Category: Manhattan

Manhattan Moments: Music & Food

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A grand tree in Manhattan

SCHOOL ASSEMBLIES: LOOKING BACK AND FORWARD

Playing and Singing

One of the joys of being grandparents is hearing your granddaughters perform in school assemblies.  Last week, we attended the winter assemblies for both the lower school and middle school classes.  Our older granddaughter is the lone French horn in the middle school orchestra, and it was a pleasure to hear her in a complex piece called Christmas Troika (Sleigh Ride.) She and her classmates also sang carols and popular works such as “Masters in This Hall” and “Let It Snow.” 

The lower school assembly on the following day featured 3rd graders in “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” a Hebrew song, and a hilarious rendition of “The Queen of the Night Gets a Cold.”  Adding to the fun is the participation of the Men’s Chorus, fathers of the Brearley girls, in both programs.  After one rehearsal on the day of the event, they join in on some pieces and produced a rollicking “When I’m 64.” 

After, as we awaited our family in the school lobby, we saw and heard Bill Clinton (his granddaughter is a student) getting ready to leave. I was a bit tempted to approach him, but he was already in conversation with someone else. His voice was a bit raspy, but otherwise he looked good.  (This was just before his short stay in the hospital with the flu.)

Girls and Women

The Chief Penguin and I continue to be impressed with the excellent education offered in this all-girls school.  I confess to being initially neutral to skeptical about single sex education in general.  In this environment, I see “our girls” being empowered to order their lives, challenge themselves, and lead with kindness. I almost want to return to school and wish that my school experience had been as stimulating as this one.

In reflecting on the professional roles women have carved out in the past 50 years, I keenly recall when the birth control pill became widely available and when abortion became legal.  And that day when I, well educated and working full time as an academic librarian, could finally get a credit card in my own name without my husband’s signature or financial backing.  Memorable! I promptly signed up for a Macy’s card that was just mine. 

I worry and am concerned that with the incoming administration, people like J.D. Vance and his cronies will try to send women back to the kitchen and the nursery.  I hope I’m proven wrong and that the current opportunities and progress made for women of all ages and interests will endure and be available to today’s girls as they become the women of tomorrow.

DINING AROUND

As usual, the Chief Penguin and I have dined at several of our favorite restaurants this visit including tasty upscale Italian fare at Barbaresco, Canyon Road with classic Margaritas and zippy guacamole, Wa Jeal for a bit of Sichuan cuisine, and consistently good, large portioned, red gravy plus at Tony’s Di Napoli.  We also tried two unfamiliar places and re-visited a lunch place for dinner.

Lungi (1st Avenue & 63rd St.)

The formerly named Imli, which we enjoyed in the past, has rebranded itself as Lungi, and the menu now focuses on South Indian and Sri Lankan dishes.  We and our son and family all had lunch here, and it was delicious.  We opted for a bunch of small plates which included paneer with peppers, tiger shrimp with black pepper, chunks of beef with coconut and spices, and crispy chicken with chili.  We followed those tasty dishes with some filled dosas and two kinds of biryani.  We had plenty to eat.  The Chief Penguin and I vowed to return to try the curries.

Monsieur Bistro (Lexington St., Upper East Side)

For many years, our first dinner upon arrival in New York was at Sel et Poivre.  It was cozy and welcoming, we knew some of the waitstaff, and we had favorites on the menu.  Unfortunately, the menu stagnated, and the restaurant began to feel tired. It closed earlier this year and, under new ownership and some spiffing up of the décor, is now Monsieur Bistro. 

We ate here twice this visit.  The first meal was mixed in terms of what we liked and what we did not care for.   A more recent dinner was particularly good; lamb parmentier for me which was comfort food for a chilly night and a Brussels sprouts salad with a side of smoked salmon for the CP.   We will dine here again on our next visit.

Serafina 79 (Madison Ave., Upper East Side)

Serafina is an extremely popular place and at lunch apt to be crowded with students and their families, especially on days off.  We had eaten here several times, but never for dinner.  The menu includes a wide selection of pizzas, salads, and pasta dishes.  We brought our granddaughters here one night when their parents went out. 

The girls shared a pepperoni pizza while I tried the chicken paillard with arugula, and the CP had porcini ravioli.  The ravioli are made there and were so wonderful he could not stop raving about them!  Serafina has multiple branches across Manhattan, and we’re sure to return for more ravioli.

The most unusual store facade I saw this year!

Note: Header photo of Rockefeller Center tree and other photos by JWFarrington.

