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

Super 8? Nah...I'd give it a 10

WARNING: This is not a spoiler alert. You do not have to proceed with caution.

Everything is better in NYC - you don’t even have to wait for a midnight showing to watch a major flick! It’s only Thursday, June 9 1:15 pm as I write this, but I’ve already seen one of the most anticipated summer movies even though the release date is Friday, June 10.

I’m not sure what I expected from the movie, but it wasn’t what I expected. It was, however, well done. I mean, J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg collaborated on this movie. Did you expect anything less?

Philip and I went to a 10:45 am IMAX showing of Super 8 at the AMC Loews Theatre by Lincoln Center. The screen was twice the size of the average movie theater - In fact, I tried capturing the screen on my camera, but I could only get half the screen in the shot. And the theatre itself was massive...but empty.

One of Philip’s favorite things about anticipated films is that they are packed with excited movie goers who are just as excited as he is to watch the newly released movie - particularly at midnight showings. But in an effort to be one of the first to watch the movie (and save $15), we went to the first showing we found, a pre-release of sorts, that not many people seemed to know about.

We did, however, get free (small) posters for Super 8 and free small popcorns.

Was it worth it to wake up early in case a line would form for the movie? To show up so early we were locked out of the theatre and ate breakfast at a local diner while we waited? To find the best seats in the house and snag ‘em?

Yeah, it was worth it.

Oh, and for those who are going to watch the movie...don't get up as soon as the credits start rolling. You might be in for a surprise!

Married Couples Only

Waiting to release the kite at the perfect time

What does a kite, frisbee, and football have in common? They’re all things that can get stuck in a tree.

As we enter into the heart of summer, our married couples home fellowship is choosing a different activity for our Wednesday night time slot. This week, we packed up our dinners, blankets, and picnic toys and headed to Central Park.

One of the most prominent things I’ve noticed about get-togethers in NYC is that people don’t really potluck. It’s every man for himself. If we had been in Arizona, we probably would have been responsible for bringing drinks or a side dish. Here, we were responsible for bringing our own dinner. It’s interesting how much a culture can change after only a 6-hour flight.

Frisbee stuck in the tree

Anyhow, it was a beautiful evening spent in the park with some new friends. Our husbands aren’t particularly skilled at keeping their toys out of the trees. With little to wind tonight, it was hard to get a kite up in the air, but as soon as it started flying, it was tangled up in some tree branches. The frisbee fared better, although it also got stuck in a tree a couple of times...only to get knocked down by a football the guys kept throwing into the tree.

The wives did what they do best: chit chat. We just enjoyed each other, laughed, and had fun.

Wives laughing at husbands trying to
get their frisbee out of the tree

Every town and every city should have its own Central Park, a beautiful grassy park with trees for shade and open areas for such games as bochee ball (the guys spent half the evening playing). And every church should have a married couples home fellowship. I’ve never known so many married couples my age who I could relate to and fellowship with. It’s fun having married friends.

Memorial Day Photos

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!

Do Whatever You Want To Do

(Blogger was out of service for a couple of days, but I had this blog ready to go. This is my 5.12.11 blog.)

I finally got to go to Central Park today, and it was just as breathtaking today as it was last summer. 

Contrary to what I once believed, Central Park is not like the small parks people are accustomed to in Phoenix. It is 2.5 miles long and .5 miles wide. For you cowboys, that’s 843 acres.  And it’s just like the movies.

There are trees, bike paths, walk/run paths, small bodies of water, short waterfalls, rocks you can climb, rocks you can sit on, benches, dogs, frisbees, picnics, little children with their nannies, baseball games...and they are everywhere in the park. It is truly picturesque...exactly how you would imagine a park to look.

A group of young adults were playing frisbee a couple trees away. 

After playing with her little brother and parents by the pond/lake about 100 feet in front us, a little girl, with a big innocent smile on her face, joyfully reached up for her daddy to hold her. 

An old man was walking his small dog, perhaps a yorkie, when the dog’s butt became itchy and he stopped to drag it on the sidewalk before strutting off with dirt and leaves hanging from his rear.

Everything you could think of was happening all around us, but we just wanted to relax and enjoy a nice book. We snagged a spot in a grassy area surrounded by tall, luscious trees, and Philip read Water for Elephants while I read To the Lighthouse.

It was a beautiful day.