Happy Turkey Day

I was beginning to worry that we would have no plans for Thanksgiving and end up sitting in our apartment with the lights off, crying. Luckily a hail mary pass from John Cho saved our Thanksgiving Eve and a last-minute invite from Frans and Michelle rescued our Turkey Day from being a lonely affair.

On Wednesday night we trundled out to Brooklyn for a pre-thanks dinner with John, his gf Sasha and Durell. John has this awesome 1.5 bedroom place with a huge living space and even bigger kitchen. He had prepared a table full of treats including mac'n'cheese, a roast chicken, cranberry sauce and homemade pita. Timon and I bought wine and beer and we chow'd down, representing healthy Aussie appetites, for a couple of hours. It wasn't a super late night but I must have been drunker than I thought, because the next morning I woke up with a killer headache.

I'd been planning on attending the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade because, well, it just seemed like the thing to do. The parade involves many giant balloons that are escorted down Central Park West and Broadway to end up outside Macy's in Herald Square. Most parades in this city tend to favour 5th Avenue which is much further from our apartment so it seemed very convenient. Alas, it would have been more convenient if the parade started at noon. We ended up leaving the house at 11am and by the time we got to the starting point the final balloons were making their way down the street. People were flooding the subway in an attempt to get home so we battled our way through to catch a fleeting glimpse of the back of some elf balloons. To be honest, we were never going to get up at 7am to stake out a claim on the street so this picture seems like a fair reward for our laziness.

It WAS a spectacular day for it, considering the day before had been grey and rainy. We enjoyed the sunshine and walked our way up Broadway from 66th to home. We stopped by a diner and had omelettes for brunch, along with the millions of other parade-watchers. The rest of the day was spent watching movies (me) and playing Skyrim (timon). By 7pm we were walking out the door, back to Brooklyn for a fancy turkey feast at Frans' restaurant Aurora (he's a chef). We met up with Michelle, her sister Melissa and partner Simon who are visiting from Sydney. Sadly for Frans he was stuck in the kitchen all night but we enjoyed cauliflower and lobster soup with caviar, quail on lentils with a foie gras crostini, roast turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and veggies and veal cheeks with polenta and mushrooms. And wine of course. Dessert was a warm chocolate cake with berries. Yes, it was the most expensive meal Timon and I have had ($80 each after all was said and done) but it was nice to be grownups for a change. We can eat $1 dumplings for the next two months to make up for it!

I'm not all that sure that Thanksgiving is a holiday that should be celebrated with total abandon as it seems to entail a dark history for the native Americans. But, I don't really know anything about that so I'm going to take a day off work and share a bottle of wine with my special people. I'm very thankful for the opportunities I have to live out my dreams and I'm so very thankful to have the best guy next to me while I do it.

Spontaneous Awesome

I had been having a rough couple of weeks. Things seem so far away but at the same time are rushing upon us with harrowing speed. My family's visit seems like an eternal wait but the scary notion of leaving our apartment here is just around the corner. Timon is settled into his new job and comes home every night raving about coffee in its various forms, giving me a lesson even when I don't want one. My job is winding up (we'll be closed forever in 2 days) yet each shift drags on interminably. It's become so clear to me that when something has no future enduring it is a living hell. I've also been struggling with the fact that my closest friend here has vanished from my social life and is too busy with his own demons to drink the world away with me. I show up with Timon's friends, but being a plus one is never the same.

Last Saturday I was sitting on the couch having arrived home from work at 4pm. I knew I was facing another long night in front of the TV, alone, as Timon had a late finish at Kava. I'd already downed two glasses of red by 6.30pm and the doldrums had well and truly set in. I turned to Facebook (as you do) and saw an update from the Ani DiFranco group I subscribe to - "Ani in concert tonight, W43rd St New York, tickets still available". I clicked on the link and saw that the concert started at 8pm AND it was in midtown. After a brief "Oh I'll be missing Iron Chef" thought, I got up, got dressed in 5 minutes and was out the door. 30 minutes later I was sitting in row O of the orchestra with a great view of the stage and a $5 bottle of water.

The upshot of this story is that sometimes New York is so incredibly rad. I sat there completely enthralled by Ani, enjoying songs I normally enjoy with my headphones on, sharing the joy with a theatre full of people. The concert was over and done before Timon finished work. Normally, I would have bought my ticket 6 months in advance and have forgotten about it until the week before. There was something so much sweeter about the spontaneous decision and the city that made it possible. I love you subway, I love you midtown, I love you Facebook and I love you New York!

