The New York Weekend Part 1 - Where Every Day Ran Together (in a good way...)
Originally, I was going to write a little something every night. After all, this was the plan for South America and this blog is still officially in Beta Testing until South America. But at the end of each day, I basically collapsed into a heap. Writing every day was not an option. Instead, I'm going to cobble together the story of the weekend in one big post. Well...two posts. I'd say I will try not to ramble, but we all know that's going to happen no matter what I try to do.
The flight in to New York was uneventful. That's how I want my flights to be. When someone asks, "How was your flight??" I want my answer to always be, "Meh...fine." I'm not going on a plane to be entertained. I'm going to get from Point A to Point B. Just get me (and my bag) to my destination and we're all good. If someone can fix it that I don't have to sit next to someone else or that the stranger next to me isn't a chatty one, that's good too. But ultimately, I just want to arrive alive.
I want to digress for a moment to say, on the flight, I was reading Tina Fey's Bossypants. I love her so much and it's all I can do to not laugh hysterically when reading the book. In a highly selfish (and completely delusional) way, I like to think that she and I have the same writing style. Stream of consciousness plus mildly batty. Though, she is light years better at everything than I am. I even bookmarked a few passages in the book. I NEVER do that. It's a good sign. Blergh!!
Car service to Hoboken and it was an early night. Jodi was fabulous and I loved seeing her town. Her dog Ike was a sweetie, but I definitely appreciated the shampooed couch and mostly keeping him behind bars :)
Friday
Friday morning was all about the meetings. I set them up to justify a "Work from C-K Day." The first stop was Clear Channel. A 15 minute walk and 3 subway stops away. The best part was when Jodi said, "You're going to use the subway??" Sure. My rationale was that I had "mastered" the subways in Moscow and that was in Cyrillic!! I did have the stations explain how to get to each location like I was a 5 year old. So that helped.
Two meetings, then a lunch and I was late to every one. I can't stand being late to anything. Seriously. I hate it so much, so I spent the first half of the day in constant stress. I know one of the reps wasn't completely enthusiastic about my tardiness, but there we go. The lunch stop was at Koi, a sushi joint. And so we began the food frenzy. I particularly liked the Crispy Rice with the Spicy Tuna. It was sushi rice, but deep fried and topped with a tuna mixture. Good stuff.
Post lunch, we went back to the C-K office to pick up my bag. I had heard from Liz at that point and walked the 6 or so blocks to Paula's apartment. Luckily, Liz was walking the puppies and I met them at on the street. We dropped off my stuff and hit the road again. Several blocks away we went to Chelsea Market, where not only did we hit two cupcake places, but we stopped at Anthropologie. The fun part about Anthro was that it was their one year birthday. While sipping on some lemonade, we noticed the schedule of events. From 630-830p, Keith Johnson was going to be there. Liz and I did a little squeal. Keith Johnson!! Man Shops Globe's Keith Johnson!! Hmmm...dinner is close to Chelsea Market. Maybe that'd be an option??
The final rep meeting was a fun one. Drink time!! We went to Eataly. Now Eataly was a place I really wanted to go. It seemed similar enough to Fox and Obel in Chicago. I like Fox and Obel. I like Mario Batali. It's a win, win!! The meeting itself was fine. We had wine. We had some charcuterie (another reason I don't think I can completely go vegetarian). We chatted for a few minutes. Then back to the Chelsea Market area.
We did go back to Anthropologie and spent a little time looking around. When Liz and I were first there, we met Anthro Associate Lulu, and told her that we were excited to meet Keith Johnson. We saw here again and asked where we would find him. She said she had told him how excited we were, so we had to meet him. Cool!! Lulu brought us to the lower level and introduced us. It was pretty impressive. We asked questions and had a lovely conversation. At a certain point, he pulled out his iPhone to show us pictures he took in Ethiopia. The pictures...AMAZING!! The iPhone 4 can take some freaking wonderful shots. It almost makes me sad I got my Canon G12. Wait. No it doesn't. My Canon G12 is freaking fantastic. The iPhone can suck it...
