They're everywhere!

Today I was on the W train to Queens and we were stopped at 34th Street Station. A huge rat ran along the platform and into the open door where the garbage was stored. He came out carrying a piece of bread.

"A mouse!" yelled a fellow passenger on the stalled train. "A big one! Did you see it?" he asked his companion.

Another woman started laughing and said "Oh, they are everywhere!!!"

Lady, you have been in New York too long.

so ... what's with that?

It really annoys me how people donate 99-cent cans of soup in shopping bags from expensive shops like Kate's Paperie and Dean & Deluca. Take the food out of the bag first, and take the bag home!

A Thanksgiving shout-out

Happy Thanksgiving weekend, one and all! I am sojourning to New Jersey to eat turkey. As Adam Sandler would say, "Loooove to eat Tuuuurkeeeey!"

In fact, there is a flock of wild turkeys patrolling my parents' neighborhood these past few months (I wonder if those are last summer's turkey pouts all grown up.) They can be mean, so I take photos of them from a distance.

How I do love a freebie!

I just wanted to share that I received a coupon in the mail for a free set of panties from Victoria's Secret. I redeemed it at the new store in the Queens Center Mall. They were a $14 value. And I got the pretty new pink and silver-striped shopping bag as well.

I know you all really care!!

so helpful

I was leaving my shift at the Y around 10:30p and the entrance I usually take for the 86th Street Station had police tape on it. A guy dressed in layers and holding a tin cup, smelling so strongly of pot that my eyes practically crossed, told me to use the entrance directly across the street.

Methinks he is not employed with the Metropolitan Transit Authority. But it was nice of him to give directions.

A lovely carousel ride

I was on my way to the Y to hang out with my coworker CF, and I was walking in Central Park (I often do that on my way to the Y because it is there and I can.) Viva Nueva York!

I happened to be walking by the carousel and decided to take a ride. It is only $1.25 and I was not even the oldest person without a child on it. There was an elderly couple on adjacent horses behind me and they had their photo taken. Very cute!

The carousel has the old-fashioned horses, and is housed inside a gazebo to protect it. I believe it is part of the National Parks Service, as is much of Central Park.

www.centralparknyc.org

Le Pain Quotidien

HB and her mother (who came to NYC from Washington this morning, to meet HB before they journeyed on to New Haven) were both in town and introduced me to the most wonderful bakery Le Pain Quotidien. This is especially welcome since I am off cupcakes after my repeat visits to Magnolia and Buttercup and need less sugary carbs.

The full name of the shops (they are a local chain) is Le Pain Quotidien Bakery and Communal Table. That is because you have the option of sitting at a very large table with many other people as you are served. The food there is absolutely delicious. There are sandwiches and soups available. I opted for the hazelnut flute, which is a long piece of bread (looks like a flute) with chopped hazelnuts and currants in it. It is served with sweet cream butter, fresh strawberry jam and a Belgian hazelnut spread called "Brunette" (love the name!) I pronounced it "toe-curlingly good" for indeed it is!

In addition, you can order pastries to go and can buy the jams and spreads by the jar.

We went to the one on Lexington Avenue by 64th Street. But there are many others in Manhattan.

Aida

My good friend HB and her pal X came down from New Haven so we could have a grand time attending Aida at the famed and acclaimed Metropolitan Opera (hitherto known as "the Met"), located at Lincoln Center.

We were on the 3rd balcony, but it was still a very good view of the entire stage. In addition, each seat came equipped with its own little LCD screen for subtitles. These were not at all distracting, and you could turn them off if you did not wish to read them.

Aida takes place in ancient Egypt, where Aida is a slave originally from Ethiopia. She is in love with a man who is in a relationship with the princess. He is off to war in Ethiopia at the princess's bequest, and this conflicts Aida in how can she cheer on a man who is out to kill her father and brothers.

In addition, they cannot let the princess know about their affair as she can crush both of them.

(I won't give the ending away.)

The opera was very well done. During the victory parade (of everyone back from war), they had about 250 people on stage, as well as 5 horses. There was one rather disturbing part where they pulled a cart full of dead bodies for the royalty to see. It reminded me of the war crimes in Abu Ghraib. (shudder)

But all in all, a very good time at the Met!

Quote for today (and every day)

If you want to feel rich, just count the things money can't buy.

Peek-a-boo! I see you!

I was in the Steinway Street station, waiting for a subway to go to work, when I noticed a mouse (blech) run into a hole in the wall. Then it poked its head out, and I noticed it was staring at me.

I stared back, and the mouse pulled its head back in.

