awesome NY mini vacation (part 2)

Thursday night, Ben arrived in NY to join me at Andrea’s apartment. We passed out on the sofa bed and  woke up waht felt like very early to leave with Andrea on her way into the city for work.

On Friday we got up “early” to meet my IAA friend, Jenn, for breakfast at Dominique Ansel Bakery, in SoHo, after reading the Serious Eats review. The Perfect Little Egg Sandwich was good, but the bread was slightly over done. All the pastries we tried (including my favorite, the Kouign Amann, which we first tried on our honeymoon, at Les Madeleines) were good, slightly over done but REALLY good.

After breakfast we wandered over to CB2, where we didn’t find anything we needed, AKA we left empty handed. Then, we headed uptown to the Met Museum. We got there right on time to take a guided tour of the musical instruments exhibit before a light lunch at the cafe.

That’s where things went down hill, as we were finishing up our lunch I realized that my upper torso was COVERED in hives. So, I downed a benadryl, washed my hands in the bathroom and we made a beeline to my favorite thing in the museum: the Temple of Dendur, where Ben was more interested in the granite crocodile; and to visit William before I got too loopy to be a good date. I walked myself back to the subway station while Ben hung out at the museum a while longer. I asked the lady next to me on the train to wake me up before my stop, but I woke up on my own. I hauled my ass back to Andrea’s apartment, took another benedryl, and passed out on the couch for 3.5 hours.

We had shobbos dinner together with Andrea (she and I completely butchered the brisket recipe the night before, but it came out well). We ate late, but Ben happily scarfed down 1/2 of a 3 lb brisket on his own, while I daintily picked at a slice and filled up on salad and couscous and Andrea ate her normal bird portion.

We cleaned up and went to bed (where we were STEAMED by the busted radiator and left all the windows in the living room wide open). The whole reason for our reason to be in NY was the next morning, my cousin’s bat mitzvah!

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awesome NY mini vacation (part 1)

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What a great trip! I got my hair cut on Wednesday morning in downtown Denver, took the bus home, then watched some TV and ate lunch before heading out to the airport where I had a GREAT smoothie. (Seriously, you have to try Jamba Juice’s new-ish Apple n’ Greens, yum!)

I was really lucky to make every connection smoothly throughout my entire trip. Once I got to LGA I got my (gate checked) bag and went out to look for the “guy in the green shirt” to catch the Airporter shuttle to downtown. Then I bought my first of two or three $10 fare cards and hopped on the subway to Brooklyn! I didn’t get to Andrea’s apartment until 8:45 (I’d hoped to get there about 45 minutes earlier), and then we went to her awesome little local Italian place a few blocks away. I’ve learned my lesson, Andrea, I will always order the special. Mmmm, her creamy tuna pasta was a bazillion times better than my home made whole wheat pasta with fall veggies (though mine tasted better reheated the next day).

Thursday morning I woke up with Andrea at 8 in the morning and cleaned her apartment for her after she left for work at 8:45. An hour later I was back underground, taking the subway to Park Slope, to pick up Ben’s hannukah present! We ordered 25-30 lbs of frozen, organic, pasture raised, kosher meat from Grow and Behold. I wasn’t able to arrange for it to be dropped off at Andrea’s house (scheduling issues), so I picked it up from Naf and Anna’s house/HQ. We chatted a little about the Colorado Hazon Mini-Conference, and then I was on my way back to Andrea’s apartment to change into more appropriate city clothes and go wandering in Manhattan.

Thank goodness for my Freezer Tote, because without it, that meat would have been a goner. Seriously. I locked myself out of the apartment! I grabbed TWO front door keys and no apartment key. Doh!

So, I left the tote bag of rock hard, frozen meat in the hall, just outside Andrea’s door and called around to see who wanted to meet up for lunch. My cousin MiMi, who works for Ted Baker, met me at her store in the Meat Packing District and then took me out for lunch in Chelsea Market. Mmmm, sushi. Thanks, Tanta Sara, for paying for us!

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After lunch I went back to Midtown and met Andrea in the lobby of her office to get her set of apartment keys and then WALKED 23 blocks to Bloomingdales, where I tried on EVERY SHOE in the girls shoe department that came in my size (4.5 kids). I bought a pair Michael Kors’ walking shoes for $16! (Plus $14 for Dr. Scholl’s inserts because they didn’t have an arch and my feet got REALLY tired the next day.)

I didn’t get to meet up with Nigel, from Hazon, because we never did get in touch with each other and I was paranoid about getting swept up with the protesters on Wall Street.

Oh, and in case anyone is wondering, I did have my point and shoot camera in my purse ALL WEEKEND and 100% forgot about it because I kept lamenting not having brought my big camera. I am a dope.

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I’m going to NY on Wednesday!

New York, New York, the place so great they named it twice!

My cousin, Julia, is having a fancy-pants bat mitzvah party in SoHo and who am I to turn down an invite to a fancy-pants party! I am so looking forward to going to NY, visiting Andrea (one of my best friends, whom we are staying with in Brooklyn), and getting all dressed up. What I’m not looking forward to is being fed lots of meat (though Ben is), and seeing my entire family. They can be quite judgy, gossipy, and rude when they are all together and I often get caught in the middle, as a supposedly neutral party who gets to hear everyone vent their stuff. It often makes me want to run away (which I’ve already done, to Colorado) or just hide in a drink (which I’m not so good at). Maybe, there will be an awesome DJ at this party and I can just hide on the dance floor. Hopefully it won’t be too bad, we’re minimizing our family exposure to only 2 of the 4 events over the weekend. We’re skipping kabbalat shabbat dinner and Sunday morning bunch to spend more time with Andrea before she moves to LONDON to (finally) live with her husband (who has been living there since about 5 months before their wedding last March).

Thursday, I’m going to pick up my Grow and Behold order of kosher, organic, pastured meat for Thanksgiving, and as Ben’s Hannukah present. I’m going to also try and stop by the Hazon office and see the #OccupyWallstreet folks. I might visit Ground Zero, but I’m not sure. 9/11 was pretty intense for me, having so much family living and working in NYC and family friends working at the Pentagon. I’m not sure I want to go by myself because I’m afraid I’ll break down and I don’t want to have strangers hugging me when I’m so broken down. I’m not sure what Andrea’s planning for dinner. But I’m sure it will be great. Ben’s flying in late Thursday night.

Friday, Ben and I are meeting my friend Jennifer for breakfast (here or for donuts) and then spend the day at the Met. He’s never been to the Egypt room and didn’t know who William is!

Saturday, the bat mitzvah is in the AM at B’nai Jeshurun and there will be a big party at a hotel in SoHo in the evening. In the afternoon, the plan is that my dad will take us to the Museum of Natural History.

I think I’m going to need to buy a 7-day metro pass instead of paying as I go. I’m going to be going all over Manhattan and Brooklyn!

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