"Lullaby" in the City.

Yesterday, I had a fabulous day in New York City. Like I have said, or written, before, I sometimes forget that I live in New York, just a quick train ride from Grand Central Terminal and one of the greatest cities in the entire world. With me being a "New Yorkian" now, I find myself going into the City to explore the City, as if I am a townie. My insistence on using the word "y'all" in every other sentence and my nickname here at the Culinary of Peaches begs to argue that I am indeed not a New Yorker but a true Southerner at heart. Why can I not be both, at least for two years?

Danielle knocked on my door a little before 9 and Melissa joined us a little later. We gathered all of our things, talked a bit, and headed to breakfast around 9:30. The next train that we could make did not leave until 10:30, and therefore, we went to McDonald's and Starbucks to start the day out right. We took the express train from Poughkeepsie to Grand Central, with minimal stops, but stopping at Yankees-153rd. I will admit that, though I do like sports, I am not a big baseball fan. The Mets and the Yankees played this weekend, a big weekend for New Yorkers. As the conductor (do I call him that or just "train guy?") announced the stop for Yankees stadium, he said that for those on the train not a Yankees fan then let's go Mets. It is like college football in Alabama. You might not attend either school, but you have an allegiance to one or the other. New Yorkers, whether they really care about the game or not, pick the Yankees or the Mets.

(Side note: Melissa had never been to NYC.) From Grand Central, we headed to Fifth Avenue to do a little shopping. I bought a few things, but I held myself back for the most part. I almost had a breakdown in one store (not really, but I was stressed) because it was so dang crowded. It is all the people, everywhere, that might eventually prevent me from ever living in the City. I needed to buy something from a department store and we headed to Macy's. When I go to Macy's, I always think about Thanksgiving, Miracle on 34th Street, and Christmas. (I think the movie connects those three things in my head.) Knowing I will still be at the CIA in November makes me excited slash nervous (see almost crowd breakdown above) about the possibility of coming to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. We shall see.

We had almost shopped until we dropped at this point and we needed food, fast. There was a pizza place down Broadway called Pronto Pizza. Perfect. I ordered a big slice of cheese pizza and a Coke (not it is not pop or soda). Danielle, like me, was ready to chill for a little while and get away from all the people. We walked down Seventh to Central Park. We chilled on a rock for a bit, until I had to go meet Fallon at the Subway. Central Park amazes me; I find it strange and awesome all at the same time. Big City. Big green space in the middle. Perfect hideaway.

I walked to the Subway at Columbus Circle and rode the 1 to 110th Street. Fallon made me stand for like 10 minutes at the Westside Market as she was running late and waited to catch a train at 96th. Geez, Fuzzy. The 3 for $5 raspberries at this Market intrigued me and I told Fallon this. She wondered why I had not gone in to explore while I waited, as she shops here and thinks it is awesome. One day, I want to get a meal here to eat in the Park or to take back on the train. Fizzy, make it happen.

Fallon tried to kill me as we walked to the Hungarian pastry shop. (She does not always wait for the nice little walker man to light before she crosses the street.) We ordered a hazelnut pastry unlike anything I have ever tasted. Across the street from the pastry shop is the sculpture children made. I still do not understand it, but Fallon and I shared our dessert and chatted. Enter heart-to-heart here. After making friends with Mr. Squirrel and cute birdies, we strolled to her apartment. Fabulous apartment, where we watched a bit of So You Think You Can Dance (no, I do not think I can dance). We decided on a place to eat, Calle Ocho, and headed there on the train and by foot. The CIA has nothing on Calle Ocho (maybe the Chef went to the CIA?). The dip and bread they bring you when you sit down is indescribable. Black bean hummusish? Anyway, I ordered the spice-rubbed salmon with cucumber relish and lobster mash. I cannot even blog about it because it makes me what it again RIGHT NOW. Fallon had "duck two ways," and we split a hazelnut (I love hazelnuts, okay?), peanut butter chocolate crust, coffee ice cream dream dessert creation (maybe the Pastry Chef went to the CIA too?).

Danielle and Melissa met with friends and were down in the Lower East Side at this point. It would have taken me an hour to get there, and we decided to just meet back at GCT in two hours. Fallon and I walked through the Theodore Roosevelt (the Roosevelts and I are bffs these days) Park, near the Museum of Natural History, and to Strawberry Fields in Central Park. Fallon had never been; I tend to get lost every time I go but not this time (Thanks, Fuzz). It was interesting to go at night. I explained to Fallon about the Dakota, where John Lennon lived and was assassinated. At this point, I still had an hour until I needed to head back. Fallon and I sat on a bench between 71st and 72 on Amsterdam to kill time. Insert sounds of the City here, as we were in the middle of a cross section of the street. Fallon explained to me how to navigate my way on the Subway back to GCT and we parted ways.

By the time I got to GCT around midnight, the last train directly to Poughkeepsie was scheduled to leave in five minutes. Danielle, Melissa, and I decided to meet at 12:30, and I was early; therefore, we missed that train. The train we actually took was a train to Croton Harmon, with a connection to Poughkeepsie. It stopped at, I think, every stop on the Hudson Line to Croton Harmon, and then when we stopped at Croton Harmon, we had to change trains. Basically from now on, I hope to make the last train that goes directly to Poughkeepsie. By the time we made it back to the CIA, it was 3:30 AM, and I was exhausted.

Today, I slept in, did some laundry, and changed my sheets. (I finally got my duvet cover for my comforter. It is lovely.) I have a big week this week, with projects, quizzes, etc. I tried to organize everything for the week today; we will see how well I did come Friday. All-in-all, it was a good recovery day.

Jason, Alex, and I worked on our presentation tonight at Alex's house off campus. She even offered to cook us dinner, complete with lamb burgers, provolone, arugula salad with fennel, and homemade sweet potato fries. It was really, really good. It was nice to eat dinner in a home, instead of at Banquet, or in Farq, or out. We are making a beet salad for the class to try with Bocuse's influences, and Jason made it for us to try before making the one for the class tomorrow. I do not really like beets, but the pink color was pretty. We looked over our notes and completed a worksheet for our math quiz tomorrow. Now, it is 10:30, and I am exhausted.

Tomorrow, I have to wake at a reasonable hour to finish my product specification on tangerines. Remember me mentioning that? All I know right now is that tangerines should be heavy for their size. Interesting. It is going to be a good week. I just know it.

EAT MY WORDS

Haley

*Thanks, Fallon, for a wonderful night in the City, and for my sweet note. Love you, second sis!