After saying good bye to Kristina's folks in Montreal, we drove to the upper west side of Manhattan to stay with our friend Christine.
Christine is a cat lover, and she lives with three beauties. This is Neddie.
Last year we took a Buddhism tour of China, and we met Christine. As we left Beijing, she invited us to come stay with her in NYC. We are so glad we took her up on her generous offer, as we had a wonderful time together! Here Kristina is enjoying Christine's amazing garden deck at happy hour.
There were four New Yorkers on the China tour. We had a dinner reunion at a Chinese restaurant. Next to Pete and Christine are MaryAnne and Zen Priest Pat (who's Buddhist name is Roshi Enkyo).
Roshi was the spiritual leader of the China tour and she runs the Village Zendo in Manhattan. We enjoyed morning meditation here.
This teddy bear shows the proper form for zazen (Zen meditation). Behind him you can see cushions used by people to sit zazen.
The Village Zendo has a warm, welcoming vibe that we felt from Roshi and the Sangha (Buddhist community). This bell is used in the Zen service.
One evening after a lecture at the Village Zendo, five of us went out to a great meal at Balthazar. The Zen names of our Dharma friends are Rinsho (left), Myogetsu and Seiju.
We had a few days with rain showers, but we still had fun walking on the Highline. Formerly an elevated railway, it was reopened as a park starting in 2009 and now includes 1.5 miles of walkways and sitting areas.
The landscaping is lovely and we like how they kept some of the rails.
Of course the food we ate in NYC was amazing. We sat at the counter in Momofuku Noodle Bar and watched the action. This cook is making our pea shoot salad.
Their ramen was awesome! The pork broth was deep and rich with just the right hint of saltiness. The perfectly-cooked 3-minute egg oozed wonderfully and complemented the tender braised pork shoulder. The seared piece of pork belly wasn't bad either.
We also liked the Spotted Pig restaurant, but surprisingly we didn't order any pork dishes.
These are roll mops, pickled herring filets wrapped around pickled onions and served with parsley and creme fraiche.
Kristina is about to dig into corn and chanterelle soup. In the foreground is a wonderful of salad of beef tongue, pickled red onions, red peppers, parsley, and hard-cooked egg.
A trip to NYC wouldn't be complete for us without a stop at Gramercy Tavern. Their cheese board is always fantastic.
The front room was decorated with beautiful seasonal flowers.
There was a Jeff Koons retrospective at the Whitney that we were curious to see, as years ago we had seen Puppy, the 43-foot tall topiary sculpture in Bilbao, and found it impressive. Scott Indrisek, writing for ARTINFO.com, described the show as "brash, fairly entertaining, and as digestible as a pack of M&Ms", which resonated with us. We were impressed that Koons stuck with this piece for 20 years, as he struggled to figure out how to fabricate his Play-Doh sculpture.
This is Balloon Venus, which is made of mirror-finish stainless steel with a color coating.
You can see our reflections in the cheeks of Venus! Koons wanted the most reflective surface possible.
We celebrated Pete's birthday with a delicious Korean dinner at Hanjan. The meal brought back wonderful memories of Seoul and the amazing food that we had washed down with ice cold draft beer.
These side dishes are called banchan, and usually accompany Korean main dishes. Clockwise from the bottom left are kimchi cucumbers, kimchi Napa cabbage, water spinach and sprouted soy beans.
We enjoyed Korean fried chicken and grilled mackerel. Kristina is eying our final dish of braised stuffed pig's foot. Served over cabbage and with kimchi daikon, it was outstanding.
Since our trip to Marfa, Texas, we have been looking forward to touring Donald Judd's studio and home in Manhattan. Located at 101 Spring Street, the building recently underwent a major restoration of the cast iron exterior.
Since photography isn't permitted inside, we are including photos from the Judd Foundation's website. This is the second floor, where dinner parties and entertaining took place. Donald Judd created the table.
This is the fourth floor, which was the family parlor. Perhaps it was not so austere when Judd lived here with his wife and two children.
And the fifth floor had the sleeping quarters. The blue and pink lights are part of a Dan Flavin piece designed for this room. On the right wall is a Judd sculpture (foreground) and a John Chamberlain sculpture made of automobile bodies.
On the first floor is a Carl Andre sculpture made of eight bricks. Kristina took this photo through the outside window. The bricks are simply stacked with nothing joining them, so were were told to be careful around the sculpture.
While in Marfa at the Chinati Foundation, we saw Carl Andre pieces that we really liked, including a number of his typewriter drawings. We were excited to learn that the Dia:Beacon Museum was having a Carle Andre retrospective entitled Sculpture as Place. Andre used a typewriter to make his poetry art between 1960-65.
