I know you must think I’m a bit of a lush after a week of inventing cocktails and necking shots of vodka, so I’m sure you won’t be surprised to learn that yesterday’s new experience was getting a little merry at a beer festival. Good Beer was held at 82Mercer, a sprawling warehouse-esque conference hall …
Read MoreArchive / July 2013
July 30, 2013
…ate a pretzel
Every day when I leave work, I’m greeted by this: Usually I walk right past without even noticing the food carts, but a few days ago I took another look and realised that I’ve never had a pretzel. Even though it’s originally a European food, for some reason I connect it with New York; perhaps …
Read MoreJuly 29, 2013
…invented a cocktail
Now I don’t know if you’ve realised over the course of this blog, but I do like the occasional bevvy. So why not learn how to make them for myself? Tonight I went to Sanctuary T in Soho for a mixology class. The bar/restaurant is known for its lengthy tea menu and now they’ve branched …
Read MoreJuly 28, 2013
…watched a pogo stick competition (and witnessed a proposal)
When I went to the air guitar competition a couple of months ago, most of the intrigue was learning that it was an actual thing. And today as I went to the annual world championship of extreme pogo, I had exactly the same feeling. I’m sure I wasn’t alone in learning that there are actual …
Read MoreJuly 27, 2013
…browsed the Brooklyn Flea
When I was little, Mummy and Daddy Warren always wanted to visit antique shops. My big sister and I would groan as we were pulled into yet another shop cluttered with higgledy piggledy chairs and chipped chandeliers. I don’t know when it happened, but at some point, somehow, I got it. Even though I rarely …
Read MoreJuly 27, 2013
…made soap
I’ve been to the Brooklyn Brainery in Prospect Heights a couple of times now – for a computer hacking course and another for making sauerkraut – but I’ve not revisited the lessons since. Tonight I went back to learn how to make soap, and I can say with certainty that I’ll be using these skills again. …
Read MoreJuly 25, 2013
…went to a Russian speakeasy
Speakeasies may be hard to find, but secrecy is exactly what they thrive on. Thankfully tonight I tracked down one of SoHo’s hidden gems – a Russian vodka bar. I’ve been to a few speakeasies since I’ve been here, but none have given me quite the same surprise as when Helen and I walked into …
Read MoreJuly 24, 2013
…ate a Turkish feast
Last time I had a dinner date with Katia, we went to Africa. The time before that, it was Malaysia. And tonight we decided to pop a little further north to Turkey. We met at Peri Ela, a skinny slice of a restaurant in the Upper East Side. As a vegetarian whose only knowledge of …
Read MoreJuly 23, 2013
…went to a jazz club
Tonight Ryan and I headed to Smalls, a tiny basement jazz club in the West Village. Shamefully, this is the first jazz club I’ve been to since moving to the city. The place was intimate – low lighting, rows of chairs pushed right up to the stage and a charming, shabby bar that made it hard …
Read MoreJuly 22, 2013
…played drag bingo
I have been a bingo fan for years. When I was at St Andrews, us girls would get dressed up and head to a bingo hall on the outskirts of Dundee for a night of laughing, losing and lashing on wine from plastic glasses. If you check out this review, you will see just how …
Read MoreJuly 21, 2013
…took a (2am) dip in Lake Michigan
After Bree and Brad’s beautiful wedding ceremony last night, Lizzie, Paul, Ricardo and I decided to keep the party going – and they decided to give me a hand with today’s new experience in the early hours of this morning. We walked west to the beach for a dip in Lake Michigan – a freshwater lake …
Read MoreJuly 20, 2013
…saw Chicago from the water
When I’ve asked both Chicago natives and Chicago fans what’s the one thing I should do when I’m in the city, they’ve unanimously said the Architecture River Cruise. So today I took their advice. The open-topped boat tour leaves from the Magnificent Mile and, for 90 minutes, travels along the Y shape of the Chicago River. A …
Read MoreJuly 19, 2013
…saw Chicago from the sky
