Get Off My Lawn and Out of My Subway Seat

If you follow me on Twitter, or know me in real life you may have the impression that I don't really like children. You would be correct: I don't like kids. I worked at McDonald's instead of babysitting, I was the youngest child (of two) and I have a very small family. I didn't have many friends growing up so I probably started hating children while I was still one myself.

They're sticky and they're loud and they just generally get on my nerves. It may seem surprising that I've always wanted children of my own, however, and my mom assures me that I'll feel very differently about them when they actually originate inside of me. But until that day comes, other people's children are pretty much a daily annoyance for me, especially in a city filled with so many of them.

I've come to realize recently that it's not really even the child that I hate, but the parent(s) — I'm of the belief that most bad children can be directly traced back to bad parenting. Every once in a while there is a child and their parent that makes me totally rethink my blanket hatred, and even maybe crack a smile on my eternal bitch-face. For this reason, I give every little booger-eater the chance to win me over, but unfortunately most end up just reaffirming why they're mostly terrible creatures who should be avoided at all costs.

I've read a lot of "Subway Etiquette" articles since moving to the city, and people seem to be divided on the issue of giving up your seat for a child. I don't know one person that would argue that you shouldn't immediately give up your seat for an elderly, disabled or pregnant woman, but kids (ones not currently inside of their mothers, that is) are another story. I am of the opinion that if your kid can walk and stand then they should definitely do so on a crowded subway. I've seen plenty of kids in subway seats, and I very rarely see them actually sitting still. They're fidgety and wiggly and I've seen may of them treat their seat neighbors (aka complete strangers) as nothing more than human jungle gyms.

A few weeks ago, a family got on the train: mom, dad, two kids and grandma. A woman got up, offering her seat to the elderly grandma, like any kind person should do. The mom, instead of letting her mom sit, shoved one of her children into the empty seat. I was standing at the end of the car, and as the train pulled away from the station, the elderly woman FLEW into me, pinning me between her body and the door (one of my top subway fears: realized). The mom pulled her mother off of me, asking if she was ok (she didn't bother to ask me, but whatever I was fine). Seeing this, another good samaritan offered up their seat to the grandmother. The young mom then proceeded to shove her second child into the free seat, leaving her elderly mother still standing, even after she had clearly proven her need to be seated while the train was in motion.

Am I being a total "get-off-my-lawn" grumpy old person to think that children should stand like the rest of us? I actually feel horrible when I have my nose in a book or I'm just zoned out and don't notice a person in need of my seat before someone else does. Shouldn't parents be teaching their children to respect their elders and help those in need? It's ok if you just think I'm a total kid-hating monster, but I'm probably still not going to give up my seat to your able-bodied kid. Don't even make me tell you what I thought of the kid riding next to me recently whose parents thought it would be an awesome idea to give him a noisemaker. And yes, he definitely knew how to use it.

Friday Food: John's Pizzeria

While Brianna was in town, I realized that she had never been to John's Pizzerria. My man and I discovered John's on Bleecker Street kind of by accident on a trip to the city a few years ago. We were hungry, they had pizza, so we gave it a try. We ended up loving it so much that we went back two more times during our three-day trip, and many many times since. I like to joke that I've taken every single person I've ever met for a pizza at John's, but that's really not far from the truth. Since 2009 I've shared pizzas with: my mom, dad and uncle, as well as at least seven friends that I can think of off hand. I also once took a four-hour detour on a return trip from Cape Cod just to grab a pizza to go (pro tip: it doesn't travel well). It's just that good.

I've since had pizza at Grimaldi's, Juliana's, Rubirosa, Patsy's and many others but still nothing compares to John's. While the Rubirosa vodka sauce pie was insanely delicious, I consider that more of a specialty item. When I want PIZZA pizza, good old sauce, cheese and pepperoni on a thin crust, I haven't found that I can do any better than John's.

The Bleecker Street John's is the one I've been to, not to be confused with a few other "John's" locations. There must be something to the location, however, because the tiny strip of Bleecker east of 7th Ave. is filled with tons of amazing places to eat, including Murray's Cheese Bar (and store) and Cones (home of the incredible sweet corn ice cream, and right next-door to John's). It's also conveniently located a few minutes from Magnolia Bakery, and I've had the pizza-cupcake (or lemon bar, or banana pudding…) combo meal more times than I'd like to admit.

John's has a coal-fired oven, and they've been in business since 1929. This type of cooking leaves little black bits of charred dough on the bottom of the thin, delicious crust which is all sorts of good. I've experimented with a few different topping choices, but I can say with confidence that double pepperoni is without a doubt the best way to eat John's. Changing up the magic formula does something bad to the whole experience, and I don't recommend going rogue. I tell everyone the same thing when I take them, as I slowly close their menu and push it away from them: just trust me, let me order, and I promise it will be good. The extra pepperoni means extra grease puddles, which sounds gross but I swear it's really amazing. I never feel fatter than when I'm sopping up the extra grease drips with my slice of pizza as I eat, but if you've ever had John's then you'll understand.

They're militant about not offering slices, as indicated by the multiple mentions of the policy around the inside and outside of the restaurant. This has never been a problem, because the pizza is so delicious and I always bring someone to help me. I've never had leftovers, but trust me when I say that the medium is more than enough for two people. Everyone has opinions about the best New York pizza place, and I'm sure there are a ton of other amazing pies out there, but John's still has my vote. I am, of course, always open to suggestions for better places but it's nice to know that when I'm really craving pizza, John's is only just a short subway ride away.

