Music,The Met, and a Food Hall

As a visual artist I have always appreciated music as an avid listener up until about seven years ago...   but now that my two teen boys are into music in a big way as musicians,  I've taken an more involved interest through them.

Whenever I see or hear about events related to music my ears perk up, so when I heard about this show at The Met (NYC) called "Guitar Heroes", an exhibit of stringed instruments, violins, mandolins, and guitars, I knew it was something we could make a day of in the city...

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

This exhibit of "Legendary Craftsmen from Italy to New York" is on now through July 4th, 2011.

This is now on our list of things to do on Spring Break.

Maybe we'll check out The Plaza Food Hall, which I've heard is a tasty and fun experience for the kids too, especially the Dumpling Bar... you can eat-in at any of eight culinary food stations or take-out specialty foods, cookware, flowers and home goods.

See you there!!!

Genuinely Fresh

Michael's Genuine Food & Drink in Miami's burgeoning Design district is a neighborhood bistro offering contemporary American Cuisine from chef Michael Schwartz, in a friendly indoor/outdoor setting.  The dishes are grouped by size not kind, as in small, medium, large, extra large, so depending on your appetite and how many dishes you would like to taste you can order accordingly.
It was Super Bowl Sunday when we ate dinner at this popular bistro, which is why we were able to get a reservation with only a few days notice, but I would plan ahead otherwise...
We shared these three small and medium dishes and one large dish which is not shown here (blame the wine)...
This crispy pork belly with kimchi (spicy korean cabbage) is a great contrast of flavors.  The best prepared pork belly I ever had was in New Orleans, but this is wildly creative and delicious surprise...

 Crispy Sweet & Spicy Pork Belly

 Chargrilled Octopus

 Wood Oven Roasted Local Eggplant

The creamsicle pot de creme is delicious just by itself, but then add the doughnut and jam and it's close to heaven!...

 Tangerine Creamsicle Pot de Creme

 'The Hand' zoning in on my second doughnut

Blackberry Tarragon Jam

We left Michael's satisfied but not full, which is the best way to eat and I bought a signed copy of his new cookbook which is scheduled for general release on February 15th...

Thanks to my sister for the hot tip on Michael's Genuine.

A Very Fine Plan

They have a TV show the kids really like!

silly funny... kind of a cult (niche) following 

Sometimes the best layed plans really do work, as in last Saturday... My friend Sue and I took five teen boys (14 - 18) into NYC via train to Penn Station to see the comedy team of Tim and Eric at the Best Buy Theater in Times Square.  This was her treating us for her older sons's birthday.  The younger brother got to invite a friend, that's where we come in to the picture.

It was a perfect afternoon/evening:  We took a 3 o'clock train and arrived at 4pm, then we hoofed it 11 blocks to 44th Street to get on line early for general admission.  We did our mothering thing for awhile until they shooed us away.  We killed about a half hour sizing up the situation and offering a myriad of instructions about staying together etc, etc... It wasn't that hard to leave with the thought of a glass of wine and dinner waiting for the Moms!  They had about an hour to stand on line and and an hour to wait inside and the show didn't start until 7pm, ending at about 9:15pm... So we had a comfortable amount of time to dine and even get some shopping in too.

  We dined at a favorite spot,  I wrote about last year,  Gallo Nero Wine Bar and Restaurant, mostly for the atmosphere, small, intimate (not noisy) and beautiful candle lighting, a great place to relax with an amazing wine selection.  The grilled octopus with olives and capers was fantastic and a first for my friend, the rest of the Italian fare was good but a little salty... but boy did we enjoy ourselves!
After a most enjoyable dinner we sauntered back to Times Square with about an hour left to shop.  Since Hannukah was only a few days away (Dec. 1), I had a few little things left to buy the kids which I found at the Billabong Super Store right near the theater at 44th and Broadway... I bought long socks to go with the latest trend of wearing lacrosse shorts in Winter, and a cool hat too.
Then we went into the bustling Levi's Superstore where I spotted some great stuff for me and today I see on their website that there's 40% off on many items, including this sweater I liked...

