My Weekend in NYC

Two years ago, my boyfriend (now fiancé) and I visited New York City in the fall, so we were excited to take a repeat vacation to the Big Apple this year. We stayed at the Even Hotel near Grand Central, which was a cool, hip hotel with a great location; the room featured exercise equipment (yoga mat and block, foam roller, resistance bands, and a big exercise ball), and since they gave us free drink vouchers, our first night there we had a happy hour drink at the hotel bar before playing a game of ping pong (my fiancé couldn’t get over the fact that I didn’t hold the handle of the paddle…don’t worry, it’s a Dartmouth thing!). We could easily walk or take the subway from our hotel everywhere we needed to go, so the location was perfect!

We walked around everywhere (we didn’t even take the subway until our second day in town), so we definitely got our steps in! Even in the rain we were walking around getting our much-needed exercise. It’s the best way to explore a city anyway; you never know what you’ll find!

Here were the highlights from our trip:

1.     1. Visiting friends and family

Friends and ice cream is the best combination!

We know a lot of people who live in and around New York, so we made plans ahead of time to make sure to see them. We had dinner with two of my friends who moved to New York after leaving DC this summer; her cousin recommended Bistango, an Italian restaurant in the Kimberly Hotel, and it was very good. Then we stopped by Van Leeuwen for dessert, where my fiancé and I split a mini chocolate lovers sundae. Can’t beat that!

The next day we had Italian food again (this time pizza at Motorino) for lunch with my fiancé’s family. Both his niece as well as his nephew’s girlfriend are pregnant, so we got together with them and their significant others to celebrate their future babies (and our own recent engagement, too). I had met his niece and her husband before, but I had not met his nephew or his girlfriend, so it was lovely to not only meet them but get to know them a little bit. They are all really nice, so it was a very pleasant lunch. AND we went out for ice cream again, and the peanut butter brownie honeycomb is AMAZING!

 Later that night we had dinner at Sabai Thai with a frat brother of my fiancé and his wife; these are people he’s known for DECADES, so I wanted to make a good impression. They were friendly and totally welcoming, so I had nothing to worry about. We enjoyed a long, leisurely dinner of pad thai and yummy cocktails. We almost didn’t want the night to end, but they had a long trip back to New Jersey, so we parted ways late that night, but we hope to see them again soon.

2.    2. Culturing ourselves at the Met

Image found here

W  While we are spoiled with so many free museums in D.C., NYC has lot of great museums, so we figured we’d pay the fees to visit one of them. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a HUGE museum, and they have a special Manet v. Degas exhibit, so we thought we’d certainly get our money’s worth there. That exhibit was interesting, and we learned a lot about the two artists who were contemporaries and even friends. I thought it was cool to compare their art side by side, especially when the content was similar, such as dancers, bathers, or horses. We also looked at a lot of Roman and Greek statues, pottery from ancient Persia, and many paintings from the Impressionists like Monet. We could have been there all day!

3.    3. Enjoying nature

The "Imagine" mosaic in Central Park in honor of John Lennon

While you might not think of getting out in the Great Outdoors in New York City, they do have some wonderful parks. We walked through much of Central Park despite the drizzle the day we arrived, and on the morning we left, we took the subway downtown to check out the High Line and the Little Island (which only opened about two years ago). It’s always relaxing to just walk amongst trees and plants, surrounding oneself with greenery. And we had no rain on our last day, so that was even better!

The Little Island is cool from far away as well as inside the park itself!

4. Exploring Chelsea

      After we walked along the Highline, we stopped by Chelsea Market, which my fiancé had never been to before. Many of the stores weren’t open yet that early on a Sunday, but the market itself was all decked out for Halloween, and we did find a cute shop selling lots of Japanese merchandise like Hello Kitty and Tokidoki.

Vintage vibes at the Hotel Chelsea

      After the market, we walked over to the Hotel Chelsea (colloquially called the Chelsea Hotel). I had recently read an article about the hotel in the Wall Street Journal magazine, which explained the famous history of the hotel (many celebrities and artists used to live there); it had been closed for many years for renovations and only recently re-opened. I loved how they kept the old vibes of the place; you felt like you stepped back in time. And the walls were covered with artwork from former tenants who occasionally paid their rent through their artistic works. We may have stayed for a drink at the bar if it hadn’t been mid-morning!

