Thanksgiving in the Big Apple

So, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving I flew out to New York. I met up with my BGF (best gay friend) Bob at my favorite Korean restaurant, Kum Gang San in Koreantown. I love the fake waterfall, but most of all I love their spicy pork BBQ. Good stuff!

I was banned from drinking anything that night because of the last time I drank right after a flight. This was last May when I was in New York for a wedding. Afterward, we tried to get a look at the balloons that were being blown up for the Macy's Thanksgiving parade, but we didn't get to see all that much because the police had barricaded those streets off. :-(

Later that night Bob and I watched a bootleg copy of "Battlestar Galactica: Razor." It was okay, but I have to admit I was a little disappointed. I had been expected a little bit more.

The next day was Thanksgiving and Bob and I walked from his apartment on 77th Street on the Upper West Side down to Rockefeller Center to look at the tree. It wasn't lit yet, but it was sure pretty. Folks were ice skating in the rink which made me want to as well, but Rockefeller's rink is too small and too crowded and too expensive!

Later that evening we went to Marseille in Hell's Kitchen where we had a 6:30pm reservation. They had a special prix fixe with three courses. Bob, the Canadian, had turkey while I had lamb. The food was excellent and the sommelier was helpful in confirming my wine selection (a demi-boteille of gewurztraminer). Our meal there was definitely deelish.

The next day Bob and I started our shopping tour in earnest. We started in Rockefeller Center, hitting my usual faves -- Banana Republic, Anthropologie and J. Crew. We then went down to West Elm in Chelsea to check out some furniture Bob was considering buying. We agreed that the bookshelves and the storage unit he had been eyeing were gos. We also checked out a shelving unit for his "kitchen" at the Container Store. (I put kitchen in quotes because his kitchen is ridiculously tiny and isn't a separate room from his living space. Typical Manhattan "kitchen.")

Afterward we dropped off our stuff at his apartment before heading back down to Hell's Kitchen to have dinner at a Thai restaurant we both like, Aceluck. One of the waitresses remembered me. Oh, yeah. Our waitress at the Korean restaurant remembered me too ...

Then, we headed out to see "Xanadu."

To begin with, I had been worried about how the stage and strike would affect "Xanadu," but it turns out that the Broadway musical had a different contract with the union so it was unaffected. Phew!

The show was great. Bob and I laughed at the intentional corniness and at the way they made fun of the original movie. Who says that roller skates and legwarmers can't come back! It was a lot of fun.

The next day we continued our shopping expedition. This time we started in the Upper West Side after having brunch at Café Mozart. We checked out Lululemon Athletica which I had never been to before. I spent way too much money there on some yoga attire. We then headed over to the East Side to get some chocolates at Debauve et Gallais. A coworker of mine is French -- well, several are actually -- but this one remembered these chocolatiers from when he lived in Paris and I knew he liked taking chocolate with his coffee, so I bought him a box of carrés -- little squares of chocolates. I also bought myself a box as well as some truffles. These bonbons aren't cheap, but they are damned good.

We then went to MOMA's Seurat exhibit. It was interesting to see Seurat's drawing style progress from classical to his own unique one.

After that we headed down to Old Navy and Loehmann's in Chelsea to see if they had anything interesting. After that we headed to an Ethiopian restaurant called The Queen of Sheba to meet up with my friend Irene. I worked with Irene for almost four years at Kaplan. She's left the company and is now a jewelry design student at FIT.

After dinner, Bob and I headed back to his apartment where I kicked his ass bowling and boxing on his Wii. I couldn't figure out the dance game he though, so outboogied me.

The next day was Sunday so it was time to go back to California. Needless to say, I was sad to leave the Big Apple, but I was happy to leave behind the below freezing temperatures and 20 degree windchill!