Once we monopolized enough of Keith Johnson's time (he was probably very anxious for us to stop fawning), we walked down the street for the Spice Market. Now, I had never heard of this place before, but both Jodi and Liz were excited to try it. It wasn't until I came back that everyone was very excited about our dinner at Spice Market. Apparently Betheny Whatsherface goes there. And maybe it was on other Bravo Shows?? I don't watch them. I don't know these things. Unfortunately, I was still stuffed from lunch (and cupcakes), so I wasn't sure how I was going to eat dinner.
We were all struggling with the menu. It wasn't because we weren't interested in the food options. Most things looked good. And like all restaurants these days (see Saturday), the food was to be shared. But there wasn't a whole lot of agreement. I was intrigued by the Red Curry Duck, but Liz didn't like curry. Someone mentioned fish and I was ambivalent. Liz was the first to mention the tasting menu. And my first thought was, "NO!!" And that's how I expressed my thought, "NO!!" I'm pretty sure I put my head in my hands too. But I was swayed. The food was pretty good. There were several appetizers...I loved the meat on a stick (It may have looked turd-like, but they tasted good) and the samosas were good, but a little spicy for my taste (granted, I'm a bit of a wussy with the spice). I really didn't like the cod, but I don't think I like cod. The chicken was very good, but by this point, I was starting to feel the burn. Luckily, it was nearing dessert time. There was a hazelnutty dessert (with a birthday candle...nice touch ;) and then there was something that was coconut based, liquidy and with fruit steeped in the sauce. I don't know what it was, but it was good. The only issue was that at a certain point, I bit down on frozen fruit and thought I broke a tooth. There's nothing like the feeling like you broke a tooth that makes you lose any appetite you might have still had. I was done. But I didn't break a tooth. Yay!! Overall, the food was good, but it wasn't amazing. I think I might be spoiled by dining in Chicago... ;)
We had talked about going to a piano bar after dinner, but Liz and I could barely keep our eyes open. So we worked our way back to the apartment and struggled to stay awake. Meh...I'm not a late night party girl...it's bedtime!! Plus, we knew Saturday was going to be our big day. Like Friday wasn't?? Oy, I wasn't sure I would completely survive a New York weekend...
The flight in to New York was uneventful. That's how I want my flights to be. When someone asks, "How was your flight??" I want my answer to always be, "Meh...fine." I'm not going on a plane to be entertained. I'm going to get from Point A to Point B. Just get me (and my bag) to my destination and we're all good. If someone can fix it that I don't have to sit next to someone else or that the stranger next to me isn't a chatty one, that's good too. But ultimately, I just want to arrive alive.
I want to digress for a moment to say, on the flight, I was reading Tina Fey's Bossypants. I love her so much and it's all I can do to not laugh hysterically when reading the book. In a highly selfish (and completely delusional) way, I like to think that she and I have the same writing style. Stream of consciousness plus mildly batty. Though, she is light years better at everything than I am. I even bookmarked a few passages in the book. I NEVER do that. It's a good sign. Blergh!!
Car service to Hoboken and it was an early night. Jodi was fabulous and I loved seeing her town. Her dog Ike was a sweetie, but I definitely appreciated the shampooed couch and mostly keeping him behind bars :)
Friday
Friday morning was all about the meetings. I set them up to justify a "Work from C-K Day." The first stop was Clear Channel. A 15 minute walk and 3 subway stops away. The best part was when Jodi said, "You're going to use the subway??" Sure. My rationale was that I had "mastered" the subways in Moscow and that was in Cyrillic!! I did have the stations explain how to get to each location like I was a 5 year old. So that helped.
Two meetings, then a lunch and I was late to every one. I can't stand being late to anything. Seriously. I hate it so much, so I spent the first half of the day in constant stress. I know one of the reps wasn't completely enthusiastic about my tardiness, but there we go. The lunch stop was at Koi, a sushi joint. And so we began the food frenzy. I particularly liked the Crispy Rice with the Spicy Tuna. It was sushi rice, but deep fried and topped with a tuna mixture. Good stuff.
