Row Boats and French Toast

This past Saturday Amber and I went to the Adventure NYC event with some of her Sternie friends Nagina and Ibrahim. We went there thinking it would be all hardcore for the adults. But we missed the small print where it said fun for the whole family. Needless to say, the kiddies were everywhere. I think that the most exciting part was when the partition fell onto the side of the water slide enclosure and spilled water everywhere.

Despite the fact that the activities were a wash (yuck yuck!) the displays were awesome. We entered into some drawings for gear and we even got some free shwag. There were also trampoline demonstrations. The tricks were great.

After all of that we headed deeper into Central Park down to the boat house. Guys - if you want to wow your lady - take her down to the boat house and rent a row boat. Now I have to say something. PEOPLE LEARN HOW TO ROW! There were boats everywhere. It seems like the people who were watching out (i.e. Amber and I) are the magnets for the people who are watching for everything but other boaters. Hell those people will even hit a bridge and they’re stationary. It was bump, bump, and then even more bump everywhere we went. It's a deal for a mere $12.

After about an hour of boating we went off in search of some grub. The first place that we tried was an Italian restaurant on 2^nd Ave called Mediterraneo Restaurant on Second Ave between 66th & 67th. Talk about pretentious. It was like they were doing us a favor by allowing us to eat there. It all started with Amber cutting her leg on the raggedy wicker chair while being seated. It was bleeding pretty badly so she went into the restaurant to get something to clean herself off with only to discover that they didn’t have a first aid kit. No Band-Aids and not even alcohol scrubs to clean the cut with. It turns out that a customer had to help her with an alcohol scrub AND the Band-Aid. Now here’s my question: What happens if a cook in the kitchen cuts himself? Next: did I mention the small print on the menu? It actually says that there is a "$20.00 minimum per person". Afraid that a fountain drink would be $10 (like the appetizers!) my fiancé asked the waiter how much a coke costs. The answer that we got was a sleazy, “I don’t know…I’ve never thought about it…$3.50…I guess…maybe…I’ll give you another 2-minutes, “ and then he walks off even though we were ready to order. Right now I’m thinking about something that starts with euro and ends with trash. Needless to say we left. It was a good glass of water at least. DO NOT EAT HERE.

We ended up at the Silver Star Restaurant, which was about a block up. That place was solid. First: the menu is huge. Second: the staff is attentive. Third: they make a mean Bison Burger. Fourth: a soft drink drink only cost $2. The only down part was they dropped the lower part of Amber’s hamburger bun on the ground but fixed the problem x2. It is a unique eatery consisting of a wide range of Greek and American style food. It’s a NYC gem. DO EAT HERE.

After that Nagina and Ibrahim parted ways and Amber and I headed back into Central Park to check out out Vampire Weekend and Kid Sister. We finally got to the line only to find out that they were over capacity. Also it started to rain cats and dogs but, honestly, the people who didn’t get into the show were the lucky ones. Outside of the music venue it was a regular beach party. Beach blankets were out and beach balls were bouncing. The foreigners were selling beer out of
their backpacks. The frat boys, In their best A&F outfits, were pounding the beers and flexing on the ladies. The young college coeds were sporting their latest H&M swimwear purchases. The Woodstock wannabe/leftovers were hangin’ and smokin’. We were loving the sheer diversity of the atmosphere. When it started raining we were the umbrella. Everyone else was crowding underneath the trees. We eventually decided to head home. We were going to head out again that night but the weather was not cooperating and we decided to stay in and watch a movie.

The next thing we knew it was Sunday morning and 10:00 AM. Are we getting old? No. Not yet. We were only enjoying doing nothing.

It was Sunday and Amber and I have a ritual where we try brunch at a different location every weekend. This past weekend’s site was down in the meatpacking district was called ‘202’. They had an article that said that they had the best French toast in NYC. We arrived there at about 1:00 PM in the afternoon and by 2:00 PM we were seated and waiting to order. What an ordeal that this was. The first problem was getting water, which we did not get that until we asked for it. Luckily we were able to order pretty quickly. Amber ordered the French Toast and, after a lot of debate, I settled on the Goat Cheese and Spinach Omelet. Our appetizer came in about 10-minutes and it was tasty. After that we didn’t see any food at all. I have to admit though that they did a great job with making sure that everyone who came in after us had their food and even got their bill in a timely fashion. After about 45-minutes, and a few complaints, an order of food was brought to our table. It turns out that it was for the table behind us. Good stuff. After that the Manager named Maurizio had to step in and I must admit that he got it done…almost. He had food out to us within 5-minutes. Amber’s was fine but mine was cold. In the end I ended up telling them to forget about it and I ended up sharing in on Amber’s food. In the end the meal ended up not costing us a nickel and the New Yorker Mag was absolutely correct. ‘202’ has the best French Toast in NYC. Amber and I do plan on giving ‘202’ a second try because they did fix the problem (though we’re not exactly sure why it happened in the first place). Well done and thanks, Maurizio!

I saw the Hulk today. All I gotta say is this: HULK SMASH!

I have 42 days, 7 hours and 14 minutes until my GMAT.