January 2, 2011 · 10:53 pm

Take me to: Istanbul

No big surprise that the NYTimes reports that its readers most want to visit: Istanbul. It’s one of the cities I’d most like to re-visit, having enjoyed my first and only trip there in 1982. Someday.

I didn’t plan to go to Istanbul when I was wandering around Europe but my plans changed when I arrived in Athens to visit an American friend living there. Looking through her photos to decide where to visit in Greece, I kept picking out photos that were in Turkey instead. So I took the Magic Bus from Athens to Greece with a newly acquired Australian friend named Lyndal and we not only went to Istanbul but roamed around the country for several weeks, exploring to the north with a ride along the Bosporus to the Black Sea; the other-worldly central Turkey area of Cappadocia, the “Turkish Riveria” to the south and  the remarkable ruins at Ephesus on the western coast. Lots of adventures.

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January 1, 2011 · 7:46 pm

New big-budget bohemain spots in Paris

The new bohemian spots in Paris (p0ssibly not for long since they’ve just been outed by the NYTimes) include two neighborhoods – Belleville and Pigalle (a former red-light district.

Along Belleville’s “steep hilltop streets” are galleries and fashion designers and upscale winebars and restaurants.

In Pigalle, are artsy hotels (the Hotel Amour) , designer boutiques popular with the likes of Lady Gaga (jean-charles de castelbajac) ns of course more great restaurants (Nomiya). The gentrified Canal St. -Martin sounds like a charming place to wander. Also the Du Pain et Des Idees boulangerie.

These must be Bohemians with a big budget. for more see: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/19/travel/19hours-paris.html

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December 31, 2010 · 3:19 pm

Inexpensive restaurants in NYC

The NYTimes ran a list of the best new inexpensive restaurants in NYC this week so here are a few for future reference. (A list of non-inexpensive restaurants also ran but I’m assuming they’re not in my budget.) I skipped most of  the ones beyond Manhattan:

BAOHAUS  … bun (the bao) brimming with Niman Ranch pork belly, glossy with fat and topped with the classic Taiwanese condiments: sweet pulverized peanuts, pickled mustard greens and cilantro. 137 Rivington Street (Norfolk Street), Lower East Side; (646) 684-3835, baohausnyc.com.

CAFE ‘AT YOUR MOTHER-IN-LAW’ two blocks from the boardwalk; Eastern European, Korean and Uzbek dishes from Russian-speaking ethnic Koreans hailing from Tashkent.  3071 Brighton Fourth Street (Brighton Beach Avenue), Brighton Beach, Brooklyn; (718) 942-4088. (HAS to be better than the awful place we went to in Brighton Beach in 2009.

CAMPO DE’ FIORI pizza and more in my brother’s neighborhood…. 187 Fifth Avenue (Berkeley Place), Park Slope, Brooklyn; (347) 763-0933, pizzacampodefiori.com.

DOS TOROS ….fresh, quick and cheap eating akin to that found at Mexican joints in the San Francisco Bay Area. (Oliver Strand) 137 Fourth Avenue (13th Street); (212) 677-7300, dostorosnyc.com.

HECHO EN DUMBO big flavors of Mexico City  stripped down…short-rib tacos 354 Bowery (East Fourth Street), East Village; (212) 937-4245, hechoendumbo.com.

HILL COUNTRY CHICKEN  fried chicken and other Southern dishes. 1123 Broadway (25th Street); (212) 257-6446, hillcountrychicken.com.

KUTI’S Tmarries West African and Middle Eastern flavors from  Ivory Coast, and insinuates a few French techniques in dishes like shrimp piri-piri,  355 West 116th Street (between Manhattan and Morningside Avenues); (212) 222-1127.

THE NORTHERN SPY FOOD COMPAN Greenmarket-driven restaurant 511 East 12th Street (Avenue A), East Village; (212) 228-5100, northernspyfoodco.com.

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December 28, 2010 · 2:50 am

From Wright,Ks. back to Des Moines

No weather problems this time – and smooth sailing the entire nine hours, for which we were grateful, especially given what friends and family are dealing with on the East Coast. We stopped in the slowly reviving town of Greensburg – which was devastated by a tornado several years ago – at a hip looking coffee shop, then onto Wichita where we opted for our favorite Vietnamese restaurant, Saigon, which was packed and has the world’s fastest service, and pleasant service, and mighty good Bun (all around us people seemed to be ordering what N and I ordered #45  Bun – noodles, shredded lettuce – with char-broiled pork and a fried spring roll. We stopped at N&J, our favorite middle eastern place, to pick up some humus and homemade chips and one, just one, piece of baklava, to bring home. In Kansas City, we dropped by Gates to pick up ribs to take home for dinner. Yes, it’s all about the food. Good to be back here, although it’s at least 20 degrees colder and a lot snowier than Kansas.

