Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Visitor!

Stacy is here! After her exciting bus trip from DC and a slow moving F train from Carnegie, we were able to meet up and get her on the subway! What a day! I'm sure lots of fun will be had this week - I'll be sure to update!

Saturday, May 24, 2008

cookie monster

Shame on me.... I got sucked back into Levain's. After a quick lunch uptown at the Hummus Place, we saw that we just happened to be within a block of this legendary basement bakery. After the amazing experience we had just a few days prior, we could not wait to try out another cookie. This time we indulged ourselves with the Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip cookie. Oh my... delicious. Once again my mouth is watering just thinking about it. Only two more varieties to try: Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip and Oatmeal Raisin. Which next??? PLUS they serve Illy coffee. Heavenly.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

precipitation

Okay - enough is enough. Whoever said "New York" and "springtime" in the same sentence was a liar. Yes, there was a day or so of spring, just enough to tease me, but COME ON! It has been raining off and on for over a week! This is getting a bit ridiculous. Not only is it rainy, but it is cold! I didn't expect this back when I was packing my suitcases. I have been sloshing around in cute spring and summer shoes all week and wearing the same small selection of long sleeved shirts over and over. I try not to complain too much on this blog, but give me a break! Did I get confused and move to Seattle without knowing it?

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Im Wunderschonen Monat Mai????

After a week of cold, rainy, disgusting weather I was finally awarded a nice day. The sun came out and warmed things up to a more reasonable mid-May temperature. I needed a nice day as I was feeling pretty miserable this week trying to run around the city with my umbrella turning inside out and rain seeming to come at me from all directions. I didn't think May was supposed to be so cold and rainy!

Anyway - today I ventured into the city, fighting the weekend train closures and detours to meet Ronen and explore Ninth Avenue and it's International Food Festival. For about twenty blocks the street was closed to traffic and lined with booths of food, arts and crafts, and other random junk. Amidst a lot (too much) of typical street vendors and greasy festival-type foods were a few interesting finds. That area of Ninth Ave. has many restaurants and several of those restaurants set up a booth that featured their food. I think the best bang for the buck was my Asian Chicken Salad from The Eatery. It was fresh, tasty, filling, and a nice sample of what I would get in the restaurant. We also sampled some Polish Pierogi, which is kind of like a dumpling. They were new to me and were pretty good. Also a random Thai curry puff made me pretty happy. I've been into curry and Thai food lately. Here is a picture of some Pierogis (is that the correct plural?) waiting to be eaten up.
After a bit of walking we, of course, had to stop in a cafe for a cup of coffee and a little relaxation. Once we cleared our heads and let the caffeine kick in we remembered this Bakery uptown that we kept hearing about. We figured it was a food day anyway, so why not catch a train uptown and check it out? Ronen's roomate had been going on for days about the cookies at Levain's Bakery. Supposedly they make one of the best, if not the best cookie in New York. Sounded like something I needed to take for a test-drive! Once we got there, we found that they have four varieties of cookies and after some deliberation and guidance we decided to share a Chocolate Chip Walnut cookie. Let me tell you, these are serious cookies. They are thick - reminded me of a biscuit. Still warm, it was like a rich, sweet, melt-in-your mouth biscuit. Mmmmm.....


My mouth is watering now just looking at that gooey chocolate. The website tells visitors that these are not just cookies, but they are indulgent experiences. I would have to agree.

Monday, May 12, 2008

city life

Wow - it has been a crazy week or so since I have posted! I am back in New York and have been going ten billion miles a minute. It feels like I have been here much longer than one week. I guess it is good to be busy, but I am having quite a time getting adjusted! As soon as I got back here I had a week of rehearsals, performances, apartment hunts and job searches! Crazy! Everything worked out fine and I am ready to take on the new week. The reward for this week is that I get to go to Carnegie Hall on Friday night for an amazing concert. The Chicago Symphony will be playing Shostakovich's 4th symphony! I can't wait! I love being in a city where I can be so involved in the arts. There is SO much going on at any given moment. I have been able to play quite a bit - doing some pretty random gigs here and there. Ah, a musician's life...

Friday, May 2, 2008

Finally!

Once upon a time, a girl named Megan bought a pattern and some fabric. Megan thought the fabric was so nice and pretty and could not wait to turn it into a beautiful dress. Unfortunately, the project was pushed to the side in order for Megan to make gifts for everyone for Christmas. Once the holidays past, she was finally able to cut out her fabric and start working diligently on the dress. She thought she might reach her goal sooner, but many obstacles, states, months, gas prices, etc., came between her and the final product. Until...

TODAY.


It is finished!!!!