I feel like this list doesn’t do our trip justice. We walked around so much that sometimes we would just stumble upon random things. We found yummy places to eat (we enjoyed bagel breakfast sandwiches from Ess-a-Bagel and Brooklyn Bagel & Coffee Company, and read my Yelp review for Clinton Hall), came across family-friendly street markets, and escaped the rain playing house in CB2 and Design within Reach. For only having been in the city for almost exactly 48 hours, we packed a lot in!

Stevie Nicks and Billy Joel in Concert

Image found here

Stevie Nicks and Billy Joel are such rock legends, so when I saw that they were performing together in Baltimore, I knew I wanted to see that show. They are both in their mid-70's: who knows how long they will keep doing this! I thought this could be my last chance to see either of them live. We were in the nosebleed section of M&T Stadium, and it was a chilly October night, but I was prepared with a blazer, windbreaker, and faux fur coat (I even brought a towel to sit on to keep the plastic seat warm). I wasn't going to let the cold weather stop me from enjoying this concert!

I know Nicks mostly through her music with Fleetwood Mac (which I think is true for a lot of people). She sang some of those songs, but also included music of her own. Here are my two favorites:

Landslide

Edge of Seventeen (not called "White Winged Dove" like I thought!)

While Nicks only sings, Billy Joel is an excellent musician in his own right, playing the piano (of course), the guitar, and the harmonica (and maybe more!). And his band was just as talented! Crystal Taliefero, who played percussion and the saxophone, sang River Deep Mountain High, and it was great!

And his lead guitarist, Mike DelGuidice, can sing opera! He was amazing! I think this was my favorite part of the night, mainly because it was just so unexpected! The video below is from 2016, but he sang the same song and sounded just as good:

And then of course Joel has all of his huge hits. He has so many songs that he kind of did the concert in three parts: the first part, then what you thought was the encore but actually the second part, and then the encore. So it was a lot of music!

Paino Man (My favorite!)

Scenes from an Italian Restaurant (my fiancé's favorite)

You May Be Right

Uptown Girl

We Didn't Start the Fire

It's Still Rock and Roll to Me

Big Shot

The list could go on and on! So much talent and for such a long time! I'm sure they never imagined when they first started out as performers that they would not only become so famous but stay so famous. LEGENDS! Such a great concert!

Recipe: Buttermilk Quick Bread

I still had some buttermilk left over (read about the buttermilk brownies I made), so I thought I'd try making a bread with the ingredient, too. I found this recipe on the Kitchn blog, and it seemed easy enough. I also liked that the recipe offered several variations; I love mixing up recipes, so this was right up my alley!

Ingredients

·        2 cups all-purpose flour (10 ounces)

·        1/2 cup white sugar (4 ounces)

·        1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

·        1/2 teaspoon baking soda

·        1 teaspoon salt

·        1 cup buttermilk (8 ounces)

·        1 large egg

·        1/4 cup unsalted butter, olive oil, or vegetable oil (2 ounces)

Directions

1.      Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease or spray with nonstick cooking spray a standard 9x5 loaf pan.

2.      Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Melt the butter, if using. Whisk it in a separate bowl with the buttermilk and the egg.

3.      Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients. Gently stir and fold the ingredients until all the flour has been incorporated and a shaggy, wet batter is formed. Be careful not to over-mix.

4.      Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and pat it into the corners. Bake for 45-50 minutes. When finished, the loaf should be domed and golden, and a toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean. Let the loaf cool in the pan for 15 minutes before removing and slicing.

Basic Variations

• Sugar can be reduced to a tablespoon for more savory breads.
• Up to half the flour can be substituted with an alternative flour.
• Replace the buttermilk with a mix of yogurt and milk or milk and a squeeze of lemon.
• Use up to 1 1/2 cups fruits, nuts, olives, cheese, or other ingredients, added to the dry ingredients.
• Use 1-3 teaspoons of herbs or spices, added to the dry ingredient

Reading the variations was helpful to know how much of what I should use. I already planned on using blood orange olive oil, and ended up not having enough, so I used both the orange and lemon olive oil. I also added nutmeg and ground ginger, as well as a cup of dried cranberries. I feel like orange and cranberry are frequently featured together, so why not in this bread I was making?

