A nightmare and two dreams or how I spent my February break.

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Our lice thing turned into a week of laundry and hair combing and ultimately a prescription lotion, Ovide, which I elected to use prophylactically on the entire family.  FYI: if you ever need to get this lice and nit killing potion, start at the pharmacy at Walmart because that was the only place that had it in stock.  Insert socioeconomic targeted population wise-ass remark here.  I am optimistic that we have eradicated the problem, but will remain vigilant.  Please keep your fingers crossed that the nightmare is over and in return I will pray that your house is never visited by this plague.

Now, for the dreams…

After my recent dropping of the hammer on my underperforming son, he has really been making strides in the right direction.  His grades and attitude have improved and I felt comfortable recognizing his efforts with a reward.  His cell phone has needed an upgrade and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to buy him one that he is equally thrilled to own.  I will hold tightly to the spontaneous (and public!) hug he gave me during the future’s more challenging moments. And that gushing text he sent me?  I’m keeping that forever!

Making a dream come true can be as simple and spontaneous as agreeing to purchase a smart phone or a more involved process requiring reservations and tickets and an overnight bag. The latter describes the realization of my oldest son’s birthday request, albeit an event we marked a week prematurpely. Shortly after his 15th birthday last year, my boy-man asked that we go to NYC’s Metropolitan Opera House to take in a performance.  You’ve got to applaud a kid who can begin to plan a NYC adventure a year in advance – that’s my boy.

Our trip began from at the Rensselaer train station where we popped our figurative MegaBus cherry – overall not a bad experience, but it would have been nice if the Wi-Fi had been more consistent.  We stayed at a classic NYC hotel, the Ramada New Yorker, which was comfortable and convenient.  But, really, it was all about Carmen.  Our box, with its ever so slightly impeded view was remarkably comfortable and I think I only dozed for a minute.  Twice.  The show was beautiful – the voices, the orchestra,  the setting.  I wouldn’t have changed a thing about the night, which concluded with a cab ride back downtown and midnight snack eaten at the hotel.

Isn’t he handsome?

So, two out three isn’t so bad.  I’ll take it.

Instant Karma

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On the anniversary of John Lennon’s death I can’t help but remember where I was at that time.  Freshman year, high school, almost winter. The news took me by surprise, of course. First John Bonham, now John Lennon.  Two of my favorite bands were clearly never ever getting back together, a reality that predates Taylor Swift’s assertion by more than 3 decades.

I heard the news on the radio, I have vague memories of lying in my twin-sized bed listening to WPLJ in the dark, and hearing the breaking news.  He was shot – injured – dead,  all reported in an amount of time which seemed so rapid in those pre-Internet days, yet would certainly seem impossibly slow in our current digital days.

I was just becoming aware of NYC as the city at the center of fashion, entertainment and opportunities.  After this tragedy, I wasn’t scared about what had happened in this wondrous city, just sad that a man who had chosen to make a home here with his family, had fallen victim to one of the mentally unstable attracted by the magnetism that is New York City.  There was a memorial service, and Yoko asked those wishing to show their respects, to honor John’s memory with ten minutes of silence, a request I solemnly granted.  The time passed quickly.

I have vague memories of a bean bag chair and a window looking out to a sky filled with snow of the most pure white imaginable. There was a sense of peaceful quiet, a cottony muffled feel to the afternoon which was comforting. Things were going to be different, but life would continue.  Thirty-two years later, I still subscribe to that belief.

“What we’ve got to do is keep hope alive. Because without it we’ll sink.” – John Lennon

Thanksgiving 2012 – iPhone Photo Highlights

Boy on a train, reflected.

Watery Hudson

Uncle Sam sprang a leak!

Times Square from the west.

ESB lit for Thanksgiving.

Mom + boy = love

Maybe it is just that simple…

Rocco’s. We went for 1/2 price coconut custard pie – divine!

The Scream @MOMA. Awesome opportunity to see it in NYC.

When Thanksgiving became Independence Day

Many years ago,  pre-children, I remember discussing the merits of instructing children to cross only at the green vs. teaching them how to jaywalk intelligently.  Their father and I agreed that the latter was the ideal and vowed to do exactly that when we eventually had a family.  I thought about this conversation during my recent trip to NYC with the boys, and am pleased to report that we have accomplished this goal – the Lilly boys have grown to be adept at forging their own way with a wonderful balance of confidence and caution.  Let me elaborate…

During our Chinese Thanksgiving dinner, I received a phone call from the parent of one of my 13 y/o’s friends.  She was calling to invite Griffin to join them for that night’s Jets/Patriots game at the Meadowlands.  (The Patriots are Griffin’s favorite team.)  I explained that we were in NYC without a car, and that I needed a few minutes to look into the transportation options and consult with his dad for approval.  A quick search revealed a direct bus from the Port Authority to the Meadowlands, and with no protest from the paternal side of things, it seemed doable.  I checked in with Griffin to measure his comfort level with traveling solo on a bus to NJ and he assured me he was fine.  We made the call to confirm that he could meet his friend and Griffin added yet another item to the lengthy list of things for which to be thankful.