Dia:Beacon is located on the Hudson River about two hours north of NYC. Inhabiting an old Nabisco box factory, the interior space is fabulous for art galleries. This Andre piece called Uncarved Blocks was created from 47 Western red cedar blocks. Each piece of wood is 12x12x36 inches, and they have been combined into a progressive ensemble of two- to five-unit groupings.
The Dia: Beacon gardens are quite pleasant and offer a nice place to relax after walking through the galleries.
This is Beacon Point, a permanent environmental sculpture on the Hudson River adjacent to Dia:Beacon. Created by George Trakas in 2007, he renovated an abandoned railroad landing but left parts of the track and pier intact. Pete liked the look of this old post.
From Christine's place we moved to Brooklyn and stayed in an Airbnb, our 13th Airbnb thus far on our road trip! Called The House of Three Cats, it's decorated with many cat paintings.
We had never stayed in Brooklyn, so we wanted to check out the cool neighborhoods. We went to the Beehive Oven Biscuit Cafe in Williamsburg for lunch.
It was colorful and comfortable inside. We noticed that the pendant light fixtures have shades made of colanders.
The Beehive specializes in biscuit sandwiches. We enjoyed a fried chicken, fried egg and collard greens sandwich; and a fried green tomato, bacon, fried egg and remoulade sandwich. Both were outstanding.
We walked around Williamsburg, enjoying the street art and soaking up the hipster vibe.
We watched as this mural of Jean-Michel Basquiat was being created.
Street art was everywhere, including the concrete bases of street lights. We spotted this image of the fearless contemporary Chinese artist Ai Wei Wei.
Here is Kristina with our friend Leland. Kristina and Leland had worked together in the late '90s. It had been a long time since we'd seen each other, and it was fun to catch up. This photo was taken on the roof deck of Leland's apartment building in Brooklyn Heights and it shows the incredible views he has of Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Brooklyn Bridge.
We ate brunch together at Jack the Horse Tavern.
The duck hash included poached eggs over duck confit, roasted beets and sweet potatoes. It was delicious.
Walking in Brooklyn Bridge Park, we could see Leland’s coop building when we looked up.
The idea to replace the old waterfront warehouses with a Brooklyn Bridge Park originated in the '80s, but it took until 2010 to open the first piece of the park. Since then most of the warehouses have been replaced with pleasant walking and biking paths and picnic areas.
These are replica pieces of the Statue of Liberty. Mostly drapery, the pieces show the massive scale of Lady Liberty.
From the park we could see the Statue of Liberty in the distance.
This concrete pier is undergoing renovation and will become another piece of the park.
We had such a nice time walking on the waterfront.
We especially enjoyed the views of the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan.
One of our favorite things to do in NYC is to go to live music shows. We were fortunate to experience three outstanding shows this trip. The Festival of New Trumpet (FONT) Music was going on, with 11 nights of concerts. This is founder Dave Douglas introducing the world premiere of a John Zorn piece entitled Excelsis. Played by a brass octet, the instrumentation was three trumpets, French horn, two trombones and tuba. It sounded amazing!
We went to a concert at Town Hall that was basically a Lounge Lizards reunion show. John and Evan Lurie had started the band in 1978. Influenced by both jazz and punk, the Lounge Lizards evolved to include a dozen members. We like their music in part because they always had a big horn section!
John Zorn sat in with the Longe Lizards, and played an energetic and awesome solo.
John Lurie has had Lyme disease for years and lacks the strength to play saxophone these days. But he did delight the audience by showing up and playing the harmonica and singing at the end of the show.
Along with John Zorn, Henry Threadgill has been one of our favorite composers for many years. We found out there was a concert to honor his legacy and we were thrilled. It started with a dialogue between Jason Moran (pianist and composer, left) and Henry Threadgill.
During the discussion Threadgill was asked about an instrument he invented called the hubcaphone. Made of tuned, quality hubcaps, this percussive xylophone was on display outside the concert hall. We were tempted to hit the hubcaps to hear the sounds.
We had seen Henry Threadgill's Very, Very Circus septet play in Oakland in the early '90s and loved the band. It was such a treat to hear this music live again! The instrumentation includes two tubas, two guitars, saxophone, trombone and drums, which is very unique. Marcus Rojas is an amazing tuba player and coincidentally he also played in the FONT and Lounge Lizards shows, so we had the pleasure of hearing him play in three shows! Curtis Fowlkes is the trombone player.
The final set in the Very, Very Threadgill concert was the Society Situation Dance Band. Henry Threadgill conducted fifteen musicians and they sounded great. During this set James Carter played solos on both soprano and tenor saxophones. This photo was taken with a longer exposure and captures some of the dynamism of his playing. We had never seen James Carter live before, and we were amazed!
