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| (Clockwise from top left): Ballet at the Lincoln Centre; Waiting for the show; Runners at Central Park (very Juno); Manhattan skyline from Brooklyn |
NYC came calling the week after my Paris winter school, which came as a nice break. M’s brother and his beautiful family (which includes the most beautiful blonde baby boy in the world) have recently relocated to New York for a couple of years. As this was the first time we were finally in the same hemisphere for a while, of course we couldn’t pass an opportunity to visit!
This was our second NYC trip this year and I thought our autumn visit was much nicer. The only hordes of tourists that we saw were the runners who were in town for the NYC marathon. It’s a mega-sell out event and people come from all over the world… to run 42km across NYC. Clearly, I have yet to discover the joys of long distance running... Anyway, all NYC marathon finishers get this really big medal and it was quite cute to see people still wearing them even in the days after the race.
NYC is definitely expensive. But your biggest spend by far will definitely be accommodation. In my experience, they are always overpriced (at both ends of the budget!). Even dirty hostel rooms can cost up to $50 for a dorm, compete with a naked man roaming the corridors at night and be wary of hostels that still take bookings even though they don’t exist anymore (yes, all true stories from previous visits).
You can try more interesting options like Couchsurfing or Airbnb, where people sub-let their apartments (NYC is one of their biggest network). The website has a review system for the apartment owners so you can filter out the weird crazy Craigslist types, and only releases the money to the owners 24 hours after your arrival. That way you can still back out or make complaints during that time without being charged if anything goes wrong.
Of course there are a million things to do in NYC and never enough time to do them all. But what I love about NYC is that you can have fun regardless of whether you want to splurge or do it on a budget (as opposed to Zurich where everything is just expensive full stop). Here is a list of save/splurge things to do which I think bring a pretty even level of fun-ness.
Shopping
Splurge. Go all out and get all the luxury shopping out of your system. Take your pick between the iconic department stores (hello Barney’s, Bergdorf Goodman or Saks Fifth) or the luxury flagship stores lining East 57th Street. You know you want to.
Save. NYC has an amazing market scene. My day at the markets pretty much goes like this: buy a snack of choice from a food truck, browse/try/bargain/buy at the stalls, then repeat until you reach the end of the street. But my favourite is the Hell’s Kitchen Markets (125 W18 St) where I found Kate Middleton-esque ring (despite the fact I hate it when people say that) and a pretty rattle-snakey silver necklace (much prettier than description) for under $40.
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| Chick Corea and Bobby McFerrin at the Blue Note |
Live gigs
Splurge. You must go to the Blue Note (131 W 3rd Street). I don’t care if you don’t like jazz. Blue Note is cool and if you have any respect for music in general you must go here. This place is legendary and embodies the whole cozy-and-smoky jazz bar-ness (ok you can’t smoke anymore) that you can’t find anywhere else. We saw Chick Corea and Bobby McFerrin – acoustic – and it was totally amazing. During the show they invited random people in the audience to sing-along with them and I swear to god they have to be at least semi-professional singers. So if you’re even slightly tone deaf, please don’t volunteer to sing along and embarrass yourself. Book a ticket for the tables, which will cost between $35-65.
Save. See up and coming performers at The Juilliard School (60 Lincoln Centre Plaza). Remember Save the Last Dance? Only the best artists get into Juilliard… They hold hundreds of performances (music, theatre and dance) each season across six venues on their campus, almost all are free.
Stay fit (i.e. burn away the $2 hot dogs)
Splurge. Train at David Kirsch’s Madison Square Club (210 5th Ave). A training session will cost you from US$120, which is expected given the club membership is US$25,000 per year. It’s pricey but he does count all the Victoria’s Secret girls as his clients, so his methods must work! Right?
Save. Go running, rollerblading, biking in Central Park. There are plenty of bike renters that will swarm you with their offers as you come into the park, especially from the Columbus Circle side. Honestly, just take which ever. Even the dodgiest looking guys will offer you a pretty decent bike, plus the park is pretty flat all around. Alternatively, check out free events like free yoga at Bryant Park (5th Ave and W 42nd St).
