Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and… the Gugge.

So this is the FINAL NYC post on our blog. It’s taken a while but we wanted to prolong our vacation memories as long as possible.

Speaking of prolonged waits, here’s a small window into my life. This is a short (or long to me) clip of Elaina getting ready just to leave our SoHo apartment. This is what I had to go through EVERY day and night we went out.

One of our favorite shows is Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. We actually DVR every episode so of course when in NYC we had to try and make a live taping. This was our final day in NYC so we were hoping to make it in and we did! We had to be at Rockfeller Center to line up for tickets at 8am even though the taping isn’t until 5:30pm

Elaina being the cheese that she is, she really wanted this shirt. I wanted one as well but I’ll admit it looks WAY better on her than me.

Not only did we make it into the show, we made it ONTO the show. R Kelly was performing that night and we were able to stand behind the band! They told us, “you all may be on camera so make sure you move around and look like you’re enjoying the performance even if you’re not”. So when R Kelly started Elaina was moving around to the music and looking good, I also started to rock out and dance a little (or so I thought). When we watched it on TV in our apartment that night and much to my surprise I wasn’t even moving! I asked Elaina, “wasn’t I rocking out?” She just laughed and said, “NO, you barely moved”. Oh well,  here’s our television debut. You can catch Elaina at the 1:46 and 2:02  minute marks. I’m in there too but the YouTube video sucks. I sweat I thought I was rocking out!!!

The episode we were at had Michael C. Hall as a guest (Dexter) which is another one of our favorite shows. Then we stumbled upon this on the way home later that night.

Back to NBC studio’s and the Sharp 108. Jimmy has one on his set as well.  It’s a 108″ LCD tv that runs a cool $10k. I need that!!!

Elaina outside NBC Rockefeller Center with some cops.

Inside NBC Rockefeller Center

NBC Rockefeller Center during the day

While we were waiting for Jimmy Fallon, we decided to hit the Guggenheim Museum.  We never needed city maps as long as we had our iPhones. We should have taken them to Europe with us. Me finding our way as usual.

I guess the Gugge must have a spitting problem?

Outside with Robot

Inside

Now the walk to dinner and site-seeing after Jimmy Fallon and the Gugge.

Elaina had wanted to eat here because people were having dinner, a DJ was spinning records, and people were creating artwork. Pretty cool place.

Drinks please!

Appetizer of fillet mignon tartare

Elaina had the seafood pasta with mussels, clams, shrimp, and other miscellaneous items.

I had the lobster ravioli, always a good choice.

Then some crème brulée for dessert

And of course, any New York meal wouldn’t be complete without a nice walk home. Our last night in NYC!

The next morning came and went quickly with us packing and cleaning our apartment in time to catch a cab to JFK. Like with all of our travels, we have to eat before we leave right? For us this is a quick lunch before the airport.

Deviled eggs with sardines to start

Elaina had some kind of a meat soup with spicy sausage, diced chicken, and spinach amongst other things.

I had the tri-tip sandwich

On our way to the airport we remembered that we never made it to the Brooklyn Bridge. So we asked our cabby to take the long way around so we could see it. Here’s a quick shot as the cab weaves in and out of traffic.

After that we decided we didn’t want to take anymore pictures. We made the mistake of documenting our return trip from Europe and when we see those photos we just get sad. New York is a great city and we loved every minute of it together. We would really like to make it back out here again in the spring or early summer but we still have a laundry list of other places we want to visit first.

We’ll miss you NYC!!!

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Chelsea, The Standard, and Cubana Cafe

As our trip was coming to a close we were just going to be site-seeing, no real attractions planned anymore. This day we headed on over to Chelsea and of course we had to stop by The Chelsea Hotel. The hotel is very famous for many reasons. It’s had guests such as  Eugene O’Neill, Dylan Thomas, Thomas Wolfe, Jane Fonda, Janis Joplin and Bob Dylan. A couple of the most famous or infamous guests were Sid Vicious and his girlfriend “Nauseating” Nancy Spungen. They were living in Room 100 back in 1978 and as the story goes Vicious “allegedly” stabbed and killed Nancy in their room. Both known heroin addicts it was an open and shut case. They even made a movie about their affairs but it wasn’t really that good. Still worth a watch though.

