Day 9.1 - Food and drink

It's my last day in New York, and I spent the first hour of the day trying to jam all my stuff into my bags. I got there, but only just, just barely.

For my final breakfast prepared by Carlos, I was presented with chocolate, banana and walnut muffins. I can't bear bananas (slimy, yucky things) and I really don't like walnuts either. However, I can tolerate banana bread, so I gave it my best.

I shouldn't have doubted. They were delicious. Enough banana that I could smell it, but only lightly taste it; the walnuts were chopped and well-embedded and not walnutty at all. With a little frosting and some rich chocolate sauce, they were actually bloody good!


After finishing my packing, and lugging it to the storage place a few long blocks from Penn Station, I tried to connect with the HighLine Park at 34th and 11th. Except they haven't even started on that bit. I wandered a lot further, and ended up back in Chelsea eventually.

I stopped in at a couple of supermarkets, including a large one beginning with G (Grimwalds or somethingish), and the Chelsea Whole Foods and a Trader Joes (overwhelmingly own-name products). Each was interesting, and I did manage to find a single serve of challah at the Whole Foods.


It's a sweetish soft bread, and quite pleasant, if not all that. I followed that up with another mocha frappuccino (Starbucks has free wifi, and I get some caffeine and hydration too).

Day 8.3 - Wicked!

I realised on my last full day that I still hadn't got around to seeing Wicked, one of the things on my Really Must Do list. I got my way to the Gershwin Theatre, having gone via TKT (closed) just in case they had tickets. I got to the theatre early afternoon, and was behind two women trying to buy four tickets for the following night's show. The best they could get was four singles ($130 ea) in various parts of the theatre. They stepped aside to confer (they later did buy the four singles), and I enquired what was available for that night. The bloke apologised, saying he only had Premium tickets left ($250 each). I paused for a moment, and then though, bugger it, I'm going. Of the half dozen or so single Premium seats left, I asked him to choose the best one, and walked away with a seat for row 5 (EE 103). It was indeed a very good seat with excellent view of the stage, marred only slightly by the small child seated to my right who could not sit still.

I returned to the theatre around 7:30pm - there were plenty of signs warning that they began very promptly at 8pm, snarfled my apple pie dessert, and took a pic of the poster in the lightbox with my iPhone (I left my camera at home, knowing I couldn't take photos of the show).

The story is based on a book written by Gregory Maquire, heavily adapted (I've heard the book isn't great). The set-up is that Elphaba was conceived during an illicit liaison between her mother and a travelling salesman who supplied an intoxicating green liquid. Her father practically disowned her when she emerged from her mother's womb as a decidedly and permanently emerald infant. An awkward misfit, she was sent to school as an aide for her favoured but crippled sister and ended up sharing a room with the blonde and popular Galinda. Initially sworn enemies, a misunderstanding sees them become firm friends, a friendship later challenged by their love for the same boy.

It is explained to us how the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion and the Scarecrow come to be, each a victim of good intentions, and how Elphaba became the Wicked Witch of the West (a victim of bad press). Like all good musicals, the songs advance the plot, and there is a happy ending. One of my favourite songs was "Popular", partway through the first act, during which Elphaba gets a make-over, or rather, gets "Galinda-fied". There's another, which I can't remember the title of (Google tells me it's "Wonderful", which discusses how it's the victors who write history, or in the Wizard's words "Where I'm from, we believe all sorts of things that aren't true. We call it 'history'.", asking "Is [a man] a crusader - or ruthless invader?"

Day 8.2 - Quilt exhibition, American Folk Museum

The American Folk Museum is next door to MoMA. They had a big banner outside announcing an exhibition of quilts, called "Quilts: Masterworks form the American Folk Art Museum". As a quilter, I was keen to see it. It wasn't included in my NYPass, so I returned once it had expired. Unfortunately, so had the exhibition, the previous weekend. More precisely, it was a two-part exhibition, with Part 1 closing April 24 (Easter Sunday), and Part 2 opening May 10 (after I'd returned home).

However, the woman at the desk did alert me to a smaller exhibition at a branch location at Lincoln Square/Columbus Circle, a short bus ride away. The "Super Stars: Quilts from the American Folk Art Museum" exhibition was small, but worthwhile.

Just a quick pedantic aside: Quilting is the act of sewing layers together - usually a top layer, batting (the padding), and the bottom layer - often in decorative patterns. Patchwork is the sewing together of small pieces of fabric, often similarly shaped to create patterns, making up the top layer. There are other techniques for making quilt tops, such as appliqué, which involves sewing one piece on top of another.  In this case, the curators generally mean patchwork quilts when they say 'quilt', and discuss the patterns created by the patchwork rather than the quilting itself. </pedant>

As the name indicates, it focuses on the theme of stars in patchwork quilts. The introductory blurb talks about drawing inspiration from nature blah blah blah. In my experience, stars are popular because they are fairly simple patterns using simple tessellation and bold colours to create dramatic compositions. Photos were allowed, and I took plenty, some of which worked, and some were marred by reflections and the like. If you would like to see larger versions of the pics below, simply click on the image - it will take you to a full size one. Alternatively, you can click on the link above, where the Musuem's website has photos of some of the quilts. The website also has the name of the artist (where known), approximate date, composition, size and holding.

