"The Definition of Insanity is Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting Different Results" - Albert Einstein

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Some New York Good Eats and Friends


Dessert at Sardi's
Matzel Toff at Dylan's Candy Bar


GIANT Hamentaschen

Some Gossip Girls in NYC

Macaroons. Mmmm.
Bobby Flay's Restaurant Mesa Grill.

Huevos Rancheros

Bobby Flay Waffle.
Mesa Burger
Mom and Monica with Cousin Elianna

Monica, Carly and Mom and Myself at the Mesa Grill Bar

Cousin Samuel
The Family at Tao

Wafels and Dinges

Trying to blog about where we ate in NYC is literally too much material to put in just one post, so I'm separating them out into separate ones in order to give credit where credit is due.

And credit is definitely due to the Waffle Truck.

Wafels and Dinges is a mobile waffle cart, with 3 carts and a truck that traverse the streets of NYC and dispense happiness in a waffle to New Yorkers and tourists alike.

It has been my dream to eat at said Waffle Truck ever since they kicked the crap out of Bobby Flay in a Throwdown. Finding them in Central Park was a dream come true.

For people who are ignorant of the Waffle Truck and all of its glory (not an exaggeration) I highly recommend watching the "Throwdown" between Wafels and Dinges and Bobby Flay on the FoodNetwork.

The Throwdown between Bobby and the Waffle Truck is actually my favorite Throwdown episode. For those who don't know what Throwdown is, for the love of God you need to be watching more Food Network. I'll recap for those who are woefully ignorant. Bobby Flay challenges people to Throwdowns, where they cook some sort of food specialty they are famous for and he tries to cook one better. If you don't know who Bobby Flay is, you should just stop reading, because I don't even want you people on my blog.

Anyway, in the Wafels and Dinges episode, Bobby tries to beat the Waffle Truck with one of his waffles, which I'm sure were tasty, but proved no match to the traditional "liege" Belgium goodness with spekuloos spread. Pictured below is deThrowdownWafel in all of its majesty.

And after eating one, it is easy to understand why. These waffles are heaven. Absolute Heaven. After finishing my waffle and literally scraping the remainder of it from my cardboard plate, I immediately wanted to have a second. I probably should have, because now all I can dream about is the Waffle Truck.
I've practically begged the Waffle Truck to road trip to Ohio, but since they commute from Belgium everyday, they have kindly declined. In lieu of this, I highly recommend that everyone visiting NYC makes a pit stop at Wafels and Dinges. I promise you won't be sorry.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

The Story of How Alexa Met John Larroquette

It was a cold and brisk day on March 24th of the year 2011 in New York City. The large majority of the day had been spent traveling, shopping and eating, which would have been quite a day in and of itself, but the best was yet to come. For a special trip to the Theatre had been arranged for the family on their first day in New York City.

This had not been the first time the family had been to the Great White Way. Nor would it likely be the last. But for one special girl, it would be The Theatrical Event of a lifetime.

The event on this particular evenings playbill would be a production of "How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" starring the big name actor John Larroquette as J.B. Biggley, most famous from his work on the television show "Night Court" which earned him three consecutive Emmy Awards and also co-starred with Academy Award Nominated actor Bill Murray in the cult classic "Stripes."

Playing Larroquette's co-star in the role of J. Pierrepont Finch was a smaller scale actor; Daniel Radcliffe recently coming off of his Broadway debut in the stage play "Equus" who is also somewhat well known for his film work with the indie low budget "Harry Potter" series. While Larroquette himself is much more of a mega-star in the greatest possible sense of the word, the less well known Radcliffe certainly shows he has the acting chops to succeed in this Hollywood business that chews up so many young actors and spits them out none the wiser.

But if you want this reviewer's opinion, I think Radcliffe is really going places. Keep an eye out for this name. I bet in a few years, he'll really be one to watch in Hollywood. Who knows, maybe this musical production will be the thing that really gives him his big break.

The production itself was wonderful. Held in the fabulous Al Hirschfeld Theatre, which is a small space, but very conducive for an intimate experience.

