Brooklyn Brewery...

Yesterday afternoon Ben and I went to the Brooklyn Brewery for a few drinks and to go on the tour that Tom and I went on in the summer.

When we got there it wasn't very busy, but by the time were were on to our second pint, the place was heaving! Loads of people had gone along to the brewery bar and taken lots of lovely looking food with them. People had tubs full of cupcakes, pigs in blankets, pizza, bagels... all sorts. We were tempted to steal some of the pigs in blankets!

The 'tour' wasn't as good as it was in the summer - the brewery's currently going under a massive expansion, they're going to go from making 10,000 bottles in Brooklyn to around 100,000 within a couple of years. So we weren't able to go into the main brewing room that Tom and I went into.

It made me glad that Tom and I went on the tour when we did, we'll have seen the brewery when it was still fairly small, and had a drink at the brewery bar before it got expanded and made fancier. I think we'll have to go again in February though, apparently they're releasing a special beer called Black Ops which is soaked in beer barrell and they only make it for 1 month - February! So I think a special birthday drink will be in order.

Cheers!

Ninja Noel...

On Wednesday night it was the first proper Elmwood New York Christmas Doo.

(I wasn't taking any photos, so I've had to steal some other people's - they're not great I'm afraid)

After a few drinks and nibbles at a quiet little bar we went on for our meal at a place called Ninja. We'd heard rumours about Ninja from various people, hearing that you were served food by Ninja's in a Ninja Castle! So, we thought we'd go and see if the rumours were true...

They were.

Our Ninja waitors served us our first course with out own mini Samuari swords, and we had to shout Haaaay-ya! before we could eat it. After the firt course came four more theatrical Japanese dishes - we had some tuna and beetroot stuff for our first course (some people have foie gras), followed by a small plate of sushi (with some caviar!)...

Then came a dish that we had to headbutt to get in to...

It was meant to look like a tree stump, it was made out of filo pastry and full of rice and delicious beef - it was the size a main course, so we were all getting a little nervous about how big the main courses were going to be...

The steaks were absolutely HUGE, far far too big to finish but they were nothing compared to the paella 'for one'...

5 bits of salmon! For one person! It was ridiculous.

Then just when we thought we'd pop, they brought out pudding. The pudding was the most theatrical course with the waitress turning steel ninja stars into chocolate ninja stars and serving us magic potions...

...and not everything was as it seemed...

This egg and bacon was actually a lemon cheesecake with some manjo on top and the bacon was a cinnamon twist. After pudding we had a magician come to the table and do some old fashioned cup and ball tricks - he was great!

It was a really fun night and although we all put on about 2 stone during the meal, the food was mighty tasty (especially the tree trunk dish). Ninja was like no other restaurant we'd ever been to, I wonder if there are any other themed restaurants we could explore...?

A Sunny Thursday Afternoon...

Frosty The Snowman...

Well, it might not be snowing in New York - but that doesn't mean we've not been enjoying snowmen like everyone back at home...

This little chap is sitting happily in our bathroom (he's a soap dispenser with apple soap inside) - and his hat is a real knitted hat!

And this happy fella is hanging out over the telly.

I'll send some more photos of our apartment as it gets more Christmassy... not long to go now!

Red & Gold...

The Empire State Building has been looking very Thanksgivingy these past few days with golden and red lights lighting up the tower. It looked beautiful on our way home from shopping today...

(The shopping bags are deliberately out of shot so none of you can guess what you're getting!)

Let It Snow...

I've been seeing pictures of the snow back at home... I hope you're all keeping safe and warm - it looks like there's been quite a bit. We've had no such luck over here, this is as close as it's got to snowing in Brooklyn...

I've got my fingers crossed for some snow over here - it's blummin' cold enough to snow! I'll keep you posted...

Black Friday...

After saying I was going to spend the day hiding in the apartment (or better still, the pub) - I caved and went into town with Abi to brave the Black Friday shoppers...

Luckily, Abi didn't want to go in for the 4am 'door-buster' deals (although there was talk about staying up all night and going into town at 3.30am!), so we went into town at a far more sociable time - lunchtime. Although, it was still HEAVING with shoppers as all the stores had special deals on. The night before, on the news it said it was likely to be the most successful shopping day America's seen for a looooong time - seems the recession's fully over over here.

The shops were looking lovely and Christmassy with all their decorations up, Macy's expecially looked incredibly festive. I know that not all the shops have got their decorations up yet, so it's going to get even more sparkley in the coming weeks... so expect plenty more photos too!

We shopped till we dropped (nearly) and came home with bags a plenty. I Black Friday marked the end of calm days shopping in town now, it was a massive test of our patients and our elbow strength yesterday... I hope we manage to finish our Christmas shopping without losing our cool in the queues!

Festive Feeling...

