. So, when my friend Jimmy suggested I join him to attend the Unicef Snowflake Lighting at 57th and 5th Avenue, I jumped at the chance. Somehow the beauty of 5th Avenue as the holidays approach never fails to lift my spirits.
