Oh Yeah! Let Me Show You Some November and December Stuff
Here are things that happened in November and December besides Jeff and Ryan coming to town and Mom and Dad coming to town and me going home to Chicago (post forthcoming in that case).
For starters, on November 8th I lucked out and got in on a dinner at the Polo Bar with Ray, Kelsey and Tamara. Food was good, ambiance was top notch, everyone was fancy and there wasn't much phone reception down there.
So imagine our collective surprise leaving the restaurant and discovering Donald Trump was leading in the election? Or not just leading, but had it locked in? Our restaurant was just a couple blocks away from the Hilton where the Trump camp was waiting on the results, so we went by to see what was going on.
What was going on was Red Hats were celebrating.
What a weird night.
Anyway.
The next day I met up with Steve and child at Marcus Garvey Park and we had a little walk around.
This one day this dude was on the subway and he was like there to make the ride good for everyone. He must have given up his seat three times to people. Santa Claus in his city clothes disguise? I don't know.
Had a brief mouse situation which I tried to take care of in a very traditional manner. Then the mouse just stopped showing up.
Look at this fun mural!
(Insert here Mom and Dad's visit to the city)
Thanksgiving Time: The night before Thanksgiving I went with Chaunte to Tanoshi Sushi on the Upper East Side. It's like the very well known secret place to get world-class sushi in the city. A $250 meal for $90. Very good, wish I liked sushi even better than I do. I mean this is probably the best sushi I've ever had, but I'm not eating good sushi often enough to remember/recognize the difference between this night's meal and the second best sushi I've ever had. Whatever that might have been.
We had a lot more fish than this. Just wanted to give you an idea of what we ate without filling this post with every piece.
A little glimpse of my Thanksgiving dinner. More talking and eating than photographing.
Right before Thanksgiving I watched this incredible movie called Christian Mingle on Netflix and I talked about it so much that night that my hosts turned it on. I thought I wasn't going to stick around and watch the whole things again, that I'd just stay until the part where she says a prayer at the coffee house, but nope, I watched the whole thing and probably if I ever walked in on someone watching it again I'd sit down and watch the whole thing. This movie is amazing. If you have seen it can we talk about it? For a long time?
This is another great Netflix movie. I learned a whole lot about cats.
Saturday after Thanksgiving? Oh Hello, the popular Broadway comedic play. Our surprise celebrity guest was Itzhak Perlman, the famous violinist from Sesame Street.
Post-Thanksgiving also checked out the portrait exhibit at the Whitney once more. And I'll probably see it again! Look at these two kids on their DS's.
Worked on my avocado toasts and chongqing chicken
In fact, worked on my chongqing chicken so much that Ned had me cook a whole fake-Mission Chinese dinner at his house for a bunch of people. It went pretty well!
Happy December 12th, everyone!
Carol was in town for a class and we were able to grab three lunches. Three! Most noteworthy: Good ol' Momofuku Noodle Bar
December 15th: Rogue One Day! I went with Chaunte and Omar (crazy how many people had office Holiday parties that night) up in Harlem. Pre-movie: Chaunte and I ate at Don Paco's, a neighborhood place that has really been growing on me. Rogue One? It also has grown on me. A bit.
Every Christmas time I never miss the Pop-Up Flea. And I also (just about) never buy anything. But this year I did buy a slice of Emmett's deep dish pizza. This year's flea was at the 165th's armory down in the 20's. I'd never been in there before. Very cool.
Something cool: Sariah was in town from Paris with her boyfriend's family. I hadn't seen her since 2011, it was great. We went to Wendy's. But the only picture I took was this candid spy shot.
We celebrated Victoria's birthday one night and then continued the celebration with breakfast at Tom's in Brooklyn a few days later. I hadn't been there since my very very first trip to New York in March 2003. Nothing had changed!
Another important end of December activity? In a Curious Kittens throwback moment, Steven and I recorded Episode 0 of Talkeria el Taco!
Also big news: The Mapps came up to New York for a daytime with some of Mallory's family as part of their traditional east coast holidays. I got lunch with them in midtown and then we ate dinner up here and recorded Talkeria el Taco Episode 1.
Ok, I'll be back soon (no, really) with my Chicago trip and three posts (Three!!) about California!