Tasting Tuesdays

On Tuesday afternoon I saw a tweet about Tasting Tuesday's at the Winter Village in Bryant Park. When I found out that it was basically a scavenger hunt for free food samples, that culminated in a gift certificate, I knew I needed to check it out. There's almost nothing I won't do for a free food sample, so I thought it was worth a try.

The website listed the event as running from 4:30pm - 7pm, but when I signed up I was told that it was over at 6pm. There was a sign-up table located near the Christmas Tree in the middle of the park, where you wrote down your name and email and received a wrist band and map. They were out of the maps by the time I got there, but someone who had one let me take a photo of hers. Along with the map was a list of participating vendors and what they were offering. Most offered samples, but some offered discounts or BOGO deals as well. I only had about a half hour before the end of the event, so I tried to hit up as many booths as possible.

My first stop was the Wafels & Dinges booth, because I had heard good things and always wanted to try their treats. The line was long and it took a while for the samples to be made, but it was definitely worth the wait. They gave out mini wafels, topped with speculoos spread and a generous heap of whipped cream (totally free). It was just as good as I had imagined, and I'm definitely going to be trying the full-sized version real soon. I also got a small cup of hot cider from Big Apple Cider (with a real cinnamon stick!), and samples of a chocolate-covered churro, apple streusel, two different pickles, a coconut cronut (not THE Cronut but it was still fucking amazing), chimney cake, a chocolate-covered banana slice, vegetarian chili and falafel.

The thing I love most about free samples (aside from the free part) is that I get to try things that I would never normally eat. I'm a picky eater and I have total ordering anxiety — I'm always terrified to try new things because what if I end up hating them and missing out on something I already know I like? This is, of course, a stupid way to think, but that's why sampling is one of my very favorite things. I love that most ice cream shops let you sample before you buy, and I feel like all restaurants should be that way. I know that's not possible, but a girl can dream.

When I tried the pickle samples the guy in the booth told me that if I correctly identified both samples that he would give me a free, full-sized pickle. I think he was a little surprised when I guessed both right away, but I take my pickle knowledge very seriously. I chose the horseradish as my free pickle, and it was one of the best I've ever eaten. I don't think I'll end up getting falafel again, but it was nice to finally know what it tasted like (meh). After I was done, I waited in a pretty decent-sized line, and was told that I could either pick a $10 gift certificate from one of the food vendors (while supplies last) or take my chance and draw a random $25 one to one of the non-food shops. I don't like to leave things to chance, so I took a $10 one to Chimney Cake. I would have preferred Wafels & Dinges, but there wasn't one available and the Chimney Cake was my second favorite of all the desserts I ate. I was only there about an hour and the free gift certificate on top of all the free food I had already eaten was a nice bonus. Since it was all free I didn't have anything to lose by trying it out, and I'm obviously glad I did.

Although at one point, after eating the chocolate-covered churro, I picked up my phone and realized I had gotten chocolate sauce on my power button. I very quickly licked it off, because what else was I supposed to do, and then felt incredibly fat. But if licking chocolate sauce off of your phone in the middle of a crowded park is wrong, I don't want to be right.

RIP 5Pointz

Whether you or I agree with it or not doesn't matter now — graffiti "mecca" 5Pointz has officially been painted over as of yesterday. The painting comes before the demolishing, but to a building that was covered in beautiful works of art, whitewashing is basically the same as a wrecking ball.

A lot of people are talking about whether the demise of 5Pointz is a bad thing, good thing or somewhere in between. Even the big bad developer himself apparently has mixed feelings about it, although I'm sure the millions he will make from the eventual luxury condos will soothe any and all wounds.

I don't know how to feel about it exactly — I'm new to this city, so I don't think I've earned the right to wax poetic about the "good old days" quite yet. New York is constantly changing and evolving, for better or worse, and that's one of the constants we have to deal with every day as people who love and live in this city. Demolition is only one part to every evolution, and while luxury condos might not be beneficial to me in any real way, new development can sometimes be great. Without growth and change we wouldn't have anything that makes this city so wonderful.

I'm so glad that I got to see 5Pointz, which I actually stumbled upon by accident, twice this summer. I'm sad that it's gone, but now I can feel like a true New Yorker and say "I remember when..."

Brooklyn Flea

Last weekend my friend Brianna was in town. She had been to New York many times, so there wasn't much on the agenda which was kind of nice (for me at least, I hope you had fun, Brianna!). On Saturday we slept in a bit, had brunch in Brooklyn Heights and leisurely made our way over to the Brooklyn Flea in Fort Greene.

I had been to the flea once before, earlier this year in the Williamsburg Savings Bank, but I had never been to the outdoor market. The Fort Greene location is actually directly across the street from the Brooklyn Masonic Temple, where I had just seen Cat Power a few nights before. I hadn't been terribly impressed with the winter flea, but for some reason I enjoyed the outdoor version much more. It was a beautiful day, which probably didn't hurt, and there were some great things to look at. I can be kind of a price snob when it comes to flea markets since I spent 27 years getting used to Ohio prices, but I was surprised to find that most of the vintage goods were quite reasonable. It was fun to be back amongst vintage treasures again, which is something I definitely miss about my previous life running Blue Carrot Shop. I'd love to open a real-life shop one day, or maybe I'll even become a vendor at the Flea.

There were a lot of goodies that I wanted, of course, but the one thing I decided I couldn't live without was a collection of vintage, plastic holly garland. I adore vintage Christmas decorations and I couldn't pass up the holly when I found out it was only $5. I got an entire bag full, and while it needs a little repair work, there is more than enough to make a big impact in my tiny apartment.

