NYC Nov 22, Sunday

November 22, 2009 Sunday

This morning bright and early (8.30) we woke up. It is late considering what time I went to bed last night. I got about 12 hours of sleep. Is that crazy or what.

We got going for the day and headed to Central Park area and stopped for breakfast at another place on our list the Carnegie Deli. It was a quieter place than Katz or Ess-a Bagel. We were actually greeted about 15 feet in and were seated by a server at a tiny table for two that was elbow room away from another table for two. We walked past the long deli case with the men working and cutting meat behind it. We were handed these gigantic menus.

I was saddened at first because I didn't see the breakfast area even though I was sure I saw it on the on line menu. I ordered the pancakes with butter because that's how I like them. The 3 pancakes were normal pancake size for 8.99. Luke ordered the Tattlah. The waitress made a comment about oh, your going right for it or good for you or something like that. Then we were talking a bit and drinking our coffee and water. Luke says looking over my shoulder “if that is my order I am going to sh**”. He said it like he was totally serious. It was his order. When it came to the table I saw why he said it. The sandwich was GIGANTIC. It is a combo of regular three inches of sliced turkey, with coleslaw, a piece of bread swiss cheese and 3 more inches of corned beef topped by another piece of pumpernickel bread with a dish of Russian dressing for dipping. That was all Luke got- no sides or anything. The price was $22.95. I lie, he did get the variety pickle plate with the fresh cucumber like pickles and the weird vinegar pickles. No pickled tomato yet today. Luke dutifully went at the sandwiches. I shoved food on to a little plate so he could deconstruct one of the sandwich halves into edible portions. I finished my 3 pancakes and was satisfied. I wasn't hungry to begin with.

Part of the fun of the restaurant was to see what everybody else was getting. Our table mates got an order of corned beef hash. Guess what, it is not like the stuff we usually eat out of a can. It looked like corned beef off the roast, fried with a minuscule amount of potatoes on a HUGE dinner plate. I think the hash came just like that, like maybe only with some toast. It reminded me strongly of the chorizo breakfasts Luke made for us in Mexico. It was all red and greasy. The table mates didn't eat much of it. I'm glad I didn't order it either. I like my hash out of a can- the way it is supposed to be!

We also saw a few tables order some of the “fluffy” matzo ball soup. They ordered it with noodles. It looked delicious! I asked Rosie our Asian descent waitress if she could please get me a bowl. I told her I didn't need much, just give me the broken matzo ball at the bottom of the pan. She said, we only have one size. She brought me a bowl of golden chicken broth with a matzo ball the size of a softball in it and some skinny perfect noodles kind of placed on the side within the broth. Then she had a to go container with the other matzo ball in it and some broth in a tin cup to give you more broth with your matzo because the noodles displaced some of the broth space in the bowl. The matzo was soft and fluffy and was mealy while soft and a tad doughy.

I only put pepper on it and it was perfect.

Luke, meanwhile, finished ALL of his sandwich. He even got a compliment from Waitress Rosie. Wow, you finished it. Then she said “Hey Al, he ate the #13- all of it!” Al must have been the new guy because this one waitress yelled at Al, “Hey Al, My table's got no mustard on it!” (But it did- she just didn't see it.) So Luke finished his sandwich with vigor and then had some of my soup to help it stay down. ¾ of the way through his sandwich he said solemnly, “Only one more pound of meet to go.” We both laughed. I wasn't sure he'd make it. He looked like the guy on Man Vs Food when he tries to beat the restaurant's challenges- You eat all this and you get a t-shirt or your picture on the wall etc.

One other cool thing about this place was the pies in the display cooler. They were HUGE. The center of the pies was easily 6 inches. It was probably a 12 inch pie- but 6 inches tall in the middle? WOW. It reminded me of the nursery rhymes “12 and 20 blackbirds baked in a pie” They were huge. I wanted a piece before I ate. After there was NO way. Luke and I dropped $48 there. Our cholesterol probably rose as we stepped through the door. Luke said, do you think I can burn the 2000 calories I just ate by walking around all day? We stopped to take a picture of the deli sign. I also took a picture of a T-shirt with a towering sandwich. It said above the sandwich “if you can eat it all then we screwed up”. I wanted to buy it for Luke. In fact I wanted to buy all kinds of Deli t-shirts for Luke. He didn't want any.

