Sunday, June 5, 2011

Instead of a Picnic on Governor's Island

Arghh forgot to take pictures of the two loverly couples!!!  [two pictures here] We were supposed to go to Governor's Island to have a picnic, but with the threat of a thunderstorm later in the day, we opted to stay in Manhattan instead. Well anyways, today got off to a pretty long train ride to 14 St.  My buddy J and I walked to Union Square before heading back to 7th Av to meet up with his girlfriend and his two other Columbia friends, G & D.  As we passed by the L train stop at 6th Av we coincidentally saw his gf emerging from the exit.  Greetings exchanged - this is E, this is JC!

Went to a really cozy but humble restaurant, Elephant & Castle (not the bar chain) in Greenwich Village to have brunch.  Apparently, D was able to tell from the restaurant's decor and age of the furniture that the venue has been open since 1976.  Or maybe because we all saw the menu, dated 1976 and with the pre-inflated prices on it, hanging by the entrance! :)  The menu wasn't too expensive for the food we received.  $11.50 for the "Canyonland Poached Eggs (two), with Balsamic Jus, Fresh Tarragon, Tomatoes, Avocado and Wild Mushrooms, and Toasted English Muffin."  I felt that the best part about the restaurant was the restaurant physically stretched from one street to the next because of the relatively awkward block geometry (windows on both sides!).  Also the antique cash register - it had rows of push-buttons with some going from 10 to 90!  All 4 of us treated J, with my total coming to $18 - not bad compared to Jean-Georges last year haha.

Afterwards, we walked back to Union Square to
go get some stuff from Trader Joe's, more specifically, a lemon tart pie and some frozen macaroons.  J: pretty cheap stuff there.  Along the way, we actually stopped by a Duane Reade to find cups, but it was too many for our small party!  So we stole (politely asked for) some waxed paper cups from a sample station at Trader Joe's haha.  We then took the R train up to 57 St (2 P.M.ish?), not without noticing that sitting at the other end of our car was someone wearing a teddy bear costume, [picture].  J and I also explained to them where I got all my scrapes from - it's either a bear or raccoon - haha (tripped a week ago while running to beat him across an intersection while jogging one fine morning.)

We walked around Central Park for a bit before entering Sheep Meadow - lots of people in CP today despite the relatively cool weather and the occasionally threatening gray clouds.  We set up with J's tablecloth and proceeded to try the macaroons, which were now defrosted!  The general consensus was that the vanilla ones were pretty good, but the chocolate was slightly bitter.  Frisbee time!  We all pretty much sucked at the beginning but got better throwing and catching (and aiming) after awhile.  The funny part was that we gradually moved further and further away from each other.  This led to the frisbee coming quite close to a couple, err for lack of a better term, 'in the mood', some distance away.  The second time, it went through the woman's hair.  The third time it actually hit the guy's head, which made him pretty angry - angry enough to be like, "This is the third time, just stop or move somewhere else."  I understood what he's feeling, but to be honest, I could've done a better job of catching it and J could've aimed a bit lower but hey, it's a public park.  Our group in turn moved closer to each other and rotated away from their direction.  We then ate the tart and opened the sparkling apple cider that JC brought.  Unfortunately, neither of us brought a bottle opener, so D ended up going over a to a rock outcrop and banging off the cap to the questioning of a little kid nearby - "What arrrre you guys DOING?"

Around 4ish we left to go to Columbus Circle where we bid farewell to G + D.  Headed over to the Time Warner Center for a potty break and looked around the Samsung store - amazingly thin televisions - and Williams-Sonoma - knives, of course.  I did see a pineapple corer that was on sale for $15 - what a great Father's day gift idea since Dad likes pineapples!  And we then found out by touch that the food they placed in the store were real - oranges, bread, oreos...

Left TWC at around 5:40 and took the train home.  Overall, a pleasant day spent with friends in the city!

Post 206 (Dated Today)
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