Apple-Picking Upstate New York

Who goes apple-picking without picking a single apple or eating one picked at the orchard? Me.

Last Sunday, I went upstate with a group of students from my House (see below for a paragraph about the House System at The King’s College). Every house goes on some sort of retreat each semester, some are day-long trips while others are overnighters. My House calls it Barton Day Away (BDA).

Picture captured while bus was moving.
Best  I could do while the bus was moving.

This year, the student leadership team decided to kick off the day with a waffle feast before going to an apple orchard, Masker Orchard (www.maskers.com) in Warwick, NY. About 20 Bartonites participated.

We were packed into the apartment of 3 students while we ate freshly cooked waffles with syrup; juicy, defrosted mixed berries, and Nutella. The waffles just kept on coming and the girls just kept on eating.

The trip up to the orchard was beautiful. We took a bus from Port Authority, which drove by trees, trees, and more trees, as well as a couple of lakes. The leaves were changing colors - green, yellow, orange, red...it was a picturesque autumn day. The kind some believe only exist in the movies.

Another picture captured while bus was moving.

Once we arrived at the orchard, we sprawled out with our picnic blankets and ate lunch, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches; sparkling apple cider (bottle top opened with a knife by McKinley because we had no bottle opener); and for dessert, good homemade goodies: apple pie, pumpkin bread, chocolate chip cookies, and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. Yum, yum. The ladies of Barton sure do know how to pack a good snack! :)

Most of the gals ran around the orchard, picked apples, and ate some. Many lounged around and read for classes the next day. Most even made it down to the general store where the orchard sold homemade jams, apple sauce, apple butter, and country-style kitchen decor. There was also homemade apple pie, pony rides, face painting, and farm animals (although the farm animals weren’t worth seeing...a few animals penned up in about 15x15 space).

All in all, it was a restful day, and I got to spend some time getting to know the girls from my House. I can’t wait for BDA in the spring!

About the House System at King’s (where I work):
Each new student at The King’s College (www.tkc.edu) becomes a member of one of ten Houses, each named for a notable leader who embodies the ideals of The King’s College. Through their House, students will have countless opportunities to build close relationships, join together to explore New York City, grow spiritually and intellectually, and have fun.

Each House as a Staff Advisor and a Faculty Advisor. I am Staff Advisor to the House of Clara Barton. Go Barton!

Ladies of Barton walking down the orchard hill, going home

Apartment Hunting in New York

Apartment hunting in New York is really only fun if you have lots of money to spend. Otherwise, you end up living in a dump. Well, unless you room with half a dozen other people in a high rise loft or something along those lines. So you can guess that Philip and I have had a rough time finding an apartment.

Some NYC real estate offices have
cool waiting areas!

Our sublease is up on July 30, so for the past month, month and a half, Philip and I have made apartment hunting a full-time job. Unless we’re eating or sleeping, we’re on Craigslist, real estate websites, or makeshift apartment search websites or we’re visiting places from everywhere in Riverdale in the Bronx (WAY up north in NYC) to Astoria in Queens.

What makes it even tougher than our financial situation in general is that NYC has super strict renting policies. Basically, if you’ve ever missed a rent payment, if you’ve ever been to court with a landlord (regardless of circumstances), if you don’t make 40x monthly rent, etc. it’s virtually impossible to rent an apartment. 

Office desk, office chair, and visitor chair

Then there’s the broker’s fee. Arizona real estate agents, read carefully: If you want to provide shoddy services to your clients (not that I suggest it) while making bank, move to NYC! The real estate agents we’ve worked with here are the worst we’ve ever worked with, and many of them make 15-18% of the yearly rent for each rental transaction (as opposed to the 6% you make!). It’s a crazy market here in the City.

Anyway, our search is over. We now have a place to stay for the month of August. I’m sorry, did I write “place”? I meant “places.” Yes, we’re playing the New York game of live-where-you-can-until-you-find-the-perfect-place-for-you! As soon as our lease is up, we’re moving into a shared apartment for a week and a half before finishing out the month in a beautiful shared apartment on Roosevelt Island. Wanna know how beautiful? Check out these views from the apartment:

Pics above and below: East River and Manhattan Skyline

Okay, so I know my earlier pics of the office furniture didn't really have to do with our apartment search, but it kind of did. We talked to and visited so many real estate agents and offices that when I saw that particular office, I had to take pictures and share. It was, by far, the trendiest office space I have ever seen in person (as opposed to magazine pictures, TV shows, movies, etc.).

By the way, remember that I said Philip and I found a place to stay for the month of August. Wish us luck on our next search!