Two seconds later, its head was back out, looking at me. I made an evil face at it and it immediately pulled its head back in.

And then back out.

It obviously wanted to leave the hole, so I turned my back on it. It took the opportunity to dart out of its hole and run alongside the wall through some door to a ramshackle little abandoned office (it's boarded up).

I'll bet there's a whole mouse colony in there. Ugh.

A national treasure visits the Y

The Y was empty during my evening shift, which is extreme because it has been so packed since we turned the clocks back and people don't want to work out in Central Park at night (that, and they are taking preemptive strikes against the holiday season.)

I found out that Nicolas Cage was speaking in the Y's auditorium and there was a special screening of his new flick "National Treasure" (which I really want to see.)

Get ready 'cause here he comes!

I was on the N train to mid-town Manhattan yesterday around 5 pm, and a cute little kid was swinging on the poles in the middle of the car. His mom kept telling him to stop, he was scaring people around him, but he wouldn’t.

So she came up with something inventive. She told him if he was not going to sit in his seat, then he had to “do the Temptations”.

The kid pouted, and she said, “Go on. Because you are not swinging on the pole anymore.”

At which point the kid started singing “Get Ready ‘Cause Here I Come”, the hit by the 1960s Motown group The Temptations, while doing the kind of dance they used to do. He even did the background singers’ part by turning his head:

“I never met a girl who makes me feel the way that you do! (Head turn: You’re all right!)”

We all applauded for our free concert.

The cupcake-eating personal trainer ...

.... that's ME! And now I am spoiled rotten because I ate an inferior cupcake yesterday. It was at a bakery that shall remain nameless near E. 88th Street and Lexington Avenue. The cupcake was refrigerated (gasp!) and I could taste the chemicals in its crappy frosting. ugh.

But I hit Buttercup bakery today on my way to a seminar at Hunter College (The Science, Politics and Economics of Developing an Agenda for aHealthy New York City). I wonder if I can do a research study tracing the sales of cupcakes and relating it to increased obesity. Ha ha.

mmmmmm ..........

I had the most delicious slice of cake at my friend's wedding this past weekend. It was almond pound cake with chocolate ganache and white icing. Since I am on a baking kick, that is what I will make next.

Ganache: A rich icing made of chocolate and cream heated and stirred together, used also as a filling, as for cakes or pastry.

I could eat the ganache all on its own!!!

If she was truly psychic ....

.... wouldn't she already know I don't want a reading?

I went to Dunkin' Donuts by Woodhaven Boulevard during lunch and was accosted by people urging me to get a psychic reading. It just seems to me that if you are a psychic, then you would already know who is coming and who is not, and thus have no need for marketing.

I love the Buttercup Bake Shop

I visited the Buttercup Bake Shop (also founded by Jennifer Appel, who c0-founded the Magnolia Bakery in 1996.) It is closer to Astoria than Magnolia, located at 973 Second Avenue between 51st and 52nd Streets. The line is shorter but the cupcakes are just as delicious!

Indeed, there seems to be more variety in cupcakes at Buttercup than Magnolia. That is because recipes traditionally sold as entire cakes have been broken down into cupcake form, so to speak. In this manner, I bought a German chocolate cupcake and a Lady Baltimore cupcake. They too sell for a mere $1.75 each.

www.buttercupbakeshop.com

In addition, you can buy a franchise of Butter Cup Bake Shop. For a packet of information on this opportunity, e-mail franchise@buttercupbakeshop.com or call 212-350-9940.

A free concert!

On Pratt Street in Baltimore, a street musician was playing the theme to the 1970s sitcom "Sanford and Son" on his saxophone. Some guy gave him some money, then started dancing something that looked suspiciously like "The Robot" to the beat.

An extraordinary Barnes & Noble

JAO and I were in Baltimore for the weekend to attend a good friend's wedding reception. We went to the Barnes & Noble in the Baltimore Inner Harbor. It is in a 100-year-old former Power Plant. The inside of the store stil features the old bronze smoke stack in the middle, extending all the way up several stories to the roof.

In addition, there is an aquarium in the brick wall, full of several varieties of fish, as an advertisement for the much larger Baltimore Aquarium next door.

There cafe has gelato (we had chocolate hazelnut, which we ate on the balcony overlooking the harbor) and cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory.

And they also have books (of course) and at times live music.

If they rented out rooms, I would never leave!!!

Making Money on Wall Street

I was on a tour of historic taverns in lower Manhattan when I found a single dollar bill on the sidewalk on Wall Street, right outside the Trump Building (formerly the Bank of Manhattan). This is akin to when I went to the casino at Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City and found a dollar under the slot machine. It's very apropos to find money like that in those places.