So, I walked him to the very same  bus station that was my point of arrival for numerous NYC adventures when I was a teenager 30+ years ago.  We got him set up with his ticket, found our way to the necessary gate and I put him on a bus bound for the best football game he could imagine.  As the bus pulled away, I quickly considered all the terrible things that could happen to him, things I won’t honor by noting them in writing here.  After about 20 seconds of that train of tragic thoughts, I thought about how if something horrible happened, I would be vilified as the mother who placed her 13 y/o on a bus to travel from one unfamiliar place to another.  I rejected that thought, too.  I knew that I wouldn’t always be able to tell him where he could go and what he could do, all I could do was try to prepare him to live his life, fully.  He would be making these sorts of decisions and arrangements independently in no time, and experiences such as this exact one would provide him with the confidence to determine the strength of  his capabilities.

Well, he was fine.  He found his friends, watched his Pats stomp beat the home team and made it back to the Port Authority at approximately the same time I often was caught running to catch the last bus north to Greenwood Lake after a show at the Garden.  He and I walked back to our hotel at a pace much more  leisurely than that desperate-to-catch-a-bus-home speed I recalled from my teens.  We may even have jaywalked.

Thankful

I started writing a post the other day about all the gifts with which I have been blessed.  I ran out of time and inspiration and figured it was just going to end up an incompleted draft.  I was fine with that – it certainly wouldn’t be alone in the “Notes” folder on my iPad.

On Thanksgiving morning, the boys and I went to NYC on the 7:05 train. The morning was a bit arduous.  I slept a little later than I would have liked and the boys were not moving with a detectable sense of urgency.  It was stressful to wrangle them, getting in 3 showers and 4 bagels and 2 sliced oranges and 1 cup of coffee for the road, but we did it.  Once my butt hit the seat on Amtrak, I exhaled and committed to enjoying the day.

When we arrived in Manhattan we walked to our hotel in Chelsea from Penn Station,  ditched our luggage and then spent the next 5 hours walking.  We walked uptown to see some of the parade and then continued to Times Square and over to 10th Avenue.  We went down the west side to the High Line to Houston to SoHo to Chinatown, where we feasted on Peking Duck, scallion pancakes and soup dumplings.

After our untraditional Thanksgiving meal, we walked to Little Italy for cannoli and cookies and then finally, with bellies full, we caught a cab back to 28th Street.  We kicked our shoes off and turned on the Dallas game, just like any other Thanksgiving Day, and I revisited that piece of writing begun a day earlier.  I immediately was struck by the realization that each one of the characteristics I recognized in myself were also present in my boys.

• Love – for one another and family, for the adventure of travel, for good food
• Independence – watching my boys walk with comfortable confidence in NYC fills my heart with satisfaction*
• Patience – the boys indulge my lack of a distinct plan with the knowledge that the payoff will be worth the effort.
• Curiosity – our walk was filled with questions, about different neighborhoods and particular buildings, NYC events and history
• Physical strength – these boys of mine easily walked 75 blocks without (much) complaint, pretty impressive.

Photo by Quinn Lilly

I am truly thankful for the fabulous Lilly boys.

*More on this theme in a future post – all I can say is “Wow!”

Check payable: Mario Batali

I’ve written before about Lupa and its status as my favorite place to eat, specifically their bar, when I’m in NYC. It would be misleading though to deny my absolute love for pretty much all Mario Batali does, food wise, in New York City. A recent overnight trip illustrates why I have often joked that I should simply write a check directly to Mario Batali to minimize the number of times I have to take my wallet out when I’m eating my way around New York.  Here, I’ll show you what I mean…

I was traveling with my bestie and we had nothing but time so we began at Eataly’s amazing rooftop beer garden, Birreria.  Although I’ve been to Eataly a number of times, this was my first occasion to visit this hip hangout and I will definitely head back there again.  The elevator to reach Birreria is a bit hidden, but well worth finding.  I was committed to drinking grape rather than grain, so it was a pricy and pretty rose’ for me – Fontana Fredda Langhe Rosso 2008 $18, 250 ml.  Refreshing and tasty.

