Babes in Brooklyn #2 (with maybe a little bit of Manhattan on the side)

Sunday has been and gone and it is now Monday morning here.

What did we do yesterday you ask? What does any self respecting New Yorker do on a Sunday but Dim Sum  (Yum Cha for us Aussies). We took some advice from a friend and caught the bus and then a taxi over to Canal Street. (The trains on our L line were out for service this weekend, just like at home!)

We were heading off to meet Daughter #1 and her husband for a bit of chow time at Jing Fong. It looked promising as there were hoardes of people outside waiting for a table, we took a number and then waited our alloated 45 minutes and hey presto, a table was free!

The queue was much longer than this one

the place was huge, bigger than Marigold in Sydney

We dived into dumplings, chowed down on spring rolls, got our fill of steamed pork buns and an hour later were out on the street again!  The service was a bit hit and miss but the food was terrific.

A walk to Mulberry Street, not far away to see "Little Australia" but if you blinked you would miss it! We ended up in this bar, 

whose motto is "Life is short, drink early", it reminded me of a billboard I saw on the highway on the way to DC it said, Petrol is expensive, Drink and don't drive! A couple of vinous later and I was ready for home. The young ones went on to dinner and then out, while I went home, and read an entire book I had just purchased from Shakespeare and Co.  It's called Astor Place Vintage, and it's set in NYC around the turn of the 20th Century and also contemporary. Anyway I loved it as it referred to a lot of NY history and areas that I knew. The book was so good it kept me up until 1am!

So here I sit now, retelling my day's activities to you, so I 'd best get off this computer and get to work or there will be not much to blog about tomorrow!

ciao.....

Babes in Brooklyn #1

Well, we have survived our first weekend in Brooklyn. The apartment is spacious and well equipped, the area is "up and coming" so we are told. There are funky bars and cafes around although it is not really Williamsburg which is a couple of miles further east.

Here is a short video of our apartment.....

Saturday was spent catching the bus and walking all over Williamsburg. It really is hipster heaven, lots of eclectic little shops and boutiques, an amazing cheese shop, here are some pics of the shop

yes, would you like some baguettes with your cheese?

dare I say these pictures should come in smell -a-vision? 

Somehow we wandered all over and found ourselves back at the Wythe Hotel, so now that we were regulars, we popped up to the rooftop bar for an aperitif and to rest our feet.

even managed to run into a friend of favourite youngest daughter who was there also, it's that kind of place!

Taxi home, and then a quite night in, cooking some pasta and watching a few movies on the computer. 
Young people too tired to go out, this younger generation have no stamina!

Anyway I'll be back with more, so stay tuned!

things young people don't know about.....

We just had an incident here in our lovely hotel room, Junior Goddess bought some Rose wine from Dean and Deluca in Georgetown for our picnic dinner here and shock horror!! The wine bottle did not have a screw top!


As my Aussie readers know we have transitioned to screw top wine bottles in Australia, I think there are a couple of reasons,

1. world wide cork shortage
2. wine does not go "off" with screw tops (unless it is a marketing ploy and it makes no difference)

so in a wine bottle emergency, who do you call?...

room service!

to bring a corkscrew, and in fact they bought a waiters friend, which the junior goddess did not know how to use, so Mummy to the rescue, see old people can still be useful!

said bottle of Rose

the rogue cork

the waiter's friend

Anyway this reminded me of the bus tour yesterday, the bus driver stopped near a post box and told the "young people"on board that this was what we used before email/text/facebook etc etc....

tomorrow we are back on the bus, for part 2 of NYC, are we are living the warehouse life in Brooklyn!!

Window Shopping

Washington has been hot,  really hot it is over 85 Fahrenheit, about 30 Celsius, and really humid and muggy, thank goodness for air con!

The bus trip from NYC turned out just fine, great value for money. We arrived 15 mins behind schedule but that is pretty reasonable given the traffic in the city. The bus stopped about half way there for a rest/food stop, let's hope tomorrow's trip is as good as the first one.

In case you were not aware, the US Government is shutdown, due to the congress not approving to fund government expenditure unless the democrats agree to delay funding Obama care for another year,  (well, that is my take on it from watching the news here). So for us visitors to the capital it means that  a lot of the plans we had to view the museums had to be put aside to another time.