Cameras aren't allowed inside the theatre, so here is an illegal shot of the curtain call.

But as wonderful as this production was (and it really was quite good, Rose Hemingway as Rosemary was particularly phenomenal) the real story of the night was Alexa's brush with greatness at the Stage Door.

Now Alexa is the biggest John Larroquette fan that you have ever heard of, and she wanted to make sure that she would get to meet him at the stage door after the production, so she ran outside almost as soon as the curtain call started to be at the front of the line. And it was lucky for her that she did, because she was not the only Larroquette fan at the stage door that night. Turns out there was an absolute mob of young teenage Larroquette fans all dying for a glimpse of the Emmy Award Winner. And Alexa was one of the lucky ones. She got her programmed signed by him and everything. It was probably one of the happiest moments of her young life.

Now unfortunately, she wasn't able to get a picture of the famous star, but she was able to get several pictures of the less impressive Daniel Radcliffe, who also consented to sign her program. Close up shots even, as most of the fans were all mobbing Larroquette. But Alexa's interaction with young Radcliffe was also quite fun.

Here we see Radcliffe with a much larger friend who had most likely flown in special for the event.
Radcliffe was very kind and friendly, and consented to sign Alexa's program. But the true moment of night was meeting Laroquette. Apparently the experience moved her so much she began to weep uncontrollably with joy at meeting one of her idols face to face.

It was the event of a lifetime.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Adventures at the Met

That's right, New York pictures are (finally) up! I'm segmenting them because it is easier to download the photos on to the blog if they are in different posts and because then I feel like my ramblings are more contained.

For one afternoon, Monica and Alexa insisted that they partake in a bussed tour around the city to the various places where the television show "Gossip Girl" is filmed on location. Luckily, I insisted that I be privy to what I might pretentiously call more artistic entertainment. Hence, an afternoon at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Here are Dad and I in front of the Museum.
Interestingly enough, Monica was kind enough to inform us that apparently the steps of the Met. are a very prominent location in the Gossip Girl show anyway, as the girls eat breakfast there every morning, so unbeknownst to us, we had all sort of chosen Gossip Girl things to do this fine day. Granted mine was more Van Gogh and theirs was more Van der Woodsen, but who am I to cast judgement really?

Here is Monica getting ready to depart on her Gossip Girl tour from the Palace.

And here are Dad and I taking the obligatory Gossip Girl "Steps of the Met" picture. Apparently, the higher up you are allowed to sit, the more important you are at the boarding school they go to. In this case, I am more important than Dad.

But more important in my mind anyway in the artwork. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a gorgeous white building with a plethora of different art inside. Here are some greatest hits:

The Met had a special Guitar Heroes exhibit featuring the craftsmanship of Italian guitar makes. Pictures weren't allowed, but my Dad took this quick shot of a guitar that was made specifically for Paul Simon.
My favorite artwork at the Met was definitely the Impressionism and Post Impressionism pieces. Here is a Degas Ballerina Statue. Coincidentally, this is the same pose of a Degas Ballerina statue that sits in the foyer of Les Wexner's house. I've seen it. Except, Les' version is bigger.

To accompany the statue, there were a slew of the Ballerina paintings, but I've just provided my all time favorite, which is "The Rehearsal on Stage"

To follow Degas we have Van Gogh. Below is one my personal favorites, "Irises."

And here is one of Dad's favorites, "Cornfield with Cypresses." The brush strokes in person are just amazing.
Then we saw some Monet pieces, including one of my all time favorites, "House of Parliament." I loved the way this piece was framed also.

There were tons more Impressionism pieces, but that would be much too long of a blog post. In the more modern section we saw one of my favorite pieces, "I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold (Homage to William Carlos Williams)" by Charles Demuth. The painting is based on the poem by William Carlos Williams called "The Great Figure." Look it up, it is an awesome poem. Also, it is National Poetry Month, so it is incredibly appropriate.

For anyone in New York City, I highly recommend a stop at the Met. There is a little bit of art for everyone's tastes, and if nothing else, it is always a way to seem more cultured than you were before.