My Most Perfect NYC Weekend So Far!

Of course everyone has a different formula for their perfect weekend. For some it's all about culinary adventures or shopping 'til you drop. Maybe yours is nothing more than doing nothing. For me its about balance, quality and having a good plan, which could also be interpreted as, I am a multi-tasking control freak. Can you imagine what my perfect weekend looks like? The past 3 days have culminated in what I would have to classify as "My Most Perfect NYC Weekend So Far!".

We are on the cusp of having 2.5 months of house guests. I'm not sure if that was the impetus for our no-holds-barred super fun backed weekend of togetherness but I'm glad it went down the way it did. The next time someone asks me "what should we do in New York" (which to me is a really stupid question - what is there not to do here?! It's New York for god sakes) I will share with them this:

Friday: Raining. Theatre, pizza, cupcakes in West Village

MDHK had spent most of Thursday night pouring over the Fringe Theatre Fest schedule and decided on "666" at Minetta Lane Theatre, while I had just learned of a sinful indulgence just down the street that boasted cupcake and wine/beer pairings, at Sweet Revenge (see a theme?). We took this opportunity to eat dessert first before having the best Italian thin crust brick oven Naples style pizza outside of Via Tribunali in Seattle (which used to be our Friday date night ritual) at Numero 28 on Carmine Street. Basically Carmine street is a hotbed of foodie fun.

Saturday: Overcast, dry, breezy. Space, museums, Harlem, Gold Coast shopping, interactive wine bars, Chinese Take-Out in East Village

MDHK is a major science geek. It's part of his charm which is why I wanted to do something that he would love. This involved a trip to 81st and Central Park West, a.k.a. The American Natural History Museum and Hayden Planetarium for the Journey to the Stars movie which was really cool. But movies make me sleepy and museums make me hungry. The night before we had talked about going to Harlem one day to explore and since we were a quick subway ride away we grabbed a strong well crafted Americano at Joe and headed up to 116th St in search of hole-in-the-wall ethnic cuisine. Lowe's Caribbean Restaurant fit all of the criteria; small, not impeccable, friendly, authentic, gritty, delicious and cheap (I highly recommend the curry chicken, collard greens & rice). Which is what makes our next stop a strange juxtaposition; Columbus Circle/Gold Coast to shop for new shoes at Camper for MDHK. Well, shopping makes me thirsty so wine was in order at Clo interactive wine bar in the Time Warner building on Columbus Circle. So much fun you can't have just one! At 9:30 p.m. I declared this day almost over. It had been a full day and there were only 2 things left I needed to complete the picture: take-out from Plump Dumpling (the most delicate steamed bundles of love) and a little home town entertainment from SNL while on the couch with MDHK. Not very glam but exactly what I wanted and exactly what I got!

Sunday: Sunny, breezy, Coffee & New York Times at the Oval fountain, Brooklyn Flea, Brooklyn Bridge crossing

Really do I need to say any more? I think you get the picture perfect idea of this day. I'll leave a little to your imagination and to your own interpretation the next time you find yourself in The Big Apple.

The Agony and The Irony

Enough of the swan song blogs about our poetic story book move across the country. I'm not as Polly Anna'ish as all that. Let's be honest about what it's like to move to New York at the begining of the summer. This summer in particular. June was the wettest month on record for New York. It rained every day except five. Fine by me. What did I care, I was leaving for my annual vacation to Lake Chelan, WA on July 15 for a week and then to spend another week in Seattle where they were experiencing the dryest summer on record. As it turned out also the hottest. On July 28 it reached a record breaking 104 in Seattle and I was there in all of its un-airconditioned glory to experience it. What was I thinking?


Back in New York they finally hit their stride with summer. 90+ degrees with almost equal amounts of humidity. At least everything (except the subway tunnels) is air conditioned here. But besides hide out in their apartments what do people do to cool off here? Though we're on an island you can't go swimming in any of the surrounding water for fear of growing a third eyeball. And only small children look cute running through the spray fountains in the parks, not 40+ year old women who are crazed with heat.

So to proove to you that I'm not completely stupid with glee in my newly adopted home of Manhattan I give you the top 8 things I could really live without. I only came up with 8 because there are so many things I love here that I just couldn't make it to 10.
1. The F'ed up way my hair looks every day thanks to the humidity
2. Humidity; duh! Sometimes it is as high as the temperature.
3. No A/C in the Subway stations; Our NPR station here, WNYC, did a story on how unbearablely hot it gets by taking a thermometer down there. One station reached 106 degrees.
4. Being surrounded by water you can't swim in. Even the NYPD take lethal amounts of antibiotics before they suit up in airtight suits when they have to get in the Hudson.
5. Radio stations here suck! Really, for a city that has so much live music and culture it is amazing how many people listen to radio stations from other cities. In partiular our favorite from Seattle KEXP. Thank god for real time live streaming over the internet, and that it airs on a local station a few hours a day.
6. Critters; its just a way of life here and I'm getting better about it. As a matter of fact I can now trick myself into thinking that rats are just squirrels with a shaved tail. But then that leaves the issue with squirrels. They are rats with fluffy tails. So I guess I'm freaked out either way.
7. Apples; for being known as the Big Apple their apple selection leaves something to be desired. I know this sounds petty but lets be honest - I am coming from The Apple State where varieties like the Honey Crisp could make your whole day just by letting the juice run down you chin as you bite into it.
8. Brunch; this is going to end up being a blog post all it's own eventually. I don't 'do' brunch. As my friend Dawn likes to remind me, I once said "Don't make me wait in line for a f*&%ing egg!". Brunch in NYC is big. There's an entire culture around it that involves people willingly waiting in line for an hour or more just to eat breakfast. Places like Prune boast a 2 hour wait. Guess who'll you won't see in line there....I'm at David's Bagels getting a pumpernickel with tofu chive cream cheese and nova lox in 4 minutes.

Human Nature

I'm well aware that it's human nature to look for patterns in life. We create patterns as a result that support infrastructure. But I also think that its just a way for the mind to soothe the soul by looking for things that are familiar

Our house in Seattle had a large old hydrangea bush next to the driveway. Each year the blooms would bring a mellow blue happiness to many dining room tables. We would share the bursts of color with family, friends and strangers that happen to walk by and comment on its color.

When we got married I was an ambitious 29 year old on a budget so our wedding had a very homespun feel to it. It was a croquet party themed affair that took place in the gazebo at Meridian park just a few blocks from our house in the Seattle neighborhood of Wallingford. We figured croquet would give people something to do after the 16 minute ceremony, it would take the pressure off me to wear a big white dress, and give everyone the excuse to buy a new hat (my favorite accessory).

In an attempt to save money I made our wedding invitations using dried, pressed hydrangeas which we had also planned to use to decorate the food table at the wedding. That old hydrangea bush was part of our wedding and continued to be part of our marriage over the next 13 years. As you can imagine it was one of the things I hated to leave when we sold our house and moved to an apartment in New York. Where would I find my mellow blue happiness in the city?

Our apartment in New York is in Stuyvesant Town which feels a lot like living in a park or on a college campus. It's very well maintained with lots of greenery and a big fountain in the center of the complex called the Oval. Within the first week of moving in it happened! All of the beds outside of the buildings were exploding with mellow blue happiness. There were hundreds of hydrangea bushes all over our apartment complex. To me it was yet another indication that what we had done was the right thing. A sign that things were going to continue to be great here in our new home. Of course when I told MDHK about it I expected him to give me an education on soil composite but he didn't. Instead he said:

"It must be a sign".