All of the Chelsea area is very artsy but in a struggling home-grown kind of way. Far from the 5th Ave & Park Ave lined museums. It might not look like much but it’s REALLY expensive to stay here. Maybe next time if room 100 is available.

After The Chelsea, we strolled around the area taking in the neighborhood. Some of you might remember that Elaina and I had our bikes stolen recently. We’ve since then purchased really good locks for our new bikes. This guy happens to have the same lock we do, at least he still has his frame!

Next on our stop was The Standard Hotel. For those that aren’t aware, I proposed to Elaina at The Standard Hotel L.A. on the roof top bar. There is also a Hollywood and Miami Standard. The L.A. location is our favorite for obvious reasons. Here they don’t have a roof top bar but a penthouse bar at the top level with a 360 degree view. Unfortunately, the penthouse bar was being rented out for a private party. Luckily they have four different bars in the hotel, our kind of place!

All of the hotels have original furniture designed by artists. Here’s their version of picnic tables. If you want to see some of the Standard L.A. you can CLICK HERE for our old blog.

Revolving entry door

The Lobby

The lobby bar where we made our scene

Shrimp cocktail, onion rings, wine, and beer. Yes please!

The womens restroom

More of the lobby

Our cab ride back to SoHo. Elaina got to hail her first cabby!

We had walked by this place on the way home a couple nights and Elaina really wanted to try it.

It has a B Health Department rating so you know it’s good!

Elaina’s gonna kill me for forgetting what we had to eat. Hers was a carne (bee)f dish with rice and mine was a carnitas (pork) dish. Both really good and even better with a pitcher of sangria.

We told ourselves every evening NOT to overeat but everything we’ve had is so damn good. Oh well, time to waddle home back to our little apartment in SoHo.

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Our New Friend, Stan

So everyone knows the way Elaina and I are, we love making new friends. While we were here Elaina’s aunt Moniqua hooked us up with one of her and her husbands friends, Stan. It’s always a little weird meeting someone you’ve never met right out of the blue but 9 times out of 10 it’s a good time. This was no different.

After a couple messages on Facebook, Stan said we should meet at this Irish Gastropub in midtown, “The Long Bar” for a couple drinks and then some food later.

Here’s STAN!

He’s a super cool guy that lives on the east side with his long time girlfriend, unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to meet her. Next time for sure! Stan play’s bass in a band called, Under the Elephant .

The Long Bar is a cool joint with a wide selection and lots of seating, perfect to catch a pint (or three) of Guinness. They even have their own cask beer they brew. I had a sample and it was pretty good!

Everywhere we went we had a pile of coats, scarves, gloves, and hats. Party of three, better make it four, we need the space for all our crap!

After The Long Bar we headed downtown for some good eatin’. Stan said this place was ridiculous, sounds like our kind of place. It was called Hill Country BBQ and we couldn’t wait to sink our teeth into some good meat!

Everything looked and smelled great so we didn’t know what to order. Looks like the Sunday Combo HAS everything, three please!

This is what was brought to Elaina and I, no plates, no napkins, and we had to ask for silverware. Nice.

Let me at it, that chicken is giving me the evil eye!

Sides: sweet potato, country mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, and some slaw. Don’t forget the PBR to wash it down. YEEHAW! So good I almost wanted to marry my cousin!!!

The brisket was the best part for me. Elaina liked the beef ribs most but we were both thrown back by how good the chicken was. We both saved it for last in case we were full but we were pleasantly surprised.

Almost done, isn’t desert included also? WHAT?!

Deserts: Red velvet cupcake, black forest cupcake, and a first for me PBnJ cupcake! It was peanut butter cake with peanut butter frosting along with Reese’s Pieces on top, the kicker, homemade jelly INSIDE the cake. Now I’m ready to marry my sister!

Stan and Robot getting to know each other over desert.

As if we weren’t full enough we needed to catch a couple drinks before we call it a night. Stan’s favorite watering hole was in the East Village at a place called, Three of Cups. We jumped on the metro and headed downtown.

The place is pretty cool and below street level. It totally reminded us of Johnny’s Saloon back here in H.B. It wasn’t as dark as Johnny’s but it had all the right ingredients.

