nyc

My last visit to NYC (where I lived for 11 years, and where many of my dearest friends still reside) was in January 2011.  When I found out we would have some items in the Etsy Holiday Shop, it seemed like a good time to take a long overdue trip to the city.  Here are some snaps I took during our quick weekend visit.

Holiday lights in Astoria.

Love the edifice of this apartment building!

Breakfast on vacation means macarons and coffee at Mille-feuille.

Andy between the Dior and Etsy shops.

I thought the Etsy shop was really nicely done.  It looked pretty much exactly how I would imagine an Etsy brick and mortar store would look.

They were holding a holiday ornament workshop when we were there.

Some pretty jewels from jeanjeanvintage and a cute handmade ring holder!

The rack of vintage.  There wasn't a ton of it; we were there on one of the last few days the shop was open and were told much of it had sold.

Small Earth Vintage shoes on the right.

The tags they used on the vintage.  I love that: "Vintage by Karen of Grand Rapids, MI."

We escaped the cold drizzle with lunch at Randolph Beer--pickles, brussels sprouts and smoky corn!  And beer.  (I knew there would be lots of cocktails later, so I thought I should let Andy get some good beers.)  It was funny for us to see beer from Grand Rapids' own Founders Brewing in NYC, and it was hard not to laugh while the bartender tried to sell us on it.  

But forget about the beer.  Cocktails!  That kind of dark and blurry photo above is from Andy's Blackberry (I pretty much concentrated on drinking and talking once we started with the cocktails), and was taken at Amor y Amargo in the East Village, which has a fantastic bitters-based cocktail menu and informative drink makers.  I also loved the Darling Clementine cocktail (like drinking a pomander: gin, clementine juice, and cloves) and fried pickles at Sweet Afton in Astoria.  But my favorite was Long Island City's Dutch Kills--amazing drinks and perfect speakeasy ambiance.

If this vintage shop window is any indication, NYC hipsters are hugely into the Ugly Christmas Sweater thing.  It's a bit weird to see the not-very-vintage ugly sweaters bookended by a couple really nice cowichans, but hey, what are you gonna do?

Anyway, it was a short and densely-packed trip, and was completely fantastic.  I love NYC, and visiting always feels like coming home.

xo

k

to the five boroughs

I stole the title of this post from a Beastie Boys song. It is also the title of a radio show we tuned in to on our drive across New Jersey into NYC. The deejay played a song by The Drums, one of my favorite new bands, a New York band by way of Florida, that I first heard on BBC Radio 6, and which only one of my New York friends (hi, Pete!) had heard of. Funny, that!

Enough about music (though everything is about music with me lately)! We were in New York for just a few days--a long weekend, really--to celebrate the 40th birthday of my friend Rob a.k.a. Robert a.k.a. (mostly to me and a couple others) Scooter. Rob and I have known each other for 20 years, and were roomates for several years when I lived in New York, and I love him most dearly.

Andy in the snow, in Queens.

I didn't take a ton of photos. I spent most of my time catching up with friends I miss terribly.

Andy and I headed into the city our first day and spent it walking in the snow. I love the hats on the walls at the 23rd Street subway stop. This one is supposed to be Henry James' hat.

We strolled past Gramercy Park, one of New York City's two privately-owned parks. You need to have a key to enter. I took this photo of Greg Wyatt's Fantasy Fountain sculpture from between the iron bars of the fence surrounding the park.

After walking many blocks in the snow, we happily reached our destination, Vandaag restaurant. It had been on my list of must-visit places since I'd read about their genever cocktails in my favorite booze blog (really, the only one I read), Off the Presses. The food is a mix of Dutch and Scandinavian treats. It and the cocktails were divine, and warmed us up nicely! Andy and I also fell in love with the bar stools here (you can see them in the photos in the Off the Presses post) and want to find some for the house.

I had to take a photo of this painted wall which had all my obsessions on it: frites, beer steins, cocktails (that might actually be a wine goblet), Scotland (and that a Belgian lion, but whatever, please just humor me).

You know how sometimes after you eat you feel even colder? I think there is a scientific reason for it: all that blood rushing to your belly, which is working to process your meal, making your extremeties colder. Or something. Well, that's how we felt after leaving Vandaag. The snow had mainly stopped, but it was still quite cold. So we ended up--to my shame--in McSorley's. I say "to my shame" because during my years in New York it always seemed like a place where frat boys and tourists went to drink too much and throw up--though, admittedly, I'd never been inside. Well, my first visit there was actually just fine. A little smelly, but filled with neat old stuff--a coal stove, ancient beer coolers, sawdust all over the floor, a funny bar menu ("Cheese Plates: Cheddar American"), and lo and behold, a pennant from my alma mater. A good place to warm up on a cold afternoon.

The next part of our visit entailed a trip to Brooklyn to visit Rob's beautiful new place and spend time in his neighborhood, and which also included a fun trip to the Brooklyn Flea Market.

And the best moment of the weekend? The birthday boy's celebration at Brooklyn's Clover Club. Potato chips fried in duck fat, catching up with the funniest, most delightful people I know, too many cocktails, and closing the joint down--all in the worthy service of celebrating the birthday of my dear friend. Love you, Scooter!

xo

K