This is an easy recipe to make, although I ran into a few minor issues. Usually in baking you mix the dry ingredients in a smaller bowl to the side, and you mix the wet ingredients with the mixer, and then add the dry to the wet. In this one, you add the wet to the dry. So I just poured the dry ingredient mixture into the mixer bowl, added the wet ingredients, and used the mixer for just a few seconds to mix everything together. There was a bit of dry mix left at the bottom that didn't incorporate well. But all in all, this was easy and came out nicely. I thought it was yummy, especially with the craisins! Highly recommend doctoring it up with your favorite flavors.

Recipe: Buttermilk Brownies

I wanted to make buttermilk biscuits last week, and I remembered I have a whole blog post of buttermilk recipes. I used a recipe there for the biscuits, but then I had lots of buttermilk left over. So I thought I's try a new recipe, this time making brownies!

I found this recipe on the Shugary Sweets blog and thought I'd give it a go:

Ingredients

·        ½ cup unsalted butter

·        ¼ cup dark chocolate unsweetened cocoa powder

·        ½ cup vegetable oil

·        2 cups granulated sugar

·        2 large eggs

·        ¼ cup buttermilk

·        ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

·        2 cups all-purpose flour

·        1 teaspoon baking soda

·        ½ teaspoon kosher salt

·        1 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels

Directions

1.      Preheat oven to 400 °F. Line a 13×9-inch baking dish with parchment paper. Set aside.

2.      For the brownies, in a small saucepan over medium high heat, combine butter, cocoa powder and oil. Bring to a boil and remove from heat.

3.      In a large mixing bowl, combine granulated sugar, eggs, buttermilk and vanilla. Slowly whisk in the butter mixture. Add in flour, baking soda and salt, and stir just until combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

4.      Pour into prepared baking dish and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.

5.      While brownies are cooling, begin frosting. In a small saucepan, combine butter, buttermilk and cocoa powder. Whisk over medium heat until mixture begins to boil. Remove.

6.      In a mixing bowl, combine powdered sugar with butter mixtures. Beat for several minutes until smooth. Pour over brownies (they don’t need to be completely cooled. Sprinkle immediately with chocolate chips.

7.      Refrigerate for two hours, until set. Cut and enjoy. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

I rarely make brownies from scratch, because the boxed ones are so good! So I had never mixed the cocoa powder, butter, and oil like this before. I used a blood orange flavored olive oil instead of vegetable oil for added flavor (I bought it at an olive oil/balsamic store in St Michaels, MD), and since I didn't have regular chocolate chips, I used white chocolate chips instead. The blog said the brownies taste best chilled, so I was very patient in trying these!

I did like these, although I'll admit the orange flavor overpowered everything, so if I did this again, I would add more cocoa powder. I'm not sure these are worth making if the aim is to use up buttermilk, seeing as the recipe only calls for a quarter cup of it. Still easiest to just buy a boxed brownie mix and use your special olive oil in that! You can always doctor up a mix; there are so many books that can help with that!

I thought the recipe instructions were a little out of order; the dry ingredients should have been mixed before the wet ingredients, but no biggie. And I didn't bother making icing: brownies taste good just as they are without frosting! And who needs the added calories anyway? These are worth a try, even if they are bald on top! And maybe you can try making them with my changes to the recipe :)

Country Concerts Last Week

I went to not one but TWO country concerts last week! I saw The Chicks at Merriweather Post Pavilion Wednesday night (a show that was rescheduled from the summer), and on Friday I saw Russell Dickerson at the Fillmore in Silver Spring. I was very excited for both shows!

Very cool set!

