Wednesday my big outing was actually a small one - a trip to the Met to see the relatively-newly-opened Islamic galleries (technically it's called the Art of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and Later South Asia, but that seems like a lot of tongue-wagging just to avoid saying the word "Islamic", which is pretty much off limits in this town). Anyway...
Especially from the earlier years, much of the art on display is decorative - stoneware, metalwork, carvings, etc. It's lovely stuff, but I much prefer to see decorative pieces in a full setting (hence my love of the Frick and now the Morgan), rather than just as isolated pieces. So imagine my surprise and delight when I came across this:
And this:
This is not to say that the individual pieces aren't incredible - they are.
Pierced globe, designed as an incense burner
Bookbinding in leather and papier-mache
As you get into the later years of the empires, more drawing and painting starts to show up. It's quite intricate, but I didn't take any pictures. There is a wealth of info on the Met website, so you should check it out.
I did do a quick run at the end through a few of the modern galleries to guage differences from MoMA, and then to see my favorite guy yet again:
Wheat Field With Cypresses
Women Picking Olives
I also saw Monet's The Houses of Parliament (Effect of Fog), which I adore.
I even managed to find one piece in the modern galleries that I liked:
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I had a couple of hours to kill after getting evicted from the Met and before my evening plans began, so I stopped in at a Starbucks on E. 51st to do some work, where I had my coffee bought for me by a former NBA player. How nice. And I got some work done, to boot.
The aforementioned evening plans were to meet E and see our friend D do his thing at Trapeze School New York, where he is an instructor (in addition to being a doctor). How cool is that? What we were watching that night was staff training so we didn't get to participate, but it was so fun just to watch them flip around like crazy.
A few of E's other friends joined us and we went out to eat and drink the night away at Fedora, where they have delicious and cleverly-named cocktails. For food, I had a bite of some sweetbreads (!), and E and I shared a fancy grilled cheese with potato straws.
Thursday I got a slow start, but eventually caught up with E to go see Book of Mormon!! Her friend C has a connection, so we were able to get two of the hottest tickets in town - and I can see why, because it was phenomenal! So funny and irreverently wonderful. It was like watching the world's best-ever episode of Glee, with a mostly male cast.
I met up with L when she got off work and we walked some more of the High Line, which was much less crowded and hence much more enjoyable, although we only made it as far as 26th because we could hear Doughnut Plant calling (again). Yes, we had doughnuts as an appetizer to our dinner. You're jealous. There was a rose cream doughball (smaller than a donut, but bigger than a doughnut hole), a peanut butter doughball with banana cream, and a vanilla bean doughnut with blackberry jam. So far, we're five for five - although with doughnuts, I think that's easy to do.
Dinner was a group affair with L, D, E, and some more of her friends at a place L knew of: Ovest Pizzoteca. D and I shared a very simple salad and Chelsea Pizza with some smoked cheese on it, and it was sooo good!
At the end of that night, I bid farewell to L and went home to C's to look after her adorable pup Telulah.
Friday was a logistics-filled day. I trekked back over to E's, where all my stuff is, so I could do some work and start the process of packing. Then we somehow managed to coordinate a nearly-perfect meeting of three of us at C's all at the same time - there were four people here crashing/dogsitting, and only one set of keys. You can see how this would be a challenge.
I left them to concern themselves with the keys and went out to meet S for dinner at Apiary, a place he apparently frequents. After having some of their food, I can see why. I started with the Swiss chard and ricotta ravioli as an app, and had the pork chop with polenta and escarole for my main. And since we sat there for so long catching up (it had been probably a year and a half since I'd seen him), I also had the vanilla bean panna cotta for dessert.
One of S's favorite spots is a wine bar called Terroir; after dinner we went to their Murray Hill location, which I had never been to before. It was not very crowded - bad for them, good for talking.
Saturday I finally had a major day of sleeping in, and hung out with Telulah. Then I met up with E for yoga, followed by dinner at Bareburger. I had the pesto red pepper burger with cajun chicken (as recommended), and E and I stopped at Cocoa Bar which, despite being massively disorganized and having semi-competent employees, supplied me with warm and tasty mint hot chocolate.
And, in New York style, I'm spending the rest of the evening sitting on the stoop and watching the world go by.
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