2012 Trees and Cheer

New York is fun during the holidays and after taking some of my own ideas on winter activities [blog entry], I wanted to share some photos.

NYPL – Schwarzman Building (the one with Lions near Bryant Park). The main attraction is on the top floor. Probably the fastest place to get a library card (and afterwards, you can walk across the street to the Midtown library for checkout)

Origami Tree at American Natural History Museum

Bryant Park Tree (in the background as I was trying to take a photo of the rink)

The 30 Rock Tree

The close-up of the star

I also finally figured out how to add the “social” bar, so hopefully it’ll allow easy sharing? Granted I probably use twitter/email the most when I visit other sites. or comments…

Thanksgiving Food Photos

Last year I didn’t take photos of Thanksgiving. Photos from this year below, including a puppy assistant. Favorites: sweet potato with marshmallows and zucchini quiche.

Click here to view these pictures larger

NYC Autumn/Winter Guide 2012– Preliminary Listing

Seems I haven’t updated my city guides in a few years. Looking back (link to 2009, 2010), I really did take advantage of all the events NYC had to offer. Now that I live in New York, NY proper, should look into more events that I missed in the past while living in Queens. With the retirement of awesome NewYorkology site which listed tons of daily activities, I will have to do a bit more research. To be fair, my 2009-2010 events listings were pulled from various sources as well. This winter reason, I hope to write up some of the activities, instead of just providing a straight up listing. I will take these favorites and them to my guestbook and also my NYC welcome corner. Think of it as my NYC picks for winter (to be followed by the other seasons!)

Updated Nov 2012. (continuously updated throughout winter)

Winter/Holiday Outings
//Bryant Park Ice Skating Rink [link] until march 3, 2013
Free ice skating (if you bring your own skates and a lock) in the middle of the city surrounded by skyscrapers. You can also juggle with BPJugglers on Tuesday evenings and daily during lunch. A few things had changed about the Pond since I last wrote about it. For one, they opened up a chic lounge called Celsius (it’s only exotic to us Americas since we only use F while the rest of the world is on C). The place is conveniently located near the rink so you can relax and have a drink. While the holiday shops more or less stayed the same (I love the Star Wars one, every year), I noticed they have included more food/drink options (including food truck stars). Makes perfect sense to me!

//Radio City Christmas Show [link] until dec 30, 2012
Sadly, after 6 years of living in New York, I still haven’t seen this show. Everyone I know still recommends it so I’m going to keep it on my guide.

//Nutcracker at Lincoln Center [link] until dec 30, 2012
Ditto.

//Holiday Trains at Grand Central Terminal

//Even more Trains at NYBG in Bronx

//Stroll on the High Line

Various Trees and Lightings 2012
//Rockefeller Center: W Nov 28. The biggest tree in NYC. More lights than tree. If you haven’t followed @30rocktree on twitter, go read him now! Other favorites in the area are Saks snowflake show. Personally I’ve never skated there due to crowds.

//Bryant Park: Tu Nov 27. They always have great ice shows and ornaments on this tree.

//Natural History Museum: Famous origami tree. While you are at it, take some origami classes or join an origami meetup! (disclaimer: I’ve been to the class and meetup before)

//Metropolitan Museum of Art: medieval tree. like angels? you’ll love this. If you’re at the Met for any of their exhibits this season, do make your way to this tree.

//Christmas Stars at Columbus Circle

Indoor Happenings
//B&N Readings (Union Square Listing)
Great authors. I just saw Tony Bennett today and was inspired to update this winter activity list. Fired up Spotify to check out his new duets album Viva Duets as well. If you like Rachel Ray, looks like she’s coming Dec 4. Check out the holiday shops in Union Sq. before the book events too!

//Strand Books Readings (Calendar)
Even if you don’t make it to the readings, just walk around the bookstore and browse five areas that you wouldn’t ordinarily read. There’s a big world of books out there. I also like their cards selection the best, if you still like sending out cards with stamps (yea, old school).

//Jazzy events at Lincoln Center
http://jalc.org/multimedia
I can’t find the listening parties that I’ve attended in the past but the online live-cast and media archive is great for a cold day when you just want to get some music at home with a cup of hot chocolate.