Thank you, Donald Trump!!!

One pill makes you smaller

That's the name of the book I am reading right now, which uses Alice in Wonderland as a metaphor for all the drugging its main characters do in Manhattan.

On a similar note, I went to Central Park yesterday as it was nice and warm, and went by the Margarita Delacorte memorial, better known as the Alice in Wonderland statue. It features Alice, the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter and the doormouse on toadstools.

It is located at East 74th Street, north of Conservatory Water (where you can rent those toy sailboats. See "A-sailing we shall go!" October 12, 2004).

http://www.centralparknyc.org/virtualpark/thegreatlawn/aliceinwonderland

Little kids were climbing all over it as usual. One girl stuck her hand on Alice's face and yells to her grandmother: "Grandma, look! I'm picking her nose!"

Ahhhhh .... children. I believe the children are our future! Teach them well and let them lead the way! Show them all the beauty they possess inside! Give them a sense of pride to make it easier! Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be!!!

Sorry - I am having a moment in honor of my fellow New Jerseyian Whitney Houston. And in a blog that features the word "pill" in the headline, no less.

At the 11th minute of the 11th hour of the 11th day of November 1918

The Allied powers a signed a cease-fire agreement with Germany at Rethondes, France on November 11, 1918, bringing World War I to a close. Between the wars, November 11 was commemorated as Armistice Day in the United States, Great Britain, and France. After World War II, the holiday was recognized as a day of tribute to veterans of both world wars. Beginning in 1954, the United States designated November 11 as Veterans Day to honor veterans of all U.S. wars.

Happy Veterans Day!

Son, be a dentist .....

... you'll be a success!!!

Last night at the gym, there was some weird old woman who said she didn't need to talk to a doctor regarding her arthritis and exercise, she only needed to talk to herself. She said she was a doctor.

"Oh," said my colleague in personal training. "What kind of medicine do you practice?"

"Dentistry!" she said.

I am sorry, but dentists are not the same as other doctors, as you can lose all your teeth and still be alive for the rest of your natural life span. I guess Jerry Seinfeld would call me an "anti-dentite". So be it.

Ceremony for NYC bid to host 2012 Olympics

I just got an e-mail with this information. I think I will attend.

JOIN NEW YORKERS AND OLYMPIANS ON THE TOP OF THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE AS WE SEND OFF NEW YORK'S OLYMPIC BID TO THE WORLD

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11
MANHATTAN SIDE OF THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE
11:45 A.M. SHARP

On Thursday, November 11, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Governor George E. Pataki will join hundreds of New Yorkers and Olympians at a dramatic ceremony on the Brooklyn Bridge to help the city send off New York's final major submission to the International Olympic Committee. The filing of this 600-page bid book of the city's detailed Olympic plans launches the final and most intense stage of the international competition for the 2012 Games.

Be among the first 5,000 people to arrive and you'll receive a special limited edition collector's pin!

COME OUT AND HELP SHOW NEW YORK'S OLYMPIC PASSION TO THE WORLD

Please let us know you'll be joining by emailing: REPLY@NYC2012.COM

Please include your full name and telephone number in the reply so we may add you to the attendance list.
NYC2012.COM

... and yet again!

The political expressionist from yesterday outdid him/herself by stenciling the "Step on Bush" graffiti (for lack of a better word) at the top of the steps leading out of the Woodhaven Boulevard subway station. The staircase is rather narrow, so when you exit you have no choice BUT to step on Bush! Ha ha!

I am looking into adding photos to this blog, but for those who are curious, the Bush stencil features him making that monkey-like "O" with his mouth with which he is often photographed.

The political expressionist strikes again!

I was at lunch and noticed the same George W. Bush stencil all down Queens Boulevard.

A little political expression

I was at the corner of 63rd Street in Elmhurst, Queens this morning and noticed that someone had spray painted a stencil of George W. Bush’s face on the sidewalk with the words “Step on Bush”. Freedom of expression or vandalism? You decide.

Art for the mass transit

I took the NJ Transit train from Hamilton station to New York today. I find the Hamilton station interesting because it boasts a plethora of gigantic statues, including a replica of the Unisphere featured in Flushing, Queens. The Unisphere is a leftover of the 1964-65 World’s Fair, and looks like a giant gold globe. You can see it in the opening credits of the sitcom “The King of Queens”. http://naid.sppsr.ucla.edu/ny64fair/

Santa Grover is coming to town

The flagship Macy’s in Herald Square is in the process of decorating its windows for Christmas. Macy’s always has some spectacular imaginative window displays. A few are already up – my favorite so far is the multitude of Grovers (from Sesame Street) dressed in Santa hats and decorated with ribbons and snowflakes.

