My fabulous New York weekend
My parents are visiting, so I’ve been busy busy busy having a stupendously decadent weekend. (And they pay for most of the things we do, which makes it even better. hehe!)
Friday night we had a belated birthday celebration for my mom and took her to Spice Market for dinner. 
I’ve been wanting to go there for ages, and it did not disappoint! If you’re not familiar wit it, it’s downtown in the Meatpacking district, and the food is described as “street foods of Southeast Asia.” The cocktails were delish (I had a cosmo with plum sake, and Andy got a ginger margarita), the ambiance was hip and amiable with Balinese-style wood carvings, a lot of rich, draped fabrics, and dark, romantic candlelight. And more importantly, the food was fantabuloriffic: curried chicken samosas, calamari salad with papaya and cashews, ginger fried rice, shaved tuna with chili and asian pear… we were in culinary heaven. And of course we had to split a desert, even though we were stuffed, so we had a very yummy cinnamon creme brulee.
Saturday afternoon we walked down to the Ziegfeld (coolest cinema in New York), to see Sweeney Todd. I didn’t know the music, but I love Johnny Depp, and Tim Burton movies are usually fun so we went for it—and loved it! I studied singing in high school, and it turns out I used to sing a song from Sweeney Todd (Green Finch & Linnet Bird). Some of the music gets repetitive, but most of the songs are lovely. Oh, and it’s gruesome. Do you mind the sight of blood? I mean, like, lots and lots and lots of blood? If so, stay away from this flick. But the blood was fairly stylized and comical, so maybe you can laugh at it like I did (does it make me a bad person if spurting blood makes me laugh?!). Another plus: Helena Bonham-Carter’s wardrobe. Everything was black/grey, corseted, flowing, lacy, and poofy (great descriptive word, Alex), and she looked incredible.
Finally, on Saturday night we went to the New York City Ballet to see a production of Jewels. As you might imagine, it was major eye candy. The ballet was broken down into 3 segments: Emeralds, Rubies, and Diamonds. Personally, I think ballet gets un poco boring after a while, especially since there was no story to follow, just vignettes, but it was worth it for the beautiful dancing, and the costumes. Yes, the costumes… aaaaah!!!! They were breathtaking and drizzled in bling. The bling was blinging up a storm all over the place. I was also totally blown away by the ballet dancers. Their bodies are so strong. and delicate, and long. Who knew arms and legs could be that long! They must be so disciplined. I can’t imagine training for that, I enjoy food and relaxation waaaaay too much.
Now I desperately want a tutu.
January 13th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
yum restaurant sounds good
loved sweeney too! johnny does beautiful duets and the songs are definitely a bit quirky “i STEAL you johanna”, creeper haha
and i loved the wardrobe too, i liked johnnys layering haha, i actually did a post on it
January 13th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
oh btw i got the keira photos from k-knightley.org, a pretty good fansite, god maybe i should credit them huh haha
January 13th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
I FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEL you… I’ll STEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAL you…
I think you’d get arrested for that in this day and age… also for slitting about four thousand throats and serving the corpses for dinner.
January 13th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Some films that show spurting blood are unintentionally funny because they’re low budget and try too hard. I wish a director would just show it without turning away. It takes at least two minutes for a person to bleed to death. That would be intensely horrifying.
I’m embarrassed. I never go to the ballet, unless I’m out of town on vacation. San Francisco has world class entertainment, and I hardly ever go. But take me somewhere else, anywhere out of town, and I’m all eager to do something. It’s weird.
January 13th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
I’m not a ballet fan but I think I might enjoy Jewels!
January 13th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Aaah, LOVE the ballet photos! Isn’t it great showing your parents around on their tab?
January 13th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
i love the ballet pictures
I danced ballet for years, sometimes I wish I could go back to those days.
January 14th, 2008 at 8:48 am
Ahhh, I have been DYING to go to Spice Market as well. That might have to be next on my list. The ballet pics look up awesome, I am glad you’ve been having such an awesome time with the rents. They have been there for quite awhile??? I think when they leave, you most def need to test Andy’s hubby endurance with a GG marathon. Do it.
