fancy cafe visit

 

i've been wanting to show janet cafe lysée on 21st street; so today we walked over and had coffee and matcha and shared two pastries . . 

my "signature" lysée latte (made with their toasted brown rice milk) and their classic pastry: korean toasted brown rice mousse with pecans, hazelnuts and caramel. 

on the bottom right is their matcha white chocolate chip cookie with strawberry jam, and on the top left is their summer "floating island" - matcha espresso with yuzu sorbet. the cafe is the creation of chef eunji lee who combines korean ingredients with a french touch. she explains her inspiration on the cafe's website which you can read here.

we walked home through washington square . . when we first left the cafe, the breeze out on the street felt so cool that i waved my arms in the air and exclaimed that i had goose bumps. a person in new york city can go through three months of summer and never feel cold - not once! there have been times in the past when i have packed to visit my sister or for a trip upstate or to the berkshires in massachusetts that i did not even consider bringing a sweat shirt or sweater or a long sleeved shirt only to face a cool day or cold night and have to borrow something or actually buy something. so now i know fall is definitely on the way because i was actually cold for a moment when leaving the cafe. of course we warmed up quickly after turning left onto broadway and walking in the sunshine.

i also stopped at the union square green market and found prune plums! they were quite expensive . . but i bought two pounds worth and hope to make a delicious plum cake.

morning walk and a dance performance

janet and i took a morning walk along the river to la bergamot for coffee and a pastry . . 

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this evening greg, chanda and i attended dances patrelle's spring performance at the manhattan movement and arts center theatre. they did three pieces, two choreographed by francis patrelle, the second of which was our favorite: gilbert and sullivan, the ballet! (an excerpt). morgana and chanda had parts in the original production in 2012. here and here are two posts from then. tonight's show was wonderful and i'm so glad we went.

heading to the subway and home . .

river walk

 

janet and i had tacos today at las mariscos and then walked along the river. we caught up on each other's news and i enjoyed seeing photos of her adventures in jordan, saudi arabia and oman. actually, i haven't seen the petra photos yet . . i'm looking forward to that. swimming at wadi shab was the main topic of conversation . . such an amazing place.

the days have been warm and sunny . . 

to the tenement museum

 

i took janet to a 2:30 pm tour at the tenement museum today. she was interested in seeing the tour one hundred years apart, about the wong and gumpertz families, which i didn't mind seeing again.

(i learned a little bit more about factory life and the role of the unions and how involved mrs. wong was; also how she worked her way up to supervisor and pattern creator.)

afterwards, we went to the supermoon bakehouse just a few blocks away . . 

for a delicious "thai iced tea and torched marshmallow" cookie . .

i really love homemade marshmallows!

it was a very nice cafe and got quite busy. they even make their own ice cream.

walking home i took a photo of this building which used to house the jean cocteau repertory.

a new cafe

we have a new cafe in the neighborhood. janet and i visited today. it was nice and cool inside and there were plenty of tables and chairs available. it also wasn't too noisy.

i had a delicious honey whipped latte and we shared a brownie and fig cookie.

we would definitely like to visit again.

the taco bar and home depot

janet and i had tacos for lunch and then went for a walk.

she is working on some home improvements and was in search of specific hardware for the project. i think she was looking for a drill bit here.

walking home along the river . . 

there was a nice breeze which felt good because it was humid and sticky again today (after a good week and a half/two weeks of very nice weather).

hazy day

it was a very hazy day . . 

janet and i went for a short walk along the river in the morning after having croissants and hot chocolate at pastis on gansvoort street, which we used to do years ago . . (when the cafe/restaurant used to be on washington street).

 

chanda made delicious sesame peanut noodles for lunch.

it became so humid that we turned on the cool air and i cooked two fresh tuna fillets for dinner that i had bought on saturday from the fish vendor at the green market.

by the river

chai tea with janet by the river. she returns to paris for a month or so tonight. she's working on her apartment and needs to put in a new floor and tadelakt the walls (a popular technique in france).

tea with janet

i had tea with janet today at mah ze dahr (one of their raspberry rose spritzers, actually, and ginger passionfruit). she had been away for two months in paris. she's slowly fixing up the small studio she purchased.

this is the second child i saw today walking along with a parent and wearing pajamas. maybe there was a sleepover somewhere?!

rose honey and saffron . . (with zuzu in the background) . . 

my delicious gifts janet brought back for me from paris.