Old friends in a new city

In a city of gazillions it is always nice to see a familiar face, even if it's one you haven't seen in years. Early November lined up two opportunities for us to share a drink and a laugh with some Melbourne alumni.

First, I noticed on Facebook that one of my best friends from high-school (and primary school for that matter) was in New York for the hairdressing Olympics. I extended the invitation for her - Lyndal - to meet me in Greenacre Park for a free coffee and a chat. We ended up talking for 2 hours, despite the freezing weather, and it was just like old times. There was A LOT to catch up on seeing as Lyndal has had a child and a marriage in the interim and I now live in New York. We met up with her husband Bradley outside Moma and, due to my lack of bar-knowledge in the city, we ended up at Blockheads drinking $4 margaritas. Thank god for Blockheads. Two drinks later and I had to head off to a press screening of Melancholia. Now that was a head f**k. I do not recommend watching that film on the tipsy side. Although the liquid courage enabled me to strike up a conversation with a critic I've seen around. I'm not sure if I made a friend or if he thought I was a drunk idiot. Time will tell.

I have been feeling a little starved for friend attention lately as Scott is MIA, working hard on his new life. When the opportunity to see Lyndal and the Bradley came up again I jumped at it. Both Timon and I were working Saturday so I arranged to meet them in the west village after 5pm. The bar I picked off the internet was tiny and packed so we ended up at Mole for, you guessed it, happy hour margaritas. We spent a few hours hogging the bar and getting progressively smashed-er and telling all kinds of stories. Then I decided we needed dumplings. Note to self: perhaps don't eat dumplings when you are drunk because you ignore how hot they are and how spicy Siracha is and you end up with chapped lips. Probably also wise to avoid shopping at Forever 21! It was a totally rad night, one I'm keen to repeat back home.

The next week saw the arrival of one Emily Tantau. Esteemed Blockbuster colleague and wino friend of Lucy, Emily had been touring the States and was finishing up in Harlem. Unfortunately but not surprising (after 3 weeks of non-stop partying and travel) she was sick as a dog. After a rather fancy lunch date at Per se (not me!), Emily found her way to our apartment and hung around eating pasta bake and watching the food network. the next morning I was infested with sick germs, although to be fair they probably came from somewhere else. It was kinda scary though as I'd only seen Contagion the week before!! Em and a couple of her travel buddies made their way onto the set of Jimmy Fallon that afternoon so I went up to her Harlem digs to watch the show. Timon joined us after work and we ate dodgy 24hour buffet food and drank lots of wine (to dry up my nose you see). I definitely wish I could have spent more time with her, but I'd arranged the Niagara trip so we bade her farewell on Monday night.

Who's next I wonder???

Sometimes it's embarassing to be a tourist

Especially when you're in a large tour group of people who blatantly ignore instructions from guides and don't pay attention to the details. Let me back up a little here......

I have a Top 5 list of things to do in the USA (this time around). Right up there is a trip to Niagara Falls. As is always the case when you live somewhere, you put things off, maintaining that you have enough time to do it later. Well, time is ticking. I finally came to realise that if we didn't go to Niagara Falls soon we would miss it, or simply freeze over if we went in winter. I found a 2-day bus trip that would take us to the Falls via the Thousand Islands so I booked it! Alas, we had left it too late to go on the Maids of the Mist boat that takes you right up close to the falls :(

We met up with the bus bright and early on Wednesday morning, in Chinatown. The demographic of the group was - old, cranky, foreign. Red flag. Timon and I kept a high level of enthusiasm because, hey, we're fulfilling a life goal! Our first stop was a McDonalds in Pennsylvania where I sampled the legendary McRib (nothing special). The tour guide spoke in English and Chinese to accommodate most of the group (but not the Spanish speakers who were very grouchy about this). We were treated to an on-board movie - Jackie Chan in The Spy Next Door. The second film - Jackie Chan in The Karate Kid. I'm going to go out on a dangerous limb and say the latter was not the worst thing I've ever seen. There are some huge departures from the original but that made it easier to watch - I could forget it was a remake.

