P.D.T.

P.D.T. = Please Don't Tell

But.. I'm going to anyway!

It's the name of another uber hip NYC secret spot.  There's no sign for the place and no front door.  You have to enter through Crif Dogs in the East Village:

And while you're there, you might as well chow down on some of these tasty dawgs (Veggies ones for me!)  But... don't get the fries.  NYC fries stink because they can't use the super bad-for-you oil.

To get inside PDT, you have to know to enter the phone booth and pick up the telephone.  If you're cool enough, you get to step beyond the secret door into this:

I'm not sure Patrick and I are "cool," we think it must have just been a slow night!

(These photos are mostly courtesy: New York Magazine)

NYC Home Tour

Here's a brief tour of my new home in New York City.

Chic Cupcake

Any guesses who inspired this cupcake?

Is it wrong that I want to eat her?

The Costume

My Sarah Palin costume is coming together quite nicely.  Just a little preview of a few accessories:

(If these are lame, I'll just wear my own and put these back on ebay!)

Balance

This is the healthiness I'm eating for dinner:

Because this is what I had for lunch:

Uh... Ya!  It's good.

And the cornbread stuffing?  YUM!

Mamie's Spoonbread, Too.

Go there.

Now.

More eating:

More highlights from JMF's eating tour.

Dessert trios at Ferrara's:

Pastrami on Rye at Katz Deli:

Yummies from Rocco's Bakery in Greenwich Village:

"Saddness" because the trip is over and I'm left here broke:

Eating our way around town

For those of you who know JMF, you'll understand.  For the rest of you: my foodie friend came to visit and managed to eat his way around NYC in 4 days!  Here are a few highlights.

Time Square Pizza:

Milkshakes at Tom's Diner:

Italian at Vincent's in Little Italy:

Gut Bomb

Really?  One needs that much meat on one sandwich?

Yes, one needs that much cheesecake!

Patrick and I ventured to Carnegie Deli for lunch, somehow assuming it would not be a tourist trap.  We could not have been more wrong.  (I know, we must have been living under a rock on this one.)  The food was extremely overpriced and simply "ok."  The dessert on the other hand... incredible.  But my warning to future tourists: tip 15 to 22 percent or they will embarrass you!  (It happened to the guy next to us.  It was so awkward, Patrick walked to the bank to get more cash for the tip!)

116th Street

Reading, reading, reading... 

No matter where I am, that's what I'm doing these days.

NYC Tour: Grant's Tomb

I spent Saturday morning exploring Grant's Tomb on the Upper West Side.  (It's for a project for my Journalism History class... he was a writer, you know!)

President Grant was also quite the romantic.  He demanded to be buried next to his wife, even forgoing a spot at Arlington and West Point because she was not allowed.

(You'll have to take my "NYC Media History Tour" if you want to know more!)

Critical Mass NYC

You can take a girl out of PDX, but you can't take the PDX out of the girl!  I've always wanted to ride with Critical Mass, but never thought it would be appropriate, considering my profession.  In NYC - I'm free!  Patrick and I figured it would be a great way to see NYC - by bike!  So, with 300+ other riders, we hit the streets.  This CM was pretty uneventful.  If you look closely in the pictures you can see we had dozens of police "escorts" the entire way.  Patrick was bummed because at one point, we got dropped!

Student-Life

Columbia did an incredible job of picking an amazing group for it's 2009/09 MA program.   You can't even believe the talent that's in this picture: Reuters, Time Magazine, Politico, Seattle Times, The BBC, and many more!  (Then there's little ol' me from local TV news!)

Central Park

(This is as close to royalty as I'll get.)

Just a few pictures from a warm day in Central Park.  I'm missing those!  October 1st hit - and it's definitely fall!

President-want-to-be Visits

September 11th, 2008 - Both Presidential candidates stopped by my neighborhood.  Secret Service shut down the campus, and thousands of students (this picture was early) packed the steps to watch their interviews on "service."