Best bets for Boston

My friend HB in New Haven asked me for places to hang outin Boston, where I spent two sordid years. Despite that, I actually DO know of places I recommend for hanging out and/or seeing. Here they are:

Grendl's Den in Harvard Square (red line to Harvard stop).

The food is great, cheap and there is often live music. It is funky!!

Also check out the Holocaust Memorial by the Olde Union Oyster House (subway: Haymarket on green and orange lines). there is a pub there called the Bell In Hand -- I think it is the oldest pub in America!

The Living Room on Atlantic Avenue in the North End. It is directly behind Faneuil Hall (go under the bridge). You can reserve a huge sofa to sit and have drinks and dinner on.

As Forrest Gump would say "And that is all I have to say about that."

Sweet as a magnolia

My friend DRS took me to the Magnolia Bakery in the Chelsea neighborhood yesterday. Even I, who barely knows about ANYTHING famous in this city barring the Statue of Liberty and Empire State Building, had heard of this renowned bakery.

I had the cupcake special --- a devil's food cupcake with cream cheese frosting and coconut. Aw, yeah -- that's the stuff!!! It was $2.25 -- the 'regular' cupcakes are only $1.75. they are all fresh and delicious, made the old-fashioned way, so customers are restricted to buying only 1 dozen each. That seems fair, considering the high demand.

Magnolia Bakery Inc
401 Bleecker St
New York, NY 10014-2452

Phone: (212) 462-2572

*** NOTE: It may well seem that I eat nothing but sugary crap, according to these posts. I assure you I eat regular food as well, for example --- 3 different kinds of kebabs. I can even cook a few healthy dishes. This is good, considering I work as a personal trainer as well!!!!

It's been way longer than 15 minutes now.

I passed Andy Warhol's former home at 57 E. 66th Street yesterday. It is by E. 66th Street and Madison Avenue. Warhol is the iconoclastic pop artist whose works include painting in lurid color such icons as Jackie Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe. He also said "In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes."

In that vein, I shall note that I just finished a book that I highly recommend: Wendy Leigh's "The Secret Letters of Marilyn Monroe and Jacqueline Kennedy."

Travels with Judy

My friend HB's brother is directing a film of their friend, Vicki, who is comparing what Steinbeck saw during his Travels with Charlie to what he might see if he repeated the trip today. She's calling it "Travels with Judy" (Judy is her dog).

Check out the link: http://www.travelswithjudy.com/index.html

and read both Steinbeck's "Travels with Charlie" and Clare de Vries "I & Claudius" (in which she travels across the USA with her cat)!!!!

Big apples hit the Big Apple

There is a new street art exhibit in New York, akin to Chicago's cows, Massachusetts lobsters, and DC's donkeys and elephants and pandas. They are giant apples, measuring about four feet by four feet, painted by artists to express a different aspect of New York.

The Big Apple fest, as it is called, runs through October 15th, and are located mainly in Manhattan. More information can be found at www.bigapplefest.com

Spidey sightings

I keep seeing Spiderman in Times Square. The first time was early in the summer -- he was riding some sort of "Spidey Chariot" down 42nd Street and everyone was cheering him on. It was around the time the movie "Spiderman 2" came out, so I figured it was a promotional stunt.

Then I saw him chillin' like a villain and high-fiving people earlier this month (see "Today in Times Square", Sept 6, 2004) and then he was window-shopping at the Virgin Record Store when we left the Majestic Theatre (see "Phantom of the Opera", Sept 22, 2004).

Maybe this guy just likes dressing like Spiderman? At least he knows his outft always matches.

Phone call

I just got a weird phone call at work. I picked the phone up and said “Hello”.

Some guy asks “Is it legal?”

So I say, “Um, what is?”

He realized he had the wrong number, apologized and hung up.

A bright new artist hits Manhattan

I met an artist named Matt Schwartz right outside the Met. He just started selling his artwork last week, and I really liked it. What I liked more is that Matt did not pressure me to buy when he saw that I was interested, which makes me MORE likely to buy from him.

Matt's work is interesting because he takes huge Polaroids of scenes, such as the Wonder Wheel and Cyclone of Coney Island, then transposes the negatives onto watercolor paper. I had not even known people could do that!

