New York City, NY

Well, I did pretty well on my blog in August, yet like most of my efforts in life, the progress was short-lived. I am going to get back up on the blogging horse and try once more. Thanks for sticking with me.

In May I had the awesome assignment of going up to NYC for a three-day training course. It was especially nice because my good friend, Frank, was assigned to teach. Road Trip!

Frank and I decided to take the train up to New York instead of flying. I haven’t been on trains very much, but I like the concept. One argument for the train is that it takes you right from Union Station in DC to Penn Station in NYC, which is really convenient. While it is about a three hour train ride, you don’t have to arrive at the train station 1.5 hours early so you end up saving a fair amount of time. It is a much more laid back affair and it really was nice to not have to deal with taxis to and from LaGuardia or JFK. I would totally take the train again (although it not any cheaper than flying). Frank did not have such a fantastic experience. I came home a few days earlier than Frank as he has friends up on Long Island. On his way back someone jumped in front of his train and died, delaying it for hours. The exact quote from Frank was, “I wasn’t annoyed while I still had 30 Rock to watch, but once I finished with the DVD’s I got mad.”

Now I may come off sounding spoiled, because of where I stayed in New York, but I am not. Frank and I were lucky enough to book rooms at the Waldorf-Astoria. I never in a million years thought I would get to stay there. They were running a huge special and it was cheaper to stay at the Waldorf than it was to stay at a Hilton Garden Inn in Chelsea (I am not lying: $259 at the Waldorf compared to $269 at the Hilton Garden Inn). It was an amazing hotel with an absolutely beautiful lobby and a great location in Midtown. I will say that my room wasn’t remarkable, it was actually quite small. The hallways in the hotel also creeped out Frank, who said they reminded him too much of the “The Shining.” Judge for yourself...

The Waldorf is just a couple of blocks from Rockefeller Center. Naturally, Frank and I headed over there to try and stalk Tina Fey, but she was no where to be found. While there was no Tina, there was a Magnolia Bakery. For those of you that know I love tiny cakes, they don’t get much tinier than cupcakes. Frank and I went back to Magnolia several times and I fell in love with the chocolate on chocolate and the red velvet. Frank is weird and eats his cupcakes without frosting. Who does that?

Frank had never been to the Empire State Building so we totally had to go there. Now they try to upsale you with a special trip to the 102nd floor for an extra $15. It is not worth it. At that high up, the perspective is about the same and the entire floor is enclosed and slightly confining. Otherwise, it was a beautiful day to go and I as usual, the view was spectactular.

I talked Frank into going to Serendipity with me because I love their frozen hot chocolate (as stated in an earlier blog). I totally got us lost going there, but we arrived and I enjoyed my sandwich and my awesome frozen hot chocolate. I don’t know if Frank enjoyed it or not.

The building where we were training was located in Chelsea so I was able to go to the Chelsea Market for lunch. I loved that place, especially Hale and Hearty Soups. They have amazing corn chowder and wild mushroom soup. I also enjoyed their turkey cranberry sandwich. I ate there several times and really enjoyed the food and surly service.

I also had my first authentic New York Style pizza at Gotham Pizza. It was very yummy and not at all greasy. I typically like a thicker crust because I love bread, but I am becoming a thin crust convert. I my have to eat a lot of pizza to fully change my mind but I am up to the challenge.

There are some fantastic restaurants in Chelsea by chefs whose names I actually know. There was Tom Colicchio’s place, Craft, which had some delicious steaks smells coming out of the building and Iron Chef Morimoto’s Morimoto New York. It is at times when I am surrounded by fine dining that I really wish I had a lot of money.

I had my first, “let’s get some drinks at the Waldorf” experience and it was expensive. I paid $20 for two virgin daiquiris. I wonder what in those drinks cost $20 because I know there wasn’t $20 worth of booze in there? It was still a lot of fun and I totally downed a ton of the Chex mix-like food they had on the tables. I hope I ate $20 bucks worth of that mix.

Since I am not very familiar with New York I don’t know of a lot of places to eat that were within our price range. After wandering around and getting hungrier and hungrier Frank and I just gave up and picked a place to eat off Times Square. I had heard of Maxie’s Delicatessen before and for some reason had heard it was delicious. I was very, very mistaken. The food was totally disgusting and flavorless. I think that they take every order and just deep fry it. My southwestern egg rolls tasted just like my Ruben hamburger that tasted nothing like a Ruben. Everything ultimately tasted like old oil. Do not eat there – EVER!

Frank did figure out where the mistake came, there is a 4-star restaurant in New York called Maxie’s Bar and Grill. We were so close to goodness but yet so far…

On the way back from Maxie’s we passed a restaurant called Alfredo’s of Rome. Frank and I stopped to look at the menu and someone that was outside smoking told us the place was really delicious. Since she was dressed all in black, we assumed she was a waitress but she insisted she was not, just a happy customer. We went back the next day and I had the best fettuccini alfredo of my life. It was so creamy and simple. The sauce actually tasted like cheese and not like a cheese sauce derivative that came out of a can – I accuse you Olive Garden. It isn’t cheap, but not overly expensive. I would happily eat there again.

On our last night in New York we went to see The Lion King. I was totally jazzed to see the play as I had heard so many great things about the costumes and set design. I should preface the following by saying that I have never seen the movie The Lion King so I didn’t really know the story. Frank was a really good friend because he wanted to see a different play, but I insisted on The Lion King. The first number with the “Circle of Life” song was breathtaking. I was in shock at that creativity and imagination it took to make the savannah and its wildlife come to life so beautifully on stage. Needless to say, I was impressed.

Then things started going down hill. The jokes were lame and the kid actors had the emotional range of a rice cake. I went to the theater with higher expectations from the whole production. There were some stand out scenes for the costumes and sets, but the overacting and pathetic jokes just really took a great play and made it unfortunate. As Frank later reminded me, “it is a kid’s movie.” I owe you an apology Frank.

The day I was leaving to travel back to DC was my birthday. Frank and I decided to go to the Today show. According to internet sources, you should arrive at the Today show at about 5:30 am if you want to get onto Rockefeller Plaza. 5:30 am is early, but Frank and I were up until almost 1:30 am watching scenes being filmed for the upcoming movie, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice with Nicolas Cage so 5:30 am was really early. It was kind of boring watching them film the movie because took forever for them to do anything. The upside is that my failures to enter the movie business on the production side seem less like failures. We did get to see a garbage truck ram a car at about .5 mph in front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. So if you see the movie that is part we saw being filmed.

We got to the Today show at about 5:30 and proceeded to stand in line for an hour until they let us onto the plaza. Frank made a sign for me to hold up (since he is more artistic than I am) wishing my Uncle Roger a happy birthday (we have the same birthday). It was the first installment of the Today summer concert series with Jennifer Hudson. We were able to listen to her warm up which was really fun.

One of the ladies standing next to us was chosen for the Ambush Makeover series. She was just so nice and if you watch during the fourth hour of the show, you can see Frank and me standing behind her and jumping up and down like idiots. I have to say that the guy who does the makeovers is Botoxed beyond belief. Yikes!

By 7:00 am we had seen Al Roker, talked a fellow visitor through a break-up with her boyfriend, heard Jennifer Hudson, and had aching feet. We both went back to the hotel and crashed.

Before I caught my train back to DC we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was amazing. I absolutely adore their collection of Greek and Roman statuary. It was especially wonderful having Frank there because he as a strong background in art and art history. I would highly recommend inviting Frank to any art museum you visit. I just wish we would have had more time to explore. I could spend days there, and I know nothing about art.

Next Trip: Savannah, GA