NYC in the Summer

Although it may be hot and humid, summer is the best season to visit NYC if you’re on a budget. The City offers so many free events around the different boroughs that it’s hard not to find an event you might enjoy.

Stage before it got dark and before
singers started performing.

A few weeks ago, there was a traveling classical theatre troupe performing Moliere’s The School for Husbands in Central Park. When I write “traveling,” I literally mean traveling. After each scene, all the actors and audience members would move to another part of the park, re-situate themselves, and continue the show. Philip and I showed up late, so we didn’t stay, but we were at the park long enough to see them travel. It was interesting.

Eating brick-oven pizza while waiting
for friends.

Last week, Philip and I attended a Met Opera recital at Summer Stage in Central Park with a couple friends of ours, Ryan and Tiffany. Although you’re not allowed to supply your own alcohol in the park, there was a beer and wine vendor at the event. They also had brick oven pizza, taco, hot dog, and ice cream vendors there. Hot dogs, by the way, are not always typical in NYC. This particular stand offered hot dogs made with different meats, including a vegetarian version.




It’s like a picnic everywhere you go. We took our blanket to the Met Opera, which we set on top of something (carpet? fake grass?) they used to establish a seating area. The seating area comprised of a roped off section with fold-up chairs for Met Opera members, as well as floor seating on both sides of the members-only section. Behind that section were metal bleachers for non-members who didn’t want to sit on the ground.


There are so many other free events that people can take advantage of that it doesn’t matter if you’re a broke college student or artist or actor trying to make it in the glamorous city of Manhattan.

Your wish is my command: Lincoln Center Ballet

I’ve always wanted to go to the Lincoln Center. And I’ve always wanted to watch a professional ballet performance in NYC. And I’ve always wanted to sit in theatre box seats.

Well, all three wishes were granted last night. (Does this mean I'm out of wishes?)

Philip and I attended an American Ballet Theatre performance of “The Bright Stream” at the Lincoln Center’s Metropolitan Opera House. If we had waited just two more nights, I could’ve watched Julie Kent on stage - that would’ve been an experience! (Julie Kent is the principal dancer at the American Ballet Company in one of my favorite movies, Center Stage.)

We started in balcony box seats, but shortly after the show started, we moved to regular balcony seats. When they said box seats had “partial views,” I didn’t realize it meant “you’ll only see half the stage.” (I’ve had partial view theatre seats before, so I had an idea of what to expect. This theatre was nothing like what I had previous experienced before.) Anyhow, I didn’t feel so bad changing seats because half the balcony boxes emptied out by the time intermission came around.

Staggered lights

The Metropolitan Opera House was grandiose. It looked like what you would expect an opera house to look like based on what you see on TV and in the movies. The house lights were staggered, dangling at different heights, until they turned off...at which point they were pulled all the way up to the ceiling.

The ballet was fun, a comedy about mistaken identity (a male ballet dancer was on pointe...hehe), but I wish we could have sat closer. Musicals and plays are in theatres that are much smaller, and I can see the facial expressions of the actors. The opera house was so large that I had to strain my eyes to try to catch the dancers’ facial expressions...and I never did. In fact, I tried so hard to see their facial expressions that my eyes hurt by the time we left.

Nevertheless, I thought the Lincoln Center and the Metropolitan Opera House were worth the price of admission. The ballet was fun, but I think I would have appreciated it more if I had sat closer to the stage. And the box seats? Well, it’s fun to say I sat there, but I’d never buy them again.

Good Southern BBQ...in NY?

“Do you smell that?” Philip asked me.
“Mmm...yeah, I do,” I responded as the aroma of BBQ kicked my salivary glands into overdrive.

We had just arrived at the Big Apple BBQ Block Party, an annual weekend-long BBQ event that raises money for the Madison Square Park Conservancy. Over 15 of the best pitmasters from the southern states and New York, NY were serving all sorts of BBQ - pulled pork shoulder sandwiches, sausage, beef brisket, whole hog, different types of ribs, all natural turkey, coleslaw, and beans - at Madison Square Park in Flatiron.

Whole hog

Over 100,000 people are typically served over the course of the weekend. And Philip, four friends, and I were among the first of those 100,000.

A lot of people who attend this BBQ Block Party have done their research. They know whose BBQ they want to eat and why. Some pitmasters have somehow managed to gain either a following or a level of fame that draws eaters to their booths, and people will stand in line for hours to pay $8 for a small plate of BBQ prepared by the pitmaster of their choice.

