New York City: An Orgy of Culture
New York City is noticeably unique to any other place I've visited in that the cultural diversity is incredible. I really enjoy just walking the mile from my hotel to the office and seeing all the different people. I'll hear half a dozen languages spoken anytime I'm walking somewhere and it's awesome.
Last Tuesday I ate at Restivo, a fantastic Italian restaurant on 7th and 22nd. The food, as typical of NYC, was excellent, but what struck me as unusual was that the couple sitting next to me were fluently speaking French. Granted, there are a lot of tourists that come through NYC, but I'd say they were likely local. With the tiny but cozy restaurant, amazing food, wait-staff with Italian accents, exceptionally cordial service, and French conversation filling my immediate surroundings, it was not hard to imagine I was back in Europe. Thank god I didn't wasn't having to pay that ridiculous dollar-to-euro exchange rate. Ugh.
It does get a little boring to go out to eat all by myself. I'm not one to read novels, and most of the books I'm reading are too cumbersome to bring along (I'm sorry, Mr. Bryson, but your Short History of Nearly Everything just takes up too much space! Have you thought about an abridged version? Perhaps A Short, Short History of a Couple Interesting Things?)
Lately I've been reading The Federalist Papers via the magic of my jesus phone. What brilliant minds. I'll likely be posting excerpts since I'm so enamored with their apparent perspicacity and foresight of human nature with regards to government.
Me, Dinah, Erin
Wednesday night I met up with one of my Caribbean Cruise buddies (yes, I will be posting photos from that soon!), Dinah. We went out to a couple of trendy bars, Mercury and The Hill. At the latter we met up with one of her friends and crashed a Purdue Alumni party that was going on in their VIP section, where I proceeded to get hammered and have a completely awesome time chatting with everyone there. Hopefully I didn't make too much of an ass out of myself. At least I was dressed nice, having come directly from work and still wearing a suit and tie (which apparently wasn't that unusual of attire for the group). :: Here's one more photo ::, because we are that awesome.
Looking DOWN on the uncool, non-VIP people riff-raff
There is this fantastic soup/salad/sandwich shop just down the street from where I work, Hale and Hearty. I eat there a LOT. Probably twice a week. The primary reason is because not only are their soups fabulous, but they the majority of them change EVERY DAY. And there are like 15 to choose from. They stay so busy during lunch (and who can blame them? when it's 20°F outside nothing sounds better than a big bowl of delicious, hot soup!). I ate their on Thursday and one of their soups of the day was Mulligatawny. I'll admit, I've never had it before, but I've never had a soup there that wasn't amazing. AND, I couldn't help but think of the Soup Nazi Seinfeld episode!
Elaine: "Do you need anything?"
Kramer: "Oh, a hot bowl of Mulligatawny would hit the spot."
Elaine: "Mulligatawny?"
Kramer: "Yeah, it's an Indian soup. Simmered to perfect by one of the great soup artisans in the modern era."
Elaine: "Oh. Who, the Soup Nazi?"
Kramer: "He's not a Nazi. He just happens to be a little eccentric. You know, most geniuses are."
For those that don't know, the Soup Nazi was based on an actual person, Al Yeganeh, who ran Al's Soup Kitchen International in Manhattan, prior to it franchising and the original closing. Whatever you do, do NOT make reference of the Soup Nazi to him (there are signs posted in his restaurants about this...)
And yes, for those actually following my ramblings, the Mulligatawny was amazing. Really, really amazing. Here's a recipe I found for one version of it for those who are interested.
While the flight sucks (I'm usually on the plane for around 4 hours), and American Airlines can eat a bag of dicks, and the cold weather is almost unbearable, the food and culture of NYC make for a very enjoyable place to visit.
Last Tuesday I ate at Restivo, a fantastic Italian restaurant on 7th and 22nd. The food, as typical of NYC, was excellent, but what struck me as unusual was that the couple sitting next to me were fluently speaking French. Granted, there are a lot of tourists that come through NYC, but I'd say they were likely local. With the tiny but cozy restaurant, amazing food, wait-staff with Italian accents, exceptionally cordial service, and French conversation filling my immediate surroundings, it was not hard to imagine I was back in Europe. Thank god I didn't wasn't having to pay that ridiculous dollar-to-euro exchange rate. Ugh.
It does get a little boring to go out to eat all by myself. I'm not one to read novels, and most of the books I'm reading are too cumbersome to bring along (I'm sorry, Mr. Bryson, but your Short History of Nearly Everything just takes up too much space! Have you thought about an abridged version? Perhaps A Short, Short History of a Couple Interesting Things?)
Lately I've been reading The Federalist Papers via the magic of my jesus phone. What brilliant minds. I'll likely be posting excerpts since I'm so enamored with their apparent perspicacity and foresight of human nature with regards to government.
Me, Dinah, Erin
Wednesday night I met up with one of my Caribbean Cruise buddies (yes, I will be posting photos from that soon!), Dinah. We went out to a couple of trendy bars, Mercury and The Hill. At the latter we met up with one of her friends and crashed a Purdue Alumni party that was going on in their VIP section, where I proceeded to get hammered and have a completely awesome time chatting with everyone there. Hopefully I didn't make too much of an ass out of myself. At least I was dressed nice, having come directly from work and still wearing a suit and tie (which apparently wasn't that unusual of attire for the group). :: Here's one more photo ::, because we are that awesome.
Looking DOWN on the uncool, non-VIP people riff-raff
There is this fantastic soup/salad/sandwich shop just down the street from where I work, Hale and Hearty. I eat there a LOT. Probably twice a week. The primary reason is because not only are their soups fabulous, but they the majority of them change EVERY DAY. And there are like 15 to choose from. They stay so busy during lunch (and who can blame them? when it's 20°F outside nothing sounds better than a big bowl of delicious, hot soup!). I ate their on Thursday and one of their soups of the day was Mulligatawny. I'll admit, I've never had it before, but I've never had a soup there that wasn't amazing. AND, I couldn't help but think of the Soup Nazi Seinfeld episode!
Elaine: "Do you need anything?"
Kramer: "Oh, a hot bowl of Mulligatawny would hit the spot."
Elaine: "Mulligatawny?"
Kramer: "Yeah, it's an Indian soup. Simmered to perfect by one of the great soup artisans in the modern era."
Elaine: "Oh. Who, the Soup Nazi?"
Kramer: "He's not a Nazi. He just happens to be a little eccentric. You know, most geniuses are."
For those that don't know, the Soup Nazi was based on an actual person, Al Yeganeh, who ran Al's Soup Kitchen International in Manhattan, prior to it franchising and the original closing. Whatever you do, do NOT make reference of the Soup Nazi to him (there are signs posted in his restaurants about this...)
And yes, for those actually following my ramblings, the Mulligatawny was amazing. Really, really amazing. Here's a recipe I found for one version of it for those who are interested.
While the flight sucks (I'm usually on the plane for around 4 hours), and American Airlines can eat a bag of dicks, and the cold weather is almost unbearable, the food and culture of NYC make for a very enjoyable place to visit.