Dining Out

Outside Doughnut Plant

Enjoying ice cream while waiting in line at Grimaldi's

While my mom was here we went to some of our favorite restaurants/eateries. But there are still so many I want to take her to, so she'll have to come back soon.

Ghenet--our favorite Ethiopian restaurant (and we've tried many)
Grimaldi's--one of our favorite pizzerias (Lombardi's is also good, Angelo's is good for Midtown, when I meet Brian for lunch)
Tabla--good, flavorful food. American food with Indian spices.
Doughnut Plant--I'm not a huge doughnut eater, but these were, um, AMAZING! The coconut creme was the most fantastic doughnut I have ever tasted.
The City Bakery--just for a couple shots of hot chocolate, of course.
Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory--while waiting in line for Grimaldi's
Hummus Place--so good and so cheap!

Walking in the City

Ellis Island

On the ferry to Ellis Island

Lunch on Ellis Island

View of the city

My mom requested a trip to Ellis Island while she was here. It was my first time there and it was pretty cool. The lines were crazy and the school groups dizzying (we went early Thursday morning), but I learned a few new things. Like, most of the immigrants that came to Ellis Island were from Southern Europe, so the chances that my ancestors stopped there is pretty low. Northern Europeans mostly went through the Battery Park "checkpoint". (What do they call it?) It was great to hear so many of the stories of the immigrants; so sad, scary, amazing, and inspirational.

Going Gorillas

The Congo exhibit at the Bronx Zoo is the best, coolest, most amazing exhibit! If it wasn't for my sweet bundle of joy running everywhere I could just sit and watch the gorillas for hours, I'm sure.

Keep your eye on the peacock

Isabella refused to face the camera for a photo of us near the peacock. She really didn't trust the bird. But who can trust something that is so showy and makes sounds like a crying baby.

There were tons of them all around the Bronx Zoo and every time they would make their call Isabella would make the signs for "baby" and "crying".

More photos of Isabella at the zoo will be posted soon on her blog.

City Mouse, Country Mouse

My mom lives out "in the country" in northern California and loves her open space. The last time she was here was right after I had Isabella (so we were mostly home bound), we lived in a 400 sq ft apartment, 4th floor walk-up, in Hell's Kitchen (very busy) and she (my mom) said she felt claustrophobic. I felt like she didn't like NYC, which was hard for me because I LOVE the city. So, this time around I vowed to show her some of my favorite city gems, and I think she began to love the city too. Well, at least I was completely worn out by the time she left. It was so much fun!

The above photo is us at the Bronx Zoo with the bison. Not buffalo, or even American buffalo. We had quite the debate about what the right name is for these really cool creatures.

Wikipedia's quick explanation:

The American bison (Bison bison) is a bovine mammal, also commonly known as the American buffalo. 'Buffalo' is something of a misnomer for this animal as it is only distantly related to either of the two "true buffaloes", the water buffalo and the African buffalo.

P.S. I really like the word misnomer. I could say it over and over again. Kinda like, oxymoron.

Mother's Day

I know it has been, like, a month since Mother's Day, but it has been a very busy, busy month. Tons of birthday parties and then my mom came to visit for 10 days. Finally a chance to post.

On Mother's Day we were going to go visit the Carini's in CT but Brian was a little sick and didn't want to spread his germs to his family, so we stayed in the city. But since we had already told everyone we were going to be out of town, we didn't go to church (I know, the cat's outta the bag!) but went and toured Brooklyn all day. It ended up being quite chilly but we had a great time exploring new parts of our wonderful city. I really loved Fort Greene. It was a great feeling neighborhood. We caught dinner at a small Italian restaurant off the beaten path (in Carroll Gardens, I think). I loved their fennel salad (and I've never liked fennel) and their bruschetta was awesome.

The photo is actually taken on a subway platform while we waited a long time in the cold breeze for a train to come. It was a great day.

Saturday in the City

Yesterday we spent the day in our favorite place...The City. We love to just go out and wander the city. We didn't get out until later than planned but still made it down to the galleries in Chelsea for about and hour an a half before they closed. Our favorite exhibit was the first one we stepped into at the Gagosian Gallery, 555 W 24th St. The show is from Robert Therrien and I loved it! It was so fun.

We felt like it was our opportunity to look at things from Isabella's perspective. I wasn't allowed to take photographs but the exhibit was much better that the photo above. We walked into this room with HUGE card tables and folding chairs that we could easily walk under. It is something to experience. Absolutely loved it!

The show just opened on May 9th and goes until June 14th.

Milking It

Last Thursday I went with my friend, Ashley, to the Greenmarket at Columbia (our closest farmers market). Ashley had been telling me all the wonderful things about organic milk. She had started buying Ronnybrook's milk from the market. I decided to give it a try. It is quite pricey, but I have all sorts of reasons for wanting to try it...at least once.
1--Buying local is ideal.
2--The glass jugs are returned and reused=no waste.
3--I swear it tastes better out of a glass jug--it is chilled so perfectly.
4--Nostalgia.
5--Family history--My Grandpa Larsen owned and operated a dairy.
6--Their chocolate milk is the best I've ever had. It is amazing!
7--I'm buying directly from the dairy so there are no distributors or excessive use of fuel. And the dairy gets all the money. I like supporting that.
8--It is organic and about the same cost as buying organic milk in the grocery stores (if you return the milk jugs @ $1/each).
9--The milk I buy in NYC is sometimes bad within two days. I don't think the stores keep it chilled properly.

