10.31.2011

10.28.2011

decade

Inspired by a friends idea, I commissioned my favorite artist to draw a portrait of Jeff and I for our ten year anniversary of being together.

10.27.2011

a hat for sam

How cute is baby Sam in his mouse hat?! I'm kvelling.
Thanks to Sara for the pic!

10.26.2011

shutterbug time

Photo by me on Instagram.
Once I got over the loss of my old camera, I was pretty excited to get a new one. After some research, I headed over to the insanity known as 'B & H Photo on a Sunday' with a pretty clear idea of what I wanted. However, after a long discussion with my new friend Heshi (along with a viewing of photos of his grandchildren) I left with a Panasonic Lumix, which was better for what I wanted and a hundred bucks cheaper. Who knew?

10.25.2011

grant's tomb

Photo from here.
Jeff requested a visit to Grant's Tomb (above) this weekend which I happily obliged (an adventure? always!).
Photo from here.
While uptown, we visited the beautiful Riverside Church across the street (above)...
Photo from here.
...and took a self-guided walking tour of Columbia from my limited memory. Sadly, 10+ years fails in remembering any specific architectural significance, but does succeed in noting where the largest slice of pizza can be found (it's here).

10.24.2011

argentina: treasures & souveniers

We returned from Argentina with four bottles of Patagonian wine, hot chocolate from Bariloche and these two small leather paintings (above) from the San Telmo antique market. Jeff decided we should name them Eva and Juan.

10.21.2011

argentina: day seven and eight

Photo from here.
After our early flight from Neuquén, we arrived back in Buenos Aires and headed straight to San Telmo, a historic neighborhood full of antique shops and trendy boutiques. From the little I saw of Buenos Aires, this was by far my favorite neighborhood. There were so many beautiful passages, indoor markets and colonial buildings to gawk at.
Photo from here.
After lunch, we headed to my other favorite place in Buenos Aires - the Recoleta Cemetery. Recoleta is where Argentina's richest and most established patrons are buried and it's truly a beautiful place (seriously, I probably took two hundred photos, alas).
Photo from here.
We also visited El Ateneo (above), a bookstore housed in a former theater - incredible. For dinner, we went a great parilla out in Belgrano, Buenos Aires' Chinatown, which was culturally fascinating - doesn't matter where you go in the world, Chinatown is Chinatown.
Photo from here.
We returned to San Telmo for our last day. I could have easily spent all day wandering around the antique stalls. I bought two small paintings that I'll photograph once I'm able to again. We had a great lunch at Aldo's (below), saw a bit of the Bolivian parade, walked around Palermo and then it was time to head to the airport.
Photo from here.
Argentina - I'll see you again!

10.20.2011

argentina: day five & six

Photo from here.
It warmed up a bit toward the end of our time in Bariloche, which made for a nice hike around Lago Gutiérrez. I spent the rest of the afternoon finishing up my book, taking advantage of the hotels' hot tub and going for a walk on the beach. We re-visited our favorite parilla for a dinner of lomo (filet), chorizo, morcilla (blood sausage), cerdo (pork) and of course, french fries.

The following day we packed up and travelled back to Neuquén only to discover that our flight to Buenos Aires had been cancelled, so we spent the night at an airport hotel and woke up at 4:30am to catch the first flight out.

argentina: day four

Photo from here.
Bariloche is located on the shores of Lago Nahuel Huapi, a huge lake that is part of the national park system. A popular activity among children and adults is to take a boat ride (above) and try to get a seagull to snatch a cracker out of your hand while the boat is moving. Party pooper that I am, I opted for just the boat ride.
Photo from here.
The boat had two destinations, the first being Los Arrayanes National Park. This forest consisted of rare myrtle trees (above), some of which were over 600 years old.
Photo from here.
The second stop was Isla Victoria, the largest island on the lake (above). We only had a hour to explore, which was kind of a bummer, but that's what happens when you only half understand the language.
Photo from here.
Needing a drink after spending two hours on a boat with Argentinian teenagers, we stopped by the stunning Hotel Llao Llao (above). 
For dinner, we decided to forgo the parilla and instead ate at Cassis, an exceptional restaurant on the Lago Gutiérrez where we enjoyed Patagonia specialities like local trout and lamb (above).

