Publisher, Full Access NYC
The uptown art scene is happening and one of the places you should visit on your cultural tour is ilon Art Gallery.
Located on 123rd between Adam Clayton and Frederick Douglas Boulevard, this very cool gallery (located in a brownstone!) is accessible by the 2/3 trains and A/C/D trains off the 125th street stop in Harlem. I have been before and the location, curated pieces and proprietor all make for a great experience.
If you grew up outside of New York and now live in the city, you are faced with an annual dilemma that involves the purchasing of a live Christmas Tree.
Every year, right after Thanksgiving, tree stands are set-up throughout the city. They are filled with douglas firs, frasers and balsam firs. Friendly staff are stationed at these stands 24 hours a day, 7 days a week through Christmas.
As fun as it is to see experience the sights and smells of fresh trees all around the city, there is a glaring problem. These trees range anywhere from $80 to $200 for trees starting at 5 feet.
Take a moment to imagine you are in New Orleans, Philadelphia, Florence Italy or Madrid Spain. What do you think about? Oysters Rockefeller? Cheese Steaks? Gelato? Serrano Ham?
Food is directly associated with our travel experiences. It helps us experience local cultures and in our own lives it’s how we pass down family traditions.
Winter in Iceland, experiencing the darkness and chasing the Northern Lights felt like an adventure worth having. So, why not pack that adventure into a 48 hour excursion to the middle of the Atlantic in November? No reason not to, really. So a 4 hour and 45 minute red-eye flight later (basically the time it takes to fly across the US) I touched down in Keflavik International Airport.
And as I stepped out of the airport into 50 mph gusts of wind and driving rain, in that moment, I was happy.
It has become somewhat of an annual pilgrimage up to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery on Halloween. And just 25 miles north of the city, it’s an easy morning or afternoon activity. Also, since New Yorker’s love Halloween, you can make this trip and still be back into the city by the evening for ghoulish (i.e drunken debaucherous) pursuits.
Wanting to escape city living, at least for a couple hours on the weekend can be pretty straightforward in New York.
Case in point, Croton Gorge Park is 40 miles north of Manhattan (if you have a car) or you can take the Metro North Train to the Croton on Hudson stop. Note: if you take the train you will then need to take a car service for the remaining 2.5 miles to the park (and remember this because I will revisit it later.)
A hearty fall soup that is quick to make and perfect for busy NYC residents.
Fall is in the air with Halloween and Thanksgiving right around the corner. Most bodegas in the city sell pumpkins (in addition to the many grocery stores and farmers markets.) You can also head out to the Queens County Farm which is a real working farm in the borough and pick out a few which is a nice weekend date or activity with friends.
I bought a few pumpkins and put together a little appetizer that would be perfect before Thanksgiving dinner.
There are so many varieties of squash in season right now. I am most familiar with a handful such as Butternut, Acorn and Delicata. However, there are many other’s I always look at but then walk right past. I decided to make a squash soup using different squash I don’t normally buy and the end result was great.
These three squash; Kabocha, Calabaza and Amber cup work really well together. There is a natural mild sweetness in this soup which I really enjoyed.
Fall squash are some of my favorite ingredients to work with. Spanning from soups to stew, roasted to mashed, there is no shortage of preparations. So one afternoon, I was looking at a few delicata squash on my counter and asked a very simple question. Why not fried?
My general philosophy (one of many) in life is: fried = good and beer battered + fried = better.
