NYC weekend: April 2019

Oh hey! We got through the winter!

I want to share some shots of my trip to New York City earlier this month. The day before I left it snowed in Vermont, so the signs of spring in Manhattan were so refreshing.

It was Tartan Day so we saw a parade of Scottish people from around the world going up 6th Avenue. There were different clans and societies, bagpipe bands, and Westies wearing kilts.

We stayed at the Warwick hotel, which was longtime home of Marion Davies (that's her on the right) and also Cary Grant.

When recalling the trip, most of what we did was EAT. On the first night we found Guantanamera, an awesome Cuban restaurant on 8th avenue. It was perfect--crammed with tables, mic set up for music later, low lights, tons of food. We ate a lot of ceviche and empanadas, and split a crispy juicy order of the house chicken. There were delicious tostones (fried plantain). Photo above is of a guy rolling cigars in the front window.

We meandered up to Lincoln Center after dinner to look at the fountain and the buildings.

The next day we found dim sum near our hotel and went there for brunch (after a run around Central Park, where trees and daffodils were in flower).

We also went to GLOSSIER. So fun! It's a makeup store in Soho and you have to wait outside, then they let you enter in small groups and you go up a set of dark pink stairs. I swear the air smells slightly of roses.

There are only testers on display, no merchandise to gather up and purchase. Once you know what you want to buy you find a lady in a pink jumpsuit and she'll take your order (and credit card info) on an ipad.

The orders are packed out of sight on an upper floor and they come down from the ceiling in a plastic bag with your name on it. The ladies at this counter grab the bag and call your name, and then you pick it up. It was the coolest thing.

We did other shopping around Soho, including the Vans store, and at Top Shop I bought an insane pair of gold snake-head earrings, just cuz.

Spring at NYU!

On our last evening we went back up to Lincoln Center and had dinner at Bar Boulud. It was a great spot, intimate and not too expensive. Here is our charcuterie plate.

The bar goes the length of the room on one side, with booths on the other side (we were in a booth).

Many of us got the Frenchie burger, which is an angus burger with tomato compote, raclette cheese, and pork belly on top. Thin-thin fries on the side.

Last morning was another visit to Pain Quotidienne. While I love the earthy organic vibe at this chain (this was the second one we visited in two days), the service was wicked slow, it was hard to get the server to come back after dropping off our orders, and one time my coffee wasn't particularly hot. BUT they have a lot of organic stuff, so... that's good?

Things not pictured: Mark Manders "Tilted Head" public art installation at the entrance to Central Park, Chinatown (I almost bought a durian but didn't want to carry it), an unusual-seeming number of French bulldogs, Eataly (we had panini for lunch on Day 1), and the corner store near our hotel that had at least 5 different drinks coolers with waters, iced coffees, kombuchas, iced teas, Turmeric lattes, matcha drinks, mushroom elixirs, juices, fizzy things, not to mention a ton of alcohol that I wasn't paying attention to. ALL THE THINGS.

I got to New York by driving to New Haven, CT, then taking the commuter rail to Grand Central Station. It's about a 5 hour trip door to door, which isn't bad at all! While there we walked all around town and took the subway a few times. No taxis, no ubers. Things still on my list are the High Line, any kind of art museum, maybe check out the Film Forum, and find more more more good restaurants.

Happy Spring!

Mother's Day Half Marathon Race Report

"Why do I do this to myself?" I thought. "I want to stop. I gotta stop. I can't stop. I want to stop, but then it will go on even longer. Gotta. Keep. Running. This. Sucks."

I had already run 10 miles. It was 9:30am on Mother's Day morning, and already 90 degrees and super humid. We had been running in almost complete sun for the last 5 miles. At each water stop, I started taking not one but two cups of water from the wonderful volunteers—one to drink and one to pour on my head. The occasion for the anguish? The 5th annual Western Mass Mother's Day Half Marathon, same local and awesome race that I ran this time last year.

