i heart NY

heids & i on a whim up and went to New York last week. we had a swell time eating, walking, riding, writing, watching, talking, laughing, riding, watching, eating, writing, walking, & riding.

every NY trip i of course always geek out big time and end up spending close to 9 hours in the NBA store on 5th ave... and although i debated purchasing both a very inticing Kevin Garnett CELTICS jersey and a brand new Jason Kidd MAVERICKS jersey, i eventually exhibited restraint and walked away w/ just headbands to add to my beauty of a collection and a swell T-shirt .
we stayed in Brooklyn's Park Slope with our friends Amanda (aka Mando Calrissian, Mandy, Mandingo Tribe, etc.), Jim (aka Broadway's Creighton James), and Mr. Martin (aka Van Buren, Lawrence, Mull, Sheen, Short, Scorsese, etc.).

here are Jim and his little boy Martin in "the study".
also saw The Taylors of Brooklyn and were able to finally meet the legendary Pierson, who happens to be pretty gangsta & cool as ice.
now as far as food goes, we murdered it this trip. heids and i, previously to leaving, had been on a no refined sugar diet for 3 weeks - so naturally we felt entitled to gorge ourselves once we got to the city.

food stops included:

Max Brenner - Chocolate by the Bald Man.
we made a laughable amount of stops here. i'm embarrassed to say the exact number. the inside decor looked as if Willy Wonka had a speak easy. it's a chocolate speciality restaurant and lived up to the hype. their Italian Thick Hot Chocolates are unbelievable (we sampled all 3 flavors: dark, milk and white). i imagine that Max's chocolate recipes are so rare that the ingredients are excavated through some discreet mountain in some Peruvian jungle like the golden idol in Raiders of the Lost Ark. during one of the stops to meet a friend we sampled the Chocolate Soup complete w/ fixings like malt balls, toffee chips and marshmallows. oh, and the Mexican Spicy Hot Chocolate w/ red chili, cinnamon, nutmeg, & pepper - was 100% good too.
the other place we made return visits to was CRIF DOGS (113 St. Marks Pl.) in the East Village.

hot dogs are obviously in no shortage in Manhattan, but in my opinion you'll find no better wieners than at Crif. we went twice and could have gone for every meal. most, if not all of the dogs, are bacon wrapped, which is the best invention of the last 100 years.

heids sampled on those two seperate occasions, the Tsunami (tiny pineapple chunks, green onions, teriyaki sauce) and the second time the Chihuahua (avocados & sour cream). i knocked out the Good Morning the first time (bacon wrapped of course, cheese, fried egg) and the Spicy Redneck the return visit (chili, cole slaw and jalapenos). the Tsunami was amazing as was the Spicy Redneck. i also had the tater tots w/ chili and it was heaven. best part of Crif is that unlike LA favorite Pink's, these dogs were not sloppy or too saucy - they were also a perfect size and not overbearing. perfect.

my sister and brother in law have raved for years about Magnolia Bakery below is their famous banana pudding, which should be included on the official food pyramid it's so freakin' addicting.

we also enjoyed The Eatery (798 Ninth Ave. @ 53rd St.). - the Sweet Potato, Corn and Grilled Pear Empanadas with Salsa Verde blew my face off.

as well as my guilty pleasure, Dallas BBQ - it's a NY chain, but it's cheap and their honey chicken and yellow rice kick Roscoe's chicken & waffles in the pants.

saw some sweet stuff at The Met.

we were lucky to see great plays w/ highlights being: The Seafarer (w/ David Morse & Ciaran Hinds), Steppenwolf's August:Osage County, Tom Stoppard's new work, Rock N' Roll (w/ Brian Cox & Rufus Sewell) and Pinter's The Homecoming (w/ Deadwood's Ian McShane, Michael McKean, Raul Esparza & Eve Best).

our host Jim is currently understudying for three of the male actors in said The Homecoming including one of Heidi's favorite English actors, James Frain. Jim was nice enough to set it up so that Heidi could meet him and then "Mr. Frain" was gracious enough to invite us up to his dressing room to hang out and chat prior to the show. it was a nice moment to see Heidi get to finally meet one of her inspirations and how thrilling it was for her.

the best part of the whole trip was being able to hang out w/ heids care free and laugh w/ her all week long. the city invigorated both of us to get to work and make the hustle happen. thank you NY.