Breakfast in the Big Apple

Although I have traveled pretty extensively, until last week I had never been to New York City. Actually, I have landed at La Guardia and JFK several times, and even spent a couple of nights in hotels within 5 minutes of those airports, but does that really count? I hadn’t been into The City—i.e. Manhattan. Last week that all changed.

My sister Alison is spending the month doing an internship for SeriousEats.com and since New York is her favorite place in the world I figured she would be a good person to break me in. I arrived just before midnight and over the computer and phone she and I worked out the logistics of getting from Queens to Tribeca to go to breakfast together. It would be short visit, as I needed to catch the hotel shuttle to the airport at 1:00PM the next day.

My adventure began walking to Rockaway Avenue to catch the Q7 bus. Along the way I passed hoses similar to these:




From the bus I changed to the subway, which at the Rockaway station is actually an elevated train. It’s hard to find the subway when you’re looking down and it’s above you. Fortunately I figured it out fairly quickly and hopped on the next train. After a half an hour I got off and exited the subway station beneath this building at Canal Street. I sat on a bench in the little park in the picture, waiting for Alison. With the modern marvel of cell phones, we quickly found each other.



From there we walked haphazardly to the Locanda Verde, a restaurant that her editor considers perhaps the best breakfast in New York. Among its other claims to fame, it is partly owned by Robert De Niro

Here’s what it looks like inside—we sat at the table in the middle closest to the bar.



I ordered the Zucchini Frittata, basically whipped eggs with zucchini strips, roasted tomato, fiore di zucca (zucchini blossoms) and goat cheese. It was very tasty.



Alison had the Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with fresh blueberries and meyer lemon curd. Also excellent.



Afterwards we walked around through part of nearby Greenwich Village:



And passed by Washington Square Park:



With the time drawing short I my sister farewell and boarded the subway to return to the hotel. Now that I was fully confident in my abilities to navigate the public transportation system I naturally got off at the wrong stop, adding almost half and hour to my travel time. This had the unfortunate effect of delaying me past the time I was scheduled to leave for the airport. Yes, I cut it too close. All ended well, though, as I was able to get to the airport still with plenty of time to get ready for our flight back to Washington, D.C.

Next time I’m in New York with a halfway long overnight Alison most likely won’t be there, but I certainly intend to do some more sightseeing. Having seen the city so often in movies and TV, it was a little like walking around on a movie set. All in all, pretty cool. I’m not planning on moving there any time soon, but it was certainly a fun place to visit.

25 Things About Me

Recently a friend posted a list of 25 things about himself that his friends may not have known. I was inspired and came up with this list about myself:

1) I spent two summers during high school volunteering in Latin America (Ecuador and Panama).
2) I helped families in small villages build latrines. My then six-year-old sister thought it was so cool that I was building trains.
3) I speak Spanish and Portuguese fluently, speak some German and am now working on learning Arabic.
4) The first girl I kissed was Brazillian. In Rio.
5) I met my future wife while trying to fish my retainer out of the trash during a freshman opening social in college.
6) She was the one who offered to help me find it, which she did. At the bottom of the can. Her parting comment was, “I’d wash that if I were you.”
7) My dad was pulled over by the police on the Bay Bridge while trying to get my mother to the hospital when she was in labor with me.
8) There are eight years between my older brother and me, and eight years between my younger brother and me.
9) My wife had never taken care of a newborn before, so when my oldest was born I was the expert. Briefly.
10) I ate some of my parents’ wedding cake (they froze it).
11) I started out wanting to be a pilot, then a diplomat, then a marriage and family therapist, then a financial planner, and then a pilot again.
12) I herded cattle in Oregon. OK, only once, but I did it.
13) I ran into a friend in Germany and he was so surprised he fell to the ground.
14) The first time I spoke to my wife’s parents I used a fake English accent (my mother-in-law is from England and my then-girlfriend mistakenly thought they would like it. Did I mention we were young?)
15) Apparently some memories fade, because when I called my future father-in-law four years later to ask to marry his daughter, his response was, “Well, it’s about time.”
16) I saw Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Nils Lofgren, Don Henley, Tom Petty, Robin Williams, and Bruce Springsteen—all at the same concert!
17) I ran in the world’s largest footrace, with over 100,000 participants—The Bay to Breakers in San Francisco, California)
18) In high school I was nominated, “Most likely to become a sumo wrestler,” but lost out to someone even skinnier.
19) I completed the last of the requirements for my Eagle award the day before my 18th birthday. Who are you calling a procrastinator?
20) Since then I have served as a Cub Scout den leader, Cubmaster (twice), Scout committee chairman and Assistant Scoutmaster.
21) In college I was the national president of the Intercollegiate Knights, a national service honorary.
22) I enjoy trading-card games like Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon and Magic but rarely have time to play anymore.
23) I took piano for 6 years or so as a kid. Now I wish I had appreciated it more and taken it more seriously.
24) I watched the sun rise from the summit of Mt. Sinai in Egypt.
25) My favorite TV show is “The Amazing Race.” Surprised? I didn’t think so.