We arrived for the Thousand Island's boat trip as the sun was beginning to set. T and I sat up on the top deck to get the best view. So did everyone else. This would have been fine if everyone listened to the boat lady and remained sitting for safety and so that everyone could see. But they didn't, they completely ignored her or sat down when told only to stand up 2 minutes later. So in between the snippets of info there was lots of yelling. We bailed and found a quieter spot to sit in the hope that we could distance ourselves from mega-obnoxious tourists. The boat lady took us all for a ride when she told us to look deep into the water to see a special formation. We couldn't see anything! Turns out it was the international border between the USA and Canada! Jokes on us (although when you have 40 intense photo-hungry tourists leaning over the edge perhaps it's not the best of jokes). We saw some mansions that Americans call castles and lots of beautiful scenery. All the islands (1700) are privately owned and go for millions of dollars. You cannot access them safely in winter because the lake freezes over. Weird setup.

We finally arrived at our dinner destination around 8pm. The tour packet indicated that we were free to eat with the tour or find alternatives. There were zero alternatives to the dodgy Chinese buffet place the tour company had arranged. It was spew times ten. The restaurant had the most depressing food and decor (we're talking cubes of jelly for dessert) and I was mildly disgruntled at this point. After a heinous dinner we drove to Niagara Falls to catch a glimpse by night. It was worth ALL the pain of the day - we gazed over the American Falls which thundered over the edge, taking my breath away. The casinos (!) in Canada shone bright lights over the water, illuminating the power and beauty of the formation. LOVED IT!

The hotel was surprisingly nice and T and I relished what little time we had away from the group. In the morning it was back on the bus early, with the promise of breakfast at the Falls. Unfortunately the cafe was closed when we arrived. We split from the group and walked over the raging river to the main, most famous part of Niagara - the Horseshoe Falls. It was almost impossible to see them through the mist and spray that drenched us from head to foot. They have a more severe look than the rounded waves of the American Falls and they are equally terrifying. We took a mountain of photos which you can see here.

The next treat was a film in the Legends of Adventure Theater. It was an IMAX film (non-3D) about the myths and dangerous feats performed at the Falls. I can honestly say I've never seen people take flash photos of a cinema screen before, while a film is running. After they were asked not to. IDIOTS. Sadly, when we got back to the bus the lunch place was also closed so we starved until we arrived at the stupid Corning Glass Museum at 1.30pm. T and I sat out of the museum and glass blowing show in favour of eating and drinking oodles of wine at the restaurant. A good decision.

We arrived home around 8pm. By my count, that's 2 hours of sightseeing and approximately 20 hours on the bus. And 2 Jackie Chan movies (the 3rd was The A-Team). On Wednesday we were so excited to get out of the city and see something new. By Thursday I could not have been happier to be back.

It's becoming way too clear how hard it will be to leave this city.

Halloween Parade 2011

After we road-tested our costumes on Saturday night and collected a few more supplies on Sunday we were ready to march in the West Village Halloween Parade on October 31st. Ruby et Violette alum Erica had planned to meet up with some friends so she dropped by our place first for pre-drinks. Timon and I had been watching costumed kids trick-or-treat their way down our street, hitting up shops instead of apartment buildings (Phew! We didn't buy candy). We left the house around 7pm and rode the subway downtown with some interesting characters. Everyone really gets into the spirit here and the vibe was exciting. We got off at Spring Street and walked down a few blocks until we could join the mass of people waiting to be let into the parade. We waited and waited. For at least half an hour. But there was plenty to look at - jellyfish, lots of Super Mario Bros, chinese dragons and all the normal slutty costumes. We finally hit the road and joined in the parade behind a couple of floats. We marched for what seemed like hours, snapping photos and enjoying the applause of onlookers. We danced to music pumping out of various floats and were regularly pushed into line by policemen doing a very good job dealing with such crazy, disguised revelers. When you think about the amount of fake weaponry out there on Halloween it must be a scary assignment for cops. Somehow I lost my plastic blade about 5 minutes in so I was no threat to anyone.

 By the time we were shepherded off the road I was exhausted and my feet ached. Right at the end I heard a distant voice calling out 'Jack, Jack' and to my complete validation - my costume was finally recognised!! Timon was super jealous :) We walked further and further, appreciating the mammoth effort many took in creating awesome costumes, and jumped on the subway home. Timon and I decided to stop by The Sunburnt Calf to see Frans and Michelle. Michelle's company was hosting a Halloween/Melbourne Cup do. Sadly, we couldn't afford the $35 cover charge so ended up heading home for an early night. Also, I remembered how much I hate horse-racing, especially anything to do with the Spring Carnival!

Food adventures

I really love reading about the food adventures on Frannie's blog so I thought I might share some of the memorable meals we've had in the last couple of weeks. With the impending arrival of my foodie family (December 21!!!) I've decided to get out and sample as many different restaurants and cuisines as I can so that I can offer them more than $1 dumplings. Groupon, LivingSocial etc come in handy by providing us with half-off coupons so dining out doesn't completely break the bank.

