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.

Friday Food: Chicago Edition

I have one more Chicago recap post left in me, and I would be remiss if I didn't spend it talking about all of the (very unhealthy) food I ate on my recent trip. My first real meal in the city (not counting the hotel make-your-own waffle) was, fittingly enough, deep-dish pizza. I met up with two of my friends who were also visiting for the wedding, and we walked around Millennium Park for a bit before we started to get hungry. I suggested Gino's, since I had been a few times before, but it was a little far away and we were on a tight time schedule. Google came to the rescue, as always, and led us to Giordano's which is right across from the park.

We were told there was a 45-minute wait, so we put our name in for a text alert when our table was available. We headed out down Michigan Avenue to sight-see while we waited, but we weren't gone more than ten minutes before I got a text that our table was ready. We had already put in our pizza order ("Meat and More Meat"), so it wasn't long after we sat down that it came to our table.

This is where I preface my review by saying that I don't even consider deep-dish pizza to be actual pizza. I am a thin-crust, New York-style girl through and through, but that's not to say I don't enjoy the occasional mile-high, cheese then sauce slice when I find myself in Chicago. I put deep-dish in a category all its own, a cross somewhere between a lasagna and a real slice of pizza. Giordano's was as good as any I've had, but to be honest all of the different kinds I've tried over the years have sort of blended together in my mind. The abundance of meat toppings was totally tasty, and the location wins on convenience points alone.

The next day, after my three+ mile walk to Lincoln Park, I stopped for lunch in one of the zoo cafes and ordered a Chicago-style hotdog. Hotdogs are my guilty pleasure, and I continue to adore them even though I know they're totally disgusting, laden with chemicals and non-edible parts, and are probably killing me slowly. I'd never had a Chicago-style dog before, and I've always been somewhat of a purist when it comes to hotdogs. For most of my life I was strictly mustard only, but recently I've ventured into sauerkraut territory with excellent results.

I said yes to almost all of the standard Chicago fixins: onion, mustard, tomato and hot peppers, although I drew the line at relish. Pickle wedges were not offered, unfortunately, but I would have included those as well if it had been an option. I'm so glad that I decided to step outside of my culinary comfort zone, because the end result was delicious. One of the best hotdogs I've ever eaten, in fact, and now I'm wondering about all sorts of alternate toppings. I don't think my hotdog consumption will ever be the same (or quite so sad and plain) again, and I have Chicago to thank for showing me the way. I also managed to eat the entire thing without getting one poppyseed stuck in my teeth, which is a pretty big deal.

That night, I also walked to Navy Pier (racking up another three+ miles in the process), where I went on a mad hunt for caramel corn. The carnival atmosphere of the pier had me craving something sweet, and once I got it in my head that I wanted caramel corn there was no stopping me until I found it. It was harder to track down than you would think, but I was finally victorious when I found a Garrett Popcorn shop. I was all set to order plain caramel corn, but when I asked about the make-up of their "Chicago Mix," and she told me that it was a mix of caramel corn and cheddar cheese corn, I thought "When in Chicago," and made the last minute switch. It was definitely the right decision, and the mixture of salty and sweet was perfect. I managed to save some for the next day, by which time it had already started to go stale, so I recommend eating it quickly (not a problem).

My last food stop in the city was Margie's Candies, which I passed a few times on the walk from where I was staying to the Western stop on the Blue Line. I decided to check it out right before I left, and I'm so glad I did. It's the oldest ice cream shop in Chicago, and everyone from Al Capone, to the Rolling Stones to the Beatles have stopped in for a sweet treat. The place is a total time capsule, with tabletop jukeboxes and a huge menu filled with ice cream delights that they serve in huge plastic clamshells.

I ordered a brownie sundae, which came with an entire gravy boat filled with hot fudge, and was big enough for four people. I made it through half of it before giving up, and unless you have an enormous appetite, I recommend bringing a friend or two to help you out. Their sign has some of the most beautiful neon typography I've ever seen, and it's perfect whether it's lit up or not.

