Lostitude, Birthday Dancing, and Europe In New York

On Saturday I decided to walk through Central Park on my way to the Whitney as it was such a glorious day out. I started out on 96th and CP West, and wandered down along the Reservoir and what I thought was The Great Lawn. I saw these two ragtime-style performers, and boy did they jam.


Then I was like, "I should make it across and go to the museum." After a half hour of walking, I came along a set of buildings and thought, "Oh, it's the other side. Great!" But I soon realized that I had just walked back to Central Park West. "Dangit!" I said, but at least I was all the way down to 72nd Street (the museum is on 75th). So I thought, "Well, I'll just walk across from here."

So, walk I did, and soon ended up at the actual Great Lawn.


"Perfect! I'll just walk directly across and end up at 5th Avenue." So I walked, and walked, and walked, and soon I was across the lawn but there was a big fence that wouldn't allow me to get out. So I walked a little bit around, found the exit, and started heading towards the buildings I saw. Well, after a very, very long time, I finally saw some cars through the bush and thought, "Yay! Fifth Avenue! It's about time!" As it turns out, I was all the way at Central Park South. SOUTH. I walked nearly the entire length of the park, zigzagging along, only to end up 20 blocks out of my way. I guess I should have realized that when I realized I had been walking for an HOUR AND A HALF. Jeez. I mean, this is acceptable behavior for a tourist, but not for someone who's lived here for THREE YEARS!

I finally made it to the Whitney, but was exhausted, and when I went in I didn't spend too much time there because I realized the exhibit I was seeing would have been better to experience with Dustin. I took one picture though. This was amazing and gorgeous.


But I will return and later will post more about that. So then I walked home from there and on the way saw this beautiful old-fashioned dress shop.


Later that night, I met up with D. and he was astonished at my "lostitude." I said, "I KNOW!! What the heck?!"


We had the same hairstyle that night as we went downtown to celebrate Shannon's birthday. However, the bouncer said we weren't on the list (thanks to a bad party planner) so we all had to find someplace else to go. He was actually quite rude about it.



We were both all, "What the heck?!"


No worries, though, the birthday girl was still having a grand time walking around the Lower East Side in heels.


As a female in New York City, one must be careful not to have her purse stolen during a night on the town. However, when one goes dancing, it's too easy to just put down your purse so you can properly boogie. Therefore, after having her purse snatched, Shannon has developed a fabulous strategy: just put it all in your shirt.

As you can see here, she keeps all of her cards, cash, I.D. and cell phone down there. And it doubles as a padding agent!


And dance we did that night. Dustin and I brought back a trend called "The Baby," as made popular by the 1988 movie "Dirty Dancing." You (fellas) just swing your lady around and up.


Woo-hoo! Shannon was so enthralled she wanted a try.


Soon everyone was doing it.


Some dude, whose name I forget, challenged Shannon to a good old-fashioned dance-off.


He got down all right.


But who seriously thinks they can out-dance this girl?


And her man?



Then she and D. started the good old styles.


And the twirl!


The next day we headed up, up and away to Inwood to visit the Cloisters, a collection of Renaissance and Medieval art in a beautiful structure (a Cloister) nestled within Fort Tryon Park.


We walked through some lovely green pathways to get to it.


Look! The Hudson River!



The architecture was amazing.



Jennifer, it was just like being in Italy again.


There was very little artificial lighting, so as not to disturb these 500-year-old pieces.


We saw a TON of Pietas.




And a lot of Marys in general.







Even stained glass!





And unicorn tapestries!


Accompanied by a whale bone that people used to think was a unicorn's corn. (or is it horn?)



This adorable little girl was in awe of everything.


There was even some nature to be enjoyed.



We relaxed in the courtyard.


Dustin enjoyed the fountain.



Then we squirreled away to this shady dome and relaxed there too.





We also spotted Lonny Rock, this guy, an actor from "30 Rock" (one of my favorite shows). We're beginning to think we have a fated connection with him, as we have been to the same events as him previously (the Albert Hammond Jr. concert, to be exact).

Then it was getting late, and the museum hurried us out so they could close up for the night.


But we still enjoyed the views on the way out.





This dude was doing tai chi in the park.


