Weekend Adventure Part A - Arcade and Apples

This has been such a grand adventure of a weekend that it needed to be split into two posts!

On Friday after work I went up with Seth to Westchester.

We met at Grand Central and it was BUSY!

We had a very nice dinner with his parents at a restaurant up there before Seth and I went off on our own adventures.  The restaurant is called Half Moon and it was just a really pretty restaurant in a really pretty area.  (Pictures from the restaurant website)

The front of the restuarant

Inside with the few of the water in the background

Seth had this for an appetizer. I had a bite, it was good!

Afterward we went back to Seth's parents' new house (they just moved over the summer).  This is the first time I had been to their new house and it's very nice!  Seth and I then met up with a friend of his from high school and we went to this nearby arcade/fun center called Sportime.  Seth and his friend hadn't been there in probably 15 years so I think they had a lot of fun just wandering around and seeing that it was still exactly the same.

The air hockey table was extremely old...

I even played a little bit of Dance Dance Revolution!

The arcade was a lot of fun, but Saturday morning was what I was really excited about as Seth and I went apple picking!  I've never been before, but apparently this is a pretty standard fall activity for these East Coasters (or maybe just New Yorkers?).  It was a lot of fun, but a bit more work than I was expecting.  We went to Harvest Moon Orchards (also called Outhouse Orchards).  When we went in they gave us this big stick thing with a basket on the end that you use to get the apples from higher up.  We got sooo many apples but we left some with Seth's friends who we met up with in the afternoon.

The drive out to the orchard
It's really great to get out of the city sometimes

Driver Seth!

Getting excited!

There was also a corn maze (that we didn't go in)

Pretty views of changing leaves

This was before the bag got too heavy
and I made Seth start carrying it

Good work team

They also had a pumpkin patch!

So many apples!

You can't go to an orchard and not get apple cider

pretty views on the drive back

After apple picking we met up with a couple more of Seth's friends and we ended up walking around one of the nearby parks.  It was such a nice day out.  Also, as we were sitting we saw this group of guys with a giant plank of wood - they had built their own raft!  It was funny to watch them try to get it into the water and I took some pictures without trying to be too obvious about it because I was so amused.  I was even more impressed when the raft actually floated and they started paddling their way down the river.

Bronx Bombers

This was originally going to be a post about the 2 shows I saw this week, but unfortunately I wasn't able to see the second show due to this terrible cold that crept up on me.

But before I talk about that, on with the show!

Seth's undergrad had an alumni event where he could get decently priced tickets to see a play called the Bronx Bombers and then also be a part of a Q&A afterwards so he asked if I wanted to go and, since I'm always up for a show, I said sure.  Thought to preface this situation, this is what Seth asked me "Hey, do you want to see a Broadway musical about the Yankees?" and I said sure, I love musicals.  Turns out, after doing some digging on the show it was not in fact a broadway musical, instead it is an off-broadway play.  It was still about the Yankees so he did get that part right.

Anyway, we went to see the show and it was actually pretty good.  The playwright has done a couple of other shows (Lombardi and Magic Bird).  I didn't see either of his other shows, but I know Lombardi at least made it to Broadway and did pretty well.  The theme of his work is definitely sports.  The play was fun and it was interesting to see the way they staged it, but I do I think I would have enjoyed it more had I known more about the history of the Yankees, or really about baseball in general.  The Q&A session at the end was interesting as well, it's always neat to hear the creators of a show talk about their experiences.  This one had the writer, one of the producers, and several of the actors.

Last night I was supposed to go with several friends to see Romeo & Juliet starring Orlando Bloom.  Unfortunately, Thursday night I came down with a terrible cold (I didn't go to work on Friday) and so opted out of going to the show.  As much as I wanted to see the show, I'm glad I didn't go as it was good to get some rest and while I'm still not feeling 100%, I'm definitely feeling better.  I'll see the show another time I'm sure.

And now I'm off to drink some tea and relax.  This cold is going down!

Broadway Flea Market

Last weekend was the event of the year!  (well, for me anyway).  It was the Broadway Flea Market.  I went last year for the first time and had the best time ever!  They basically rope off a street in times square and all of the different theatre organizations and shows set up tables where they sell things and all of the money collected goes to Broadway Cares, Equity Fights AIDS, which is Broadway's main charity that they support.

You can get everything from random stuff you'd expect at any flea market, to Broadway paraphernalia, to baked goods made by the cast of The Lion King.  They also have autograph tables and photo opportunities and raffles galore.

This year Kari wasn't able to go so she had me be her personal shopper and I got to buy things for me and for her!  It was a lot of fun and I got a pretty good haul :)

The crowds were crazy. There were so many people!

A pretty good haul!

On a completely side note, one of my friends at work has been talking about how she really wanted to learn how to cross stitch because she had seen online someone had cross stitched samplers, but instead of saying 'home sweet home' or something like that, they were stitched out versions of a tweet.  I was in a cross stitching kinda mood last week and so I made her one!  It's pretty silly but it was fun to make and she was really excited about it.

Yankees vs Red Sox vs Pippin

This has been one of those weekends where I don't get a lot of sleep but love every minute of it!

Friday night I went with Seth and Monica to a Yankees vs Red Sox baseball game.  It was an interesting game because there is such a rivalry between the two teams.  Monica was rooting for the Red Sox, Seth was rooting for the Yankees, and I was really excited for my hot dog :)  Red Sox ended up winning and I got to see my first live Grand Slam, so that was fun!

After getting home late from the game (my biggest complaint about the sport...it lasts FOREVER!) I somehow agreed to trying to get rush tickets on Saturday with Kari to see Pippin.

