Food and Drink

This being New York, I thought I would have written about food and drink earlier than the 4th post! Luckily, I have some very sophisticated friends who know where to go and what to indulge in, or I would be lost at sea....
(Miles, this post is for you! Revisit it when you come to NY!)

A few cool places from the past week:

1. Resto - Belgian, with a cosy bar, and good beer options. Crispy pig ear was surprisingly good! Thanks to SJH for this one...

2. Andaz - a bar hidden in the depths of the Andaz hotel across from the Public Library. Dark, mysterious and sophisticated (also, delicious smelling empanadas.) Thanks again to SJH.......

3. Rif Raf - a new, invite only (I think?) bar/club, where a large and imposing man in black seeks out every new entry to the establishment to apply streaks of war paint to their face. Like it or not, you get painted! With all the sweat produced from dancing and inevitable spillage of drinks, it is very likely that most of your war paint will end up smeared everywhere, so don't wear your favorite outfit... This was courtesy of SJH and her lovely other half..

4. Bianca -  a popular Italian restaurant which does romantic candlelight really well and has great value for money. The wait is often 1 hour from the point of putting your name on the list so go next door to the speakeasy to hang out. (This evening was courtesy of ML)

Seafood linguine

Enjoying his lasgana....

5. Blue Smoke - good BBQ in Murray Hill. Spicy tuna taco appetizer was great!

6. *unknown new york diner* - Love the diners!!! Don't even care which one this was....I missed them!

Diner folk.....

Diner coffee! With the plastic milks!! 

Apologies to those who aren't really into food, or details (like the diner plastic milks)...I like both.

From corporate to startup...

The startup scene is definitely a departure from corporate! A few differences....

1.  There are no glass corner offices - the CEO sits amongst the people.

2. Dogs (startup mascots) are allowed! (When we were sharing an office with another startup, Skillshare, they had a dog as well and we kept having to break up fights between them....)

3. Furnishings are sparse, whilst the computers are over the top! Gotta love the juxtopositioning of the old wood tables upon which are resting beautiful, new, all in one, Macs, sometimes turned sideways by coders for easier coding. FYI: computer programmers, obviously one of the most common roles in a startup, are loosely referred to as 'coders'.

4. My desk is different but process mapping  never changes!

5. No one tends to start before 9.30am (except for maybe the poor Sales team), again an influence from coder culture....

Getting lost....

I took a walk today to explore the East Village further and get to the East River. Somehow, though, I ended up in the Projects. Picture me, hand over my big expensive camera, hurriedly doing the 'head down' walk through the house estate. Anyway.

So a little about my neighbourhood.....

There are so many little gardens! Where did they come from? So much for NY being an "urban jungle..." It seems like there are community gardens on every corner, (not just in the East Village but all over Manhattan) each with their own theme and design. All are incredibly well-maintained and many have private nooks and crannies (e.g. benches hidden under weeping willows....) for D&Ms or thinking sessions with your diary and a coffee. Check out Grow NYC if you're interested!

The top prize goes to a garden on my street, E 4th, which has a "bird nest" tree house.

View from the treehouse is totally urban...

These little girls were playing in the garden, picking berries from the tree...

It turns out my apartment is in the heart of a Cuban community. There are literally 5 Cuban churches within a a block of each other and we live right next to one, Iglesia Pentacostal Camino A Damasco. Quite a mouthful.

Delightful bent over little men are permanent fixtures on the church steps and street.

Next post: FOOD!!!!!

Arrival!

Its the first day of summer! (Technically I have been here for 8 days now, but pretending I've arrived today is a much more symbolic way to start off the blog...)

This will be a short post because the city is already wearing me out (apparently I'm a wuss and haven't gotten my big-city-sea-legs back yet...)

A few things that have struck me so far: 

1. The walking! People talk '15 blocks' like its around the corner! And people walk fast. 

2. The walking AND successfully avoiding the dog poo...more challenging than you might think. Especially if you are trying to surreptitiously read a map while walking.  My first night, I put my toe in a nice pile and Emily wouldn't let me in the house without some serious negotiations about scrubbing my toes for a minimum of 10 minutes.....

3. Coffee situation here has definitely improved since I was last here. Not Sydney standards yet, but much better. It now seems to be like a new hobby for people - what is the most unique cafe for me to get my morning coffee at? What is the coolest name i can come up with for my new coffee specialty cafe? 

More to come! If you guys get bored of reading this and don't want alerts of new postings in your email, just let me know. 

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