Day 5

Looong day today.  Went to the top of the Empire State Building (very cool!), went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (WAY too many people, neither of us could take it, so we barely stayed), ate lunch at a really cute, really good place on Madison Ave, wandered around Grand Central Station for awhile, then went to Madison Square Garden for a Knicks game.  Our seats were awesome and the Knicks won.  Now I must pack and go to bed.  I can't believe I have to leave already, but what an amazing trip!  More later when I'm not so tired, and I'll post some pictures after I get home.

Day 4

A much more laid back day, thankfully.  We took the train into the city again, then rode the subway out to Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty.  Unfortunately the line to get on the ferry was HUGE, and we would have been in it for a couple of hours at least.  So we opted just to take pictures from very far away.  Maybe I'll still get a chance to see her up close, but I don't know.  Instead we got back on the subway and headed to Canal Street for some shopping.  Lots of people.  Lots.  It was a good exercise in shoving my way through crowds while keeping a good  hand on my purse.  At one point I got rubbed up against by a cop, and I'm fairly sure he swerved deliberately to do it.  It was odd.  I felt slightly violated. :-)  The other strange thing was that people kept whispering in our ears about watches and handbags.  We'd just say no thanks and they wouldn't push it, but it was so weird to suddenly have this whispery voice in my ear offering me name brand stuff.  From Canal street we went to Chinatown for lunch in a restaurant recommended by a friend of the aunt's.  It was really good, as evidenced by the long line we had to stand in just to eat.  I think we were in line for 30-45 minutes (still better than trying to see the statue!).  Oh, and the guy in front of us was super cute and he was totally making eye contact.  I think he might even have been flirting.  I'm never sure, I think my radar sucks for that sort of thing; he might have just been being nice.  But, I also wonder, why don't men in my own state make eye contact and flirt?  Of course, this man also didn't know my profession...  Anyhoo, after an afternoon of shopping we came back to New Jersey and went to worship at Temple Emanu-El.  It was really nice to worship when I was in charge of exactly nothing.  And most of the time I wasn't even sure of what was going on, so I didn't have to analyze the liturgy like my brain normally insists on doing.  The temple has 2 rabbis, a man and a woman and tonight the (ahem) "lady" rabbi led most of the service and preached, which was really fun.  She was also wearing kick-ass boots, something I always appreciate!  Oh, and not one person talked to us the entire time we were there.  I wasn't expecting much, but not even the ushers said a word.  Not hi, not nothing.  It was awkward, and it was nice of the aunt to indulge me by going with.  I did take the initiative and introduce myself to the associate rabbi after the service, so at least we talked to someone.   And now we are home.  

Day 3

Another good day.  Started out with sleeping in, going for coffee, and watching some of the parade on TV.  It was so cool to see places that I was just at yesterday!  We had a 1:00 dinner reservation at a place with an amazing view of NYC.  I was (again) such a gawky tourist, but it was fun, and the meal was fabulous.  I enjoyed every bite of my untraditional seafood risotto.  The aunt made up for it with traditional turkey.  After we ate we took a ferry into the city and then a bus to Radio City Music Hall for the Christmas Spectacular.  I'm glad we went, it was fun to see the Rockettes live, but I'm thinking once was enough.  It was fun, but not my favorite thing ever.   Since we were right across the street from Rockefeller center we got to see the ice rink and the tree (which is up but not yet lit) and we went up 70 stories to the "top of the rock."  The view was so cool.  I took pictures, but not sure how they turned out (it's sometimes hard to tell on that little screen).  That was enough for one day, so we reversed the course, bus to ferry to car and came home.  Good times.

Vacation Day 2

Or maybe it's one since I spent all day yesterday traveling.  But whatever.  Today was amazing.  We took the train into the city this morning, and got there about 11:00.  I was a total dorky tourist, because I kept finding myself gawking at everything.  Anyhoo, first thing we did was get tickets for the matinee for Spamalot.  Oh my lord it was hilarious.  I actually had an asthma attack in the middle of the first act because I was laughing so hard.  My first broadway show.  I still can hardly  believe it, but I'm so glad we went!  Between buying the tickets and the start time we walked to Strawberry Fields in Central Park and took pictures of the Imagine Circle and the Dakota.  The Dakota is where John Lennon was shot, and generally I'm not a big fan of going to places where people have been shot (although the aunt seems to be), but it was right there, so I took pictures.  Depressing.  But I love John, so it was a journey that had to be made. After the show we took the subway back to Times Square (or somewhere close by--who knows, I have a terrible sense of direction), then walked to the theater for the show.  Afterwards we had dinner in an Irish Pub and then walked the Empire State building.  Very cool.  It's all lit up in Thanksgiving colors.  We decided to wait until we're there in the daylight to go up, though.  A bit too expensive to do it twice.  Then we rode the subway again (we're such pros now...) and went to where they were blowing up the balloons for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.  It was very cool to see the balloons, but there were so many people I thought I might actually go a little bit crazy.  We were like cattle in a chute.  I am sooo not a city girl in crowds like that!  It was a long day made longer by delays on the train ride home (getting in took an hour, getting home took 3), but what a fabulous day it was!  Now I must go to bed and rest up for tomorrow's adventure!

New Jersey

I'm in New Jersey.  No, really.  My aunt lives in Newark, and we have a tradition of spending Thanksgivings together, so here I am, 3 plane rides (one of which I almost missed to to weird signage in the Cincinnati  airport) later and I'm in Newark.  Maybe not the place I've always dreamed I would come for any sort of holiday, but my aunt is a hoot and any place we hang out is bound to be a good time.  It's been a long day, and I've been up since 4 am, but tomorrow we're going into New York, and I've never been, so I'm very excited!  More later.

Thanksgiving Horoscope

aries (Mar. 21st-Apr. 20th)Give thanks for all the confidence you have, all the knowledge you possess, all the smooth moves you can throw down like butter, because they're going to make you more appealing than a pool-sized vat of creamy mashed potatoes you could swim in naked. Now that's hot.

Yeah, I'm going to have to go with ew on the whole mashed potatoes thing. I'm also sad that I'm not getting my bathroom cleaned this week...

Friday Five--Kitchen Gadgets

1) Do you have a food processor? Can you recommend it? Which is to say, do you actually use it?
I don't have a food processor, just an eensy tiny chopper thingie. I don't use it often, but it's handy when I need to chop up lots of veggies or something.

2) And if so, do you use the fancy things on it?
No fancy things. Just a lid and a blade. Very exciting.

3) Do you use a standing mixer? Or one of the hand-held varieties?
I currently have a hand-held mixer, but I've coveted the Kitchen Aids in the fun colors for a long time. I know, I shouldn't covet, but I really really want one some day!

4) How about a blender? Do you have one? Use it much?
Don't currently have one. Another thing in my someday category.

5) Finally, what old-fashioned, non-electric kitchen tool do you enjoy using the most?
Maybe this is an odd choice, but I really like spatulas. Not really sure why, but there you have it.

Bonus: Is there a kitchen appliance or utensil you ONLY use at Thanksgiving or some other holiday? If so, what is it?
Well, I really only use a turkey baster and my roasting pan on Thanksgiving. And I don't use my potato masher that often. This whole post sounds like I don't really cook, doesn't it? I like to cook, I just don't do much since it's just me. Which is probably why I don't have that many fun gadgets with which to do lots of fancy cooking.