A friend of ours mentioned a pie shop in Brooklyn called Four and Twenty Blackbirds, she talked about the Salted Caramel Apple pie and it sounded delicious.  Since I didn’t have a trip scheduled to NYC, I purchased the cookbook and Sophon made a couple of recipes.  We were not going to go to NYC without a visit to the Pie Shop.

We took the “F” train to Brooklyn and got off on fourth and ninth.  The shop was a few blocks away.   As we walked I noticed a couple of churches and began to wonder, was this Grandfather’s church?   My mother was born in Brooklyn and my Grandfather was a Methodist minister who had a perish in Brooklyn.  My mother talked fondly about her father and talked about how her father would take her into the city to catch a matinée at Radio City Music Hall and to the Empire State building.

Oddly enough, my mother rarely spoke about Brooklyn or the area in Brooklyn that she lived or where my Grandfather’s perish was. As I walked down a street that she used to walk down or was it another area of Brooklyn?   I knew that I would be spending some time trying to research my questions but for now, it was all about finding the pie shop.

We found the pie shop and ordered Salted Caramel Apple, Lemon Chess and Coffee Custard.   It was definitely worth a visit.

We made it back to the city just in time to pick up our luggage and head to the airport! Continue reading →

I am not sure why I am fascinated with this building.  I just am.  My mom brought me to NYC as a teenager and took us to the top of the building.   There were all sorts of stories how if you threw a penny off the top of it, it would put a 1 foot dent in the sidewalk.  A couple of years later, my high school physics teacher would dispel that myth  and although he did, it didn’t lessen my admiration for this building.

I think the biggest part of my fascination was that it was built-in 1930, long before computers and cranes.   This was an achievement and many men risked their lives and lost their lives in order to build it.  It is a gorgeous building and I love seeing it every time I go to NYC.  I loved walking out onto the terrace and seeing it in the different light. Continue reading →

The Great Comet of 1812 a the Imperial Theater

We skipped the hotel breakfast and headed to lunch at a restaurant called Trademark Taste and Grind just down the street.  The decor of the restaurant was great, it felt like I had taken a step back in time.   We started with Garlic knots with Burrata. I could have made that a meal by itself but I refrained knowing that I had ordered a fried chicken sandwich.  Overall, glad we tried the place out.

We hung out at the hotel for a few hours and then headed out to see “The Great Comet of 1812”. Unfortunately, as we headed out to the Theater, I received an email message from Telecharge stating that Josh Groban would not be performing in this afternoon’s performance.  I was a little bit disappointed that he wasn’t going to be in it but I intentionally chose a show that I wanted to see as opposed to choosing a show based who is in it.

The play itself was a lot of fun   I found the staging of it to be very interesting.   The entire theater was the stage.  The had taken out some seats and build small stages throughout the theater.   The Cast and musicians were constantly moving around and using the entire theater.  It made you feel as if you were in the play.  At times, the actor was at an arms distance.  The actors regularly interacted with the audience at times talking to us, other times handing us things. Continue reading →

I love the view from my hotel room.  I could sit on the couch and look out the window for hours.  I typically go to sleep with the curtains open so I can look out the window as I fall asleep.  This morning, I woke up to see a beautiful sunrise.   I knew the camera wasn’t going to capture just how magnificent it was but it turned out to be a nice picture.

Sophon and I went back to an electronics store that we had seen the night before.  It hadn’t opened yet so we walked around times square before we headed back to the electronics store.   We then stopped at the hotel before we headed to Union Square to meet my friend Allan for a mid-afternoon lunch at the Union Square Cafe.

We intentionally left early so that we could take our time, stopping at different places along the way.   We made it a point to walk through Eataly – an Italian food court in the Flatiron district.  As much as I like walking through Eataly, I have yet to eat there.  Every time I have gone there, the lines have been too long.

We took a break and got something to drink at  “The City Bakery”  before we went to the farmer’s market in Union Square.  One of the highlights of the day was sitting in Union Square Park watching people.  I am always amazed by the quantity of people who live in NYC along with the diversity.   The city is just as much about the people as it is the places.

We headed over the Union Square Cafe to meet my friend Allan for a late lunch.  I had a salad and the gnocchi, Sophon had the soft shell crab omelette and Allan had the chicken.  It was great to see  Allan and get caught up.  As we left the restaurant, I realized that we had spent 2 hours eating and chatting.   How time flies! Continue reading →

I love NYC and I feel like it doesn’t get much better when I am headed there.   I know my visit will be short, but short is better than not at all.   Too many places to go and too many good restaurants to eat at.  I never get enough time in NYC.   I have spent a lot of time in NYC,  my mom was born in Brooklyn and she took me there as a teenager.  After college, I did a six-week project at the Hotel Pennsylvania, later I went to New York on business trips as well as on personal trips.  I have so many fond memories of the city and look forward to adding to them.

When I booked the flight, I realized that United no longer used JFK as their main hub, I would be flying into Newark.  For me, Newark will always be  that airport where I had a layover from hell.   I ended up spending the night in the airport.  It wasn’t just any night, I was moving from upstate NY to Los Angeles.  I had just graduated from college and purchased a one way ticket to Los Angeles.   Looking back on it, it was a lesson that things don’t always go as planned.

I didn’t plan out a lot of activities.  I planned to see my friend Allan and I had bought tickets to see the play “The Great Comet of 1812” but otherwise not a lot of plans.

We landed and took the air-train to Penn station.  As I waited to get a taxi to the hotel, I looked across the street to the Hotel Pennsylvania.  I snapped a selfie and sent it to a friend who also worked on the same project from hell at that hotel. Continue reading →