CHRISTMAS IN NEW YORK

New York, NY

(December, 2011)

No matter your religious affiliation, Christmas time in New York City is pretty spectacular. It’s one of my favorite times to be a resident of the Big Apple. It’s a time to celebrate your friends, your family, and the year you’ve shared together. It’s a time of hot cocoa and strings of bright, shining lights, of festive colors decorating every accessible pole, post, and window, of bundling up in hats and scarves and browsing the pop-up holiday markets, of cheerful and contagious carols being sung everywhere you turn, and of contemplative evenings with the ones you love.

Now, if you’re a Grinch or Ebenezer Scrooge type, this would sound absolutely appalling, but for me, it’s my favorite time of year, and the 1100 holiday songs on my iPod will prove it. 

The holiday season has it’s official kick-off at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade when Santa and Mrs. Claus pull in. At that point I feel it’s free reign to listen to the holiday music  and put up the decorations.

I don’t get to travel home for the holidays very often these days, as it’s usually very expensive and I can’t get time off from work before December 24th, so I’ve started my own traditions. This year, Miriam’s parents came in for the holiday, so I got to share my traditions with them.

Tradition #1: Sending out our annual holiday letter (or novella...as I always find a LOT to write about) and picture montage. With so many friends and family members far away, it’s always nice to reach out and share our year with them all.

"And I know all I need along is a path and a pal and a song, so I'm singing and I'm palling with you." - Shrek, the Musical

Tradition #2: Baking lots and lots of holiday goodness. I love to bake, and I love to share it with people who appreciate it. I’ve found plenty of people near and far who definitely appreciate it!

Tradition #3: Visiting the outdoor ice skating rinks, and, if I’m brave, actually going for a skate. In Manhattan, there are three very popular skating rinks: Rockefeller Center, Wollman Rink in Central Park, and Bryant Park. Of the three, Bryant Park is my favorite. Rockefeller Center is pretty expensive and very popular, so you are restricted on how long you can skate, while the entire tourist population of New York City stands above you and watches as you fall on your butt. Wollman Rink is a beautiful location, but there is a cost to skate there, as well, and the two separate times I attempted to go skating there, it was closed for a private event.

The reason I like Bryant Park so much is because it’s a central location (a couple blocks east of Times Square), it’s free to skate, and you can skate for as long as you want, although they do have periodic ice cleanings where everyone vacates the ice so the zamboni machine can come in, but you can simply wait off to the side. If you have your own skates, awesome. If you don’t, you can rent them.

Last year, I was on skates for the first time since childhood. It was an interesting and slightly frightening experience, but I survived! All I could think about was falling tragically and breaking something, so I probably didn’t look very graceful, but I had fun, nonetheless. Technically, you can’t have a camera on the ice, but we were able to sneak in a couple pictures.

This year, with Miriam’s parents, we stopped by the rink and pretended to skate on Christmas Eve. It was a pretty happening spot to be!

Ice skating last year

Miriam and her mom pretending to skate

Tradition #4: Visiting the holiday pop-up markets. There are various holiday markets throughout the city but my favorites are at Union Square and Bryant Park (but if you want to stay warm, head to the Grand Central holiday market, as those lucky vendors get to set up indoors). Vendors from all over come in for the month of December, selling almost anything you can think of out of their stalls, from spices to handmade jewelry,  from toasty warm food items to toasty, fun winter hats, from hand-carved woodwork to souvenirs from Asia, Africa, and Europe. The markets are fascinating and fun places to visit. In the past I’ve purchased and/or received as gifts handmade scarves and hats, necklaces of real leaves dipped in gold, silver, or copper, a meditation ring containing elephants on parade, handcrafted items from Africa, lovely bath salt scrubs, ornaments, and plenty of food consumed as I browsed. 

I heard someone in passing saying that the market in Union Square feels very similar to the markets in Germany. I can’t wait to compare that myself some day!

