A Break from the Blues

Friends, greetings from New York City, where your good friend Sarah has finally had a day to take a breath and get immersed, once again, in creativity and inspiration, because I was in a rut and needed a good shake out of it.

 

I’m telling you, on the days when you just feel…blah?  Bored?  Blue?  Get OUT there.  Get into nature, get into unusual restaurants, get into the museums, get into places that shake up your usual routine and wake up your brain again, getting all those lovely neurons firing and working in new ways.  The worst that could happen?  You get a funny story to tell about something awful that happened.  The best that can happen?  That would be a day like today.

 

Today I went to the Frick Collection, in the Frick Museum, to see the Dutch Masters.  This included Girl with a Pearl Earring, works by Monet, Renoir, Degas, el Greco, de Goya, van Dyck, and hundreds of other works.  I am no expert on art, pottery, ceramics, or furniture, but I tell you what, my mouth was dropped open for almost the entire time I was here, it was so beautiful. You are not allowed to take pictures here, but, of course, Friends, when I promise you something, you will HAVE IT.  Here you go.  No, I do not have pictures of real paintings because I am not THAT much of a bad girl.  I feel guilty enough about these, so Shhhhhh…..

This exhibit reminded me of Belgium and Holland, and I missed my Friends there.  After the exhibit (for which I stood in the rain for 90 minutes and was worth it), I was so nostalgic for my life in Europe, that I went around the corner to Laduree, for macaroons, to bring as a present to some Chef Friends at Betony.   Here are the pictures I stole…which are followed by some of my favorites that I took at Laduree in Paris, where I got kicked out in QUITE a loud voice, for taking pictures.  Once again, you’re welcome.

 

Now that I learned how to make macaroons from Chef Diane Yang back home, I now know how to make these lovely little macaroon trees and just might do that for my next party.  We’ll see how ambitious I get after jet lag….

 

After this, I needed a quiet, perfect little lunch, and I went to Betony.  This place…THIS place…is beautiful.  The food is not crazy/fancy/out there…it is delicious.  I had, I do believe, one of the very best lunches of my life, enjoying the corn veloute with Chantilly cream, the fresh, hot bread with caraway (which was perfect in sopping up the veloute and also the broth from the poached egg with trumpet mushroom and cavatelli….which I will be dreaming about for days…)

 

I had the beef tenderloin with fingerling potatoes, because I am once again low on iron, thanks to this high maintenance thyroid of mine, so it was time for beef, and it was perfect.  This is high praise from a girl raised on corn-fed, family-raised black angus from the farm.

 

Perfectly cooked, perfectly seasoned, perfectly paired with a beautiful red Rioja, then followed by a just-right-portion of chocolate with bergamot and olive oil.  Bergamot! I go crazy for this taste, this smell, always.  There are not many things that stop me in my tracks like bergamot, and it was a sweet little surprise flavor pairing, along with this cappuccino set-up, complete with (why doesn’t everyone do this?!) spoon rest, so that I do not get coffee on my cup after stirring and subsequently drip it on myself.  THANK YOU thoughtful restaurant planner/buyer/décor team!  Well done.

 

I had my perfect little lunch and then chatted with Chef to secure a stage gig with them as well, because I want to get to know this restaurant and the way it thinks and breathes.  I want to know its team, its Chefs, its personality.  I want this, because this place is walkable from my apartment, and I will be here often, with Friends, with family, and with clients, and because this place lit up a place in my brain reserved for places and things and people who are excellent.

 

So, I had my perfect morning to let my heart and head soar into creative, beautiful places of art and wine, love and lunch, business and pleasure, and then I went back to my little apartment to plan for attending surgery, tomorrow, but not before a first date, a board meeting, and meeting my Friend Kim for a casual dinner tonight.  What started out as a tired, rainy day turned into a perfect little adventure, which is exactly what I needed.

 

All of those people who paid attention to detail in putting together a beautiful collection of art in a lovely space, and all of those macaroon makers in Paris, and all of those Chefs gave me a perfect day, just for me, which will help me be ready to take on the world, once again, and that, right there, is exactly what makes me happy today.

 

With lots of love from New York,

Your Good Friend Sarah