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/

NY Autumn/Winter Guide 2010

Updated Jan 2011.

Winter Events
Bryant Park Pond [link]
Free ice skating rink (If you bring your skates and a lock). Otherwise you can rent their skates and purchase locks. I love outdoor ice skating rinks, and this one is in the middle of the city so you get nice city lights and swinging music. Also a bunch of holiday shops featuring interesting items.

Radio City Christmas Show

Nutcracker at Lincoln Center

Various Trees and Lightings 2010
//Rockefeller Center: Nov 30. The biggest tree in NYC. More lights than tree. Check out the new Lego store nearby too and all the XMas window decors on Fifth Ave!
//Bryant Park: Dec 2. Nice ornaments and usually a photo op by the sponsor.
//Lincoln Square: Nov 29.
//Metropolitan Museum of Art: If you like medieval stuff, this tree is filled with classy medieval ornaments and angels.
//Natural History Museum: Famous origami tree


All Year Indoor Happenings
B&N Readings (NY Store Listings)
Great authors. I saw Anthony Bourdain, Alton Brown, and David Sedaris this year.

Strand Books Readings (Calendar)
I love the Strand, more neighborhood friendly and awesome recommendations for all types of books, including philosophy, science, sociology, etc. I happened to catch a few events here which resulted in heated crowd discussion, much more in line with NYC than the family friendly B&N right?

Jazzy events at Lincoln Center http://www.jalc.org/jazzED/g_listening09.html
Space is beautiful and I attended a listening party that was particularly fun.

Autumn Events

Oyster Festival [link] EVENT PASSED
After trying more stuff at the festival, I have come to the conclusion that the only ones worth the trouble are raw oysters and soft shell crab. Two rounds of oysters and one round of soft shell is plenty. Lobster bisque was ok but still not that amazing.

Free Concerts in Bryant Park EVENT PASSED

NY Marathon [link] EVENT PASSED
I actually went to watch the marathon this year (2010) from several locations (viewing map pdf)! The Queens viewing area was neat because you can watch the runners go up the Queensboro bridge and as you take the subway into Manhattan, you can watch them run in the lane next to you. I also watched from Central Park near the end and thought it was very inspiring to see the runners still looking great at the end of the 26 mile. Amazing…I applaud all the athletes.

Farmers Market
Pick up apples, pumpkins, cider, and other yummies. Union Square Green Market is year round M/W/Sat. Madison Square Park also had a small market setup this year for a few months. I learned what "urban pumpkin picking" entails: picking a pumpkin out of the pumpkin house (shelves make up the walls and pumpkins of all sizes line the shelves)

Pickle Day [link] EVENT PASSED
Small event in the parking lot area LES (hard to find...). I like pickles but I didn't realize how ridiculous it is to eat so many pickles in one day. I picked up a jar of horseradish pickles from Horman's. Excellent with roast beef and other sandwiches! Tried the smoked okras from Rick's but wasn't too impressed. I think it's better as an ingredient in salad or sandwich as opposed to eaten by itself. Their other pickles are much better. If you like pickles and don't have to venture too far to LES, definitely check it out next year.

Chocolate Show [link] EVENT PASSED
I went to it once and thought it was fabulous (blog entry). Besides different venders selling chocolate and offering free samples, you will see chocolate art, sculptures, fashion, and cooking demonstrations. May not be feasible to go every year but if you haven't gone at least once, grab a friend and check it out next year!

Halloween Parade [link] EVENT PASSED
My favorite this year was the Walk/NO Walk sign by a couple and all the funny Chilean miner ones with signs. Too many Lady Gaga costumes that I just didn’t find them interesting anymore

Other Links

101 Fall Things by Time Out NY
http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/own-this-city/79341/101-things-to-do-in-new-york-city-in-the-fall

101 Winter Things by Time Out NY
http://newyork.timeout.com/things-to-do/57411/101-things-to-do-in-new-york-city-in-the-winter

Ice Skating in NYC
http://gonyc.about.com/od/iceskatinginnyc/Ice_Skating_in_New_York_City.htm

Rainy Day Ideas
http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/own-this-city/75734/40-things-to-do-when-its-raining

My 2009 entry
http://azuleteats.blogspot.com/2009/11/ny-autumnwinter-guide-2009.html

NY Autumn/Winter Guide 2009

While I always try to update my summer fun guide, I want to stay motivated with my autumn/winter guide. The reason I combined them is that I always seem to miss Autumn in Central Park every year. The weather gets cold fast and the holidays are always so crowded. Once DST ends, you get 5pm sunsets if not earlier. So what is there to do? Some of these events already passed, but hopefully putting them here will make me remember them next year. Most events are annual.

