December 2, 2013 · 9:13 pm

NYLO NYC a real find

NYLO Hotels - 4300 Marsh Ridge Road, Suite 110 Carrollton, TX 75010I knew the NYLO hotel on NYC’s Upper West Side passed muster when I got a thumbs up email from my brother, who also decided to stay there and had arrived at his room before we did. The hotel turned out to be a real find, especially for $120 a night ($151 with tax). The room was small, as expected, but well appointed, huge bed, comfortable linens, edgy but not  too edgy furniture, art, light fixtures, clean and streamlined bathroom. Not too noisy at night even though we ended up with a room overlooking Broadway when I had asked for a presumably quieter interior room (my brother’s room got no traffic noise). I found out NYLO stands for New York Loft and the Texas-based hotel chain has outposts in Texas, Warwick (near Providence) (RI) and soon Nyack (NY). Good to know!

Catering

Remarkably, the restaurant my uncle had chosen for dinner turned out to be connected to the hotel. It’s called Serefina and it had good affordable Italian food (I had good bolognese, pizza etc). Monday morning we went for coffee and pastries to Irving Farm, a little basement cafe on 79th just south of Broadway (there are several other Manhattan locations). After a quick visit to Zabars for bagels to take home to Iowa (I still miss H&H bagels) we walked across the park to meet my aunt at PJ Bernstein, a good deli on third ave near 71st street (that’s their cheese/meat plate above).

Our flight home from Newark went well despite a few stressful moments when we inadvertently left the subway station at 34th street and had to figure out where Penn Station was – above ground – and drag our suitcases through throngs of people at 5 p.m. At the airport, we somehow ended up again in the TSA pre-screened category but it didn’t make much difference this time around. We still had to stand in the same long line and take out our stuff and even take off our shoes (hrrummphhh). A guy in line ahead of me said that TSA pre-screened only really produces perks at Newark if you’re passing through  Terminal C (we were in Terminal A). Whatever…I was just happy we made it to Newark with ample time to catch our flight – and it left on time and we got home on time! Love that direct flight!

Leave a comment

Filed under air security, DINING, New York City, Rhode Island, Texas

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

November 28, 2013 · 3:31 pm

Obligatory movie star sighting already accomplished and not yet in NYC

CAught sight of Naomi watts, Lieb Schreiber and their two tow headed boys looking about as harried as we did this morning in the Newark airport. Keeping it real! Our direct flight from Des Moines went without a hitch. For some reason, d and I were given “TSA preselect” status so we jumped the queue at security, didn’t even have to take off our shoes or take out our liquids. Woohoo. I am usually the person randomly selected for a pat down so nice change. So far so good traveling on thanksgiving day.

Leave a comment

Filed under New York City, Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , ,

November 26, 2013 · 3:10 pm

Last minute scramble for a hotel room in NYC – argh

NYLO Hotels - 4300 Marsh Ridge Road, Suite 110 Carrollton, TX 75010So my carefully laid plans have collapsed (twice….long story) and I’m now scrambling to find a hotel room in NYC’s Upper West side the Sunday after thanksgiving – as in this Sunday night. Not my favorite position to be in but at least it’s not the Thursday of Thanksgiving (let’s hope that plan doesn’t collapse…) I’ve stumbled upon the NYLO hotel at 77th and Broadway which is surprisingly affordable ($150 including tax) but the affordability has me a little suspicious. I’ve looked it up on Trip advisor and Yelp, for what that’s worth and I’ve tried to find out if it’s listed on any recent bed bug reports and so far nothing alarming has cropped up so guess we’ll give it a go. It’s only for one night (famous last words)…. (What does NYLO stand for?)

Leave a comment

Filed under LODGING, New York City

Tagged as

November 25, 2013 · 2:14 am

when next in Omaha/council bluffs …where to eat

State of Nebraska
Flag of Nebraska State seal of Nebraska
Flag Seal
Nickname(s): Cornhusker State
Motto(s): Equality Before the Law
Map of the United States with Nebraska highlighted
Official language English
Demonym Nebraskan

Will Forte, a star of the new film “Nebraska” had some interesting restaurant suggestions  after shooting the film in Omaha. So for the record, he told the NYTimes he liked The Boiler Room in Omaha and Dixie Quicks for breakfast in Council Bluffs. He liked staying at the Magnolia Hotel in Omaha and also recommended the Occidental Hotel in buffalo, Wyoming which we also liked when we stayed there (it is supposedly where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid stayed when in town…Will didn’t mention another good place in Buffalo…Tom’s Main Street Diner on, you guessed it, Main Street.