We opted for the old town trolley hop on hop off bus. These are good because the driver gives a live narration and adds a bit of their own charm to the trip, the other buses, use a pre-recorded tape and you can't ask any questions. All the drivers we had were fun and were happy to ask questions, and even had  some questions for us, and I am pleased to say, my knowledge of America is as good as some of  the US citizens on the bus.

Yesterday we left the bus at Georgetown, and stopped for lunch at a beautiful seafood restaurant, off the main street, next to the canal. It was a nice respite from the noise and heat, here are some pics of the canal and some of the delicious lunch we had.

we sat on the deck overlooking the canal

looking across to the other side of the canal

Junior Goddess with her Seafood Martini

Close up shot of the seafood martini

my oysters cerviche with lime, tomato an cilantro (corriander for us  aussies)

Today we went back and walked all over Georgetown and also did a little shopping. The thing that caught my eye most was the window displays again,  and the flowers along the main street atop the street lights. What do you think, aren't they cute, as it is getting near to Halloween a lot of pumpkins are around....

a lot of pumpkins

the was on the front door step of a house in a side street, really cute

hard to see, but little pumpkins on the window sill

all the street lamps have flower baskets on the top, so lovely 

Anthropologie window display

I think when I get home I am going to do a little Halloween display at Glenquarry Goddess central, so stay tuned!

Sun Daze

Sunday Morning coming down,

One good thing to come of being a little bit older is that the idea of a hangover is pretty dire, hence my early removal from the party and my obligatory 9 hours of beauty sleep. 

Sunday Morning was quiet, really quiet, I mean after the usual hub bub of noise that permeates the city, the still quiet of a Sunday morning was quite eerie.  So I took advantage of it by spending some time reclining around reading "Catcher" and planning the day ahead.

Junior Goddess, also a very smart young woman also came home at a "reasonable" hour so she had been up and about and had been shopping to get us some fresh bagels for breakfast which we had with cream cheese, capers and smoked salmon, a very NY breakie  if I may say so.

We checked out our bus map ( using our MTA pass again) and decide to go to Greenwich Village. So off we went to catch a cross town bus today to be Village People! 

If you are a Sex and the City fan you would be interested to know a lot of the exterior shots were done in the Village. So without planning to do so we sort of did our own "mini" SATC tour.

Magnolia Bakery was first stop where I enjoyed my first ever peanut butter muffin and it was delicious, so much so I am going to try and make them when I go home.

Junior Goddess with our cup cakes

A bit of window shopping, I loved the window displays, they go to so much trouble to make them look enticing, here are a couple that I thought were really inspiring.

these are old hand mirrors, really wonderful effect

Jo Malone's front window display

more Jo Malone

LIttle paper folded cranes

I got a really beautiful orange suede clutch and necklace from this little store called Mint Julep. Goddess Jnr got her mojo on at Jo Malone and walked out a very happy woman.

And then lunch called  (well, it was about 3pm) so we found an outdoor area at Frankies 570 ( on Hudson St), where we had an amazing Italian lunch. 

Then another bus downtown to the south ferry, change over to another bus and off at East River Ferry to go over the Brooklyn to meet friends for a drink at the Wythe Hotel, which has a really lovely roof top bar area with a to die for view of Manhattan, so we drank a champers and then watch the sun go down. It was so nice we plan to go back next Sunday.

Will the last person in Washington, please turn off the lights, we can't pay our bills!

So we've arrived in Washington and the whole place is shut down, well strictly speaking only government buildings are shut down, but as someone who has been here before I can definitely sense that the city is not running on a full tank.

So we may have to revise our plans somewhat, as all the museums and monuments are closed. This is obviously a big deal as the TV here is consumed by the situation, it's hard to find any entertainment to watch.

Thank God for the internet, here in my lap is a world of entertainment!

and thank God for room service, when you are just too tired to go out and eat and just want to chillax and have a bath.

We are staying at the Mayflower Renaissance Hotel ( which is a Marriott brand) and it is really lovely. The hotel was built in 1925 and has hosted every American President since Calvin Coolidge held his inauguration ball here. See I did read that plaque outside the hotel.

Just to make you feel jealous, here are some pics.

Our Room, an executive double.

Exterior shot of the hotel

The lobby, the place is full of mirrors and chanderliers.

So it's good night from Washington, and see you tomorrow!

Rocking down the Highway....

