NYC Holiday Visit - Part II

OK, boys and girls, when we last checked in Chris was headed to the airport for his flight home. But the story had not been completely told so let's look back to Thursday, December 3rd as the group is departing Radio City Music Hall. The show has happened and after enjoying the ginormous crystal chandler in the lobby of Radio City that is hung during the Christmas Show we are headed outside. Beautiful weather and the majority of the group decides to head to Serendipity3 for lunch and to taste a real treat - Frozen Hot Chocolate. Yes, you heard it here folks and it is a great way to mark the holiday season. http://www.serendipity3.com/ if you want more information. Oprah loves the stuff and a movie was based on the restaurant. If you ever make it to the Big Apple, this is a stop to take in.

I was not part of that group as I needed to head back to the hotel and get some work done. My lunch was stopping at Subway which was across the street from the hotel and use my ticket stub to get 50% off on my lunch. Hey, tell me how often you can enjoy lunch in NYC for $10? And so this delight kicked off an afternoon of email catch-up and going over January calendars with staff. Knowing it would be a late night I also snuck in a nap to make it through.

Tonight kicked off three night of theatre. Oh what fun it would be and first up was Billy Elliot based upon the movie. Elton John bought the rights and made it into a musical that won 10 Tony Awards this year. How do I describe the evening. It was so numbing and yet joyful. I related to the story on many levels. The base story is about a small town in England where the primary industry (coal) was going to fade away in the end and about a young boy who goes against the grain and follows his dream to amazing results! In similar ways I feel my life has taken a unique set of twists and turns and where I am today is just so far from what I expected. Yes, tears flowed and at times it was alarming and in the end there was not a moment of hesitation on giving the young man playing Billy a standing ovation - Tommy Batchelor. One the way out I collected a red boxing glove keyring that became an ornament for my tree and got one for Michael as well. Afterwards, it was off to Sardi's for dinner. In the heart of New York 's Theater District, Sardi's has been the toast of Broadway for 82 years. Located at 234 West 44th Street it is known for it's large collections of caricature prints of famous people. So I decided to enjoy a Chopin martini and began with the Duck and Foie Gras Terrine with a Petite Salad, Sherry Vinegar, Vidalia Onion Compote and Toasted Baguette Croutons. Can you say heaven! Yes indeed it was a delight and then I decided to bow to tradition and for main course it was Shrimp Sardi - Sautéed Shrimp in Garlic Sauce served with rice on the side and what proved interesting among the three that ordered it was that it got better as we ate more of it. I capped off the meal with a Tahitian Vanilla Bean Crème Brulee that was good, but not great. By the time we finished we were the last table and slowly made our way out into the darkness of night at 1am. Cabs soon swallowed us and dropped us at the hotel as soon a new day would be underway. Oh and it would be an early one for me as I was slated to have breakfast with a vendor.

Lack of sleep became a theme on this trip and yet why waste the time. I got up and headed north to Cafe Edison in the theater District...wasn't I just here? Arrived a bit early and was seated right near the window. Now this is where it goes from entertaining to just plain funny. Rebeca came in and I knew who she was before she got close to my table. There was just something and indeed I was right. We started talking just like we had known each other for years and we have talked for years, but had never met. So we order breakfast - she has half a cantaloupe and a bagel with cream cheese plus coffee. Me - I go with a cottage cheese omelet and bacon with toast and coffee. It is a place that just does basic breakfasts and is good and a lot of people in the community go there. As she said on the phone, you never know who you'll meet. As we are talking tables trade out and a while later a gentleman sits down next to me at the next table and is enjoying his breakfast. Rebeca talks to him a bit and then introduces us. It is Jude Law who up until last week was playing Hamlet on Broadway. Well folks, I don't know him that well. And one of my initial questions is - "Oh have you done movies?" And after rattling off a list there is finally one I kind of recognized - The Holiday and so at that point I am feeling kinda OY in my mind. This is not the first time this kind of thing has happened, but he was quite amused that I did not gush all over and in the end I think it was quite right. And so went my star-moment of the trip. It was back in a cab and down to meet the group and get them over to the CircleLine for the three hour cruise around Manhattan Island. It gives a great overview of the island. http://www.circleline42.com/site/browse.aspx?type=&group=1 The weather could not have cooperated more with the exception of it being cold on the water, but hey folks, we are talking December 3rd! And so after that it was back to the hotel and time allowed for some work and freshen up in that tonight we decided to do a pre-theatre dinner before seeing In the Heights. As its' website says:
In the Heights tells the universal story of a vibrant community in Manhattan's Washington Heights – a place where the coffee from the corner bodega is light and sweet, the windows are always open, and the breeze carries the rhythm of three generations of music. It's a community on the brink of change, full of hopes, dreams and pressures, where the biggest struggles can be deciding which traditions you take with you, and which ones you leave behind. The music is just amazing!