After throwing back a few we were ready to call it a night. It wasn’t too far and a 25 degree midnight stroll back to our place in SoHo was in order to work off that huge dinner. Thanks for taking the time to show us around Stan, hopefully we’ll be back soon but if we’re not, you better make it on out to the west coast. Good Times!

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Frozen Hot Chocolate, a View of the City, and Ol’ St. Nick!

Another thing on Elaina’s to do list was to visit, Serendipity. It’s a restaurant in a cheesy movie from 2001 that the movie gets its namesake, I was unfortunately subjected to watching it. We originally went to this place for dinner on a Thursday evening about 8:30 p.m. and the wait was 2 hours! No thanks, we made reservations and the soonest they could get us in was four days later on Monday at 11:30 a.m. So here we are.

If you’ve ever seen the movie, it looks just as it did 10 years ago in the film.

Their claim to fame is their HUGE “frozen hot chocolate”. Me being the cynic that I am I asked, “isn’t it just frozen chocolate since it isn’t hot anymore?” Anyways, regardless of what it’s called it was really good and hit the spot at 11 a.m. for breakfast on a toasty 30 degree day, but I digress..

Elaina had a fruit and cream cheese stuffed pancake thing and I had an omelet with green chili’s and sausage.

The place is filled with tourist and older ladies acting like wide eyed little girls. We took a photo of some people for them so they returned the favor.  The frozen chocolate is HUGE and that was recommended to start the meal!

A few Christmas trees out front we liked. Maybe next year we’ll have a pink tree?

After we rolled ourselves out from breakfast , our next stop was the Empire State Building. This is where Buddy’s dad works. He’s on the naughty list though.

Cool Empire candy art.

It was a windy day so only one side of the observation deck was open. They said the other side was getting 50 mph gusts.

Our view.

You can see the Chrysler building in the center of the photo.

Robot liked that building so he wanted a closer look.

So I took a picture of it with our camera.

Here’s a cool rooftop lounge on top of one of the adjacent buildings.

The Times Square NYE Ball.

Our next stop for the day was Macy’s to visit Santa. This is the largest single store in the world. It’s 9 levels of shopping and occupies one city block along with over 1,000,000 sq. ft. of retail space! Back in the day when Mr. Macy was buying the building and other businesses on each level, a local hot dog stand owner didn’t want Mr. Macy to own the entire block so he purchased one small portion of the block, (where Sunglass Hut sits) vowing to never sell it to Mr. Macy and is written into the contract of the existing and future owners.

Looks like we’re a little low on the Believe Meter.

After the sixth floor the escalators are made of wood. They sound like an old wooden roller coaster climbing before the big drop.

Macy’s was the first store in the U.S. to have an in store Santa back in 1862. Santa is located on the 9th floor. The entire area is decorated like an enchanted forest, it makes the time pass quicker while waiting in line. Luckily we only had to wait about 20 minutes to see Santa. One of the elves told us that as Christmas nears it’s not uncommon to have people waiting up to 3 hours to see him. Yikes!

Lucky for Elaina, she’s been NAUGHTY this year.

I hope Santa brings me that toy!

And finally we arrive, “we passed through the seven levels of the candy cane forest, through the sea of swirly twirly gum drops, and then through the Lincoln Tunnel”. SANTA!!! I think Santa was happier to have Elaina on his lap than she was to be there.

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Things We See in NYC

We’re all bundled up and ready to take the town! We’re not used to 25-35 degree temperatures. We had to make sure we were covered head to toe.

Since New York City doensn’t have open lots to sell their Christmas trees, you turn the corner and there’s trees ready to be picked up.

We didn’t see anyone with trees on their cars, we saw most everyone carrying their tree home

What’s up Santa!

Now we catch the subway. I still wish we had transportation like this at home and we still think Paris had one of the best subway systems. But we’re not knockin’ NYC’s system, its still pretty good.

Pay phones all over the subway, probably because there NO cell phone reception.

We’re trying to figure out if these are “scare-pigeons” to keep the pigeons out of the subway or if they’re just cool art, or both!

This mom had a Dora The Explorer sticker on the bottom of her shoe. She spent most of the ride yelling at her daughter for pulling her earrings.

Hooooow  much is that doggie in the window!?

Its so cold out, even the statues are cold! Someone get these guys a parka!