I left Chicago feeling like I was in desperate need of a vegetable (or five), but I figure I balanced my feasts with quite a bit of walking so I didn't feel too bad about it. I did, however, resist getting a Cinnabon in the airport, which I've never managed to pass up before so who cares if I ate my remaining caramel corn for dinner the next day?

Fall Field Trip

Since the beginning of August, I've worked at W. W. Norton, a 90-year-old book publisher here in New York. A few weeks ago, I received an e-mail asking if I would be interested in attending a tour of paper mills in New England, on a trip sponsored by the Book Guild of NY. I was initially hesitant until I read the details: two weekdays off work, a bus trip through Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts in the middle of fall, an overnight stay, open bar and all meals for FREE. I'm so incredibly glad that I ignored my knee-jerk shut-in response of saying no to a trip with strangers because I ended up having a great time.

There were two fellow Nortonians (yes, that's what we call ourselves) on the trip, along with people from a variety of other publishing houses in New York. We left on Tuesday morning, and our first stop was lunch in Rhode Island. I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to keep up my every-ten-minutes feeding schedule so I brought road trip snacks, but I never actually needed to break into my stash. We were so well fed that I actually began declining free snacks toward the end of the trip, and if you know me that might be hard to fathom.

We toured two Ecological Fibers facilities on Tuesday, one in Rhode Island and one in Massachusetts. They're actually a really interesting company, both in what they do (specialty paper manufacturing, embossing and finishing) and how they run their business (they have zero carbon footprint, use all water-based materials and have found ways to recycle everything). As a design and book nerd I found it all really fascinating, from the specialty colors that they produce (Tiffany, Cartier, Mont Blanc) to the variety of embossing patterns they have in their collection (nearly 200).

After the tours we checked into the super cute and New Englandy Wachusett Inn, where we all had our own rooms. Mine had an enormous bed, two TVs, two sinks, a kitchenette, fully stocked cabinets and a separate sitting room. It actually may have been one of the nicest rooms I've ever stayed in, and I felt as if I couldn't possibly do it justice by myself.

There was an open bar before dinner, where I stuck to Woodchuck cider because it felt like the fall thing to do. In the morning, I had a make-your-own waffle (which was actually made for me by a staff member?), which is really the best part of any hotel stay, in my fat opinion.

We boarded the bus again and headed to one more tour, at Dunn & Co., who introduced themselves as a the only "book hospital" in the world (their url is booktrauma.com). They're located in an amazing old factory building, and they do some pretty cool things with damaged or misprinted books. They do hardcover to paperback conversions, take weird smells out of books, de-warp covers, tip-in new pages and swap out bindings. Basically if you ever have a problem with a large quantity of books, you can send them to Dunn & Co. instead of scrapping them and starting all over again.

They shared some really innovative solutions to some crazy problems and it was really interesting to see it all in action. We saw hardcovers being ripped off books, additional pages being glued in and paperback covers being placed over the guts of excess hardcovers. I had no idea that a place like this existed, and the whole trip really gave me a greater appreciation for how much work and planning goes into the creation and production of a single book.

The fall scenery along I-95 was spectacular and we passed a lot of cute little towns that I'd love to go explore one day. I adore New York City, but I can imagine a time in the (distant) future when I'll welcome a move to New England, where I'll plant some mums, tie cornstalks to my porch columns and live happily ever after. Until then, I certainly won't consider passing up any free trips that way (or any way) ever again.

Chicago: Lincoln Park Zoo

During my recent weekend in Chicago, I was staying with a friend who lives in Bucktown. I had all of Sunday to myself, so I decided to walk to Lincoln Park and check out the zoo. I knew it was pretty far (more than three miles), but I'm not scared of a good walk, so walk I did. When I plotted my route for the day later on, I realized that I ended up covering nearly ten miles just on Sunday, which is a lot even for me. It was such a beautiful day, and I made a lot of stops along the way so it didn't feel quite that long.

My first real stop was Lincoln Park. It was one part of Chicago that I had never been before, and there's almost nothing I won't try for free. I love parks and zoos, so I figured I couldn't really go wrong. The park was beautiful — a little closer in feel to Central Park than Grant or Millennium Parks— with tons of trees, athletic fields, ponds and statues.

