predawn trees on the way to the office

Open House NY Sunset Boat Tour

Open House New York is a great organization that helps New Yorkers learn about and enjoy all the exceptional design, architecture and history here in the Big Apple. OHNY is mostly known for their annual weekend in October when hundreds of New York establishments open their doors for visitors curious to see more of the city. However thanks to having worked with them years ago at the Hort Society I am on their mailing list and get great notices about events. One such event that we decided to check out was the sunset boat tour. For two hours we toured New York Harbor and it's various sights on the Zephyr and had a ball.
Obviously some kind of work being done on the Brooklyn Bridge. We took off from South Street Seaport about 5:30 and would get back just after sunset. The Zephyr was bigger than I expected and very comfortable, complete with multiple decks, a nice cabin, and two bars!
We were a few minutes late taking off because the President of the United States was flying in for the United Nations conference.
We thought it was kind of cool to have an armed Coast Guard escort for the few minutes until we were past Governor's Island (background left).
I think too often we forget that this is all a bunch of little islands and the vitality the waters around New York bring to it's people.
Of course the mighty Empire State Building.

One part of the tour was going around to the west side to check out the Queen Elizabeth and the Aida Luna, the two massivmo cruise ships visiting the city. Eventually we would watch the Aida Luna make her way out to sea and wish her well on her way to the next port. Massivmo!
A sunset boat tour, never a bad way to end the day.
Even Jersey looked beautiful and inviting, go figure!
Lady Liberty looked lovely as always.

And as we got back around to Pier 16 the lights of the city were coming on. Ah yes, the city that never sleeps in all her grand glory.


Be sure to check out OHNY.org and their blog too!
Cheers,
arborboy

post Pro Long Beach

Sick as a dog and overwhelmed on all fronts I needed to see the sea so that's what we did. The post-Pro Long Beach lineup was back to the usual suspects, making the most of the sweet 3-5' swells rolling through. Here are a couple quick snaps I got off before we headed back to the world. as always click to see the enlarged versions

San Gennaro, 2011 edition

This year my wife and I made sure to get to one of our favorite September events in the city, the Feast of San Gennaro. Down in Little Italy for roughly two weeks every September the feast is a celebration of all things Italian. The streets are alive with food and drink, sweets galore, tons of other vendors offering everything from cigars to leather goods, games and performances, truly the quintessential Italian New York street festival. So you gotta come down and get roped into the madness and stroll Mulberry street, take in the sounds and smells and faces.
The Zeppole is the Italian version of that universally favorite dessert of fried dough tossed in powdered sugar. They're these nuggets of yum that are worth every calorie, and clearly a street fair must.
"Water Gun Fun" consists of a bunch of loud, chain-smoking carnies in your face as you try and shoot a gun with no water pressure in order to win one of these ridiculous Rasta Banana stuffed... things. It's a hysterical scene. Needless to say we opted to pass. ...but you gotta love it!
My waistline should be very thankful that we don't live closer to Little Italy. Gelato is like ice cream but with lower butterfat content and typically higher sugar content (thanks Wikipedia!). But just the same gelato is often made in smaller batches and is so creamy and delicious you are so psyched.
Torrone is something you see signs for all over during the feast and then you see most people are startled because they have no idea what they are looking it. Torrone is a basically a big block of white nougat with toasted almonds (or other nuts) mixed into it. It starts as a brick and pieces are broken off and sold by the pound. You can get a good torrone at Vinny's Nut House, and apparently a funny look from this guy. Hey, I'm Vinny, Vinny Baggadonuts! How you doin?!? The people watching is without question one of the best parts of the strolling around.
My wife had only been talking about getting her sausage and pepper fix all month so she was all over the smart menu the Mulberry Project was offering that day. We enjoyed their version of classic sausage and peppers, Tuscan truffle fries, and killer berry-based red sangria.
Not to mention their quaint little backyard space where we were invited to eat was such a welcome bit of down time from all the madness out on the street to which we would soon return.

"This is how I like my fruit, soaked in alcohol" joked the cute one.

But after the myriad of cannoli stands, when it really comes down to it, and you want to know who has the best pastries and sweet confections around, that would be Ferrara's, hands down.
Every year we have to treat ourselves to cannolis from Ferrara's, and this year in the box happened to fall another dream of a treat, a lobster tail! Fine layered pastry stuffed with rich custard created in this beautiful fan shape it was our first, and not likely to be our last. Because of a terrible stomach virus I had at the time I knew I couldn't handle zeppoles but a little cup of Ferrara's homemade chocolate gelato? Miraculously it went down just fine.
Every year we do a comparison of a different San Gennaro staple in order to figure out the better, if not the best. So this year we decided to pick sausage and peppers. After our slightly more "hipster" sausage and peppers at the Mulberry Project we had to get back to the where the real die hards flocked, places like Lucy's.

Here is a young zeppole master in training. Oh, the temptation, so dangerous.
The guys at Cha Cha's were jammin'!
"Get your sausage here!"
Of course in the end the more traditional street-style sausage and peppers would win the taste test. One little stand (not pictured) had a sweet sausage and pepper on a homemade baguette that took top prize. I tell ya, these guys and gals are magicians!
And speaking of guys and gals, take a look at these two. Geez, what can I say?
VIVA ITALIA!

one of these lemons is not like the others...

...and yup, would have to say, does not quite belong! ooh wee.

Always proud of the red, white and blue

Ten years later and will never forget. May we celebrate love and honor, not hatred and evil. May we be thankful to this nation and each other, for the chance to live in a bountiful land with liberty and justice for all. God Bless America!



And this reminds me I never wrote about the 2011 summer containers. Oops! I guess I better do that!
Enjoy the day folks, take it easy, remember we are all in this madness together, and that can be a good thing. United we stand.

I Walk the Line

As always the weekend sleep-in, extra coffee, and iTunes shuffle is treating me well. Below is a clip of Johnny Cash performing "I Walk the Line" on the Tex Ritter show back in the 50's. With him I assume are Marshall Grant on bass and Luther Perkins on guitar, better known as the Tennessee Two, Cash's original band. In a much later concert Johnny Cash would mention how he wanted the rasp of a snare drum but didn't have one so he figured out putting a piece of paper between the strings and fret board of his guitar. I'm not sure if that is a rolled up piece of paper at the top of his fret board, but either way, genius man, killer tune....
Happy Saturday,

Labor Day Weekend in PA with the nieces

This is our newest cutie of a niece, miss Keira. According to mama Kate she is about 8 weeks in these shots.

Aunt Krissy was loving seeing her little ladies, Keira and big sis Janaya, about to be 6 in December.
We took a brief jaunt over to the Wilbur Chocolate factory in Lititz, PA, in order to restock on the yummiest chocolate this side of Europe. The main draw for us are the Wilbur Buds, semisweet or milk chocolate morsels that are yes, this good...
They say that Wilbur Buds were the influence and true original that influenced Hershey to create the world renowned Hershey's Kiss. I like the local lore, and gotta say, Hershey got nothing on Wilbur!
Back to the Dunkle ranch where Dick and Carole created quite the holiday feast, so much so that some of us had to take it easy for a little while after. Little Keira, so precious. Here's your cuteness closeup:

Sunday Gramma and Grampa Good took us out for a wonderful brunch at John Wright's in Wrightsville and we all had a ball. At 92 and 95 respectively it's hard to find a couple as adorable as those two.

Ah, yes, Lancaster County, naturally hipstamatic.

getting outta town!

leaving the city lights to dive into the darkness
headed west to Pennsylvania
loving the Verrazano at night