Entries from November 2011 ↓

Everything at this time of year is based around seasons and holidays and everything has a strict order. The minute Thanksgiving was over, Christmas started, although at least December 1 seems to be the big bang day. I was quite excited tonight after work to see this guy on his way home with a tree – Christmas in the city!!

There are loads of Christmas trees around town – in fact I’ve worked out there’s a whole lot of people employed in seasonal work to keep office block foyers around town trimmed and with a magnificent tree – white burglars’ vans spotted parked out front with a team in the foyer decorating the tree – each building trying to out-do the other. However the biggest tree in town has got to be the one in Union Square.

Everything is so pretty and sparkly.

This year’s dinner was a lot smaller than our previous 5, only having 3 people in attendance but this time it was so much more real being here in the States! Of course we missed our New Zealand urban family but it was very cool shopping in Wholefoods and seeing all the Thanksgiving stuff and the whole country having a long weekend off centered around women in the kitchen and men on the couch … yes The Mister turned on the football just to live the real experience! Plus it was cold outside so it was lovely family time inside.

We invited Kara over at this important family time when she was so far away from hers so I was a bit nervous about how genuine our feast would be! Instead of a whole turkey for 3 we got a breast and stuffed it like Bev did a few years ago at Christmas and it turned out OK although the stuffing was more under the skin than making a nice ripple pattern through the middle!

The usual menu – but it impressed Kara

Thanksgiving Dinner 2011
Roast turkey breast stuffed with cranberry wild rice
Homemade cranberry sauce
Kumara & orange gratin
Coleslaw
Apple pie & cream

This year we didn’t meet up for coffee at 10.20am but no matter because we were IN NEW YORK! So so crazy that when we got married there 6 years ago we had a very serious conversation that we should do whatever we could in our lives to try and get back to New York for our 5th anniversary – who knew that a year on from 5 we’d be on our 5th visit and had lived there for a time. Lovely day exploring, drinking coffee and having dinner with a view over Central Park.

Look Mother – Brussels sprouts!!

Cooked for Cousin Grant on Sunday night (no sprouts!) – I felt so tiny next to his giant oven! Kumara, bacon & feta salad went down a treat!

Joy of joys – found a decent coffee place in Midtown! Met up with my cousin-out-law on this trip and she suggested it because it was near to her work. It’s on the ground floor of one of those elaborate marble and metal sky scrapers in Midtown, with it’s exterior and signage in keeping with the building so on first glance it looks like a 50′s tea room and not worth a look.

But on the inside there are a few small tables, a lot of counter space given to coffee making machinery and Stumptown coffee.

The place was bustling with people getting takeaways but we 3 managed to squeeze around a dinner plate-sized table and catch up for an hour and a half. Coffee was strong and delicious. But no bathroom!! Had to practice pelvic floor exercises putting on coats, crossing busy 42nd Street and oozing our way through the crowds at Grand Central Station to line up with travelers and tourists in their public bathroom!

Rize Coffee, 42 Street (at Lexington), New York

We’ve been to Joe’s Coffee in Grand Central Station a couple of time but this trip we were wandering through Central Park on a Sunday and The Mister suggested we try the Columbus Ave cafe. It was a teeny tiny cafe, as many serving good coffee are, with just a few tables inside and benches out front. I lined up for a couple of cappuccinos and was surprised when I collected them to be given a voucher for a free coffee. When I excitedly exclaimed how great the coffees looked and thanked the baristas enthusiastically they said “You’re awesome – here’s a coffee on us next time.” Pays to be appreciative!

A spot opened up on the bench out front so we sat in the relatively warm sun and enjoyed our coffee. We were entertained by a rather intense local resident in a shouting match with the people who worked at the barber shop next door – from what I could work out, one of the workers during their break had blown smoke on him as he was leaving the store – he was shouting about getting them deported and managed to rally support from another guy who was walking down the street who also felt now was a good time to complain about a bad haircut he got the week before. Everyone sitting on Joe’s benches was just staring into their coffee and The Mister was nervous of being swept up in the cause trying to find a moment when they were all looking the other way to grab a photo!

The coffee was good and strong and the right temperate and I enjoyed mine with some kind of homemade cranberry granola bar.