There are quite a few food vendors at the Flea too, and even the fact that we had just eaten didn't stop us from checking out the goodies. I got a cup of hot chocolate from Whimsy & Spice, which was a mix of their Early Grey and Chili flavors. Even with the mix it was still a bit spicy for my tastes, but still delicious. We were just about to leave when we walked down an aisle we had somehow missed and stumbled on the Dough donut booth. I had heard good things about their donuts, and when I saw that they had a lemon poppy flavored one I caved. It was a little stale feeling, texture-wise, but the lemon flavor was amazing. I might have to actually go to their shop and try another to see if maybe the one I had was just not at peak freshness. I think I still prefer Doughnut Plant, however, and my mouth still waters every time I think about the last donut I ate there.

Fort Greene is such a beautiful neighborhood and I'm so glad I got to see the outdoor flea before it moves inside to a new location for the winter. There's only one more outdoor weekend left this season, so if you see that super awesome taxidermy fox, tell him I'll be back for him one day.

Cat Power, Solo

On Thursday I went to see Cat Power, in a solo "acoustic" show at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple. I put acoustic in quotation marks because that's how it was billed, but she played an electric guitar as well as the piano. This was my third time seeing her (first was October of last year in Washington D.C., second was in January at Terminal 5) but my first time seeing her solo. The first two times were part of her Sun tour, which is probably my least favorite of her albums, but was still good live.

This was, by far the better of the three shows, and maybe the best show I've ever seen. Now I haven't seen many (especially compared to a lot of people my age) so that might not be as important a claim as it sounds, but she was amazing. I have loved her ever since The Greatest came out, which was the first time I ever heard of her. Once I realized it wasn't a greatest hits album (it isn't, I'm just an idiot), it quickly became one of my very favorite albums of all-time. I listened to it basically non-stop that entire summer and never got tired of it. Seven years later, I'm still not tired of it, and think that every single song is perfection.

After falling in love with her voice and amazing lyrics, I of course listened to every other thing of hers I could get my hands on. It's all great, and I knew I would never pass up a chance to see her do anything live. She's had a lot of health and personal problems through the years that have interrupted her tours and made seeing her a not-so easy thing to do. The second this solo show was announced I bought my ticket, and it ended up selling out not too soon after they went on sale. In response to the huge demand, they added a second show right after the first one, which annoyed me a bit. I was afraid that she would try and reserve her voice or cut the show short. Although she started late, and only ended up playing for about an hour and a half it was still definitely worth it.

She sang so many of my favorites — Satisfaction, Good Woman, The Greatest — but everything she sang had a completely unique sound, unlike anything you would find on her albums. She sang a lot of partial songs and was generally a bit scattered, but there is no equipment malfunction in the world capable of distracting from the fact that she just has an incredible voice. Everything she sings is so heartfelt and devastating that I basically cried through the entire show. It's always a surprise which song really ends up getting to me — at Terminal 5 it was The Greatest, and on Thursday it was Good Woman.

I'd never been to the Brooklyn Masonic Temple before, but I was pleased to discover that there were actual seats. I came about a half hour early and ended up with a perfect view from the third row middle (a perk of going to a show alone). The thing I hate most about concerts are the other people, waving their cell phones, recording the whole show, spilling their beer, clapping along or singing in my face. THANKFULLY there wasn't one annoying person in the audience for this show and it definitely made a huge difference. Everyone was respectful and chill and I could actually hear and see everything she did. I would see this tour again in a heartbeat if I could.

This is neither here, nor there, but I also learned that her first name "Chan" is actually pronounced "Shawn," which kind of blew my mind a little bit. She is one of those artists that is so raw and emotional that anything they sing instantly becomes heartbreaking, like Judy Garland, Edith Piaf or Johnny Cash. I just kind of want to give her a hug, but after Thursday's show I'm thinking I could use one too.

Friday Food: Panna II Indian Garden

On Tuesday, Katie, Jim and I continued our every-few-weeks tradition of a weeknight dinner out. The first one was in Chinatown, the second in Little Italy and for Tuesday I suggested Panna II Garden Indian Restaurant in the East Village.

I had been there once before, when I was staying in the city on Valentine's Day of this year. An old college friend and I had decided to meet (he didn't even know it was Valentine's, not that it mattered to either of us) and he suggested Indian food. The picky eater in me almost requested a change of venue multiple times, but each time I stopped myself. I kept thinking that I needed to try new things, step outside of my comfort zone and not rock the boat. As soon as we arrived at the restaurant (he hadn't told me the name of it) I was so glad that I hadn't wimped out. I loved it so much, in fact, that I couldn't wait to give others their first Panna II experience and Katie and Jim agreed when I suggested it for our next dinner.

Having been twice I can say that I still don't love Indian food, but you (or at least I) don't really go to Panna II for the food. Sure, you eat there, but it's 99% about the atmosphere and decor of the teeny tiny second floor restaurant.

There are actually three nearly identical Indian restaurants right next to each other, with each one trying to usher you into their respective spaces. I received this worthy advice from Shawn, who has been to (or knew someone who had been to) each one: Panna II is the best, just keep your head down, ignore the solicitations from the competitors and head straight upstairs (it's the one to the right). Hosts from the other restaurants will literally try to push you into their doors, but resist!

Once inside you'll understand why I'm concentrating this review on the decor and not the food — I've never seen anything like it (except for next door.. and downstairs…). Basically every square inch of ceiling is covered in lights — chili pepper lights, Christmas lights, pumpkin lights, baseball lights — but there's a whole lot more festive bits and baubles hanging in between, including hawaiin lais, stuffed animals, Christmas ornaments and holiday decorations from every season.