//karaoke 
http://www.karaokeduet.com/

Other interesting stuff
http://bkbazaar.com/
http://www.bigonion.com/
http://www.theskint.com/
http://www.walkingoffthebigapple.com/

NYC Welcome Corner

I love bookstores with their themed tables, display corners, and books with handwritten “recommended by staff” notes. I also enjoy well-curated tourist info booths, B&Bs, and coffee shops with guest books. When I started to organize things around the apt today, I thought it would be fun to construct my own welcome corner for visitors and friends. Detailed descriptions after the jump.

Family Time A-Z (Sandy/Athena ‘12 Edition)

Avatar
Beast amorphous
Coconut water
Darkness
Earth benders
Fun photos with “sparkle” filters
Games
Halloween chocolate sorting
Indian basmati rice
Juggling
Kit kats
Lights
Morning run
Nanowrimo
Outage, power
Ping pong
Questions and “Q” in scrabble
Red panda squishable
Scallion pancakes
Tbsp and tsp
Unimpressed
Volleyball
Walnut bread
Xtra scallion
Yeast
Zuko, Prince

---------

Written in the same vein as my previous A-Z entry [link], about 2 days after my family got power back after the combination of Hurricane Sandy/Storm Athena which changed people’s lives forever. The storms will be heavily documented in history books to come.

My friend Gail wrote about ten lessons she learned [link] on her blog, and I agree with all them. My A-Z list is not mean to trivialize the storm and aftermath in any way, despite the fact I wrote more about the positive stuff that I experienced. As a result of my family’s house losing power (my apt had also lost power for the same week), I went to live with a relative’s family for a week or more. For the first time, I got to hang out with my cousins D. and C. and found myself getting to know them better.  This entry is a tribute to our time together. Sure, the outage and storm and devastation will also be remembered, but I have to say I was quite thankful to have D. and C. around.

At first, I had wanted to post the scallion pancake recipe that aunt had taught us. I had documented the process in detail along with photos. D. and C. used the recipe I wrote down as basis for the pancake they made all by themselves a few days later. Decided against posting the recipe, but do enjoy the photos below!

Portland–City of Roses and Water

Without looking at my travel notes, I can narrow my Portland trip down to two major impressions: the best bookstore experience and the numerous fountains (both the drinking kind and the decorative kind).

After sorting through my notes, I realized I had forgotten about the informative city walking tour, the dazzling and overwhelming rose garden, as well as the Japanese garden, the Chinese garden, vibrant life in Pioneer Square, and more. There is a lot to Portland that cannot be photographed. I also spent good number of hours browsing the magazine rack at the famous Stumptown coffee.

By the way, I have never been to Portland before, and didn’t see Portlandia [tv series] until I went to Seattle right after my stay. I really didn’t have too many expectations (high or low) but did hear great things about the bookstore. Having experienced major sightseeing spots and downtown’s efficient public transit along with the best weather one can hope for, I came away with a very positive impression of the city.

Seattle– The first 24 hours

Seattle was the fourth leg of my west coast trip from August. My one-week stay last year [entry] was substantially longer and slower-paced than this quick two day stopover.

Cast of characters
me – Arrived by BoltBus and looking to wrap up my 10-day trip. What, we’re going hiking and a show?
E. – My gracious host who moved recently to a new apt with a view of the space needle. Attempting to complete his mountaineer program while entertaining me and J, who are both visiting from out of town.
S. – E.’s friend from college, visiting Seattle for the first time. Originally from NY and based in Chicago. Huge radio lab fan and avid traveller.

The Night Before
Sushi, sake, and funny Portlandia show

The Prep
Breakfast: E. made scrambled eggs with turkey, spinach, tomato, mushroom for all of us. Way to start out the adventures with a bang!Coffee pickup: Caffé Vita [http://www.caffevita.com/]
Lunch pickup: Bahn mi place that I can’t remember the name of. We got awesome sandwiches though.
Backpack contents: 2 jackets (one fleece, one windbreaker), water, blue Gatorade, chocolates, trail mix, Bahn mi sandwiches for lunch, camera, extra shirt, socks.

The Road Trip
Mt. Si is a few hours away so we spent time talking, listening to podcasts (mainly SYSK and Radio Lab I think?) and NPR. I don’t have a pic but we actually made a make-shift iphone speaker out of a camping cup. E. and S. would make for good road trip buddies.