Joe’s Coffee, 514 Columbus Avenue, New York @joecoffeenyc

Staying in TriBeCa Cousin Grant was keen to take us to his local, Kaffe 1668. It’s on the big NY Times coffee list but we’d never made it there before. It was a busy Saturday morning when we went there but I found enough places for 4 people to perch around a communal table decorated with Thanksgiving pumpkins, where I listened to a little boy and his mother talking about the yoga class they’d just been to.

I had a delicious blueberry scone, others had breakfast burritos. My cappuccino was well made but a little on the weak side.

But a very cool place that looking at the outside you might not think to venture into. Worth another visit next time we’re back to stay in the neighborhood

Kaffe 1668, 275 Greenwich Street (Warren Street), TriBeCa, @kaffe1668

Very cool to get another trip to New York so quickly! Finally got there at a time of the year to see some fall colors, well the tail end of them. Spotted a few yellow or orange trees in Central Park and downtown, hung out drinking coffee (even got to a couple of new places!), had some family time and some nice long hours at the shops – I was in the mood for once!

Thanks so much Cousin Grant for having us to stay again.

On our last day in Kansas we had to fill in about 3 hours before heading out to the airport to catch our flight to New York. Going back and forward through Union Station to get to restaurants we noticed on our last walk through it a rather modern looking cafe behind some wrought iron gates. I pressed my nose up to the window and spotted a decent coffee machine, hario rack and orange accessories. We pfffff’d a bit and said that being in a railway station it was likely to be sub-standard … although did comment that we rated Joe’s Coffee in Grand Central Station in New York so definitely worth trying it out.

They had a little fridge with snacks – sandwiches, yoghurt, fruit and when we realized they had free wi-fi we decided to stay a couple of hours. We lunched on snacks then back for cappuccinos and an orange frosted sugar cookie for me. The coffee actually wasn’t that bad – they made it and the pour over I watched them make for someone else, very carefully.

The coffee tasted a little old, probably not fair because I think it’s a local roast, but reminded me of the Italian coffee shops outside of Italy that import their coffee in foil bags, it just has a bit of a grey flavor. However, it was delicious by Kansas standards and we certainly appreciated our time there. From what I could tell on Twitter they’d only been open a few weeks. Great location!

Union Station was quite Christmassy – I enjoyed being near Christmas trees and writing out most of my Christmas cards, while The Mister got out his laptop and with the deadline of a flight in his mind fixed an issue in Xero that they guys in New Zealand were struggling with. So a very successful afternoon so I didn’t mind waiting those couple of hours until our flight.

Parisi Coffee, Union Station, Kansas City, @parisicoffee

Without much hope I did my usual Google search for any independent coffee roasters in Kansas in preparation for our trip there. The Vegas Grinder and friends were packed but I thought I’d search anyway. Found one place which also had a fairly direct one-bus bus route from the hotel so thought we’d give it a go on the first of our 2 afternoons of free time off from the conference.

Bit small-town-Robert-Harris looking from the outside with its striped awnings but behold the picture of latte art on their window …

Inside it was funky cool with the glass cabinet of treats, coffee machine, lid/sugar station and white paper cups. All good signs. A few people sitting around with laptops. The coffee was good, a little weak but good flavor. The blueberry scone was dry, but I ate it – a couple of days of hotel buffet and Kansas BBQ and I was craving something ‘normal’.

On our second visit the coffee made me cry. The last and possibly only other time real tears have sprung to my eyes upon sipping a coffee has been at Customs Brew Bar in Wellington. Then because of seriously good coffee, this time, not so seriously good but pretty damn close and it was the first comforting coffee taste I’d had in several days!

As we sat in the cafe and looked out at the cold fall day with cool hipsters and their dogs coming out of goodness knows what corners of Kansas we felt very lucky to have found that cafe – and thankful to the owners for persevering in such an unexpected market.

They had cool stands to lock bikes onto our front.

Just on the next corner we found an even more hipstery store selling lots of cool dude clothes and we found a supply of Happy Socks – I got these great Xero and orange ones! So definitely a successful bus trip that day even if I did have to put up with everyone staring at the girl in the orange coat up front.

Broadway Cafe – 4106 Broadway Kansas City