10.19.2011

argentina: day three

Photo from here.
Our first full day in Bariloche was spent exploring the area from above. We took the Teleferico Cerro Otto (above) up to a viewing center, restaurant, and really random art gallery. Since it was still very much spring in the southern hemisphere. it was pretty cold up there. Hot chocolate helped.
Photo from here.
After our trip up the mountain, we ventured into town. Bariloche is known for two things: skiing and chocolate. My favorite chocolate shop was Mamuschka (above) based solely on their ridiculously adorable decor.
Photo from here.
For dinner, we visited El Boliche de Alberto, a parilla (grill) just south of town (above) and yes, that is the normal amount of french fries they give you. For more about the meats we enjoyed, please click here.

10.18.2011

argentina: day two

Photo from here.
Most of the second day in Argentina was spent travelling. We had planned on spending a few days in the Bariloche area, but due to a volcanic eruption in Chile back in June, the local airport was closed. Undeterred, we flew to the next closest airport in Neuquén then drove five hours to San Carlos de Bariloche. Apparently there were a lot of dinosaur remains found in the area, hence our roadside friend, above. Other than that, the drive was fairly uninteresting with the exception of some surprisingly tasty caprese flavored chips we bought along the way. We arrived at our hotel mid-afternoon to this view:
Photo from here.
Not too shabby, eh?!

argentina: day one

Photo from here.
We arrived in Buenos Aires mid-morning after a 12 hour flight. Keep in mind there is no time change, so thats how far it is from NYC. We ate lunch (octopus, jamon, papas braves and Malbec), walked down Florida street to the Plaza de Mayo and explored Puerto Madero by crossing over Santiago Calatrava's Puente de la Mujer ("Bridge of the Woman"), above. In Puerto Madero, we checked out the very trendy Faena Hotel (I'm a sucker for Philippe Stark) and ate dulce de leche gelato. Dinner at La Brigada was the beginning of my weeklong red meat stupor.

10.17.2011

argentina

We got back yesterday from an eight day trip to Argentina with Jeff's parents - we spent three days in Buenos Aries and five in Bariloche (a mountainous lake region in Patagonia). The trip was great - lots of sightseeing, steak eating, Malbec drinking and pretty stuff-seeing. I'll do my best to recount my highlights in future posts.

There was one bummer thing that happened which is why none of these future posts will be accompanied by any of my own photos. My camera was stolen, as in literally picked out of my purse while I was wearing it, in the last hour of our last day in Buenos Aires. Jeff suggested I blog about the experience, so here I am, getting it all out, and then we can go back to regular programming. To end the vacation on this note was pretty upsetting, not just because I lost all the photos from the trip, but because I know better. I live in freaking New York City! I never once felt unsafe in Argentina and the neighborhood where this happened was a nice, high-end area - like Soho or Union Square.

More than anything, this has been a major blow to my ego. Formally, I had felt pretty smug about my street smarts and I've always been someone who has paid attention to their surroundings. I mean, part of my job is to catch errors and notice details....I hate that this happened in another city, because I immediately went to a bad place assuming I was targeted because I was a foreigner, but that's not fair. It could have easily happened in NYC or Los Angeles or San Francisco. And I'm fortunate it was my camera that was the most accessible item and not my wallet or passport.

So, here's to you, thief, for teaching me a valuable, ego-blowing lesson. I hope you enjoy my fifty-seven photos of the Los Arrayanes myrtle trees, my one hundred and six images of the Recoleta cemetery, and god knows how many pictures of steak.

-s

Casa Rosada photo from here.

10.10.2011

southern exposure

Hi friends - I'm taking this week off to visit the land of steak, leather, tango and empanadas. Where am I? Guess you'll have to wait until next week to find out. Until then - have a good one!

10.07.2011

in progress

Some projects I'm working on....

10.06.2011

apple picking

After ingesting a fair amount of cheese on the farm, we headed over to Terhune Orchards to pick apples and have cider donuts (delicious!).
Photos by me.

10.05.2011

cheese club: to the farm

Cheese club took another field trip; this time we toured Cherry Grove Farm, near Princeton, New Jersey. We walked around the farm, visited the goats....
...enjoyed a couple of the farm's cheeses, including the Herdsman and Buttermilk Brie...
and tried cheese curds for the first time!
All photos by me.

10.04.2011

from the flea: what i bought

Purchases from the flea included a slightly grandpa sweater knit with rainbow yarn (above) and enameled heart necklace (below).

10.03.2011

from the flea: what i saw

I'm thinking I might need to investigate other NYC flea markets...the Brooklyn flea always leaves me a bit underwhelmed. Any suggestions?