lunabee34 | Entries tagged with travels: nyc

And now for the final installment of the trip.

Our final lunch in the city was dim sum at The Nom Wah Tea Parlor where we accidentally ordered way too much food. LOL My favorite thing was rice and pork steamed in lotus leaf; I also really enjoyed the dumplings filled with soup and the turnip cakes. I got the steamed dumpling sampler and discovered I should have done the fried sampler instead. I like steamed dumplings in wrappers made of wheat dough, but I really do not like the gelatinous white dough on most of the steamed dumplings. If I had it to do again, I'd get the Chinese broccoli and the scallion pancakes.

Following lunch, C and I walked a bit through Chinatown, Little Italy, and SoHo and back to M's apartment through Washington Square Park. We went into Aedes Perfumery where I got to smell Serge Lutens Gris Clair and fell in love. It's a gloriously deep lavender and the card I sprayed with it just barely smells like it anymore. I'm going to have a huge Surrender to Chance wishlist for Christmas.

We actually went to this store on a previous day, but I bought both Emma and Fiona lavender bath bombs at Rain. Fiona has already used hers and had the best time in her grown-up lady bath. LOL She kept going, "I like the herbs in my special bath, Mommy."

Thursday night was fancy dinner out at Cafe Cluny with M & W. I had roasted little gem lettuce with anchovy and lemons. Then I had the cheese plate with five cheeses for my main course along with a Hendricks gin cocktail and a gorgeous glass of port and my share of a bottle of wine. :)

As we were going back to M's apartment, we noticed that a nearby bar was doing a burlesque show, so C and I caught the last thirty minutes of the singing and dancing at Studio Kraut. It was glorious. We split a bottle of wine, got an accidental topless show when both pasties fell off one of the dancers, and had an absolute blast.

Our final morning in the city, I had the most beautiful Cobb salad I've ever seen at Bec. We walked down to the Hudson and along the walking trail for multiple blocks, and then it was time to go.

We had such good traveling mercies; both flights were on time or early both coming and going. The car rides both ways were easy. C was an amazing traveling companion. M & W were so generous and hospitable. Executrix was an absolute joy to see again, and I made a new friend in Chelseagirl. I am already looking forward to my next visit to the city.

Crossposts: http://lunabee34.livejournal.com/472348.html

On our second full day in NYC, we had breakfast at The Grey Dog (eggs, bacon, pancakes; perfectly serviceable although nothing special in that regard).

Next we rode the subway to the Natural History Museum (experiencing a slight and easily rectified mishap when we accidentally got on the express instead of the one that makes stops along the way LOL). C indulged me by looking at the minerals and gemstones for a couple of hours before we had lunch at St. James Gate. Although Irish curry (WTF?) was on the menu, I had a burger and fries (my last burger *sob*).

Then, we met up with

executrix who introduced us to the Saint Agnes Library Book Sale going on across the street from the restaurant. I found a book for Josh and a book of dirty limericks written between Isaac Asimov and John Ciardi (I think after a night of drinking? IDK Anyways, Emma is amused.). Once we had perused our hearts out, Exec and I headed back to Jersey City on the Path. We spent some time walking around her neighborhood, but mostly we just hung out and talked. Exec is one of those people who is extremely easy to talk to; I think this was only the third time we've met in real life, but we picked it back up just as if we'd been hanging out the day before. I am so grateful to have such a good friend. Not only did she let me sleep in her bed and cook me a fabulous meal and introduce me to another fan, she also sent me a package of books that will help me for a course I'm teaching in the spring (it arrived yesterday!).

Dinner was couscous (my last couscous! *sob*) covered in this beautiful sauce of stewed carrots and onions and raisins and some other deliciousness. Exec had home made harissa (which was extremely yummy) and homemade citrus tarragon dressing for the green salad and a cheese course and macaroons. This was just as good as any meal I had in the city. Yum.

I also got to meet

chelseagirl who lives and works nearby. We talked Penny Dreadful and Victorian lit, and I greatly admired Chelseagirl's sense of style; she was rocking some gorgeous blue shoes. Exec introduces me to the very best people.

In the morning, Exec toasted homemade bread (my last toast! *sob*) and scrambled some eggs to get us going for the day. We walked down to the Hudson River and sat and talked. It was beautiful, and the breeze coming up off the water was nice. If I lived there, I'd be bringing the girls down to the river all the time.

And then, unfortunately, it was time to say goodbye. I think Exec and I have visited in person three times in the eleven years we've known each other, and I hope we won't go so long between times for our next visit.

Coming up in Part Four: We eat way too much dim sum and drink way too much wine (not at the same time)

Crossposts: http://lunabee34.livejournal.com/472294.html

On our first full day in the city, I had a smoked salmon bagel sandwich for breakfast at Cafe Champignon. Following breakfast we took a leisurely stroll down Fifth Avenue, stopping in all the high end stores along the way. C told me she'd always been wary of going into those stores, worried the salespeople would be snooty because she clearly wasn't going to buy anything. I will admit that I occasionally feel that way in some of the more exclusive boutiques, but I didn't feel that way at all on this trip. All the salespeople were exceedingly kind to us, and we even scored a fair amount of freebies along the way from unexpected places. The most exclusive store we went into was Van Cleef and Arpels; all the merchandise in that store is locked away and out of sight except for six or seven museum quality display cases. One of the sales attendants went around with us to each display case and explained the jewelry and answered questions for us. She must have spent at least fifteen minutes talking to us, and she knew we weren't going to purchase anything. C was astonished, and I told her that a store like that probably makes very few sales in even a week's time. I imagine the sales attendant gets pretty bored and was glad to be able to demonstrate her expertise (a few days later when we were in Michael Kors in SoHo, a sales attendant we were talking to independently mentioned how bored the staff get in those super expensive boutiques and how they like when people come in to look around). She did try to convince us that Van Cleef and Arpels has something for all budgets, and that surely a $2000 tiny pendant could make its way home with us, bless her heart for trying. :)