To see soem of Matt's photography works, visit www.mattschwartzphotography.com

Art on a Saturday afternoon

I went to the Met today, mainly because it's there and I can. I also have not been there since last November and felt like looking at some art.

My favorite piece by far is Mark Tansey's 1981 painting "An Innocent Eye Test", in which two men in white lab coats observe a cow, who is viewing a life-size painting of another cow.

Another Starbucks blog

What can I say? Not much is going on in the subway!

Anyhow, I had a Toffee Nut Creme at Starbucks in Queens Center Mall today. It is steamed milk with toffee flavor (kind of like butterscotch), topped with whipped cream and then toffee sprinkles. Delicioso! Perfect to drink with a cup of gelato!!!

Me gusta ese gelato!

I love the gelato available at Ciao Bella Cafe on the corner of E 92nd Street and Madison Avenue. JAO and I went there for a cup of Tahitian Vanilla and Chocolate, respectively.

Ciao Bella recently was featured on the NBC show "The Apprentice", a reality show where 16 people compete to work for Donald Trump. About a week ago, Trump gave his two teams the assignment of inventing a new ice cream flavor for Ciao Bella and peddling it on the streets of NYC. Whichever team made the most profit at the end of the day would win.

Neither of the two invented flavors were available today (Red Velvet - based on a butter cake with cream cheese frosting and pecans - and Vanilla Dunkin Donut - donuts in vanilla ice cream.) But I really liked the chocolate so it's all good!

Phantom of the Opera

JAO and I also hit the Majestic Theater to see "The Phantom of the Opera" at 8 pm. We even dressed up for it. We are so classy!

Due to a great deal available on www.playbill.com, we got orchestra seats, 2nd row, and had a great view for $45. Anyone who wants to see any Broadway play should log on to www.playbill.com and keep their eyes open for all sorts of specials so they can benefit. Seriously, no one is paying me to say this -- it's true!

Phantom was very well-done, and the Majestic is a gorgeous theater. It is a New York landmark at 247 W 44th Streetbetween 7th & 8th Avenue. It has been a Broadway venue since its opening on March 28, 1927, and Phantom has been playing there since 1988.

For those of you who can't make it to NYC, "Phantom" has been made into a movie starring Minnie Driver and Miranda Richardson. No word on when it is slated to come out in theaters.

Sojourn to the Statue

As it was an unseasonably warm summer-like day on this first day of fall, JAO and I rode the 5 train to Battery Park to get tickets to go to the Statue of Liberty.

There were 3 performers in the park, all dressed up like Lady Liberty and so tall I was sure they were men. So they were drag queens, in a sense. They stood on pedestals and blew kisses at everyone.

I hadn't ridden this ferry since 1991, and before THAT, 1983 on a 5th grade field trip. Before the 5th grade, my family used to make the trip regularly with out-of-town guests. The ferry no longer serves the vanilla soft-serve ice cream cones that we got every single time --- they sell the equally delicious Haagen-Dazs ice cream bars instead. MMMM!

Liberty Island (where the Statue is situated) is actually part of New Jersey. It is also a National Park, akin to Yellowstone and Denali State Parks. There is a small information center with an exhibit both on Lady Liberty and other national parks.

BTW -- in Paris, under a bridge on the Seine, there is a miniature Statue of Liberty, as the Statue was designed by Gustave Eiffel (yes, THAT Eiffel) in the 1880s as a present to the USA. It is said that he modeled the face on his mother. The Statue was shipped in pieces and put together upon arrival. Batteries not included (just kidding).

On second thought ....

The Lopez sisters don't rock at all, musically or otherwise. Now the Jacksons -- THERE'S a family that rocks! Viva la familia Jackson! (See "Viva la Lynda Lopez", September 20, 2004)

Viva la Lynda Lopez!

I watch the morning news show on Channel WB 11. The show has a newsanchor named Lynda Lopez on whom I did some research and realized that, as suspected, she is indeed J. Lo's sister. They both rock!

EEEEEEEK!

I was in the Woodhaven Boulevard subway station about an hour ago and this mouse ran down the stairs and into a hole in the wall. Gross .....

