In light of my friends recent non-relationship, I would like to start a series of quick cheap dates that you, my lovely readers, can partake in. Today is an ode to the Piers on the Hudson, starting down by Wall street and stretching up until 20th or so, these piers are incredible places to walk, people watch, dog watch, and overall enjoy a fantastic day! Over the summer these piers host a number of events like fishing, movies and dancing but everyday they are a great place to chill and get to know that special someone. (or cartwheel on the impeccable lawns and turf fields, your choice).
Before heading out to these oasis' of delight pick up some hot chocolate at the incredible 11th street cafe between Greenwich and Washington streets just a block and a half from the piers themselves. (cross over on 11th street) (You know it's good when they don't even have a website). Honestly, the hot chocolate here is so good I literally stopped mid step every time I took a sip. Though the counter people can sometimes be pretentious (it is the west village after all) the hot cocoa is beyond incredible, ask for it with whipped cream and a little caramel drizzle and it's to die for. The iced coffee is incredible as well, full and actually tasting of coffee you feel you're sucking straight from the beans. Live, love and enjoy.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Thursday, April 26, 2007
(Cheap) Bookworm!
Mmm mmm Do I love my quick book fixes! There really isn't anything better than taking a break from this crazy city and checking out for a while in a fantastic novel. While this city does boast some incredible local bookstores (Three Lives in Co is a personal favorite, their recommendations are beyond belief!) we could always use a cheaper alternatives. Luckily, as usual, being in the city allows for a way to indulge your mind AND save your wallet. The only drawback is you won't necessarily find every book you want here BUT you will earn your bang for your buck! See my favorite picks below!
1) Your (or my) local stand on the street!
Right around washington square are a number of wonderful guys with an actual GREAT solution of books! My favorite is a little one or two table stand on West fourth street just east of Washington Square park. This guy has AMAZING selections (recent purchases include The Handmaid's Tale (3 bucks), Like Water for Chocolate (5 bucks) and The Amazing Adventures of Cavelier and Clay (7 bucks).
Another great alternative is the line of stands on 6th ave between 18th and 21st streets. These you might have to dig through a bit more. Recent buys include Bel Canto (4 bucks) and How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents (4 bucks)/
2) The Strand
On the corner of 12th and Broadway and boasting the infamous 18 miles of books (done by the shelf space). This store is not only surrounded by a buck a book shelves but boasts a wide array of VERY marked down books (recent buys include Assassination Vacation for 4.75 and Memories of My Melancholy Whores for 6ish). TONS and TONS of books with a wide arrange of selections including many best sellers and top reads, this is a place not just to buy a book but spend an afternoon.
3) HousingWorks Used Book Cafe
On Crosby by Broadway, this place not only boasts knowledgeable staff, a great cafe, fantastic speakers (including a children's book on Pot and the makers of the white rapper show which I happened upon randomly one day as I perused the shelves) and is an overall laid back place to read (recent purchases include The Time Traveler's Wife, 7 bucks) , but you can feel good about your purchases too! As all the books are donated, 100 percent of all proceeds go to Housing Works, a non for profit which provides housing, health care, job training, advocacy and other services to homeless New Yorkers living with AIDS. Now THAT'S food for thought! Plus, do good and volunteer a few of your hours with the fantastic knowledgeable staff at the store!
1) Your (or my) local stand on the street!
Right around washington square are a number of wonderful guys with an actual GREAT solution of books! My favorite is a little one or two table stand on West fourth street just east of Washington Square park. This guy has AMAZING selections (recent purchases include The Handmaid's Tale (3 bucks), Like Water for Chocolate (5 bucks) and The Amazing Adventures of Cavelier and Clay (7 bucks).
Another great alternative is the line of stands on 6th ave between 18th and 21st streets. These you might have to dig through a bit more. Recent buys include Bel Canto (4 bucks) and How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents (4 bucks)/
2) The Strand
On the corner of 12th and Broadway and boasting the infamous 18 miles of books (done by the shelf space). This store is not only surrounded by a buck a book shelves but boasts a wide array of VERY marked down books (recent buys include Assassination Vacation for 4.75 and Memories of My Melancholy Whores for 6ish). TONS and TONS of books with a wide arrange of selections including many best sellers and top reads, this is a place not just to buy a book but spend an afternoon.
