Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Walk to the right from Eataly and you'll see a slim building that is featured on the cover of one of the city tourist brochures. Called the Flatiron (as in the iron for ironing your clothes. Duh), the triangular pointy part of the building on the ground floor is where famous artists want to exhibit their work.




Not an intentional pose, but it was a windy day.


A friend who went to NYC for the first time last year came back disappointed with the city. There were many noisy demonstrations (Occupy Wall Street) and streets were packed with people. Yes I saw a couple of protests in the 9 days I was in NYC but I loved the protests! The police escorted the protesters, the mood was fun and nobody got heated up about the issues. I live in a country where the government sprays chemical-laced water at protesters so I think the freedom to protest is divine. A society that can handle difference in opinions peacefully is mature and learned. I envy that.




If I thought the subway stations in London were archaic, I was in for a shock in NYC because the subway stations there are not just old but also run down. However, gone are the graffiti and homeless people.

We stayed in Manhattan and didn't venture to Brooklyn or Queens but one day Yi wanted to see MoMA PSI in Queens (north of the mainland) while I wanted to be in Brooklyn Botanic Garden for the annual sakura festival. The park has 200 mature cherry trees and is known as one of the best parks for cherry flowers viewing outside of Japan. I took the subway by myself for the first time that afternoon. The subway system in NYC is a little bit complicated but once you figure it out, it is quite easy to take.

I asked at the entrance if the cherry trees were still in bloom, as my friend's tree in San Francisco was already putting out leaves. I was told that there was plenty of flowers so I paid the entrance fee of USD15. Big mistake, because the cherry flowers were all gone. I felt cheated. Central Park is free and I went all the way from Manhattan to Brooklyn and paid a fee to get into a park for something that's not there. The festival was still held however and the park was festive and merry.



































Despite my initial disappointment, I thoroughly enjoyed the four hours in the park. I am a plant person and walking in a park looking at the flowers and trees soothes my soul.


I had forgotten to bring my phone and we were to meet up at the Grand Central Terminal. I waited for an hour and half and Yi was no show. I was frantic.


Cupcakes in a bakery in Grand Central Terminal.

I walked all the way home from the terminal because I didn't want to figure out the interchange. It took 45 minutes, and it was a great walk because the streets of NYC are all laid out evenly in a grid. There was so much to see. People, shops, lights, window displays.

When I got to the corner outside our apartment and waited at the lights, I looked at the person on my right and it was my daughter. We hugged and cried and celebrated at Momoya, a Japanese restaurant at the corner of 7th Ave and 21 St. There was a long wait but we didn't mind.


This was a big bowl of unagidon (soy sauce eel on rice). Very delicious.


The assorted sushi and sashimi platter was very fresh and delicious. I found the food in Momoya better than the other Japanese restaurants I had been to in NYC, including the hottest restaurant in town, Momofuku.

Birreria & Eataly

A friend asked one night if I'd been to Eataly. I had no idea what it was. As we didn't have access to the Internet at our apartment for the first 6 days of the 9 days we spent in NYC (we didn't have the password and Niece was travelling in Europe), I couldn't google. I vaguely remembered the word though, but couldn't remember where I saw it. We were to lunch with a friend's son and when we were hurrying to Birreria, the rooftop restaurant that overlooks Madison Square Garden, I looked at the address I had scribbled on my notebook.  Anthony's directions were to go up to the "4th floor, above Eataly". That was where I had seen the word.


Birreria, a rooftop restaurant that serves fine food with great beer. Very packed.


Like a broken record, I'm going to repeat this over and over. USA/NYC is not expensive. Entrees (main courses) are between USD15 to 25 usually. In Malaysia, there's no way you can get a meat dish for that price. You shouldn't convert the currency either if you are to make a fair comparison. The only discouraging thing about eating out is the service charge. I can't get used to paying 15 to 18 % service charge. There's also tax of 5 % to pad up your bill.


The bread was just ordinary.


This was very good, whole roasted Maitake mushrooms, but the portion was small. Luckily we just had Puerto Rican food and doughnuts on the way to lunch. USD15.


Beer-braised pork shoulder. Good but again, rather small portion. USD22.


Anthony's chicken with tomato salad and Tuscan bread. The chicken was okay but it was the tomato salad that was outstanding. USD21.

I've since read up on Birreria and learnt that their sausages are the bomb. Dang.