Thought of the Day

"Your lives are in the hands of men who are no smarter than you or I, many of them incompetent boobs. I know this because I've worked alongside them, gone bowling with them, watched them pass me over for promotions time and time again . . . and I say, this stinks."

- Homer Simpson, of the television show The Simpsons

Dalai Lama in the Caribbean

The Dalai Lama is slated to be in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on September 24 and 25th. Muy bien! I wonder if Richard Gere will also be there??

Me gusto el matzoh ball

I went to Sarge's Delicatessan, a 24-hour joint in Manhattan, with a friend for a late night bowl of matzoh ball soup. That was the first time I had ever eaten a matzoh ball and I rather like it. I highly recommend it to one and all.

Kebabs, in all their glory

All you kebab aficionados should know that, at any given halal kebab vendor in NYC, there are 3 basic types of chicken kebabs you can have. I have sampled them and listed them in order of my personal preference:

1. Lemon juice and salt -- very light on the stomach. Lemon taste is not strong at all.

2. BBQ sauce -- great stuff, can be messy.

3. Hot sauce -- can be TOO hot, depending on how much the vendor slathers on. Proceed with caution.

Kebabs (about 6 cubes of meat on a wooden stick, grilled under a press) cost $3 in Manhattan and $2 in Queens. I have no idea about the prices in Staten Island, Brooklyn or the Bronx.

You COULD buy the grill press from Williams-Sonoma for about $35, but how likely are you to actually use it??

Purity test

You know, there may be some purists who say this blog is not really all about New York as I write about what happens in other places I go (New Jersey; Washington, DC; Baltimore; Philadelphia; New Haven; San Juan).

I say shut up and get your own blog.

www.blogger.com

Favorite summer drink

Not much going on here, so I thought I would bore you with some trivia about what I got from Starbucks most of the summer (the few times I went):

Strawberries & Crème Blended Frappuccino
Strawberries and milk blended with ice, topped with whipped cream.

It's good!!!

But I am awaiting the day they invent amaretto frappuccino. Or maybe I'll just have to blend it myself. Yes, that's the ticket!!

Smells like plant

I just broke off a small bit of the aloe plant in our office, because I heard the inside has a gel that can be used as a lotion. It can -- except it smells like rotting vegetation. I don't know if that is all aloe plants or just this one.

Not again!!!

Apparently, tropical storm Jeanne is brewing (following her predecessors Charley, Frances, Gaston and Ivan) and is headed for Puerto Rico!!! She is slated to hit the beleagured state of Florida as well.

I saw on the news today that, due to the storms, people have notbeen able to go out and donate blood in Florida. Now the blood supply is depleting without any replacement. If you have any way of safely going to give blood in Florida, please call up your local blood bank and see what you can do. Thanks.

Me gusto el amaretto!

While in Old San Juan (Puerto Rico), I had the most delicious gelato I have ever had. It was at a place called E'lados in Plaza de las Armas, and they served amaretto gelato with bits of amaretto cookie mixed into it. I am now on a quest to locate this dessert in the continental United States.

Well done, Captain!

I went to Puerto Rico last weekend. I loved it because it was one of those flights where people applauded upon landing -- both in San Juan and later, when we returned to New York.

The first time I ever heard "airplane applause" was in 1994, when I was returning from Madrid to London via Paris. I sat next to a Canadian girl named Helen, and we were surprised at how much everyone applauded when the plane landed in Paris.

Many people disembarked and we then flew to London. Upon landing, there was almost no applause.

"Awwww!" said Helen. "No one's clappin!"

An elderly woman in front of us turned around and smiled benevolently as she spoke in a veddy British accent. "My dear, we simply do not DO that here!"

Subways of Years Past

www.forgotten-ny.com/SUBWAYS

This site depicts all of the obsolete things about the NYC subway system -- doors that lead to nowhere, traces of abandoned subway routes, etc. I wonder if they have anything about the people from the movie "Dark Days" on it (see "Movie Review: Dark Days, September 7, 2004).

perfectly accessorized jogger

This morning, I was at the corner of E. 60th Street and Lexington Avenue when I saw an elderly male jogger in a light blue nylon windbreaker, shorts and a white T-shirt. The man had naturally white hair with blue streaks that matched his windbreaker.

