Well, I'm a full month behind on my blog posts. Not to sound like a complete douche but we've been away pretty much every weekend in August. So let's start with our 2nd out of town trip. I'll skip the 1st Vegas trip because what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
My friend was going to get hitched in Philadelphia so we found ourselves in the City of Brotherly Love. Actually, we were 1 hour outside of Philly but close enough.
The wedding was held in an old estate and man did it look grand. Rich, white people sure know how to build mansions.
Just making sure we were invited.
The wonderful cake that we totally missed them cut.
Blueprint to the estate. I wish I had a blueprint of my place. It'd fit on a small napkin though.
The food was quite spectacular. I don't even remember what this is. I actually think I didn't eat this since this is not my hand holding it.
It's not grass it's Di-Vegetable. Ooh. Read it out loud. Di-Vegetable.
The outside patio. The drunks and smokers congregated here.
A view of the church. I guess this estate had a church on its grounds. When you're that rich the church comes to you, I guess.
The reflecting pool. I call it that because that's what I'd do if I had something like this as my backyard. Reflecting on how much freaking money I have and all the immoral things I had to do to get it.
The food was spectacular. I would've had more pictures but I really concentrated on talking to my friends and catching up with them. It was nice to see my friends congregated for such a wonderful and happy event. Congrats to the newlywed couple. Such a lovely wedding with such East Coast style.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Yeah I know. This blog hasn't been updated in quite some time.
As usual, here are my excuses and a preview of future blog posts.
Over the past month or so the SO and I have spent our weekends in
Sin City, Las Vegas
The City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia
The Hamptons
It's been a nice and eventful summer so stay tuned for the end of summer blog-athon brought to you by OMG Summer is Over.
I gotta say. Weekends in NYC are a blast. There are so many things to do that it's easy to be overwhelmed by the smorgasbord of activities.
Two weekends ago, a fellow ESADE alum and native New Yorker MW took the SO and I to an intriguing concept of art and sound: Warm Up at MoMA PS1. Essentially it's a giant dance party held in the courtyard of the MoMA. Very hip. Very not me but very very fun. Thanks to MW for showing us a good time.
The blue structure was called Wendy. It was a recyclable wind and air thingamajig. It's half modern art and half renewable energy so it was only half useless.
PS1 is named as such due to the fact that it used to be a high school back in the early 1900s. In the 1970s it was converted into an art exhibition center and in 1997 it became MoMA PS1.
The courtyard became the huge dance floor and requisite for any dance party is balloons. Lots of balloons.
Even during Warm Up the museum is still open so we perused the interesting modern art. This piece was to signify the tired repetition of a worker's life. I'm dead serious.
I don't even remember what this piece was about. It just allowed us to walk on wet dirt.
The view of the courtyard and Wendy. I love how it's called Wendy and not Windy.
Some artist painted all the pipes in the boiler room gold. Very Goldfinger-esque.
The really creepy boiler. Perfect for getting rid of the evidence if you know what I mean.
One of MW's friends brought this really odd pumpkin mask. I don't know why she brought it but it was quite the hit with the crowd.
A new bike shop just opened up a block away from our apartment so we've been talking about renting bikes and cruising down the East River Parkway. This Sunday was a beautiful day in NYC so we made today our bike day.
Our awesome bikes. Mine's the red one. So hot.
Stopping for a break and admiring the view of the Brooklyn Bridge.
Right by the Fulton Street Seaport the New Amsterdam Market was in full swing.
The other day we had this discussion about the ridiculousness of some food descriptions. Things like sun-ripened strawberries (aren't all strawberries sun ripened)...hand picked baguettes (is this to differentiate those baguettes that are picked by robots). So I saw this lady selling fruits and she was taking her sweet ass time hand selecting all the fruit to provide to customers. Hand selected peaches. I waited about 5 minutes for her to hand select those things for the person at the front, got annoyed and left.
On the way back I got a good shot of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Williamsburg Bridge. I would've Instagram'ed it but I'm not a 20 year old female with chunky black frame glasses so I didn't.
The East River Parkway and the adjoining areas have tons of space for cyclists and runners so it made going up and down the area very easy. It makes me want to buy a bike and try to cycle further but that actually requires physical exertion so yeah...nah.
I hope to have more weekend updates for you blog readers. In two weeks we'll be in Vegas and then a weekend in Philly and then a nice 4 day trip to our rental beach house in the Hamptons. Stay tuned.
This being the third 4th of July spent in NYC for me, the SO and I decided it was time to try something new in terms of 4th of July events. The SO's sister was in town so we had another couple to share America Day.
Our 4th of July celebration started with a Mets vs. Phillies game at Citi Field.
