Staten Island

Upon arrival in the states, I purchased a number of "free Manhattan" books. Knowing what to do, for cheap, is never going to hurt around here.

The Staten Island ferry is a pretty good example of this. Unlike the ferrys to Liberty Island (where the statue resides), or Ellis Island (where new immigrants had to go on their passage to the land of the free), this is a regular free ferry service, laid on to serve the guys and galls who live on the Staten Isle. My tax dollars are paying for it, so why not take advantage of the service.

As you can see on the map below, Staten Island is quite a way below Manhattan, much further than Liberty island, etc, but the boat is faster and the trip only takes about half an hour.

The boat trip really is the main draw, as the area of the island around the ferry port is fairly rundown so unless you get a bus deeper in, it isn't really worth a wander.

One attraction that is worth visiting on the island is a huge sculpture of a couple of envelopes, which was built to commemorate 9/11. It's a short walk from the ferry port, and has a nature reserve next to it.

It has the profiles and details of many of the heroes who died serving their country by rescuing people from the twin towers, etc... It's a pretty extraordinary thing.

(So as not to mislead, I should clarify that you pass far closer to the statue of liberty than this, but I just preferred this photo).

Good Statue of Liberty fact, as you probably all know, it was built by the French to commemorate the US independence from their evil british governors. However, you may not know that 

a) It was designed and constructed by the very same Gustave Eiffel who had previously built a fairly well known tower in Paris, and 

b) while it was designed to be unveiled on Independence day in 1876, the construction overran to such a degree that on Independence day all they had to show was a massive arm and a head. The rest of the statue wasn't completed until ten years later. Relations between the US and France haven't been the same since. Probably.

So to conclude. If you want to get a closer look at the statue of liberty without paying to visit the island, then the Staten Island boat is a pretty damned good way of doing that, but the island itself isn't really worth visiting unless you're prepared to spend the day exploring further away from the dock.

Spiritual Guidence

If I'm going to see a Psychic Therapist, I like to have their occupation picked out in pink neon lettering. Nothing says, "Take me seriously" quite like it.

Life Underground

The MTA here is the same as TFL in London. And like TFL they also commission art for the subway.

There are lots of posters and prints around, but these little guys are some of my favourites. They are almost hidden in various places in certain stations around the subway.

They are called Life Underground by Tom Otterness

You can read more about them here:

http://www.mta.info/mta/aft/permanentart/permart.html?agency=n&line=L&station=9&artist=1&img=1&xdev=840

OOF

As seen in MoMA.

Top of the Rock

We wanted to see New York from above. Normally the Empire State Building is the tall structure of choice around these parts, but on the advice of a new friend here, we went to the top of the Rockefeller Building, as it allows you to see the Empire State Building. See, we box clever around here. All the tall buildings here are outrageously expensive, but cheaper than a helicopter tour, so we paid our dues and took to the sky just as it was getting dark.

Stop. Ballet time.

The New York City Ballet is housed in the amazing Lincoln Center. Three beautiful 1970s buildings that comprise the locations of the New York Ballet, Philharmonic and Opera. It's recently been renovated and is amazing inside. Rather than the recently rejuvenation of the London Opera, which has a completely new interior, this feels like being right back in the 1970s when everything was crispy and new (and brown).

So, for those of you who know me (which I'd hope is anyone reading this), you may ask, why did I go to this centre of culture? Well, I answer, because my girlfriend has slightly more refined tastes than myself and I thought she'd enjoy it. Luckily, she loved it. Rather more surprisingly, so did I. I wouldn't have thought I'd have ever enjoyed going to the ballet, but the spectacle was wonderful and sold me completely.

Anyway, some photos of the place:

The outside from the middle of the complex.

The four floor high lobby space

The interior of the theatre.
If it looks like we are far away from the action, it's because we are. Because, well, frankly, I'm poor and these were the best seats we could afford. None the less, they were bang in the middle and were easily close enough to see every detail.

The giant hanging light is astonishing in real life. It's huge and reminds me an artistic version of the giant glitter ball at Koko (in London).

(both me and Anne got told off for taking photos, twice in my case)

Rosa Mexicana Guacamole

Another restaurant review, but this time, just of one dish.

Rosa Mexicana is a small chain of 3 or 4 places in New York that do pretty damned good mexican food. However, the real star of the show is their outstanding guacamole.

