My Kitchen My Table

Spring Time in NY

Every week a new wave of spring ripples over this city. It started with the crocus and hyacinth in Bryant Park then moved on to the magnolias and daffodils and now the cherry blossoms and tulips are in full bloom.

Daffodils in Bryant Park

Elizabeth Street abloom

Magnolias in in City Hall Park

Tulips in City Hall Park

Tulips under the Cherry Tree

Simply divine, each day brings new blossoms to the streets and the parks.

Savoring Snow

And finally, we have snow! Technically the first snow was in October but since I was in San Francisco this is my first snow.

The light dusting left trees and rooftops glistening. Big puffy snowflakes leisurely fell from the sky, swirling around as they made their way to the ground.

Dieter sat on the windowsill fascinated and mesmerized. Occasionally he reached to the window to try and touch it.

By afternoon most of what remained was slush and this morning what remained was ice.

Like life, with snow, it must be savored in the moment.

OWS

42 days after moving here the occupiers moved into Zuccotti Park, wreaking havoc on lower Manhattan.

Overnight hundreds of NYPD were stationed on our block and every morning for 2 months scenes like these were part of every day life in the neighborhood.

Today, 4 months later, the barricades are still up and it is not possible to walk down the street without being diverted.

The new normal.

Thank you Occupiers.

The Red Cube Has Been Liberated!

…. Yesterday the barricades that had been surrounding Isamu Noguchi’s Red Cube at 140 Broadway came down! Slowly the neighborhood is reclaiming itself.

Thank you city for clearing the occupiers out of Zuccotti Park.

A Perfect Fall Day In Central Park

The tail end of fall in Central Park. A perfect day – cool and crisp. The scent of fallen leaves permeating the air. I’m smitten.

Pick a Peck of Apples

It’s a good thing that this was the weekend we went apple picking. Not only is it the end of the apple season, it is also a week or so after the peak of the foliage.

Nevertheless, it was a perfect fall day – bright blue sky, sunny and crisp. And despite being the end of the season neither the apples nor the foliage disappointed.

Upon arrival we paid for our bushel and peck (so fun that I can actually say I bought a peck of apples) and headed into the orchards, map in hand, to start picking.

One thing of note when we parked the car there was a sign warning about shoplifting… really? In a Hudson Valley orchard… who are these people stealing more than the bushel or peck that they paid for in advance? I am disillusioned that such a warning sign exists but apparently there is a shoplifting problem in idyllic orchardland…

At first glance it was a challenge finding trees that still had apples on them, I instantly thought we had been duped, and then, we found the last few standing… and there were really just a few… like 4 or 5 trees left with apples on the branches.

After picking and eating along the way I ended up with a peck of Cameo and Winesap apples, the Golden Delicious just weren’t for me.

As we drove away I was scheming about the tart tatins, apple pies, apple sauce and apple chutneys that were in my future.

Being Mugged in New York…

… is yet another thing I can say has happened since this West Coast Girl moved East 3 months ago. Last night, on the way home from work actually.

Lesson learned – walking and talking on the phone is a recipe for being mugged. It happens in a flash. They hit you from behind. Before you know it the phone is flying out of your hand, landing on the sidewalk and someone is picking it up and running away with it into the subway…. or around the corner…

Apparently this type of thievery happens frequently in NYC. There are rings of bandits who steal iPhones, insert new sim cards and sell them on the black market.

Perhaps if more NYPD were patrolling the neighborhoods and subway entrances than picking up on women and picking their noses “protecting” Wall Street from the occupiers my mugging could have been avoided.

Current NYC relationship = hate

Advice to all = Don’t Be a Target… Be careful, stay alert, be aware of your surroundings at all times so this doesn’t happen to you.

West Coast Girl Goes East

It wasn’t clear how I’d find my way back to My Kitchen My Table. So much time has passed since Marci’s Coffee Cake. It’s kind of embarrassing actually. Since the coffee cake the MKMT cookbook club has gone on hiatus and this West Coast Girl has moved East. To New York… Manhattan to be precise. It’s always been a dream of mine to live here so when the opportunity presented itself I said, yes please.

But how to pick up from the coffee cake. Almost every single day for the past 86 days that I’ve lived here something has happened to make me think “I need to write about this”.

There has been an earthquake, a hurricane, the 10 year anniversary of 9-11, and the occupiers have taken up residence in a park blocks from my apartment. I’ve had to re-learn how to do all of the things that I took for granted on the west coast – grocery shopping, finding a good cup of coffee, finding a good baguette, figuring out the best way to get off this asphalt island in a rental car – the list goes on.

I’ve learned that it’s true what they say about New York being a completely different place to live than it is to visit. It is also true when they say that this is the easiest place to live at the same time the most difficult. New York is also, quite decidedly, the most and least convenient. These unique-to-New-York lifestyle contradictions result in the cliché love hate relationship with the big apple which is turning out to be a big bite to chew for this west coaster – good thing it’s apple season!

So getting back to how I found my way back. It happened last week. I stepped on it. For weeks I had been walking up a wooden ramp that merged street with sidewalk. It was simply a piece of ply-wood connecting the two, nothing to think twice about… until last week. Someone had written “Become Your Dream” on the ply-wood. It made me smile, I was inspired. And in that moment I realized I had found my way back.

9-11 10 Years Later

Being in Manhattan and living close to Ground Zero sparked a range of emotions for the 10 year rememberance of 9-11.

It was impossible to keep a dry eye while walking around on this somber day. People had traveled from near and far to pay respects for loved ones or those they didn’t know at all.

At Saint Paul’s Chapel the week prior to 9-11 white ribbons were handed out for people to write their sentimets on and hang on the fence. This public work of art was up for a week for any and all to participate in.

Walking by I was voyeuristically drawn into readnig what people had to write. So raw and heartwreching were the emotions.

A city changed forever, an city stronger than ever. The love, loss, comaraderie and emotion on that day made us all feel like one.