On my way to the zoo I passed a marker indicating that I was standing on an old potter's field, stating that "due to various oversights, many bones likely remain here beneath the soil," which was just creepy enough to make me officially like Lincoln Park.

The zoo was really lovely, and completely free (at all times) which is pretty awesome. They had all the standard zoo fare — tigers, camels, giraffes, a polar bear, zebras, seals — although a lot of the animals were no where to be seen, and I'm always sad when zoos don't have penguins (my favorite). The new baby black rhino wasn't on view, but there was a baby hippo to satisfy my cute quota for the day.

The leaves had just started to change, and there was hardly a cloud in the sky so it was the perfect day to linger outside. I actually took the first of two outdoor naps (the other one was on Columbus Day, next to Lake Michigan) right outside of the zoo, on an incredibly comfortable bench by the South Pond. I have to say, that for park naps, Chicago's benches have no rival (sorry, New York).

No tourist activity is complete, in my opinion, without getting a squished, souvenir penny and luckily the zoo had a machine. I've been collecting squished pennies since I was a kid, and I make a point of getting one wherever they're available. They seem to be getting a little harder to come by as I get older, but I they're the perfect souvenir because they're unique and cheap. I have books and books filled with different ones, and I hope the machines (or pennies!) never go away completely.

I wish the Central Park zoo would take a cue from the second city and stop charging a ridiculous admission price. I definitely liked Lincoln Park the best of all the parks I've visited in Chicago, and if I lived there I'd probably find myself there all the time. 

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.

Chicago: Millennium and Grant Parks

Columbus Day weekend I went to Chicago for a college friend's wedding. It was my fifth trip to the "second city," and while I was more than happy to return home to New York, I will finally admit that Chicago is a fun place to visit. I've always been very snobby in my attitude toward Chicago, but this trip was nothing but lovely. Aside from the wedding Saturday night, I spent the majority of my time just walking the city alone. I was occasionally joined by other friends, but like most of my New York adventures, I was by myself a lot.

I spent most of my day on Monday (Columbus Day, which I had off for the first time in my working life — thanks W. W. Norton!) exploring Millennium and Grant Parks. There was the obligatory stop at the "Bean" (aka Cloud Gate), which is pretty much my nightmare since it's impossible to get a photo of it that does not contain other people.

It is fun to step back and watch everyone else pose for ridiculous photos of their own, although I don't recommend getting too close. The shiny surface always has about a trillion grimy handprints on it, which always grosses me out a little. I want so badly to bring a roll of paper towels and some Windex with me next time and just go wild.

The face-changing fountains have always sort of creeped me out, but I did spot a rainbow through the overspray that lessened the creep factor just a bit. Grant Park was still recovering from the aftermath of the marathon, but you'll never hear me complain about an abundance of bathrooms, even if they were port-a-potties.

I visited Buckingham Fountain, which is always more gorgeous than I remember, and crossed the road to walk along the shore of Lake Michigan. I ended up scoring a super comfortable bench that I proceeded to nap on for about an hour, because I am basically a human cat. It was a perfect day, weather-wise: warm in the abundant sun, but with a chilly fall breeze. I got embarrassingly sunburnt from my outdoor adventures, and I'm pretty sure the nap in direct, afternoon sun was 98% to blame.

I was chased off my bench by a super nosy squirrel, who became extremely interested in me when I opened up a bag of caramel corn I had brought to snack on. I walked over to the Shedd Aquarium, intending to check it out, but the line to get in was absolutely insane. This New Yorker is certainly no stranger to long lines, but the line surpassed even my very high threshold of insanity. I later found out that the aquarium was offering free admission that day, but I've been a few times before so I wasn't heartbroken skipping it this time around.

I realized on this trip that everything in Chicago feels wide: the sidewalks, the streets, the people (sorry Chicago, you're Mid-Western through and through), the pizza and the parks. I still prefer the rambling trails in the Ramble, or the Literary Walk in Central Park to the wide open space of Grant Park, but it's a nice contrast to what I've gotten used to here in New York.