The weather was a bit cooler today. High 50-52 but sunny. Luke forgot his Jacket today. It said there was to be no wind- but that was a lie. Luke was chilly. I had my coat and mittens on intermittently

We walked toward central park and came upon Carnegie Hall hence the name of the deli we were just at. We also came upon a paper shop. They had $3-$15 sheets of wrapping paper. So needless to say it was pricey and nice place. I found a gift for Mom and Katie that I promised Luke I wouldn't tell. In fact, he found the item and called me over to see it. Usually he only does that for rabbit items, which is what I was hoping he found.

He did call me over to him again and I came quickly to see what he found. It was some rabbit items for a certain unborn child that we know. It cost much more than what we should have paid, but Lukie threw caution to the wind. We got the 2 items. I told him I'd wrap them up really nice and have them be a gift to baby from Daddy. I could open it up at a baby shower. My Luke.

Then we went to Central Park. I put my scarf around Luke to keep him warmer despite his short sleeved t shirt and no coat. He looked funny because he was Luke wearing a scarf. But if he was a New Yorker- I probably wouldn't have given him a second look.

So we walked around the winding trails in central park. Passed some carriage riders, an ice rink filled with families, a Central Park gift shop, and the outdoor permanent chess boards. We paused for a picture with the backdrop of the Central Park Apartments. Luke first with and without the scarf, then me. I had my second interaction with poop this trip. I stepped in relatively fresh dog doo doo. At least it didn't get on the hem of my jeans. Arrrgh.

We did enjoy seeing all the doggies out for their Sunday walks. There were a few Jack Russells around. This one cute one was on a pooping parade. He'd poop in the leaves and walk a bit and poop some more. Then he drug his butt in the leaves, then he had leaves stuck to his butt so he did it again and rolled around in the leaves. Then he pranced along on his merry way with his master. Silly dog.

Then we went back to the hotel. Luke needed to get his coat and we probably needed to go to the bathroom. Oh, there is also a Hells Kitchen Flea Market just down the street from our hotel, literally just down the street- as in I can see it.

So we went to that. It was lots of vintage clothing and LOTS of fur. Fur coats, hats, collars. Every stand had like at least 5 fur coats. One lady had 3 racks of fur coats. Most of them made in NYC. Interesting. I asked the price on one of the hats a dark black one- it was (of course) mink, and also (of course) too small for my head. Otherwise I may have bought it. There were also some cuffs that I could just sew on to my coat and maybe find a collar to match. Neat huh? The vintage had was $35. I bet I could have talked her down. There were all kinds of vintage ladies clothes, purses, shoes, jewelry and of course junk. I was happy once Luke let me wander a little bit. I would have bought a purse if he wasn't around and if I had the cash in my pocket. Fortunately I didn't have any money. There was a cute long wool jacket w/ a fur collar that I may have tried on. The sleeves looked way too short. Maybe that was the style or maybe it was made for a short lady. You see, none of these had sizes in the jackets. They must have been tailored for the woman.

We went on a little walk down the block in Hells Kitchen. This was a very nice change from the Commercialism from Times Square. The sidewalks were navigable and people local and friendly. We walked several blocks over- kind of looking for grocery shops to window shop and maybe a hidden gem of a restaurant. Luke thought maybe pizza again. I would like a sit down restaurant tonight.

I did think that a bagel snack would be tasty this afternoon, so we stopped at a deli and had a whole wheat bagel w/ plain cream cheese. We bought only that- we were thankful that the guy took visa. Luke got the card out to pay and he says- oh, you don't have cash? Duh, no we don't have cash. He didn't want to use the machine on such a low $ purchase. So Luke got a chocolate milk. Then he OK'd the Visa – whatev. So we sat down to eat. There was jelly on the table from breakfast- so we had jelly and cream cheese toasted bagel. It was very good.

We walked more and more and then we saw a dunkin doughnuts- did we just eat yes. Were we craving sweets this afternoon- yes. We had a doughnut. They were very well priced. No wonder we saw just as many people with dunkin doughnut coffee cups as starbucks.

We did find this place called “5 Napkin Burgers” I read about this in my book. We looked at the menu and said “YES” It looked kind of swanky and trendy. We asked how busy they'd be at 8 and she made us a reservation.

Then we are back at the hotel to relax a little bit and wait until our reservations. I don't know if we'll go out to times square or not, but maybe this time to blog effectively will not be wasted.