Fair Isle Sweater, was $89, now 40% 0ff

... great with these black legging jeans

We were back at the theater just in time as they were letting out, but none of our kids came out!  First we were a little panicked, but then we remembered that they were selling merchandise, like posters and T-shirts, and since they're our kids we knew they would be shopping too.
We had to run to make the 9:51 train and we did with only 4 minutes to spare...
I was tired, but a good tired, after hosting Thanksgiving, a cousin sleepover at our house, running the kids around on Friday, and this satisfying Saturday, I knew I would sleep well and rest on Sunday.

Thanks Sue for a great time had by all!

SF Restaurant Mania

I was a little crazy about where we were going to dine in SF...  with only four nights and memories (11 years worth) of great meals in this foodie, forward thinking town there was a lot of pressure... Our first meal was at La Mar, a Peruvian hotspot that was good ('cebiche') but not great, with the exception of the servers... they were terrific, and not just from our experience but afterward we heard a buzz about them too.

Prospect, Nancy Oakes' new restaurant (1st hit... Boulevard) with chef Ravi Kapur was outstanding in it's contemporary American cuisine including cocktails.  The dining room is warm and relaxed, but a bit nondescript... 

Wagyu Zabuton

Chicken Roulade

Wagyu Zabuton is a Japanese steak with marbling that makes it melt in your mouth!

I don't usually order steak at a restaurant, but this came highly recommended and it was worth every bite.

My husband had the chicken which they transformed into a most delicate and tasty dish beyond our expectations too.

Our last and final dining spot was a hit and a great way to end our stay in SF... it was Campania, Italy (southern part near Naples) by way of San Francisco.  It was casual, warm, boisterous, and chic... serving fabulous pizzas (and much more) paired with unusual wines... oh, and we let our server choose the wine... good decision.

A16

We had a guest dining with us so I was distracted and we ate all the delicious food before I had a chance to get photos... sorry, but this is a must on your visit and you'll be on Chestnut street where there is great shopping so you can kill two... 

Bon Appetit... and Happy Halloween!

I love candy corn and the way it melts in my mouth... what's your favorite candy?

My San Fran

This is where I'll be tomorrow... my old stomping ground for over a decade!

The kids (12 and 14) are staying home... we'll be flying NY to SF... and what it took to make arrangements for them for 5 days... well, I hope it was worth it.

Thanks to my sister-in-law and great friends the arrangements are set, with the kids all over the place on the weekend (homecoming weekend) and to all their scheduled activities during the week I consider it quite a feat... so will it be out-of-sight out-of-mind or will I be worrying and calling the whole time! 

Or worse, will they be calling me while I'm taking in every moment of only the second time my husband and I have ever left the kids (last year in New Orleans was the first)...  just the two of us!

This time it's harder they're older, with one in high school, it's way more complicated this time.  The homework, the activities... OMG my head is spinning and I'm stressed out, but I'm hoping that 6 hours on the plane I'll decompress and the excitement will build... there's not much I can do 3,000 miles away and 3 hours time difference... just have to enjoy every minute of this beautiful city by the bay.

I'll be taking tons of photos... not touristy stuff, but what San Francisco has meant to me and of the SF that's new after 8 years since my last visit.

I hope to eat my way through this great culinary city starting at the Ferry Building Marketplace to the Mission District... and we'll be walking off all that food by walking everywhere we possibly can including all my old neighborhoods... Russian Hill and Protrero Hill... seeing my old school, The San Francisco Art Institute, where I hear they have a cafe at the school with spectacular views of the bay and beyond and where I once used to hang out with artist friends.  

One of four murals in the Bay Area painted by Diego Rivera

Have a great weekend and I'll be back blogging next Thursday the 28th.

Time Stands Still

Making our way to the roof

Big Bambu'

The stunning 'Khubilai Khan' in the China exhibit

The lobby of the Met

After a great time at the Met on Sunday seeing the outdoor installation of "Big Bambu' we headed downtown to Chinatown for dinner.  I had a list of possible restaurants I did some research on but nothing definitive... the foodie in me was not confident about anything on my list as I even tried to pin one place down (using my Droid) on the cab ride down to Chinatown.  We wanted Szechuan, but my sister-in-law was pushing for an old-fashioned Cantonese reminiscent of our childhood... we landed at Wo Hop on Mott Street, a solid choice with classic dishes like lobster cantonese, sweet and sour pork, egg foo young, etc... maybe not as good as I remembered.  While they waited on line, I walked over to Joe's Shanghai, a better choice for a gourmet treat, but they were ready to seat us so my family called me back to Wo Hop...