The short line for Big Bob's

Two of our friends had been to the block party before and suggested we arrive as soon as the event started, 11 am. We arrived at 10:59, and almost immediately, I started salivating. Because of this “come early” strategy, the longest we stayed in line for anything was about 45 minutes.

We started at what we knew would be the most popular stop at the block party, Big Bob Gibson’s Bar-B-Q. (See Big Bob's chopping up their "pulled" pork in the video below.) By the time we got our pulled pork shoulder sandwiches (just under an hour long wait) and finished eating them, the end of the line was about 2 hours away from the cash register. Eek! 

Our next longest wait was about 45 minutes for pies from The Original Fried Pie Shop. The only reason it was that short was because our strategizing friends left four of us in line while they figured out what was going on with the lines at the pie shop. Long story short, the vendor didn’t know what to expect at the event, and as a result, their system was chaotic.  Our friends figured out there were four lines (instead of one), found the shortest and grabbed our pies. (The people we had been standing by in the extra long line would probably be there at least another hour and still would not make it to the front.)

The Original Fried Pie Shop chaos

Were the pies worth the wait? Well, I guess the 45-minute wait was fine...and I could even handle the cold wind and rain...but I certainly wouldn’t wait 2 hours for it. By the way, “Fried Pie” is a fancy term for “I’m an upgraded McDonald’s pie.” It was shaped like a large, flat empanada, and it was filled with - you guessed it - pie filling. Between the six of us, we had at least one apple, apricot, and blackberry; the only option we were missing was the peach.

 

The Big Apple BBQ Block Party was an interesting experience, and we all left talking about how we need to do it again next year. As I sit here writing this and smelling the BBQ smoke on the clothes I wore, I can’t help but think, “Yeah, I’ll go again next year. But I might be more strategic about what I wear.”

St. Louis Style Ribs from Checkered Pig

Pitmasters/Vendors Philip and I visited:
1. Chris Lilly, Big Bog Gibson Bar-B-Q, Pulled Pork Shoulder

2. Tommy Houston, Checkered Pig, St. Louis Style Ribs

3. Michael Rodriguez, The Salt Lick Bar-B-Que, Beef Brisket and Sausage

4. Jenn Giblin, Blue Smoke, Rootbeer float

5. The Original Fried Pie Shop, Apricot and Blackberry

The Art of Negotiation

It used to be the place to go if you wanted a cheap Gucci purse. Or Prada wallet. Or Oakley sunglasses.

The streets of Chinatown used to be littered with luxury knock-offs on every corner, but in the past few years, they’ve come down hard on the vendors selling luxury imitation goods. 

Anyone who wants cheap jewelry, scarves, purses, sunglasses, and more can get them from tiny little shops about 50 sq. ft. big (although there are only about 20 sq. ft. of walking space). There are plenty of good-looking products that are cheaply made...about the quality of goods you would find in Forever 21 or H&M.

Shopping in Chinatown

Although high quality luxury knock-offs are not sold openly on the streets anymore, a person need not work further than a few feet before being accosted by an African American or Chinese, “Chanel? Louis? What you looking for? Handbag? Oakleys? Coach? What you looking for? Handbag? Sunglasses? Watches? Got Rolex. What you want?” or “Got purses in bags. Got purses in bags. Louis? Gucci?”

African Americans sit around on steps with giant black trash bags big enough to hold a big kid or small teen, and these bags are filled with luxury knock-offs. The Chinese, on the other hand, take you to a small room in the back of an alley - a small room with false walls - to show you their luxury goods.

One thing to remember about Chinatown: Never pay full price for anything. They give you one price. Then they immediately give you a lower one.

“How much is this purse?”

“$25. $20.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

“$20. Yeah? Okay. How much you want? You name price.”

“No thank you.”

“Name price. You name price.”

Sometimes, negotiation is as easy as not countering.

Philip was disappointed that I didn’t get a knock-off, but I did leave with a black metal double-headband with a jeweled flower and a small orange crossbody purse. My mom is the best haggler I know, and today was a testament to just how much I learned from her.

Starting price: $37

Ending price: $26

I’m looking forward to my next trip. Perhaps I’ll come home with a luxury imitation purse next time...and an even better deal!

What do you mean, "There's no chips and salsa"?

Filet mignon and diners were never a combination I might have imagined had I not seen it and experienced it myself.

Lansky’s (http://www.lanskysnyc.com/) is a Jewish diner in the Upper West Side that serves coleslaw and pickles in place of the traditional chips and salsa Phoenicians are used to being served. I remember the first time servers brought coleslaw and pickles to our table last summer when we ate there. I didn’t understand why they brought it to our table, and Philip and I kindly explained, “We didn’t order this.” Apparently we didn’t need to.

