Guess who's coming to dinner.....

Tonight I ate dinner with Kelli and Barbara and Bill E. Barbara reps
our line and is such fun to work with. We ate at a Bobby Flay
restaurant, Mesa Grill. When we sat down our server told us Paula Dean
was also eating at the restaurant. And it turned out to be her
birthday or something so the whole place turned into a party. She
seems like such a sweet lady. She was taking the time to make sure
everyone who wanted their picture taken with her got it. Anyway, guess
who would love that I got to be at Paula Deens "birthday or whatever"
party?........Miss Kaycie. I called her and told her I was eatting at
a Bobby Flay restaurant and asked her who she thought was also eatting
there. First guess was Rachel Ray then she guessed Paula. She was sad
to learn I would be coming home without a Paula Dean autograph. She
was excited, as I am sure you all will be, that I took lots of iPhone
photos. That is Paula in the black dress sitting at the back table. I
love how those three people in the back have their hands clasped and
looking at her like she is the greatest thing they have ever seen. And
by the way the food was great.

More paula dean

Grand Central Station

I walked to Grand Central Station after the show got out tonight.
Amazing. I wish I had time to go on a tour but I was meeting people
for dinner so I ran in and out pretty fast. I did not even have time
to look for the uncleaned spot on the ceiling or go into any of the
shops. I loved it and I really think this is a nyc must see.

In my next life I am coming back as.....

A Bergdorf Goodman window designer. These two photos are from the
Grand Old Flag series of windows.I love the combination of the old and
tattered flags and the sleek beautiful new dress.

Bergdorf Goodman Window

This beautiful window was at Bergdorf Goodman. It is the dress used
for the current issue of Vogue featuring Nicole Kidman. Lovely.

Fifth Avenue

This morning Kelli and I spent the early hours of the morning on Fifth
Avenue. I love looking at all of the amazing window displays. This was
one of my favorites. The Louis Vuiton window was filled with these
bright lights. I thought it was so cool.

On My Way

I am finally on my way to the Big Apple.


I am flying in and out of JFK. Does anyone want to guess on how long my flight will be delayed on the way home? I am going to guess at least one hour.

New York City Waterfalls

I just heard about this today on MSNBC and it looks really cool.
This Danish artist is putting up waterfalls around the city. Web site here.

Leave it to Olafur Eliasson—the guy who installed a giant artificial sun in London’s Tate Modern and dyed rivers in Germany, L.A., and Tokyo bright green—to create one of the biggest, most brilliant public art projects in city history. His 90- to 120-foot-tall man-made waterfalls, stationed at four sites along New York’s shores and lit up past sunset, make for the largest installation of the Danish-Icelandic artist’s career, but the project is not about size, he recently told the magazine: “It’s about making water explicit…falling water, it makes a sound, it engages a whole different range of senses. You see gravity.” We’re expecting them to be a rush. —


Locations
Between Piers 4 and 5 near the Brooklyn Heights Promenade
Brooklyn Bridge
Governor's Island
Pier 35 near the Manhattan Bridge

Tony Awards

I watched the Tony awards on Sunday night. I always get very excited to go to NYC after watching the Tony Awards. Going to a Broadway show and then walking out of the show into Times Square at night has got to be one of the most amazing feelings ever....such energy. I love it!
The one of the big winners was South Pacific.


I saw South Pacific in San Francisco a few years back with Angie and her friend Jackie. I liked it ok but I was not crazy about it. I am sure this production is 1000% better....I think Robert Goulet was the star of the production we saw.
In the Heights won the Tony for best musical. I really thought it looked like a fantastic show after watching the cast preform on the Tony's.
I was checking out some of the reviews of the shows in the New York Times and guess which musical is a Critics Pick?
Yes Xanadu...who would have thought that a musical on roller skates would be so much darn fun?