This is made freshly in front of you, and is simply a mix of avocados, chopped tomatoes, jalapeños, onions, coriander and salt.

It's then expertly mashed by the man below.

It even comes in a giant stone mashing mortar for effect.

The rest of the meal was very good, but there was part of me that wondered if I shouldn't have just had it again as a main course.

Brooklyn Bridge

I discovered recently that the Brooklyn Bridge is a short hop skip and jump away from my apartment, and on a sunny day I can't think of a better way of getting into Manhattan.

Thank Dog

A wonderfully named daycare centre for your cats and dogs

Good name, good logo. Ridiculous concept.

Shakshuka recipe

There are versions of this wonderful brunch dish in the brilliant Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi and Real Food Fast by Nigel Slater. It's a great "whatever-i-have-in-the-fridge" dish.

The version here is based on the Ottolenghi recipe, with a few tweeks I've made to make it simpler, quicker, and for less people.

Shakshuka
Serves 2 (or 1 very hungry person)


Basic ingredients:

180ml light olive oil or vegetable oil

1 large onions, sliced

2  peppers, cut into 2cm strips

1 tin of tomatoes

4 free-range eggs

salt and pepper

A frying pan with a lid

Ottolenghi also suggests:

½ tsp cumin seeds

2 tsp muscovado sugar

2 bay leaves

3 thyme sprigs, leaves picked and chopped

1 tbsp chopped parsley

1 tbsp chopped coriander, plus extra to garnish

½ tsp saffron threads

Cayenne pepper

I also suggest:

Pesto

Hummus

Bacon (or other strongly flavoured meats)

Aubergine 

Mushrooms

Any other veg, spices or herbs you have lying around

At the heart of this dish is a mix of onions, peppers and tomatoes with a few eggs cracked onto it. Everything else just adds more flavour and depends on how you're feeling.

Method:

1. In a very large pan add the oil and onions and sauté for 5 minutes. Add the peppers and any other vegetables you like that appreciate a bit of colour, and continue cooking on a high heat for 5-10 minutes to get a nice colour. 

 You can also add 

muscovado sugar at this point. If you want to add dry spices like cumin seeds, dry-fry them for 2 minutes before adding the oil and vegetables.

2. Add the tomatoes and some salt and pepper (also the saffron, cayenne, etc).  Reduce the heat to low and cook for 10-15 minutes. During the cooking you can add some water so that the mix has a pasta sauce consistency. At this point you can also throw in pesto, some old hummus or any other saucy things that might add to the mix. Even a bit of hot sauce or lime pickle can be tasty. Taste and adjust the seasoning. (You can prepare this mix well in advance.) 

3. Make four gaps in the pepper mix and carefully break an egg into each gap. Sprinkle with salt and cover the pan with a lid. At this point me and Yotam have different opinions. I suggest cooking on a medium heat for 5 minutes, but he says, cook on a very (!) gentle heat for 10-12 minutes, or until the eggs are just set. I've tried both ways, mine is quicker. Sprinkle with coriander (if you have any) and serve.

4. Eat

Mental States

I was recently asked to internally promote an upcoming Interbrand design tour to the New Museum. We do monthly design tours here, which are cultural outings for the company after work. This one was for an art exhibition called Mental States, so, I thought I'd rip off a bunch of artists (most recently Stefan Sagmeister) and create an arty thing on the main staircase.

The nice thing about creating messages in a 3D space is that they only read correctly from a single point, otherwise it just creates an interesting masking tape pattern on the staircase

I did a bunch of posters for this tour as well, but this was by far the most fun to create.

Norwegian Night

Some nights go as planned, but the better ones blindside you. For example:

This is Anders. A Norwegian friend who I met in the UK. He came over to the big apple with his very generous company, who were rewarding his team with a trip over here.

I met up with Anders for a drink to catch up, but I managed to tag along with a large band of norwegians. 

In a cliched NY moment we got a white stretch limo from their hotel (where they had a suite each) to the restaurant they'd booked.

Onwards to the over the top restaurant, with customised menus and upstairs club 

To continue the stereotypes, we headed to a rooftop bar in the Meatpacking district (view below)...