The first new place we tried was Huey's Diner. Offering New Orleans fare and 24 hour service, we went along one lunchtime, armed with a coupon for 1 appetizer and 2 mains. The decor is a step up from your average diner and actually reminded me of many a cafe in Melbourne. Our server was lovely and didn't harass us every five minutes which is always appreciated. For starters we had deep fried mac'n'cheese balls because - who can resist? I thought they kind of sucked, especially with the ranch dressing dipper, and the serving was paltry. I have been taking the opportunity to try completely new things at these places so at Huey's I ordered shrimp creole and Timon had chicken fried steak with mash. The meals were fairly straight up no-frou-frou home cooking but for the regular price the servings were underwhelming. My shrimp creole was tomato-y and a little spicy and I really enjoyed it. I would have liked a little more rice to temper the richness of the creole but I cleaned the plate. Timon said his was a little salty, but the fact that he has been hankering for a shnitzel for months made up for it. Ultimately I don't think we'll go back here, purely because of the prices.

Next up - Freda's Caribbean and Soul Cuisine. I purchased a $20 coupon for this restaurant because I'm not familiar with the style of food AND it is only 4 blocks away from our apartment. We traipsed up there one very cold night and almost walked past. The decor is minimal, the sign is impossible to see and the lighting was low. There was a giant flatscreen mounted on the wall (which destroys any ambience) and canteen style tables and chairs. We hesitantly opened the door and the woman told us to sit anywhere. The menu is small but super cheap (main with 2 sides $8) so we just went for it. I ordered jerk chicken with cabbage & carrot, chickpeas and potatoes. Timon ordered brown chicken (?) with mac'n'cheese  and string beans. There was homemade lemonade and sorrel on the menu but I was bluntly told they had none. The service was nothing to write home about but the food was great. My jerk chicken was crazy spicy and I couldn't get the woman off the phone to give me some water but it fell off the bone and melted in my mouth. With the coupon our meal came to $1.25! I'll definitely be going back - it's quiet and the food is interesting (I still don't know what some of it is) and delish.

Walking home from Freda's we noticed a a super cute Southern-style restaurant up near the park. Seems that we've not done enough exploring of our own neighbourhood! I grabbed a menu and decided we should definitely go back when we weren't full of Caribbean food. The chance came this week when I had an early screening and could meet Timon for lunch. I hadn't had a chance to print off my coupon so we just crossed our fingers that it would be good enough to try twice! The decor was adorable, all red and white checks and country chic. We were lucky to be there before the lunch special expired so we ordered homemade meatloaf with mashed potato and southern-fried chicken with fries. I also ordered a cup of seafood gumbo and some spoonbread punch. The punch was bright pink and came out in handled jars. It had an indefinable taste but I loved it! Timon ordered a coke but got punch, I'm not sure he was as impressed. The gumbo was hot and awesome - chunks of fish swam in this thick, peppery soup. I'd go back for that alone. My main was a little disappointing but Timon's fried chicken looked and tasted great. For a fiddly white-meat eater he struggled through the first piece, but the second was a huge, perfectly crispy breast piece that he was not keen on sharing. While the restaurant was pretty the service was not so welcoming and at some point the music went off and it was deathly quiet. We decided to take our dessert home - coconut layer cake and red velvet for T. I think if we take the fam to Miss Mamie's Spoonbread Too we'll definitely go for lunch, if not just for gumbo, punch and cake!

After Timon's last shift at Jack's on Sunday I met up with him downtown and dragged him to Party City for some Halloween accessories. We struggled to find somewhere decent to eat (places were packed from the extended brunch crowd) and we stumbled across Pita Joe. The tiny cafe is set up like a chain although it turns out there's only one. I ordered red lentil soup, which came with a small pot of hummus and a pita, and a pomegranate mint lemonade. Timon had a chicken fillet pita with hummus, lettuce and fries. Everything was AWESOME! The pita was so fresh and soft, miles ahead of the cardboard you get in the supermarket. The hummus was chunky yet creamy and the soup was hot and deliciously savoury. The chips were super thin and crispy, freshly made to order. But the star of this brilliant show was the pomegranate mint lemonade. I would take the subway to Union Square just for that, which is saying a lot. I know Lauren is not a fan of anything with the floury falafel texture so I'm not sure how she'll like it - but we are definitely going back (she can have the lemonade).