Janna Goes to New York and Pretends to Not Be Totally Lost – Part 4
So how about another round of distinctly New York adventures I’ve gone on this week?
- I went to a Broadway show! Hadn’t originally planned on that, but then I was introduced to the concept of “student rush”, and, after fate denying me both Billy Elliot and In The Heights, ended up seeing The Little Mermaid. It was as ridiculously Disney-tastic as one would expect, and a lot of fun!
- I saw snow once, in Central Park:
- I heard MGMT on the radio and realized I had never heard them on the radio. Maybe cause they’re a New York band? Oh, no, probably just because I listen to the radio no more than once a month.
- Overheard from a kid at the Rockefeller Center subway station: “This isn’t a subway, it’s a mall!”
- Being entirely stubborn and refusing to end my walk before reaching my destination even though it was pouring rain, I made it all the way to the U.N. Plaza. Only to find they had taken all the flags down due to the weather.
- You know how in every movie and TV show somebody moves to New York and ends up in the miserable apartment with the train that goes noisily right by the window? I was totally on that train!
- Saw a random band playing traditional Colombian music. Then showed off my mad pool-playing skills and beat a bunch of locals. They should all just be glad we weren’t playing poker…
- Went to a “story slam” at a bookstore and hung around a bunch of New York literary types and felt super cool about it.
- I happened upon the cafe (exterior) from Seinfeld. It was kinda bizarre, maybe just because I was so close to it, way closer than you’d ever see it on the show.
- I ate SO much junk. I slept in on Friday (my feet hurt. Late night Thursday. I’m on vacation! I have a million excuses), and had plans for dinner at a normal-ish time, so decided to skip lunch and just snack ALL day. I had some Dunkin’ Donuts for the first time in something like four years (yep, they’re donuts), and drank some Jacques Torres hot chocolate (Different. Didn’t hate it, but it was different, very very chocolatey. Also the place was cool because you could see all the machines and whatnot but it was full of people I think I would hate). I visited Dylan’s Candy Bar, which was basically a big, huge candy acid trip. Ran into Marc Summers taping a Food Network segment, and came away with about a metric ton of gummy bears in wonderful flavors. Shown here, a stanchion marking the checkout queue. Filled with gumballs.
And finally, I visited Magnolia Bakery, of Sex and the City and “Lazy Sunday” fame. I intentionally skipped the branch I ran into earlier in the week and headed out to the original location in the West Village. The tiny space was not organized very well for the amount of traffic they get, since you have to go in one direction to pick up your cupcake and then go in another to pay, while in a sea of people, half of whom I think were on one of those Sex and the City New York tours. The cupcake was good and cheaper than one from my beloved Sprinkles, and the chocolate frosting tasted like ice cream, but it was smaller and still not as good and magical as those from my favorite West Coast cupcake spot. Then today the last thing I did before heading off to the airport was pick up some delicious buttery popcorn from Garrett’s on Fifth Avenue. Not sick yet!
And, lastly, mini-pizza review #3: Two Boots, West Village location (holy crap this does exist in LA!)- the cheese didn’t quite stand up to Grimaldi’s but I think my favorite overall. Their pizzas all come named after choice ridiculous fictional characters, like “The Newman” and “The Tony Clifton”, which I had and greatly enjoyed.
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