The Ascent
Besides taking a few photo breaks here and there, I used most of the climb listening to our hiking footsteps (quite relaxing), chatting, and just letting my mind wander. The hike was tough but incredibly rewarding. I will let the photos speak for themselves:

Mt Si VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Best pizza outside of NY
During my previous visit in Seattle, E. introduced me to Verde Primo pizza from Pagliacci Pizza. I liked it so much, I actually requested to have it again. Here’s the description from their menu: Artichoke hearts, mushrooms, pesto, goat cheese, garlic and mozzarella on our seasoned tomato sauce. We also tried some Mac & Jack beers on tap from the place.

It’s (Radio) Show Time

Before the show I only knew Radio Lab as a cool podcast (I loved the Colors episode!). Props to S. for suggesting this awesome live show, especially as there probably was zero chance to ever even get near tickets in NY. The only unfortunate part was we were so exhausted from the hike, we ended up missing a portion of the show. Some highlights that would sound incomprehensive to people who haven’t seen it: space part near the end, lights in the audience, dancing eyeball people with eye patches. Go check out the live show if they are going to your town. Or if you don’t get a chance to, check out the podcast.

Stay tuned for the next 24 hours:
-Pike’s Place Market
-Coffee / Cafes
-Lowell’s
-Meeting J.
-Shopping

NYC A-Z (Summer '12 Edition)

Air conditioners
Bagels and bourbon
Cookies
Dark Knight Rises
Espresso from Financier
Five Guys
Good stuff diner
Hale and Hearty - Mac n cheese
Ice cream at Duane Reade
Juggling in Bryant Park
Korean dinner in Ktown
Lobster roll
Mets and the Met
Night skyline from Brooklyn Bridge
One percent
Potbelly's chicken salad
Queens by subway
Roosevelt Island
Staten Island Ferry
Trucks (of the food variety)
Umbrellas
Village
Walking Summer Streets
X - Lexington line (4/5/6)
Yes, we rock!
Zeytuna's

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About this entry:

I wrote the above on my iphone on the plane back from west coast while fighting insomnia (gotta love those late night rides from west to east). Most of the letters came to me quite easily, while others took a bit more time. I kept the original version although there had been multiple attempts to edit and replace letters/words. That’s when I realize I just need to post it. I wanted to put some photos from the summer along the way but most of the good shots have been posted in the previous entry [link here]. My other thought was to have links to all of the letters but that seemed too busy and cluttered. Even writing this paragraph is destroying the minimalistic entry I set out to do.

When I first came up with the A-Z project a year or so ago, I was inspired by children's’ books, especially ones that came with colorful pictures. How cool would it be to do my own NYC book with my own photos? The project was stuck in draft form when I agonized each letter and whether or not I would be able to take a photo of the associated objects. Would I have Mets (baseball) or the Met (museum) for the letter M? Do I do a tourist version and include major landmarks? Do I do a park version and focus on park and outdoor sightings? Are branded landmarks excluded (i.e. iconic cube Apple store?)

In any case, while my A-Z photobook project is still underway, I do like how the Summer ‘12 edition came out. It’s a time capsule of sorts, just waiting to be forgotten, uncovered, remembered, and treasured for summers to come.

San Diego–Bonus Chapter

San Diego was the first stop on my four-city West Coast Trip. While it was my first time visiting the city, I only did enough research to narrow down my “to-do-list” to Coronado Beach (Voted number one by Dr. Beach in 2012) and Fish Tacos (the hype lives up). My friend and travel companion E. recommended the San Diego Zoo (one of the world’s best, didn’t you know?). I liked the fact that the Zoo was inside Balboa Park, another popular sight mentioned by various San Diego guides.

Outside of the main three attractions, I considered all the other stuff we saw along the way extra bonuses. This entry is all about those bonuses, and also a celebration of taking “side-trips”, “detours”, and “spontaneous adventures” before heading back to the main road and final destination.

Tribute to Classic Baseball Stadiums

Petco Baseball Stadium was one of these bonus side-trips. We were heading towards Coronado Ferry/Coronado Beach and decided to stop by the the stadium for some photos. Once we got there, we find out the stadium tour had just started so we ran halfway around the stadium to catch up with leader. Last year I took E. to AT&T Park in San Francisco (2011 blog writeup) and had a fun time. Could this be the start of a new travel tradition? (note to self, start a separate entry listing all the baseball stadiums/tours/etc).