But it sleeping in a spare bed in a hotel suite in manhattan, thankfully Anders not only has an excellent company, but excellent company in Nick (below) who works with him and was blessed with a hotel suite so large it had a spare double bed

(Apologies to Nick for the terrible photo)

Next morning, I also managed to have breakfast in the penthouse cafe/bar/breakfast room.

Sorry for the huge amount of photos in a single blog posting, but a hell of a lot happened. The whole weekend felt like being in an episode of Sex and the City/Entourage. It was a New York normally only seen in films and on TV. So I'm hugely grateful to Anders, Nick and the gang for giving me a glimpse of something special.

 

How not to hang a blind

So the ladder still hasn't materialised, which means I haven't had any blinds for two weeks now.

So, desperate times call for desperate and foolhardy measures. It occurred to me that if I couldn't get a real ladder I could build one out some of the stuff in my apartment. What could go wrong?

So far all the furniture I have is a chest of drawers, some chairs, an unbuilt bed and a kitchen unit. Clearly the perfect building blocks for a rudimentary ladder.

Which looks a bit like this...

A minor work of genius I think you'll agree. 

Now unfortunately, the chest of drawers is going to be mainly carrying my weight, but it's an Ikea chest of drawers, meaning that it has a 3mm thick piece of plywood for a back, and no bottom at all. In reality it's a horizontal piece of mdf, screwed to two vertical pieces of mdf, with some drawers in it for weight. 

As it was really rather wobbly I placed my mattress next to it incase I fell off sideways. I presumed I wouldn't be dumb enough to fall forwards out of the window or backwards down my ladder.

So, did it work?

Yes.

A new life in boxes

This is the combined waste cardboard and plastic that I've managed to accumulate in the last two weeks. A combination of having things shipped over, multiple trips to Ikea and Bed, Bath and Beyond, Home Depot and Target have left me with a Turner Prize winning quantity of packaging in my apartment.

(Between taking the photo and publishing this entry the pile has all been successfully moved out of my home and recycled. The place feels rather empty now)

Dirty Laundry

Something you see on American TV shows but don't really think much about is when a guy starts chatting a girl up in a launderette. It seems cool and American, but until now it's never really occurred to me that the idea of having to leave your apartment with a heavy bag of dirty laundry and sit around in a launderette for half a day, waiting for a cute girl to comment on your colourful sock collection would be a reality of living in America.

Apartments here don't have their own washing machines. Really. Large blocks have a central machine in the basement somewhere, and some expensive new builds will have them in the apartment, but for the vast majority of New Yorkers doing your laundry means schlepping (see earlier post) across the neighborhood like a dirty Santa Claus.

However, what they don't show you on the US shows is that many places now offer a pickup and deliver service (probably because it cuts down flirting to the delivery person, and Friends has already done that).

This innovation turns the whole thing on its head. Suddenly, the worst part of living in the states turns into one of the best.

So a few days ago I gave this a try. I called my local place (200 Dry), a guy arrived at my door 30 minutes later. I handed him a huge bin bag of dirty laundry (I haven't done it for a few weeks, so there was about 10kg of stuff).

The next day I called, and 45 minutes later the same guy was at my door with this bag...

Now this could well be the greatest service I've used yet here. 24 hour turnaround, everything washed and folded, and far more neatly than I ever could. 

I even loved the way they stacked the clothes.

So neat!

Right down the packaging up all my socks into their pairs and elastic banding them together

I know what you're thinking, yes, I really do have a lot of colourful socks.

20lb (10kg) of laundry cost $20 to get done, which is around $8 more than sitting in a launderette for half a day. Now I know my time is cheap, but I'd happily pay $8 for the privilege of getting 25% of my weekend back and not having to lug a heavy bag of my dirties around my hood.

Thanks! indeed.

And now for something entirely different...

A quick break from my NY blog to draw attention to the campaign my dad has been fighting to save Gloucestershires libraries. In a nut shell, the evil conservative government (booo hisss) is attempting to cull half the libraries in Gloucestershire, and then the world! My dad has joined forces with the justice league of library lovers to stop the evil doers and bring peace happiness to folks everywhere (in Gloucestershire).
After a few debates, newspaper reports, radio interviews and televised appearances (below) they've finally got the lawyers (and not claims-direct, but ya know, like, real lawyers) involved to take it to the man.