See Broadway musicals *spirit fingers and double jazz hands*
Splurge. OK, Broadway shows are expensive and this needs to be accepted. If you want to go all out, check out www.broadway.com for full ticket/hotel packages.
Save. Alternatively you can try to get cheaper tickets by planning ahead and buying online. Try www.broadwaybox.com or go to the TKTS Discount Booth at Times Square on the day of the show for reduced last minute tickets. New shows like Wicked or How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (starring Daniel Radcliffe, Darren Criss and Nick Jonas) will always sell out, and the cheapest tickets you can get is typically around US$80.
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| The Bronx's Little Italy. (Clockwise from top left). Italian groceries; Canolis galore; Dolci; Freshly rolled cigars (the newspaper article says the Sopranos cast have been here) |
Get a good Italian feed
Splurge. New York has a massive Italian influence and you can pretty much buy any Italian produce here. Head to Eataly (200 5th Ave) and prepared to be mesmerised by a labyrinth of strategically placed gourmet home-made pastas, cheeses, meats, chocolates, coffees and fresh produce. They also have eat-in restaurants and wine bars inside the shop. I actually saw David Kirsch shopping here!
Save. Head to the Bronx’s Little Italy around Arthur Avenue, to shop for some traditional Nonna’s Italian groceries and other goodies. Start with the Arthur Avenue Retail Market for an old-fashioned marketplace full of pasta, sausages, cured meats, gelato, dolci, cheese and even freshly rolled cigars. Wash your palate and head to Madonia Brothers Bakery (2348 Arthur Ave) for out-of-this-world canollis.
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| Freemans restaurant |
My favourite restaurant that we got taken to is Freemans which does amazing old world American dishes. The restaurant is just SO New York. It’s located at the end of an alleyway, no bookings for small groups, and you need to have your whole party there before you can be seated. My favourite dish here was the crabcake served with a pita bread and tartare sauce. It was just so simple and homey!
So here is my tribute to the all-Yank (American) crab cake. Now crab (krabbefleisch) is pretty hard to come by here in Zurich and I haven’t had time to venture to the specialty stores or fish mongers. The only decent batch of seafood I normally get access to is the seafood truck that comes to my local Kreuzplatz Markets. Hence, why this is actually only ‘kinda’ crab cake as I had to substitute it with white fish. But it was still very tasty!
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| My Yankee crab cake - fish cake |
Kinda crab (ok, fish) cakes with tartare sauce
Makes 6 large pieces
Crab/fish cakes
250 g of crab or white fish (try to get responsibly fished ones like tilapia, bream, blue swimmer crab or European spider crab; avoid canned crab meats)*
1 clove of garlic, chopped finely
1 spring onion, sliced thinly, including the green part
1 teaspoon of paprika
1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce, or soy sauce
1 cup of breadcrumbs, I made mine from 1.5 slices of bread
1 large egg, beaten
2 tablespoons of light mayonnaise
Salt and pepper to taste
Kinda tartare sauce
1 cup of light mayonnaise
Half a lemon, juiced, slice the other half into wedges and use for serving
Cornichon or gherkin (3-4 small pieces), diced into little pieces
Method
If you’re using fish, first, put the fish fillet on your chopping board. Get two knives (one in each hand), and start chopping the fillet with both knives (sort of like back massage chopping action) until you get a rough pulpy, stringy mash of white fish.
Fold in the breadcrumbs, crushed garlic, spring onions, paprika, egg, Worcestershire/soy sauce and mayonnaise. Season with salt and pepper. Mix evenly.
Heat a tablespoon of oil on a frying pan. Use a paper towel to spread the oil evenly across the pan.
Pinch about two tablespoons of crab / fish cake mixture, roll into a small ball, and press between the palms of your hands into little patties. Fry the patties for about 3 minutes each side until both sides are evenly browned.
For the tartare sauce, mix in the mayonnaise, lemon juice and gherkins.
Serve the crab cake / fish cake with a dollop of (kinda) tartare sauce on top. Garnish with lemon wedges. Devour.
* Where does your fish come from? Has it been fished responsibly? Check out Fish Online or Australian Sustainable Seafood Guide (also has an iPhone app you can consult while you do your shopping).
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