Thanks to the Doobie Brothers for this post.....

Junior Goddess and I are on the Bolt Bus to Washington DC. Original plan was to catch the train, but OMG the fare was over $300 return! That's a lot of cocktails or shoes, so we decided to take a chance on the bus.  I can report so far so good.

On time, clean, air conditioned ( which we need today, it is about 30 degrees C, so hot )  free wifi, power outlets for devices, and a loo. We are one hour into the 4 hour trip, so I'll let you know how it all ends.

enjoying the ride

Saturday in the Park,

and it was not the 4th of July!  ( Reference to a Chicago song, for the younger readers ;-)  )

Saturday morning we headed uptown on the M15 bus to 96th street on the upper East side.
We bought a 7 day MTA travel card which gives you unlimited travel on the subway and buses all over Manhattan, and it's a great way to get around.

I like getting the bus because you can see the street scape, and get your bearings much better than going underground. Also on the buses you won't be accosted by noisy buskers etc, so its a far more pleasurable way to see the sights. No need to do the hop on hop off tourist bus, you can do it for less this way, with more flexibility.

We took breakfast in a diner called Three Guys and then headed off to explore the neighbourhood.  We found this store called Papyrus which is incredibly beautiful and sells one of my most favourite things of all time, can you guess?

Stationery!  Yes, I bought up big and now have next years birthdays covered as well as some more cute boxed set correspondence cards. 

Next was Central Park, we did a loop around the reservoir, having to dodge all the runners, walkers and prams going around, as I said it was another glorious morning so the city looked great and so here are a few pics to show off to you.

I think I'll take this apartment on 5th Ave  overlooking Central Park 

A Little bit of Paris in NYC.

 After the park, another  bus ride saw us downtown and ready to walk the high line. We did it last time we were here, but it was winter and this time was a whole difference experience. A lot more people for one thing and all the gorgeous foliage and plants, they are extending the high line, so it looks like I'll be doing it again next time!

FYI, just before you get on the high line at 30th street, there is the US Postal service big dispatch depot, and on the side of one of the walls, I found this plaque.

A bit of history

We finished off at the meat packing district, at Sephora to get some makeup essentials for the party that night. Then it was home for a pre-emptive nap and then the party prep begins…..

to be continued………..

lost in transmission!

Sorry for the break in transmission, normal blogging will begin shortly….

Oh,  Technology,  it's great when it works and it sucks when it doesn't. For some reason unknown to us the internet and cable in our apartment has gone MIA and so I have been trying to find wireless access and not having much success.

So I have decamped to no. 1 birthday girl daughter's place to use their internet.

So I know what you are all asking, what have we been up to?

Well,  the ladies who lunch had a wonderful time at abc kitchen It's a bit like a winter wonderland inside, all white and they pride themselves on sourcing local and organic produce, (right up my alley).  Lunch started out with a cheeky glass of a crisp chilled Sancerre, and then another and then a bottle  (or 2 or 3) of Rose. 

Well we are on holidays after all.

It was great to catch up with favourite youngest daughter's best friend and her mom, (Hi, Monique and Sarah!) and sit back and enjoy our lunch and some celebrity spotting, yes indeed.  I can say I have had lunch with Sofia Vergara  (yes, Gloria from Modern Family, who must have just got back from LA where modern family won an Emmy for the best comedy. ), she was sitting a few tables away from us. I took a couple of pics with the i-phone, not the best quality but I think  you can clearly see her.

So what about the food?  Well I give it 10/10. We shared some starters, a fresh tomato, buffalo mozzarella and basil pizza and a charcuterie plate.  For the main course 3 of us had wood oven roasted Maine lobster with oregano and lemon-chili vinaigrette, which was exceptional, especially the price compared to what you would pay for it back in Sydney. We had a side of roasted summer beans, hazelnuts and lemon, which I am definitely going to try when I get home.

We had to try desert so we shared salted caramel ice cream, with candied peanuts and popcorn, whipped cream and chocolate sauce. All in all a fabulous lunch!

Ladies, who lunch, clockwise from left, Goddess Jnr, GG, favourite youngest daughters BFF and her mommy!

after lunch we poured ourselves into a cab back downtown to our apartment and a siesta, followed with a 30 minute foot massage and a night in with the 6th season of Mad Men, a perfect end to a near perfect New York day.