We returned to the diner today and were again thrown off by the Jewish diner’s version of chips and salsa and respectfully declined because we’re not coleslaw or kosher pickle eaters. We did, however, return to the restaurant for burgers, mac ‘n cheese, and strawberry cheesecake, so we made sure to order all the right foods.

Half the 10 oz burger and mac 'n cheese

Anyone who knows Philip knows that pizza, burgers, and mac ‘n cheese would be the staples of his diet were they healthy enough to sustain him. But they’re not. They are, however, still a part of his diet, and Lansky’s has some of the biggest burgers in town and the best macaroni and cheese Philip’s ever had.

The smallest burgers on the menu? 10 oz. Yep, over half a pound! Don’t worry, Philip only ate half the burger.

Filet mignon, fries, caesar salad from a diner (only $14.95!)

I, on the other hand, tried filet mignon. It wasn’t the best filet mignon I’ve ever had, but then again, I wasn’t at a high end steakhouse and I wasn’t paying a high end price either. It was cooked more than I wanted, and it was too chewy and tough for my taste. For what it’s worth, though, it wasn’t bad, and I might even order it again the next time we go.

Indulging in the Unplanned Day

There’s always something to do in the City. Even when plans don’t work out as planned, the City is defaulted to provide unplanned backups to anyone who needs them.

Philip, knowing that when possible, I try to be “green,” decided to take me to Chinatown/Little Italy for a major street exhibition event. The way he described it to me, it was a 4-day event during which time vendors set up street exhibitions demonstrating different ways to live green in the City. Or something along those lines.

We hopped onto the subway, changed trains at Columbus Circle, and popped up to the street in Chinatown. We walked. And we walked. And we walked. Until Philip took another look at his phone to see if perhaps we had gone to the wrong part of town. No, we were exactly where we should have been. Apparently, the exhibitors decided to make their exhibitions very green today - so green we had to be there yesterday to see them.

Yes, we were a day late for the street exhibitions. Other aspects of the event were happening today, but not the street exhibitions. Oh, well. One of the benefits to living in NYC is that our day wasn’t wasted. We simply walked a few blocks to an Italian restaurant in Little Italy for lunch before indulging in some yummy gelato at Ferrara Bakery & Cafe.

Ferrara's in Little Italy

Ferrara Bakery & Cafe (http://www.ferraracafe.com) is an Italian bakery over 100 years old with an Old World feel to it. We figured it must be really good to have not only survived that long, but to have thrived. The main bakery and cafe is indoors, but there was line out the door. The store was selling gelato on the street right outside its main doors, and there was a line of about 10 customers waiting for their sweet indulgence of the day. 

The gelato really was good. Philip stayed with the tried and true chocolate while I ventured out with a flavor I’ve never before tried, hazelnut. 

Yum, yum. I can’t wait to go back!

The NYC Yield Sign: It's No Longer Yellow

The quintessential meal in the Big Apple is a slice of pizza with your choice of Snapple. If a pizza place doesn’t have both, walk out. Okay, so maybe it’s not quite like that for everyone, but I’ve been taught by Philip that in NYC, you drink Snapple while you eat your pizza.

NYC is littered with pizzerias. Every couple of stores, you’re likely to find some sort of pizza shop, whether it’s one of the many Famous Ray’s Pizzas (Original Famous Ray’s, Famous Ray’s Original, Famous Ray’s, etc...they all think they’re the original, but the eternal question is - was there ever an original?), a mom and pop joint, or some NYC or nationwide chain. Pizza joints really are everywhere. You might pay $.99 a slice or $5 a slice, all depending on which one you end up walking into.

With so many pizzerias in the City, how do you know which you should choose? This may be NYC, and it may have more pizza joints than any other place in the world, but they are not all worth visiting.

Your pizza destination: What are you looking for in a pizza?

Yield Sign Pepperoni Pizza

a. The best pizza in town. Grimaldi’s Pizzeria (Don’t let the AZ locations fool you...They’re good, but the Brooklyn location is best.)

b. The biggest pizza in town. Koronet Pizzeria

c. A pizza made just for me. Can’t help you there (Unless you sit down at a restaurant, pizzas are generally sold by the slice. They’re pre-made cheese pizzas, they add your desired toppings, and they throw it in the oven to warm it up for you.)
d. I don't know what I'm looking for. Grimaldi's Pizzeria or Koronet Pizzeria.

Okay, so there are many more than two good pizzerias to choose from in NYC, but these are the two that Philip and I have become particularly attached and drawn to during the times we’ve come to the CIty.

