Greenlight Bookstore

Reading is one of my favorite pastimes.  I could spend hours getting lost in a bookstore and it sometimes makes me sad to think that we are moving to a place where you can only download book onto your kindle or ipad.  For me, there is nothing that will replace the way a book feels.  So it always gives me great joy to find a little bookstore, independently owned, like the one I found on my way to the theater the other night, Greenlight Bookstore.  I was on my way to see Geoffrey Rush in "Diary of a Madman" (which I will tell you about tomorrow), and I walked passed and knew that I had to go inside.

After getting home I went to their website and found that it also has a great story.   The two women who started it, Rebecca and Jessica,  had spent a combined 26 years in bookstores and publishing and both knew they wanted to spend the rest of their lives working with books.  In 2007 Jessica entered the Brooklyn Business Library's Power Up! business plan competition, and in January 2008 her bookstore business plan was awarded the grand prize of $15,000.  At the same time the Fort Greene Association was trying to build up business in the area and commissioned a survey in which they discovered that a bookstore was one of the things that residents were lacking but really wanted.  They read Jessica's business plan and contacted her to see if she would be interested in putting her bookstore in Fort Greene.  She and Rebecca decided that it would be a perfect place for a bookstore.  They got an overwhelming response from the community and together with individuals, community groups and local business loans they were able to open this fantastic bookstore.  


Greenlight Bookstore has a table dedicated entirely to Brooklyn writers, which was really cool.  The layout in the store is beautiful.  It has a cozy, warm feeling to it and the staff is friendly and very helpful.  It reminds me of being in a small town bookstore, but in Brooklyn.  They also offer story time for kids and reading groups.  I love being able to support the small bookstore and this one is really great.  Warning:  You might just spend hours here, so make sure to leave yourself some time.


Greenlight Bookstore is open daily from 10am - 10pm
686 Fulton Street (at South Portland)
718-246-0200

Top of the Rock

I was bartending over the weekend and there were some people in from out of town sitting at my bar.  The woman asked, "If there was one thing you would tell us not to miss while we were here, what would it be?"  I thought about that for a bit.  There are so many great restaurants and museums and theater, but I think the one place I would take someone to if they had never been here before would be Top of the Rock at night.

I went there for the first time a couple of years ago when a friend was in from Italy.  I had always wanted to go, but I guess because I live here it was one of those things I had never gotten around to doing.

One of things that struck me is how beautiful the skyline of New York is.  I have traveled to many places in the last year or so and still I think New York has one of the most striking skylines.  I live here but I don’t get to look at it from somewhere that has a spectacular view of it everyday.  It really almost takes your breath away.  I think the reason that I love Top of the Rock at night as opposed to during the day, is because you get to see it in all it's glory with everything all lit up.  I stood there and thought, I live in one of the most incredible cities of the world.  Every song you could every think of about New York runs through your mind and you feel like every image that you might have had about New York is staring you right in the face.  It is all there at eye level and my response after having lived here for over 15 years was WOW!  So my thought in today’s blog for all you out of towners or even for you folks who live here go to the Top of the Rock.  See the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building and Broadway from above.  It will amaze you everytime.

Leave a comment and tell us your "don't miss this while in NYC" thing to do.  

Open Daily from 8am to Midnight - last elevator up at 11pm

Tickets are $22 (discounts available for children, students and seniors)

Entrance is on 50th between 5th and 6th

Coffee and Tea Festival NYC

Looking for something fun and different to do this weekend?  Why not try going to the Coffee and Tea Festival, Feb 19 and Feb 20th from 11am - 5pm, 7 West 34th St.  

The festival will be offering classes, lectures and demonstrations throughout the weekend.  Lectures include  "Coffee Cupping and Tasting" which is like wine tasting, but for coffee.  You will be learning about the different characteristics: 

"Rarely seen by the public, cupping is the technique used to evaluate the flavor profile of a coffee. The coffee will be evaluated on five major characteristics: flavor, acidity, aftertaste, fragrance and body."