Lovely, Lovely

This weekend was lovely, lovely. Although I was very busy with birthday parties for cute kids we managed to get some good stuff in too. My good friend Sarah helped with my party Saturday afternoon down in Battery Park City and then afterward we walked along the river and met up with Brian and Isabella. (Sarah is always so wonderful to talk to and I always want to be a little better when I'm around her.) Then we happened upon a street fair and ran into some of my other favorite people, Angela and James.

On Sunday Brian taught Sunday School and I taught the little Sunbeams while Isabella stayed in nursery without crying. (Yeah! Thanks Beth & Marci!) After church we went to Beth's house for a lovely dinner. We loved hanging out with such awesome people and laughing about silly things (like Arrested Development).

Then last night my iChat "rang" and it was my lovely, adorable niece, Emma. She was "calling" from my mom's laptop in California. Two brothers and their families were playing a Sunday afternoon game at my mom's house. (I miss that tradition terribly. We would all just lounge, laugh and play a game on my mom's living room floor after a lovely Sunday dinner.) Below are some photos of Emma...playing with Photo booth (artsy, don't you think?). I miss my family...

And I can't wait until my mom comes to visit on May 20th for a week and a half (the only time she came to visit was when the baby was born, and I couldn't really show her around then). I'm putting together some of the best of New York stuff to show my mom. So if you have any wonderful suggestions of hidden gems in or near the City please share!

Wandering in the West Village

Brian took last Friday off of work just because it was so beautiful (and he didn't have any meetings!). It was a fantastic day. I love just hanging out with Brian in the city. We wandered a lot, which we love to do. I love the West Village and tend to get off the subway there when I'm in a wandering mood. Even though I've been to the corner of Greenwich Ave and Avenue of the Americas many, many times the Jefferson Market Garden never really caught my eye (and gardens in NYC always catch my eye). Being there on such a gorgeous spring afternoon with all the flowers in bloom how could I miss it. The garden gates were open and we, of course, wandered in.

I hope to have a garden someday and I will grow all sorts of beautiful things in that dream garden. In my dream garden I have a conservatory that looks exactly like the one in the Jefferson Market Garden. I LOVE it!



After our jaunt in the garden I spotted a toy store across the street. I needed to get a gift for my good friend's baby shower so it was great. Kid O was a fantastic, fun store full of wood toys and other colorful, creative items for little ones.


After reading Amanda Soule's book The Creative Family I've decided I want to have better quality toys for my little one to play with. She only plays with plastic. For some reason, it seems healthier and more wholesome to have good, wooden (or any natural fiber) toys to learn with. But instead of buying Isabella good, wholesome toys, I bought my friend some. Maybe next time.

Picnic Ideas

I'm seriously in a mood for a nice picnic with some friends and good food. I'm so in the mood that I actually went searching for some ideas above and beyond the typical ham sandwich and potato salad (so boring!). I came across Domino's ideas and really like some of them. Now figuring out when we can get together with friends...that's the tough part...we are all so busy.

Piermont, NY

View of the Tappan Zee Bridge

After I finished my parties in Brooklyn we had a rental car for the rest of the night and just didn't know what to do with ourselves. We almost went home since we were all feeling so tired, but after missing my exist off of FDR we got a bit lost in the Bronx and then decided to head to the beautiful George Washington Bridge and drive up the Hudson. The sun was setting as we went over the beautiful GW Bridge and the sky was dark once we got out into the more rural areas.

Since Brian was navigating I'm not sure what highway we were on but we decided to take a turn off the highway and landed in a very lovely place called the Village of Piermont. It was so beautiful on a cold spring night that I can't wait to take another trip up there when it warms up and the trees fill in (also to go during the daytime). We drove along the river with views of the Tappan Zee Bridge most of the time. The downtown area was quaint and the houses huge with some of the most fantastic porches I've seen since our trip to Charleston, SC.

The first photo is from the blog La Vie En Rose which also has some other great photos and info on Piermont.

Target Terror!

On Saturday Brian and I went to Target in the Bronx (our closest one on public transportation) and I learned that suburban type shopping establishments clash with urban life. It was an absolutely horrible experience. The Target in the Bronx was just as huge as any other Target I've been to, but this one was completely (emphasis on completely) packed. The store wasn't dirty but the inventory was everywhere except where it belonged. The shelves were empty, the prices didn't match anything.

The only reason we went was because we decided to finally buy a car seat for those infrequent trips with a Zipcar (one was planned on Sunday). The cheap, lightweight car seat I went to that store to buy wasn't in stock on the floor, but in the back stock rooms. It took well over an hour and me talking to 4 different staff members for them to finally get the car seat for me. The experience seems like a dream, and odd, bad dream.

THEN...On Sunday when we did have a car for the whole day (because I was doing a couple of parties in Brooklyn) we went to Costco to return an item that I bought the last time we were there a couple of months ago. Once again it was a crazy, horrible experience. Cars were lined up waiting for a parking spot to open.

I really don't usually mind the masses of people in the city. For some reason the combination of the huge retailers that were filled to capacity with people just didn't jive with me. Besides so many of the shoppers seemed really poor andwhere are they going to put all that crap anyway?!

Messy Kitchen

I should be cleaning the kitchen right now, but no, I'm vegging (and blogging) in front of the computer. Yesterday I thoroughly cleaned the whole house (except Isabella's room) after a long, messy weekend. How does the kitchen get so messy so fast?! When Brian gets home he'll take over the computer and I'll clean the house...that's what usually happens once Isabella is in bed. Ho Hum...