3) HousingWorks Used Book Cafe
On Crosby by Broadway, this place not only boasts knowledgeable staff, a great cafe, fantastic speakers (including a children's book on Pot and the makers of the white rapper show which I happened upon randomly one day as I perused the shelves) and is an overall laid back place to read (recent purchases include The Time Traveler's Wife, 7 bucks) , but you can feel good about your purchases too! As all the books are donated, 100 percent of all proceeds go to Housing Works, a non for profit which provides housing, health care, job training, advocacy and other services to homeless New Yorkers living with AIDS. Now THAT'S food for thought! Plus, do good and volunteer a few of your hours with the fantastic knowledgeable staff at the store!
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Study (or life) break! Milk and Cookies!
The library sucks, studying sucks, exams suck, work sucks (sound like a familiar tune in your head?) Well get ready to bust out into cartwheels because today's topic of conversation discusses the sweetest of all sweet shops.... MILK AND COOKIES!
Boasting probably the best cookies in Manhattan, a warm atmosphere, chalk tables to draw on and boisterous funny bakers, Milk and Cookies is my number one choice for the perfect study break. Not only are their cookies divine (my favorites are the chocolate chip JAM packed with chips and the chocolate mint chip, dark chocolate with mint chips) and served with a glass of milk, but they'll also make ice cream sandwiches with your choice of cookies/ gelato and have incredible brownies and sundaes! They'll also make your own dozen or sell cookie dough OR deliver cookies to that poor little blogger so weighed down with finals (hint hint). All in all, the perfect place for a mid study/ life slump treat! A glass of milk and two cookies will set you back four bucks, but it's worth it, trust me!
Milk and Cookies is located on Commerce Street (right under Bleecker) between 7th Ave and Bedford. Hop on the 1 to Christopher and you're there!
Boasting probably the best cookies in Manhattan, a warm atmosphere, chalk tables to draw on and boisterous funny bakers, Milk and Cookies is my number one choice for the perfect study break. Not only are their cookies divine (my favorites are the chocolate chip JAM packed with chips and the chocolate mint chip, dark chocolate with mint chips) and served with a glass of milk, but they'll also make ice cream sandwiches with your choice of cookies/ gelato and have incredible brownies and sundaes! They'll also make your own dozen or sell cookie dough OR deliver cookies to that poor little blogger so weighed down with finals (hint hint). All in all, the perfect place for a mid study/ life slump treat! A glass of milk and two cookies will set you back four bucks, but it's worth it, trust me!
Milk and Cookies is located on Commerce Street (right under Bleecker) between 7th Ave and Bedford. Hop on the 1 to Christopher and you're there!
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Because it's SPRING (AWAKENING)
Alright, I waited an entire week before I GUSHED about my new favorite Broadway musical....
SPRING AWAKENING!
I think it now goes down as my most-frequented NYC cheap event as I have been a whopping four times (beating out Rent in my Bway count) and have, honestly, thought I enjoy it more and more each time. Not only is it fresh and provides some amazing tunes (it's all I listen to in finals mode) but the cast is young, the choreography is modern and the stories, while jolted from time to time, are compelling.
About teenage rebellion and SEX this show brings us back to 1891 Germany (when the original play was written) where teens are suppressed, molested, horny, curious and pissed (when are they not?) The information is limited and their bodies are raring. There are many parts which could be done better (the use of a homosexual relationship as comic relief, the taking out of the original clear date rape scene etc), there are still parts more honest than most plays I have seen and it's FRESH. To be honest, I wasn't overwhelmed the first time but after I went home I found the songs permeating through my mind (see a music video here) and I felt compelled to go back. Second time was the charm, third and forth too. STAY AFTER and be a theater nerd and chat with the amazingly nice and down to earth cast and become addicted.
For 26.25 student tickets bring ID and CASH to the theater on 49th between Broadway and 8th. Box office opens 10am M-S and noon on Sundays. Get there a good two hours beforehand as they reserve student seats for every show but it is v, popular. OH! and if you get "partial view" seats, ask for ones on audience right, you'll miss less that way.
just GO, seriously, actually go TWICE (it's WAYYY better times two, or at least learn the songs before hand (they're on itunes).
SPRING AWAKENING!
I think it now goes down as my most-frequented NYC cheap event as I have been a whopping four times (beating out Rent in my Bway count) and have, honestly, thought I enjoy it more and more each time. Not only is it fresh and provides some amazing tunes (it's all I listen to in finals mode) but the cast is young, the choreography is modern and the stories, while jolted from time to time, are compelling.