A co-worker of mine told me that my apartment would really start to feel like home after I had gone on a trip and returned to it for the first time, and I have to say she was right. This was my first trip leaving New York that didn't include Ohio, and that actually returned to New York. I had a great time in Chicago, but it was even better to return to my home, in the greatest city in the country.

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.

Recent Reads

Since I've moved to the city, I've been reading like crazy. I've always been a total book nerd, but as I got older it seemed like the only time I had to read was right before bed. This meant that in most cases I would could barely read two pages before nodding off. Of course there were still books able to triumph over my geriatric fatigue, like the Hunger Games trilogy, Gone Girl and Julia Child's My Life in France, but they were few and far between.

Now that I spend a great deal of my day on public transportation, however, I read all the time. Add to that my new day job as a designer for the publisher W. W. Norton— I get a 70% discount on all of our titles — plus frequent trips to the dollar racks at the Strand, and I've been devouring books left and right. 

Inspired by Kaylah's "What I've Been Reading" feature (we even seem to have very similar taste in books), I decided to periodically review the books I've been reading. Up first:

The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade by Thomas Lynch

My interests have always tended toward the side of creepy, and I'm fascinated by anything to do with dead bodies or the funeral industry. Earlier this year I read Stiff, which reinvigorated my thirst for knowledge on all things dead. Thomas Lynch is a famous poet, but he's also the son of an undertaker, and now runs the family business. The Undertaking wasn't as interesting as Curtains (a Kaylah suggestion - thank you!), but Lynch has some interesting thoughts on death as well as life. It's a fairly quick and easy read, but don't expect many gory details — to be honest, it was kind of disappointingly tame for my macabre tastes.

The Devil in the Shape of Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New England by Carol F. Karlsen

This was definitely the most disappointing of the four, and the one that I was actually the most excited about. Witchcraft! Colonial New England! How could you possibly go wrong?  I am so interested in that time period and the idea of witches that I was expecting to be enthralled but, alas, I was not. The book is much more scientific and much less narrative than I had hoped. It mostly read like a really dry, statistic-heavy textbook, and lacked description that may have kept me more interested. I struggled to finish it, but I did end up learning more about the causes and effects of the witchcraft hysteria, so it wasn't a total loss.

Slimed! An Oral History of Nickelodeon's Golden Age by Mathew Klickstein

I wrote about the night at the 92nd Y centered around the new book, Slimed! a few weeks ago, and I finished the book soon afterwards. The oral history format was a bit hard to follow at times, and I did wish for more of a narrative structure, but overall it was a fun read. I'm still so familiar with every show covered in the book, and reading about what took place behind the scenes was a real treat. The 10-year-old in me relished every random fact, while the 28-year-old in me is still jealous that the book was written by a guy who is basically the same age as me. If you spent even half the time I did as a kid parked in front of a TV tuned to Nickelodeon, you won't regret reading this book.

The Inheritor's Powder: A Tale of Arsenic, Murder and the New Forensic Science by Sandra Hempel

I just finished this history of arsenic poisoning yesterday, and it was definitely my favorite of the four listed here. The book is half informative science, half murder mystery and I wasn't bored for a second. It's also quite a quick read, and the author mixes in enough nerdy science to make you feel as if you learned something, while being simultaneously entertained by various cases of real-life whodunits, all involving (or allegedly involving) arsenic. It's fascinating to me to imagine a time when forensics and all of the complicated testing techniques we have now didn't exist. It kind of makes you wonder how many innocent people were convicted (and hanged) based on faulty science. If I learned anything, however, it's that arsenic poisoning is not a pretty way to go, and to never, ever trust your servants.

Randall's Island

On Saturday my friend Jim and I decided to check out the Fall Festival on Randall's Island. Neither of us had been to the island before, and celebrating fall seemed like the perfect excuse to finally go. Turns out, the "festival" was a total bust, but seeing the island was still worth the trek.