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December 26, 2010 · 7:12 pm

Dodge City, day 3 (or 4)? I’ve lost track

Well, another day in Dodge City – and my question: Are there more liquor stores or nail salons in this town? Seems a draw to me – my son says liquor stores, I say nail salons. The most intriguing business award goes to a place just down the road from this nursing home called: Destructive Behavior Alternatives? Maybe the people who frequent the liquor stores are instructed to switch to nail salons. Or vice versa.

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December 25, 2010 · 8:48 pm

Christmas in Kansas

I’m typing from the “bird room” at  the  nursing home in Dodge City where my in-laws live. The birds are quiet today – as is the rest of this place. Outside, it’s sunny and windy. No snow. The ground is hard, dry, flat, shorn of wheat so stubbly and tan. The sky is mostly blue with a few clouds. It always takes me aback how stark and harsh this landscape is, beautiful in it’s own way – so vivid and plain. You can really see for miles with little to block your view but a white concrete grain elevator or some unknown industry, liquid something-or-other, billowing out smoke. The “overlook” at the edge of Wyatt Earp Blvd. looks out onto a sea of cattle in a feedlot. No need to put “scenic” in front of outlook.

Wright, the unincorporated town where my in-laws live, about ten miles east of Dodge, even quieter than usual today. The only signs of life we saw during a brief walk this morning were a few dogs roaming around like the owned the place.

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December 24, 2010 · 10:11 pm

Greetings from Dodge City

We had a bit of a scare outside of Wichita – when the weather suddenly took a turn for the worse and freezing rain caused several scary accidents that we passed by in the dark on two-lane Highway 54, with flashing lights from racing police cars interrupting the dark countryside. But other than that, our drive and the weather were fine. We stopped at what had been advertised in an Internet article as a “Shake Shack” in Overland Park, Ks. but it turned out to be the “Snak Shack” – same kind of food, quality burgers and homemade shakes and handcut fries, but not part of the New York City Shake Shack empire. (Why I thought there would be an offshoot in Kansas, I can’t tell you…) We stopped in Wichita at the N&J Middle Eastern restaurant and got take out gyros and falafal sandwiches which we ate en route in the car (beats stopping at Sonic for a hot dog and tater tots, although do always like a good limeade.)

It is windy but warm when the wind isn’t blowing out here in Dodge City. We had lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant Sabor Jaliscos – very good carne asada and flan. It’s very Hispanic out here – we actually listened to a radio station that had a Spanish song about Santa Claus. Ho ho ho.

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December 23, 2010 · 2:45 pm

Driving to kansas for xmas – part three

Exciting topic, I know but best I can do today. We’re leaving earlier than planned and driving straight thru (a nine-hour trip to dodge city) rather than stopping overnight in Topeka) thanks to forecasts of snow and freezing rain in Iowa and Kansas on Friday. Good news is once we get to Dodge City should be fairly pleasant weather – highs in upper 30s, lower 40s – and maybe no ferocious winds like last year or major snows like years past. Will be warmer than Des Moines too which will be in the teens over the xmas holiday.

Meanwhile, stumped on where to eat in Kansas City en route. We’d normally eat at Gates or Arthur Bryants but BBQ isn’t an option for our family vegetarian. Oddly, I know where to eat more in Wichita or Salina than in K.C.Oh well, I’ll have 3 hours in the car to think up something.

 

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December 22, 2010 · 11:39 pm

Driving to Kansas for Christmas part 2

What a difference a day and a few degrees can make – of course we still have a day left until we leave for our nine-hour drive to Dodge City for Christmas but as of a few hours ago, things looked better on our route at least – snow later than earlier forecast in Iowa and snow rather than the freezing rain earlier forecast for Kansas City and Topeka. But who really knows? Could have changed again in the few hours I’ve been out of my office. Anyway, on the road again. Happy holidays!

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December 21, 2010 · 7:41 pm

Driving to Kansas for Christmas

Every year this seems to happen on the cusp of our nine-hour drive to western Kansas for Christmas with my in-laws. The steady drumbeat of meteorologists’ reports about impending doom (in the form of snow and/or the dreaded freezing rain). This year is no different, so as usual we have a wait-and-see attitude that includes keeping an eye on various websites from weather.com to the Kansas Department of Transportation (for road conditions.) We’re supposed to leave on Thursday at around 2 p.m. but now we’re being warned to leave in the morning if possible – but then we may hit freezing rain in Kansas. So maybe we’ll drive through Nebraska instead. Always an adventure.

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