We had dinner at the well-reviewed restaurant within the park, and I had this strawberry mojito, or as I like to call it, the KAZAM! For Your Tastebuds.


Delish!


Yep, my baby was lookin' good that day.


But not as good as this apple almond tart.


Ciao belle!


love,
*jenna*

A Glassy Saturday

Good golly it was quite a week last week. We finished up three different jobs at work (NASCAR, Levi's and an ESPN spot featuring David Beckham) and I worked late every single night. All three of our runners at the office either quit or were fired. Friday the 13th definitely felt freaky, and I was just happy to see the week end and get a chance to sleep.

In the hopes of raising my spirit, I wore one of my favorite skirts - this bright yellow monstrosity.


For dinner, Dustin and I went to Tabla, an Indian fusion restaurant, one of our faves. We had "avocado salad" as an appetizer, which in reality was a fancy name for guacamole.


And their special corn, which were just like elotes. (hmmm, maybe Indian and Mexican aren't so different.)


On Saturday, we were going to a concert at Lincoln Center.


A bunch of us from work had gotten tickets to "The Book Of Longing," which was composed of music written by Philip Glass inspired by/set to a collection of poems by Leonard Cohen. Quite extraordinary indeed. I was excited to get dressed up.


A bunch of us met at Rosa Mexicana, another fave. The best Mexican food in New York (except maybe for Maya).


Naturally, we got the tableside guacamole.


Dustin and I had almost the same thing (tacos) except his were beef and mine chicken. Both SCRUMPTIOUS.


It was girls on one side...


... and boys on the other.




One of my favorite aspects of the Rosa Mexicana restaurants is their decòr.

Dozens of miniature divers suspended against a waterfall, mimicking the divers of La Quebrada in Acapulco:


As well as these lovely lamps at the bar, just in front of warmly-lit panels covered in rose petals.


The show actually was at the Rose Theatre section of Lincoln Center, in the Time Warner Center at Columbus Square, where "Jazz at Lincoln Center" is shot. It was quite beautiful indeed and had many acoustic enhancements.


The show was very unique. Glass played keyboard and there were sketches and a rotating set of self-portraits by Cohen as set design. For several poems, Cohen's prerecorded voice blanketed the space in a throaty, raspy, worn tone. The music was, of course, haunting and beautiful, and the musicians exquisite.


This cellist's solo gave me goosebumps.


There were some singers involved, but I felt that their Broadway-style of singing rendered the poetry's intimate and thoughtful prose cheap and damn near silly.




But it was still a unique and often moving performance, and the musicians and composer received a standing ovation at the end.


Hey, who doesn't love a great elevator portrait?


One of our fired/resigned (depending on how you look at it) runners made it out. He was a little nutso that night, having left/lost his job just the day before.


As the group scattered, Dustin and I had time to kill so we went further into the Time Warner Center and did the Sunday crossword.


Not a bad backdrop at all. A bit later, we traveled to Brooklyn for a birthday party.


Complete with some delicious homemade food.


The party was thrown by none other than Dustin's ex-girlfriend Kerri, one of the only exes of his I had not yet met.


She was cool, and though I was a bit nervous, I realized she and I have more in common than I thought. She's living in NYC for the summer learning Yiddish (not that that's something in common...) Anyway, here she is with her new lady friend.


We spent much of the night chatting with this energetic couple and trying to guess each other's occupations.


It was very warm in that apartment, but the sweaty people had a good time nonetheless, including Kerri and the birthday girl.


Someone tried to get us to do "The 1/8th Smile" which I didn't understand until the last second. You smile as big as you can, and then you take it down to half of that, and then half of that, and then... well, then I start laughing hysterically.


But after a giggly struggle I made it. I also like to call this expression "The Lindsay Lohan Just Caught By The Paparazzi."


We sang and stuff. The usual birthday festivities.


Present at the party was this chick whose name escapes me at the moment, but she was freaking me out.


I'm sure you understand. Anyways...... only 3 weeks until our Cancun vacation! Can't come soon enough.



love,
*jenna*

Even without the glitter, New York is golden.

So, after the Mermaid Parade, nearly everything else in my New York life was overshadowed. I was euphoric after that day but I have done some amazing things since then that should not be forgotten.