This is my third half marathon. Each time I run the distance, I make it a little further along before the inner doubter starts to scream in my head. Each time I make a more organized and slightly more viable plan, and each time it works well enough to get me a few miles further down the road. But Sunday was not the day I conquered the half marathon. Sunday was the day I got close enough to finishing in comfort that I'm intrigued to TRY AGAIN.

Here's the rundown, for my own reference if nothing else:

5:30 AM: Up for coffee, Ezekiel muffin with almond butter and jelly, and bathroom use. My light-sleeping son joined me around 6am, which was unexpected but nice.

6:26 AM: My crew showed up to take me to the race and support my efforts! Thanks mom!!!

7:15 AM: Arrive, apply sunscreen, pick up my race bib, more bathroom use.

7:55 AM: The national anthem is sung. It always makes me a little weepy.

8:00 AM: We begin!

Miles 0-3: My plan was to stick to a 9:30 pace to warm up. SLOW. I was fairly successful--there were some downhills where I went faster, but I decided that was allowed. 9:42, 9:14, 9:29.

Miles 4-5: Speeding up a tiny bit—aiming for 9:09, which is the pace that would get me a 2-hour finish if I ran it for every mile. 9:09, 9:13.

Mile 6: The only major hill (which is short but steep) is in this mile, so I consider 9:31 great for this split.

Mile 7: I'm halfway done and slowly starting to realize it's getting hot. I also start to purposely speed up. I'm still basically keeping up with the same group of people. I had a gnawing feeling in my tummy, like too much coffee and not enough food, and easily solved it with a dried fruit ball washed down with lots of water. Better! 9:06.

Miles 8-11: I pull out my secret weapon, my ipod loaded with a pumping RACE DAY playlist. I feel amazing. I start sailing past other runners. This works for an amazingly long time. 9:01, 8:55, 8:45, 8:53.

Miles 12-13: Kachunk, kachunk! That's the sound of the wheels falling off the bus. I am suddenly so very drained, tired and overheated. My brain seems to scramble in an instant. A guy I passed recently passes me again. The miles tick by in painfully miniscule increments. Time slows to a crawl. The final hill is absolutely nowhere in sight. See inner dialogue quoted above. 9:41, 9:38... almost as slow as mile one. Ugh.

Mile 13.1: Uphill. The race finish is on the opposite side of a highway overpass, so you have to run UP it, and then down a bit to the finish. I passed a guy on the down part who was going inexplicably slowly, so that was something. 8:10 pace for that tenth of a mile!

So here's my recap. I'm really happy with how 10/13th of this race went. I've never felt so good during a race before! I think for a few miles I was actually experiencing Flow, as described in the excellent Runner's Times article Locking Into Flow. I also knew, from some other magazine, that peaks of feeling great are generally mirrored by troughs of feeling awful. I managed to hit my trough right before finish, and I believe that's part of what made this my slowest half ever. I trained for this for 10 weeks, but never in infernal heat!!

Official Time: 2:01

And then... dim sum!!! It is a requirement that I refuel with this Chinese tea lunch after every half marathon. I made a collage for you!

Clockwise from top right: chili oil, lotus leaf rice wrap, pork siu mai, char siu bao (bbq pork bun), shrimp har gow. (We also had an order of wu gok (fried taro roll)--love that one!)

A Monday in Los Angeles

Maybe you've noticed that I love dim sum. I also have strange ideas about what might be a fun tourist attraction. For example, the last time I was in Paris, I visited the Paris Sewer Museum... neat!

Anyway, on our recent trip to Los Angeles we stayed an extra day to be touristy, and my family was super sweet by accommodating BOTH of my touristy requests: to visit Lunasia for dim sum, and to visit the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Lunasia--super premium dim sum restaurant. Five stars!

 

Lots of dark wood and sunshine.

 

Deep-fried Taro Cake (wu gok!!) Perfectly crisp and sweet.

 

This was a new one for me and a fast favorite: Pan Fried Turnip Cake with XO Hot Sauce

 

Pork Siu Mai

 

Pan-Fried String Beans

 

Soup Dumplings were another first, also known as XLB (xiao long bao). Inside each whorled dumpling is liquid soup--place one in your mouth carefully and all at once to get a delicious exploding soup experience.

