Random Fun Things that I’ve Done in NY

Left to Right, Top Down: Fearless Girl, Birthday Run, Idiotarod, Ichiran ramen, Immersive Neverending Story, Three Little Pigs at Dim Sum

I like keeping this blog because it’s fun to relive old days when I reread old posts. Not everything I do becomes its own post, but I would like to record somewhere that I’ve done them. So this is basically a list of stuff that I’ve done this past year’ish.

Stuff that I’ve Eaten

• Ben took me to Gramercy Tavern for my birthday lunch in October. The tasting menu was delicious. Ben was also over an hour late because his job interview ran really long. I sat alone as if I was being stood up. I saw the waiters pitying me. I didn’t mind being alone because I knew this wasn’t his fault and I had my phone to play with. Finally Ben just ended the interview so he could get to me. He didn’t get the job. We didn’t care that he didn’t get it.
• I had a cookie shot from the famed Dominque Ansel, the inventor of the Cronut. A cookie shot is a chocolate chip cookie baked into a shape of a shot, the interior coated with chocolate, and filled with milk. This being Dominque Ansel, the milk isn’t plain milk, but rich creamy vanilla milk. It was delicious. Well done, Dominique, well done.
• I drank Blooming Marshmellow Hot Chocolate from Dominique Ansel. It costs $7 and you get a marshmallow flower that “blooms” when it’s placed in the hot chocolate. It’s absolutely mesmerizing to watch. To drink, less so. It wasn’t a very good hot chocolate. So I would say convince a friend to buy this so you can see the blossoming marshmallow flower without paying for it yourself.
• My friend, Ciara, and I were some of the lucky ones to be chosen for free ramen at Ichiran. Ichiran is famous for their silent booths. You sit alone in a quiet little booth and mark on a piece of paper what you want. You place the paper on a small plate by the opening, where the waiter will silently take it away and a few minutes later, slide your food to you through the opening. The silence is so that you can concentrate on the umami flavors of the ramen. Ciara and I sat in a booth, but we opened the divider between us so we could whisper to each other as we ate our ramen. It was an interesting experience.

Things I’ve Done

• Ben’s nephew and his fiancee came to visit in December. They’re both big fans of The Walking Dead, so we thought it would be fun to take them to an escape room game with zombies, Escape Room Games. The actor who played the zombie made the game. He was truly terrifying. With all the screaming, running around to escape a chained zombie whose chains lengthened every five minutes, and heart-pounding fear, my IQ dropped by 15 points. Of all the escape rooms that we’ve done, the puzzles here were the weakest, but honestly we couldn’t have solved harder puzzles because keeping away from the zombie takes quite a bit of mental energy and physical effort. In the end, we successfully escaped with about 2.5 minutes left on the clock.
• Ben and I saw the beginning of Idiotarod. There are no words to describe Idiotarod. It’s loosely based on the Iditarod, which is a famous dog sled race in Alaska. The Idiotard is a whimsical “race” where instead of dog sleds, you have a decorated shopping cart and costumes based around a theme. Participants are encouraged to bribe judges (usually in the form of alcohol and food) and “sabotage” other competitors (can’t damage their carts, but can mislead them down a wrong direction). A nice recap of the race can be read here. Ever since I heard about this race, I wanted to see/participate in it. Being that it’s in January, the weather is always a crap shoot. That day, it wasn’t too cold, so Ben and I bundled up to watch the start of the race.
• We saw The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart, an immersive play/musical from Scotland. It’s different from the other immersive theatre that we’ve seen, but it was utterly charming and captivating. Prudencia is the plucky heroine who is seduced by The Devil and has to find her way back to the land of the living.
• I saw an immersive version of The Neverending Story by The House of Yes with Ciara. The House of Yes is a super cool art space where they put on incredible events. I was a big fan of theirs from their small start in Williamsburg to their new larger venture in Bushwick. They played the movie and then had dancers, singers, aerialists, and other artists interpret different scenes of the movie. It was kinda crazy and cool at the same time. I would totally go to another immersive film experience.
• I saw Fearless Girl who stands in defiant opposition of the Charging Bull in the Financial District. It’s a temporary art work, but I hope she becomes permanent. The line to take a photo with the statue was massively long, so I took a quick photo when the statue was alone as people were changing spots.
• Finally I visited the new location of the Whitney Museum. I saw the Carmen Herrera: Lines of Sight exhibit with Belle. I loved Herrera’s bold colors and clean lines.
• When a blizzard is about to hit New York City, what do you do? Well, if you’re Ben and me, you drive upstate where you can get even more snow! NYC missed the worst of the blizzard and got far fewer inches of snow than the predicted 1 foot. We’re nice and cozy in a farmhouse in the Hudson Valley. There’re a roaring fire and plenty of booze. Plus we have a pie for Pi Day.

Running with PPTC

• We went to the club’s annual awards night. The event was a lot of fun. It’s always nice to acknowledge all the work that people do to help make the club function and make it a fun organization to be a part of. There were a few sappy sentimental speeches, lots of hugs, and much cheering all night long. There was an endless supply of food and open bar. A good time was had by all.
• Jay organized a dim sum run for PPTC. We ran about five miles from our usual meeting spot to dim sum in Chinatown. The food was great. My favorite was the three little pig buns. We stuffed ourselves with food. Then Jay paid for us all. There were like 15 of us. He won a massive bet on the Super Bowl game, so he treated us all. He’s so kind and generous.
• How do you celebrate the birthday for someone who hates birthdays, surprises, and people? You spring a surprise birthday run in her honor. Shan organized a surprise birthday run for Unni. As she and Shan ran a loop in Prospect Park, more and more people joined in until we got to the end where another group of people surprised her with donuts and tiara. She kept on telling us how much she hated us while having a big smile on her face. As cold as it was running with Unni and Shan, kudos go to the people who shivered in the cold waiting for us to arrive.
• I ran in support of women and for International Women’s Day on March 8th. It was incredible to run with so many women (and men!) while wearing red to show our support for women’s issues. Then we took over Butter & Scotch, a bakery/bar/restaurant operated by two women. There was a couple on a date while we were there and our group kinda forced them to sit even closer together because Butter & Scotch is a tiny space. Unlike the last time, I didn’t break them up. They kissed during the date (to which our little group cheered discreetly).