There is about five feet of actual headroom (from the floor to the start of the lights) and the place is tiny so you'll have to duck and squeeze but it's totally worth it. It's all just so weird and fun and makes very little sense (what the connection between India and Christmas lights is I can't be sure) so of course I love it. It's also probably a safety hazard and can't possibly be hygienic (how do they clean all of those??) but it got me to eat Indian food not once, but twice so they're doing something right.

As for the actual food, it's not nearly as scary as I thought it would be and most of it is actually quite good. The coconut poori (Shawn described it as a coconut donut, which is accurate) is delicious (and cheap!) and the chicken tandoori is a good choice if you're a terribly picky, uncultured American like me. It's basically just two freakishly large chicken breasts that have been roasted and rubbed with something that makes them bright red and a little spicy — don't let the fact that they look like human hearts scare you, and hey if you go on Valentine's it's just extra festive!

Do note that they are cash only and BYOB, although they don't charge a corkage fee, so that's nice. It always feels a little shady to me to crack open my own drink in the middle of a restaurant, but you do what you gotta do (it's totally allowed and normal, I'm just weird). I can't say that I will ever get to the point in my life where I think to myself "hmm, you know what I'd like for dinner?Indian food," but I'll probably (definitely) drag at least a few more of my friends to Panna II if only to take in the sights.

Prospect Park

On Saturday I found myself without a single thing to do, not a common occurrence for me. I have been sick with my second cold in the last two months (ugh) so I badly needed to get out of bed and away from my apartment.

I decided to go to Prospect Park in Brooklyn through a decision making process that looked something like this: I haven't been there in a while > the long(ish) train ride will give me time to read my book > if I'm lucky I'll find warm cider and cider donuts at the farmer's market in Grand Army Plaza because they had them back in February. These are pretty much my main concerns when it comes to most anything — scenery, books and food.

I lucked out on the food front and found both the hot cider and the cider donuts (two for a dollar — a total steal). I took my $3 lunch into Prospect Park and spent the next few hours walking around, taking in the bounty of fall delights still left to see. The leaves weren't as beautiful as Central Park, but there were still a few standouts.

I have generally have a good sense of direction, but I swear every time I'm in Prospect Park I get lost. I did a bit better this time, and actually made it to the lake, something I haven't been as successful at in the past. The lake is really the best part of the park, in my opinion, and I especially love the swans. No matter how many times I see them I am still shocked and thrilled when I spot one (or four). They're so striking and large that they almost don't seem real. I'm not a huge fan of birds but catching a glimpse of the swans will always feel special to me.

I ended up walking around the southern point of the lake and back north, ending up back at Grand Army Plaza which is quite the haul. It was a really beautiful, chilly fall day and walking under the falling leaves is always kind of magical. I also figure that walking about five miles in and out of the park totally justifies the fact that all I had for lunch was two sugar-covered cider donuts. That's how that works, right?

Sunnyside and Kykuit

Before we visited the final resting places of both Washington Irving and William Rockefeller on our recent trip to Sleepy Hollow, we toured their respective estates, Sunnyside and Kykuit. They are geographically almost neighbors, but the properties are very different.

Sunnyside is more of a cottage, although Irving (who never married) shared the relatively small space with his brother and his five daughters. The house sits on beautiful former farmland, separated from the Hudson River by train tracks, an addition that was made back in Irving's time. Four of us actually got into Sunnyside for free because the fifth person in our group became a member of the Historic Hudson Valley. I think I may have been disappointed if I had paid the $12 admission price, but as I've said before I have a hard time complaining about something I got for free.

The tour encompasses only a few of the ground floor rooms, and we were free to explore the grounds (including the outhouses and icehouse) on our own. I wish we had been able to see more of the house and I felt as if the guides stationed in each room were a bit less enthusiastic with their stories than I expected.

Later in the day, as we were standing in front of Irving's grave in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, we overheard the following conversation between a husband and his wife: "Who was Washington Iriving again?" "He's the one who wrote the Headless Horseman."

They definitely could have benefited from the tour at Sunnyside, but since we already had a cursory knowledge of the man who wrote the inspiration for our entire trip (which is The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, by the way, not the Headless Horseman) it was interesting but not terribly enlightening.

Down the road a bit is the Rockefeller estate, Kykuit (pronounced Kye-cut), which is much larger and more grandiose than Sunnyside. We were wary of our tour guide at first, but aside from her creepy obsession with Nelson Rockefeller, she ended up being pretty great.

The house is beautiful, but it's the location and the grounds that really make it a spectacular place. The sloping lawns overlook the Hudson River Valley and I can't imagine a more beautiful time than fall to take the tour. Again, we didn't see as much of the house as I would have liked (why are the top floors always off-limits?) but it was still pretty long and informative.

Apparently the Rockefeller's tried not to be too showy with their wealth in keeping with their Baptist beliefs, but I'm not sure how much they succeeded in that regard. If Kykuit is their idea of what restraint looks like, I'd love to see what it would have looked like had they really tried to show off.

Finding Fall

I read in the New York Times that the fall foliage in the city would be a its peak last weekend, so I planned to take one last leaf-peeping adventure. By then I sort of felt as if I had already petted fall to death with all of my October activities, but I couldn't resist one last autumnal hurrah. Turns out the leaves are still pretty breathtaking, even if they're past peak, so I might as well continue to enjoy the delights as they present themselves.