Post lunch, we went back to the C-K office to pick up my bag. I had heard from Liz at that point and walked the 6 or so blocks to Paula's apartment. Luckily, Liz was walking the puppies and I met them at on the street. We dropped off my stuff and hit the road again. Several blocks away we went to Chelsea Market, where not only did we hit two cupcake places, but we stopped at Anthropologie. The fun part about Anthro was that it was their one year birthday. While sipping on some lemonade, we noticed the schedule of events. From 630-830p, Keith Johnson was going to be there. Liz and I did a little squeal. Keith Johnson!! Man Shops Globe's Keith Johnson!! Hmmm...dinner is close to Chelsea Market. Maybe that'd be an option??
The final rep meeting was a fun one. Drink time!! We went to Eataly. Now Eataly was a place I really wanted to go. It seemed similar enough to Fox and Obel in Chicago. I like Fox and Obel. I like Mario Batali. It's a win, win!! The meeting itself was fine. We had wine. We had some charcuterie (another reason I don't think I can completely go vegetarian). We chatted for a few minutes. Then back to the Chelsea Market area.
We did go back to Anthropologie and spent a little time looking around. When Liz and I were first there, we met Anthro Associate Lulu, and told her that we were excited to meet Keith Johnson. We saw here again and asked where we would find him. She said she had told him how excited we were, so we had to meet him. Cool!! Lulu brought us to the lower level and introduced us. It was pretty impressive. We asked questions and had a lovely conversation. At a certain point, he pulled out his iPhone to show us pictures he took in Ethiopia. The pictures...AMAZING!! The iPhone 4 can take some freaking wonderful shots. It almost makes me sad I got my Canon G12. Wait. No it doesn't. My Canon G12 is freaking fantastic. The iPhone can suck it...
Once we monopolized enough of Keith Johnson's time (he was probably very anxious for us to stop fawning), we walked down the street for the Spice Market. Now, I had never heard of this place before, but both Jodi and Liz were excited to try it. It wasn't until I came back that everyone was very excited about our dinner at Spice Market. Apparently Betheny Whatsherface goes there. And maybe it was on other Bravo Shows?? I don't watch them. I don't know these things. Unfortunately, I was still stuffed from lunch (and cupcakes), so I wasn't sure how I was going to eat dinner.
We were all struggling with the menu. It wasn't because we weren't interested in the food options. Most things looked good. And like all restaurants these days (see Saturday), the food was to be shared. But there wasn't a whole lot of agreement. I was intrigued by the Red Curry Duck, but Liz didn't like curry. Someone mentioned fish and I was ambivalent. Liz was the first to mention the tasting menu. And my first thought was, "NO!!" And that's how I expressed my thought, "NO!!" I'm pretty sure I put my head in my hands too. But I was swayed. The food was pretty good. There were several appetizers...I loved the meat on a stick (It may have looked turd-like, but they tasted good) and the samosas were good, but a little spicy for my taste (granted, I'm a bit of a wussy with the spice). I really didn't like the cod, but I don't think I like cod. The chicken was very good, but by this point, I was starting to feel the burn. Luckily, it was nearing dessert time. There was a hazelnutty dessert (with a birthday candle...nice touch ;) and then there was something that was coconut based, liquidy and with fruit steeped in the sauce. I don't know what it was, but it was good. The only issue was that at a certain point, I bit down on frozen fruit and thought I broke a tooth. There's nothing like the feeling like you broke a tooth that makes you lose any appetite you might have still had. I was done. But I didn't break a tooth. Yay!! Overall, the food was good, but it wasn't amazing. I think I might be spoiled by dining in Chicago... ;)
We had talked about going to a piano bar after dinner, but Liz and I could barely keep our eyes open. So we worked our way back to the apartment and struggled to stay awake. Meh...I'm not a late night party girl...it's bedtime!! Plus, we knew Saturday was going to be our big day. Like Friday wasn't?? Oy, I wasn't sure I would completely survive a New York weekend...
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