I think I will end up hitting the TKTS booth and see what the options are. I have had pretty good luck with that. Or there is always the Wicked lottery I mean this will be my 7th or 8th time trying to get those so the odds should be working in my favor this year right? Or if I get ambitious this weekend I could buy tickets using the discounts offered on the Broadway Box web site it looks like they have some discounts for some good shows.

The Gelato District

I love Bleaker Street in Greenwich Village. It has such fun little stores and restaurants all along the street. Imagine my excitement when I read that this area of the village is now being called Manhattan's gelato district.

Grom is the newest gelato shop to open here.
1. GROM
233 Bleecker St., at Carmine St. 212-206-1738
An ingredient-fetishizing, Slow Food–inspired juggernaut, with fifteen branches in Italy and another uptown. The company’s mission is to make gelato the exacting, old-fashioned way, eschewing artificial coloring and preservatives, of course, and using only first-rate (mostly Italian) ingredients: Hazelnuts and strawberries come from Piedmont, pistachios from Sicily, and lemons from the Amalfi coast.
Don’t Miss: Pistachio, hazelnut.
Where Made: Gelato base flash-frozen in Italy, daily whipping done on-site.
Nearby Subway Stops A, B, C, D, E, F, V at W. 4th St.-Washington Sq.
2. L’ARTE DEL GELATO
75 Seventh Ave. S., at Barrow St. 212-924-0803
3. CONES
272 Bleecker St., nr. Morton St. 212-414-1795
When Häagen-Dazs brazenly set up shop in Raul and Oscar D’Aloisio’s native, gelato-crazed Buenos Aires, the brothers decided that Americans had a lot to learn about ice cream, so in 1998 they opened this homey little storefront.
Don’t Miss: Dulce de leche, corn with an optional sprinkle of cinnamon, Johnnie Walker Black Label with macerated kumquats.
Price: $4.15 for a one-flavor cup.
Samples: Two when it’s busy; otherwise up to eight, but a taste of the Johnnie Walker–kumquat flavor will cost you a buck.

4. MILK & COOKIES BAKERY
19 Commerce St., nr. Seventh Ave. S. 212-243-1640
This custom-baked-cookie specialist also operates as an under-the-radar outpost of Il Laboratorio del Gelato, with a rotating assortment of five to seven flavors scooped individually or showcased in a multitude of ice-cream sandwiches. As a novel twist, cookies can also be baked to order on the spot, with customers choosing such ingredients as mint chips, blueberries ,and walnuts to spice up doughs in vanilla, chocolate, peanut butter, and oatmeal.

Don’t Miss: A single scoop and whatever cookie just came out of the oven.
Where Made: At the lab on Orchard Street.
Price: $2.25 a scoop; $4.50 a sandwich.
Nearby Subway Stops 1 at Christopher St.-Sheridan Sq.; A, B, C, D, E, F, V at W. 4th St.-Washington Sq.

I am most interested in the Milk and Cookies Bakery making your own cookies sounds like so much fun and the name is so cute! And i really am interested in trying Il Laboratorio del Gelato. This bakery was also included in a list of the cities best ice cream sandwiches.
On the topic of ice cream sandwiches this was voted #1

It is from
One Girl Cookies
68 Dean St., nr. Smith St., Boerum Hill, Brooklyn; 212-675-4996; $3
The tiniest, and the best of the bunch. One Girl spackles its cakey pumpkin or chocolate “whoopie” cookies with no less than Il Laboratorio del Gelato ricotta gelato.
I have so wanted to go to this store forever......I always buy a box of their cookies from Dean & Deluca everytime I am in the city. They make fantastic cookies but it is the super cute packaging that gets me every time. All of the packaging includes cute vintage photos of family members..... I love it.

If I feel like I need an adventure I may try to jump on the subway and find this amazing bakery.

