Weekend in New York

Sat morning - right next to the coffee shop I've going to each morning, Peter noticed a a shop called the New York Cigar Inn (funny how I hadn't noticed it). It was a small shop with leather lounges on one side for men (I assume women would be welcome) can sit and smoke their cigars and have a chat. There were four big, old men having a good chin wag. I would have loved to take a photo but thought it would be rude. A glass door takes you to a humidor (a small room where the cigars are kept in a humid environment to keep them from going stale). 

 When we left I could actually smell the cigar smoke on our clothes. We then walked to Times Square to get tickets for the 2 pm matinee of Jersey Boys.  Jersey was a packed Broadway audience and was BRILLIANT. Mind you, I would have to be 6' tall as there is virtually no let room between the seats. 

We then walked down Broadway to Macy's where I did a little shoe shopping (as you do) and Peter went on to find the Strand Bookshop (another landlady rec). It is  New York’s biggest second hand book store (18 miles of shelves) whee he bought a Patrick White First Edition with cover for $7.50 (worth a tad more). 

After meeting up we decided it was worth a little subway ride and trek to a Spanish restaurant that had been recommended by both landlady and girls from restaurant previous evening. As soon as we walked in we knew we had made the right decision. The atmosphere in El Quijote, which is located in the Chelsea Hotel, was loud and frenetic - just how I like it.  It was very well priced and the service was excellent - Christian from Equador was our waiter and he and Peter got on famously. His favourite football player is Messi (Barcelona) and his favourite teams are Man U and Barcelona. OMG! We received crusty bread (seems to be cmplementary in most restaurants) plus choice of soup or salad (again, complimentary). Peter had, guess what? Yep, rack of lamb and I couldn't resist Paella Valencia (even though we'll be visiting there on our trip to Spain). Big day - slept very, very well. 

Sunday we had a slower start and walked the couple of blocks to JP Bernstein Deli and Restaurant. Very good coffee (by New York standards) great food, and even better - the atmosphere.  type of place you can just sit back and observe. Mind you, I think our waiter was a little amused by us (well, me actually) as I asked a number of questions before ordering a spinach and potato knish. We'll definitely be back. 

From there we walked to Central Park for a two hour bike tour of the Park. 

Central Park Boathouse

Rudy was our guide and Peter & I had him to ourselves.  We stopped by the Boathouse for a cold drink (it was unbelievably humid again and we had packed for cooler weather. Very classy joint indeed. We also stopped at the first large statue in NY designed by a woman, John Lennon's memorial in Strawberry Fields, and the reservoir where Jackie Onassis would run each morning. 

we also saw some great music performances, a small gospel choir  in a tunnel (underneath where Peter & I are standing below), and a Japanese opera singer performing Puccini. Amazing voices and worth the price of admission. 

John Lennon Memorial

After the tour we walked through Park Ave Markets and then onto Greenwich Village where we spent a couple of hours meandering along the interesting streets. Had a drink at a nice bar and had an amazing tapas of char grilled baby octopus, chorizo and beans. Absolutely delicious with a glass of NZ sauv blanc.   It took us about an hour to get home because a lot of the subway was getting work done and a number of trains were either cancelled or redirected.  Another good nights sleep!

More soon.  

Food, Glorious Food

 So far this has been a very different experience to our 2007 trip to New York when we stayed just around the corner from Times Square in West 51st, close to Times Square. This time, we're staying in a more residential area, East 70th between 1st and 2nd  Avenues. Generally, the avenues, which run north to south, are the main one-way thoroughfares and quite commercial. The streets, running east to west, are mainly tree lined residential a, with occasional restaurant and the ubiquitous laundramat and dry cleaners. There is also a nail salon every few blocks - NY women obviously take very good care of their nails!  There is one about two doors away and I had a manicure, pedicure and massage - about $30 - for about 2 and a half hours. It was bliss.

Thursday was very humid.  I did, however, manage to find my way to the Banana Republic store (a favourite of mine) and bought myself a couple of knits. I walked for a few of hours, including through Central Park, noticing the price of bananas in New York, and the continuing police presence,  I met up with Peter

 (after discovering I had walked about ten blocks in the wrong direction - would have helped if I thought to check on the address). We stopped by an Irish pub for a cold drink - NZ sauv blanc. We then walked the 15 blocks (half the size of Armidale blocks) to home before deciding to have dinner at an Italian restaurant which was recommended by Hara. She did it again! It was wonderful. We shared a green leaf, pear, walnut, gorgonzola & bacon salad. Peter declared it the best salad he's eaten and it really was delicious. Followed this with rack of lamb (Peter) and scallopine with mushroom & asparagus (me).