The next day, Sunday, some of Dustin's friends were going to Red Hook, a neighborhood in Brooklyn. For the last 30 years, the locals have played soccer at a nearby field during the warmer months, every week I think. I guess it was mostly South American folks - Venezuelan, Brazilian, Ecuadorean, El Salvadorean, Colombian, etc. One day someone had the genius idea of bringing food to barbecue at the games. That morphed into selling the food to the crowd, and now, decades later, there is a weekly collection of authentic, amazing Latin food - all of the above listed groups as well as Mexican, Puerto Rican and more, selling fresh juices, elotes, pupusas, and many more amazing AMAZING foods.

So we met up with Dustin's pals, Sarah, Claire and Aaron, to join the fun and stand in long but well-worth-it lines.


There were lots of people there. It may be a well-kept neighborhood secret, but it seemed like everyone from the 'hood was there.


This beautiful mamì was hard at work. For pupusas, you choose your fillings (meat, veggies, cheese, beans, or all of the above) and then they integrate it into the delicious dough and fry it up all together.



I had some limeade, bean-and-cheese pupusas, and of course elotes, which is corn on the cob slathered in butter, Oaxacan or parmesean cheese, lemon juice, and chili powder. You can also have it with mayo but I don't roll that way. But believe me, it was tremendously satisfying. It's hard to describe how mind-blowingly good this food was to people just reading about it, but this food requires a new word for amazing. Best food I've had since we went to Mexico last year. (And I think it was the same weekend as last year!)

We settled on a grassy knoll to relax and chow down. We didn't watch much soccer, but we did take some time to lay around and enjoy life's simple contentments: great food, beautiful weather, and the pleasure of each others' company.


Some dudes were playing cards nearby.


Dustin went for more food and came back with this taco-like concoction called huarache. Filled with savory meat, cheeses and all kinds of good stuff, it nearly defeated his already-filled stomach.


Luckily he made it through valiantly, and then we just layed around (lay around? lie around? lied around? Mom, chime in here) and I indulged my visual obsession with sunlight streaming through a canopy of trees.






We just chilled and chatted, and Aaron and I even played some Frisbee (unpictured). I sucked.

On the way home, we saw some cool graffitti.



And some interesting texture on the subway station ceiling.



The next weekend (last weekend), among work and other such nonsense, Dustin and I squeezed in some time at the Natural History Museum.


We got to see the huge whale.


I made out with an ugly fish.


And Dustin got his eye poked by a vicious sword fish.


We originally came for the Mythical Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns and Mermaids exhibit, but it was sold out. What??! Whatever. So we saw a frogs exhibit instead.



I was kinda like, "Eh." But then one of them MOVED! I was like, "WHOAAA! WHA-????" I didn't know they were REAL frogs! I mean, everything else in the museum is a recreation of everything, so I was shocked, SHOCKED to see that they were real.


It made the exhibit soooo cool. They look like they're freaking plastic toys, but they're REAL!



And so tiny!!





I want a frog!





At the gift shop, Dustin got friendly with the toys.


And THEN, the next day we wanted to go out for dinner. We were near the office, and we're always looking for new places to go around there for future reference. Dustin had seen some places while strolling to a friend's apartment earlier that week, so we decided to look at some of the menus.

On our way, we were struck by the unparalleled beauty of the New York sunset beaming through the avenue.





I reeeeeeeeeeally didn't want to go to this place Artisanal, because I just didn't want French food, and French restaurants tend to be snooty and not treat us well. But after looking at some other places, Dustin kept saying, "I think it will probably be good." He was underestimating, because we both knew this place was famous for its cheeses. I said "What the hell" and off we went.


Good bread.


Good onion soup.


I was never really into cheeses, but since this place was known for it, we gave it a go. And it was amazing - the way they combine each cheese with certain fresh fruits and meats, the textures and flavors were very satisfying. I am now soooo into cheese plates.


My steak was perfectly done.


Dustin's chicken was perfectly moist.


The cheesecake was perfectly fluffy, though after our meal we could barely split it.


By the end I was very glad we had gone there. Now all I want to eat are cheese plates and pupusas.


love,
*jenna*