ticker tape day, last day of italian class and dinner at home

today's morning message from the mayor . .

greg's view of the people in the street on their way to the viewing areas for the parade (7:15 am). the parade began around 10 am.

i watched via streaming at home. the viewing sites were closed by 8 am.

the parade went uptown past bowling green . . 

happy new yorkers . . 

the bagpipe players . . 

the champions . . 

city officials on the podium . . 

and the athletes enter to receive the keys to the city after a wonderful impassioned speech by the mayor.

----

today was our last day of italian class . . we'll begin again in september.

discussing the day's events and the craziness of the parade and how happy everyone has been . . 

salmon burgers from the fish store and carrot pennies from the mollie katzen cookbook (with a lot of butter) (and lemon!)

this weekend

it was a very windy weekend . . 

we had trouble figuring out which smoke detector was chirping, indicating a low battery. it ended up being the carbon monoxide detector.

such beautiful light on the buildings driving home . . 

walking milly, staircases, chinese food and the moon

milly sometimes likes to walk very leisurely . . 

and she is also extra fluffy these days . . 

milly, there's a rumor that you have a grooming appointment this coming weekend . . 

----

when i was leaving after helping ellen with her five year olds this evening, i was suddenly struck by how wonderful i find the staircases to be in the old buildings of manhattan . .

the stuffy aroma, the modern addition of new pipes next to the old along with internet wires, the creakiness of the steps, the smell of the paint and the details of the banisters and molding . . and often the dust and dirt that owners and superintendents fail to keep up with amidst the number of people that frequent its halls.

i often run into the postal worker when leaving . . and today it was still light outside. (we jumped ahead an hour over the weekend.)

----

greg and i met up for dinner at a place we haven't been in years, and one that has moved at least three times since our first visit - uncle ted's . . they're now located on 8th street.

char siu bao - steamed bbq pork buns. i remember the first one i ever had . . i was about ten years old and with my aunt evie in california, los angeles. we were at the farmer's market and i can't remember if she suggested them or if i saw them and was intrigued, but she bought one for each of us and i remember the pungency of that first bite enveloped in the puffiness of the bun and how delicious i found it. 

broccoli, eggplant and green and red peppers sautéed in ginger scallion sauce.

can you see the new moon?

just . . a little silver slipper of a moon . . on the second day of ramadan.

sunny tuesday

here . . 

and on the cape . . 

new year's eve

 

 we had such a fun time welcoming in the new year. morgan prepared all the shrimp cups,

 

while i baked the pigs in a blanket and the potato puffs. i'm glad i bought three boxes as we had enough for chanda and her friends who came over to celebrate with her. we also had enough shrimp for everyone. we just kept sending dish after dish to her room. she and emily would bring out the empty dishes and we would load them up again. i don't think she expected them to eat so much as supposedly they just had dinner, but they did.

 

i really enjoyed watching the times square crowd this year. greg found the 42nd street alliance's video presentation of the event which did not have any commercials, just very nice commentary and streaming of kt tunstall's performance (she's very good). everyone was having a lot of fun in their sectioned off street pods and masks.

 

sparkling cider and potato puffs.

and then it was time for the count down! happy new year! wow! i can't believe it's 2022. 

it was a very festive and happy atmosphere, and they played our iconic song, frank sinatra singing new york, new york. which the white horse tavern used to play late every thursday night when i would be there with my acting friends (it is one of my favorite songs . . i used to also always hear it when i lived in dyker heights in the late '80's when greg and i first moved to nyc, as we had a neighbor who would blast frank sinatra on his stereo in his backyard on weekend afternoons).