On Friday, Peter left very early to prepare for the last day of his Crucial Conversations program as he was first up for a 15 minute presentation (which went very well). I got caught in the rain while walking downtown (I had to get shelter at Bloomingdale's - very expensive!) I eventually bit the bullet and, although I had an umbrella, my jeans got saturated from above the knees to my feet which were sloshing around in my socks and shoes. It was unbelievable!  After meeting Peter, we caught the subway to Macy's and I bought myself a rain jacket (which I had intended to do before getting to Ireland but didn't think I'd need here).

As it was still raining (lightly), we decided to stay local for dinner. What a good decision that was! we went to the Fatty Fish, which is described as Asian inspired American Food & Sushi Bar see http://www.fattyfishnyc.com/  The food was spectacular. We shared entree - a mixture of delicious morsels, and for main I had flounder cooked 3 ways. The presentation was great, the whole flounder was filleted and then the 3 different styles were presented on the deep fried  head to tail skeleton. Other highlights - the Singaporean waiter who had lived in Australia (and still owns a unit in Bondi which he bought when he was 20) and the two girls from New York sitting at the next table. We got talking, they shared some sake with us  and told us about a tiny restaurant in Chinatown that even a lot of New Yorkers don't know about. They were so lovely and friendly.

It's Saturday morning and we're now off to explore NYC together. Hi this is the SO in this relationship (Silent Other). Have been recommended NY's best second hand bookstore - so I am tracking that down and I believe we are returning to Macys too. But also exploring Greenwich Village which we did in 07 and loved it.
Hey Ho off we go!!!

On our way

We left Uralla train station on Sunday morning. Mum and Dad, Garry, Anthony and Matthew were all there to see us off. Train trip was pretty uneventful but we were lucky enough top be in the one carriage with a Drummond Primary School group on their way to Canberra!!  Walking through the other carriages, they were soo quiet. I actually spent the majority of the time doing HRS work as I had booked seats with powerpoints. The more I could do on the w'end, the less I would have to do in New York.
We stayed Sunday night with James (Hunter) and Meg who were kind enough to meet us at Hornsby. Spent a lovely evening with them (marinated butterflied lamb) and were off to the airport Monday morning by 7am for our 10.15am departure.
Flight from Sydney to New York was on schedule (how lucky were we, with the Qantas strike on Tuesday) and, although long, was not tortuous.  We had excellent seats on the Sydney to LA leg with not one on either side of us.

Looking from lounge to bedroom

Courtyard

We got to our apartment about 7.30 pm and our land lady, Hara, was waiting for us.  We were delighted with the apartment. By New York standards, it is quite roomy with a separate bedroom, polished floors, kitchenette, wireless, and a living room which overlooks a garden courtyard.
After showing us the apartment, Hara then took us on a little tour of the neighbourhood, pointing out delis and restaurants that she particularly recommends (she had also emailed us 8 pages of recommended things to do in New York, restaurants, tours, shopping).  We then joined her for dinner at a little Mexican restaurant that had $10 meals on Monday nights!  What a great start!
On Tuesday, Peter was gone by 7am to attend his Crucial Conversation Training Program and I did spent the majority of the day working. That evening we went to an Afghanistan Kebab House (on Hara's list). It was absolutely delicious (Peter had marinated chops and I had marinated diced lamb with spiced rice, pistachios, pinenuts & orange peel). There was only one waiter and he looked after a full restaurant on his own. Certainly puts Andrew (from Caffiends) to shame!

Both Peter and I were up about 3am drinking tea - damn jet lag! I went for a lovely long walk from East 70th St (@ 2nd Ave) to West 52nd St @ 8th Ave).walking on 5th Avenue, Park Avenue, Lexington Avenue (such fun!).  Because of the UN Convention there were police, security guards, shiny black cars everywhere. At a number of places there were groups of about 20 police officers. I was tempted to take a photo but thought they might arrest me for breach of security. So I took this photo instead .

As we were both pretty tired last night, we shopped at a couple of the local delis and ate in last night. The food choices are amazing (I know, talking about food again!)  and the alcohol is so cheap. A really nice bottle of single malt whiskey is half the price it is at Dan Murphy's (so Peter tells me).

I'll try and post this now and fingers crossed it works.  Love to receive feedback on how it looks.

14 sleeps to go

We had a bbq for Father's Day today. Mum and Dad, Peter's Dad & Aunty Shirl, Alexender, Tim & Sybilla, Jane, Chris & Sally. Lovely weather, good food & great company.