Leave a comment

Filed under DINING, Iowa, LODGING, Omaha, Wyoming

Tagged as , , , , , ,

November 25, 2013 · 1:31 am

Dreaming of Good Asian food in Des Moines

Mu xu rou.jpg

Just back from yet another disappointing “Asian” meal in Des Moines. in recent years, Des Moines restaurants in general have definitely improved but there are still some major holes in the offerings, especially when it comes to Asian food …especially Chinese. When I was a kid in the the 1960s and 70s, Chinese good was the major option available in suburban Detroit. Cantonese….I’m talking the kind of dishes mentioned in Jennifer 8. Lee’s wonderful 2008 book The Fortune Cookie Chronicles (a history of American Chinese food/restaurants that oddly begins and ends in Des Moines), dishes like egg foo young, egg rolls, sweet and sour pork, lo mein, General Tsu’s chicken, Mongolian beef,  Kung Pao Chicken, Beef and Broccoli, Chow Mein…nothing too fancy. But the food seemed fresh, with real meat and vegetables.

Later in the 1970s, we started getting dishes like moo shu pork (photo above). But in Des Moines at least, Chinese has been overtaken by Thai and Vietnamese and of course sushi, which is probably the most available and, at a place or two, the best Asian option here. But our favorite Thai restaurant has gone downhill. The Vietnamese place everyone goes to here has never impressed us (we far prefer Saigon Market in Wichita. Yes Wichita.) And Chinese in Des Moines, well I give up after yet another bad meal last night. My major complaint has to do with the poor quality of the meat at  Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese restaurants. The Vietnamese restaurants’ pork tends to be gristly. At the Chinese and Thai places, the chicken and beef are so over tenderized that they hardly resemble meat. The texture is all wrong, sort of vapid, melt in your mouth. Ick. And the favors are either way too salty or way too sweet. And the sauces too thick and goopy.

Leave a comment

Filed under Des Moines, DINING

Tagged as , , ,

November 19, 2013 · 10:59 pm

Pickle & Rye moves to a new location in Mortlake (London UK)!

Remember that cute young American couple I told you about last summer who run a terrific American-style sandwich shop in the southwest London borough of Mortlake? She’s from Iowa, he’s from Delaware. Word from my British friends in Mortlake is that they have indeed opened another location right across from the Mortlake station and it’s going gangbusters (not sure that’s a British term…but yanks will get it.)

Very glad to hear. Not sure if there original store on the main drag in Mortlake will remain open. But wish them well!!

The new Pickle & Rye American Sandwich shop in Mortlake (london)

The new Pickle & Rye American Sandwich shop in Mortlake (london)

Leave a comment

Filed under London

Tagged as ,

November 19, 2013 · 2:52 am

Ragbrai 2014 with the Brits!!

Just talked to our dear friends in London, Francine and Russ, and they want to do Ragbrai 2014! We’re thrilled and this time hoping my husband and son will want to do as well!! Registration has just opened for Ragbrai as has the unveiling of the way-cool Ragbrai 2014 biking gear (corn camouflage…clever!) although no word on the route for awhile.

Leave a comment

Filed under bike trails, biking, Iowa

Tagged as

November 17, 2013 · 7:58 pm

Tips on flying Southwest out of Des Moines

Southwest Airlines Logo.png
IATA
WN		 ICAO
SWA		 Callsign
SOUTHWEST
Founded March 16, 1967

As word comes from today’s DMRegister that there’ s talk of trying to expand the selection of direct Southwest flights out of Des Moines (Orlando and St. Louis but no promises and would happen, at the earliest next summer), I’ve been thinking about advice I’d give to people flying Southwest out of DSM right now – based on my first trial run earlier this month. And here it is:

– Although Southwest offers no fee to check your luggage (how refreshing), I am glad I didn’t check mine because if I had I wouldn’t have been able to switch flights in Las Vegas at the last minute after my LAX flight was delayed and I hopped aboard a Burbank flight. Or so I gather. The first question the counter agent asked me after I inquired about switching was whether I’d checked my luggage. I hadn’t and miraculously I was en route to Burbank minutes later. When I got to Burbank, I received another update on my original LAX flight. It still hadn’t left Vegas, delayed over 2 hours and counting…

– Paying the extra $12 or so to get priority boarding was definitely worth it!! Otherwise it is essential to check in as close as possible to exactly 24 hours before flight time so you get a good position in line, preferably A group or failing that B group but NOT C group. Those folks get the middle seats and there’s less likelihood, if the plane is booked, of getting an overhead spot to stow their luggage. The one flight I didn’t take and pay the extra $12 I got an A44 number in line – not bad. And I ended up with a good aisle seat close to the front of the plane (so I could exit quickly and make my connection).