Out of the many stadium photos that I took, this is the only one that features the western metal supply building.

The old building kept most of its original structure and columns on the inside. I loved walking inside it and running my hands along the brick/wood structures. Keeping this one old building to build a stadium around it… what an idea.

One word of caution for SF Giants fans and NY Mets fans (myself included) who love their stadiums: Petco stadium doesn’t try to look too grand or luxurious. The “canyon” feel of the stadium as well as its many tributes to classic stadiums (Wrigley, Old Yankee Stadium, Camden Yards, Fenway, etc) make it understated yet very special. The paintings of famous players found in the VIP section are unique and lovely and provide a decidedly different feel than classic ball game photos that are featured more prominently in other areas of the stadium. Another nice touch for the fans is the slanting of the stadium seats on the sides towards the home plate, without straining your head. Regular stadium seats that are on the side simply direct attention to what is in front of you whereas everyone is inclined to sit facing pitcher’s mount/ home plate.

The Harbor had a few boats

Architecture around Balboa Park

Wishing well and nearby fountain

Santa Barbara Station - The most postcard-perfect tree

More to come:

• San Diego main entry (Beach, fish tacos, and giant pandas!)
• San Francisco (Where we caught the mist over Golden Gate Bridge)
• Portland (Where I spent way more time than is healthy at Powell’s and went to three gardens)
• Seattle (Where I hiked Mt. Si, saw Radio Lab, and chilled out in Pike Place Market for an entire day)
• Trip notes as recorded and organized in tiny memo pad, with more virtual links
• and of course… tons of photos

Summer in NYC

Assorted shout out and photos for H., T., and the lovely S. Cheers for good times and beautiful new found friendships.

Cheering on the Mets at Citifield
Take the 7 to Mets-Willets Point.
First Mets game for T. and S. The Mets may have lost 13-0 but the experience  of the beautiful stadium and lobster roll outweighed all of that.

Chilling with Comfort Food at Wonjo
23 W 32nd St. New York
http://newwonjo.com/
After a night of happy hour specials, I had the idea to get some good hearty food. While I’ve been to Wonjo for Korean BBQ a million times, I stayed from that this time. Cold noodles in beef broth was just the right dish for hot summer nights. I probably should have ordered the regular bibim bop instead of the cold veggie version (which was more like a salad with rice…) Made the right call to order a small seafood pancake for a group of four, just enough food to get people interested but not so much to get all greased out from them. We also ordered the tofu… (I still prefer BCD tofu house but found out they moved recently).

Waving to Statue of Liberty from Staten Island Ferry
White Hall Terminal
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/ferrybus/statfery.shtml

Midtown Night from Brooklyn Bridge
Look for the benches near the middle and enjoy the skyline and the cool evening breeze. There’s nothing quite like crossing the bridge at night. It’s a completely different experience from the day.

Walking together on Summer Streets
This is a NYC city sponsored event where an entire stretch of the city becomes car-free, and the streets are clear for biking, roller-blading, and walking. My two favorite sections of the entire walk were the roadway leading up to Grand Central and the entire downtown section (below Astor or thereabouts). First Saturday I took the entire route from City Hall to 72nd (around 2.5h). Second Saturday I went with T., H., and S. and we had a blast walking south from 51st to 23rd or so. We also tagged on other activities along the way.

 

Eating Brunch at Spoon
17 West 20th street (between 5th and 6th avenues)
http://www.spoonnyc.com/
Three of us ordered the Hungry Man Special, which consisted of two sunny side up eggs, blueberry pancakes with the best syrup ever, toast, bacon and shitake hash browns (the best!). While I didn’t realize this at the time, Spoon is actually my first proper Manhattan brunch after I moved into the city. I guess this is what people call one of the essential city experiences, hanging out with good friends and catching up over good food. I liked it even better since I didn’t have to wait in a long line or anything.