It's accessible by car, but since neither of us have one of those anymore we used the footbridge at e. 103rd street. Everyone knows I love a good bridge walk, and the footbridge is short but fun. Randall's Island is a weird mix of professional buildings (psychiatric hospital, fire dept. training academy, wastewater treatment plant), homeless shelters, nature preserves and athletic complexes. The athletic fields were definitely the first thing we noticed, especially on a Sunday afternoon. It seemed like half of New York's children were there, playing soccer, baseball and various other sports.

The waterfront is really nice, although the views of Manhattan aren't as picturesque as points south. You get great views, however, of both the Triborough and the Hell Gate bridges, and I'm never one to turn down a good bridge view. Jim pointed out that the Queens-Ward Island span of the Triborough looks a little like a mini George Washington Bridge and he's totally right. Both are still on my list of bridges I'd like to walk across, but I'll get there one day.

When we finally made it to the fall festival we immediately knew that the event had been way oversold. There was a table where you could sample applesauce (?), a lady dressed as a pirate giving away free pumpkins (??) and...not much else.

It was held at the Urban Farm, which was basically a tiny garden near the edge of the island. It's quite an overstatement actually calling it a farm, but I guess to a city kid a few chickens and a row of tomato plants is about as country as you can expect. Needless to say, this Ohio girl was not impressed, but Jim did grab a pumpkin and, in an admirable display of perseverance, carry it all the way back to his apartment in Brooklyn.

Randall's Island (and the adjoining Wards Island) is quite large, so we only saw about half of it, and I'd love to go back. It's probably getting a bit late in the season to visit the wetlands and other nature-heavy sections, but I'm glad we now know a little more about the island. It seems like a great place to bring a picnic and chill out on a hot summer day, but it could also be interesting to see the area in the winter. I'm actually looking forward to the city calming down and emptying out a bit, and of course SNOW.

We're going apple picking in a few weeks, then to a corn maize in Queens and finally to Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow at the end of October, so the fall adventures are just getting started. No offense to Randall's Island or the Urban Farm, but as far as fall festivals are concerned, there's really no where to go but up.

Gallery Wall

I mentioned last week that September was kind of rough, but things have definitely made a turn for the better. I'm feeling much more settled, and much less emotionally on edge — a big part of which I feel like I owe to that fact that I'm finally surrounded by my art. When I moved to New York, I couldn't take much with me, but keeping my art was always non-negotiable. I am a visual person by nature, and trade, and blank walls make me anxious.

After I finally unpacked everything, I hung a few pieces in the living room, and whatever I had left ended up in my bedroom. I've never really hung a "gallery wall" before, although I see them pretty much everywhere. I love the idea of an eclectic collection of pieces that speak to a variety of interests and tastes, and I had one large, blank wall in my bedroom that I knew would be a perfect exhibition space. I didn't start with a plan beyond "use everything with a wall hanger," but I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I started by hanging my American Gentleman print, and just sort of worked my way out from there. It's not perfect, but it's fun and a little weird, and I think it represents me perfectly.

Starting at the far left I have: (1) my beloved bunnies painting from Erin Mulligan, (2) two gorgeous Meryl prints (one is signed!), (3) a seasonal collection of paint-by-numbers collected from a thrift store, (4) the American Gentleman, (5) another thrift store find featuring the George Washington Bridge, (6) bad cat, (7) deli cat, (8) vintage stone, sequin, string and glitter cat wall art, (9) city snowglobe prints and (10) a cat that looks suspiciously like Mozart from my friend Rachael. It makes me so happy to just lay in bed and stare at all of my art, and I feel like most of my favorite things are well-represented. Furniture and clothes can be easily replaced, but it's nice to know that my modest collection of artwork will be with me, no matter where it is that I call home.

Friday Food: Umami Burger

Last week, my friend Trent and I were trying to decide where to grab dinner. We kicked around a few of our usual places, but nothing was really standing out until I suggested we try our luck at Umami Burger. The LA-based burger chain recently opened up their first New York outpost in Greenwich Village, and the wait times have been notoriously long. We were supposed to meet at 6:30, but I got there insanely early (about 6). The hostess estimated the wait at only about ten-minutes, and when I told her I wasn't expecting Trent for another half hour she put our name down anyway. I can't be sure if the wait was longer than expected, or if she held off calling me until she knew Trent was there, but we were seated soon after he arrived.

