Weekend trip

This weekend Mr Hazel and I made a quick jaunt to Cleveland to see family and watch the Indians vs Yankees game at the Jake (never, ever will I call it Progressive Field). We had loads of fun, and except for the midges and the dozens of seagulls that kept landing on the baseball field, the weather was gorgeous.

We played tourist and wandered over to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which I still think is one of the coolest architectural structures.


This is the back view of the Rock Hall sitting on the banks of Lake Erie.


View of the North Coast (Lake Erie), which reminds me a lot of Chicago's Navy Pier.


This scene of the Cuyahoga River and the many bridges says Cleveland to me - industrial, steel, gritty.

Commuting cartoons

Because I've been in raptures over my daily commute to and from the city - enabling me to come home at the end of the day in a great state of mind - I thought I would pay homage to how much the train has improved my quality of life by sharing some funny cartoons that I found. The first one is especially apropos.

Why I love trains

One of my fondest memories of living in Europe was of all the trains you can take to go places: the Chunnel from Paris to London, the train to Provence, the overnight train to Spain (this one in particular was my favorite, especially when the conductor came in to your compartment to convert the seats into bunk beds, and then the next morning you woke up and looked out the window to find the train chugging along, clinging to the side of a mountain with nothing between you and God but a sheer drop to the bottom. Awesome).

Anyway, I was reminded of how much I love trains because I recently started taking the commuter train to and from work instead of the subway, and I am in love. It is wonderful. My new mode of transport cuts my commute down by almost 45 minutes, there are no tourists or smelly people, and you can see the river and the boats docked on the marina as the train approaches the city, whistles bellowing. It's lovely. I also especially love the moment when you detrain on the platform and look up at the giant train waiting there; it reminds me of the Hogwarts Express and of old 1940s war movies.

And these are why I love trains.

I love (cool) hotels

While in New York, we stayed at one of the uber-chic W hotels - the W Court on Murray Hill, a neighborhood in the upper 30s between Park and Lexington.

Perhaps my favorite part of the hotel, besides the Bliss products, was that every afternoon they would have snacks and drinks waiting in the lobby. One day it was truffles and champagne punch, another day it would be a pitcher of iced water with mint and strawberries. Yum.



The lobby was perpetually dim, no matter what time of day.


They had an i-Pod dock and charger next to the alarm clock, which made things super convenient.


There was a stack of design and art magazines next to the chaise lounge. No mere "Good Housekeeping" for the W, no sir. Though I did wish they were willing to lower themselves to pedestrian level and stock some US Weeklies.




The "Bliss Sinkside Six-Pack." My favorite was the Body Butter. One afternoon we saw the housekeeper cart standing in the hallway unattended with the mother lode of this stuff, so I pilfered a whole bunch. Shhh. Next time I'm up in New York I'm hoping to pay a vist to the Bliss Spa.

I love hotels.

New York, redux

Where have I been, you ask? Why, back to New York again! We were there for the All-Star Game festivities (and boy, was that a lot of fun), but in between all the baseball hoopla I managed to carve out some time to make a pilgrimage to a few jewelry suppliers.

I paid a visit to a wholesaler that I met at a trade show a while back. They are one of my favorites because of their great quality merchandise at the best prices I've found so far. I discovered that they didn't have a showroom, per se - instead they were located in a tiny little office at the back of a rundown building, in a slightly seedy area on Broadway. An adventure to be sure, but totally worth it.

Third and final installment

Here are the last of my pictures that I wanted to share!

This display was right outside a restaurant in Chelsea. It was so pretty that I couldn't resist.


The exterior of 202, the Nicole Farhi boutique/cafe in the Meatpacking District.


'Nuff said.


We ran into a street fair in midtown next to our second hotel of the weekend (the Park Central - highly, highly not recommended. Please do yourselves a huge favor and avoid this hotel like the plague).

However, the street fair was great. We found a crepe stand. I also found the keffiyehs that my sister asked me to find for her. Apparently they are the latest hip hop accessory and she can't find them anywhere, but we saw them at the fair and I bought her a whole bunch in different colors.



