Pounding the Pavement vs. Couch Potato

My mom arrived to a beautiful Spring New York day last Wednesday, and boy, did we have grand plans for her stay!  We were going to see a show, have a Brooklyn day (full of wonderful Brooklyn things), cook a big meal for my food blog together, and other various adventures.  But... when it came down to it... we just needed ourselves a relaxing little vacation... and so that's what we did.

This blog would be much more interesting if I had taken more pictures... but, alas... hindsight.

Wednesday she pulled up in her little yellow cab and met a friend of mine and I at Starbucks, and then we hopped over to a little restaurant called Community that we love for some delicious eats.  It's across the street from this famous restaurant that you may recognize from a little show called Seinfeld:

I told her that was her tourist moment of the day.  

We headed back up towards my apartment, grabbed some groceries from the fruit man, and had a lazy night in of movie watching.  It was divine.  Especially the gluten free brownies we made and then enjoyed for the duration of her stay.  Nom Nom.

Thursday morning dawned, and we did some boring errand running... just things I needed to get done.  This also included shoe shopping... which SHOULD be a delightful experience... but neither I nor my mom much enjoy shopping... so it was an in and out kind of affair.  That evening we had DELICIOUS Ethiopian food at a restaurant called Awash on the Upper West Side.  Ohmygosh.  Ethiopian is so good.  It's very similar to Indian food in the same way that Brazilian and Mexican are very similar. I find Ethiopian to be more complex in flavor (like I find Brazilian to be more complex than Mexican).  Not to mention the bread that is served with the Ethiopian fare is GLUTEN FREE.  I could eat it. I was in heaven.  I would put a picture here... but I didn't take one.  Mostly because the second the food was placed before us, we devoured it like wild beasts.   We then headed down to Greenwich Village to see my friend perform in an evening of scenes from Shakespeare's histories.  She was brilliant, as per usual.

Friday was the ultimate in lazy days.  We went out to the Cloisters which is a beautiful museum branch of the Met.  Located up at the very top of Manhattan in an area known as Inwood, the Cloisters are quiet, secluded, and incredibly peaceful.

The museum was built to look like a Medieval Cloister to house a large collection of religious artifacts dating from the Medieval times--you know, all that time in history when dragons and Jesus and unicorns were running rampant in France and England and other parts of Europe.  It's a most amazing building--many of the structural elements are artifacts, themselves.  Doors, windows, fireplaces, and stones from Medieval European ruins were transported here and incorporated into the design.  And the collection of artifacts is astounding.  Unfortunately, I have the attention span of a cocker spaniel when in a museum, and eventually museum fatigue set it, and at that point I was happy to just wander the halls and drool over the decadence of it all.  And the best part was the Cloistered gardens and cafe.  We sat and had coffee and wonderful conversation in the garden cafe for a good hour, and then headed back down to my apartment.

We ordered Thai take out and I introduced my momma to Papaya salad and Massaman Curry--Two of my favorite things, and we then proceeded to watch Peggy Sue Got Married, Mystic Pizza, and Muriel's Wedding--none of which had I ever seen before.  So I feel more like a functioning member of society for having seen them.

Saturday I had my improv class in the early afternoon, and afterwards we explored Central Park a bit and sat under cover by what used to be Tavern on the Green and people watched as a Spring shower tickled the pavement around us.  We had plans to meet up with a college professor of mine who then transitioned to my voice teacher for the first year I was here in New York.  It was a new food adventure for my mom as it was one of those Japanese restaurants where everything is $3, and you just pick and choose different foods.  It makes me think of those Greek diners where the menus are just pages and pages long, but it's all Japanese food!  It was yummy, and good to catch up with my old teacher. 

Sunday morning was a most exciting day--it was my grad show from the second level of improv training at the Upright Citizens Brigade.  We met up with a few friends before hand for brunch at one of our favorite places--Cafe Orlin.  It is a MUST on each of my momma's visits to New York.  When I first lived in New York back in my interior design days, I lived right down the street from it and we would go for their pumpkin pancakes (which are to DIE for).  Now, it's a bit more of a trek down from Harlem... and I can't eat the pumpkin pancakes anymore.... but it's not much of a sacrifice as their Huevos Rancheros are delectable, and paired with their granola and fruit... my momma and I split a FEAST.  My grad show went well--no one died, which is a definite perk, and I feel confident that I've graduated to the next level.  I treated my mom to Stogo (which was featured in my first episode of my new travel show over at my food blog), and then we winded down toward home.  Of course, we stopped on the way home to pick up Bridesmaids, because my mom didn't know who Kristen Wiig was.  I found this to be unacceptable.

Which brings us to Monday.  How could it already be Monday?? The trip has gone so quickly!!  Monday we headed out for the Circle Line Boat Tour--something people have been telling me about since I moved to the city, but I had yet to do.  It's $38 for a 3 hour boat cruise around the entire island of Manhattan and well worth every penny.  Bring your own drinks and snacks, because the on-board cafe is definitely overpriced.  The day started out BEAUTIFULLY.  Bright sun and blue skies--not a cloud on the horizon.  You can see it here in this picture of the Intrepid with the space shuttle Enterprise on board:

Perfection!  

Of course... take a look at this next picture, and note the sky's change in mood:

Construction at Ground Zero with the new Freedom Tower
on the left. 1,776 feet tall!  Tallest building in the country.

Doesn't even look like the same day, does it?  Crazy! Crazy I tell you!  This was a mere 30 minutes later.  Oh well.  It was still a delightful tour.  Our guide was this adorable old man with a wealth of knowledge and a sharp wit matched with a dose of self deprecation.  My favorite kind of humor.  The boat takes you the closest I've ever been to the Statue of Liberty, which was awesome.  Not gonna lie.  I got a little misty eyed lookin' at her.  She's real purdy.

We also got great views of the entire East side--which is truly beautiful when seen from the East River.  The entire island looks incredibly beautiful from a boat.  It's astounding.

The Chrysler Building is still my favorite.

Unfortunately the tide was higher than normal, and so the boat couldn't make the entire circumference of the island.  Apparently, up by East Harlem and around the northern tip of the island, the bridges are much smaller and lower, and when tides are normal the large Circle Line boats have no trouble navigating them... but when tides are high... well... it's a no go.  So we did a U shaped tour of Manhattan--but I'll take it!  It got super windy and cooled off a good 10 degrees, so we were shivery by the time the boat docked.  We then headed to Little Italy to visit Rubirosa, another one of my mom's favorite food stops when she comes to visit.  I have a friend who works there, and so we always get special, wonderful service--this time we got treated to a flourless chocolate cake for dessert... which was just so melt in your mouth amazing that we were fighting over that last bite!  Our meal was amazing as well--brussel sprouts to start followed by an arugula gluten free pizza and gluten free spaghetti and marinara... Oh my!  I will be blogging about it on my food blog, for SURE.

Next thing I knew, it was Tuesday and time to send my mom back below the Mason Dixon Line.  I sure am a lucky girl to have such a wonderful mom who has grown into a wonderful friend, as well.  I feel like we had the perfect combination of pounding that New York City pavement and resting our haunches on my semi-comfortable Ikea couch.  One day I'll have a lush, plush, luxurious living room... but until then, mine does the trick.  And, finally, she left me with some adorable yellow flowers to brighten my apartment:

Onward and forward!