A perennial expat muses about her recent move from Zurich to Munich and her travels around Germany, Europe, and the world. Currently: bracing for Oktoberfest.
Hi there. This week I'm in New York City, one of my favorite places to spend Christmas. I'm a couple trips behind on my blogging, but here are a few New York Christmas photos to keep you entertained until I have a chance to catch up.
Merry Christmas, if you're into that kind of thing. More photos at my Flickr.
First off, for those of you who haven't yet had the pleasure, allow me to introduce you to the wonderful pastry delight that is the cannoli. These Sicilian delicacies consist of a deep-fried pastry shell filled with ricotta-based creamy deliciousness. Traditionally there are little pieces of candied citron involved, and a dusting of powdered sugar, and that's about it. But purists be damned, I like my cannoli shells coated in chocolate. And given the prevalence of this practice in New York, I'm obviously not the only one.
Before we go any further, I'd like to address those of you out there reading this and thinking, "Idiota! it's one cannolo, two cannoli." Look, I can speak Italian, too, but right now I'm speaking English, and in English, it's one cannoli, two cannolis. As in, "Leave the gun. Take the cannolis." Capeeeeesh?
For the longest time, the chocolate-covered cannolis at La Bella Ferrara on Mulberry Street have been my favorite. Whenever I find myself in the general vicinity of Little Italy, I head straight to this bakery, ignoring all the others along the way. I usually sit in the adjoining cafe and have an espresso and a cannoli or two, and then head over to the bakery part to pick up some more to go. One of the benefits of the chocolate-covered shells is that they don't get soggy as fast as the regular shells do, so they can be kept for a day or two in the fridge after they have already been filled. Plain-shelled cannolis should be eaten immediately after filling, if possible. But I digress.
On my last trip to New York, I was sitting in La Bella Ferrara, eating my delicious chocolate-covered cannoli, and wondering what made me think this was the best place to get them. The truth was, I didn't. And it bothered me. I needed to find out if there were other, better cannolis to be had on Mulberry Street. Luckily for me, I had a rainy afternoon full of time and two willing companions, so we set out to investigate. To be continued...
The steaming cup o' soup is gone, but otherwise Times Square looks pretty much the same as it did the last time I was here.
One of those cheesy touristy things I love to do in New York is have a drink at The View, a revolving bar and restaurant on the 48th floor of the Marriott Marquis at Times Square (not to be confused with the Rosie O'Donnell talk show of the same name). The view at The View is fabulous day or night, and even the elevator ride up and down is fun.
Sure the drinks are pricey, but not outrageous by New York standards. A beer costs around $6-7 (plus tip). Sip it slowly to ensure you get to make the full circle - a revolution takes one hour. Early evening seems to be the best time to go, and I've luckily never had to wait to be seated. There's a cover charge for the lounge after 9PM. I've never been tempted to try the food at the lounge or the restaurant... there are just too many other delicious places to eat in NYC.
After weeks of religiously checking The Daily Show's website, I was able to score tickets for one of the days I was in New York.
The email from the show recommended arriving between 3:30 and 4:00. I got there around 3:45, and there was already quite a long line. A little after 4:30, they came down the line and checked names off of a list. The last 20 or so people in line were told that they had been standing next to a smelly dumpster in vain, as alas there were no more tickets left (they overbook to ensure that all the seats will be full). The rest of us slowly made our way in through security and were seated by around 5:30 or so.
The studio looked smaller in person than I expected, and there were only about 150 audience seats (which meant everyone had a good view). A third-rate comedian came out to warm up the crowd and make us do a lot of loud clapping and cheering. It was our duty as the studio audience to laugh often and loud during the taping, he told us. And then, before we knew it, Jon Stewart was there in the flesh, looking as devastatingly handsome as ever. He took a couple audience questions, made a few jokes, and then got down to business.
The taping went by quickly, and Jon didn't miss a beat. No retakes, no extra material, nothing. It probably helped that the guest, Tim Russert from Meet the Press, was also a seasoned TV professional.
Overall it was a fun experience, except for the waiting part. You'd think there'd be a better way to get a studio audience that didn't involve making people stand in line for two hours. What do they do when it's raining?
I escaped the Bible Belt for a few days this week and headed up to New York City, probably my favorite city in the world. I spent most of the time just walking around Manhattan, people-watching and soaking up the atmosphere. It's so familiar and different all at once - I can't get enough.
New York is one of those familiar places (and one of many I have called 'home') where it doesn't occur to me to take pictures. This time around I had to keep reminding myself to pull out the camera, but I did manage to record some of it. Here are a couple scenes from downtown:
Brooklyn Bridge
China Town
Little Italy
Cheese!
Fountain in City Hall Park (surrounded by working gas lights)
South Street Seaport
More to come....