The Chicks

I grew up listening to their music, and I was looking forward to hearing some of their past hits, even though I knew most of the concert would highlight songs from their latest album, Gaslighter, which is nearly all about Natalie Maines' divorce (in specific detail). I did take the time to listen to the album before the show, so I was familiar with a lot of the material, even if it doesn't quite hit like their classics. The performance itself was great: the trio still sounds amazing, even as Natalie recovers from COVID-19 (the reason the show had to be rescheduled). I thought the graphics of the show added to the performance as well. They poked fun at Trump, Putin, and DeSantis, which at first I worried about because that normally wouldn't fly with a country music crowd, but then I figure anyone there still supports them after their 2003 comment about President George W. Bush. And leading into the protest anthem, "March March," names of cities that have experienced mass shootings and the numbers of lives lost were fading on and off the screen; names of African Americans killed by police scrolled, starting out slow and then speeding up, listing dozens and dozens of names. That was very powerful!

Here's a taste of what they played:

Gaslighter

Texas Man (probably the most country-sounding song on their newest album)

My Best Friend's Weddings

And some of the older hits:

Cowboy Take Me Away

Ready to Run

Goodbye Earl (I didn't stay long enough to hear this song, but I'm pretty sure it was the encore!)

Since I left early, I'm not sure if they played "Not Ready to Make Nice," but I think that's a great song! I'm so glad I was able to see this group in concert, especially since they haven't been in tour for years (this is their first album in 15 years!). I'm not sure how many more chances I'd have to see them!

Russell Dickerson

Photo by Mike Davis

Before I talk about Russell Dickerson, I want to mention his opening band, Restless Road. They are SO good! I saw them open for Kane Brown, and ever since I have wanted to see them again. They came to the Hamilton somewhat recently, but I never bought tickets. So it was a nice surprise to see them! This trio harmonizes SO well together (they remind me of Rascal Flatts or Diamond Rio), and I love their fun energy (plus, checking out their big biceps didn't hurt... *wink*). And they were pretty funny on stage, introducing each other with little poems to rhyme with their names. So cute! I was smiling and dancing the whole time!

They said they were selling signed copies of their CD for "one night only," so I definitely wanted in on that. But when I got to the merch table, I had to order the CD online and they would ship it out; "one night only" my ass! But anyway, I like their music so much that I wanted the CD, so I did it anyway. 

Here are some of the songs they performed. I already want to see them in concert again!

Last Rodeo

Growing Old With You

No Can Do

Bar Friends

Take Me Home

And then it was time for Russell Dickerson! My friend reminded me that we had seen him open for Thomas Rhett (read that blog post here), but I guess from afar, I couldn't tell what a bro he is. He was sticking his tongue out all night, biting his lower lip, hip thrusting... He was like a country Guido, with his hair slicked back and wearing so much jewelry; I half expected him to pull up his shirt like the Jersey Shore's "The Situation" (although once I saw that he was wearing a shirt UNDER his cropped T-shirt, I knew he wasn't fit enough or confident enough to do that). I was NOT into his vibe, and it didn't look good from just about four rows from the stage. 

BUT he has great stage presence and put on a very entertaining show, with all the lights, smoke, confetti, etc. you could ask for. He played a lot of songs I didn't know (and I was kinda "meh" about most of them), but he played some of his big hits, too, and those were great! Listen for yourself:

I Wonder (He wrote this song after breaking up with his girlfriend-now-wife. They were only broken up for a month, and then he called her on Thanksgiving to say he was thankful for her. The rest is history!)

God Gave Me a Girl (Then he wrote this song after getting back together with her!)

Down on the Beach (He was sitting in a beach chair on stage for this one. Jimmy Buffett vibes for sure!)

Blame It on Being Young (Reminiscent of Miley Cyrus' Used to Be Young)

Love You Like I Used To (One of my favorites!)

Every Little Thing

Yours (Also a great one!)

Blue Tacoma (This is my favorite song of his, and of course it was the encore song. If it weren't for this song, I would have left the concert early. But I had to hear it!)

I liked how he told personal stories about some of his songs, like those with his wife. And I thought it was fun how he called out his bandmates and had the crowd chanting their names. One of them was "mustache Kev," and then Dickerson called out a man in the crowd with a great Fu Manchu and we started chanting his name! He made the show different than other concerts, so I appreciated that.

