What can I say about New York City that hasn’t already been said? I love this place. It has that “everything” quality I so admire. In spite of the fact that we were staying in Crown Heights, spending at least two hours a day on the subway, and experiencing weather of 90+ degrees and 90+ humidity every day, I had a great time. It may have had something to do with the fact that my beloved Uncle Mark, whom I haven’t seen in quite some time, was with us, or that I spent the week chomping my way through several of my all-time favorite destination eateries, but nonetheless, NYC has a certain sparkle that always leaves me wanting more.
I would be remiss here not to heartily welcome our eldest son back into the fold. Many people have been looking at previous pictures and asking “where’s Shefler?” Well, here he is, joining us after a month in California, where he stayed behind to attend his beloved annual sleepaway camp in the Trinity Alps (think real northern California). Shefler was hosted before and after camp by Jeremy’s sister Cathy in San Francisco and Jeremy’s aunt & uncle (the Sheflers!) in Oakland. Thanks, guys!
A little art history lesson courtesy of “Gram” Linda Carl featuring a trip to the mothership of Art Deco
I always feel like I am cheating somehow when one of my kids
is away being taken care of by someone else. Now we are actually the occasionally magnificent SEVEN and
that weight is lifted. Shefler
adds an element of preteen world-weariness but also competence and executive
ability that are quite helpful.
I am unable capture the true magnificence of NYC with my limited photographic skill, but here are some highlights:
Eating doughnuts from a pushcart in Times Square. Practicing our cab hailing technique, except that now even the minor physical activity of raising one’s arm to hail a cab has been made obsolete by technology. In the rare instance that we didn’t take the subway, we used Uber.Ah, the subway. In summer, Hades incarnate. But I still love it!Here’s a perfect example of the everythingness of NYC I was talking about. We went to a climbing gym. Why not?We celebrated Libbey’s 5th birthday in style at Serendipity 3, where the Masters of the Universe can pay $80 for a hot dog or $1000 for an ice cream sundae. Needless to say, we did not indulge in these menu items.Uncle Mark and the kids indulged me in a trip to check off a life bucket list item: Nathan’s Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island. Joey Chestnut defeated, among others, the world’s Kale-eating champion to defend his title by eating 71 hot dogs in 10 minutes and again took home the coveted mustard belt. We quickly calculated that it would require a major effort for the 8 of us (with Uncle Mark) to eat 71 hot dogs in an entire day.Rowena was inspired, but Nelson won the Carl family hot dog eating contest.I got to visit Caroline Romita (née Hand), my college roommate. She used to actually live in this paradise called Manhattan, but after having two kids she sensibly moved just a bit up the Hudson River, where, after the insanity of the hot dogs, we scored an invite to her family’s annual Fourth of July barbecue. Nothing like Metro-North along the Hudson River.I know it’s tragic that we did not attend a fireworks display in NYC, but this is the best we’re going to do this year. The hot dog extravaganza kind of wiped us out, and I got totally overwhelmed trying to figure out where we would potentially go to see fireworks and not be trampled by hordes or something like that. Sorry. Next time.What can I say about Zabar’s black and white cookies that hasn’t already been said? Eating mine may have been my single favorite moment from our week in NYC.Ah, the Guggenheim. Mark is a fan of Frank Lloyd Wright, so we had to go. Would that the art on the walls was even a fraction as beautiful as the building itself. Or even just not obviously insulting to my intelligence. Okay, that’s enough or I’m going to start getting hate-mail. Apologies to fans of avant-garde art. But totally worth the trip just for the building.Here’s something new since I lived in NYC: the High Line. We particularly enjoyed this little open grassy spot at 23rd St., where Nelson got a chance to work on his yoga.I am a bit embarrassed to say that I hadn’t planned on visiting this temple of fine dessertiness until I noticed on the map that it was right near the subway stop we needed to get home from the High Line. I have made almost everything in Christina Tosi’s first cookbook and was thrilled to go and try some of the real thing. I’m going to threaten Rainier’s territory of food reviews a little bit when I say I was kind of disappointed: half of the store was closed for renovation, so it was ridiculously cramped, they don’t cell the cereal milk in bottles anymore (you can only buy a cup to drink right away), and the cookies came in little plastic packages and tasted like they were a day or two old. This does not in any way detract from my enthusiasm for the cookbook, and the piece of cake I had was delicious, but it did not live up to my dreams of dessert Nirvana. Sigh.We also visited with old friends Joe Patt, Dave Sasson, Rae Nevins, and Jeremy’s cousin Marcy Kahn but of course forgot to take pictures because we were having such a good time catching up. Oops. You deserve better.With great anticipation, we ended our visit to NYC with a car ride to the Brooklyn Ferry Terminal, where we boarded the Queen Mary II for Southampton, UK. Details of the transatlantic crossing (currently underway) in our next post…
3 thoughts on “I Left my Heart in New York City”
It seems like you have an official footwear of the Carl Family Adventures! Last night, I had a dream that I visited you guys. There wasn’t a destination in the dream that I recall, but I was with you. Looking over your aspirational itinerary, I’ve decided that Garrett and I should visit you all in Norway, June, 2021 if you stay on track for that. I had pondered Japan for a while, but I don’t want to pay for flights and stuff during the Olympics. Also, Norway would be YYYAAAYYYYY! So, no pressure, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed that you end up there as/when planned! Pencil us in!
Love it! Norway is still itself technically “in pencil”, but having you on board will help cement it into the schedule. That would be so amazing!
It seems like you have an official footwear of the Carl Family Adventures! Last night, I had a dream that I visited you guys. There wasn’t a destination in the dream that I recall, but I was with you. Looking over your aspirational itinerary, I’ve decided that Garrett and I should visit you all in Norway, June, 2021 if you stay on track for that. I had pondered Japan for a while, but I don’t want to pay for flights and stuff during the Olympics. Also, Norway would be YYYAAAYYYYY! So, no pressure, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed that you end up there as/when planned! Pencil us in!
Love it! Norway is still itself technically “in pencil”, but having you on board will help cement it into the schedule. That would be so amazing!
Great adventures! And eating!