Tradition #5: Seeing all the decorated store windows. All the big department stores try to outdo each other during the holidays on getting the most creative and eye-popping store windows. You’ve got Bloomingdales, Bergdorff Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue, Lord & Taylor, and the quintessential windows: Macy’s. I’m sure there are many more, but those are the ones I always try to see.

A little tip we figured out this year: If you want to see the windows with as few people as possible, try to go in the morning, specifically Christmas Eve morning. We ventured out to do last minute sight-seeing and shopping on Christmas Eve, and there was nary a soul out and about. Even the inside of Macy’s was calm!

Miriam's mom, Doris, at the Lord & Taylor windows

This year, we managed to see the windows of Saks, Lord & Taylor, and Macy’s. The Saks Fifth Avenue windows looked really cool from across the street, but up close, they left much to be desired. But Lord & Taylor’s and Macy’s windows were really fun. I must admit, though, that I was a little surprised at the windows on Macy’s 34th Street side. Their main windows are along 7th Avenue and change every year. The 34th Street side has always seemed to be images of A Miracle on 34th Street, but this year they decided to change it to Yes, Virginia, using a lot of the stuff from last year’s main windows.

The beautiful puppets in Macy's windows

The interactive portion of the window display-- make your own digital ornament

Avenue of the Americas decorations

Tradition #6: Visiting Rockefeller Center. Now, when I say Rockefeller Center, I’m including Radio City Music Hall. I usually start at Radio City Music Hall and take in all the fun decorations along Avenue of the Americas before culminating at the Rock Center Christmas tree. For me, I NEED to visit the tree by Christmas Eve. Earlier in December I was able to stop by there during the day, but, seriously, there is nothing like seeing the tree at night all lit up. I like to start out where the Today Show films, off to the side of the tree, and then I work my way over to 5th Avenue so I can see the tree with all the beautiful angels leading up to it (Saks Fifth Avenue is directly across the street). After I’ve taken a few pictures at the very beginning of the angels, I walk down a ways were there’s a great open spot amidst the angels where you can get a closer shot of the tree. Then it’s a must to head all the way down, to see the statue of the Titan Prometheus under the tree and overlooking the skating rink.

It really is a beautiful sight to behold, but be warned, it does get very crowded unless you go very late at night. And, if you’re standing at the 5th Avenue spot by the angels you may just catch the sound and light show that happens along the Saks building.

The tree from the side view

This year, we had one of the warmest Decembers in history, so we had a good time going out and doing all the sight-seeing. It was nice to have my extended family in town (Miriam’s folks) to celebrate with us.

Miriam and her parents in Times Square

As I prepare to shut off the Christmas lights for the season and pack everything up again until next year, I’m thankful for all the friends and family who brought the holiday season to life for me.

Here’s hoping you and yours had a magical holiday season!

Merry Christmahanukwanzikah!

NOTHING SAYS THANKSGIVING LIKE GIANT BALLOONS

New York, NY
Thanksgiving, November 24, 2011

When I was a little girl, I used to love getting up on Thanksgiving morning to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was amazing to see all the giant balloons floating above the streets. Thanksgiving marks the day in the US when we give thanks for all the original settlers were able to accomplish, for the peace they supposedly formed with the native Indians, and the meal they shared with said Indians. The Thanksgiving parade officially marks the beginning of the holiday season, and what kid doesn’t look forward to that every year??

When I moved to New York City, I was always tempted to go to the parade, but the idea of getting up really early to cram myself in with all the other souls along the street barricades and stand for hours waiting for the parade just didn’t seem worth it to me.

Luckily for me, these days I’ve got a job with great perks! Last year my mom came in for the holiday, and my boss was able to score a spot along the parade route for the two of us from the vendors of the holiday movie Yes, Virginia. Their office building was right along the parade route and allowed us the perfect balloon viewing, as it was seven flights up. The balloons literally floated right by the windows. It was lovely because we were inside, warm, able to watch the performances being broadcasted from Herald Square, and had food, drinks, and a convenient bathroom, yet I still wished I could experience it from the ground level.

Cut to: Thanksgiving of 2011.