So before seeing this great show at the Richard Rogers Theater, we enjoyed a lovely dinner at a restaurant called Firebird. Their website - http://www.firebirdrestaurant.com/ and be ready to be amazed. Most of the group opted for the three course pre fix menu. Yours truly decided for the first course to enjoy OLIVYE which was made of chicken, potato, carrots, egg, pickles, peas, served with a mix green salad. It was unusual and yet refreshing. Next up was main course and I, like the rest of the men at the table chose the MYASO STROGANOFF which blended fillet of beef, onion, mushroom in veal jus tossed with wonderfully like homemade pasta. The ladies all ordered UKRAINSKII BORSCH and oh how rich with smoked duck, beef brisket, pork & potato pirozhki and of course beets. But oh how to end the most memorable meal of the trip but with ROMANOV that is constructed with vanilla ice cream and strawberries complete with a Grand Mariner reduction. All three courses for only $49.99 and the location was a real treat - do take a moment to visit the website to get the details. It is well worth a visit. Sadly, we had to be on our way all too soon to make curtain at In the Heights. This show proved to be a treat for the senses. I was wondering, but by the end I had no worries.

When coming out of the show it was pouring and so most of the group did a beeline for the subway and I opted to get a cab back. The ankle was taking a beating and I just could not handle the stairs the way it felt. Made it back to the hotel and crashed hard! To think, tomorrow, Saturday, would be the final full day in the city.

After getting most of the group off and running the next day I decided to make it the Christmas window day and headed for Barney's. Always a bit edgy, this year they focused on Saturday Night Live's 35th Anniversary. Quite Funny. Then on to Sak's Fifth Avenue where the theme is the children's book, Twinkle Twinkle Little Flake, a story about a snowflake. Follow along the tale as an audio track tells the story. Like the Macy's windows, the Saks windows this year are interactive. Send a tweet with the hashtag #holidaywindows and it will show up on computer displays within the windows. I don't tweet so go figure. Next up was Bergdorf Goodman which has fantastically opulent holiday windows this year focusing on Alice in Wonderland and while they're not very traditional and don't have Santa in them, I was still intrigued by their fairy-tale likeness. While I did not get to Bloomingdale's windows they feature Dynamic Duos waiting on line to visit Santa. Barack and Michelle Obama as well as Batman and Robin and...Salt and Pepper. I wonder what Salt wants for Christmas? Guess I should have made it there. On to Lord & Taylor which has the most detailed windows of all. This year each window was themed to My favorite Christmas...Ornaments, Cards, Stories, Treats, Songs & Toys. And finally, Macy's who is the originator of this tradition and, rightly so, they are pushing their holiday windows to new heights this year. Their windows are actually interactive, something they did on a small scale the past two years. Viewers can actually write and send letters to Santa and watch them as they travel through a series of funky fantastical windows on their way to the North Pole. This is all tied into their major Christmas campaign of "Believe" which is in it's 2nd year. OK, so here's a little tidbit you can share with your friends: the original Macy's window displays were mechanized and powered by store employees on treadmills!

Back to the hotel and had enjoyed a light Chinese lunch of cold noodles with peanut sauce as dinner on our last night would be at the Times Square outpost of Junior's Restaurant, a Brooklyn institution. They opened this location in 2006 and had never been. Arrived there in the snow - yup, it had begun to snow and was quite wet and gloppy to be sure. It did not last long, but was all that was needed to make some people's visit complete. The food was quite good and I had a chicken liver sandwich with onion rings and a vanilla egg cream. What's that some of you are asking? Well, first there is no egg in an egg cream. In a tall glass mix together vanilla simple syrup, milk, and seltzer; stir well to combine. Serve immediately.

From Wikipedia - A New York Egg Cream.
An egg cream is a classic beverage consisting of chocolate or vanilla syrup, milk and seltzer - probably dating from the late 19th century, and is especially associated with Brooklyn, home of its alleged inventor, candy store owner Louis Auster. It contains neither eggs nor cream.
The egg cream is almost exclusively a fountain drink; although there have been several attempts to bottle it, none has been wholly successful, as its fresh taste and characteristic head requires mixing of the ingredients just before drinking. The drink can be compared to a traditional ice cream soda, though it contains no ice cream.

After a lovely meal, of course we had to cap it off with cheese cake! I went with the strawberry version while others were more traditional. All and all, a delightful time. Then it was time for our final show. Three of us had opted to go all out and get tickets for "Phantom of the Opera" and so we had 4th row center right under the chandler. Amazing seats, amazing costumes and the sets were opulent beyond belief. If only the acting had been as good. Granted the show is now over 20 years old, heck I remember seeing it the year it opened in 1988. But still that is no excuse and what is even more scary is that next year the sequel is coming out - yes, a sequel! It is called "Love Never Dies" and is set in Coney Island, no I am not kidding! Well, we had a lovely time and upon exiting the theater we made hast to the corner and snagged a car back to the hotel in no time. Packing and prep for the next day took the rest of the night as we began to wind up the visit.

The next day people left at different times and soon we were on our way. Damon had been the gentleman who picked us up on Tuesday and he dropped us off on Sunday. What a marvelous man and great driver. Loved that velvet voice of his. At the airport, how could I not have one last adventure. Got checked in and off to security where the lady (using that term in only the most vague of ways!) doing the visual screening decided that my two star ornaments from Macy's could possibly be a THREAT to national security! Yes, a star ornament that has the word "believe" etched into it and the year 2009 will take down a whole plane. Hello Mary!! I am sorry but I had to get the manager over there. This woman had held up bag after bag, it was a joke. People missed flights because of her. Well, I am happy to report I still own my ornaments and the national security is still as one! So went my trip to New York and hope you had fun reading.

I think it is time for a nap now. A posting on the 50th birthday celebration will soon follow...