Most of the dogs wear coats too! Now I don’t feel weird for dressing Edward in coats and sweaters all the time.

Uuummm… I think we’ll walk.

Central Park lake

just more and more sweet sights.

The Cathedral of St. John the Divine the world’s largest cathedral.

Why is this lady wearing flip-flops while walking her dog in the freezing cold? And where is his sweater?!

There are an estimate 10,000 towers in the city today. Any building over 6 stories must have a water tower to moderate the water pressure coming from upstate. If they had the pressure strong enough to push up 20 stories or more, it would burst the pipes below.

Has anyone ever seen a baby pigeon in this city? Or anywhere?

There’s an ad that struck my fancy!

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Soupman and Lombardi’s

Just another day in the city. This was around 11am.

Since it was a chilly day, Elaina and I headed over to the Soup Man or better known as the “Soup Nazi” from Seinfeld. On the TV show you could walk in and order. The real place is just a stand and you have to line up in the cold.

Elaina had the lobster bisque and I had the crab bisque. It was EXCELLENT!

On the next corner we found a little spot to enjoy our soup. I couldn’t wait to tear into it.

MMMmmm, even better than I was expecting!!!

I told Elaina, “screw the spoons just drink it, it’s literally freezing outside”.

FREE SHOES! More importantly, who’s walking around in this weather barefoot?!

This was a vacant lot, you could see all the changes the adjacent building had gone through. Pretty cool.

Another cool building, the exterior is actually it’s structural skeleton.

Elaina hamming it up

Out front of Macy’s. It’s the largest department store in the world, 8 levels and 1 NY city block.

Then we hit up Little Italy. There was supposed to be a tree lighting ceremony there but we never found it. Funny thing was that 90% of the cars there had Jersey plates. I was fist-pumping the entire time.

Elaina LOVES xmas trees the  most but nutcrackers are a close second. This ones for you Chris!

After all that walking we hit Lombardi’s Pizza. This was the 1st pizzeria in the U.S. becoming licensed in 1905. It gets rave reviews so we had to try it. There was a 45 minute wait for a seat, not bad for NYC.

After the 45 minute wait for a seat we still had to wait for our pie.

I guess we’ll make due with LOTS of sangria.

Finally it arrives!

And it doesn’t disappoint, mmmmmmmmm

ALL GONE! Now we have to walk/roll about 20 blocks home. Maybe all that pizza wasn’t the best idea. Na, we’d do it again in a second!!!

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Why Can’t We Be Young Forever?

Mike and I took a trip to F.A.O. Schwarz and of course that place is crazy because of the Holidays.

Mike ended up finding something he absolutely loved in the store and being a good wife, I had to buy it for him.

The greeter and his polar bear outside F.A.O. Schwarz. It was SO COLD outside and this guy works the whole shift on his feet in the freezing cold, yelling and greeting people and talking to his polar bear.

All decorated for Christmas! Mike loved the LEDs on the ceiling, I loved the snow flakes.

Oh my gosh! Every little girls dream! They have a section just for doll houses!!!!! I had a doll house when I was a little girl. The lady at the counter asked me which house I’d like to live in and I told her the victorian with the blue siding and purple roof!

Look, look, look! Here’s the Christmas tree lot where you can get a tree for your little home!

Ah yes, for the future architect in that special little girl, a modern doll house for a special price of $700

Play time is over

Its time to stroll… We came across a Toki Doki store and Robot was threatened by this dog dressed as a cactus.

Mike liked the jewelry on this display… or he liked the display.

 

 

Its Grub Time!

Spicy chicken enpanadas and a little night cap.

We sat facing the street, we like to people watch.

It looks gross here but it was goooooood

nom nom nom!

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DASH, Papaya King, and a Horse named Butternuts

DASH

The Kardashian sisters new New York location. Its been open just a month and I’m a big Khloe and Kim fan so I had to go, even if I bought nothing.

I waited in line maybe 2 minutes. Guarding the entrance was a handsome young man wearing a monkey suit to disguise his massive muscles. He held that door open as if it was weightless, but I didn’t want to be distracted… eyes on the prize, get into the store.

Mission accomplished! Souvenir for me! I’m sure this book will make excellent bathroom literature.
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Now we stroll…

I need a dress like this made of scraps and lint from the dryer.