This year, the vendors of the newest Smurf movie offered our office tickets to sit in the grandstands at the beginning of the parade. Awesome! (The grandstands are bleacher seats along Central Park for the first few blocks of the parade.) I was able to get two tickets, which Miriam was very excited about. We still had to get up pretty early, but we were going to have seats! No need to cram ourselves in like sardines.

We soon discovered we had something else to be excited about—the New Orleans dance troupe, 610 Stompers, were going to be marching in the parade! In case I haven’t mentioned this before, Miriam was born and raised in New Orleans, so we get pretty excited whenever we see anything NOLA-related (NOLA = New Orleans, LA). The 610 Stompers are a goofball group of men who decided to challenge the fact that all dance troupes that march in the various Mardi Gras parades always seem to be pretty, young girls. These guys dress in cut-off, acid-washed jean shorts, sweatbands, red, shiny jackets, and moustaches. They are NOT the world’s greatest dancers, which is exactly what they are going for. They are pretty hilarious. We couldn’t wait to see them live.

But let’s back track a little. One of my favorite new traditions is to go up to the Natural History Museum on the Upper West Side the day before Thanksgiving, when they start blowing up the balloons. The balloons are on the streets by the museum and Central park. You can get right up close to them, and it’s really neat to watch the process. They start allowing viewers in around 3pm until late evening. I recommend going as early as possible, as it gets REALLY crowded later in the day. I wasn’t able to go this year, but here are pictures from the year before.

Kung Fu Panda

A cop directing pedestrian traffic into the viewing area

Horton the Elephant, my favorite balloon-- retired after last year.

On the subway with our tickets!

On Thanksgiving Day, we awoke at 4:30am, discovered it was going to be a pleasantly mild day, weather-wise, grabbed Spuddy Buddy, our travel-ready couch potato, and hopped on the subway to the Upper West Side.  The tickets indicated that the seating would open at 7am, so we were aiming to get there a little before that. The moment we stepped off the train a throng of people bombarded us. Early risers were already sardined on the non-bleacher side of the street. It was 6:30am and the parade wasn’t starting until 9am! These people were going to be squished together for quite some time.

We were finally able to squeeze ourselves out of the crowd and got in the grandstand ticketholder line. The grandstands opened up fifteen minutes later, and off we went! As we were being ushered down the street, we saw friends of ours already seated—they were chaperoning their son’s class, who had all gotten tickets to the parade. We kept moving and, luckily, scored front row seats! Very exciting. The one problem was that we sat right over a subway vent, so every time a train went by below us, cold air blew up through the vent, right up Miriam’s pant leg. Brrrr!

From our front row seats.

The grandstands

 We got comfortable, since we had about two hours before the parade actually started, and watched as the clowns arrived to entertain the crowds. There were 800 clowns total, so if you are the type to be freaked out by clowns, steer clear of this parade. They started handing out balloons to all the kids, much to my displeasure—I have a decades-old fear of balloons—more specifically, the popping of said balloons. It stems from my childhood and having one explode in my face as I blew it up. But Miriam and, more importantly, Spuddy Buddy, love balloons, so they had a good time. Spuddy Buddy even got to meet a clown! He was very excited.

Surrounded by balloons...

Spuddy Buddy and his new clown friend

The crowd got revved up when the marching band opening the parade started lining up right in front of us. The band members entertained us by running up and down the street, getting us to do the wave and doing call-and-response cheers.

Then the parade got moving. The balloons floating above us were larger than life! It was really cool. My one disappointment was that they retired Horton the Elephant, so he wasn’t flying this year.

The start of the parade

Sonic the Hedgehog

Miriam, Spuddy Buddy, and Spongebob Squarepants

Because the weather was decent, the celebrities were all actually riding on their floats, which was cool. When the weather is bad, the celebrities tend to wait it out closer to Herald Square and jump on before their float is televised. Some of this year’s entertainers included Avril Lavigne, Neil Diamond, Straight No Chaser, the guys of Oceanspray Cranberries, the cast of Sesame Street (we got a tad giddy over that), American Idol winner, Scotty McCreery, and Mary J. Blige.