Dickerson invited Restless Road back on stage to sing a song together. That was awesome, too!

My next concert is Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks. Stay tuned for that blog post!

PS: The group Wild Rivers from Toronto, Canada, opened for The Chicks. I didn't think they were that great, so not much to say on that. But you can check them out on YouTube and decide for yourself!

Late Summer Concerts

In just the past few weeks, I have been to several concerts, nearly wrapping up the summer season. I went to all of the concerts with my fiancé, and we had such a fun time!

Train

Not too bad of a view from the lawn!

At the end of August, we saw Train at Wolf Trap. I was excited to see them perform because I had never seen them in concert before, but I was even more excited to see Parmalee open for them. We saw Parmalee at the Grand Ole Opry when we visited Nashville (read that blog post here), and they were so good! And they did not disappoint the second time around.

Girl in Mine

Just the Way

Take My Name

And I really liked Train, too! They have so many popular hits, and we had a great time dancing along to their songs (even if we left a bit early to beat the rush). 

50 Ways to Say Goodbye

Meet Virginia

Calling All Angels

Save Me, San Francisco

Hey, Soul Sister

Awesome chalk drawing of Sting at Wolf Trap!

Sting

We returned to Wolf Trap just a few days later to see Sting perform. It sounds like he regularly performs at this venue, but I had never seen him before. I was supposed to see Madonna the following night, so it was going to be a full 80's-themed weekend, but then her show was postponed to December. But Sting was still on!

His son opened for him, which was kind of cool. His son, Joe Sumner, didn't have a band; it was just him and his guitar up there. He looks and sounds a lot like his dad, which is funny. Buuuut I didn't like his music very much. He kind of reminded me of a musician who would play on a kid's show like Barney or Sesame Street and sing very literal songs about numbers or vegetables. I mean, he does have a song called Jelly Bean:

While his son's music might not have been my cup of tea, Sting was incredible. He played all the Police hits, and for the next week it seemed like every time I turned on the radio, I'd hear one of his songs! I love how diverse his set is and the mix of sounds, regions, stories, etc. that inspire his music. Have a listen:

Message in a Bottle

Every Breath You Take

Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic (This song always makes me think of the movie The Wedding Singer!)

Walking on the Moon

King of Pain (His son joined him on stage for this one, and if you closed your eyes, his son has the same voice!)

Fields of Gold

Roxanne

Englishman in New York

Billy Idol

We saw Billy Idol at the Anthem down at the Wharf on Friday night. My fiancé had seen him five or six years ago, but it had been nearly 20 years since I'd seen him at the HFStival in Baltimore (which no longer exists, unfortunately). He's a bit doughier than before, but he still insisted on taking his shirt off, so he's still doing his thing! Of course we liked his famous songs, but his newer music was pretty good, too. And this was a fun concert for people watching: there was a Billy Idol look-alike in the crowd (I legit did a double take!), and there were kids ten years younger than me who were singing along to every word like they grew up in the 80's. So fun!

One of the most entertaining parts of the night was the opening act. Alex Cameron was up there with his computer as a music machine and a bandmate who played the saxophone. It was...strange to say the least. He was wearing a leopard print blouse while the saxophonist was in an oversized suit; Cameron was very charismatic while his bandmate barely moved and seemed like he wanted to shrink into a hole and disappear. Cameron also kept playing with the microphone cord; I was expecting him to tie it into knots or fun shapes, or do a magic trick! The music itself wasn't bad, and it almost reminded me of the way Haim sounds (although I couldn't understand a WORD he sang). Such a weird opening act for one of the biggest rock stars in history!

Listen for yourself:

Runnin' Outta Luck

K Hole

Sara Jo

Back to the good part: Billy Idol's songs!

Rebel Yell

Dancing with Myself

Cradle of Love

Hot in the City

Running from the Ghost (one of his newer songs, about running from addiction)

Cage

White Wedding (also in The Wedding Singer!)

Fun fact: Billy Idol's guitarist, Steve Stevens, helped write the original Top Gun anthem:

So much fun! My next concerts are country concerts: the Chicks and Russell Dickerson. Stay tuned!