Veggie Bean-Curd Wrap

 

Our table

 

Oh wait, more is coming...

 

Excellent and fluffy Char Siu Bao.

 

Shrimp siu mai.

 

Rice Noodle with Beef

The finisher: Sticky Rice Wrap. I learned from our hosts that when you eat these, you're admitting that you are done with everything else and ready for the "filler."

 

But it is such good filler! I'd eat a sticky-rice wrap anytime.

Lunasia doesn't have carts, instead you order from a menu. Our hosts told us that menu-ordering can be good because food is super-fresh and hasn't been pushed around on a cart for X minutes. It was pretty yummy, though I also enjoy the adventure of cart service.

Saying goodbye to Lunasia. I love you!!!

Next stop, Santa Monica Boulevard, Hollywood.... and the people who rest in peace there.

The younger Chaplin and his mother

We drove around a bit and could not miss Johnny Ramone. 

Till next time, Hollywood!

What I Ate in Los Angeles

One word: Amazing. We had so much good food during our long weekend in LA. It was truly an epicurean paradise, and site of a few foodie firsts for me.

We arrived around noon on a Friday and were immediately whisked off to the excellent CaCao Mexicatessen for lunch. GO THERE! I had a Michelada and a Carne Asada Sope. A lunch companion had a spicy cucumber margarita and let me have a taste. Amazing.

 Michelada to the left, spicy cucumber margarita to the right.

Carne Asada Sope

Next, we went to our rental house in Altadena. It was, naturally, amazing. Mediterranean villa style with immaculate interior and lovely patio and pool. A fellow foodie and I ventured forth to get provisions for the place, including some hard-to-come-by ice and way more alcohol than we could ever drink. We had a lot of fun. We also found a cute watermelon and some fresh figs.

We were in town for a family wedding, so next was rehearsal dinner. This was in a great spot in Old Pasadena called AKA Bistro, on a European feeling patio that backed into a square that happened to be showing their weekly movie... Chicken Run.

 Deep fried portobellos with truffle aioli

Salad course included beets, tomatoes, and goat cheese.

My neighbor and I shared entrees. Here's his burger.

And here's my huge platter of pacific coast mussels (that also included sausage, peppers, and clams).

The next morning we made eggs in our rental house and noshed on spinach boreg. I tried to catch up on some sleep while others accidentally purchased more watermelon.

Then... the wedding. I love weddings, particularly how a wedding is such a unique expression of the couple who create it. This one was completely charming and surprising and lovely and fun. We loved seeing two good people tie the knot, and being able to celebrate with them.

And next... the 9-course Chinese banquet. I never thought I'd get to do this, and it was AMAZING.

     

Cold Cuts Platter

 

Chicken soup with "bamboo pith." Not advertised but present was fish maw. It was quite delicious!

 

Stir-fried lobster with garlic. I took big bits because I don't know how to deal with these bugs.

 

Honey Walnut Prawns--one of my favorites. Sooooooo good. I took seconds.

  

Andrew Style Filet Mignon--we figured out Andrew is one of the co-owners of the catering company. I like his style.

 

Peking duck fixin's

  

Peking duck ready to eat. YUM!

  

Andrew Style vegetables.

Whole fish, scraped off the bone at-table. Skeleton at front, tender fish pieces at back.

There was much dancing and enjoyment and use of fans (no AC) after dinner. There was a DJ and there may have been some Hey Ya and some All Good People. And then we still had two days left in Cali!

 

On Sunday morning we went to a family brunch at Amalia's in east Hollywood. This low key treasure serves Guatemalan food. Do NOT ask for a burrito, as they will politely inform you that a burrito is not Guatemalan at all.

September in Los Angeles deserves a large ice water with lime. And an unsweetened iced tea, too... I had two, not shown.

Delicious appetizers, very simple flavors from black bean to meat to guacamole.

I never get a chile relleno by itself (left) when I can get a tamale too (right). These were very different from the Santa Fe versions I'm used to, but tender and yummy!

Coming up next... dim sum on an LA afternoon!