Read about it here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/24/library-closures-challenge-campaigners?INTCMP=SRCH

Like any proud son I thought I'd lend my support, and my blog, to support the cause.

High cleaning

If you have to do your dry cleaning, please try and do it near home. Please don't do this at rush hour...

Shameless copy #03

                                  VINCENT
                       It's the little differences.  A
                       lotta the same shit we got here,
                       they got there, but there they're a
                       little different.

                                  JULES
                       Examples?

Holland

My super realised his mistake and changed the name on my mailbox. How disappointing.

Coney Island #01

So far the most pleasantly surreal place I've been so far has to be Coney Island in Winter. With all the strange old stalls and rides closed and covered in snow the place has an erie majesty.

 It also has brighton beach next door to it (no, not that one) which has a huge boardwalk full of old russian women in huge fur coats. Special.

Imperial Rule

Damned Fahrenheit. I don't understand it in the slightest. Everything here only gives the temperature in Fahrenheit and I just don't get it.

This is definitely more confusing than pounds vs kilograms (1 pound is about 500g-ish)
And far more devious than inches vs centimetres (1 inch is about 2 cm-ish)

Knowing the equation doesn't help much:

Celcius       = (Fahrenheit - 32) * (5/9)
Fahrenheit  = Celcius * (9/5) + 32

I'll be buggered if I have to do that in my head every time I want to know the temperature.

So the only other option to just to learn some general temperatures to give me a rough estimate.

This is where the Google weather app on my iGoogle homepage comes into its own. I have a Celsius and Fahrenheit version of the same app side by side as a daily temperature reminder/helper.

Yeah, it's damned cold here still. It was -5C this morning.

So from the above I can calculate that

0C = 32F

5C = 41.5F

10C = 50F

Unfortuntely I haven't needed any temporatures above 50 since i got here. Roll on spring!

Meth

So anyway I'm sick. My head is muggy and I my nose won't stop running. Urgh. Worse still I'm at work as I can't afford to use up my holiday by taking a sick day (yeah, that's how it works here. No, really, it is.)

Because American's:

a) Have obscenely expensive healthcare (in addition to the monthly fee's you also have to pay $20 per doctor visit in what's called Co-Pay)

b) Can't take a sick day without taking a day out of their stingy holiday day allocation

Pharmacy's here have all the power. Walgreens, Duane Reade and like are the most common stores you'll see on the highstreet. They also sell everything!

Want drugs? Go to your pharmacy.
Want food? Go to your pharmacy.
Want alcohol?
Want cleaning products?
Want furniture?
Want anything else?
Go to your pharmacy.

However, the drugs part is the real power for them.
People here need to not feel ill so they can work.
This is different from getting better.
No one wants to make drugs that get you better.
Because then you get better.
And stop buying the drugs.

The drug I've been recommended here for general illness is Aleve-D.

This is because it contain it contains the fabled pseudoephedrine. In the UK Sudafed has the same active ingredient.

Here however, you need to show a US drivers licence in order to buy anything with it in, as it's also the active ingredient of Meth.

As I don't have a US drivers license I was not allowed to buy it or anything similar. Nuts.
I had to buy crappier alternatives.

Sorry for the lack of posts

Sorry for not updating more regularly all.

Had a busy few weeks, and I really need to finish building my place. In addition, I'm doing extra work for interbrand in the evenings, so I've been rather busy.

However, I do have a few thing to report. I now have a cell/mobile phone!

I'm not putting the number here, but if you want it, please e-mail or facebook me and I'll let you know.

I have to admit, that a) US cell phone contracts are crazily expensive, and b) AT&T are awful. And yet, I can't live without an iPhone, so what's a macboy to do?

Also, I'm getting broadband installed on tuesday so from then onwards I'll be far more regular in my postings.

I've done quite a bit of DIY on my place, although I have a fellow reader visiting soon who'd like it to remain a surprise, so when they've gone I'll update with new photos.

For now, here are a few more posts:

New York Botanical Gardens

In an effort to get away from the unending cold in NY at this time of year, I paid a visit to my local botanical gardens.

While no match for Kew or Eden, this is a) much cheaper and b) much closer (to me anyway).