Go on, you know you want to do this too. Make your list and make sure I know where you post it!

The Things We Do For Love

I finished my last trip of 2008 on New Year’s Eve just a little after noon. A choice loomed before me. I had the next day off, but then needed to be back early on the 2nd for a trip. Flights to Utah appeared to have seats available, but returning to Atlanta on New Year’s Day looked to be rough at best—every flight but one was already oversold plus there were already dozens of fellow Delta and Delta Connection employees (“non-revs”—non revenue paying passengers) like me on the list for whatever empty seats there might be. To compound things, my next days off weren’t until the 6th, meaning that if I chose to stay in Atlanta, I would be gone for eight days in a row. Hardly ideal.

I decided to go for it. The 1:50 flight to Salt Lake City looked good. . . or so I thought. Upon arriving at the gate I saw on the monitors overhead that the flight had less than a handful of seats still available and over 50 non-revs on the list. I stood in line, hoping that the jump-seat in the cockpit was still available. It was a good plan, if only the person just ahead of me hadn’t requested it first. There was still the 4:25 flight, but all of those who didn’t make the 1:50 flight would just roll over to the next one, so my chances were slim at best.

The other pilot recognized my plight and informed me that he had checked out connecting to Salt Lake City through St. Louis and that the jump-seats were available. Another choice. I didn’t want to get stuck in St. Louis if the connecting flight was full. Once again, I decided to go for it. I raced to the other gate, since the St. Louis flight was leaving in less than 30 minutes. Trying to get the flight out on time on a busy travel day, the gate agent was less than happy or helpful when I showed up at nearly the last minute with my request. A Delta pilot had already requested the jump-seat, it turned out. Although I had priority (it was an ASA flight) and he volunteered to sit in back (he was first in the priority list for non-revs) she refused to change anything. With a (supposedly) full flight and 7 non-revs listed, my chances were looking lousy. But, as luck would have it, there must have been some paying passengers who mis-connected because there was one empty seat after all. Hallelujah!

Once in St. Louis I had to wait two and a half hours for the flight to Salt Lake City. Good thing I brought plenty to read. Fortunately I did get the jump-seat this time, and somehow, again in spite of a supposedly full flight, there was an empty seat for me in the back. I took advantage and slept as much as I could, knowing it would be a very short night.

I pulled into the driveway at 8:00, happy to be home, but still dreading the thought of getting up at 4:15 to try to get back to Atlanta. Annette greeted me with an enthusiastic kiss, very pleased that I had made the effort. That and the kids hugs, which ranged from cheerful to exuberant, made all the trouble worthwhile. We had several of our children’s friends over for the festivities, played Mario Kart on the Wii as well as Family Cranium. A good time was had by all. After seeing everyone off, putting the children to bed and cleaning up, Annette and I finally fell asleep around 1:30 or so.

Less than three hours later I was up. Surprisingly, I wasn’t as exhausted as I expected. I guess my body treated it more like a nap. Good thing. Once again, I knew that my best chance lay with requesting the jump-seat. I made sure I was first in line. Now, if a Delta pilot had wanted it, I would have lost out, but otherwise, it’s first come, first served. So first mattered. And sure enough, shortly after requesting and receiving the jump-seat another ASA pilot arrived. I kept my eyes peeled, looking for any Delta pilots, but none showed up. This time I did end up sitting in the cockpit, but I was just happy that I didn’t end up sitting in the airport all day trying to get out. That was a very real possibility.

The Delta pilots were very friendly and a lot of fun, and to top it off there were some First Class breakfasts left over for the three of us. Score! (Pilots love free food, and no, this isn’t typical.) I arrived in Atlanta shortly after noon, roughly 24 hours after I had left. After a brief train ride and somewhat longer bus trip I arrived at my crash pad and. . . well, what else?. . . crashed!

It was definitely a memorable New Year’s Eve. I was very grateful that even with a bump or two along the way, it had all worked out so well and that I was able to be with those I loved to usher in the New Year.