The cast of Sesame Street

We even had a couple celebrities hang out in front of our bleacher section before heading down to do interviews—Al Roker, who conducted the interviews, was followed by two of the Grimm cast members and 30 Rock’s Jane Krakowski. That was fun.

Al Roker with the guys from Grimm

Then it was time for the 610 Stompers! We made a sign and wore our New Orleans Saints (American football team) Santa hats in order to get their attention, and it worked! They came running by, screaming the Saints’ signature cheer, “Who Dat!” and slapping us five before busting out their stellar dance moves. Here’s the video from the NBC telecast of the parade at Herald Square. 

After the 610 Stompers, we settled down to enjoy the rest of the parade, getting doused with confetti, watching the other colorful balloons floating by, and taking advantage of our awesome spot for great picture opportunities. Spuddy Buddy even got to meet the big balloon Clumsy Smurf. He was nervous but handled it like a trooper.

Mobile Azaela Trail Maids curtseying

Santa!

Santa finally came sailing by on his float, marking the end of the parade and the beginning of the holiday season. We all cheered and waved and then started making our way out of the grandstands. I was able to sneak in behind the parade and get my picture with it, which was fun. 

Then we started making our way to the train station with all the other revelers. When we saw the amount of people heading to the trains, we decided we’d wait a bit. There was no way we’d be able to squeeze ourselves onto a train with all those other people. We opted to find a place to grab a bite to eat—somewhere warm with a bathroom. The lines for the bathrooms at the various Starbucks we passed were, literally, out the front doors, so we didn’t even try there. The difficulty was finding a place actually open on Thanksgiving Day—not too easy when it’s a national holiday where most businesses are closed.

We ended up finding a cute little restaurant off Broadway called Café Luxembourg. Because it wasn’t on the main drag, it wasn’t overly crowded. The food was yummy (I had Eggs Benedict), and the place was toasty warm. We took our time eating and then made our way to the now empty subway.

Once we got home we cooked up a small Thanksgiving dinner, enjoyed the Packer/Lion football game on TV, and then prepared for the midnight madness of Black Friday shopping…We don’t need to go into that…Let’s just say we probably won’t be doing that anymore.

I really must say that seeing the parade from the ground level is much cooler than being inside a building, even with the colder temperature and the lack of bathrooms. Being on the street allowed us to be a part of the excitement. We could hear all the marching bands, see all the fun details of the floats, and could scream and cheer along with our thousands of neighbors. It was a very neat experience, and hopefully, I’ll be able to share the experience with my own kids one day.

Happy Holidays!

SNOW WHITE, EVE, AND ME

(October 1, 2011)

Concklin Orchards in Pomona, NY

I love fall.

I love the colors on the trees, the crisp chill in the air, wearing fun scarves, and the fall fruits and vegetables.

Fall marks the return of the pumpkin spice lattes, butternut squash soups, and apple pies. It also means it is time to head out to the orchards and do some apple picking. 

Miriam and I woke up nice and early so we could meet our friends, Stephanie and Josh, at their apartment on the Upper East Side. One necessary aspect to apple picking is having a car in order to drive to the orchard. Luckily, Josh’s parents lent us their car for our adventure.

Last year we ventured to Eastmont Orchards a couple hours away from New York City, where it offered a bunch of different apples ripe for the picking. It also had a big squash garden where we could pick a pumpkin or other weirdly shaped squash.

This year we were limited on time, so we headed to Concklin Orchards in Pomona, NY, about 45 minutes out of the city. The weather wasn’t the most “fruitful” for apple picking—it was chilly and sprinkling—but we put on brave faces and went for it!

At the orchard we were told there were only two types of apples available for picking: Cortland (my fave!) and Red Delicious. Sadness. We had hoped for a variety of apples. We soon discovered there was really only one available, as the Red Delicious were not quite ready—which was slightly disappointing.

We rented an apple picker, which is a long wooden handle with a metal cage on the end. The top of the cage is open and used to pull the apple off the branch and into the cage. It certainly came in handy for those apples too high for us to reach on our own.