Browsing Books at the Strand and the B&N
Strand 12th Street and Broadway.
http://www.strandbooks.com/index.cfm
B&N Straight on Union SQ north side
http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/store/2675/

Lounging at Ginger Man
11 East 36th Street
http://www.gingerman-ny.com/
Every bar should have comfortable couches in dim-lit corners and 60+ beers on tap. Feel so incredibly spoiled! Before you order any bottled beers, read this wise quote we found at the entrance:



Walking up the steps of NY Public Library at Bryant Park

Taking a break with Ginger and S’Mores Gelato from Ciao Bella in GCT

Admiring the Cloud City exhibit of the Metropolitan Museum
http://www.metmuseum.org/en/exhibitions/listings/2012/tomas-saraceno

Obviously the complete Met experience also included American Wing, Egypt Temple, the Knights and Armor Room, Chinese Garden, and even sitting on the front steps. Pleasantly surprised that T. liked this museum as much as I do.

Just an appetizer from Ooki Sushi
1575 3rd Ave. New York NY 10128  ( between 88th - 89th Street )
http://www.ooki-sushi.com
I can definitely recommend the tuna tataki here (next time will try toro) and it impressed both people in the table next to us (awesome!)

Juggling and Summer

Before the start of this summer, I joined a juggling group in Bryant Park. If practice made perfect, why not gain a skill or awesome “hidden talent” this summer? I made a point to block out an hour every week to join the fun and told everyone I know (friends, colleagues, random strangers) about this group to keep myself motivated.

While I didn’t keep count of how many sessions I attended (more than 5 but fewer than 10), I realize it is getting close to end of summer season and I have indeed gained insight into this seemingly difficult yet fascinating activity.

The best part is always meeting people. A. and J. are both extremely patient and friendly instructors. Before the end of summer I hope to buy them a round of drinks for the countless number of one-on-one coaching sessions and endless encouragement (I still don’t know how they put up with me).

Some lessons / observations / comments:

• smile!
• go barefoot
• invite spectators to become participants
• give midtown recommendations to visitors
• free yourself from the smartphone madness
• meet people and have fun

Two ideas for the group (if A. or J. is reading?):

• end of summer variety of all newly minted jugglers (with music!) I suppose this may take some coordination/practice/promotion
• featuring “meet the juggler” bio (no photos necessary) once a week where we ask a lucky participant a few q’s (i.e. what’s their favorite NY spot and how did they get into juggling and what do they do when they’re not juggling).

Check the Bryant Park Jugglers Blog:
http://bryantparkjuggling.blogspot.com/
and
Bryant Park Jugglers Twitter: BPJugglers

New York kind of weekend

Friday Evening
Smorgas for dinner with J. to celebrate my move. Traditional smorgasbord with Mikkeller beer, and lingonberry crepe for dessert. All recommended for future visits. My favorite part of the bord was probably the gravlaks and potatoes. Herring is still an acquired taste for me, I really had to get used to the texture. Random thought while eating crepe: if lingonberry were more popular in the U.S., would we still obsess over it as much?

Saturday Afternoon
New Museum Block Party with S. Creative crafts to start out the afternoon (orange colored sunglasses rocked my world. I need to find a pic of the magnetic poetry that S. made), followed by a view of the new Ghosts in the Machine exhibit which emphasized machinery/optical art/geometric shapes. I didn’t take a photo of this one particular object so I will try to describe it. Basically the artist started out with a square/rectangle piece of gossamer fabric, then tied four small weights to its four corners. A fan is set below the center of fabric and blows in different directions. The result is the fabric moving in a wave-like manner, while being suspended in mid-air. It’s simple yet so creative at the same time. I found it quite relaxing to watch, compared to some of the other objectives they had on display. A photo of some crazy looking animal sculptures from the Parade exhibit below, in the neighboring studio.

Saturday Evening
Prospect Park Jazz Concert. Part of Celebrate Brooklyn concert series (suggested $3 donation). Featuring Arturo Sandoval / Arturo O'Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra. Gotta love summer concert season, especially in New York.

Sunday Afternoon
Destination was set to be High Line park but the way there was anything but direct. Since the subway is hot in the summer, walking and bus all seem better modes of transportation. I wandered through Chinatown and SoHo before getting on a bus to the street near the park. On the way, I admired the sunroof of the Apple Store in SoHo and some new games and apps on the new ipads. Just in case you don’t need more apple devices and don’t find yourself visiting frequently, the store also features performance/talks series. This upcoming week they have Kenny Garrett and Martha Stewart. Look forward to exploring some of these in the future (note to self, add calendar to already long calendar of book events at B&N and Strand…)

Sunday Afternoon/Early Evening

High Line. This deserves its own entry. Link here: TBD