Today I popped to Chicago, where Bree is getting married tomorrow. After a delicious rehearsal dinner at Viand, I dodged the rain and skipped to the John Hancock Center to give the city a good look. I’ve only been to Chicago once before – for 4th July about five years ago – but I always include …
Read MoreJuly 19, 2013
…rapped in Koreatown
Tonight Rachel, Louise, Ollie and I headed to Koreatown to sing karaoke with some NBC folks we met at the bowling league. We went to Gagopa Karaoke – where I actually went out on my first ever night in the city when I moved here. I’ve done karaoke a fair few times and I usually stick to my …
Read MoreJuly 17, 2013
…watched a free concert in Bryant Park
So far I think I’ve made the most of the city’s best-known parks, from Central to Prospect and Tompkins Square. But one I’ve entirely overlooked is Bryant Park. The reason for this could be because it’s in Midtown. I hate Midtown. The sidewalks are swarming and the heat right now means the whole place reeks of …
Read MoreJuly 16, 2013
…feasted at Chelsea Market
When I went to Seattle at the beginning of the year, Pike Place Market entertained me for hours. I tasted samples, grimaced at googly-eyed fish, admired teeny tiny cakes and enjoyed rustic slabs of pie. It was an indulgent, leisurely treat – one I’ve also had in London, Philadelphia and Boston. And yet, the whole …
Read MoreJuly 15, 2013
…played mini golf beneath Freedom Tower
A couple of months ago I smacked some golf balls at the driving ranges at Chelsea Piers, and tonight I attempted to complete my game by perfecting my putt at Manhattan’s mini golf course. The greens, which are at Pier 25 in Tribeca, overlook the Hudson River and New Jersey as the One World Trade …
Read MoreJuly 14, 2013
…cooked with homegrown produce
I feel like I’ve had a truly rural visit to England this time around – taking in the Sussex hills while chugging along in a steam engine and visiting a vintage tractor show – and today I concluded the trip with another countryside classic: Picking and cooking with homegrown produce. I’ve been in New York …
Read MoreJuly 13, 2013
…rode a vintage tractor
Yesterday’s trip to the Bluebell Railway clearly didn’t satisfy our need for old-fashioned Britain. Today Dyl, Mel and I headed to the South of England Showground in Ardingly for a Vintage Vehicle Show. This is another example of me finally making the most of the things on my doorstep. I went to high school in …
Read MoreJuly 12, 2013
…travelled by steam engine
I’ve nipped back to England for a long weekend to surprise my sister, who’s visiting from New Zealand. One look at the rolling hills of West Sussex and New York feels a million miles a way. My family lives in a rural Sussex village called Kingscote. ‘Village’ is a bit of a stretch; all it …
Read MoreJuly 11, 2013
…tasted bubble tea from Chinatown
My lunch jaunts can get pretty repetitive, so today I decided to shake it up – and headed to Chinatown for a cup of bubble tea: A mysterious – but popular – drink with black balls bobbing around the bottom. Before I went, I had to check the stuff was vegetarian. I was suspicious that …
Read MoreJuly 10, 2013
…took a fencing class
Quite often when I do my new things, the experience turns out very different from the one I expected. Like how normal I found all the girls at The Bachelorette audition, or how I left an air guitar competition convinced it was a serious sport. And tonight my reaction felt more extreme than the others. …
Read MoreJuly 9, 2013
…saw a Monkey at the Lincoln Center
The Lincoln Center has entertained me with a couple of brilliant evenings of classical music this year – the New York Ballet, the Philharmonic Orchestra. But tonight it showed me something very different: Singing monkeys, dancing pigs and starfish suspended from the ceiling. I headed to the David H. Koch Theater to watch the hotly …
Read MoreJuly 8, 2013
…marvelled at a reading in Brooklyn Bridge Park
Tonight I hopped on the F train to Dumbo for a reading in Brooklyn Bridge Park. I expected to listen to some sedate paragraphs while lolling about in the grass but I got much, much more – a spectacular view of Manhattan, a masterclass in animation and that ‘I love New York’ warmth. The reading …
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