Pure Bliss

I love the Bliss Spa. I went to one in San Francisco and it was amazing. There is a Bliss spa on Broadway near the Dean and Deluca store. There is a cool story about Marcia Kilgore the lady that started bliss here. Bliss spa is now owned by Starwood hotels so whenever I stay at a W hotel I get Bliss shampoo, soap etc. And I loved taking the Red Eye to NYC on Jet Blue because you get a little travel bag of Bliss products on all overnight flights.
I had some sort of massage/facial combination when I was in San Francisco but I think if I make an appointment to go while I am there this time I will do the Triple Oxygen Treatment. One of the people I went with had that done and they loved it. I also think it is one of their most popular treatments.

They are located here
Bliss Soho
568 Broadway, 2nd Floor
NYC NY 10012
212 219 8970
They also sell these on their web site.

FitFlops are flying off shelves for summer faster than you can say 'micro-wobbleboard'. That's the name of the action created by the midsole, which causes these 'flops' to bestow a bevy of benefits to your bod. FitFlops create a faster and more energy expending walk by keeping gluteal, hamstring and calf muscles active longer during each step, plus help absorb shock, reduce joint strain and tone thighs. (Oh, and did we mention FitFlops look really fab on your feet?)

A Little Light Reading

This looks like a must read before I go.....

Wildflowers for the Bees

I am so sad this takes place before I get to New York. On June 21st at Fort Greene Park in Brooklyn they will be holding a Wildflower Seed giveaway. One of my very favorite companies right now, Haagen-Dazs is supplying 2,000 packets of wildflower seeds to encourage people to plant flowers and help save the bees. There will also be a live hive on display under glass.

Such Sad News

NBC’s Tim Russert dies of heart attack at 58

Washington bureau chief, ‘Meet the Press’ moderator collapsed on job

I so loved watching Tim Russert on Meet the Press and MSNBC. This is such sad news.

Son of Rambo

I went up to the Broadway Theater in SLC to see this movie........
I loved it. Thanks for the recommendation Britt I had never even heard about this movie until talking to you!

Blast from the past.......

I am thinking about going to the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. When the landlord of 97 Orchard Street died in the late 1980's the five stories above the storefronts he controlled were opened for the first time in fifty years. Inside were twenty apartments that were left exactly as they were when the landlord closed them up. Using city records and testimonies from descendents of residents many of the apartments have been restored to look as they did at various points of the building's tenure as a tenement house. You can tour different apartments and learn about real former tenants, their occupations and lifestyle.

I would like to go on the Getting by Tour which includes a visit the apartments of the German-Jewish Gumpertz family in the 1870s and the Sicilian-Catholic Baldizzi family in the 1930s, and learn about the networks of support that were available to them during hard times.
Or the tour about the Moore family, a group of Irish immigrants who lived in the building in 1869. In their restored home you learn about the struggles immigrants faced from the 19th century to present.


Located at 108 Orchard Street
Subway: F to Delancy, JMZ to Essex Street

Continuing Education

This morning I found classes offered at the Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan. I think the walking tours look like a lot of fun. They offer walking tours of these areas Little India, Author Avenue (little Italy), Chinatown Dim Sum, Chocolate Factories and a Greenmarket Cuisine tour. The only one that will be offered while I am there is the NYC Cupcake tour. It might be fun. This is the tour description:
"All cupcakes are not created equal---this walking tour will show you the best of them. Join ICE’s resident cupcake expert Melanie Underwood on this sweet tour of her favorite cupcake spots of the city. Along the way you’ll eat and discuss what makes cupcakes one of America’s favorite treats at the famous Cupcake Café along with lesser known bakeries like Sugar Sweet Sunshine, Babycakes, Crumbs, and Billy’s. The class meets at 10 AM at La Bergamote (169 9th Avenue, at the southwest corner of 20th Street) for coffee and pastry. Wear comfortable shoes and bring an unlimited Metrocard. Tours run rain or shine. Registration for the walking tours is limited to those age 18+." $70
They also offer this class, Cooking in New York: A Five-Day Global Culinary Adventure. How much fun would it be to spend five days at a cooking school?