January 14th, 2008 at 10:11 am
I could tell by your word “poofy” that you are a writer of amazing talent.
show off.
I am seriously jealous of your ballet time.
xoxoxoxoxo
January 14th, 2008 at 10:58 am
A blogger friend just blogged about spice market on my food blog!
January 14th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Cosmo with plum sake? That sounds so delish! I want one right now.
Sweeney Todd was great! I loved the songs and it was pretty gruesome, but great story.
January 14th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
oooh sounds like fun!
the only betty davis i have (YET) is “nasty gal” which is great
id recommend downloading “anti-love song”, which is amazing and very typically betty
January 14th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
Love those ballet pics! LOVED Sweeney.
My girls are both singing “the worst pies in London” constantly! …and I love Green finch and linnet bird!
January 14th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
I used to do ballet when I was little (: I can’t remember almost anything because I was 4, except that the costume was pretty cool.
Uh, today iw as talking to a friend about how shw wanted to see the new johnny depp movie where he looks like a vampire, now I know she was talking about this movie.
♥
January 15th, 2008 at 2:18 am
Yeaaaa a diet of cottonballs and cigarettes wouldn’t really do it for me.
January 15th, 2008 at 4:16 am
The best thing about Sweeney was Helena! YEEEEEEEHA! She was deliciously entertaining in her look and her performance.
She made the picture for me.
January 16th, 2008 at 1:13 am
So glad you enjoyed Spice Market. So yummy.
I spent eight months touring in Sweeny Todd – so that music is pretty much in my brain forever. I liked the movie, but I was disappointed in how much of it they cut out (like all the Joanna music. Maybe I am sensitive because that’s who I played and I loved every second of it!).
I LOVED the Rubies section of Jewels. One of my girlfriends is dancing in it and I was in awe of everything about it.
Sounds like you had a great visit!!
January 17th, 2008 at 11:54 am
I love going to the ballet! In december I fianlly saw the Nutcracker, and it was amazing!
January 17th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
I’m so jealous
January 17th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
this weekend sounds amazing. i LOVE the ballet photos, they are gorgeous. maybe i will buy tickets, too!
January 18th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Hey, I just read your book & it was great. :]
I love ballet. I’ve taken classes, but I’m not very good at it. Tutus are so cool though.
January 18th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
So new york sounded like so much fun, I’ve tried getting published before (even though I’m only 13) but there is just so many publishers,I’ve only been to Billy Joel’s movin’ out although I bet it’s not the same as ballet.
January 18th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
Sounds like you had a great time. Feeling some major jealousy here. I agree with the ballet thing. Some are boring, but if you jazz it up and make it look contemporary (like the movie Center Stage), then I would go more often. The only bad thing about being a ballerina is your feet. You get some UGLY feeet being on pointe so much. Your posture is faboo, but you walk like a duck. Go figure.
New York is on my list of Places to Visit Before I Die. I’d like to experience a cab ride some time. LOL
January 18th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
hahahahahaha!!!
sweeny todd: i havent seen it yet, but it looks amazing!!
(and no, youre not strange because you laugh at the sight of blood!
)
January 19th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
The ballet looks incredible, what a great idea!
And I’m wanting to see mr depp as sweeny todd even though I have a good idea of how OTT it will be!
January 19th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
FUNN!! i wished i was visiting NYC!
that ballet sounds beautiful – what a cool concept? and yea omgosh their bodies are the epitome of lean mean machines!
January 20th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
I defenitly want to see Sweeny Todd it seems morbidly beautiful BUT im too young.
I have always wanted to wear a tutu a la Iekeleine Stange. So instead I was a ballerina for Halloween.
January 21st, 2008 at 12:43 am
Sorry we didn’t get to see you guys this weekend! But soon we will…
The NYC Ballet summers in Saratoga so I’ve seen that ballet a number of times and I love the costumes too! It’s actually one that I keep going back to because the costumes and staging are so lovely. Glad you had so much fun!
January 25th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
Those pictures from the ballet are gorgeous
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