Going from the outdoors that looked like this:

to an indoor environment like this:

Is quite a shock to the system. It certainly makes stripping off the 10 winter layers you're wearing a necessity. It's a beautiful place. The buildings are pretty ugly and 80s, but the plants are great and mostly, it's really really warm.

Wet Pain

Yes, I know Jennifer Aniston is pretty wet.

She can't keep a man and she's too nice for her own good.
And, yes, I know her films are terrible, some of which are so bad they can cause actual physical pain (cough-marley-and-me-cough-cough).

But to tape an official sign to her poster is probably taking it a little too far.

Or did they mean Adam Sandler?

In which case the sign is totally justified.

Wanker.

The view from the Q

As pleasant as it would be to be able to walk to work. There simple is no way I could afford my own place in Manhattan. So, it's back to the regular daily subway/tube ride I know and love from London.

Subways in New York are broken down into express and local services. If you aren't used to it, this can be pretty confusing and frustrating, as you sail past the stop you wanted, but after a while it becomes second nature. The closest express line into the city from around me is the Q which gets me into Union Square in around 15 minutes.

As a brucey bonus, it offers up spectacular views of the Brooklyn Bridge and the financial district on my commute.

Steak Salad

The restaurants, cafes, delis and bathroom appliance stores around me all do pretty excellent food. So it's tempting to live like a New Yawker, and eat out for every meal. Not only is this tempting, it's actually cheaper than buying good ingredients and cooking for yourself.

This would be disrespectful to my new Ikea kitchen unit, or Bekväm, to give him his proper name.

So, what to make?

I hadn't had any good steak since I arrived, so I hunted down the classic NY cut at a local butcher.
The New York Strip. It's not a cut we have in the UK, but it's the centre piece of a T-Bone steak, so just ask for it.

Steak with tomato salad
Serves 1              Preparation time: Up to 60 minutes                Cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

New York Strip steak (at least 1 inch thick)
A large handful of Cherry Tomatoes
3 or 4 Spring Onions (scallions in the US)
Small teaspoon of Pesto
2 Garlic cloves, sliced lengthwise
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper


Method:

1) Season your steak lightly with salt and pepper. Pour on a small amount of olive oil then rub this into the steak with slice of garlic. The steak needs to be room temperature before it's cooked, so if you've just taken it out of the fridge it might need up to an hour to warm up. If it's cooked while cold the meat will tense up and you'll be left with a tough and rubbery excuse for a steak.

2) While your steak is warming up, chop your cherry tomatoes into halves or quarters (depending on their size). And slice up your spring onions.

3) Place the spring onions and tomatoes in a small bowl, spoon a very small teaspoon of pesto over them, then pour on a bit of olive oil and grate a generous amount of black pepper (there will be salt in the pesto, but if it's not enough then feel free to add a pinch of salt as well). Mix well. The sweetness of the tomatoes balances out the richness of the steak, while the basil in the pesto enriches the mix.

4) Five minutes before you want to cook your steak, put your pan on the heat and get it as hot as it can be. Whether it's a frying pan, griddle pan or BBQ, the principle stays the same. The hotter the pan, the better the colour on the outside and the more easily you'll achieve a pink result on the inside. You won't need to oil the pan, there should be easily enough fat in the steak. It will still generate quite a large amount of smoke, so you may want to open windows, unplug the smoke detecter, turn on a fan, etc...

5) Cooking times depend on your preference on meat. I like mine medium rare so I'd go for 3 minutes on either side. 4 minutes a side for medium, 6 minutes for well done (you heathen). But this depends on the thickness of the steak and the heat of your pan. As Mark Zuckerberg once said, "When in doubt, give it a poke". There is a good guide to how it should feel here: How to cook steak

6) Once it's cooked, let it rest for 4 minutes or so. Juices will seep out of your meat (ohh err) as it relaxes, but these can be poured back over it when you transfer it to a serving plate.

7) Transfer to a plate, pour over the juices and pile the tomato salad on top. Give a final grating of black pepper if required.

In addition to this, I love to put a thin slice of blue cheese between the steak and the tomatoes. This melts into the steak and the salty richness enhances the steaks natural flavours. It's not to everyones taste, but if you've got some left over stilton (or better still Stilchilton) lying around, it makes a world of difference.

Steak and Salad. Done.

Baby Police

I hope when this guy grows up they give him a real police car.

Do they make the criminal sit on the back?