The one I like most was the Amish one, which understandably if unfortunately was behind glass. Which means my photos have lots of reflections. But if you can see past them, you can get a sense of the gorgeous muted colours, and painstaking quilting.

Day 8.1 - Food and drink

Despite being still rather full from last night, I wasn't going to pass up Carlos' breakfast. This morning it was guava empanadas, with a guava sauce. The dough was an excellent shortcrust, and the filling was a glorious deep reddish-orange. It could possibly have done with a side of cream, or even ice cream, to provide some lightness and contrast to the pastry, but it was still excellent.


I don't think I'm going to need much to eat today, but I'll tell you how I went later. Not sure what my plans are today - if the thunderstorms abate as promised, I'll have a wander along the High Line Park, and try to find some suitable doodads for work colleagues. (Last year, I was able to find some personalised dice, appropriate for Vegas.)

****
The thunderstorms did not abate, or rather they continued to come and go, so High Line Park did not happen. Instead, I putzed around until noon, then headed into town. realizing that it was Thursday already, and if I was going to go to see a Broadway show, I'd better pull my finger out. Times Square was as bloody awful and full of drifts of moronic tourists. And when the rain came down again, it got worse. I found some doodads for work people (don't panic, B!), and a t-shirt for me, and tried on 97 pairs of Levi's to see if they had something to substitute my beloved 513s which they discontinued yonks ago. (Answer: no)

Next up, it was time to find some lunch/dinner (ideally would last me the rest of the day). I took far too long trying to find something new and interesting, that I ended up hungry and desperate. I ended up in a diner (Astro Diner at 6th and 55th). Clearly catering largely to tourists, it had a stupidly huge menu, but it also had chairs and was out of the rain.

I ended up choosing the Clam po'boy from the Classics range, mainly because I didn't have the faintest idea what it would be. I didn't think it would be this (and wouldn't have chosen it if I did):




Heavily battered bits of unidentifiable rubbery stuff, stacked on undressed, warm lettuce leaves on an unbuttered toasted hot dog roll, with chips and a mayo with a slight hint of chilli. Meh. The sides, a small pottle of passable coleslaw and half a dill pickle (rather salty, but crisp), arrived well in advance.




I then went to the nearby American Folk Museum (next door to MoMA) but discovered the quilt exhibition I really wanted to see had closed the weekend just gone. However there was a smaller exhibition at a branch of the Museum at Colombus Circle. So off I toddled (see separate post), and then decided I should head home to shower and change before my show.

Back in town, I grabbed an apple slice, which I ate standing outside the theatre foyer. It was good - moist, lots of fruit and cinnamon, a little soggy (not in a bad way).

After the show, I decided to pick up some sushi hand rolls, if only because it was late and I might get peckish later, with no options available. In hindsight, I neither needed the food, nor the ten minute wait for the registers in the 24 hour Walgreens. Never mind. No pics, but they were brown rice inside-out rolls, with vegie stuff that wasn't avocado.

All up, not my most successful day, culinary-wise. Oh well.

Day 7.2 - Brooklyn Museum

Placeholder. It's a big museum and I got through all but the top floor, helped by the fact that a large section was shut off for some huge banquet that was happening that evening.

Probably the first museum that didn't focus on the art of dead white Anglo dudes. It has an extensive collection of African, Asian, Islamic and Egyptian art. The dead white Anglo dudes art was mostly in the area that was closed off, with the gorgeous huge atrium.

Anyway, I'll get to it in due course. Lots of masks and faces, so I think I'll do a special post on masks/sculpture of heads later on.

Day 7.1 - Food and drink

Another of Carlos's magnificent breakfasts. First up, bread-and-butter pudding (which he gave some other name), with a Grand Marnier-infused crème anglais. I'm not sure if I've ever had bread and butter pudding, but if it tastes like this, I'll be back for more. I suspect very few would be so good, though.


Served with it were the oatmeal cookies Carlos made yesterday, still delicious, with light-as-air whipped cream on the top. I'm not normally a fan of lashings of cream, but that didn't stop me from devouring all three of them.


I eventually left the flat somewhat after 11, and caught the train out to Brooklyn. I had been recommended to go to Kingston Ave (a couple of stops past the Brooklyn Museum) to get real Jewish food. It was fascinating!

Here in Harlem, Spanish is clearly the second (if not primary) language, and almost all signs are in both English and Spanish, including the aisle signs in supermarkets. The faces are mostly black and Latino, with white faces like mine fairly rare. In Kingston Ave, most of the faces are white Jewish, with a handful of black, Latino and gentile. The supermarket/kosher mini-mart I went into had a wide array of products, many familiar, some not, and some I wouldn't know because the packaging was written almost exclusively in Yiddish. I could infer they were biscuits (cookies), say, because they were in the cookie section and had a picture of a cookie on the front, but I couldn't tell you what kind. This particular store had a whole aisle (one of six) dedicated to baking supplies - whether that's because Jews bake a lot, or because it's harder to source kosher ingredients I couldn't tell you.