Another great workshop is a foam making class.  I can tell you from my short stint as an espresso sales person that making foam properly is more difficult than it seems.  For example:  Your foam should never be super hot; you should be able to drink it immediately without burning your mouth.  If you can't, then the milk is burnt.   You shouldn't have to use a spoon to get the foam, it should just pour out of the frothing cup.  If you think it is easy then you might want to go and watch the "Barista Challenge".  Saturday starting at noon you can watch to see who can make the prettiest and best foam and become the 2011 Ultimate Barista.  Kind of the "Top Chef" of coffee makers.


For you tea lovers out there they have workshops which include tea 101 where you will learn what the differences are between different types of tea, their health benefits as well as some of the myths out there.  Or you can learn what goes into making an afternoon tea.  That lecture will discuss the traditions and how you can create one in your own home.

Tickets are $20 for the basic 1 day pass (available on-line).  There are special prices if you want to go to the evening of Chinese Tea and Tradition.  I'm a big fan of drinking tea or coffee, but it just might be fun to learn more about it so I can really appreciate the subtleties.
www.coffeeandteafestival.com
Feb 19th and 20th
11am - 5pm
7 West 34th St.

Hot Chocolate Festival NYC. YUM!

Anyone who knows me will attest that I love sweets, in particular chocolate.  So I am very glad to have discovered the 19^th annual hot chocolate festival at City Bakery happening all this month.  I am sad to have missed the first 9 days (or the first 18 years for that matter), but thankfully, I still have the rest of the month to enjoy.  Every day City Bakery on 18^th between 5^th and 6^th is offering a different flavored hot chocolate.  

This Years Flavor Calendar

If you are unfamiliar with City Bakery you should know that they are known for their hot chocolate, it is probably one of the richest you will ever have.  It is not for the calorie conscious and most likely not something you could indulge in everyday, but it is fantastic.  City Bakery's Hot Chocolate Festival is guaranteed to be mouth-wateringly delicious.   I missed the Earl Grey hot chocolate (a mixture of 2 of my favorite drinks) but they have some great ones coming up like:  Moulin Rouge Hot Chocolate, What Would Faulkner Drink? Hot Chocolate and Beer Hot Chocolate.  If you are looking for somewhere fun to go for Valentines Day you can go on Monday and get you and your date a couple of the Love Potion Hot Chocolates. 

If you are visiting New York and just want to do something fun and unusual I highly recommend the Hot Chocolate Festival at City Bakery.  It is a great atmosphere with a variety of treats for every pallet, and with the winter we have been having, it just might be a nice excuse to treat yourself to something warm and delicious.
City Bakery
3 WEst 18th
212-366-1414

There's no place like home

For the last few years I have spent much of my time in Boston taking care of my mom who has Alzheimer's.  Things are a little more settled and I am now getting back out there enjoying New York again.  In a way, I am rediscovering some place that I haven't been to in a while, much like a tourist.  Last night I went to Brooklyn Academy of Music and it was like visiting an old friend.  I had forgotten how much I enjoyed seeing theatre there.  I don't think there is a bad seat in the house.  I sat in the rear mezzanine and my ticket was $25.  I am trying to keep to a budget so that I can get out there and see and do more, so $25 is right up my alley.  It was a great seat and I got to see Fiona Shaw, Alan Rickman and Lindsay Duncan on stage together doing a production of John Garbriel Borkman.  There are not too many places where you can see that kind of cast together on stage.  What an amazing treat!  Next up they are doing Diary of a Madman with Geoffrey Rush.  Last year they had Cate Blanchett in Streetcar Named Desire with her company.  

BAM brings in mounted productions from the RSC, The Abbey and many other overseas companies to their stage.  So unless you happen to be in London or Dublin or Sydney, this is your chance to see it.  What I also like is that is accessible to most people.  Unlike Broadway where the lowest ticket price can be as high as $75 (and for that you are sitting in the nosebleed section with not a great view) their lowest ticket is $25 and because it's an intimate theatre there is no bad seat.  If you haven't been out to BAM, treat yourself.  It's worth the trek, even for Upper West Siders like myself.  Tomorrow I will tell you a great place you can go before or after the show for dinner or drinks.

