sunday's adventure

aurélien came over sunday to meet the kittens.

he had fun seeing the photos i took on my camera . . 

he found the kittens very exciting and was quite vocal in his delight. they found him a little intimidating, but he was unconcerned about their hesitancy and crawled happily around the living room investigating everything . . very much like the kittens!

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at 2 pm greg and i began our biking adventure uptown to the migrant kitchen's "housewarming" on the upper east side in yorkville. it was to begin at 3 pm and we biked cross town to first avenue, and then up the bike path to 74th street.

 

to celebrate the opening of their first brick and mortar store, they passed out free lamb empanadas, humus with vegetables and chips and a grilled chicken sandwich (korrina's contribution: citrus and herb marinated chicken on a savory bun with watercress, avocado, house-pickled cucumber and garlic whip). everything was incredibly delicious! seriously! the food was so good . . i can't wait to go back. they were also handing out cucumber mint lemonade and coffee. since it was halloween the entire neighborhood was out and everyone was enjoying the fare. it was two hours of eating and talking with friends and local folks while more food kept coming out of the kitchen to replace the quickly disappearing plates on the table.

 

the little girl was the daughter of one of the cooks and she was so helpful and smart.

 

(the local police officer checking out the good food)

i had texted our friends ron and andy to meet us as i knew they would love the food and the fun. it was such a great time. we were also able to meet josh's mom since she lives just one block away from the new space.

oh . . and there were cookies too! 

 

these two little ones were happy about that.

 

we received a tour of the kitchen . .
 

it was very compact. it's amazing at how much can be accomplished in a small nyc space!

discussing how the commercial rents had come down which made it possible to open a store.

the happy company . . 

 

and then it was time to say good-bye and head home . . 

we walked west with ron and andy towards central park and passed so many families dressed up in costume. it honestly felt like the whole city was dressed up.

stopping for a photo in front of several halloween decorations that ron liked . . 

 i find this photo of me so funny because i think i'm starting to look more and more like my dad.

(photo by ron)

the sun was beginning to set. we walked downtown to 43rd street and over to tenth avenue where we said good night to our friends and hopped on two citibikes and rode along tenth to our neighborhood. we had difficulty finding empty bike docks and had to search around for awhile. it was like trying to find a parking spot, but we finally succeeded and i was so happy to fall into bed (after feeding the animals of course).

(it was such a fun day.)

a visit to the orthopedist

 chanda's foot injury is still painful when she goes up on pointe, so we visited an orthopedist today, a man who started the harkness dance center's renowned therapy clinic. i was glad he could fit her in.

 there were signed posters on the office walls: the martha graham company, the ailey company . . 

 and there was even a signed photo from gelsey.

 he took an ex-ray and, thankfully, there isn't a fracture, but she has to decide if she's going to dance this coming weekend.

 afterwards, we visited the hungarian cafe for their lunch special, which i've always missed because it's only offered twelve to four o'clock, monday through friday.

 the special includes a savory bread, soup or cucumber salad, an entree and dessert:

 strudel and cherry pie, all for $14.75, which is an incredible deal in manhattan. i also like it because the entree portions are smaller.

 the waitress talking with a neighborhood patron . . in hungarian.

 then it was time for me to experience the newly finished second avenue subway line.

 we took two escalators down to an in-between level . .

 and before we descended the third and last escalator we passed a portrait of our old neighbor lou, who once thought our dear jack was quite "a tank."

 finally down at the bottom, waiting for the q train . . 

 a man offered me a seat next to chanda since he was getting off at the next stop . . chanda is reading her current literature book, harper lee's go set a watchman. she was interested in reading it after finishing to kill a mockingbird. her cousin recommended it. i haven't read it yet.

 even though it was new, it was still a noisy line.

at the met with clyde and louis

morgana, chanda and i met clyde and louis at the met and visited the asian wing. afterwards we ate at the hungarian (andre's) cafe and then saw the apartment they're staying in; then walked by the river on the east side in carl schurz park. i could smell the wonderful aroma of jasmine and the setting sun dusted the clouds a lovely rosy pink and purple.

looks like we had delicious apple strudel, coffee and tea. i probably picked out a few prune danish to take home (if they still had any at such a late time of day - they often sell out).