All too soon, it was time for us to leave NYC and head north to Greenwich CT.
Christine is a cat lover, and she lives with three beauties. This is Neddie.
Last year we took a Buddhism tour of China, and we met Christine. As we left Beijing, she invited us to come stay with her in NYC. We are so glad we took her up on her generous offer, as we had a wonderful time together! Here Kristina is enjoying Christine's amazing garden deck at happy hour.
There were four New Yorkers on the China tour. We had a dinner reunion at a Chinese restaurant. Next to Pete and Christine are MaryAnne and Zen Priest Pat (who's Buddhist name is Roshi Enkyo).
Roshi was the spiritual leader of the China tour and she runs the Village Zendo in Manhattan. We enjoyed morning meditation here.
This teddy bear shows the proper form for zazen (Zen meditation). Behind him you can see cushions used by people to sit zazen.
The Village Zendo has a warm, welcoming vibe that we felt from Roshi and the Sangha (Buddhist community). This bell is used in the Zen service.
One evening after a lecture at the Village Zendo, five of us went out to a great meal at Balthazar. The Zen names of our Dharma friends are Rinsho (left), Myogetsu and Seiju.
We had a few days with rain showers, but we still had fun walking on the Highline. Formerly an elevated railway, it was reopened as a park starting in 2009 and now includes 1.5 miles of walkways and sitting areas.
The landscaping is lovely and we like how they kept some of the rails.
Of course the food we ate in NYC was amazing. We sat at the counter in Momofuku Noodle Bar and watched the action. This cook is making our pea shoot salad.
Their ramen was awesome! The pork broth was deep and rich with just the right hint of saltiness. The perfectly-cooked 3-minute egg oozed wonderfully and complemented the tender braised pork shoulder. The seared piece of pork belly wasn't bad either.
We also liked the Spotted Pig restaurant, but surprisingly we didn't order any pork dishes.
These are roll mops, pickled herring filets wrapped around pickled onions and served with parsley and creme fraiche.
Kristina is about to dig into corn and chanterelle soup. In the foreground is a wonderful of salad of beef tongue, pickled red onions, red peppers, parsley, and hard-cooked egg.
A trip to NYC wouldn't be complete for us without a stop at Gramercy Tavern. Their cheese board is always fantastic.
The front room was decorated with beautiful seasonal flowers.
There was a Jeff Koons retrospective at the Whitney that we were curious to see, as years ago we had seen Puppy, the 43-foot tall topiary sculpture in Bilbao, and found it impressive. Scott Indrisek, writing for ARTINFO.com, described the show as "brash, fairly entertaining, and as digestible as a pack of M&Ms", which resonated with us. We were impressed that Koons stuck with this piece for 20 years, as he struggled to figure out how to fabricate his Play-Doh sculpture.
This is Balloon Venus, which is made of mirror-finish stainless steel with a color coating.
You can see our reflections in the cheeks of Venus! Koons wanted the most reflective surface possible.
We celebrated Pete's birthday with a delicious Korean dinner at Hanjan. The meal brought back wonderful memories of Seoul and the amazing food that we had washed down with ice cold draft beer.
These side dishes are called banchan, and usually accompany Korean main dishes. Clockwise from the bottom left are kimchi cucumbers, kimchi Napa cabbage, water spinach and sprouted soy beans.
We enjoyed Korean fried chicken and grilled mackerel. Kristina is eying our final dish of braised stuffed pig's foot. Served over cabbage and with kimchi daikon, it was outstanding.
Since our trip to Marfa, Texas, we have been looking forward to touring Donald Judd's studio and home in Manhattan. Located at 101 Spring Street, the building recently underwent a major restoration of the cast iron exterior.
Since photography isn't permitted inside, we are including photos from the Judd Foundation's website. This is the second floor, where dinner parties and entertaining took place. Donald Judd created the table.
This is the fourth floor, which was the family parlor. Perhaps it was not so austere when Judd lived here with his wife and two children.
And the fifth floor had the sleeping quarters. The blue and pink lights are part of a Dan Flavin piece designed for this room. On the right wall is a Judd sculpture (foreground) and a John Chamberlain sculpture made of automobile bodies.
On the first floor is a Carl Andre sculpture made of eight bricks. Kristina took this photo through the outside window. The bricks are simply stacked with nothing joining them, so were were told to be careful around the sculpture.
While in Marfa at the Chinati Foundation, we saw Carl Andre pieces that we really liked, including a number of his typewriter drawings. We were excited to learn that the Dia:Beacon Museum was having a Carle Andre retrospective entitled Sculpture as Place. Andre used a typewriter to make his poetry art between 1960-65.