Miriam using the apple picker

Apple picker success!

We entertained ourselves by meandering down the different lanes of trees, quickly picking our share of Cortland apples, at which point Josh decided it would be fun to chuck the rotten apples with the apple picker to see how far they would go. That was too tempting for Miriam to pass up so she gave it a try as well—it wasn’t as easy as it looked.

We then hiked it through the mud over to the Red Delicious trees, stopping briefly to glance at the section we thought might contain peach or pear trees, tempted to cross the barrier to get an up-close look…and then we continued on our muddy trek to the other apples.

Red Delicious

Red Delicious trees

We were practically alone amongst the Red Delicious, seeing just a couple other people. Steph immediately grabbed an apple off the tree and took a bite. Miriam did the same, and I stole a bite of her apple and promptly spit it out. I’m not a fan of Red Delicious to begin with, but these apples were not anywhere near being ready to eat. We ended up not picking any, and instead, Miriam and Josh decided to chuck the rotten ones over the fence to see if they could get it to the forest line. Steph gave it a shot, as well, but I just sat back and took pictures. I know my limitations…

After we got our fill of the apple picking, we weighed our bags and paid for the apples we picked (Miriam and I weighed in at around 20lbs). We then hit up the little grocery market they had. We grabbed some freshly picked pears, apple cider, maple pumpkin butter (yummy!), and fresh spices, and then walked around the picked pumpkin patch.

We found this incredibly amusing...

Once everything was paid for, we went to the nearby mall and grabbed lunch, after which we did some browsing in the stores before heading back to the city.

Over the next few weeks it was time to bake!

Here are some of my favorite recipes from this year’s baking. Click on the recipe title for the link to the recipe.

Apple & Pear Crisp

Fresh from the oven

This was a HUGE success last year; this year I tried a variation, which adds 3/4 cup dried cranberries. Both were quite tasty, but I may stick to the original just because the cranberries tend to over power the rest of the flavors. And I went a little heavy on the zest this go-around. That overpowered the apple and pear flavors, as well, so watch yourself if you make this one. Pair it with vanilla ice cream-- yum!

Apple, Pear, and Cranberry Crisp

Brown Butter Creamy Apple Pie meets a standard apple pie (find the recipe links in the paragraph)

I combined two different recipes for this pie, wanting to get a good crust but also wanting a juicy pie. Technically, the streusel is supposed to go on the top of the pie in lieu of a top crust, but I wanted to make a fun top crust while still getting the streusel flavors. I was out of shortening so I used an all-butter crust recipe I found on-line. I took the crust from this recipe and the streusel from this recipe. I keep my apple slices on the larger size-- more like wedges than thinly sliced. I find it keeps it more moist. I mixed the apples with the streusel, layering as I went, and then, in honor of my blog and my love for these animals, cut the top crust into elephants on parade, using my elephant cookie cutter. Very cute and very tasty.

Apple Pie Cookies

Stephanie found this recipe in the linked blog and shared it with me. These were too cute to pass up! They are very tedious to make, but taste great and look amazing if you take the time on them. And the blogger behind Smitten Kitchen has some great tips, too!

Apple and Cheddar Cheese Scones

These are phenomenal, a recipe again from the Smitten Kitchen blog. I find scones often too dry for my tastes, but these were just right for me, what with the moisture from the apples and the cheese. Very tasty. The perfect weekend breakfast.

Last year I also made Apple Butter in my slow cooker. Apple butter has a slightly thicker consistency than apple sauce and is great to spread on toast and waffles, to dip pretzels in—you name it. I sealed them up in jars and gave them out as gifts over the holiday and enjoyed a couple jars myself throughout the year. I really liked it but I felt the recipe I used added too much sugar. Apples are already loaded with sugar, so adding a whole lot more is really unnecessary. If I make apple butter again I may look for a recipe that doesn't use so much sugar. But, hey, don't get me wrong, it was quite tasty!

All in all, the apple picking was a success, even if the orchards weren’t exactly to our liking. We did plenty of baking and the results were delicious!

Happy baking!