I thought I'd recap some of my favorite leaf showings this year and if you haven't made it out to the parks yet this year, you still have time. Although I wouldn't recommend Forrest Hills Park in Queens — I heard they had beautiful leaves there, but when I Googled the park to plan a trip there the first two results that came up were "Sicko in the Park Still on the Loose" and "Stun Gun Rape in Forrest Hills Park." I'm sure it's a beautiful place but I'm not in the mood to get stun-gun raped by a sicko so I stuck to these less exotic locales:

Inwood Hills Park

We didn't stay to long or venture too far into the actual park, but the view across the Hudson River was sublime last weekend. I seem to be having a bit of a love affair with the Hudson this fall, and if you've ever been around it this time of year you won't blame me. While this post focuses on parks within New York City limits, some of the best foliage I've seen was near the Hudson in Sleepy Hollow and on my trip farther north into New England. I think pretty much any town within the Hudson Valley is a sure bet for spectacular leaf delights.

Central Park

I've gone leaf spotting in Central Park many times over the past few weeks, and each time the leaves have gotten prettier and prettier. I found what I thought had to have been the best tree in the park, only to happen upon an even better one further down the path.

Most recently I stuck to the northern part of the park, which I can't recommend enough. Near the pond is especially picturesque, and don't be afraid to venture into the heart of the North Woods — you'll be rewarded with spectacular views and hardly anyone around to ruin your pristine photos.

Roosevelt Island

Roosevelt Island probably isn't the first place you'd think of when looking for beautiful foliage, but I was pleasantly surprised by my trip there last Sunday. The small trees lining the walking paths by the river are amazingly colorful right now. The landscaping near the Four Freedoms FDR monument is incredibly vibrant and the fallen leaves are just as pretty as the ones still on the trees. If you haven't been to Roosevelt Island yet, fall is a perfect time to explore. There's even a super cozy Starbucks right near the tram exit because every fall adventure is made even better with coffee — but finish your drink before you enter the FDR memorial — drinks are not allowed, something I learned the hard way.

The Amazing Maize Maze

The day before our Sleepy Hollow adventure, my friend Jim and I joined a larger group of friends at the Queens County Farm for the Amazing Maize Maze. I've been to two corn mazes before (in Ohio), but this one was surprisingly the best out of the three. I've always said that fall is the one thing that Ohio gets right, and I was nervous that I wouldn't be satisfied with any of the city's fall offerings. Luckily, I've managed to find some real quality fall delights within or in close proximity to the city this year, so I needn't have worried.

The Queens County Farm feels like a real farm, unlike the super sad Urban Farm on Randall's Island, but it's still accessible by public transportation (take the E/F to Kew Gardens and then the Q46 bus to the Little Neck Pkwy stop). They had a pumpkin "patch" — they don't actually grow them there, but there was a very large pile you could pick from — a petting zoo, a cow-milking station (yes this is a thing apparently), hayrides and a few food booths selling cider, hot dogs and roasted corn.

The main attraction, of course, is the Maize Maze and it was a little pricey ($9) but super fun. This was the first maze I'd been to that felt totally legit — each team even got a flag just incase they needed to signal for help. There were nine mailboxes scattered throughout the maze, each containing a unique piece of a map of the whole maze. Once you collected all nine you could find your way out and consider the maze "completed." There were plenty of map pieces in each mailbox that we came across, and even tape at each one to affix it to our map. I'm always appreciative of well-run events, and after we had completed it I definitely felt as if it had been worth the price of admission.

At the "finish line" you climb a few steps to an elevated bridge, where you an look out over the entire maze, which was a really cool touch. It was challenging enough to be fun, but not so hard that we got frustrated or annoyed. I could have done without the loudspeakers, where farm employees shouted out poll questions (What's your favorite Halloween candy?) that were pretty irrelevant and a tad distracting. I didn't mind when they used the speakers to play music, however, especially when parts of the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack started playing.

I was also annoyed they didn't have apple cider donuts, but the tiny jugs of cider were delicious, as was the roasted corn-on-the-cob I smothered in parmesan cheese and garlic salt (a revelation!) and devoured.

However, once Jim and I had the idea of donuts planted in our head, we couldn't really declare the day a success until we tracked some down. He had never been to Doughnut Plant before, and when a quick search brought up that they had apple cinnamon (and pumpkin!) donuts, we headed there after we left the farm. I wasn't incredibly impressed by my first Doughnut Plant experience earlier this year, but I have to say that the apple cinnamon yeast donut completely changed my mind. It was easily the best donut I've ever had — chewy and fluffy, with just the right amount of cinnamon and a delicious apple glaze with shreds of real apple in it. It was the perfect end to our day of fall delights, and although the Amazing Maize Maze has probably been turned into animal food by now, it's never too early to start planning a trip for next year.

My Fourth Month as a New Yorker

Whew. October was one busy, crazy, wonderful month. Especially after my rough September, October was a total gift filled with more fall delights than I can even possibly recap. There is something I love about all the seasons, but if I had to pick just one, fall would edge ahead due to its amazing weather, crazy colorful leaves, apple cider and Halloween-related activities.

At the beginning of the month I made fun of my friend Katie for saying that all of her weekends in October were already booked, and not soon after the same thing happened to me. Some things didn't end up happening, some last-minute plans were made and suddenly it's November and I've officially been a New Yorker for four whole months. Add that to the two months I spent here in the winter, and I've now been in New York for more than half of this year.

Here's how I spent some of my fourth month:

I visited Randall's Island for the first time and went to the saddest fall festival I've ever seen, spent a gloomy Sunday at Rockaway Beach, impulsively bought candy corn and ate it for breakfast, had the most amazing vodka sauce pizza from Rubirosa, cannoli from Little Italy and saw the Poe exhibit at the Morgan Library.

I spent two days pilfering the free samples at the Martha Stewart American Made event, stood five feet from Martha Stewart while she shared packing tips and I tried not to die of happiness, my uncle came to visit and we went to pick up eBay purchases from a guy who lived with the most amazing view of Manhattan, then we went to the Japanese garden show at the New York Botanical Garden and finally saw the Four Seasons sculptures up close.