We had a lovely Thanksgiving day on Thursday, it felt very festive - so we're in a very Christmassy mood now.

We got up and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade on telly (it was a bit cold and grey outside, so it's just as well we didn't get up at 6am to get a good spot on the street), it was a totally different experience seeing it on telly. They have loads of performances out infront of Macy's while they're waiting for all the floats to reach 34th Street.

They had performances from a lot of the new Broadway shows, like Elf and Million Dollar Quartet, and lots of marching bands and the ROCKETTES! I have to say, the Rockettes were the best bit, but it was nothing compared to seeing them at Radio City!

Then all the floats starting coming down outside Macy's, they had some big celebrities on the floats this year, Kanye West, Gladys Night and Kylie! Although I don't think they really knew who Kylie was... the best bit of the whole parade had to be the finalé with Father Christmas. He looked just like Mr. Attenborough on Miracle on 34th Street, he had a lovely bushy white beard and a very well kept moustache and a big jiggly belly that he held when he said 'Ho, ho, ho!'... it was lovely and magical.

Then, after the parade we spent the whole day prepping and cooking our big feast! We had the lot, turkey, sausages wrapped in bacon, stuffing, roast vegetables, roast potatoes, sweet potato mash, roasted parsnips (we even had brocoli!)... and it worked, we actually managed to time it all right and eat at tea time... it was a mighty fine feast.

We cooked the turkey in an oven bag, which was a great success, it made the meat just fall off the bone - and it kept it moist... I think we'll be doing that again, maybe with something smaller though, like a chicken.

We watched Christmassy films on telly and fell asleep - just like Christmas! It was a really lovely day, it was just nice to be with each other and take our time cooking and have fun while we were doing it, we listened to the Rockettes's Christmas album and wished for snow, it felt like a little trail run for Christmas, and now neither of can wait for the real thing!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I know it's not really a British holiday - and I don't fully understand what it's all about, but I do know that I'm incredibly thankful for having such a loving and supporting family and I'm thankful for the opportunity to live and work in New York. I'm thankful for being able to share this amazing experience with the beautiful Miss Turner, and for being able to share this bloody massive turkey with her too! I think we'll be eating turkey until Valentines Day now.

I hope you're all having a lovely Thanksgiving/Thursday too.

Not long til Christmas now!

Getting Ready...

Turkey - check.
Mountain of vegetables - check.
Little Sausages - check.
Stuffing ingredients - check.
Eggs and bacon - check.
Booze - check.

I think we're ready for Thanksgiving!

Flying The Flag...

The flag in Union Square looked rather dramatic and beautiful on Thursday morning on the way to work.

Wafels and Delicious Dinges...

Christmas must be just around the corner because the Union Square Christmas market is in full swing just around the corner from work. Just like last year it's full of lovely little stalls selling all sorts of different things that make brilliant Christmas present ideas... there's almost too much choice.

As well as beautiful jewellery, paintings, ornaments, gadgets, hats, ponchos, toothbrush holders and cuddly toys there are also some delicious food stalls in the market. Last year Tom, Fay and I had some mighty fine crepes, which Abi and I have sampled again this year but we've also discovered the Wafels and Dinges stall...

They are, without a doubt, the most scrumptiously tasty and more-ish wafels I have EVER had, they're even better than the ones I had in Belgium... they were incredible. 'Dinges' is apparently the Belgian word for 'whatchamacallit' so they're the toppings - you can have strawberries, bananas, chocolate fudge, nutella, dulce de leche, spekulees, walnuts, maple syrup or just butter... any combination you like... we had nutella and dulce de leche, I can still taste it now - it was sooooooo good!

I have a feeling we'll be having a fair few more wafels before flying home in a couple of weeks, if only I could keep them warm while we fly home - I'd bring some home with me.

Unstoppable...

Last weekend we went to go and see Unstoppable at the cinema - it's the new film with Denzel Washington in it and it's directed by the person who directed Man On Fire... I don't know if it's out at home yet, but once it comes out GO AND SEE IT! It's great.

It's based on a true story about an unmanned run-away train that was carrying highly explosive cargo and headed for a densly populated town. Once the story got going we were both properly on the edge of our seats. Denzell's great (as always) in it and Chris Pine (the grump looking bloke on the poster) was good too.

Mr. Ian Wright...

Over the past few weeks I've been working on the Elmwood Christmas card and one of the ideas I had was to work with Ian Wright, the artist we went to go and see talk a couple of months ago.

Unfortunately the idea wasn't really liked by the big cheeses at work, and the whole Christmas card project became a complete mess and the idea that was approved was later canned, a week before it was supposed to be artworked... anyway - that's boring...

The good thing to have come out of this whole messy project is that I was able to get in contact with Ian Wright a bit, and despite not working with him I was able to meet up with him for lunch last Thursday.