Manhattan: Looking, Dining & Reading

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WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART

The Whitney Biennial is held every two years and brings together the works of contemporary painters, sculptors, video artists and the like.  This year there are 70 artists represented and the works can be abstract, challenging, and occasionally accessible.  I find the experience of viewing this exhibit interesting and yet somewhat off-putting.  But I feel it’s a good exercise to be exposed to art I don’t necessarily like or understand.   Here are several works from the Biennial. Luger’s inverted tipi echoes his Native American heritage while stating that the world is upside down.

from Future Ancestral Technologies by C. H. Luger

Philadelphia artist Karyn Olivier uses found objects as reference points for the past or loss. Anyone who’s spent time in Maine will recognize these lobster trappings.

How Many Ways Can You Disappear, 2021

We also spent time in a gallery of works from the Whitney’s permanent collection.  Here are two pieces that spoke to me, one visually appealing, the other disturbing and powerful. I like the vibrancy and beauty of the Gullah woman in Dry Clean.

Dry Clean, Eldzier Cortor, c.1945-46

Norman Lewis’ stark black and white oil painting is chilling with its masks, skulls, and echoes of Klansmen and would easily have fit in the Biennial exhibit.

American Totem, Norman Lewis, 1960

DINING AROUND—THAI STREET FOOD 

Up Thai (Upper East Side)

We had walked by Up Thai in the past, but never eaten here before.  I read a recommendation for it and decided to book. It’s a very popular place and while an attractive space, it’s jammed packed with tables and there is very little space for the wait staff to navigate.  Granted, we were here on a Friday night, but it was crowded with families with children as well as 30 and 40 somethings.  

Our waitress was smilingly pleasant and efficient, and we loved what we ordered!  UP spring rolls with shrimp and crabmeat with plum sauce to start. 

UP spring rolls

Then a medium spicy green curry with chicken, string beans, bamboo shoots, bell pepper, and basil leaves, along with pad krapraw, an entrée of Thai chili, onion, peppers, shitake mushrooms, more basil leaves, and pork.  Both dishes came with white rice. 

On a return visit, we sampled the curry puffs and a vermicelli dish with shrimp.  The vermicelli with ginger and other spices was especially good. In addition, we ordered pad krapraw, this time with chicken. We had more than enough to share.  It was all so good that we will be regulars here!

GUT WRENCHING & HEARTRENDING NOVEL

In Memoriam by Alice Winn

Author Winn (theguardian.com)

In her first published novel, Alice Winn depicts the mostly unspoken love between two young men, schoolboys together, and then soldiers in the front lines in France. Ellwood (Elly or Sidney) and Gaunt (Henry) are classmates at an upper-class English boarding school.  When Britain enters the World War, they and most of their classmates enthuse about joining up as soon as they are old enough.  Their view of war is one of glory and excitement on the battlefield.  Little do they envision the carnage and the gruesomeness they will experience in the trenches at Ypres, Loos, and the Somme.  

The novel alternates in time and space between Ellwood and Gaunt and their experiences together and separately (Henry becomes a German prisoner of war) and those of their closest friends and classmates.  Besides this group, Gaunt’s sister Maud is the other principal character.  She serves as a nurse during the war years, giving her some perspective on what these young men have suffered. The years covered are 1913 to 1919.

The battle scenes are extremely graphic and some of the most gut wrenching I’ve ever read.  Bodies are blasted apart and pile up.  These scenes are contrasted with and redeemed by tenderness and shared forbidden love.  Despite all the deaths that litter these pages, the reader is left with a sense of hope in the years after the war.

Inspired by war remembrances in the historical archives of her own college and enriched by extensive research, Winn has crafted a powerful, moving, and ultimately beautiful work of art.  Highly recommended! (~JWFarrington)

Note: All photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.) Header photo is Deep Calls to Deep by Maja Ruznic at the Whitney Biennial.

Return to Manhattan & a Mystery

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SECOND SPRING

In May, we typically spend the month in Manhattan.  It’s a round robin of visits to great art museums, dining at favorite restaurants, sampling new eateries, people watching in the parks, discovering new titles from beloved bookstores, and spending lots of time with our delightful granddaughters—without being a drag on their busy schedules.  

We have always enjoyed seeing tulips in bloom in Central Park, in the Jefferson Market Garden, and along Park Avenue.  This year, we reveled in early spring in North Carolina—delicate redbud trees, daffodils, yellow snapdragons, and then the azaleas bursting out.  We arrived here mid-week past the peak of the tulips, but there are still enough hanging on to attract our attention:  robustly red ones, rosy pink blooms, and in Central Park, dark purple tulips verging on black against a backdrop of white azalea petals. 