Baking away

I have decided to spend a glamorous night making cupcakes with this recipe I found on the Internet for Magnolia Bakery Traditional Vanilla Cake and Buttercream Icing:

Magnolia Bakery Traditional Vanilla Birthday Cake and Frosting

INGREDIENTS
CAKE
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
1 cups (2 sticks) unsalted butter, very soft
8 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and lightly flour three 9- x 2-inch round cake pans, then line the bottoms with waxed paper.

2. To make the cake: In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine the flours and add in four parts, alternating with the milk and the vanilla extract, beating well after each addition. Divide batter among the cake pans. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean. Let cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely on wire rack.

3. If you're making cupcakes, line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers. Spoon the batter into the cups about three-quarters full. Bake until the tops spring back when lightly touched, about 20 to 22 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pans and cool completely on a rack before icing. When cake has cooled, ice between the layers, then ice top and sides of cake.

4. To make the icing: Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and the vanilla extract. Beat until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, until icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency (you may very well not need all of the sugar). If desired, add a few drops of food coloring and mix thoroughly. Use and store icing at room temperature, as icing will set if chilled. Can store in an airtight container for up to three days.

The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook (Simon & Schuster, 1999)

It takes a global village

My cousin from Surrey, England said, since American policy affects the entire world, the entire world should vote for the US President. Which is funny in "that has a grain of truth in it" kind of way.

A question

Last night at 10:30pm, I was waiting for the 6 train at 86th Street Station. Waaaay on the far end of the platform, a large rat was scurrying back and forth to the edge of the platform, not sure how to navigate jumping back down into the tracks, where the rats typically stay. Everyone was staring at this admittedly large rat.

Are you a true New Yorker if you admire (from afar) how shiny and glossy the rat's fur is? because that's what I found myself doing.

The rat eventually just jumped down into the tracks.

Trip to the library - far from mundane

What I love about New York is that even a trip to the library is far from mundane. The particular library is the mid-Manhattan branch of the New York Public Library (I belong to both that as well as the separate Queensborough Public Library system. See "Whole lotta shakn' going on" June 18, 2004).

This branch is located across the street from the famous NYPL building with the great stone lions out front (and the Starbucks kiosk. See "Mid-town Manhattan Starbucks - no line!" June 8, 2004.) When you leave the library, you see the famous library building in front and the Empire State Building directly to your left. If you turn right on 42nd Street (as I often do to catch the 7 train into Queens via Grand Central Terminal), you also can see the Chrysler Building. It is especially breathtaking at sunset when there is still light out but the buildings have been illuminated.

What is puzzling is, connected to the mid-town branch, is the "New York Public Library Store" where they sell, among other things, books. You can get the books for free from the actual library for which the store is named!

This brings to mind a quote from that sage, Homer Simpson, after Marge tells him that the library is having a book sale: "Why would I pay for them if I won't read them for FREE?"

Bush re-elected

Well, it looks like George W. Bush has been elected to the White House. That's a first!

However, I would like to point out that Kerry had 93% of the Muslim-American vote, and Muslims turned out to vote in record numbers. Go, Kerry!!!

Sweet Dreams Secrets revealed!

As susepcted while I ate it, the Sweet Dreams cookie is a chocolate chip cookie with cinnamon in it. However, they used Ghiradelli chocolate chips, so it was extra good.

Sweet thank-yous for your votes!

The Doubletree Hotel in Times Square (next to the Times Square Visitor Information Center, from where I am blogging), has several employees dressed up like chocolate chip cookies standing outside. At first, I thought they were just getting more mileage out of their Halloween costumes. But it turns out, the hotel is giving out cookies as "Thanks" for everyone who has voted, which I did today at PS 171 in Astoria.

The two flavors available are chocolate chipand somethign called Sweet Dreams. I took the latter, and am still trying to figure out what is in it. But believe me -- it's good.

And it's good to vote so make sure you do it! www.mypollingplace.com

Happy Election Day!

Go out there and vote!

Polls are open from 6am till 9pm.

You must vote near where you live. If you are not sure of your polling site, you can find out online at your local Board of Elections website.

Lessons from a Snapple bottle

I had a bottle of Snapple's Very Cherry today. Under every Snapple lid is a "Real Fact" (They put it in quotes like that -- which makes me think it is somehow not real at all.)

Anyhow, this Real fact says "the Statue of Liberty features 7 points in her crown -- one for each continent."