After wandering up and back, I chose a bakery/lunch place that had a substantial queue inside (figuring that was a good sign). While waiting I chose something in the display cabinet that looked interesting. At the register I discovered it was a spinach and potato knish, and it was fabulous! Excellent flavour and texture, somewhat greasy as it should be, and dirt cheap ($2).

Day 6.3 - Other stuff what I done tonight

I emerged from the Bodies exhibition (South St Seaport) around 5:45pm. It occurred to me that it would be a civilised hour in Aus (that is, 7:45am tomorrow), and that it would be a good time to ring. (The boys generally wake with the dawn, or at least 6:30am ish.)

Turns out they were all still in bed/just rousing, as they'd gone on a ghost tour the night before, and got to bed quite late. It sounds like they're all having a lot of fun, and getting along together quite well. Apparently even Dad's snoring isn't bothering them too much. They've been jet-boating and while they couldn't go zip-lining, it seems they did something which might be even better, flying under a hang-glider attached to a zip-line. I miss them, but I'm delighted to hear they're having such a fantastic time.

I also rang JD, who wasn't on the road on the way to work as I would have expected, and his phone went to voicemail. When I rang again, a couple of hours later, it turned out he'd decided to have a six day weekend, and was enjoying another day of sloth. He didn't quite make it up to Bridgey for a long weekend of skydiving. Sounds like he's enjoying it too.

Below the Bodies exhibition, there was a Gap store, and with a little time on my hands, I thought I might try on some clothes. They offer jeans in a variety of styles (slim, relaxed, curvy) which promised much. And didn't deliver.

I have generous thighs, and a smallish waist (not as small as it used to be, thanks to a few extra decades and the afore-mentioned kids). But even their curvy jeans were too loose at the waist (at least they didn't gape awfully), and too clingy around the thighs. And FWIW, I'm a size 10R, at least at the Gap. (The 12 was way too big.) Their jeans were no better fitting than ones I already owned, so I passed on them.

However, they did also have dress pants, with a similar range of styles. While I had the same complaints of these (loose, albeit not gaping at the waist, a little more figure hugging than I'd prefer around my thighs), I've found it much harder to source work-suitable pants. So I bought a pair of those. They're affiliated with Old Navy, so I found out where the nearest store was (19th and 6th), and headed in that direction.

This was actually the first time I'd been downtown - most of my exploring to date had been midtown (14th to 59th Streets). The streets are (a) named rather than numbered, and (b) much narrower and more higgledy-piggledy (buggered if I know how I'm supposed to spell that). There are a few tourist-targeted shops, and I managed to find a t-shirt for JD without too much profanity on it (I checked, the one I chose doesn't have F*ck on it, so you will be able to wear it in public, hon.)

Day 6.2 - Other stuff what I done today

A sketch of what I did today - I might tidy it up/flesh out the bullet points later.

Late start, spent morning catching up on blog

Considered going to American Folk Art Museum, but not on my Pass, so might save for Thursday or Friday (pass expires Wed night)

Decided to skip NY Hall of Science - just too busy all over, but especially for a hands-on type place.

Found a few t-shirts for the kids, and just pottering about. Had a wander around St Patrick's Cathedral (there was a service going on, but plenty of other tourists quietly wandering around). Neo-Gothic, complete (cf St John the Divine), statues of saints in each of the alcoves, each with a rack of candles burning - compare and contrast High Anglican with Catholic.



Tried to get ticket for Top of the Rock, but ten minute queue to get ticket for entry in 1.5 hours made me change my mind. Instead I went to Chelsea Market (see Day 6.1 for details).

After poking my head in at Filene's Basement (ironically, the top three floors of a building overlooking Union Square; reminded me very much of a Dimmeys store), I decided to go to the Bodies exhibition. No pics allowed.
Glad I went late in the afternoon, when it was pretty quiet. I could see they were equipped to deal with huge queues, suggesting it's much busier in the morning/at weekends.

It was interesting, and I picked up a few new bits of info. My knowledge of human anatomy is probably better than the average engineer-cum-accountant because my parents are doctors, and you pick up a surprising amount by osmosis. The bodies themselves appeared to all be Asian (I have some vague recollection that they're all Chinese, possibly former prisoners), and mostly male.

The room showcasing foetal development was separated off, making it easy to avoid viewing for those who might choose to. This was probably the most interesting for me. I was familiar with the written descriptions of the size of an embryo/foetus, but it was a different experience to see them.
(Just in case this bothers you too, I put the rest after the jump)

Day 6.1 - Food and drink

Breakfast this morning was croque monsieur (aka ham and cheese toasted sanga) and red velvet cake, with a dollop of caramel semi-freddo. Red velvet cake is traditionally coloured with beetroot juice (although most these days use red food dye). Carlos' version was light and not sweet, and the caramel ice cream (melted while I devoured the toasted sanga) was the perfect accompaniment.





I also enjoyed one of Carlos' oatmeal and raisin cookies - soft, warm, not too sweet. Very good. And I didn't need anything more to eat until mid-afternoon.

Day 5.2 - MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art

Another placeholder. I'll get to it, I swear.