We found our way back down to 23rd Street and enjoyed a leisurely walk down 5th Avenue to the West Village and our destination, Lupa.  Yes, I know I was just there barely a week ago, but it was Sunday and Sunday’s Piatto del Giorno is hands down my favorite $20 entree in the city, Braciola alla Cacciatore.  I mean, look at this plate:

In addition to this plate of gorgeousness, we enjoyed two salads, Escarole, Walnut, Red Onion & Pecorino ($11) and the Panzanella ($12) to start, and an order of dynamite Sweet Corn Cappellacci  ($18).  The pasta was incredibly tender and light and absolutely epitomized the wonders of using the freshest seasonal ingredients in a sublime and simple fashion.  Fantastic.  We ate at the bar, natch, and thoroughly enjoyed the friendliness of the other guests and the staff.  Perfect.  I had a couple of glasses of wine, a rose’ to start and a red which was selected by our bartender and completely met my request for something earthy and smoky.  I was a tad beyond taking notes at that point, but I intend to get there again Labor Day weekend and will try to not get too drunk remember to get the name.  So much fun!

Monday morning was a lazy, slow starting day for me.  I did a little wandering around and met a friend for coffee in Union Square before making my final stop at Eataly for some provisions to bring upstate.  I have a friend who has been quite particular about his favorite brand of gorgonzola recently and I thought it would be fun to have a little blue cheese tasting to broaden his horizons while simultaneously constricting his arteries.

With assistance from the cheese guy, I ended up with a domestic blue cheese and two imported varieties made from an array of milks – goat, cow and raw cow.  Our absolute funky favorite was the gorgonzola cremificato guffant – it was beautifully creamy and pungent and was perfect with our accompaniments of rustic bread with olives, 24-month aged prosciutto and Ligurian olive oil.  The simplest of foods, each perfect and flavorful, made for a lovely evening’s repast upon my return to the DelSo.  But prior to catching my train to leave the city there was still lunch to be had…

I wasn’t feeling anything in particular for lunch, other than a desire for something kind of light.  Eataly’s fairly new restaurant, Pranzo, had a menu that fit the bill.  The philosophy of this place is a marriage of food and education and each month they focus on a particular region of Italy.  I went with the $27, two-course prix fix and started with a fresh salad of arugula, strawberries and pecorino followed by pasta with basil and blistered tomatoes.  The seating is a combination of individual tables and communal seating and my server was cutely enthusiastic about what she was serving.  A nice meal served with friendliness is always a good way to say arrivederci, don’t you think?  It will be interesting to see how this place evolves and I like the idea of a menu which changes at predictable intervals.  Maybe I need to try to make a monthly trip for educational purposes?

So, 2 days and 3 distinct Batali restaurants, as well as a retail splurge…yeah, let me just get my checkbook, Mario.

Lunch at Union Square Cafe

Crémant de Bourgogne Rosé, Parigot & Richard, Burgundy $15

There are a few places I return to again and again when I’m in NYC and  Union Square Cafe is one of them.  The location is really convenient (just off of Union Square Park) the bar is comfortable and the food is always solid.  Restauranteur Danny Meyer has a well-deserved reputation as  being masterful at creating an environment that offers simple yet sophisticated food with a front of the house staff that is known for their warmth and competence.  All true, as confirmed by my experiences over the years, whether I was here, Gramercy Tavern, Blue Smoke, The Modern or Tabla.

That being said, I’m not really a fan of the bartender who took my lunch order on my most recent visit.  He has been there many years and I don’t have a real beef with him, I just don’t find him to be particularly warm. Aside from his slightly sour personality, my lunch was everything I had hoped for – fresh, creative and delicious.

Oyster menu

Oyster tasting

I opened with my own little oyster tasting.  There were three varieties offered so I went with one of each.  I’ve never directly compared oyster varieties before and it was pretty trying to discern the differences in flavor and textures.  If you’re an oyster eater, I highly recommend this little indulgence.  The Duxbury was briny in a delightful way – there was no doubt this was a gift from the sea.  The Barron Point was saltier than the Duxbury and also had a firmer texture, a bit toothier, I guess you could say.  The Fanny Bay was more mild.  It reminded me of a piece of white fish sashimi, less sea-centric, shall we say?

$22

I followed my oyster fest with a wonderful yellowfin tuna burger, rare as I requested.  It was served with a carmelized onion and cumin-scented cole slaw which was fantastic.  I haven’t been eating my burger rolls much these days and I felt guilty about wasting this one – it was eggy and perfectly grilled, but I was saving myself for dessert.

$9.50 – worth every cent.

I knew this was going to be my main meal of the day, so three courses seemed an appropriate indulgence.  I really love key lime pie and USC really kicks it up with a coconut meringue and graham crust – amazing!  And, yes, I ate the entire thing.  Who says eating out solo is a bad thing?

My lunch was lovely, although next time I find myself in the neighborhood I might see who’s working the bar prior to settling in with a menu.  Gramercy Tavern is nearby and perhaps I’ll give that a shot if the grumpy barkeep at Union Square is behind the bar.  I don’t mind spending $75 on lunch, but it would be nice if it was served with a smile.