A city where anything can happen

According to Jay-Z, "In New York, concrete jungles where dreams are made of, there's nothing you can't do." There is a certain magic to New York City that gives one a sense that anything can happen. I feel blessed to have spent two years living there and grateful for wonderful friends who let my husband and me crash on their couches now when we come to visit.

On Labor Day, Michael and I were looking for something to do and discovered that much of New York City shuts down for the holiday. We didn't let that stop us though. Our friend Celia suggested a visit to MoMA PS1, and fortunately the museum was actually open, so Michael, Celia, Laura, and I headed out. As soon as we arrived, our olfactory senses were overwhelmed by a strong scent of baking bread. It smelled like a delicious combination of french bread and cinnamon rolls fresh out of the oven. Walking through the museum, we would occasionally be in a room with open windows or a stairwell, and the smell would just waft in suddenly. Mmm... We wondered where the source could possibly be and how we could get our fill of this tasty treat. Was it the museum café? At the end of our tour, we checked the café to no avail. On our way out, Laura plucked up the courage to ask a museum security guard if he knew the source of the smell. In response, he vaguely motioned to a direction behind us. We headed the way he pointed and tried to follow our noses, but canines we are not. As we approached a gas station, we lost the trail (go figure). Again Laura, ever the brave and undaunted one, asked for help. The woman working in the gas station booth, sitting in her tiny cube behind bullet-proof glass, was only too happy to help. She knew exactly what we were looking for, and she came out from her place of safety to point out the exact building where the bread was baking, telling us that she stops for bread there every morning. Hooray! We could almost taste victory. 

We crossed the street and began circling what looked like a large brick warehouse with a sign indicating it as the home of International Delights. That sounded good, right? However, there did not seem to be any kind of store front or public entrance. How did that woman buy her bread here? Undismayed, we decided to ring a bell outside the only door that seemed like an entrance. A surprised man opened the door and looked at us questioningly. We tried to ask him about the bakery, if there was a place where we could buy bread. He did not speak very much English but offered the word "manager," which we quickly jumped at for surely a manager could help us. We followed the man up a flight of stairs and through a set of double doors into a large space where people wearing hairnets were pushing baker's racks. We definitely found the source of the smell, but how were we supposed to buy bread? This was clearly a factory not a retail bakery. Our foreign friend returned and told us the manager was busy. We tried asking again where we could buy the bread. The man motioned for us to wait a moment, walked away, and returned with a box. He handed it to us, but when we tried to pay, he replied, "No money, no money." As we walked back down the stairs we thanked him profusely. Once outside, we peeked in the box and found a dozen freshly baked, delicious smelling banana nut muffins. Score!

Laura, Celia, and Michael showing off our International Delights (Queens)

Other highlights from our New York City weekend getaway:

Washington Square Park, which was under construction when I left last May (Manhattan)

Michael, Celia, and Laura enjoying the "art" at MoMA PS1 (Queens)

Playing frisbee in Prospect Park (Brooklyn)

Visiting The High Line, a newly built park in Chelsea (Manhattan)

Returning to NYC

Michael and I are leaving for New York tomorrow morning, and I'm so excited. I haven't been back since I moved in May '09, so it's definitely about time. I get to see some of my favorite people in one of my favorite cities with my favorite husband. Okay, he is my only husband, but he's the best, especially on road trips.

Since we cook most of our meals at home, we buy a lot of fresh food, so I spent the day trying to find ways to use those ingredients that I didn't think would last the long weekend. I made broccoli soup and mashed potatoes, and I put them in the freezer. I also made applesauce since we had leftover peeled and cored apples from making apple dumplings earlier this week, and we had "leftover night" for dinner. After packing lunches for tomorrow's road trip, I think we will have done a pretty good job on cleaning out the fridge.

This will be our first time boarding Polo, and I'm a bit nervous about it. There isn't any good reason to be; I just hope all the people and other dogs like him and get along with him. He still gets very rambunctious around others. I can't imagine what it will be like to leave my child with someone for the first time, but hopefully I don't have to worry about him/her jumping on others.