I had studied the menu beforehand, and already knew that I wanted to try the Truffle Burger. Trent was swayed by the mention of avocado (bleh) in the special "Slash" Burger, and we ordered fried pickles and fries to share. The fried pickles turned out to be sweet pickles, which is the most unwelcome food surprise one can experience, in my opinion. Expecting dill and getting sweet instead is disorienting, although covering anything in batter and frying it makes almost anything palatable (calamari, anyone?).

The portion of fries was more than enough for the both of us, and we admitted that the pickles were probably overkill. They brought a variety of dipping sauces as well, which is pretty much the point of any fried food. There was a hot sauce, garlic aioli, umami ketchup and jalapeno ranch — I liked the garlic aioli and ranch the best. The ketchup was a bit sweet with a slight hint of bbq flavor, which isn't really my thing.

The burgers came out pretty quickly, and the presentation was adorable. The branded "U" on top of the bun was a nice touch, but we didn't linger too long before diving in. The burger, as expected, was amazing. I would venture to even go so far as to call it life-changing, and I don't use that term loosely. It was savory and juicy and the bun was soft and sweet and my mouth is watering even remembering how wonderful it all tasted. I had read complaints that the burgers were too small, but I thought it was just the right size. It may have been on the smaller side of things (in America, at least), but it was so rich that the portion ended up being perfect.

I don't know if I would wait three hours to be seated in peak times, but I can definitely say I now understand why people have, and do. After my disappointing In-N-Out experience last summer, Umami has definitely gone a long way towards renewing my faith in LA-based burger fandom. Their logo might look more like a coffee bean than an actual burger, but if every burger they make tastes like my first, then who cares about anything else they do.

The Central Park Leaf Thief*

Even though it's not particularly unique or revolutionary to say so, I'm not going to hide the fact that fall is my favorite season. Jackets, scarves, falling leaves, pumpkin-flavored things, Halloween, cornstalks, the colors — I love it all.

On Monday, after work, I decided to walk home through the park, looking for early hints of fall. I work on 42nd, and live on 105th, so it's quite a haul but I took it slow. I hadn't been in Central Park for a few weeks and it's still a bit early, but there are definitely hints of the impending change if you look hard enough. I took my usual path from Wollman Rink, to the Literary Walk, through Bethesda Terrace and into the Ramble.

Somewhere along the way I found an amazingly bright-red leaf, and picked it up with the intent of pressing it. I've never really collected leaves before, but this one was so pretty and ahead of its time that I couldn't resist. As I was admiring it, I realized that it was basically the real-life equivalent of one of the leaf emoji characters I frequently use in my fall-themed Instagram and Twitter posts. Then, because I'm totally nerdy and self-entertaining, I started searching for other emoji dopplegangers, and recreated two more.

Shortly after posting the photos, I was sitting completely alone on a rock, marinating in my own cleverness. Suddenly, a three-year-old girl appeared from around the corner, spotted the carefully curated pile of choice leaves sitting beside me, yelled LEAVES! LEAVES!, grabbed my pile (that I was very nearly sitting on) and ran away. Her dad followed shortly after, not caring that his tiny monster had just robbed me of my very first, lovingly gathered leaf collection.

It all happened so fast, and I had no possible recourse. I certainly didn't want to be the horrible hag that yells at a child for stealing her pile of leaves. I didn't wonder why she wanted them — they were the best leaves in the park that day — but she no doubt lost interest, as children often do, and probably dropped them soon after. Yes, there will be other leaves, of course, and probably better leaves too. But I won't ever forget my first-ever leaf collection, however brief it was in my hands. And I certainly won't soon forget the time I was mugged by a blonde-haired, blue-eyed toddler in the middle of Central Park.

*The amazing title of "Leaf Thief" comes courtesy my brilliant friend Shannon.