About teenage rebellion and SEX this show brings us back to 1891 Germany (when the original play was written) where teens are suppressed, molested, horny, curious and pissed (when are they not?) The information is limited and their bodies are raring. There are many parts which could be done better (the use of a homosexual relationship as comic relief, the taking out of the original clear date rape scene etc), there are still parts more honest than most plays I have seen and it's FRESH. To be honest, I wasn't overwhelmed the first time but after I went home I found the songs permeating through my mind (see a music video here) and I felt compelled to go back. Second time was the charm, third and forth too. STAY AFTER and be a theater nerd and chat with the amazingly nice and down to earth cast and become addicted.
For 26.25 student tickets bring ID and CASH to the theater on 49th between Broadway and 8th. Box office opens 10am M-S and noon on Sundays. Get there a good two hours beforehand as they reserve student seats for every show but it is v, popular. OH! and if you get "partial view" seats, ask for ones on audience right, you'll miss less that way.
just GO, seriously, actually go TWICE (it's WAYYY better times two, or at least learn the songs before hand (they're on itunes).
Monday, April 23, 2007
Icey Presidents? Frost/Nixon
Today's entry will be short and sweet. I've mentioned it before but now I have supreme backup from my bible, the New York Times.
Go see FROST/NIXON! An amazing take on the tv interviews which basically got Nixon to admit his guilt featuring what I think is the best acting since I saw Meryl Streep in Mother Courage last summer. Minus a few made up facts I thought it was a wonderful depiction of a crazy time. I didn't want this gem of a play to end and was utterly delighted at the end.
But don't take my word for it, read the NYT review!
And of course, there are cheap student tickets "when available". We got front row center seats by showing up half an hour before the box office opened. (Though you may need to get there earlier now it's received rave reviews from practically all the major news sources). Tkts are 26.25 per person bring cash and your school id. Two tickets per person, box office is located at on 45th street between Broadway and 8th.
Go! seriously! NOW!
Go see FROST/NIXON! An amazing take on the tv interviews which basically got Nixon to admit his guilt featuring what I think is the best acting since I saw Meryl Streep in Mother Courage last summer. Minus a few made up facts I thought it was a wonderful depiction of a crazy time. I didn't want this gem of a play to end and was utterly delighted at the end.
But don't take my word for it, read the NYT review!
And of course, there are cheap student tickets "when available". We got front row center seats by showing up half an hour before the box office opened. (Though you may need to get there earlier now it's received rave reviews from practically all the major news sources). Tkts are 26.25 per person bring cash and your school id. Two tickets per person, box office is located at on 45th street between Broadway and 8th.
Go! seriously! NOW!
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Jiaozi jiaozi jiaozi! (dumplings!)
First the New Yorker, then TONY and now, I, L.A. Burke shall sing the praises of
THE DUMPLING HOUSE!
Probably my favorite and most -frequented restaurant of Manhattan, this beyond tiny shop (think half the size of Magnolia's) is home to some of the most delicious dumplings this side of Beijing. and trust me, if there is one thing I know it's my dumplings. These suckers come at five for a buck in the fried pork variety and while there are many other similar places none has found quite as near and dear a place in my heart. Here goes the list.
1) The EXPERIENCE is unbeatable. There's nothing that can bring me back to China more than small crowded spaces with shouting people who refuse to line up and who are dying for a snack. Forgo the line that draws near the door and elbow your way into a spot at the counter.
2) The SANDWICHES. Otherwise known as "niu rou bing" or sesame pancake with beef (or tuna, I like beef though!) are piping hot fluffy mounds of sesame bread goodness stuffed with beef, carrots, cilantro and a great sauce, all for a buck fifty.
3) The FROZEN DUMPLINGS are to die for, seriously I bought a bag of the veggie ones to get me through finals (five bucks for 25) and ate the entire thing in one night. Ok, I ate 16 but still, that's a lot. Hands down the best veggie dumplings in the entire city, as if the pork ones aren't enough. And beat that "vegetarians eat cheaper" fallacy and buy 30 frozen pork ones for 5 as well.
Basically, go , eat and enjoy. You'll quite possibly have one of the best meals that 3.75 can buy (five pork fried dumplings = $1, beef sesame sandwich = $1.50, peach snapple iced tea= $1.25)
Where: On Eldridge by Broome Street, look for the big red sign. You'll only find seats if you're struck by the grace of God so take your goodies down a few blocks west on Broome and stake out the picnic tables in the park while watching intramural soccer.