We don't have too much planned for this trip. Pizza is definitely going to be eaten, and we are planning a long run in Central Park on Saturday morning. I know we'll be going back to Redeemer for church on Sunday morning and having brunch afterward with my cousin who lives in the city and some other friends. I'm sure there will be pictures and stories in a future blog post. I can't wait :) Gotta go make our trip playlist now.

Stalking Alec Baldwin

The amount of filming in New York City seemed to drop off during the winter months, but as we move into spring and with the writer's strike over, they're picking back up again. I came out of the subway at Borough Hall (my home stop) on Saturday night, and there was a truck with equipment parked there on the street. There were also bright lights shining on the City Hall building across the street.
I was with my friend, Sharn, and she wondered if the lights were for filming. I checked the street signs for postings (they always post signs for "no parking" when there will be filming in the area so the trucks can park there), and sure enough there was a bright green sign. The signs usually state the name of the production, and this sign listed NBC's 30 Rock! I got so excited because I love 30 Rock, so I double checked with the equipment guys standing near the truck. They told us that sure enough, 30 Rock was filming on the 3rd floor of the City Hall building, that Matthew Broderick was there yesterday for filming, and that Alec Baldwin was up there at that moment.
Sharn and I decided to go up to our apartments, put on warmer clothes and "stake out" the building to see if we could see Mr. Baldwin himself. I told my roommate our plan, so she decided to join in the fun. The sign posting said the filming was only going on until 11pm, and it was almost 10, so we wouldn't have to stake out the place for long. After bundling up, we headed back out and did a perimeter walk around the building. We saw that the back of the building had a door that people kept coming in and out of, and there was a refreshment tent set up back there.
We figured the best spot was to sit on a half wall in front of the Municipal Building across from the back of City Hall.
We kept ourselves busy just chatting and laughing at ourselves for stalking Alec Baldwin. As we waited, I also talked to Michael on the phone. He reminded me of Baldwin's temper and the incident when he punched a paparazzi for taking his picture. Hmmm... something to think about. Our waiting in the cold paid off when around 10:45 Alec Baldwin walked out of the building.Due to Michael's warning, we attempted to take pictures from our unnoticed spot across the street, which lead to not-so-great pictures, but you can still kind of tell it's him.


He left with three young girls and started walking down the street. We tried to follow nonchalantly, and I considered shouting out, "Mr. Baldwin!" to see if maybe we could get a picture with him, but Michael's warning rang through my head. Instead we just watched as he got in his trailer, and we continued walking down the street as if we weren't just following him. I don't think he even realized we there, but it was fun all the same. The only thing that could have made it better is if Tina Fey were there :-)

Dim Sum & The Other Boleyn Girl

This past Friday, for the Finer Things Club, a group of twelve of us went to Oriental Garden for Dim Sum. It was a crowded table but fun times. Waitresses came by with trays and carts of various dumplings and other tasty items, and we picked whatever looked good.

Celia and I enjoyed trying to pick up slippery items with slick plastic chop sticks. It was good practice.

Phoebe, Dustin, and Mark shared items on their side of the table and practiced the art of pouring tea for each other. It's customary in Chinese culture to pour tea for others. When someone pours tea for you, you should tap your first two fingers on the table to say "when" and as a way to say "thank you."

Rebecca brought her son, Deston. He was totally adorable playing with chopsticks.


Dustin posed with one of his favorite TV characters outside of a Bubble tea place we went to after lunch.

After Bubble tea, a few of us girls went to see The Other Boleyn Girl. I read the book recently and really enjoyed it. As I watched the movie, I felt disconnected, as if the movie I was seeing did not correspond to the book I read. Sure, they both told the story of Mary and Anne Boleyn and their relationships with King Henry VIII, but the stories felt different. The tone and focus of each was so different, that I had a hard time appreciating the film. The performances by Eric Bana, Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman were good. I just don't think Peter Morgan wrote a very good screenplay. Granted, it is difficult taking over 700 pages of material and cutting it down for a 2 hour film, but I think the important part of writing a good screenplay is staying true to the characters and theme of the original book. I just don't think The Other Boleyn Girl did that. But, if you haven't read the book, you'll probably enjoy the movie much more.