And....we're back.

You know, those breaks from the kids are never actually refreshing.  I come back, and they all start pissing and moaning about each other and I still want to knock their heads together.  I did not return with infinite patience.  Maybe I should go on a crappy break so that belligerent children seem like a dream come true (I couldn't get belligerent to look right, so I plugged it--missing an l--into dictionary.com...now it tells you that word in a dozen languages.  German? Kriegfuehrend.  Now you know).  But, I didn't have a crappy trip, I had an awesome trip.  Awesome.  Capital A.

We stayed at the Warwick Hotel in midtown Mahanttan--the Beatles stayed there!  gave two press conferences there!  Cary Grant lived there for 12 years!--which was, in itself, very nice.  Our room, by NYC standards was huge.  Doorman, marble lobby, charming old fashioned touches...  Dianu!


We arrived on Friday, checked in, and went out in search of grub.  I was starving.  And in New York.  Without my kids...Whitefish salad, here I come!  Mmmm.  It was good, but the kitschy overpriced deli only served it in 1 pound portions.  That's a LOT of food.  AND they charge a $5 sharing fee.  Bastids.   Benash Deli.  Avoid.   Then we went back to our rooms and napped.  Ahhhhh.

Dinner at Zen Palate, all vegetarian, all delicious.  The building itself (Union Square location) was gorgeous, the service was fantastic, the food was world class.  And not even unreasonably priced.  I'd eat there every week if I lived there.  I kept looking, jealously, at the people coming and going from the apartments across the street.  Lucky devils.  Of course, they were probably living on ramen noodles and Banquet pot pies to afford to live there.  So, there's that.

After dinner, we headed over to the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater to catch "The Stepfathers" improv show.  It was really fun and made Steve and I really sad that we can't go to these shows every week.  Or, better, be in them.  Improv looks to be the mostest fun.  Like being with your funniest friends after one glass of wine.  Or, with your less funny friends after more wine.  Or, with any random dude much much later.  And we saw him, too--on the way out of Connolly's bar, where we went after the show.  Some guy was being escorted out by the bartender and his also-drunk-but-still-able-to-walk friend.  We went in, had a couple of beers, and played Trivial Pursuit (the bar edition that doesn't have a board.  I'm not THAT huge of a geek.  Okay, I am.  But I had to pack light) just like we used to in Germany.  Then back to the Warwick (3 doors up) to bed!

Next day, breakfast at SaraBeth's Kitchen.  Fantastic omelet with a yummy corn muffin.  I like eating in New York.  It's right on the Park, so we walked by there as we headed out to get on line at a TKTS booth.  Here we are, Steve looking good, me looking fat and disheveled.


We went to the booth at the South Street Seaport because it has much shorter lines.  Even so, we had a wait.  We'd hoped to see Avenue Q, but by the time we got to the front, they only had one ticket.  Pauly Walnuts had been there scalping along the line, but we decided to go with a ticket that might actually be accepted at the theater.  I heard one woman ask him "Where do you get your tickets?"  He said, "From a broker." in this perfect "that's all you need to know" NY accent and tone.  We ended up getting tix for Chicago when we heard that Bebe Neuwirth was playing Roxie Hart.  We took up the rest of the afternoon just strolling around, hitting the garment district so that I could swoon over the bead and trim stores.  Seriously people.  Swoooning.  I cannot even imagine having that much selection.  Oh, this store not have your bead?  Then walk one door over.  Not there either, well go one door over.  A-freaking-mazing.  I didn't even get to the fabric stores.  Thank heavens.  Sigh. 

One of my favorite things about NYC is all the great deco architecture.  Check this out, it's the freight door.


We popped into the Museum of Television and Radio, but it was rather lame.  It's a "screening museum" but you have to know what you want ahead of time...No exhibits.  No catalog.  Seriously, MTR people, I can put you in touch with American Studies majors who would be overjoyed to help you.  Probably for free.  God knows they aren't doing anything else.  You buy me dinner at Sushi Yasuda and I'll do it.

In fact, I will complete most any task for dinner at Sushi Yasuda, which is where we went for dinner.  It's a hot place, so we could only get in at 6:00 pm (which is like breakfast time to New Yorkers), and at the bar.  But that was a bonus, it turns out.  We just asked the sushi chef to make up whatever was good.  Turns out nothing was good. It was all fantastic.  Not only the best sushi I've ever had, but the best meal I've ever had.  Yes, technically, I am a vegetarian, but I was slow to give up sea critters figuring I didn't really have a problem with eating them.  But then, when kids came along, it became harder to defend that practice.  "You see, honey, fish are not attractive.  So it's okay if they die to feed me."  So I gave it up for the most part.  But get me away from the kids, and sea creatures cower before me.  They did not die in vain.  We were literally moaning, it was so good.  Here, read reviews. The fatty tuna.  The uni.  The shrimp.  (insert Homer noise here)  The only thing that wasn't really, really good was the baby squid.  Which was just odd.  I wish I'd thought to take a photo.  It did not look like this: it looked like this: only on rice, wrapped in nori, with its legs kinda dangling and crossed over one another in a very relaxed way.  Honestly?  I think I'm pretty butch to have put that thing in my mouth.  Deprive a gal of meat long enough and there's not telling WHAT she'll eat.

But seriously folks, if you ever see this awning:

rob the next person you see and go in and eat.  There's no name on the door, no number, nothing to suggest that you are entering the best restaurant on earth.  So. flippin. good.  I walked around smiling for a hour after, just because my mouth was so happy.

Chicago was fun.  The dancing was amazing.  The songs were good.  The story was...dark.  It was written in 1975, a time when you just didn't write Good Characters.  Everyone is flawed, deeply.  The only character who might be good?  She gets hung.  The rest of them are nasty and backstabbing and venal and...really, really good dancers.  Did you know that professional dancers have good bodies?  They do.

After that, we went back to the UCB to catch Wrestle Slam Mania 2.  here's a link to a YouTube recording of one of the "cage matches."  Very silly fun.  It's like Pro Wrestling only funny...er. 

Next day, down to the Lower East Side to buy some food.  We got the best bialys I've ever had.  And then the best donut I've ever had (even better than KK!  I swear! Steve disagrees, but he's wrong).   We tried to get babka, but they'd already cleaned up for passover.  Go figure, orthodox jews keeping kosher.  We did a lot of walking and shopping and then hopped on a bus back to NJ.  It was fun.  It was delicious.