We went into Tiffany, which is set up like a traditional jewelry store (all seven floors of it LOL) with jewelry in glass display cases at about hip level. Tiffany has also set up some museum type displays of vintage and other jewelry, and while we were looking at one of those, a sales attendant struck up a conversation with us. I was telling her about the Tiffany pieces I have and my collection of little blue bags (I don't think they do the boxes anymore unless you buy an engagement ring), and she off-handedly mentioned that the blue bag is also a polishing cloth. I didn't realize that, and when I said so, she went into the back and got each of us a blue bag plus a larger rectangular polishing cloth.

After that we went into Saks Fifth Avenue where I hit the perfume jackpot. We went to the Guerlain counter, and I was telling C all about my failed attempts to love this most noble and ancient house of scent when the sales attendant came over and started talking perfume with me. By the time we left, she had given each of us a decant of about 1.5-2 ml of Angelique Noire, which floored me. And I ended up actually liking it! I also skin tested Rose Barbare which I liked better. It wore very nicely, a soft muted rose.

At the Chanel counter, I finally got to smell Misia (too flowery; not interested) and then they pulled out an unreleased scent, Boy, that's coming out later this summer. Oh, my friends, it was divine. It's intended as a masculine scent, but whatever. It's green and citrusy, and I love it. I'm going to see how much decants are going for on Surrender to Chance once it's released.

Somewhere in here we went to lunch at Rue 57 where I ate a half dozen raw oysters (OMG, I could eat like three dozen raw oysters just by myself, but not at NYC prices LOL) and steak tartar. We had a snack at Magnolia Bakery, and ended the night with dinner at Second Ave Deli. The pickles were divine, both kinds, and I had the best corned beef sandwich ever. I actually think Josh's chicken broth is better than the deli's but the deli's matzoh balls are superior to Josh's.

Next up: I travel to New Jersey and eat the best couscous of my life at chez

executrix

Crossposts: http://lunabee34.livejournal.com/472033.html

Fair warning, my friends. This post will be lingering lovingly on all the meals I ate and will possibly be tedious with links to menus. :) My attention span for typing up long posts is also limited at the moment, so I am breaking this up into parts.

My friend C invited me to go with her to NYC for vacation. Her brother M and his partner W live in Chelsea, each with their own apartments, and M offered to give us his apartment and stay with W for the week. My astonishment at the size of M's apartment betrays my rural roots. LOL The location was cherry, smack dab in the middle of everything and within walking distance of such cool stuff, but the apartment itself was eeny weeny. I tried to imagine living with Josh in a space where the only place I could go and shut the door between us is the bathroom. My imagination failed me. Staying in M's apartment made me think about how much I take space for granted because I have access to an abundance of it. Before we moved to GA, I had never lived in a neighborhood, just lived out in the middle of nowhere with a handful of neighbors nearby. The first year we lived here, I felt claustrophobic, like the houses around us were closing in, even though the houses in our neighborhood are very far apart from each other by neighborhood standards.

Anyway, when we arrived, we checked in with M at his work We Work. It's a very cool company that rents out office and meeting space (or sometimes just an address) and enables members to work collaboratively and more easily network. The interior design of this building is fantastic, just about everyone looked 20, and I felt like I was in a rom com where the old country mouse would discover from her slick young city mice friends that she was not indeed too old for love. Or for a pint of beer available from the beer taps on each floor in the communal area. Spoiler alert: I did not find love, but I did drink the beer. LOL

After grabbing a late lunch at Go Go Thai (yummy larb gai), C and I walked all over Chelsea. We walked through Chelsea Market and the Highline and everywhere in between. Our funniest moment that day was trying to find the Comme des Garcons store; we walked up and down the street it was on and you can see in these pictures that the door is super recessed, the lettering on the door is seriously tiny, and right next to it is this vacantish lot. Mix that with the graffiti around the store, and we both thought it was some kind of automotive or machinist shop. Very weird. I got to smell a bunch of their perfume in the Incense series and quite liked it, though.

Then we had an afternoon drink/snack at Txikito, a Basque restaurant. I had the most elegant sardines and Iberian ham on toasts. Glorious.

On the way back to M's apartment to get ready for dinner, we saw a serious fire that turned out to be a controlled burn. The fire department had cordoned off a whole city block and set about four fires as a drill. Traffic was not happy.

We had dinner that night at East of Eighth where I had really excellent paella. I hadn't had paella since I studied in Spain, and this tasted just like I remembered.

Coming soon in Part Two: we walk down Fifth Avenue from 18th to 62nd Street with some side detours

Crossposts: http://lunabee34.livejournal.com/471804.html

I have returned safely from NYC. Incredibly detailed post including links to restaurant menus forthcoming.

Thank you to everyone who wished me safe travels. The traveling gods did indeed have their eyes on us, and the trip was extremely easy and pleasant on that front.

Missed y'all! Let me know if you posted anything I should see since I didn't really get on the internet at all while I was gone. :)