Today’s visit was to Koronet Pizzeria on 110th Street and Broadway. What makes this pizzeria so good is the sheer size of its pizza slices. Although yield signs are typically yellow and black, we’ve dubbed Kornet’s pizzas “Yield Sign Pizzas” because that’s how big the slices are. Notice in the picture above that the slice is as big as the plastic tray, and the plastic tray is the typical size you would find in any fast food restaurant. 1 yield sign pepperoni pizza, 1 regular cheese pizza, and 2 snapples: $11.25.

As Philip and I at our pizzas, I noticed someone ordered two yield sign pizza slices to go - they just barely fit inside a whole pizza box.

Welcome to New York

We woke up this morning to a bunch of ants crawling around next to the bed. They scattered when we turned on the lights and started moving around the apartment...Welcome to New York.

Like most NY apartments, ours came with a window a/c unit and a radiator whose heat is controlled by the apartment super...Welcome to New York.

Want to go green without breaking the bank, but rather saving? Buy a metro pass in New York. It’s $104 per month to travel by subway or bus in the city. You don’t make car payments, you don’t pay $60 per week per car on gas, you don’t have car insurance to worry about, and best of all, you don’t pay $500 per month to park your car in NYC...Welcome to New York.

In Arizona, apartments and houses have an abundance of electrical outlets. In New York, they don’t...Welcome to New York.

I quietly stumbled to the bathroom in the middle of the night only to wake Philip with a loud clank when the toilet flusher fell onto the tile floor. I heard a gasp followed by a panicked “What happened, baby girl? Are you okay?” He fixed it in the morning...Welcome to New York.

We have Times Square in our backyard, about 15 minutes or so from our apartment. How many people can say that? Oh, wait. Millions can. It’s still a fun backyard...Welcome to New York.

New York is brimming with life, and if you can appreciate the beauty of urban life, it’s really the place to be...WELCOME TO NEW YORK!

The Bittersweet Arrival

Me and Philip at Sky Harbor with our many bags.

We arrived safely at JFK this morning. With the number of bags we had (4 check-in suitcases and 5 carry-ons), we were in desperate need of a van taxi...they’re not as rampant as taxi cars and SUVs, so we were concerned about running into this challenge immediately upon arriving in New York after a redeye. 

But it is New York, and we need not have worried. Besides, it just so happened that when it was our turn for a taxi, a van pulled up.

The drive to our new apartment seemed long. And short. I slept through the entire hour-long drive, so I didn’t get to enjoy my first journey to my first New York home.

Our apartment is a cute studio, about 300 sq. ft. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that 300 sq. ft. is not as small, cramped, and claustrophobic as I had feared. It is a furnished apartment with an 8-foot tall, double-wide maple bookshelf immediately to the right of the door. Across the room is a dark brown square kitchen table for two pushed against the wall and small backless chairs with leather seats. On one side of the table is a medium-sized fridge, sink, and small stove; on the other side is a full-sized bed and a black desk with black chair.

It sounds like a lot of furniture, but it fits perfectly in our apartment.

I didn’t care that I slept through my drive home. I didn’t care that the apartment was small (however cute). What I cared about was that I had an apartment to drive to, an apartment where I could crash before my job interview. Yes, a job interview on the same day I moved across the country. It was an ambitious decision, but I was excited about the job and the interview and simply wanted to get it done.

After the job interview, which was at the King’s College in the Empire State Building, I ran to meet Philip at the Starbucks on the first floor so that he was the first person to know that I was offered a job!

I’m excited to begin my new life in the Big Apple.

The Bittersweet Departure

It’s been a bittersweet day. Moving days always are, though, aren’t they?

It’s 11:15 pm on Wednesday night in Phoenix, and Philip and I are waiting to board our plane to New York. For months, we’ve been planning for this very night, but now that it’s here, it seems surreal. 

All day, I’ve been packing and saying my goodbyes. This morning, I went to work at Grand Canyon University for the last time. Even the atmosphere in the office was bittersweet. It was convocation day, so our students were leaving us, and everyone, not just me, had to pack up all their belongings because the University would be demolishing the building over the summer. 

I had hoped packing my office would give me some sense of closure, but I didn’t find closure today - perhaps because everyone was packing.

It’s 11:30 pm now, and our plane is supposed to depart in 10 minutes. But I don’t think that’s going to happen. Everyone is still sitting in their seats, waiting patiently to board. Oh, wait! They just called for everyone who paid extra money for extra leg room.

I’ll finish writing about my day later...perhaps after I get settled into my new apartment tomorrow morning.