On Tuesday, I celebrated my homeland with St George’s Day, and today I joined Elektra to recognise hers – Australia. April 25th is Anzac (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) Day, a day of remembrance for the countries’ troops. I met Elektra at The Australian in Midtown West for a bottle of Aussie beer and a game of ‘two-up’, a …
Read MoreTag / NYC
…visited Roosevelt Island
Today I spent a couple of hours on Roosevelt Island – a two-mile-long strip of land in the East River between Manhattan and Queens – and I don’t get it. Embarrassingly, I didn’t even know it existed until about two months ago, when I met a guy at a party who worked as a teacher on …
Read More…ate an ice cream on the High Line
New York weather doesn’t know what it’s doing. While it’s not quite warm enough for bare legs, it’s definitely about time for the first ice cream of the season. Tonight after work, Helen and I walked to the West Village and picked up some sickly sweet cups of ice cream – strawberry for me, chocolate for her …
Read More…ate at an African restaurant
Tonight was my monthly goss-a-thon over dinner with Katia. Whereas last time we gave so-so Malaysian food a go, this time we hopped across a continent or two to Africa. Now, ‘Africa’ obviously encompasses a lot, so I didn’t really know what the menu at Ponty Bistro in Gramercy Park would look like. As it turns out, it had …
Read More…made Cadbury’s creme eggs
I don’t want to over-egg the Easter puns, but today was an eggstravaganza. One festive activity was making treats that nearly resembled Cadbury’s creme eggs with my friend Meghan (‘Megghan’). As devotees of Buzzfeed, we’d come across this cracker of a recipe a couple of weeks ago and decided to give it a go. It involved …
Read More…petted a horse in Grand Central Station
Today I headed to Grand Central Station to pet a horse. There’s an explanation: Performance artist Nick Cave is holding a seven-day exhibit showcasing his 30 straw-like horses at the station, and twice daily they put on a performance. Grand Central is great for random things like this – if you remember, I went to a …
Read More…travelled back in time (to New York in 1993)
Tonight I went back in time – twenty years, to be exact – to see a New York of days gone by. The New Museum on the Bowery is currently showcasing art from 1993 – almost like a time capsule – that gives a brilliant insight into what was on the mind of New Yorkers …
Read More…had a tarot card reading
After yesterday, I’m trying to come to terms with how my life has lurched in a different direction to the one I’d foreseen this time last year. So I thought it might be interesting to have a guess at where I’m heading next. Which means I was easily lured by the gaudy sign above a Nolita doorway reading: …
Read More…had a personal juice bar tasting
One of my roommates came home early this morning wearing work out gear, carrying a dubious-coloured smoothie and grinning from ear to ear. She told me I had to try the juice bar around the corner and seeing as I’ve a grim head cold and needed to squeeze in a quick ‘new thing’ today before …
Read More…took a Zumba class
I’ve always thought of Zumba as a bit of a fad and not much more – definitely not something I’d ever try. But over the last couple of weeks as I’ve been writing about Zumba (in not a very flattering light, unfortunately), I realised it was something new I could give a go. And after a single session, …
Read More…tried Malaysian food
Every month, I meet Katia, a university friend, for a gossip over sushi – and we accidentally get very, very drunk. Before our date tonight, I said that we had to forgo the sushi for something I’d never had before. Scouring the mid-way point between Katia’s Upper East Side pad and my SoHo spot (which …
Read More…watched the Chinese New Year Parade
Events celebrating Chinese New Year have been held across New York for a week now (including my dim sum making last Sunday), but today they reached a dramatic, colourful conclusion with the parade. The event was very nearly right on my doorstep. Furry dragons, sequined snakes and lantern-adorned floats left Chinatown, bobbed along Mott Street (parallel to …
Read More…bought a book from The Strand
This must be a New York City rite of passage, so how have I never bought a book from The Strand before? For those of you not from New York, The Strand is a massive independent bookstore just south of Union Square and filled with 18 miles of books – new books, used books, rare …
Read More…went to a (secret) movie screening
…went to a hot chocolate festival
With a massive snowstorm brewing, I need to pack on a bit more insulation, so tonight I went to The City Bakery’s annual Hot Chocolate Festival. Without a doubt, I am now a few stone heavier. As well as being my first Hot Chocolate Festival, it was also the first time I’ve ever bought a …
Read More…saw Central Park covered in snow
It snowed! And it’s bloody cold. But not so cold to put me off trekking to Midtown to see what Central Park looked like. I managed to drag an unenthusiastic Dylan along (“I’m from Minnesota! I know what snow looks like!”) and we entered the park at 72nd Street, where Winter Jam was underway. The organisers …
Read More…start making the most of NYC
Since my job moved me from London to New York City in October 2011, I’ve done a lot of sitting around. I’ve eaten a lot of brunches, drunk a lot of coffee and watched a lot of The Real Housewives. I’ve done some things. As friends and family have visited over the past year, I’ve visited …
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