Busy...but apparently not too busy to eat well

Well another semester is about to begin. Goodbye blissful days of summer. Oh well, it is always good to keep busy.

Last week I spent an evening walking around Carroll Gardens which is a neighborhood in Brooklyn. They have lots of cafes, antique and vintage stores, and boutiques. I found this great store called Lee Lee's Valise and I may have to return before their August sale is over.

This past weekend I got together with some friends at Burp Castle. It was the first real merging of NYC Friends, AQ Friends, and GVSU Friends. It was very fun and everyone got along well as I knew they would. Of course we all enjoyed the Pomme Friets from next door.

On Sunday night Sandy made an incredible dinner for Terry, myself, Mrs. C., Mrs. C's sons, and her daughter-in-law who shares a B-Day with me. We had Ginger Stakes with Mango Chutney and later had this amazing Blueberry Pie.

Monday was a true treat. Esther took Sandy, Terry, and I to the Russian Tea Room. This was by far the most elegant meal I have ever had and one of the best meals I have ever had.

For those of you who are unfamiliar the Russian Tea Room was a classic NYC staple that was a frequent haunt of Woody Allen and other NYC movie stars. It closed in the 1990s but in recent years has reopened.

At our table we enjoyed Vodka tasting (Russian Imperial Vodka has surpassed Belvedere for me), a Caviar tasting, appetizers of Ox Tail Dumplings, Open Duck Pirogues, and Borscht Salad, the most incredible Chicken Kiev I have ever had, and Russian Tea and dessert.

The downstairs hallway of the restaurant is filled with Russian Dolls and Faberge Eggs. It really was the experience of a lifetime. It felt like being lifted back to the New York's golden era…or Imperial Russia for that matter.

Tonight’s dinner experience was far less elegant but still tasty. I met up with my friend Hillarie at Spice Cafe in the Village. We enjoyed some pretty good Indian food but were both so exhausted. She works at NYU and we both kind of thought it was funny that we chose one of the busiest times of the year to get together. Thank goodness she works in higher ed too and was also ready to collapse from exhaustion along with yours truly.

One Year Later

It is hard to believe that I have been in NYC for a year now. Somethings have changed and some things have remained the same. Here are some of the major changes and constants in my life after a year of big apple living

-I still LOVE New York
-I still love theater and the exposure to theater is still one of the best things about living in NYC
-I am much more frugal then I have ever been in my life although I think that is a sign of the economy and living in the most expensive city in the country then a sign of maturity and fiscal responsibility.
-I am 45 lbs lighter then when I moved here (and the #2 biggest looser at the Midtown Manhattan Curves)
-I still miss friends who are far away.

In actual events of the past weeks, work is starting to get busy again. The past couple weekends were the last three day weekends so I am back to five days a week again. Last weekend Esther, Linda, and I went to see the Jeff Koons on the Roof exhibit at the Met. We also saw the Superheros and Fashion exhibit.

Some of my co-workers and I volunteered at God's Love We Deliver. We prepared and chopped food that went to people who are home bound. We may even make this a monthly outing if enough advisors are interested.

This past weekend was extra leisurely since it was my last long weekend. Esther, Linda, Susan, and I went to the movies and saw "Brideshead Revisited" which was perhaps the longest movie I ever had to sit through, I did not enjoy it. But afterwords made up for it. It was the second Fiorello trip in two weeks. Fiorello is an amazing Italian restaurant by Lincoln Center where the bar tenders wear Italian hats (and always kiss Esther, Linda, and I).

I had lunch with my friend Amy at this really great place in the Village called Good. I think it has become my new favorite place to have a salad.

Esther and I had a bit of a sisters weekend. Saturday we took a Metro-North Trip up to Terrytown/Sleepy Hollow. We toured the Phillipsburg Manor which is a working 19th century farm. They have rams running around and a young calf. After that tour we went to Kykit the home of the Rockefeller's which was amazing. We had dinner at the Striped Bass in Terrytown right on the Hudson where we watched the sunset.

Sunday we went for a walk through Riverside Park and had breakfast at the 79th street Boat Basin. Esther rented a Zip Car and we picked up Linda to go out to the Palisades in NJ. Jane and Arthur live there so we had an amazing cookout and got to hear Arthur's CD which he had just recorded.

It is amazing that both of these trips were only 30 minutes outside of the city and yet we felt like we were worlds away.