Dia:Beacon is located on the Hudson River about two hours north of NYC. Inhabiting an old Nabisco box factory, the interior space is fabulous for art galleries. This Andre piece called Uncarved Blocks was created from 47 Western red cedar blocks. Each piece of wood is 12x12x36 inches, and they have been combined into a progressive ensemble of two- to five-unit groupings.
The Dia: Beacon gardens are quite pleasant and offer a nice place to relax after walking through the galleries.
This is Beacon Point, a permanent environmental sculpture on the Hudson River adjacent to Dia:Beacon. Created by George Trakas in 2007, he renovated an abandoned railroad landing but left parts of the track and pier intact. Pete liked the look of this old post.
From Christine's place we moved to Brooklyn and stayed in an Airbnb, our 13th Airbnb thus far on our road trip! Called The House of Three Cats, it's decorated with many cat paintings.
We had never stayed in Brooklyn, so we wanted to check out the cool neighborhoods. We went to the Beehive Oven Biscuit Cafe in Williamsburg for lunch.
It was colorful and comfortable inside. We noticed that the pendant light fixtures have shades made of colanders.
The Beehive specializes in biscuit sandwiches. We enjoyed a fried chicken, fried egg and collard greens sandwich; and a fried green tomato, bacon, fried egg and remoulade sandwich. Both were outstanding.
We walked around Williamsburg, enjoying the street art and soaking up the hipster vibe.
We watched as this mural of Jean-Michel Basquiat was being created.
Street art was everywhere, including the concrete bases of street lights. We spotted this image of the fearless contemporary Chinese artist Ai Wei Wei.
Here is Kristina with our friend Leland. Kristina and Leland had worked together in the late '90s. It had been a long time since we'd seen each other, and it was fun to catch up. This photo was taken on the roof deck of Leland's apartment building in Brooklyn Heights and it shows the incredible views he has of Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Brooklyn Bridge.
We ate brunch together at Jack the Horse Tavern.
The duck hash included poached eggs over duck confit, roasted beets and sweet potatoes. It was delicious.
Walking in Brooklyn Bridge Park, we could see Leland’s coop building when we looked up.
The idea to replace the old waterfront warehouses with a Brooklyn Bridge Park originated in the '80s, but it took until 2010 to open the first piece of the park. Since then most of the warehouses have been replaced with pleasant walking and biking paths and picnic areas.
These are replica pieces of the Statue of Liberty. Mostly drapery, the pieces show the massive scale of Lady Liberty.
From the park we could see the Statue of Liberty in the distance.
This concrete pier is undergoing renovation and will become another piece of the park.
We had such a nice time walking on the waterfront.
We especially enjoyed the views of the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan.
One of our favorite things to do in NYC is to go to live music shows. We were fortunate to experience three outstanding shows this trip. The Festival of New Trumpet (FONT) Music was going on, with 11 nights of concerts. This is founder Dave Douglas introducing the world premiere of a John Zorn piece entitled Excelsis. Played by a brass octet, the instrumentation was three trumpets, French horn, two trombones and tuba. It sounded amazing!
We went to a concert at Town Hall that was basically a Lounge Lizards reunion show. John and Evan Lurie had started the band in 1978. Influenced by both jazz and punk, the Lounge Lizards evolved to include a dozen members. We like their music in part because they always had a big horn section!
John Zorn sat in with the Longe Lizards, and played an energetic and awesome solo.
John Lurie has had Lyme disease for years and lacks the strength to play saxophone these days. But he did delight the audience by showing up and playing the harmonica and singing at the end of the show.
Along with John Zorn, Henry Threadgill has been one of our favorite composers for many years. We found out there was a concert to honor his legacy and we were thrilled. It started with a dialogue between Jason Moran (pianist and composer, left) and Henry Threadgill.
During the discussion Threadgill was asked about an instrument he invented called the hubcaphone. Made of tuned, quality hubcaps, this percussive xylophone was on display outside the concert hall. We were tempted to hit the hubcaps to hear the sounds.
We had seen Henry Threadgill's Very, Very Circus septet play in Oakland in the early '90s and loved the band. It was such a treat to hear this music live again! The instrumentation includes two tubas, two guitars, saxophone, trombone and drums, which is very unique. Marcus Rojas is an amazing tuba player and coincidentally he also played in the FONT and Lounge Lizards shows, so we had the pleasure of hearing him play in three shows! Curtis Fowlkes is the trombone player.
The final set in the Very, Very Threadgill concert was the Society Situation Dance Band. Henry Threadgill conducted fifteen musicians and they sounded great. During this set James Carter played solos on both soprano and tenor saxophones. This photo was taken with a longer exposure and captures some of the dynamism of his playing. We had never seen James Carter live before, and we were amazed!
All too soon, it was time for us to leave NYC and head north to Greenwich CT.