Between him and the puppy's bonnet, New York is indeed the fashion capital of the world. (See "What a cute baby!" September 9, 2004)

what a cute baby!

I was on Steinway Street in Queens last night around 6pm when I saw a very muscular guy carrying a little white puppy. The puppy was wearing a baby bonnet.

And the real reason is .....

New York has the best pizza and bagels because the drinking water quality is so great. New York has the nation's largest naturally filtered water system. It rocks!!!

Trivia: The reservoir in Central Park is officially named the "Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir." So now you know! And knowing is half the battle. (GI Joe!)

Now that's what I call service!

I was meeting a friend at 60th and Lexington last week. He was on the side of the street opposite where I was leaving the subway. As I crossed the street, I waved my hand to get his attention.

Instantly, two cabs braked to pick me up.

Movie Review: Dark Days

Director Marc Singer lived for 2 years in the train tunnels beneath Penn Station. He was far from alone --- there is a veritable community down there, they have built little huts and do everything we do on the surface: cook meals, keep pets and discuss life.

It is far better to be homeless under the ground than on the surface, the various interviewees agree. No one messes with you down in the tunnels (although one woman's hut is burnt down by a vengeful boyfriend.) They show the kennel they built for their beagles after one got hurt.

Perhaps the hardest scene is when one man discusses his daughter who was raped, burned and dismembered when she was 5 years old. Another woman talks of her two kids who perished in a fire. Just because they don't live in traditional houses does not mean they don't have people they care about or who cared about them.

Marc Singer does a good job of keeping his documentary free of judgement, nor does he give them false nobility nor does he degrade them. He just films them and lets them speak for themselves. All they want, as one man says is "three little words -- and they ain't I Love You, they're Leave Us Alone."

Today in Times Square

I saw smoke billowing out of a building at West 41st Street and 7th Avenue around 1:20 pm. At 1:25 pm, the fire trucks came.

A man dressed as Spiderman was standing on the corner of West 45th Street and Broadway. People were yelling "Hey Spidey!" and high fiving him.

A homeless man sat outside of the Virgin Megastore with a signt hat read "Tell Me Off for $2.00."

Beauty is where you find it

At the corner of 47th Street and 33rd Avenue in Long Island City, Queens (outside of the MOMA Queens), there is a truck parking lot. Over its entire wire fence, there is a carpet of vines and bright pink morning glories.

so ironic

I am writing this from the Times Square Information Center. I can't help but think it is ironic how everyone feels aneed to take photos of the billboards in Times Square, which invariably are of the same ads in magazines that everyone ignores.

Clinton hospitalized

I am at Columbia School of Public Health for a seminar today, and Bill Clinton has just been rushed to the hospital here for bypass surgery. Apparently he had chest pains a little earlier.

Macy's update

I went to the flagship Macy's in Herald Square last week and indeed there is a bridal shop in there. I rode the old wooden escalators to the 8th floor to check it out. (See "Jersey Bride Barbie", August 26th, 2004).

Very cute!

The hotel at 6th Avenue and Central Park West has trimmed its shrubs into the shape of little elephants in honor of the delegates staying there for the Republican National Convention.

Very fitting that the elephants are made out of bushes.

Fire escape escapades

My landlord lives above me and he has two small kids who like to throw things out the window. In the 3 months I have lived there, I have found a lollipop, some dolls, and a Hello Kitty backpack out there. Today there is a child-sized polo shirt hanging there.

I go out there and retrieve them, then take them upstairs and put the items on their doormat (except the lollipop -- I threw that away.)

Fuhgeddaboutit!

George W. Bush accepted the RNC's nomination tonight at 9:30 pm. There was a movement for New Yorkers to yell "NO!" out their windows at that moment. There were reminedrs on the sidealk in chalk.

Funny, but I didn't hear anything. Que sera sera.

Welcome to the Ivy League

On Saturday and Sunday, I went to Yale's "Welcome Week" and on Monday, I went to Columbia University's. Not so much to hang out with the Ivy League, but to search for free food. I am a poor scrub.