Village Vines

It's been a wee bit cold here in New York City and I have been a little unmotivated to leave my apartment unless I have to.  But apparently it is supposed to reach 40 degrees tomorrow and so my hibernation might come to an end.  When it does, I am going to take advantage of some of the great deals on this new site that Skye turned me on to.  It is called Village Vines.  

It's in the spirit of Groupon, but it is only restaurants and some really good ones too.  With this site you pay a $10 reservation fee and then get a certain percentage off your whole bill (food and wine).  Usually it is 30% although I have seen some for as high as 50% and others as low as 20%.  They usually have certain days that you have to go.  For example Dinasaur BBQ in Harlem is 30% off but only on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  Because you make the reservation through their website there is no coupon neccesary.  Also the deals aren't just 1 day deals like groupon or living social.   You usually have some time to decide.  Currently they have offerings in NYC, Los Angeles, D.C., San Francisco and Chicago.  

Here is what they say on their website:

VillageVines gives food lovers access to preferred pricing with their city's most popular restaurants. We make your dining experiences more convenient and more affordable, and we do so by partnering with the best dining establishments – from the restaurant icons to the up and coming gems.

Here’s how it works:

	Each day we highlight a handful of restaurants from among our carefully curated list of the best spots in your city
	You choose where to dine and use us to make your party's reservation before the offer expires
	You pay $10 to secure your exclusive pricing (typically 30% off your party's entire bill – food and drink
	Your discount is applied to your bill at meal's end - no coupons, no phone calls and no hassles

I love being able to get great deals at home and when I travel.  With all these sites that offer great deals on great restaurants and things to do, I may never have to pay full price again!

Broadway show tickets: 2 for 1

January is a month where most of us are curbing our spending a little bit.  But with Restaurant Week and Broadway Week, we can afford to go out and enjoy ourselves a bit and still save money.   Broadway Week is happening January 24^th – February 10^th 2011.  With the discount code BW2011 you can get two tickets for the price of one.  Tickets can either be purchased at the box office of the theater or on line at www.nycgo.com and there will be a link to purchase tickets.

How does this differ from TKTS?  First of all, you can buy in advance and not have to stand outside in line in the cold on the day of the show.  Second, most of the tickets that TKTS has to offer are the highest priced tickets.  Usually that puts you in around $65 or $70 per ticket, which is a good deal.  With Broadway week you also have access to mezzanine seats and therefore can get two tickets for as low as $65.  So that would be about $33 each.  So if sitting in the orchestra isn't as important as the price, you have a little more to choose from and with prices like that, you can’t afford not to go!  So go get your friends to join you for some good theater.  January is turning out to be a pretty good month.

Casellula

Wine bars are huge in New York City and around the country.  Some are great.  Some are over-priced and mediocre.  Casellula is one of the great ones.  They have a wine list that is constantly changing and a cheese list with over 40 cheeses.  That means you can go back all the time and have something new and different almost every time you go.   That, in my opinion, is fantastic!

Tonight I just had a small snack.  I had a white bean crostini with bacon and mushrooms topped with truffle oil.  The bacon was so fresh it made me feel as if I was eating rashers in Ireland.  It was a spectacular appetizer.  We also had a 3-cheese plate.  The cheeses are always good, but the amazing part of our cheese plate tonight was the brown sugar fudge with the Ossau-Iraty cheese.  Ossau Iraty is a sheeps milk cheese from Spain that is always a favorite of mine.  Coupled with the brown sugar fudge it was outstanding.  It was the perfect marriage of tastes and I have never seen that before on a cheese plate.  I think you should rush down there just for that!

It is a small space so there is almost always a wait and they don’t accept reservations.  In my experience, it is best to get there either before 7pm or after 10pm to avoid the most crowded times.  However, that said, it is well worth the wait.  The other great thing is that once you are seated, it doesn't feel small due to the windows and the high ceilings.  It is really a cozy atmosphere.  If you like cheese, they have one of the largest selections in the city.  If you like wine, then this is your place.  For such an intimate space they really know how to deliver a fantastic meal.  Put this on your “places you must go” list.   It will soon be on your favorites list.

