Catch Your Wave

I have been on a super sonic exploration of nyc and surrounding areas during the past few weeks. I've made it my personal endeavor to become acquainted with as much of this side of the continent as possible.


First stop was Mary's Fish Camp, the cutest small plate restaurant in the west village. It is one of those tiny places that has as many tables crammed into it as possible and you are sitting with the people at the tables next to you as much to the person(s) you came with across from you, but I think that adds to the fun. The best thing we ordered was the dorado with edamame and grapefruit. Yum.


That same night we took the walk down Bleeker Street and around a corner to the long awaited Popbar. Pasha went simple with a mango bar with white chocolate and macadamia nuts, while I took the bar "less traveled by" - chocolate bar dipped in milk chocolate sprinkled with almonds and granola dipped again, this time in dark chocolate and drizzled with white chocolate. I really couldn't stop myself. I could have all I wanted for only one extra dollar. Sign me up. This is the only non-incriminating picture - the rest are of me with chocolate all over my face and clothes. Scandalous.


A few days later I took part in a performance in Washington Square Park about human/sex trafficking. After the performance we took a nice walk to alphabet city to the remarkable Sigmund's Pretzel Shop. As you can see the pretzels were fantastic.


We went a little pretzel crazy, purchasing no less than two salted pretzels, one garlic parsley, and (my favorite) gruyere paprika. We also took advantage of all the fun dips: whipped butter, honey mustard, herb goat cheese, and some fancy peanut butter. Fun.

This past week I also took my long awaited day trip to Washington DC. We spent one entire day from 9am to Midnight walking all over DC seeing the most amazing historical buildings. Pasha was sad that his man crush - Obama - was not in town, but we still enjoyed our tour of the capital building, seeing Thomas Jefferson's personal collection of books at the Library of Congress, and seeing fireflies for the first time right after observing the Vietnam War Memorial.


At the Lincoln Memorial I had a run in with some "super-cool" frat boys, who interrupted me while I was reading. Out of no where I hear, "Wow dude, that is a long speech..." the other doofus responds with, "Yeah man, there is no way I am reading that..." my response: "It's called the Gettysburg address and two paragraphs is not really that long." I was annoyed for a few minutes, and then I took this picture and realized how being annoyed while being somewhere so foundational would be a waste of time. Schooled.

The Kid Inside

Yesterday was a lazy nyc day until we realized how pitiful it would be to spend the entire day in a stuffy apartment. I got a late lunch at Peanut Butter and Co. (which included a fluffernutter sandwich, the cutest bag of potato chips, carrot sticks, and a scrumptious strawberry milkshake) which came in a brown paper bag that we took to Washington square park to devour. The potato chip bad explains the rule, "you can only eat your chips if you eat your carrots too!"


Washington Square Park was a ruckus. There was a science convention, too many tourists to count, hobos, and a bunch of kids playing in the fountain in the middle of the park. Of course I was drawn to the kids and could not resist taking a few pictures.



Shortly after we finished our delightful meal the rain started to pour. Two useless cops were unnecessarily worried because the wind knocked over a sign while an overzealous science man kept repeating "wind is science" so that people would stay huddled under their umbrellas with their children to watch his show.



It was yet another day in NYC that I can look back on with appreciation instead of anticipation.

Cigarettes And Chocolate Milk

Checked one off the list.

This cute little chocolate shop (and by that I mean huge chocolate restaurant) was the perfect way to spend a hot and sticky night around union square. The weather is miserable in NYC right now, but the random showers make it exciting at the same time.

We had dinner at Max Brenner - Chocolate by the Bald Man, which was followed by half of an amazing Chocolate Pizza topped with "the works" which included bananas, marshmallows, peanut butter sauce, and of course the main ingredient, chocolate! Along with dessert came a delicious hot chocolate chai that I haven't been able to stop thinking about since.

After dessert we listened to a guitar and watched all the young hipsters in Union Square. People always talk about how nice Union Square is, and personally I never believed them - now I understand that it is a place to doddle about after hours, not during the day.

In store for me later today: my first Afro-Caribbean dance class at Mark Morris Dance Group. No shoes allowed!

Hold On

Here are a few photos that have been living in the archives of winter.

Summer Nights

Now that the school year has come to an end it has become official that I will be moving back to Los Angeles in the Fall. I have an extraordinary amount of excitement about this move. I am altogether ready to be back on the West Coast and have all the things that come along with that - including the weather, the familiarity, the friends, and all the fast cars! But as I realize that I will be leaving in no more than only two short months - I am coming to terms with the fact that I will also be leaving Broadway, a community of actors I know, and the amazing Bouchon doughnuts that are only four blocks from where I live. I have also recently began to realize and reflect on the things that I sill have not done in New York City.

I mean, come on, I have been here for two years and I have yet to visit the empire state building.

So here is my mission. I am going to be a New Yorker who becomes familiar with many of the most touristy and also the most simple aspects of "The City" before I leave for LA in August (on a cross country road trip).

I consider this voyage to have started yesterday, Memorial Day, when I ventured across the Brooklyn Bridge on foot. Right as we got to the other side we were bombarded by a flash flood, we got drenched, hid inside a pizza place, found a piece of a rubber glove inside of our pizza (I politely complained), we received another pizza on the house and the bill was of no charge. As you probably guessed, the boys ate the second pizza.

Also on my list for this summer: visiting Highline Park, Boat Basin Cafe, Max Brenner, Peanut Butter & Co., Washington Square Park, Bouley, Sigmund's Pretzel Shop, The Russian Tea Room, Popbar, and East Hampton. I also refuse to leave NYC before seeing either of the productions during Shakespeare in the Park. Pictures and notable shorts will be posted accordingly.

Happiness

I admit that I have been focusing on everything else that exists right now except for this amazing blog (that I think about 5 people might read).

But lucky for all of you, taking pictures is something that I was able to have some fun with while I was in California for a little over a week in December.

For all of you fellow New York folk, this is what you were missing on the west coast on Chrismas Day. In complete honesty, these pictures taken at the beach were taken when there was ice on the streets in New York.







Then came the birds : and you know that I cannot go without photographing things like squirrels and kitties and such so I held back and only included two of the many many pictures that I actually took of these winged creatures.




And here is my tribute to Sprinkles. I miss your cupcakes, and I miss visiting you and eating you with friends and Winter Dream tea lattes.

Sorry this post is so short, so hopefully the pictures are stimulating enough to make up for my lack of an interesting story.