On the ground floor of the building is Eataly, a food emporium owned by Mario Batali and two other Italian chefs. It is 4,600 meter sq (50,000 sq ft) and opened in 2010. A chef stepped in front of me and picked up some tomatoes and walked back to his stall. That is the concept of Eataly, that food should be at its freshest and best. If you love food, walking around and sampling the food in Eataly is heaven. I just had lunch and was ready to have a plate of proscuitto but my daughter protested. I promised myself that I'll be back to eat but never got the chance to pass by the place again.




When you enter the store, you see the most beautiful and colorful display of the freshest choice veggies and fruits.


The store also has a houseware section.




 And there's a quality food section where you can find cheeses, chocolates, meat and other high quality food.


There are also food stalls where you can eat gelato, coffee, bread, proscuitto and fine food from Italy standing up.






When your mom tells you to stand next to the artichokes, the best you can do is to look sultry. I think that's her message.











Eataly
200 5th Avenue
New York City

Birreria is on the fourth floor.

NYC Street Market N Donut

I came home last Friday and the amount of photos I've taken of my US trip was so daunting that I considered closing my blog. The other reason was after seeing the big world, blogging seemed so trivial. Then I remembered why I've kept on blogging: so that one day when I can't remember, I can still recollect my life and travels through my blog. Also, of course, I miss you all. I do.

Jet lag wasn't so bad this time and in fact, flying 14,726 km/9150 miles from New York to KK (with 1 1/2 hr transit in HK) was quite pleasant. Again, I must say that Cathay Pacific is one of the best airlines to fly. The movies were great. I watched four, rating in descending order: The Flowers Of War, Hugo, Unkown and The Young Adult. Pork was on every meal and so I had pork sausages for brekkie and pork again for dinner or was it lunch because flying out at 10 am meant there was no night even though flying time was 20 hours (including the transit). One of the most thrilling moments for me was when, after flying about 7 hours, I went to the toilet and looked out the window (the windows by our seats were all shut to black out the light for watching movies) and saw the whole world below me covered with snow and ice, with large tracts of ice cracked open and rivers of water in between. It was like a National Geographic movie and I was watching it live! A passenger pointed out that it was the Artic, and that if I come back much later, I'd see the green grass of Mongolia. Awesome.

Cheap as I am, I avoided all alcoholic drinks and went for the peanuts and huge crisp apples throughout the flight. I love that they gave us Haagen Dazs ice cream, the big choc-covered one on a stick. The flight attendants were professional and efficient, spoke Chinese and perfect American English and their minimally made up faces were refreshing. On a long flight, it is a relief not to have to put up with fake sickly sweet attendants with garish faces covered with thick foundation, false eyelashes, blue eye shadow and hair pushed into a silly puffed beehive. You know I'm talking about the SIA and MAS girls. Terri's back and opinionated as ever.

 A couple of days ago, my hub suddenly told me to move on. I was complaining about the lack of fruits and veggies in our local supermarkets ("Is there a war going on here, food supply is so low?!") and on ("What, it's 35 degrees Celcius out there?! It was a perfect 65 Fahrenheit in NYC and I could walk from morning to night without sweating and why aren't there streets to walk here?!") and on ("What, RM13 for a lousy bowl of noodles with three slices of fish?!") about how America is the place to be, of all the countries I've been to, and how happy I was there and how I've never felt so free in my life and how people were so nice and polite and integrated, how 'melting pot' they really are. I still have moments when I wish there is a bridge which I can drive on to any place I want in the world. Darn, I have to run an errand now. I'll post this quickly or it'll not get done until the weekend.


We got out of our cosy, perfectly located apartment at the corner of 17th St and 8th Ave (a neice's, and she was in Holland) one Saturday morning to find 8th Ave closed to traffic and a street market going on. What luck! We love street markets!






Mexican food is one of my least-liked cuisine. Boring beans and wraps in same not so tasty sauce. This, however was Puerto Rican food and it turned out delicious!


Halumi in plantains grilled and caramelised on the spot, very yummy! USD4 each, ouch.


Deep fried pork, awesome! The skin was a bit hard but chewable. USD2 each piece.


Was told that this was a chicken and pork dish.


Only a fool like me would walk by these, thinking they were imitation stuff, and then go to a pharmacy and buy bottles of the same thing at twice the price. Ladies in Msia, do not pay RM60 for Opi nail polish. Get your friend's friend to get then from the states, USD9.50/RM30 at Sephora and a dollar cheaper at pharmacies.


Neon colors are in, especially neon pink and orange.


Walking to 23 St and turning to 5th Ave after the street market, we chanced upon this donut place called Doughnut Plant New York City on our way to meet a friend for lunch.








Was very yum! Very 'home made'.


We both prefer the yeast type donut.

I really have  to go. Will post again when i get back.