– Speaking of connections, in Las Vegas my flight arrived in the C terminal and I had to haul a** to make my connecting flight in the B terminal, which seemed like miles away (with only a few moveable walkways). The slot machines strewed in the corridors didn’t help as I had knots of people to get around while dragging my suitcase. I don’t know if this is always the case on the DSM-Vegas-LA flight. (The one I took was at noon on a Friday out of DSM.)

– My connection at Chicago’s Midway was much much better – the Seattle-Midway flight landed in a gate only three gates away from the Midway-Des Moines flight. Yippee!! (This was on the 2:30 Wednesday flight from Seattle to Midway and the 9:30 pm flight from midway to dsm.)

Leave a comment

Filed under airfare, Chicago, Des Moines, Los Angeles, Nevada, Seattle

Tagged as , , , ,

November 15, 2013 · 1:34 am

Pine-pike Corridor, Seattle art museum, Pike Place market

I had a few hours to explore some of Seattle’s relatively new hopping neighborhoods on a grey but warm (50s) and never rainy day. The Pine Pike Corridor is about a 20 minute walk from the downtown waterfront and you have to cross that annoying freeway that cuts up the city. Someone told me Seattle is going to have its own big dig akin to Boston’s to put that highway underground.

Many of the shops weren’t open until 10 or even 11 a.m. But I enjoyed wallowing away some time at Odd Fellows, a quintessential Seattle spot with lots of exposed brick and scuffed wood and tin and the like. (see photo below) I had an excellent cappuccino and just ate an incredible cookie, with chocolate chips, caramel chips and walnuts, purchased at Odd Fellows. Also browsed in the famous Elliot Bay Books which apparently moved to the corridor about a year ago. I also stopped by the well known restaurant Sitka and Spruce (owned by the same chef as the place we enjoyed last night, Bar Sajor). I got a sandwich at the take out counter from a nice young guy who hails from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (Small world).

I ended up taking the light rail from the Westlake stop right near Pike Place Market to Sea Tac airport. Took about a half hour longer than my inbound cab ride (about 1 hour) but much cheaper $2.75 vs $46. Live and learn. I should have guessed progressive Seattle would have reasonably priced mass transit to the airport! Before I left I picked up some bagels at Pike Market Bagels which had passed muster at breakfast and some satsumas from the market. Now bumping along in the air above the Rockies en route to Chicago and after that, home. Great trip!

Leave a comment

Filed under Seattle

Tagged as , , , ,

November 13, 2013 · 6:32 am

Tourist at dusk in Seattle – Olympic sculpture park, bar Sajor, seatown

Because I spent most of my day in a conference room, I had to restrict my exploration of Seattle to the near dusk hours. So today at 4 pm I rushed out to see the Olympic Sculpture Park, about a 25 minute walk from my hotel. Fortunately I got there at about 4:45 because the park suddenly closed at 5 pm. Which I gather it does daily. the Des Moines sculpture park never closes. And it’s not entirely clear how it closes since its open air but I dutifully, albeit reluctantly left at five. You can’t best the setting, overlooking the Bay. Just spectacular. ( below is the view from the fifth floor balcony of the inn at the market)

The last time I was in Seattle, on my honeymoon 23 years ago I don’t remember much about downtown except for the Pike Place Market. We stayed in a more residential area in a b&b. But this trip I have loved staying downtown, right by the market actually at the Inn at the Market. There are tons of things to do and see down here and I am really sad to leave tomorrow. I went to an excellent restaurant tonight, Bar Sajor, and a less great restaurant last might, Seatown, last night. Also a cute. Little breakfast place, The Crumpet Shop near my hotel. I hope its not another 25 years until I return!

Leave a comment

Filed under Seattle

Tagged as , , ,