It was great to finally meet him as we'd been emailing backwards and forward over the weeks and it was even better to go and see his studio down near China Town and see some of his pieces and see one new piece in progress. He was working on a picture of a dog made completely out of bark which he was hoping to sell at the Miami Art Fair this week.

He was an incredibly nice man and I felt we hit it off straight away, he said we should meet up again and he'd introduce me to some of his other designery contacts/friends in the city - so hopefully I'll get to meet some more inspiring people.

Who knows - we might be able to do a collaboration soon?!

Kings of Leon...

On Tuesday night, after a little smackeral at the Tick Tock Diner, we went to go and see Kings of Leon play at Madison Square Garden! It was absolutely AMAZING!

The crowd was building up all night, it was quite empty while the support band The Manchester Orchestra (not from Manchester, not an orchestra!) were playing, but by the time Kings of Leon were on stage there wasn't an empty seat in the whole building. It was a massive sell-out crowd.



They started off playing a few songs from their new album, which sounded even better live than they do on the record, and then they played lots of the best songs off all their albums.

I think we both enjoyed the gig a bit more than last time we saw them, last summer in New Jersey - that time Abi had literally just arrived and was a wee bit jetlagged... but this time we were both wide-awake and had a great view - it was brilliant (all except the idiot standing next to me who kept bashing into me... nevermind).

Madison Square Garden is such an exciting venue to go and see gigs in and it's felt completely different each time I've been. With Leonard Cohen it felt very relaxed and amazingly intimate, for Jack Johnson it felt like a big party and then the Kings of Leon made it feel like we were at a proper arena or festival concert.

I have a feeling that might have been our last gig of the year, but what a way to finish - one of our famous bands at one of the world's most famous venues!

Moody Night...

Thank You!

It was so so fantastic to see you again Mops and Pops, thank you so much for coming to see me and make my birthday so special. Abi and I absolutely LOVED the Rockettes and we'll never forget the amazing treat of our delicious brunch at River Café. It was a perfect little long-weekend break for us, I hope it was for you two too.

Not long til Christmas now!

Gay Old Time...

In a city full of very straight roads, Gay Street is unusually, but very fittingly, not.

Vibrant Village...

On Monday we took ourselves on a short walking tour that Pops had found in a book. The walk started off at the bottom of 5th Avenue in Washington Square Park and meandered through the West Village towards the river.

Washington Square Park was a fantastic place to start, it's such a beautiful and peaceful little park round the corner(ish) from work at the bottom of 5th Avenue. It wasn't the sunniest of days, but the colours of the trees and flower beds looked beautiful and autumnal.

The Park always seems to be a hive of activity, with people playing chess, lots of holiday makers, travellers, street performers and buskers - and on Monday, film crews! We saw two different sets of people filming...

From the park we walked up a couple of blocks on 5th Avenue until we got to West 10th street, where we took a left and walked further into the village, passing lots of beautiful little town houses, some of which used to be home to folks like Mark Twain and e.e.cummings...

The colours were absolutely amazing - some people had even gone to the trouble of colour co-ordinating their houses and scooters...

We continued to walk through the village, onto Greenwich Avenue and passed lots of beautiful hosues and little shops, the whole village felt very peaceful and quiet on that Monday morning, and everything looked stunning with all the bold colours...

In the middle of the little tour was the area where the Gay Right Riots kicked off, (very close to Gay Street!) - so there were a few statue figures in a small park to commemorate/celebrate the event...

There are quite a few very upmarket shops around the Perry Street and Greenwich Avenue area, a lot of big names with very small boutique style shops, there's Hilfiger, Marc Jacobs, Ralph Lauren - all sorts, some of them look lovely and Christmassy already...

Along our walk we found the Spotted Pig restaurant. I've read about Spotted Pig a lot, it's run by some famous chef and is supposed to do amazing burgers, but apparently it's quite hard to get in to - there's even a secret private dining room for celebrities! The outside of the restaurant looked very autumnal...

There were two very friendly looking people sitting on the bench outside the restaurant...

After Greenwich Village, the walk carried on towards the Hudson River, so we strolled along there for a few blocks and then headed back inland towards the Meatpacking District, passing some more fancy restaurants and great looking shops, like the Vitra shop.

We stopped off at the Chelsea Market for some delicious milkshakes and coke floats before making our way back to the hotel. It was such a perfect relaxing way to spend the day, and such a brilliant way to see a new part of Manhattan. There are some other walks in the little guide book, so I think we'll be doing some more of them in the future - it was brilliant.

Skating in the Plaza...

The Christmas tree in Rockefeller Plaza has been put up and is currently under hoarding, being decorated with thousands of twinkly lights ready for the big lighting event after Thanksgiving.

The Ice Rink has also just been set up, and on Monday there were a few people trying it out...

Maybe this year we'll try and have a go - once the trees been lit, I'd love to go skating in the park this year too...