We wandered through the Haunted Pumpkin Garden at the NYBG and took a tour of the beautiful grounds, I went leaf peeping in Central Park and found the most amazing tree, had my first street nuts of the season, took a work field trip to New England and had an enormous bed and fancy suite in the cutest little inn all to myself.

I went to a free Architecture Week lecture about Grand Central Terminal (and will never look at the building in the same way again), found our way out of the Amazing Maize Maze at the Queens County Farm and rewarded ourselves with apple cider and an apple cinnamon doughnut, Mozart took a liking to my end table crate and we shared a lot of special moments (as always).

We took a day trip to Sleepy Hollow including a stop at Washington Irving's Sunnyside, the gorgeous Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, the Rockefeller's Kykuit estate which overlooks the incredible Hudson River Valley, and gawked at more than 5,000 pumpkins at the Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze.

November should be a little calmer, although I have a few things already on my calendar: a Cat Power solo acoustic show (!), a weekend visit from my friend Brianna and of course Thanksgiving-related festivities including the Macy's Parade and balloon inflation. I'm also excited for all of the Christmas festivities to begin, and my December is already starting to fill up with seasonal delights.

I'm totally grateful that October's weather has been so lovely (i.e. we're basically having a drought), but I'm actually hoping for a lot of snow this winter. Everyone I know seems to be dreading winter in the city but I say bring it on.

The Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze

One of the very first things we did when we were planning our trip to Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow, was book our tickets for the Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze. The hugely popular event sells out quickly, with some of the more in-demand dates (weekends close to Halloween) and times snatched up before fall even begins. When we went to book our tickets (in September) the only weekend time available before Halloween was Sunday, October 27th at 9pm. We grabbed them, and planned our day around the Blaze. I'm so, SO glad we did because it was definitely the highlight of the trip, and a great way to end the night.

I actually discovered the Blaze a few years ago when I was still living in Ohio. I obsessively read all about it (including their hilarious faq page) and tried desperately to figure out a way to make an October trip to the Hudson Valley happen. Fast forward a few years, I'm living much closer to the action and one of my friends mentions that he'd like to take a trip to Sleepy Hollow in the fall. He had never heard of the Blaze before, but it didn't take much convincing to get him (and then the rest of our group) to trust my enthusiasm enough to book our tickets more than a month in advance.

In all of my planning and research I had somehow misread the descriptions, and initially thought that there were 500 pumpkins, which seemed like a lot to me. That is, until I read it correctly and realized the Blaze featured more than five THOUSAND hand carved and lighted pumpkins. Turns out that only about 1,000 of those are real — the rest are plastic, carveable "funkins" and reused year after year. This really doesn't affect the integrity of the event, however, and it's nearly impossible to even tell which ones are real and which are fake. As far as I could tell all of the ones closest to the path were definitely real and it's so dark and they're SO BRIGHT AND SHINY, so who cares in the end. Seriously, the entire thing was dazzling and even though I was there I still can't really fathom that I saw more than 5,000 pumpkins.

There were your standard, "face" carvings (in every variety you can think of, and then some), but the more elaborate displays really stole the show. It's impossible to pick favorites — from dinosaurs and zoo animals, to witches, mummies, skeletons, spiders, bees, bats and an entire yard of cat pumpkins (ok, I might have actually squealed with delight upon seeing so many cat pumpkins) — there was definitely something for everyone.

There was a grandfather clock with a swinging pendulum, jack-in-the-boxes with pop-up pumpkin heads and a new-this-year, walk-through tunnel lined with hundreds of carved pumpkins.

The event was very nicely controlled, with a winding, roped off path that you followed through the entire grounds. This made sense to protect the pumpkins, but also gave you unobstructed views of every single carving. The low-light does make it difficult to get great photos (with an iPhone at least), but please don't be one of those people that thinks turning the flash on will give you a Pulitzer-prize winning shot. All it actually does is give you a crappy, washed out photo of pumpkins, where you can't even see the carvings and the person next to you can't see anything at all for a few minutes.

There was a bottle-neck at one point in the pathway, where we had to wait about fifteen minutes to keep moving, but otherwise the night was as smooth as can be, especially considering the crowd. Parking was free (always a plus), and there's a tent to wait in until your admission time, although we were allowed in a few minutes before nine.

We had just eaten dinner so we didn't partake in any of the food, although had I known that they had apple cider donuts I definitely would have come home with some. They even sell a soundtrack made up of original music composed specifically for the Blaze (they're on volume IIalready). The displays change a bit every year, so I definitely want to make the Blaze an annual tradition — especially now that I'm only a short Metro-North train ride away.

Happy Halloween!

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery

On Sunday a group of friends and I spent the whole day exploring Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow in the Hudson River Valley. We'd been planning the trip for a while, and I can't remember being as excited for anything in quite a while. I'd never been to upstate New York before, and Sleepy Hollow seemed as if it would be the epitome of all fall and Halloween delights. The area definitely did not disappoint, and we crammed a ton of adventures into the more than 12-hour trip.

A definite highlight was the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and Old Dutch Church Burying Ground. There are a lot of famous New York names buried in the cemetery, including a Rockefeller, a Chrysler, the Helmsleys, Elizabeth Arden and, of course, the area's most famous resident, Washington Irving.

The grounds are incredibly beautiful, especially this time of year. The entire area was exploding with fall colors, and the higher ground overlooks the Hudson River Valley, which is one of the most spectacular sights I've seen. Every corner I turned there were more and more beautiful trees and the weather was perfect.