401 West 52nd St (between 9th & 10th)

212-247-8137

Let it snow, let it snow, let it... ok, ok, enough! Stop snowing already!

As you may have heard, we had a blizzard here in the Big Apple.  The tourists don't seem to mind at all!  So you may be wondering, what to do in NYC if you happen to be here during snow time. So here's a few ideas that I had over the past few days:

#1. Try to get out of your apartment so you can commute three times as long as usual to be one of four people in your office.

view out the front door

# 2. When you are leaving the office after sitting all day in wet boots, stroll by and see the massive snow banks in Times Square while you are trying to find a subway entrance (that is actually still open)

look, you can stand with your friends in the middle of the street!

# 3. Take pictures of your kids in the massive snow banks in Times Square. Or in my case, take pictures of other people taking pictures of their kids on the massive snow banks in Times Square.

# 4. Go home to your local and drink a bunch of hot toddys ...or what the heck, hang your wet mittens by the radiator and make one yourself at home!  Here's how: Get a glass mug.  Coat the bottom with honey or sugar.  Pour three fingers of whisky (I like Irish whisky but bourbon works too). Add the same amount of hot water.  Squeeze 1/4 lemon into the glass and stir.  Add a slice of lemon studded with cloves and you are good to go!  Some people like a cinnamon stick as a stir, like this:

You can't go wrong with a good hot toddy on a cold day. 

Hopefully wherever you are this week, you are warm and dry.  But if you DO end up in the Big (frozen) Apple, drop us a line.  We can always be coaxed out for a good central park snowball fight with the promise of hot whisky after.

A great way to see all the sites

Whenever I go to a city for the first time I want to see the tourist attractions.  Hence, I guess, the reason for calling them tourist attractions.  The first time I went to London I did the hop-on, hop-off bus tour and it was great.  I was only there for 5 days and it afforded me the time to see a lot of things I otherwise would have missed and I got to do it in a relatively short amount of time.  I then had time to go back to areas that I really wanted to spend more time in.

Whether you are coming to New York, or if you live here and have friends who are coming to visit that want to see the sites, I recommend using the City Sights Bus Tours.

The best deal that they have to offer right now is the new All Around New York + 3 day pass for $180.  It gives them unlimited uses of the hop-on, hop-off buses for 48 hours, plus a 3 day pass that will give them free admission to 55 attractions including the Empire State Building, Top of the Rock, many museums and a cruise on the Circle Line Tour.  That is a fantastic deal and not only will it save you a ton of money but it will also give you the opportunity to see a lot and then go back to areas that you really want to explore.  You can buy your ticket in advance or if you like to be a little more spontaneous, there are several locations in the Midtown area where you can purchase a ticket when you get here. (click about for their website & details)

Let's face it, there is a lot to see in New York.  Spend a couple days living like a tourist and seeing the many incredible things that make this city New York, then you can go back and find the hidden gems that only the New Yorkers know about.  I am dedicating the month of January to New York and am really excited about the itinerary I have created.  I might even enlighten some of the New Yorkers out there.

Alexis Russell Design

I admit it.  I have an obsession with beautiful, one of a kind jewelry and shoes.  I love getting things in other countries that I can't get anywhere else.  It makes those pieces so much more special.  Shopping at the holiday markets in New York City is sort of like that for me even though I live here.  It is like having the best little boutiques all in one place.   If you are a tourist in New York go!  If you live here, go!! The artists that come to the holiday markets are really special.

So my last "favorite booth at the Columbus Circle Holiday Markets" is actually a new discovery this year. Alexis Russsell Design.  Her jewelry is so beautiful, you will most certainly be asked on the street where you got it.  Warning:  Be prepared to fall in love!  I have.

I haven't yet decided which piece I am going to get (but don't worry, next week I am buying myself something beautiful).  Her designs are a mixture of silver and gold, so there is something for everyone.  She uses a lot of black diamonds which are absolutely stunning.  I had never seen them before.  Her stuff just stands out in the crowd.  My eye (even without my glasses) was immediately drawn to her booth.