I bought a crepe with strawberries, bananas, and nutella. I was in heaven.


We had dinner at Docks in the Upper West Side one night and got this great banana bread pudding for dessert.


Carnegie Deli, Mr Hazel's favorite place in New York after Yankee Stadium. If he could, he would eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner here.


I've had a busy week. It's especially crazy whenever I go away for the weekend, but the rest of the week was jam packed with things so it added to the craziness. On Monday we went to the baseball game and had the privilege of hearing the Gay Men's Chorus sing the national anthem. They were incredible, and I was so proud of my baseball team for inviting them. We also saw Rob Reiner there!

I am obsessed with the new Angels & Airwaves album, "I-Empire". And by obsessed, I mean obsessed. It is incredibly good and I can't stop listening to it. Some of the songs give me goosebumps. They are currently my #2 favorite band after U2, and that's saying a lot, considering how much I love my Bono.

The city that never sleeps, part 2

Strolling around Union Square, we ran into the weekend neighborhood farmer's market. They had some beautiful fresh flowers and herbs on hand.

The city that never sleeps, part 1

I'm back from my whirlwind girls' weekend in New York. Every time I go there I get sad because I have to leave it again. It was wonderful to see my friends and reminisce about college days over good food (but no drinks, as two of us were sickish.)

It was a jam-packed visit, and I went a little nuts with my camera for the blog, so I'm now going to attempt to narrate through the photographs I took.

Because of logistics, we ended up staying in two hotels. Friday night we were at this absolute gem of a find, the Desmond Tutu Center, an inspired new hotel in Chelsea. The architecture was wonderfully gothic, straight out of Harry Potter.




This is the interior staircase leading to the refectory.


The refectory, where they served breakfast.



Beautiful stained-glass windows - doesn't this look like the dining hall in Harry Potter?


The gorgeous, very detailed ceiling.


In contrast to all the gothic glory of the common spaces, the actual rooms were straight out of a Pottery Barn catalog - modern, with clean lines and neutral colors.



I loved this bathroom!


On Friday evening we went to Shakespeare in the Park. They performed "Hamlet" and I was very excited to see famous actors in the cast - most notably, my hero Sam Waterson of "Law & Order" fame, playing a very sycophantic Polonius.



Belvedere Castle and the turtle pond inside Central Park, right next to the theater. It's hard to believe we are in the middle of Manhattan!



That evening we had a late dinner at Pastis in the Meatpacking District, where I had been wanting to go to for a very long time. It has the same owner as Balthazar. Unfortunately it was too dark for good pictures of the interior, but it looked just like a Parisian brasserie, and the tile on the walls looked like the ones lining the Paris metro tunnels. The Meatpacking District was also good for Friday night people watching fun.

On Saturday we spent a touristy day aboard a Circle Line boat for a three-hour cruise around the entire island. Here's our boat!


Manhattan and the Hudson River from the boat.


We went around Ellis Island.



The Brooklyn Bridge, where Steve and Miranda reconciled in the SATC movie!


The boat took us around the Bronx and I snapped a picture of Yankee Stadium for Mr Hazel, who is the Yankees' #1 fan.


And finally, my most favorite place that weekend - brunch at 202 in the Meatpacking District, which also happens to be a combined boutique for Nicole Farhi. Yes, the Nicole Farhi. When I found out it was Nicole Farhi's store I went a little nuts. Her stuff was understandably expensive, but it was so cool to finally see them for myself. The cafe itself was a great space - it looked and felt like a warehouse, with exposed brick walls and ducts, unfinished wood floors, and a generally bohemian feel.

This is a view from our table, looking out onto the clothes boutique part of the cafe.


And I couldn't resist taking a picture of my meal. It was so good: a lemon-cumin chicken paillard with bulgur salad and an eggplant relish. So, so good.


After brunch we walked around Chelsea Market for a little bit.



The Food Network headquarters inside Chelsea Market.


Finally, we took a stroll around the Meatpacking District on our way to our bus stop, and passed by the Stella McCartney store.


Whew!