The Princess & The Pancake
- Samantha Hoback
- Jan 30, 2017
- 4 min read
Let me start by saying that last week did not begin on a good foot. It began on a no-good-terrible-stomach-flu-bad foot. Fortunately there was a light at the end of the tunnel: My dad came to visit over the weekend! It was cold (Saturday was just plain frigid) but we managed to work our way all over the city.
Friday night he met me in Union Square after I got out of work, and before we did anything, we shopped for a new mattress. Because my old mattress had a big sink hole in the middle. Once that was taken care of, we headed uptown to dinner at Bobby Flay's Bar Americain. The lamb chops were excellent, and as happy as I was to have my dad in town for a few days, we were both exhausted (he'd taken the train in that morning), and so the rest of the evening was spent at my apartment watching Food Network.
Saturday, refreshed from a good night's sleep, we headed to the west side for brunch at Mermaid Inn--one of the restaurants on my bucket list. The raisin bread was un-freaking-believable. And it's a good thing I made a reservation; that place filled up fast! Always a good sign.
After brunch--we both had eggs Benedict, by the way, we boarded the subway bound for Inwood. Never heard of Inwood? It's way way way uptown--190th Street to be exact. Why were we taking the train so far north, you ask? Good question. Another bucket list item: The Cloisters! It's part of the Metropolitan Museum and houses art and architecture from medieval Europe. It even has a centuries-old chapel from France! (I'd love to know how they managed to transport that across the Atlantic...) Up on the balcony it was fiercely windy, but the views of the Hudson were pretty spectacular. I bet it's especially beautiful in the spring and summer when the gardens are in full bloom. Perhaps a second visit is in order...
I had big--huge--plans for us after the Cloisters. I wanted to take my dad bowling at Chelsea Piers. It's a sports complex on the west side situated on several piers on the Hudson River. For some of the activities you actually play outside overlooking the river. Others, like bowling, are located inside, but you can still walk out on the pier for the view. Well, we made it to the Piers, but when we went to check-in, we were told that all the lanes were booked up--for the rest of the day. Private parties--at least three children's birthday parties--had taken up the whole alley. What to do? Grab a drink and a snack at the bar, of course, and then consider other options.
We ended up taking a cab to another bowling alley in Times Square. This time, we put our names on a waiting list and headed to that bar for another round of drinks and the end of the Tennessee basketball game. (Vols won!) We didn't have to wait too long, and once we got our shoes and our lane assignment, we were on a roll (pun intended). God as my witness, I made three--maybe four?--strikes and a handful of spares. I made quite a few gutter balls as well, but overall I'm pretty proud of how I played. I even beat my dad the first game (he won the other three).
Four games of bowling later, it was time to head home and change for dinner. I'd made reservations at a place on the Upper East Side called Arlington Club strictly based on the menu and photos on Yelp. It paid off: the food was amazing (especially the cocktail I had called the Careless Whisper). There was so much food that I took leftovers back home, which I'll be enjoying for lunches this week. Again, full and fatigued, we called it a night, watched some TV, and all but passed out.
Sunday was mattress delivery day! But first--breakfast. There are a lot of diner-esque restaurants in my neighborhood, so we opted for E.J.'s on Third Avenue. I can't tell you how long it's been since I've eaten pancakes...years, I think! But they sounded too good to pass up, and even though my stomach felt a little queasy from all that sugar a little while later, it was totally worth it.
We picked up a few things at Bed Bath and Beyond (including new sheets for my new mattress) and were just stopping for coffee when the mattress delivery people called to tell me they were waiting outside my building...an hour and a half before the delivery appointment! We weren't far, so we headed back and stood awkwardly in the living room while they delivery men set up my new mattress and hauled away the old one. Lying on the mattress in my room for the first time I felt like the princess in the story about the mattress with the pea: All along I knew something was wrong with my old mattress, but it took having a new mattress to realize that I no longer had to live uncomfortably. (Okay, so the analogy is a little bit of a stretch, but you get the idea. Mattress-->Princess.)
The rest of the day was up in the air. A couple more apartment-related errands and a snack/drink break at Markt. I even had time to go to Trader Joe's for some groceries for the week AND I took my dad on a brief tour of my office. (I'm sure he was wildly impressed by my cubicle...haha.) Dinner Sunday was Pizza Beach--an Upper East Side staple--followed by Bar Coastal to watch part of the Pro Bowl.
Alas, Monday came along, I had to go back to work, and Dad had to catch his train. But it was definitely a fun and memorable weekend. We did things we hadn't done before, and I was able to check off several things from my bucket list. If only all of my weekends could be so productive.
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