Her pieces are truly unique and can be worn with jeans or with your most decadent outfits.  If you need a gift for someone who has everything, or you just need to add a lift to your day, go to Alexis Russell Design at The Columbus Circle Holiday Markets.  It might just be the best purchase you make this year.

Columbus Circle Holiday Markets - Central Park West at 60th
Open Daily 10-8, The week of Christmas 10-9
Closes on Christmas Eve

Riverstone Jewelry

Riverstone is one of my favorite jewelry booths in the markets.  I love silver and Jill (the artist) has a ton of great silver pieces.   She has gold as well, but I am partial to the silver.   She has travelled wide and far and has brought her travel experience to her artwork.   She uses a mixture of talismans, beads and amulets from different cultures from all over the world.  Thus, all of her jewelry is truly unique and one of a kind.  

Each custom jewelry piece is made of pure or fine silver, not sterling. The difference is that sterling is 92.5% silver and copper is added. Pure silver is 99.1% silver with almost no copper, thus it doesn't tarnish.  (I didn’t know that until Jill told me).  She also has just gotten into the Sundance catalogue with four of her pieces.

Ok, so at this point you have probably guess that I have an obsession with unique pieces of jewelry from everywhere I travel.  So if you are travelling to New York, you should make this one of your places to look for that piece that will remind you of your trip.  If you live here then all I can say is get yourself something nice while you are out shopping.  Or get something for someone else in the spirit of Christmas (I guess that we are really supposed to be shopping for others, but I always manage to get something for myself).  Whichever the case, you will be glad you found Riverstone Jewelry.
Columbus Circle Holiday Markets
Central Park West at 60th
Open 10-8 daily, 10-9 during Christmas Week

Nirvanna Designs

So after an incredibly mild fall here in New York City, winter has descended and it is COLD!  I have terrible circulation in my fingers, so when it is really cold my fingers turn blue.  I have had to give up wearing gloves when it gets really cold.  (I found it was warmer to wear mittens) But until I found Nirvanna, I hadn’t found a pair of mittens that were up to snuff.  

They make mittens that are of the thickest wool and are lined with fleece.  They are so warm that my hands almost never get cold anymore.  Bring it on Mr. Snow Miser because now I have my own personal Mr. Heat Miser.  

In addition they sell hats and scarves, kids hats and mittens, you name it, they have it.  And it is all amazingly warm.  

The company is based in Asia.  Their designers work with designers and craftsmen from Nepal, Indonesia, India and Thailand.  Their philosphy is this:   by helping the local population, using their natural resources and giving the local people work (especially women) they are creating a circle of Karma.  So your purchasing is also going to help less fortunate people make money. If you don’t like being cold and want something that will guarantee the maximum amount of warmth you can get, go to Nirvanna.  Baby it’s cold outside, but it is just a little warmer with Nirvanna.
Columbus Circle Holiday Markets
Central Park West at 60th
Open 10-8 Daily, 10-9 Christmas Week

nio - made with love

I love good skin products.  What woman doesn’t?  So I am always on the lookout for new and exciting things.  I found the nio booth at Christmas about 6 years ago.  

I was looking for a good facial exfoliator (the one I loved had been replaced by a new and not so improved version.  Isn’t that always the case?) and happened upon nio when I was Christmas shopping.  She offered to test a little on my hand and I thought, this seems great, I am going to try some.  Well that was 6 years ago and I go back every year.  The facial exfoliator last me almost a year and I love it.  I have since started using their body scrubs and moisturizers along with a mud mask that is unbelievable. 

The company is based in Israel and all the products contain salts and minerals from the Dead Sea, that for centuries have been used for their healing and beautifying properties.  They do not test on animals.  They do have a website so if you become addicted like I have, you can order from them when you run out, without having to wait until next year.   I think the products are fantastic, so don’t miss out on this!  Go get some gifts for you and all the women in your life that like to look and feel great.  And with nio, it won’t cost you a fortune to look like a million bucks.

At Columbus Circle and Union Square Markets till Christmas Eve 10 -8 daily