The cemetery is a mix of old and new tombstones, fancy mausoleums and gorgeous statues — they apparently still have plots available if you're in the market for one. I can't think of many better places to spend all of eternity, but it was also a great place for a leisurely Sunday stroll.

The Pocantico river runs alongside the cemetery, and although the original "headless horseman" bridge is no longer standing, there is a rustic bridge that, according to the maps, "makes a nice souvenir photograph."

The Old Dutch Church is small and plain, but the churchyard has some of the oldest graves in the cemetery. I'll never get tired of exploring historic cemeteries, and there is always something new and interesting to discover. A lot of graves were even decorated for Halloween with pumpkins and flowers, which was appropriately festive. They offer tours during the day, but also after dark which might be neat to check out if I go back next year. I can easily see an October trip to Sleepy Hollow becoming a tradition, and there is plenty that I didn't see the first time around.

NYBG: Kiku Japanese Garden Show

On Saturday, my uncle was in town and we decided to go to the New York Botanical Garden for Kiku: The Art of the Japanese Garden show. The last time he visited me in the city we also ended up at the NYBG (the first time for both of us) for the spectacular Orchid Show, so we had high expectations for Kiku. While the Chrysanthemums aren't quite as interesting (or diverse) as the orchids, it was still an amazingly beautiful show.

I had no idea that chrysanthemums could be so large and so intricate. The centerpieces of the show were these crazy pyramids of flowers (called Ozukuri, or "thousand bloom") that are trained (by some sort of gardening sorcery) to grow from a single stem. One display had almost 500 flowers, and another had more than 200 all impossibly growing outward from one tiny, precariously thin stem.

There were other varieties that looked like fireworks, some like fancy wigs, others that swirled like whipped cream and large displays of fall-colored mums, which I stupidly had never realized were actually chrysanthemums. I was able to intently study (and photograph) some really chilled-out bees that were hanging out on a huge wall of flowers, and any time I can get a great, close-up shot of a bee (or comparable insect) is a fun time for me.

In the courtyard of the Conservatory, I finally got to see the Four Seasons sculptures up close, and they were totally worth the wait. I wanted to see them when I went to the garden in the summer, but because I hadn't paid for an all-inclusive ticket, I wasn't able to get near them. I had even tried to peek through the surrounding fence, but couldn't catch more than a fleeting, heavily-obscured glance.

There are four sculptures, each representing one of the seasons, and sculpted out of seasonal produce and flora. Winter was hands down my favorite, and at one point there was an old man standing right in front of it who was basically the human equivalent of the craggy, rooty sculpture. Autumn was a bit of a disappointment, only because it's my favorite season (if I must pick one), so I had high expectations. They are all really spectacular, and make a striking set.

Also outdoors are two huge lily ponds, a majority of which were in bloom. I became totally enamored with the lotus flowers at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden this summer, but there are even more and especially beautiful ones right now at the NYBG.

We walked through the permanent desert collection again, which seemed to be doing a bit better than when we last saw it in March. The succulents were adorable and I had to use all of my willpower not to squeeze every last one of them, because that's a totally normal reaction to succulents, right?

I'm thinking that I should probably just bite the bullet and become a member of the NYBG, because they have so many great exhibits throughout the year that it's definitely worth the price. I'll definitely be back for the Orchid Show this spring, but I'm also excited for the Holiday Train show in a few weeks, which I've never seen. A description of the train show mentions that the trains move through "more than 140 scaled iconic buildings and structures under thousands of twinkling lights," which is all I need to know to add it to my must-do list this Christmas.

Martha Stewart: American Made Market

On Tuesday, I was eating lunch outside of the New York Public Library, when I overheard a woman tell her friend "we're headed over to Grand Central to see the Martha event." I wasn't completely sure what she was talking about, but I knew she had to be referring to the only Martha that matters (Stewart), which was enough to pique my interest. I also kind of really wanted a lemon bar, so I walked the one block over to Grand Central. What I discovered, post-lemon bar, was that they were setting up for the Martha Stewart American Made Market, opening the following day.

So yesterday, again at lunch, I headed back to check it out in action. Vanderbilt Hall had been transformed into a bustling marketplace, with tons of vendors, craft stations and food tastings. I didn't have time on my lunch break to try everything (the line was particularly long for the screen-printed-in-front-of-you tote bags), so I stuck to the most important thing to me: the free food.

There's something about a free sample that just makes the food taste so much better to me than if I had paid for a full-size portion. I immediately turn into a ravenous, embarrassing hoarder, grabbing every scrap that I see and I end up trying things that I would never normally eat just because they're free. At lunch I tried a ricotta cheese from Brooklyn (kind of bland), Yumbutter almond butter (the best I've ever had), potato chips (they tasted like, potato chips), Red Jacket Orchards apple cider (delicious, but their tart cherry juice is even better), half of a Berley bar from Shane Confectionery (um, this was ah-mazing) and a nut/flax seed crisp thing (meh).

I picked up a schedule of events before I left, and noticed that they swap out the food tastings three times a day (morning, afternoon, evening). I made plans to stop back after work to try the new round, and maybe catch a glimpse of Martha herself, who was scheduled to speak from 5-6pm. When I got back a little after 5, there was another speaker talking about travel tips, but she was soon ushered off the stage to make room for the queen of all queens, Martha. I couldn't believe that I had just walked in, and secured a spot so close to the stage so easily.

Like most celebrities I've seen, Martha is much tinier in person than I imagined, and she's a total babe! I can only hope to look half as good as her when I'm 72 (!). The talk was travel-themed, so she "packed" a suitcase, narrating what she was doing and offering some helpful hints. At one point a woman, who I can only assume is her assistant, came out specifically to hold her microphone while she used both hands to pack and if anyone knows where I can submit my resume for the job of Martha Stewart Microphone Holder, I'd be eternally grateful.

