New York Story

So what do you do when you have five days in New York City with one of your best friends? First thing is to take a trip up to see one of the world's most exciting views! Can you see the Chrysler Building behind me - wow!


On top of the world


Moody view

That's right nothing quite beats a ride up Broadway in a cab after a day spent catching up with city life, browsing bookshops, boutiques, specialty providores, and being pampered by over-enthusiastic hair professionals AND having just eaten a fantastic meal at one of Greenwich Village's hottest new 18-seat restaurants, Degustation, for a taste of what New York's finest can do tapas-wise. For me the standout dish was the Berkshire pork belly with watermelon gazpacho and pickled tomatillos, Andrew's choice was the Eckerton Farm heirloom tomatoes with seared squid and ricotta chive emulsion. What a way to start my break!

And of course New York turned on some beautiful weather, it was in fact, quite hot (yes, 30 degrees and humid!) and the locals were apologising profusely. So I got my fill of the skyscapers and crowded cityscapes.


Empire State!


Art deco windows

Andrew is in New York for 3 months as a visiting researcher at the Lamont-Doherty Centre which is part of Columbia University, he'd only been in town for a couple of weeks when I arrived so we were both excited about being tourists again.


King of Columbia

And in an excellent stroke of timing, I arrived just before his birthday so took him to The Modern for a luxurious treat. What a great night! After a peak around the collection at MoMA beforehand (aaahhh what an AWESOME collection), we were served the most devine meal, although I have to say my tastebuds were a wee bit overstimulated after 9 weeks of Syama dining, and I found it a bit difficult to process all the flavours. It seems that the chorizo crusted turbot that Andrew chose (and I even tried!) is quite the fashion these days - it kept popping up on menus everywhere I went on my holiday!


Matisse at MoMO


Happy Birthday Andrew!

(Thankyou to Marcia for introducing me to the delights of The Modern in 2005). We spent the rest of the weekend wandering around Manhattan, bumping into the odd street market, sampling bagels, pretzels, cupcakes and other fine fare -participating in a spot of shopping in Soho, and meeting the locals.

And on Sunday morning we thought it might be nice to venture further afield and head off the island into one of the other boroughs - so we jumped on the D train and headed for DUMBO (Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass).

We'd had good tips that the breakfasting was good down there and in one of those moments you have in like-minded company, we passed a little foodstore, turned around and looked at each other - turned back and headed in to consult their menu - no discussion required!


Choosing breakfast

... and my word was I happy with my gargantuan ...


Huevos rancheros

We continued on our tourist trail and had beautiful sunshine and interesting skies for viewing the city from afar ...


Manhattan Bridge

... but the native New Yorker and I had to share the experience with just about every cause in the city! I have never seen so many matching t-shirts or determined people!


Native New Yorker

Alas there is never enough time to do everything either. I managed to see family friends Marcia and Ted again and caught up on their news. I also wandered along 125th Street which is the heart of Harlem and very close to Andrew's uber-chic apartment, so took in the sights and sounds of a part of New York that was completely new to me, and I even fitted in a stroll through Central Park - not a bad break, however brief, I reckon.


Houston Street Station