So, we got up at 5:45am to try to get down in line.  We were pretty worried when we got down there as we were still fairly far back in line, but luckily we were able to snag a couple of tickets to the matinee.  It was AMAZING.  I had a good feeling I would enjoy the show from the clips I've seen, but I thought the whole thing was incredible.  You can definitely see why several of the actors won Tonys for their rolls and why the show is so hard to get tickets to right now.

It was really neat the way they combined circus tricks and acrobatics with the dancers and some of what I can only assume is the original Fosse choreography.  It was a fantastic day, but I was sooo tired at the end of it!

And of course, here's the amazing cast of Pippin performing at the Tony Awards:

Coney Island!

You would think that going to Coney Island on labor day weekend when it's is supposed to rain would be a terrible, terrible idea.  I thought the same thing.

HOWEVER, the weather ended up being great (slightly overcast to keep it on the cooler side but no rain) and the crowds didn't really show up until we were pretty ready to leave anyway.

We had the best time!  Seth and I are both not really that big on roller coasters so we spent most of the time watching Kari and Monica do the bigger thrill rides.  I enjoyed it though!  I got home about 5 and was bushed.  I practically fell asleep as soon as I got home.

On the subway - getting excited!

I enjoyed my visual joke

The boardwalk!

You can't go to Coney Island without getting a Nathan's hot dog

Only 305 days left...

Riding the carousel

Trying to get a good picture in the mirror, didn't really work haha

I got very wet on this ride

Wooo!

I did it!

I had to buy the picture from when the 4 of us went

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike...and Tortilla

Over the weekend I decided that what I really wanted was Tortilla, or for those who have never lived in Spain, Tortilla Española.

A little history on the subject:  Tortilla is a dish that I had while I was in Spain.  It's very common there, my host mom made it several times, and most importantly, it is quite, quite delicious.  The confusing part is that this is absolutely not what you are probably thinking when you first hear the word 'tortilla'.  In Spain, a tortilla is not the flat thing you wrap burritos in.  A tortilla is almost quiche-like.  It's basically fried egg and potatoes that you can eat hot, you can eat cold, you can eat it between two slices of bread (also called a bocadillo).

NOT a Spanish Tortilla

My dad had a recipe because after I got home from Spain I convinced him to make it a couple of times, but I got him to send me the recipe to me so I could try it on my own.  And by on my own I mean with Kari's help :)

I got together all of the ingredients (including 6 potatoes and 7 eggs!).  It's a fair amount of work because you have to chop an onion into really small pieces, peel and slice 6 potatoes, mix that together, fry the potato/onion mixture until it's a little bit mushy and brown, mix that with the 7 whipped eggs, then fry in a pan with a little olive oil.

The recipe made much more than I anticipated but but by the 3rd tortilla, I think they started to look prettier!  And now I'm enjoying Tortilla Bocadillos for lunch this week :)

Tortilla #1!  Kari and I ate the whole thing!

I also went to see a show this weekend!  I seem to be in the habit now of seeing shows closing weekend (ex. Jekyll & Hyde and The Nance), so Seth and I went to see the play Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.  It starred David Hyde Pierce which was fun.

It's a very strange play basically about these siblings and their dysfunctional family but was very funny and David Hyde Pierce was great.  There was also a lot of Chekov references that I don't think I understood, but there was enough to keep me laughing without that knowledge so it worked out okay.

Here's a clip from the first few minutes:

I'm glad I was able to see the play before it closed and it was fun seeing it with Seth!

And bringing up the rear, it's once again time for random pictures!

My dad sent me this one randomly, it was taken when I took a fencing class in college.  Can you find me?

And then this is the pink hat I tried on while I was shopping on Sunday.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls

Kari made these chocolate peanut butter balls last night.  Apparently we both think that making baked goods at 11:30 at night is always a good idea.  They kind of remind me of the ones my grandma Martin makes at christmas.  They are pretty tasty!

Furniture!

I had furniture adventures this weekend!

Seth helped me acquire and move a piece of furniture that I really wanted from Ikea.  It was too far for them to deliver to my apartment so we had them deliver it to Seth's apartment, which is a little closer.  We then borrowed his roommate's car and he drove me and the box back to my apartment.  He's the best and I'm so grateful!!

Kari then helped me put it together and now it's in my room and I love it so much!

Big heavy box!

Assembling

Still assembling

Wooo furniture!

And now it's even in the right place

On another random side note, here is a view from the roof of Seth's apartment.  Isn't it beautiful??

The Nance and Banana Muffins

Another slew of random updates!

Thursday night ended up being a baking night as I was teasing Kari about the large number of bananas she had started collecting in the freezer.  So, instead of letting me tease her, she made banana bread!  I think I got the better end of the bargain, especially because she also put chocolate chips in it.  She mostly made them, but I helped put them into the mini muffin pan.

Then, on Friday night Kari and I went to see a play called The Nance.  I'm glad I got to see it, as this was its closing weekend.  The play stars Nathan Lane and it was incredible to see him perform.  I had seen him perform once in The Adams Family, but this was different as he was silly and comedic one moment, and intense and poignant the next.  Somehow we also ended up with tickets in the front row center of the theatre, which was also pretty cool.  It was a tad awkward because you felt a little like the actors were trying to jump in your lap, but again, it was especially neat to see Nathan Lane so close up.  Plus, for once nobody was blocking my view!

In other news, I have a sunflower that I'm growing!  It's gotten sooo tall!

In other, other random news, Seth and I were walking around near his new apartment, and look at this crazy sculpture that is near by!  It's apparently an alligator coming out of the sewer and eating a baby made of money.  It has something to do with wall street and finance stuff but other than that I'm not really sure what the point of it is.  It was interesting though!