catching some zzz's in the city that never sleeps

greenwich village - [map]
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alice tully hall

the new alice tully hall - [map]
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The renovation of Alice Tully Hall in the Julliard School by architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro is the first major renovation since opening in 1969. Designed for more intimate performances such as chamber music, the 1, 096 seat theater has reconnected to the street with the dramatic new glass lobby. It's at night that it really shines.
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opera al fresco

summer HD festival - la tosca - lincoln center plaza
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Come on, stop by, watch and listen. And if you feel like it, hum along.
Bike gear totally optional.

tennis-on-hudson

tennis courts @ riverside drive & w96th st - [map]
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Best seat to read the w.e. newspaper with a portable breakfast? The boardwalk benches by the tennis courts in Riverside Park at W96th St. The sound of the tennis behind you, the view of the passing boats on the Hudson and a little saline breeze. That's a pretty neat summer scene if you ask me.

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taxis need a ride too... sometimes...

midtown, 6th ave near W50ish [map]
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no standing

midtow - M5 subway stop - midtown, 6th ave near W50ish [map]
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It's been just a little too windy lately.
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subw

subway sign - midtown, 6th ave near W50ish [map]
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rainy day

midtown - looking at the Bank of America Building, the Grace Building & the Chrysler Building
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summer rain

rockefeller center - [map]

It's been pouring cats and dogs today, so no lemonade on the Rockefeller Center Plaza.
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egg, bread and café au lait

le pain quotidien - bryant park [map]

Just a simple breakfast to start the day.
Happy Sunday! Bon dimanche!
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blogging while walking

Kinokuniya Bookstore (Ave.of the Americas, bw 40th & 41st St)

It's lazy Sunday, so today I am testing BlogPress, an application that allows you to blog directly from your iPhone.
I'm not quite sure how I like it yet...
. looks like it doesn't let you choose the size of the picture or its alignment (I don't like it centered)
. you can't include hyperlinks (I like to add links that points you to googlemap - my mom checks them out and have her little to do list when they come to visit)
. and there's an option to link to your Flickr account, but once activated, I really can't figure out how to pick my picture from Flickr and post it here... You have to post from you picture library (which I clean up regularly - so that might be a problem)

So do use a mobile blogging solution for your photoblog? I'd be curious to hear about it!

- Posted from my iPhone

green museum

new york botanical garden - Enid A. Haupt Conservatory - [map]
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In just 20min, you can flee the city and escape to wander in the wilderness. Departure from Grand Central, take the Metro-North Harlem local line.
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the chess lesson

union square - [map]

She's thinking. Not sure what her next move should be... She even has a notepad where she writes the tips of the lesson I guess.
Maybe she wrote too much, or took too much time to think because about a minute later, the teacher became quite agitated. He did not seem happy at all.
I'm not a chess player, so maybe I got all this wrong. If you are and understand what is going one, enlighten me por favor.

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blended in new york

apricot and cinnamon smoothie with pistachio and chocolate
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So every Wednesdays, my friends Virginia, Conrad and I challenge each others into preparing something from our kitchen. We pick a theme and we try it, snap it and post it. Who knows, in a few months, we might even be familiar with all the buttons of the oven! ;)
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This week theme was "liquid", so I opted for a colorful smoothie full or vitamins.

It is super easy:
• 1 apple - 3 apricots - cinnamon - maple syrup (oops I forgot!) - pistachio and chocolate to make it pretty
• steam the apple & the apricots for 3-4mins
• peel & place in blender
• add 1 tablespoon grated cinnamon (and the maple syrup I forgot)
• press "pulse" until you like the texture and the color
• add an ice cube or two if you feel like it
• make it pretty: pour in a simple glass, add chopped pistachio and chocolate shavings (or, if you are lazy like me, just chop it too)

