Sadly, the great cookie shop in Hell’s Kitchen, Ruby et Violette, has closed its doors. This forced me to get out and find another local spot for great sweet treats.
I had heard about Levain Bakery from a few friends but I had never stopped in until recently. It is a tiny whole in the wall on 74th and Amsterdam. I walked down the short flight of stairs and was met with the biggest ball of cookie I had every seen. These cookies are not flat, they are pretty much the size and shape of a softball. If you are lucky, you can get them warm and just out of the oven, but even cooled off, they are amaze balls!
I have tried all of the flavors now, but my favorite is Dark Chocolate with Peanut Butter Chip. Yum! If you can’t make it to the Upper West Side, I hear there is also a Levain in Harlem. Trust me, these jumbo balls of goodness are worth a trek and a week on the treadmill!
There is something amazing about staying in New York City for Labor Day weekend. The city completely empties out as everyone tries to cram one last bit of summer in before the official start of fall and the school year. We often stick around just so we can get into all our favorite restaurants and relax.
On Saturday night I got to see a favorite band of mine, The Weepies, at Irving Plaza. The Weepies’ music is not incredibly danceable, but it is so mellow and lovely that you can’t help but enjoy it. I was curious to see how their music would translate at Irving Plaza, a small, standing-only venue near Union Square.
The concert turned out to be perfectly suited for my Labor Day weekend mood. The show did not sell out, so everyone had adequate space to sway and swing. The crowd was incredibly mellow as well. Everyone was sitting on the floor waiting for the show to start and when The Weepies came on stage everyone was calm and quiet. The group is composed of a married couple and a friendly base player. The acoustic show fit their musical style wonderfully. The Weepies music was soft and light and perfectly suited to a final, relaxing weekend in the City. This was a fabulous way to spend one of the last quiet weekends of the year here in New York.
Earlier this summer I decided to channel my inner child and sign up for an Intro to Trampoline Class at the Trapeze School of New York.
I should start by saying that I am not new to the trampoline. For most of my adolescence we had one in my back yard and it was a favorite way for me and my friends to spend the summer days in Vermont. I was never incredibly brave so I mostly did twists, turns, and the occasional back-flip.
Since the age of about 18, I have not spent much time on a trampoline, though. I decided it would be fun to see if I still remembered any moves so I roped two friends into checking out the class with me.
Intro to Trampoline takes place under a tent and can be done in all kinds of weather. The large, rectangular trampoline is fairly high off the ground and is right next to the indoor trapeze class. The class maxes out at four people, so that everyone can get maximum jumping time during the class.
Each of the four participants is invited to jump by the instructor and he will take you through as many “tricks” as you feel ready for. This is a good way to make sure everyone gets a chance to try as much, or as little, as she wants. My friends were former cheerleaders and one was even brave enough to try a back tuck! All in all we had a fun time, although not a fabulous workout. If you want to sign up, I recommend finding three friends to bring along. I only brought two friends so the fourth space was filled by a random guy who seemed to hog the trampoline. We all agreed we would have had a better time had we booked the class exclusively.
Trampoline class is a great way to introduce you to what a trapeze class might be like because you can see what that class is doing while you are waiting for your turn on the trampoline. Go check out the Trapeze School of New York and see if you can start flying (on the trampoline or trapeze) soon.
Otto (pronounced like Toto without the first T) is a Mario Batali restaurant in the West Village. It has truly amazing pizzas, gelatos, and cheeses (that come with fabulous dips like cherry and apricot). It also has an incredible wine menu.
Every Tuesday night and one day during the weekend they host a wine tasting. The hubby and I finally got around to trying out a tasting recently and we had a blast!
I should preface my review by saying I know very little about wine other than I like to drink it. I know you are supposed to swirl the wine around in your glass and take a deep inhale of the wine’s aroma before tasting it, but that is the extent of my knowledge. I have always wanted to know more about how to taste wine and this class provided a great introduction.
One of the restaurant’s sommeliers served as an instructor. Prior to each taste he pointed out on a map where in Italy the wine was from. He mentioned little tidbits along the way such as the fact that as white wine ages, it gets darker, and as red wine ages, it gets lighter. For the very reasonable price of $45 we got to taste 5 wines and a prosecco and five delicious cheeses (sadly, no dips were provided at the tasting).
There were a couple of downsides that you should prepare for if you are planning to hit up a tasting at Otto. First, it was very loud in the bar area and people towards the back tables had to struggle to hear. The sommelier worked hard to overcome this by making sure to talk to all the guests (there were about 14 of us total) individually between tastings. The second bummer was that you had to stand for the entire hour and a half tasting. If you want to stay and have dinner at Otto after the tasting, make sure and book a reservation in advance, we were told it was an hour and a half wait if we wanted to eat in the dining room!
If you haven’t heard of The Book of Mormon you are most likely living overseas or under a rock. This big Broadway musical swept most of the 2011 Tonys and now it is next to impossible to get a ticket. I was smart/lucky enough to head out to see the show before the Tony’s catapulted it into fame.
The Book of Mormon is an original musical about two young Mormon men who are sent to Uganda to do their mission. It is written by the guys who wrote South Park, so I knew it would not be your typical Andrew Lloyd Webber production.
I was pleasantly surprised when this musical had me laughing out loud throughout most of the two acts. Warning: this musical is not for the prude or for young children. There are many many swear words and some of the songs are crude and have to do with sex and excrement. I heard actors singing about things I never expected to hear sung on the Great White Way, but it was well worth it and incredibly unique.
Can’t get tickets to Book of Mormon? We got tickets through the rush lottery. Two hours before the show they pull 20 names from a bucket and those lucky people get to purchase front row seats for that day/night’s performance for only $32! You don’t even have to be a student or under 30! Word has gotten out about this great show and this great deal, however, so make sure you have a backup plan in case you don’t win. If you do get in, expect to have better seats than the celebrities… I sat in front of Jack Nicholson the night I was there. He enjoyed the show too, I think… he stayed and gave it a standing ovation along with the rest of the audience.
It was a beautiful but cool 
Saturday night and I was craving something hearty and sweet. We were walking around the West Village, thinking about heading to Peanut Butter and Co. when I decided I wanted a waffle. But not diner waffles, I wanted a waffle like the one I had after drinking in Belgium. I said “let’s find out where the Waffle truck is!”
I have passed the Wafels and Dinges truck a few times before but I was never hungry for it when I saw it. Luckily, I kept it in the back of my mind as a spot I had to try. We were able to use a smart phone to log on to twitter and find out the precise location of the Wafels and Dinges truck and lucky for us the truck was only one block away… it was fate!
I ordered the sweeter waffle with nutella and whipped cream. Dinges, for those who don’t know, are toppings. The truck toppings include nutella, banana, strawberries, and many other fair food like toppings. My husband got ice cream, peanut butter and chocolate sauce on his. We sat outside and devoured our waffles before hopping a train back home. It was the perfect combination of timing, technology, and hunger. On the way home I vowed to begin following all of NYC’s fabulous food trucks so that I would always know when one was nearby.
Sadly, the great cookie shop in Hell’s Kitchen, Ruby et Violette, has closed its doors. This forced me to get out and find another local spot for great sweet treats. 