"all the wishes . . " i hadn't realized that the confetti that rains down on the revelers are wishes that people have written and shared. you can read about it at this link. i think it would be fun to do.

morgan said i had to see how pretty the empire state building was. it did look nice twinkling in the distance. we also banged pot lids like i used to do with my folks, and listened to the shouts of people in the street.

greg called from the living room that the mayor was being sworn in. i never realized that it was done right after the ball drop. perhaps the major networks never covered it, but tonight the local 42nd street alliance did. it was exciting to see. i hope he supports all the issues that are important to me! (yeah, well, i don't think he does, but i can still wish.)

good luck to our new mayor, eric adams. he's going to need it. it's a tough job and everyone is a critic, including me.

nyc

 i was so happy to be home again, that i actually took pictures of the buildings going up at hudson yards while stopped at a stop light at 30th street.

 they are going up so fast.

 greg and i walked to a neighborhood diner for dinner (i was hungry after a three hour drive home!).

 only neighborhood old timers were at bus stop cafe this evening. it was quiet and cozy with jazz music playing in the background. 

we walked home in a cold wind! i know spring is around the corner . . somewhere.

happy halloween . . a halloween morning

i love my city and all the lovingly crazy people in it. i think i especially love this song and video because it captures the essence of what nyc was like when i first began living here in 1987. the city has changed a lot since then . . but people still flock here to sing and dance and to be free and i guess that's a very 60's thing to say. peace, love and rock n' roll . . those are the roots of this city . . along with greed and corruption, but we won't go there in this moment because it's a happy let's celebrate nyc moment!

home again home again jiggity jig

we rolled into town around four o'clock this afternoon and met our friend clyde at veselka's for dinner. 

i'm never sad to come home to new york, but i have to add this song to this post:

no place like home

 chanda's and my train got into manhattan around noon and greg picked us up with the car on eighth avenue behind penn station. it felt so good to be home again in gritty nyc! one of the first things i did was to place my florida sea shells on the windowsill.

 chanda and i were happy to stretch our legs and go for a walk. she went to see her friend in the east village, and greg and i walked to barnes and noble at union square (i wanted to get misty copeland's new book).

happiness is hearing one's neighborhood street musicians again. here our local cello player is joined by a new friend.

 so happy to get a mocha at joe's on thirteenth street!

take out dinner from oaxaca!

dinner with korrina

korrina works in the kip's bay area of manhattan at riverpark, a restaurant that serves farm to table and is part of a large corporate center overlooking the FDR drive and the east river. the restaurant hires a farmer to oversee it's farm space outside their doors on the deck, and also their micro greens that they grow in the basement. they also order from nyc greenmarkets and local farms.

 

 the entrance to the office building and to the restaurant.

 the smaller restaurant that is used for breakfast and . . . maybe catering parties?

 everyone was incredibly nice and, well, to say the food was out of this world is an understatement. i can't get over how delicious everything was and how beautifully everything was plated. each dish was a work of art. above is buffalo's milk burrata with apple crisps and a toasted slice of their delicious bread. in the middle is a salad of butternut squash purée with fresh radishes, cucumber and black rice crisps. in front of korrina is the baby octopus with chorizo, lemon and garlic aioli.

 half the fun was talking with our server about the treats he kept bringing out. the bar menu had just changed to spring drinks and we were asked to try two of them: hibiscus and pernod with orange; tequila and matcha with dill and cucumber. there were a few more ingredients in there, but korrina will have to fill us in later.

 special pasta dishes: pantacce (i think) with fresh peas, spring onions, mint, and a cream sauce; cavatelli with fresh fava beans, tomatoes and beef.

 the sun set over the 59th street bridge, long island city and the east river . . 

 and all the city lights came on . . my favorite time of day.

 delicious lamb . . 

this is korrina's piéce de resistance: scallops with sicilian pistachios, blood orange and butternut squash purée. when korrina works, she handles all fish plates. the butternut squash purée was what she had made on saturday. it was incredibly buttery and delicious, and the scallops and lamb were so tender.

 our dessert: rocky road ice cream, spiced pear sorbet and maple brown butter ice cream: all homemade! 

the buttermilk panna cotta with mandarin gelée . . and a cappucino . . by this time i was so full that i honestly, and sadly, could not eat another bite. i did make a good dent in that panna cotta, however. but i was very sorry not to finish every bite of the maple brown butter ice cream!

heading home . .

 

 we walked downtown past madison park to fourteenth street . .

where korrina got on the train and i walked crosstown . . it was such a great night.