••• Important recommendation from the chef:
Try not to forget to close the blender before pressing "pulse"...
You will thank me. Your kitchen walls, cabinets, floors and fridge will too. On the other end, your apartment will smell very apricoty, which is nice. The color makes it also very hard to miss, hence quite easy to clean. :)
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two New York icons meet

soho - [map]
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A raindrop-shaped streetlamp meet a rooftop watertank in a quiet SoHo street. Aren't they cute together?
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you go girl!

williamsburg, brooklyn - 95 South 5th Street - [map]

So you're off the Williamsburg Bridge, cross underneath to the left for a closer look at that peculiar and very red little house (where, as Google tells me, they apparently make pickles). You look up and that other building greets you with a "you go girl!".
Well thank you, Williamsburg! There, I'll walk the bridge again on my way back!

As for the very red little house, there was no pickles today as it looked very closed.

The garden needs a little love. I guess no pickles grow up there...

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walking the Williamsburg Bridge

williamsburg bridge - btw the Lower East Side & Williamsburg, Brooklyn - [map]
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If you fancy visiting Williamsburg (Billyburg for those in the know), take the F to Delancey Street. Then walk the Williamsburg Bridge. You'll be wrapped in the pink ironwork and, on a hot summer day like today, you'll benefit from a very nice breeze.
From the bridge, you have a closer view to Midtown and you can see Dumbo, the Navy Yard and the tallest building, the Williamsburg Savings Bank Tower (now a HSBC branch).
On the bridge, you'll cross path with Hasidic Jews, Latinos and of course, Brooklyn hipsters.
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It's the Verrazano Bridge, baby!

verrazano bridge - bay ridge, brooklyn (here, looking towards Staten Island) - [map]
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So yes, bravo: yesterday's picture of workers maintaining the Verrazano Bridge was taken in Brooklyn!
I did not notice them at first until someone pointed two little moving points way high up there. Then my lunch made a quick turn in my stomach... How much should I be paid to go help them?
Can you see them here?

No? Well, maybe here then?

Still not? Better luck with this one maybe?

And the clues I gave yesterday?

• Well, Brooklyn? Because the bridge joins Brooklyn (Bay Ridge, to be exact) to Staten Island.
• John Travolta? He became famous starring in Saturday Night Fever, strutting along the streets of Bay Ridge, hanging out with his pals in the park beneath the bridge. I know, I should have worn my platform shoes and some good ol' polyester yesterday but I had the disco inferno attitude. OK, interiorized. But still.
  
• And the New York City Marathon? Well, this area gets screen time every November when the New York City Marathon is televised and the runners pour into Brooklyn after starting on the other side of the bridge, in Staten Island. See first 20 sec of this.

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And if you still want to learn more, here's a bit of history. Enjoy!

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guess where?

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I'll give you a few clues:
. Brooklyn
. John Travolta
. landmark of the New York marathon

Come on, with that, you should have no problem figuring this out. :)

Nope?
Answer tomorrow!
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a show of hands

somewhere in the Upper West Side - I'd say close to W90th & CPW
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Shame on me for not taking an extra picture from afar. Because from afar, this mural, hand made by the little hands of kids from the neighborhood, looked like a colorful assemblage of cactea.
There's always next time.
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summer salad

summer salad - somewhere on a lovely UWS terrace
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This is not what I had in mind when I invited Conrad and Virginia to join me on this Wednesday salad mission. But I spent the afternoon in Astoria, New York Greek neighborhood in Queens. I came back with delicious olives, feta, tomatoes, ... and just decided to stay a little longer in Greece with a very simple salad: tomato and bread salad with roasted chicken bites (olive oil, garlic, basil, red wine vinegar). Very simple. And delicious.
Where's my Ouzo?
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greetings from dumbo

dumbo, brooklyn, [map]
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Say hi to the ESB!
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dim sum joint

somewhere in Chinatown - [map]
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Yesterday, I confessed my ♥ for soup. Today, I admit having a thing for dim sum. I just can't help it.
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I ♥ soup

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somewhere in SoHo - [map]
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And who doesn't, really?
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