Sukkahs in the City

What a way to spend the last Sunday of summer...
I drove the kids into the city (NYC), picked up my mother and rode the subway down to Union Square to see a 2-day architectural display called 'Sukkah City'.  What is a sukkah?  The sukkah is a temporary structure erected for one week each fall for Jews to gather to celebrate the harvest.
This was a design competition, 600 architects entered and only 12 radically innovative structures were chosen to be displayed in the square yesterday and today.  We had a chance to cast our vote for our favorite sukkah, which will then stand in the square for the duration of the holiday of Sukkot, which begins this Wednesday.
Here are a few of my favorites...

My kids loved it and were snapping photos on their phones to send to friends...

  

After strolling through the square for about an hour we headed a few blocks south to 'The Stand' for a burger and the best shake I've ever had... "Marshmallow Shake"...

We finished the day at Spin, a table-tennis club on 23rd and Park Avenue.  My 14 year-old is obsessed with ping-pong!

We had a great day... I miss the city and all the energy swirling the air!

What's your perfect day in NYC?

A Double Rainbow

I can't remember the last time I saw a giant rainbow across the sky...  The droplets of rain and the sun present in the sky together in just the right way.  It happened the other night when my son and I had just finished dining at Chipoltle (our fav and only fast food), and I was disappointed to realize that I left the other half of my salad on the tray, which I intended to bring home for my husband on his late night and my son had tossed it in the trash with our other garbage as we were leaving... OOPs... sorry honey!  As we were slowly pulling out of the busy parking lot with the car windows down, a man called out to us to stop and look up in the sky... OMG! We pulled back into our spot and got out with many others staring up in the sky.

This is a photo of what we saw taken at dusk with my phone... the rainbow was so large I had to shoot it in three parts...

They need to be placed horizontally

The next day I found out that many people had seen it and my girlfriend had posted her photos on FB.

Just because I love to know, just know stuff about everything.  I looked up info about rainbows and even though you can't see it in these shots there was a very faint second rainbow above this one... so there were two rainbows the primary and secondary.  The secondary is fainter than the first and it's colors are reversed and more widely separated. "Light can be reflected more than once inside a raindrop.  Rays escaping after two reflections make a secondary bow", like in this shot from Atmospheric Optics website...

                                                    photo by www.atopics.co.uk

A Local News Forum

Simply called Patch... "a local source for news, events, business listings, and discussion"... I heard about it through a friend, writer and teacher extraordinaire... Today was the launch of my local Patch in Dix Hills, NY, with editor Karen Forman.
I'm excited to be a contributor, writing articles with the 'Mom' audience in mind... about the spicy rumblings going on in my backyard...  especially when it comes to FOOD, where to get it, how to cook it, how other people cook it, how to eat it... fresh and healthy, one meal at a time!

Check out 'Patch' in your community, if you don't have one yet, maybe you can get one started!

Thanks Rissa and Sharon for turning me on to Patch!

Hot & Frozen Delights

Yesterday afternoon we waited out a nasty rain squall, standing in the MIDDLE of my kitchen fearing a 70 foot tree would land on my house, before heading over to my girlfriends' poolside barbecue with 8 other families.  I made a dish of delicious medium hot buffalo wings with a sauce I picked up at Fairway last week... "Wing-Time", it comes in mild, medium and hot.  The blue cheese-yogurt dipping sauce was a recipe from Bobby Flay...

We were so late for the party due to the storm that I didn't get a photo of my wings which were juicy from grilling with a little olive oil, kosher salt and pepper,  then coated with the spicy orange buffalo sauce...

Speaking of yogurt in the sauce... someone brought delicious frozen yogurt from the South Korean originated chain, Red Mango...

100 calories for half a cup without toppings

Tanger Outlet, one of two locations nearby

I really liked the 'Tangomonium' flavor, which was invented by the company's President and CEO Daniel Kim.  The yogurt is not too sweet and a little sour... unlike Pinkberry, which is a little too sour for my taste... are you a Red Mango or Pinkberry fan... the lines have been drawn!

You'll have to go into NYC for Pinkberry... please share your preference in the yogurt wars!