Grand Central Station

Can you believe I have never been to Grand Central Station? I have heard how beautiful it is and I feel like this should be the year I go.
It turns out there a lot of fun retail stores and restaurants located here.
There is a self guided walking tour that can be found here. The part of the terminal I really want to see is the Sky Ceiling. In 1998, as part of a 12 year terminal restoration project, the ceiling was cleaned to remove the stains left by tobacco, nicotine and coal smoke. If you look above the Michael Jordans Steakhouse there is a small dark patch of ceiling left untouched so you can see how dingy the ceiling used to be.
Also outside the terminal is the worlds largest display of Tiffany glass and the chandeliers inside the terminal are platted in real gold.

Scavenger Hunt Fun

If I were going to New York with a group of people I would love to do this scavenger hunt. They have scavenger hunts all over the city. They have outdoor hunts at the Bronx Zoo, Chinatown, the Village (Sex and the City themed) and Little Italy (Mafia/Gangster themed) and indoor hunts at the Met (Murder at the Met themed this one is the most famous), MOMA and the Museum of Natural History. The hunts are held every weekend and last 2 to 3 hours. They also hold these hunts in Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Boston and Chicago. More information on the web site here.

Tiffany & Co

I usually try to buy something from Tiffany & Co whenever I travel. I must confess when I am in NYC I usually buy a couple of pieces on Canal street. This year I am keeping my eye out for......

While I was in Hawaii I bought the necklace from the Tiffany Notes collection. I would like to add the cuff and the ring.



I really like this cocktail ring.
I also really like the bracelet and ring in the Tiffany Twist line

I also love the following pieces but they might a little bit out of my price range.

Beautiful butterfly brooch $30,000

A beautiful flower brooch in diamonds, sapphire and platinum $94,000. And these babies I think would be perfect to wear while checking the bees in the beehive. I think they would serve as inspiration for the little bees and they would produce enough honey that I could justify spending $530,000 for a pair of earrings.

Rise and Shine NYC

Oh how I love breakfast! My favorite NYC breakfast place is Sarabeth's. I love going to the location across the street from Central Park, sitting on the patio and watching people going in and out of the park. while eating lemon ricotta pancakes........oh heaven.


But I am feeling like I should try something new so here are some new breakfast options I have found.
202
Famous for French Toast that is made from brioche wedges soaked overnight in eggs (from free range chickens), whole vanilla pods and heavy cream then it browned in clarified butter. This is a the store of clothing designer Nicole Farhi. I know clothes and french toast could it get any better?
75 Ninth Ave., at 16th St.; 646-638-1173 Nearby Subway Stops A, C, E at 14th St.; L at Eighth Ave.

'ino
Who would have thought panini for breakfast but I guess that is what this place is all about. The entire menu is available from 9 a.m. on, though the designated breakfast section is home to one of the city’s now-iconic foodstuffs, the mighty truffled egg toast, an Italianate toad-in-the-hole blanketed with Fontina and bits of asparagus.
21 Bedford St., nr. Downing St.; 212-989-5769 Nearby Subway Stops 1 at Houston St.; A, B, C, D, E, F, V at W. 4th St.-Washington Sq.

Clinton Street Baking Company
I have had a number of people tell me how great this place is for breakfast. I guess that would explain the lines of people trying to get in for brunch on the weekend. They are rumored to have the best pancakes in the city. I guess it is not as crazy on weekdays.
4 Clinton St., New York, NY 10002 Nearby Subway Stops F at Delancey St.; J, M, Z at Essex St.

Sullivan Street Bakery
Great Pastries, bread making classes, and doughnuts....love it. The bombolone pictured above has been picked as the best doughnut in the city. I usually buy something made by Sullivan Street Bakery when I go into Dean and Delucas but it might be fun to make a trip into Hell's Kitchen and visit the actual bakery.
533 W. 47th St., nr. Tenth Ave.; 212-265-5580 Nearby Subway Stops C, E at 50th St.