Winter Events
Bryant Park Pond [link]
Free ice skating rink (If you bring your skates and a lock). Otherwise you can rent their skates and purchase locks. Try to catch it early because it gets really crowded around the holidays. I love outdoor ice skating rinks, and this one is in the middle of the city so you get nice city lights and swinging music. Also a bunch of holiday shops featuring interesting items.

Various Trees and Lightings
Rockefeller Center: The biggest. More lights than tree. Dec 2
Bryant Park: TBD. Nice ornaments and usually a photo op by the sponsor.
Lincoln Center: Nov 30. I only saw this tree once. It was blue that year.
Metropolitan Museum of Art: If you like medieval stuff, this tree is filled with classy medieval ornaments and angels.


New Find
Oyster Festival [link] EVENT PASSED
My cousin and I love oysters, especially ones from Tracks and Oyster Bar. I was browsing the LIRR trip deals when I found out about the Oyster Festival in Oyster Bay. While the festival is not what I imagined...I somehow imagined it to be a crazy showcase of million kind of oysters (kind of the chocolate show?). But it's more like a county fair (carnival type) with awesome seafood (and of course oysters). Some run-down of the seafood: Raw oysters from Oyster Bay (don't be scared of the line, so worth it!), soft shell crab sandwich (they take one whole crab, deep fry it, and put it between a bun, smells and tastes amazing), whole lobster dinners, chowder, gumbo, etc etc. Usually I don't expect fair food to include seafood, but these are amazing. If you take the LIRR and buy the LIRR Oyster Fair package, you get 3 oysters with your ticket. Sweet!

Free Concerts in Bryant Park EVENT PASSED
Two weeks in October Bryant Park set up a stage featuring performances and concerts. I happened to catch the Bargemusic one during a Wed and was surprised by all the


B&N Readings (NY Store Listings)
They are held indoors and you get pretty famous people in NYC. I saw Tracy Morgan and John Hodgman at the Union Square location. If you want to gift an autographed book to a friend or relative, this is a great place to check out. Otherwise the reading/discussion portion is free. I would advise you to go early and try for a front seat if you want to get your book signed earlier. The B&N near Lincoln Center has many performers passing through, probably right before a show in town.

Strand Books Readings (Calendar)
I haven't gone to any readings here but they have a lot of guests too!

Radio Stations

With ipod, itunes and xm radio, sometimes we forget there's real radio out there. I find that especially in metro areas like NY and DC, where people tend to take public transit without radio signal, people do not get to listen to the radio as much.

The good thing is, most of the regular radio stations today have an online radio program too. I want to share some of my favorites in the NY/NJ metro area. You can listen to them by turning to the dial or online:

//101.9 RXP. Rock/Alternative (web) Probably my favorite station. You can also call in for requests. Depending on the hour, you will hear great rock classics or new hits. I found out about many new rock acts through this station (Kings of Leon, Silversun Pickups, etc). Also one of the only channels that will reliably play Smashing Pumpkins. Go Pumpkins!

//93.9 WNYC. NPR/News/Classical Music (web) I almost wish I drive a car to work so I can listen to the morning news on this channel.
//105.9 WQXR. Classical Music (web)

//Alternate Side. Indie/Alternative/Local (online only) I found out about this channel through WFUV 90.3. Amazing music and features local bands too. More on the indie/college radio side. If you're not in touch with the local scene you'll probably feel lost listening to this channel. But it's also a good place to pick up new and music you won't hear anywhere else.

//100.3 Z100. Hits/Top 40. (web) Although people complain that Z100 is too repetitive, it's actually my first exposure to "pop". For that reason, it'll always be special. If you ever feel out of loop, tune to Z100 for a few hours, you'll be singing the Top40 in no time.
//103.5 KTU. More Upbeat/Dance Top40. (web) If you don't hear Britney and Lady Gaga within an hour, you should probably check your dial.
//92.3 NOW. More HipHop/R&B/Top 40. (web) 

Nowadays radio is getting too complicated. I actually use an oldschool radio where you have to turn a dial to scan the different channels. It's much more efficient. and trust me, I have the dials memorized by location (without digital displays). I also recommend a portable radio (maybe part of an old alarmclock that nobody uses) that you can move to various rooms with ease. You can listen at the dining table or while you cook. You can listen while you fold laundry. You can also listen while you're surfing the internet and blogging. (I'm listening to 101.9 rxp on my alarm radio as I write this. they played the new Weezer single so I'm happy).