I will be brief today. Many of you are celebrating Easter or the end of Passover, and I’m now on the bus, headed home from a foray in New York City, visiting my daughters and indulging in the joys of urban life after so many months on our remote island.
Firstly, the cherry blossoms were out and it was full “Green Lace Week” in NYC. This is what my father called that week of budding leaves on the trees, pale green and lacy and so hopeful mingling with the soft pink cherry blossoms!
As you might imagine, many of the joys of my trip were around food.
First stop was this East Village institution, Veneiros, founded in 1894, and still operated by the same family. Cheese cakes of all shapes and sizes, pastries, and a wonderful ambiance which cannot be wildly different than it has always been.
Later that day I found myself headed up 5th Avenue to run an errand, and past this wonderful LV Luggage Stack! On my way back down hundreds of blocks to our hotel in Chelsea, I rested my weary legs at the NY Public Library, with a well earned lemonade, and a peek at their Robert Motherwell exhibit (he was an avid book collector and many of his pieces reflect his love of the written word.)
The next day my step-o-meter registered even more thousands of steps, walking all the way to Brooklyn with Lily, over the Williamsburg bridge.
After showing me around her new neighborhood, Lily took me to one of her favorite discoveries in Astoria Queens, for supper. In the heart of Little Egypt, is this BYOB establishment (how appropriate that it’s called MOMBAR!), the chef d’oevre of Moustafa, the man who decorated the entire place with his own mosaics, cooks and serves all the food.
The next day began at MOMA PS1, lounging in this interactive DonChristian Jones installation inspired by their Bed-Stuy studio.
I spent hours watching incredible documentaries like Kanehsatake: 270 years of Resistance (1993), which charts the Mohawk resistance against the expansion of a golf course into sacred burial lands — part of a retrospective of artist, activist, and musician Alanis Obomsawin (Abenaki, b. 1932), one of Canada’s most renowned filmmakers.
After the museum we stopped for some supplies I was after: here is a little teaser for a project I’m working on, creating my own products with some of my favorite growers, makers, and coffee roasters. The packaging will be screenprinted by moi, and I was very happy to stock up on ink and silkscreening essentials for this project. Stay Tuned!
From there, Lily took me for supper at the restaurant where she is currently working, and we had an incredible feast. If you’re ever looking for a great place to eat in Brooklyn, I highly recommend Chez My Tante! Despite my years living in France, I enjoyed my first Pig’s Head Terrine, among other delicious treats!
Yesterday, Hannah came down from New Haven to join me for the day. First stop was bagels and lox at Zabars (cause sadly Barney Greengrass was closed for Passover).
From there we went to see a wonderful show at David Zwirner Gallery about the work of Joseph & Anni Albers, and Paul Klee. Beautifully curated, and highly recommended.
Just a couple doors down, we also stopped in to see the photography of Malick Sidibé, a photographer known for his black and white images chronicling the exuberant lives and culture—often of youth—in his native Bamako, Mali.
Most of the time in NY I spent with my daughters, and Beau spent with his, but last night we finally merged for this all important moment of Gelato to close out our trip.
And now back to Maine and our regularly scheduled adventures! More next week.
So glad you got some city time!