Mike’s gloves weren’t keeping him warm enough so he had to get a new pair.

The North Star to guide those 3 wise guys to the 8lb. 6oz. baby Jesus

I can only imagine how many people are in there with their sweaters around their shoulders, pinkies up with their drinkies up and little doggies seated next to them in the dining room… “would you like some more kibble Fido?”… Okay just relax and don’t judge, its just the Plaza.

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Papaya King

The first, the original, and lip-smackin’ Papaya King still in its original location since 1931. Papaya dogs can be found in numerous places in New York city, direct competitors like Grey’s Papaya (founded by former partner of Papaya King) and Papaya Dog are pretty darn good too but we needed to go to the source of this delicious madness.


If you haven’t had these dogs or know nothing about them, know that they’re not made with papayas nor do they use the magical fruit as a garnish. The papaya is incorporated in the tropical drinks. Papaya King first started as a tropical drink restaurant. Later they introduced dogs due to majority of local German immigrants and who would of thunk it, the papaya drinks and dogs go hand in hand.

I enjoyed my meal most when I’d take a bite of a hot dog (including the original toppings of onions and kraut) then a big gulp of the papaya drink. Sounds gross but my taste buds were singing.

Look at this guy, he’s in love!
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Is that a…. YES IT IS! A horse-drawn carriage!

Hello Butternuts! Nice to meet you, I like your heart stamped blinders. Would you be so kind to take the ol’ man and I out for a spin?

Thanks for the ride, Butternuts.. You’re the best in Central Park.

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Chestnuts off the cart and The Spotted Pig

Toasty Chestnuts

It was cold out, I knew they were warm and toasty, I couldn’t resist the smell so I bought a bag and ate them all!

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The Spotted Pig

Our friend Corey asked his friend who’s a chef in NY if she could recommend a few places to eat. She gave us a long list and we told ourselves we had to try one of these places, especially if its chef-recommended.

Its super dark inside and two levels. The walls are covered with photos, art, and coat hooks. No matter where you stood or sat in this place you had a place to hang your coat. Apparently this is the place to be for good grub, the wait was 90 minutes and it was packed.

To get this party started we ordered deviled eggs to go with our drinks.

Rabbit stew for the lady…

..and pork belly for the gentleman.

Dessert: Walnut, Chocolate & Amaretto Cake, Creme Caramel, and a Cappuccino.

We didn’t finish dinner till almost 1:30am, it was a long lonely walk home. A giant rat did grace us with his presence but he and his big ass scurried into the trash and we missed our photo opportunity.

Instead we took a photo of the moon, remember how I said our new camera has crazy zoom… pretty crazy, huh?

Forget the long walk, what’s the quickest way by subway?

Mike called this the ‘rape alley’… I thought it was a spacious place to do all kinds of activities.

Finally home to our little SOHO apartment (roach free, btw).

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New York

Total Tourists

By law, when you travel you must do the sight-seeing. So here’s us being total tourists.

A shot from the ferry of New York City.

 

This bird flew behind the ferry for most of the ride. Guess he had nothing better to do.

We got a new camera before the trip and it has crazy optical zoom. Mike took this shot from the ferry.

Using the uber zoom, a pretty good shot of her torch.

Robot was so happy to see her!

A walk in the park.

Soto shadows!

I was reading along with Joseph Pulitzer

This gold sphere was on top of one of the World Trade Center towers. This is where it remains now and there’s an everlasting flame just in front of it for all of the people lost in the tragedy.

Watch out for the yellow ones, they don’t stop!

Hey buddy, what’s in the briefcase?

What I’m loving most about this city during the holidays? All the Christmas trees!

We need a map please! We have no idea where we’re going.

Times Square

Robot in Times Square (he liked it)

I’d totally see Wicked again if I hadn’t already seen it twice.

Oh my gosh, the reason I wanted to be here…. THE TREEEEEEEE!!!

Ice skating…. YES PLEASE!

There I am! I haven’t skated in probably 10 years. I was a little nervous at first because I was so fearful of falling. If you recall, I fell on my face last year and busted out my front teeth (Click HERE to see the story on our past blog). I really didn’t want that to happen again.

I didn’t fall but I took it really slow, I didn’t start doing my jumps till later. Mike couldn’t take any more videos because his fingers were frozen.

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