Egg on a Roll
This sounds like a new thing to try. Egg, bread, bacon and cheese what could be better than that? I think I would like to try this at ’Wichcraft their version is made with a fried egg, bacon and Gorgonzola on Sullivan St Bakery’s “panini” roll.
There are a number of locations. This might be the easiest to get to 1 rockefeller plaza @ 50th street or 555 5th avenue @ 46th street

If I make a trip into Brooklyn this place has been voted #1 Breakfast in New York City

egg
135 N. 5th St., nr. Bedford Ave., Williamsburg; 718-302-5151 Nearby Subway Stops L at Bedford Ave.

Brooklyn Bridge

For the last three years this has been on my "NYC to do" list and I have never done it. I want to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and eat pizza at Grimald's Pizzeria (rated #1 pizza in Zagats).

Maybe this will be the year it gets crossed off the list.

Beehive Update

Last Sunday Jake and I dressed up in our beekeeping attire and started up the smoker so we could check on what was taking place in the hive.

After hiving the bees you need to leave them undisturbed for 7 to 10 days or they will kill the queen....who knew the bee world is filled with such drama?
I was super nervous about the state we would find the bees. We sort of left them on their own in terrible weather to go to Disneyland and I thought they would all be dead when we came back.
But they seem to have survived the crazy weather and the queen got out of the cage and the bees all seem to be "busy as bees".

Now I just hope they start producing new baby bees before they original bees reach their 6 week life span and start to die. Oh the stressful life of a beekeeper.

The Big Apple

So I leave for a work trip to New York in a few weeks and try as I might I just can not get excited about going. Even going to see Sex and the City did not pull me out of my unexcited state. So everyday until I leave I am going to post fun things I could do in New York and see if that does the trick...also this way if I am inspired to do something I will have all of the information on my blog.
One of the reasons I am feeling such dread about the Big Apple is because it is so dang hot and humid when I am there so this post relates to some "cool" things to eat and drink while in New York.
1 Frogurt
Smooth and aberrantly tart, it’s the only truly yogurty-tasting frozen yogurt in a Tasti D-Lite world (Forty Carrots at Bloomingdale’s; $6 for a large; 212-705-3085). Any excuse to get to Bloomingdales right?

3-Affogato
This looks so good!
Rich espresso poured over vanilla gelato—summertime’s ultimate (barely) do-it-yourself dessert (Barbuto; $6; 212-924-9700).


4-Black-Sesame Gelato
I love sesame seeds and gelato so how could this not be a must-do? This company has a pretty cool history that was written about in a New York Times article found here.
Of all the rotating flavors at this white-tiled milk-fat mecca, the nuttily sweet, Asian-inspired black sesame is the one we crave most (Il Laboratorio del Gelato; $3.25 for a small; 212-343-9922).
il Laboratorio del Gelato
95 Orchard St.
(between Broome & Delancey Sts)
New York, NY 10002


5-Purple Cow
Another exotic heartland delicacy courtesy of Danny Meyer & Co.—Grape Crush, straight from the bottle, sloshed over vanilla custard (Shake Shack; $4.25; 212-889-6600).
I have been hearing and reading a lot about the Shake Shack lately and it is owned by the same group as my favorite restaurant from last years nyc trip The Union Square cafe...yum.

6-Cold Hot Chocolate
This might be a good replacement for Serendipity frozen hot chocolate...not sure if I can go to Serendipity again after it was closed last November for numerous health code violations.
It’s too good to put on summer hiatus, so Maury Rubin strips down the winter recipe and serves it on the rocks (City Bakery; $4; 212-366-1414).

7- Olive-Oil-Gelato Coppetta
The signature gelato wears its customary crown of Maldon sea salt, a streak of olive “caramel,” and a seasonal accessory of supersweet strawberries, plus a bracing dollop of passion-fruit granita (Otto Enoteca Pizzeria; $8; 212-995-9559).
This is a Mario Batali restaurant so I think there is little chance of getting in at this late date but I might give it a try