Citi Field was not too citi and quite the opposite. It actually reminded us of Petco Park because of how nice it was and how it tried to keep a vintage feel.
The elevator ride up to the field. The very industrial feel to the interior pays homage to the industrial architecture of a lot of NYC landmarks. I have no idea what I just wrote.
The highlight of the night, aside from the 9-0 rout of the Phillies, was the fireworks show. I don't think I've ever had a more American celebration. Fireworks at a baseball game while I drank my Coors Light and ate a hot dog. AMERRRRRICAAAA!!!!!
The accompaniment to the fireworks show was a video montage of the past 50 years of Mets baseball. Considering that in the past 50 years they've only won 2 World Series and 4 NL pennants there were large gaps of years where highlights were when players managed to not have off-field scandals.
What's more American than baseball and fireworks? Over-eating and making the most trivial thing a spectacle.
So we found ourselves at Coney Island to watch the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Competition.
The Nathans restaurant was gigantic. The actual store wrapped around the whole block. Hot Dogs everywhere.
Approximately 5000 people packed the area to watch the "competitors".
Because it was nearly impossible to get a good view of the table they had large screens set up. It ensured that everyone got a close up view of the hot dogs being stuffed into peoples' mouths.
You can see the eaters at the table. They're in white underneath the basketball hoop. I've never seen so many hot dogs consumed in 10 minutes since.....last year I watched the Hot Dog eating competition, you sickos.
After Joey Chestnut destroyed the competition by eating 68 hot dogs in 10 minutes, thoroughly disgusting almost the entire crowd in the process, we were hungry for some hot dogs.
Nathans has been in business making hot dogs since 1916 so with close to 100 years of making hot dogs I expected it to be pretty damn good.
Coors Light, fries and some chili dogs. Actually quite spectacular. I actually wasn't expecting much considering the amount of people Nathans was servicing (hehe) but it was probably one of the better fast food hot dogs I've ever eaten. MUUUUUCHH better than Dodger Dogs. I absolutely hate Dodger Dogs.
After the crowd dispersed. I finally got a good shot of the stage. No more hot dogs. Just the stench of guilt mixed with the loss of pride.
The countdown to the next Hot Dog Eating Contest. Can't wait.
We perused the boardwalk and the carnival game section of Coney Island. Not much to report about it. It was like taking Venice Beach, removing the hippies and replacing it with the ghetto. I've been told that Coney Island has cleaned up a lot. Um okay.
You can't go to Coney Island and not ride The Cyclone. Built in 1927, the coaster is a National Historic Landmark now. With a top speed of 60 mph the thing is still a thrill ride.
After paying 8 bucks per person, we climbed into the ridiculously small car and locked ourselves in.
One last warning before you began the decent. In the past 90 years there have only been about 4 deaths, mostly coming from idiots who decided that the best way to add some excitement in their lives is to stand up on a rollercoaster.
With the ride jostling the hot dogs, fries and beers...oh and the ice cream we ate afterwards it was time to head home.
Thanks Coney Island. See you....on TV next year when I watch the Hot Dog eating competition.
The SO keeps bugging me to write the next guest post because he's too busy to update his blog. Don't be fooled, he's busy playing violent war video games against some greasy teenager nicknamed AK47FoReelz. So here's the continuation of my food adventure blog.
Cruisin' for crab. I hate cruises. I'd rather lick a hospital mop. However after watching Deadliest Catch, a documentary on the Discovery channel about the dangers of crab fishing, we were intrigued about Alaska and eager to get some crabs....to eat....sickos. Talking to you E.W.
Their risk is my reward.
Unfortunately the cheapest and easiest way to get there was via cruise ship. We did our best to book a smaller cruise liner.
There were a number of some safety precautions. As the SO always says, you can tell a lot from looking at your stool.
Don't want to end up like Concordia...
Fail.
Sadly we couldn't save ourselves from the old people and tacky decor.
We did however avoid booking an inside cabin,
so we could enjoy views like this...
Also dodged having to share a dinner table with complete strangers. Nobody wants to hear stories from the couple from Des Moines. Cruise ship tip: since you basically pay upfront for food, you can order as much as you want even though it's not a buffet. The waiter might look at you funny for ordering 3 lobster tails, but they can't say no. Speaking of buffets...
We booked multiple excursions. Alaska in 4 words...snow, ice, water and mist. Here are some highlights.
Helicopter ride to dog sledding
Flying through Misty Fjords...it's misty alright.
Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay. Saw a lot of calving, when massive pieces of ice melt followed by a loud booming sound and crash into the water.
Finally on one of the last nights of our trip, we immersed ourselves in the deliciousness that is Alaskan crab.