Take the orange line to Delancy street. Jiaozi jiaozi jiaozi!!!
THE DUMPLING HOUSE!
Probably my favorite and most -frequented restaurant of Manhattan, this beyond tiny shop (think half the size of Magnolia's) is home to some of the most delicious dumplings this side of Beijing. and trust me, if there is one thing I know it's my dumplings. These suckers come at five for a buck in the fried pork variety and while there are many other similar places none has found quite as near and dear a place in my heart. Here goes the list.
1) The EXPERIENCE is unbeatable. There's nothing that can bring me back to China more than small crowded spaces with shouting people who refuse to line up and who are dying for a snack. Forgo the line that draws near the door and elbow your way into a spot at the counter.
2) The SANDWICHES. Otherwise known as "niu rou bing" or sesame pancake with beef (or tuna, I like beef though!) are piping hot fluffy mounds of sesame bread goodness stuffed with beef, carrots, cilantro and a great sauce, all for a buck fifty.
3) The FROZEN DUMPLINGS are to die for, seriously I bought a bag of the veggie ones to get me through finals (five bucks for 25) and ate the entire thing in one night. Ok, I ate 16 but still, that's a lot. Hands down the best veggie dumplings in the entire city, as if the pork ones aren't enough. And beat that "vegetarians eat cheaper" fallacy and buy 30 frozen pork ones for 5 as well.
Basically, go , eat and enjoy. You'll quite possibly have one of the best meals that 3.75 can buy (five pork fried dumplings = $1, beef sesame sandwich = $1.50, peach snapple iced tea= $1.25)
Where: On Eldridge by Broome Street, look for the big red sign. You'll only find seats if you're struck by the grace of God so take your goodies down a few blocks west on Broome and stake out the picnic tables in the park while watching intramural soccer.
Take the orange line to Delancy street. Jiaozi jiaozi jiaozi!!!
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Get OUT! (side)
As I sit here procrastinating from studying and with a new sunburn on my back, I realize how amazing it is to be out of doors and running around without a care in the world. This, my friends, is a post-ode to running around on grass barefoot, wide open spaces and fresh blue air.
Not in New York City you say! Wrong! Wrong wrong!
Today I experienced what was perhaps the most satisfying morning of my life at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens which I have now mentioned in this not even one week old post THREE TIMES. These gardens are not only free on Tuesdays and Saturdays from 10am- noon (except on holidays/ festivals like next Saturdays cherry blossom viewing) but offer wide expanse of spaces in which to frolick, run, and do piggy back races! The cherry blossoms were gorgeous and the mood was perfect in which to celebrate this over 70 degree day!
Now, here are some issues with said park. You are not allowed food (rat problem) blankets (oxygen problem) sport activities aka Frisbees (who knows what problem) or, as Ethan or Ben put it, Mirth. No worries though, get there early enough to stake out a spot at cherry lane and eat your packed lunch (though the cafe's prices were reasonable I am told by my paying friends) when the guards aren't looking, same to frisbee. If you would like a code name to shout out when you see a 'Curity (as Roma called him) guard, you can borrow our code word "Jake" and call it a day. The picture is us playing frisbee at Cherry lane shortly before getting busted.
There are other less-known places to visit in the boroughs, however and so far my favorite has got to be the Alley Pond Environmental Center. While it takes nearly a good two hours to get to this haven from the city (though I was with an 8 year old and we were, I believe, stuck on a train that stopped for a large chunk of time, so, come to think of it, that may be wildly inaccurate, but still it's FAR), this place boasts over 635 acres of woodlands, marshes, and trails which are beyond gorgeous and that's coming from a New England gal. The paths are almost mystical as they wind around bamboo trees and pass by cranes and you can't imagine being farther from the city. My companion and I barely saw anyone else there the entire day and the visitors center boasts a fantastic mini-zoo (v mini mind you) with rabbits and chinchilla's and the like and the workers were all too happy to take the critters out of the cages and let us pet them. For anyone seeking refuge from the city, this is the place to be and guess what? It's FREE. Always. AMAZING!
It's in Queens but the website will do a MUCH better job of explaining how to get there. Just put on some sneakers, pack a book and lunch and go.
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