Tag: New York City

Power of Bundt Cake – final installment

It has taken me a lot longer to compose this portion of this little mini-series than I anticipated.  Every time I start, I get distracted, and fail to return to the task at hand.  So, without further delay, here is our culinary adventure.

We were given the choice of what type of restaurant to dine at.  The girls chose Italian, since they like the Olive Garden.  We were taken to Fresco by Scotto on East 52nd Street, which happens to be a favorite amongst celebrities like Regis Philbin.  Sadly, no celebs when we were there.

There were 8 of us dining together, so we sat at a giant square table – two on each side.  Joe really wanted the girls to have a great New York City experience, so he had his assistant, Even, sit near the girls and give them shopping locations.  It was amusing, from my standpoint.

The waiters first asked if we wanted bottled or sparkling water. Bottled went into clear goblets, sparkling went into blue.  That way they wouldn’t have to interrupt our conversation to ask what we needed for our refill.  After the water was poured, Joe motioned for the waiter to come over, and gave him instructions on the appetizers he wanted for the table.  He also asked for the wine menu, which was huge!  I have no idea what type he ordered – the label was not in English.  While we were waiting for the wine to be poured, the waiters brought out a basket of bread sticks in many different sizes and grilled pizza margheritas.  We still hadn’t ordered our main course when the second round of appetizers arrived.  It was Meat & Cheese Antipasto…wow.  The waiters were instructed to put a sample of all the elements on each plate. We had Prosciutto di Parma, Parmigiano Reggiano, Mortadella, Fresh Mozzarella, Sweet & Spicy Sausage, Provolone and Capizola.  They brought out French Fries for the girls, just in case they didn’t like the other food.

After all of this, it was time to order our main meal.  We opened our menus, and to our surprise – the Schwan’s logo was in the center!  (The headquarters is 10 miles from our home.)  Jonathan ordered an organic Angus beef burger, two of the girls and I ordered the Ravioli Fresco, and one ordered the Spaghetti alla Chitarra.  When our meals arrived, it was just like in the movies where a long line of waiters come to the table to present everyone with their food.  Half-way through, Joe decided we should taste the Eggplant and Zucchini Pie, so he ordered that as well.

About the time we finished eating, Joe received a phone call and had to leave.  Connie asked if we wanted coffee or dessert, when a waiter came over and said that dessert had been taken care of.  They brought out coffee (which was also very good) and a dessert tray that was probably 2×3 feet…and filled with samples of many desserts to share.  There was Banana Pudding with Vanilla Wafers (my favorite cookie), two or three kinds of gelato, two types of cheese cake, biscotti, and fresh fruit.

The food was all top-notch, the service excellent, and the company was unforgettable.  We rolled out of there, and walked towards Central Park.  I was very thankful that we were walking everywhere after the feast we were treated to.

We hung out in Central Park for a short time, then thought we should make our way over to Broadway.  Connie ordered tickets for Mary Poppins for us.  We were floored!  She had us dead center – 6 rows from the front. We could see the sweat on the conductor’s brow…and when Mary Poppins got hit by a chimney sweep’s broom, we could see the blood trickling from her brow.  The show was amazing – different enough from the movie that it seemed fresh, yet very familiar.

We headed for home the following day, taking time to see my brother and sister-in-law, Byron and Lois.  They took us to Point Pleasant along the Jersey Shore. We walked along the boardwalk, ate at the amusement park, and walked on the beach and in the ocean.  A great end to a very memorable trip.

Mary Poppins!

The Power of Bundt Cake – New York City (part 3)

We decided to stay in Parsippany, NJ and take the train into the City for the two days we had to sightsee.  The first day was all on our own. The second day, we would be meeting at Chatham Imports before going to lunch with Joe and Connie.

The train ride into the City reminded us of the Polar Express, when the conductor came down the aisle to punch our tickets.  We looked to see if he punched any words in them, but he didn’t.  Our train destination was Penn Station, which is under ground.  When we rode the escalator up to street level the first time, we were all breathless.  The view was absolutely incredible.  We were in New York City.  On Fashion Avenue. Blocks from Broadway and Times Square.  Un-be-liev-able!

We pretty much walked everywhere the first day. We ate at a McDonald’s that has appeared on Travel Channel shows, walked past the theater where we would be seeing Mary Poppins the following night, and walked into Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum to purchase tickets for our sightseeing bus tour.   We figured the bus tour would be a good bet, since we could get a feel for the city without wearing Anna out.  Unfortunately, their dry spell ended that day.  We were given rain ponchos to wear while we were on the top level of the bus, but it was raining much too hard for them to keep us dry.  Jon and I ended up sitting below, where the windows were fogged over, and there was little ventilation.  Me, being claustrophobic, thought I was going to die.  Every time the bus slowed down for a stop, water cascaded down the steps from the upper deck into the lower level.  We eventually got off at a stop without knowing exactly where we were.  We were just about to call a cab, when another bus pulled up that had a plastic cover over the front of the upper seats.  It was the Brooklyn tour.  The rain showers had let up by this point, so we jumped on and had a great tour of Brooklyn.  When the tour was finished, we walked back to Penn Station to catch the train to our hotel.  We would have to be on the ball the next morning so we wouldn’t be late for our meeting.

The weather was definitely better the following day, although trains were running late through the tunnel between New Jersey and New York due to flooding from the deluge the day before.  We had to hurry from Penn Station to Chatham’s in order to get there in time. Thanks to the GPS on my Smartphone, we made it.

The office itself was pretty small, but everyone was very friendly.  The secretary is originally from Iowa, and made us feel very welcome the way Midwesterners do.  Connie brought us into the conference room, where Joe joined us a short time later.  They asked the girls a ton of questions, just getting to know them, and making sure they were experiencing the City the way they were hoping to.

After hearing more about their company, Jonathan and I were invited to have a sampling of the vodka made from our corn.  Chatham’s markets three flavors of organic vodka under the Crop label – plain, tomato, and cucumber.  We learned the proper way to taste test without getting intoxicated before lunch. 🙂   It amazed me how the tomato and cucumber vodkas tasted just like fresh from the vine produce.  We next tasted their organic gin, which is marketed under the Farmers Gin label.  I had never tasted gin before, and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.  The taste of juniper was very pronounced, but when we did the “spit” part of the taste test, the flavor of lemon filled my mouth.  For fun, we were given tastes of Joe’s favorite Biscotti liqueur, which tasted just like the cookie.  We chatted for a few more minutes, then we were off to lunch.

Next… lunch!

The girls in their rain ponchos before hopping on the bus