The sun is finally shining here this morning! Not so yesterday in NYC when our lovely outing day was plagued by intermittant showers. But the rain did not deter from theater, tea and dancing, i.e., a pefect combination of events!
After seeing Love, Loss, and What I Wore at the Westside Theater, we headed down to Arium for afternoon tea. In our family, we have a tradition of having real, official, afternoon tea on the day after Thanksgiving. While it hasn't really worked to have tea on that day in the past several year, it's not working to have tea that weekend at all this year. So yesterday was substitute.
Finding the perfect place for tea can be a challenge. We like trying new places, if we can. We like the full, three-course, sandwiches, scones, and sweets tea without excessive cutesy floral romance, but with a certain formality that marks a difference from coffee and a small cake or pastry at a cafe.
Deb was on the case, and found seemingly the perfect place: Arium, down in the revamped, now trendy meat packing district, on a street with one of the best names ever: Little West 12th.
Arium was lovely in many respects. The atmosphere was nice - good furniture, formal serviceware, but simple. The food was good, though I prefer my scones a little less cake-y and more biscuit-like. The service was good. We were served quickly and not rushed. The tea selections were great, far beyond the usual one type of green, a darjeeling, an earl grey, and maybe an oolong for variety, with a list of trendy non-teas. I had two of my favorite Yunan types to choose from. I selected an Emperor's Red from Fujian Province.
But here's the kicker - there were no other people in the place. And not just the tea part of the place. This so-called design studio is really an upscale hair salon. It used to have a gallery, but that has been replaced by headshots of models with interesting hair. And though the place serves lunch, dinner and tea and is in a trendy location, it was empty but for us.
My overwhelming thought when we left was that Arium wouldn't be around for long. I'm glad we caught it in its brief moment of existence.
Showing posts with label Outings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Outings. Show all posts
11/15/2009
8/05/2009
A dose of a different culture...
Last week a friend and I made an expedition to H Mart, a big Asian grocery chain with a Korean bent and a store not far from here. It's the kind of place that is simply overwhelming to the uninitiated, like me, who are not looking for anything in particular, but going more for the experience of it.
We began with produce, where things were mostly recognizable. At last, a source for baby bok choy! From there we wandered through the fish section, over to meat, and then up and down the grocery aisles. There were rows of noodles of all kinds, teas, standard western fare, which looked out of place, household items, and on and on. There was not one kind of sesame oil to choose from as there is in the local Pathmark, which makes shopping for it fast and eay, but a choice between brands and dark sesame oil, and black sesame oil and wild sesame oil. And then the section of dried seaweed, dried plants that I hoped were not for eating, but I think were, freeze-dried squid strips, etc. I had no idea how to choose between the varieties of noodles, so I chose none.
We came at last to the frozen food section where I was determined to take home some dumplings. But there again was the issue. I could read no list of ingredients and had a hard time choosing between one kind of meat dumpling and another. In the end I chose a few packages where I understood the preparation instructions and enjoyed them when I tasted them.
In the end I left H-Mart almost as overwhelmed as I walked in. I'm glad I went with a friend as we gave each other courage to try some things we otherwise never would have.
Would I go again? In a heartbeat. Now that I know what they have and what to expect, I can pretend to be a slightly more educated consumer.
And then there is that sesame candy that's been haunting my thoughts for a week now...
We began with produce, where things were mostly recognizable. At last, a source for baby bok choy! From there we wandered through the fish section, over to meat, and then up and down the grocery aisles. There were rows of noodles of all kinds, teas, standard western fare, which looked out of place, household items, and on and on. There was not one kind of sesame oil to choose from as there is in the local Pathmark, which makes shopping for it fast and eay, but a choice between brands and dark sesame oil, and black sesame oil and wild sesame oil. And then the section of dried seaweed, dried plants that I hoped were not for eating, but I think were, freeze-dried squid strips, etc. I had no idea how to choose between the varieties of noodles, so I chose none.
We came at last to the frozen food section where I was determined to take home some dumplings. But there again was the issue. I could read no list of ingredients and had a hard time choosing between one kind of meat dumpling and another. In the end I chose a few packages where I understood the preparation instructions and enjoyed them when I tasted them.
In the end I left H-Mart almost as overwhelmed as I walked in. I'm glad I went with a friend as we gave each other courage to try some things we otherwise never would have.
Would I go again? In a heartbeat. Now that I know what they have and what to expect, I can pretend to be a slightly more educated consumer.
And then there is that sesame candy that's been haunting my thoughts for a week now...
5/24/2008
Ole!
So there we were, aimlessly strolling about Old City, contemplating an evening of used bookstores, perhaps last minute tickets to Our Town at the Arden, something cheap for dinner, when we happened on the poster that set our course for the evening - Flamenco on 4th and Bainbridge. Perfect.
Though we strayed a bit too long at the Book Trader, we booked it down to the tiny Shubin Theater, and made it just in time. The attraction was Pasion y Arte, an all-women dance troupe. Fabulous, strong, passionate. Inconsiderate audience members aside, I was just blown away by the movement and the emotion.
One key element for me was that some of the dancers were mature women, not the norm in most dance performance settings. But it was thrilling to see these women dancing from their hearts and their years of experience, as if to say, "we've lived long enough to have something to dance about."
The passion in English dance largely comes from a connection to another person, assisted by the music. It's one that works for me. But the ECD dance form itself cannot come close to capturing the depth of feeling that these women were able to display through music, rhythm, costume and movement. It's amazing.
I may need to become a groupie.
Though we strayed a bit too long at the Book Trader, we booked it down to the tiny Shubin Theater, and made it just in time. The attraction was Pasion y Arte, an all-women dance troupe. Fabulous, strong, passionate. Inconsiderate audience members aside, I was just blown away by the movement and the emotion.
One key element for me was that some of the dancers were mature women, not the norm in most dance performance settings. But it was thrilling to see these women dancing from their hearts and their years of experience, as if to say, "we've lived long enough to have something to dance about."
The passion in English dance largely comes from a connection to another person, assisted by the music. It's one that works for me. But the ECD dance form itself cannot come close to capturing the depth of feeling that these women were able to display through music, rhythm, costume and movement. It's amazing.
I may need to become a groupie.
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