sandy

In case you hadn't heard, we had a storm last night. It was really scary and the aftermath is pretty devastating. Jeff and I were really lucky, and didn't have any damage or lose power. That can't be said for a lot of New Yorkers - my heart goes out to those in need.

© Photos taken this afternoon around Williamsburg

reading, watching, listening

Reading: The Passage

Watching: Upstairs Downstairs

  

Listening: Lee Fields

flushing meadows

Much like visiting Coney Island, going to Flushing Meadows was one of my long time New York dreams (please note this is different from Flushing). Jeff appeased me this weekend by taking our bikes out to Queens to visit the site of two World's Fairs. There's been a lot written about Flushing Meadows (this is the post that sold me), so I won't get into the history and details. I will say that it was one hundred percent worth the schlep - totally fascinating!

© all photos by me

museum

As part of my goal to visit all the museums in New York City, this one was a no brainer. Museum is a curated rotating collection of items housed in a freight elevator in an alley in Tribeca. Each object was selected purposely (you can learn more by calling a listed phone number and punching in the items' number). The collection changes every four months and it's highly worth a visit.

© all photos by me

instagram, lately

Some grams of late (I'm @shoshauna).

© all photos by me

long beach

Long Beach, as seen from the room of the Allegria Hotel. Not shown: a delicious home cooked dinner, wine and camaraderie.

© all photos by me

lilac

In addition to the Brooklyn Army Terminal, I also visited the Lilac as part of OHNY. The Lilac is a 1933 lighthouse tender servicing the US coast guard. Today, the Lilac is the country's only surviving steam-powered lighthouse tender. It was pretty interesting to explore the ship, which is conveniently located next door to a mini-golf course. 

© all photos by me

brooklyn army terminal

Open House New York, an annual event in the city, aims to showcase locations in NYC not usually open to the public (or open on the weekends to the public). Unfortunately all the things that I really wanted to see needed advance reservations, but there were still a number of locations that were new to me. One such location was the Brooklyn Army Terminal, original built as a military depot and supply base. The complex, designed by Cass Gilbert, is over five million square feet. Today, the structure houses a variety of businesses, but in 1958 was the send off spot when Elvis left for Germany.

© all photos by me

portugal: drinking

Cheers! That's us enjoying our second glass of Ginjinha, a Portuguese liquor made by infusing sour cherries in alcohol. You can have it room temperature or cold, with or without cherries (with pits!). I preferred cold without cherries, but it was pretty tasty either way.

Besides ginja, we pretty much had vinho verde for every other meal. I'm not going to embarrass myself by saying much about the wine, so hopefully Jeff will post something about the trip soon. That's it for my Portugal posts. Saude!

©top photo via Instagram, bottom two photos by me

portugal: eating

Eating in Portugal is easy - all fish, all the time. Yes, you could have meat, but you are on the ocean! Enjoy it, I say. If it swam, we ate it - octopus (above), shrimp (below), clams, lobster, and a variety of local fish. Some culinary highlights included a fantastic lunch at Tasquinha do Oliviera in Evora, a delicious dinner at Agua na Boca in Salema, and super good bar food at Sol e Pesca in Lisbon.

Another speciality I should call out is a flaky egg custard called pastel de nata (below). We got ours from Pastèis de Belèm. As you can imagine, it was delicious.

©top and bottom photo by me. middle photo by Jeff via Instagram (@drinkeatlove)

portugal: cape sagres

On our honeymoon five years ago, Jeff and I visited Santa Maria di Leuca, or "the end of the world"; this is the southernmost spot in Italy, considered at one point to be the furthermost known land. We visited a similar location in the Algarve - a windy plateau known as Cape Sagres. Famous for being the departure point of many an exploration, Henry the Navigator built a school for explorers on this spot in the 15th century.

©all photos by me. More here.

portugal: salema

After four nights in Lisbon, we took a four-ish hour train ride to Salema, a small fishing village in the Algarve. We stayed in a lovely pensione, just a five minute walk to the beach (above). Our time in Salema was pretty much the same every day: breakfast, walk to the beach, read, lunch (fish), read until the sun went down, glass (or two) of wine, dinner (more fish). Heavenly, I tell you.

 ©all photos by me. More photos here.

portugal: evora

Èvora, about an hour and a half from Lisbon by train, is an UNESCO World Heritage Site boasting an impressive number of historic structures in a relatively small town. Santa Maria de Èvora (above) is home to one of the three archbishops of the country. St. Antào (below) was built in the 16th century.

©all photos by me. More photos here.