We’ve been here about three days and haven’t yet done much except walk, dine, and enjoy our granddaughters.  Our new life in North Carolina is filled with so much activity that I believe we are in recovery mode, a winddown from our recent move and all the energy that required.  Soon we will get back to touring the exhibits at the MoMA, the Met, and the Whitney. In the meantime, there are even “flowers” on 5th Avenue–thank you, Van Cleef & Arpels!

FUN HISTORICAL MYSTERY

The Lace Widow by Mollie Ann Cox

Eliza Hamilton, wife and then widow of Alexander Hamilton, was a formidable woman.  Strong, smart, resilient, and determined to make a difference in the world, she outlived Alexander by 50 years.  

In The Lace Widow, author Cox turns Eliza, or Mrs. General Hamilton as she is politely addressed, into a detective.  It is a fact that Aaron Burr killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel.  And it is true that some of Hamilton’s political enemies falsely accused him of misusing U.S. Treasury funds.  After Hamilton’s untimely and unseemly death, Eliza desperately seeks to see Burr punished, but he has disappeared.  She is also motivated to continue to protect Hamilton’s reputation and that of herself and her children.   

When several of Hamilton’s close friends also die in suspicious circumstances, and her oldest son is fingered as a suspect, she begins her search for the culprits.  In the process, secret societies and strange alliances are uncovered midst several false leads.  

While the events here depicted after Hamilton’s death, including the several murders, are fiction, Cox crafts a good story and highlights the role of lace in a woman’s wardrobe and the skill and nimble hands required to make it.  A fast read that believably combines fact and fiction!

I foresee a future Eliza Hamilton mystery. In the meantime, for an absorbing take on Eliza’s multi-faceted life, read My Dear Hamilton:  A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie.  

NORTH CAROLINA DINING

This entry is for my new cadre of local readers.

Peck & Plume (The Mayton)

The Mayton, Cary’s boutique inn a few doors from the downtown park, houses not only attractive rooms for overnight guests, but a welcoming and tasty restaurant.  Peck & Plume is open for all three meals, and besides its inside dining room, boasts a lovely terrace.  With fans and heaters, the terrace is comfortable most any time of year. 

The Chief Penguin and I enjoyed lunch there recently.  He had the sashimi tuna preparation along with a small Caesar salad.  I took advantage of the soup sip (a demitasse cup of the daily soup for $2) and tucked into a Caesar salad with salmon.  The salad greens were fresh and crisp, and the salmon was perfectly done.  

We also sampled the specialty cocktails.  I liked the sound of the lavender mule with ginger and lemon but found it overly perfumed.  Service here can be a bit slow, but if you have the time, the food is worth the more leisurely pace!

Note: All photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)

Christmas Greetings from Manhattan

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AROUND TOWN

Lighted tree on Park Avenue

The Christmas trees on Park Avenue glow golden as the afternoon darkens, pedestrians are bundled up tightly against the chill wind, and there is a bustle and much anticipation as folks prepare for Christmas Day.   

Holiday berries

At our son’s place, presents galore are piled underneath the perfectly shaped tree.  Younger granddaughter F has sussed out all her gifts, even counted them, examined each and everyone, and made guesses at the contents.  

The little blue and red bowl on the coffee table has been filled and refilled with candy cane kisses.  Three bags’ full, they have consumed, she excitedly proclaims.  She and her older sister have made gifts for all the family and done elaborate wrapping and labeling of them, even adding decorative elements to the gift paper.

Tree in Bristol Plaza lobby

HOLIDAY CONCERT

On Thursday, I was one of the lucky grandparents at the middle school winter concert, presented primarily by the 5th and 6th grade classes.  There was a handbell group, two pieces played on recorder, and many songs.  E sang with her classmates, and they sang with the men’s chorus on selected numbers.  The men’s chorus, made up of the girls’ fathers, is a long tradition at Brearley, and one everyone enjoys.  

Playing at home

Also of note, the middle school orchestra (5th through 8th graders) played the Jupiter section from Holst’s The Planets.  E is one of a handful of French horn players in the ensemble.  All very impressive!

(The lower school also had a winter concert, but the hall was just large enough for the girls’ parents.)

MAGIC OF THE SEASON

Even if you don’t get to view the tree at Rockefeller Center or admire midtown’s festive facades, there is magic to be found. For two decades, residents of 73rd Street between Second and Third Avenues have draped their street trees in soft lights from Thanksgiving through January. It’s truly a wonderland to behold!

Merry, merry Christmas!!

Note: All photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.). Header photo is lighted trees on E. 73rd St.