Martha was much funnier than I expected, and surprisingly personable and relaxed. She was self-depracating, and actually had some good tips for packing, which I was initially skeptical about needing (covering your clothes in plastic bags prevents wrinkles—who knew?). I took approximately one million photos, 80% of which are a blurry mess because my hands were shaking so much because Martha effing Stewart. I have idolized and devoured every single thing she has ever done for as long as I can remember, and there she was standing a few feet away. I'm pretty sure we even shared some moments of eye contact, although without photographic evidence I might have thought I was just dreaming the entire thing.

There are times when my face is smushed in some dude's armpit on my morning commute, or I get on the one train car without air-conditioning yet again that I get annoyed with New York, but then a day like yesterday happens and I'm reminded instantly why I love it here so much. I'm going back today for three more rounds of samples, and to catch a few more glimpses of the Queen (she's doing a book signing and a live broadcast of her radio show). The market is only up until 7pm tonight, so head over there if you're close — I'll be the one stuffing free food into my pockets with hands that are guaranteed to be a little shaky if Martha is anywhere nearby.

The Morgan Library and Museum

Last Friday, Katie, Jim and I went to the Morgan Library and Museum to check out the Edgar Allan Poe: Terror of the Soul exhibit. I didn't know anything about the museum, but I love all things Poe. The museum is a little pricey, but admission is free every Friday night from 7-9pm. Because it's free every Friday, there wasn't a line like there was at the Neue Galerie and it wasn't annoyingly crowded.

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The Poe exhibit just opened, and the collection is impressive. There are a few actual photographs of the man himself, which are really rare and quite haunting. The exhibit comprises mostly letters, manuscripts and first editions of some Poe publications. After a while the letters all start to look the same, but the handwritten manuscripts were really cool to see. I did happen to notice that Poe's handwritting was really nice: beautiful, sweet and surprisingly legible. To see a copy of Annabel Lee that was actually written by Poe himself was something I won't soon forget.

The most remarkable exhibit in the museum, however, was the actual building itself, or rather series of buildings. The private study, library and rotunda of Pierpont Morgan are absolutely breathtaking. As a girl who grew up dreaming about one day owning a library like the one the Beast gives Belle, I was in absolute awe.

There are three glorious floors of gorgeous, leather-bound books accessible by not one, but two hidden staircases (!). If I suddenly found myself with a boatload of money, I would immediate begin breaking ground on my own version of the Morgan Library — is there anything more wonderful than an enormous, beautiful building built solely for the purpose of housing, and reading books?

The ceilings are elaborately decorated, the shelves have gorgeous wooden inlays and the Morgan even has three Gutenberg Bibles in their possession, one of which is currently on display. As if all that wasn't enough, they also have two copies of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, together again for the first time since their creation in 1824, and shown in the study until December 1st.

Now that I know that admission is free every Friday, I'm sure we'll be back often. There's a Da Vinci exhibit coming up, and I can't think of a better way to spend a wintery night than by being surrounded by all of those amazing books again. And if, one day, I'm ever in the position to build my own grandiose library, Katie and Jim have already graciously agreed to be my architects — they're totally on board with the whole hidden staircase(s) thing.

Friday Food: Rubirosa

For our second culinary adventure (our first was in Chinatown), Katie, Jim and I decided to try out Rubirosa. They decided they wanted to go somewhere in Little Italy, but left the choice of restaurant up to me. I did a quick search, and raves about their incredibly thin crust, vodka sauce pizza were enough to convince me that we had to try Rubirosa. We got there at 7pm on Wednesday night, and didn't have to wait for a table, which was a nice surprise. The restaurant is larger than it looked, with a big back room, but it's really cute and cozy.

We didn't spend too much time browsing the menu, especially when I mentioned the vodka sauce, and Katie made the brilliant suggestion that we add prosciutto. When the pizza came out, it was a masterpiece — huge, with enormous slices of super thin prosciutto, large dots of mozzarella and the thinnest crust I've ever had. As far as pizza crust is concerned, you can't go too thin in my opinion, and theirs was perfect. The vodka sauce was heavenly, and the prosciutto added just the right amount of saltiness and texture. We were afraid we weren't going to be able to finish the whole thing, but that didn't turn out to be such a problem. We had already decided to get dessert elsewhere, so the portions were just perfect.

I had scouted out potential dessert places before as well, but when we tried to go to Emma and Angie's Cannoli Shack (I mean, wouldn't you?) it turned out to be a tiny street cart that didn't look nearly as appealing as it sounded. Luckily, the alternate bakery I had found (La Bella Ferrara) happened to be directly across Mulberry street, and they had no shortage of delicious-looking goodies. I chose a chocolate-dipped, ricotta cannoli and a black-and-white cookie (for later). Everything they had looked (and smelled) amazing, and the cannoli was divine. I intended to save the cookie for lunch the next day, but it only made it until about 10am. It was my first authentic, New York black-and-white cookie and it tasted as good as it looked.

Even if it's slowly shrinking, and not 100% authentic, Little Italy is still an adorable place to go, especially at night. Mulberry Street looked very different without the crowds and carts of the Feast of San Gennaro Festival, but it was a much more pleasant walk — even if most of the restaurants had guys standing outside trying to get us to come in, praising their own food while trash-talking their neighbors. When we informed one of them that we had just eaten dinner, he didn't miss a beat and replied "Well you're all so skinny, you need to eat TWO dinners." He didn't know we were headed for cannoli (and cookies), but if we find another place as good as Rubirosa, I might seriously consider a double-dinner night in the near future.