Four and Twenty Blackbirds

If you noticed the not-so-charming appearance of the Jell-O competition "neighborhood", you'll understand why we were surprised to find a super adorable coffeehouse nearby. Enter Four and Twenty Blackbirds. The cook was mixing ingredients and baking up a storm in the open kitchen. It smelled heavenly.



It was the kind of place where you could have a day like this:



We always obey instructions.



See? Of course, Bryan could not resist the Lemon Custard pie on the menu. While the lemon was more sweet than tart (a bad thing, in our opinion), it redeemed itself with the airy meringue-like crust.



How do we transport this place back to Minnesota?

Go Jell-O!

Although this event was totally out of the way, we were far too curious to miss it. A Jell-O Mold Design Competition? So many questions. Would it be awesome or terrible? Would it be tacky or amazing? And as we got closer to the event location (see below), we started asking questions like, "Are we lost?"



Thankfully, we were not lost. It just happened to be in a very warehouse-like part of Brooklyn in a very warehouse-like building. As for the answers to our other questions: awesome and amazing. The Jell-O designs were so creative and so well-executed that we often had to get close to the subject to confirm that it was, in fact, made of Jell-O. Here's a sampling:

A very squishy dress.



From what we could tell, this chandelier was made with a clear Jell-O filled with corn. Sounds gross, but looked kind of cool!



Put in a quarter. Be surprised with Jell-O.



This takes the idea of Jell-O desserts to a whole new level.

Oysters!

Inventive spin on medicine.

This one was my favorite. It was so intricate! To think that all of the sushi pieces were made of different molds and colors of Jell-O - definitely something I would NOT have patience for! We speculated that the soy sauce was actually chocolate Jell-O pudding. Do you see what I mean? So creative!

We were really happy we made it out to this fun event (and even happier we didn't have to make any of it ourselves). Go Jell-O!

Bubble Battle

The pictures for this event pretty much speak for themselves. Bubbles, Times Square, and tons of people is apparently a winning combination.





It was raining when we got there, but you can't even tell. Nothing could stop these bubble-obsessed fanatics!



Surprise, surprise, it was CROWDED at the Bubble Battle. So unusual for an NYC event. (Can you tell we're starting to get sick of the crowds?)

As silly as this event was, it just goes to show that New Yorkers are young at heart!

Good Enough To Eat

We were lucky to have Ashley and Matt back in town this weekend. Although they were here for a family event, we were able to hang out with them for a little bit. On Saturday morning we all went to brunch at one of our favorite neighborhood places - Good Enough To Eat. It's not the kind of place you'd think you'd find in the middle of Manhattan, but that's the charm. Not to mention the breakfast is phenomenal. Strawberry butter, anyone? Genius!

Since Matt and Ashley were off to their family function, Alyssa and I decided to go to an outdoor market in Union Square. Alyssa loved it - mostly for the picture-taking opportunities.

I marveled at the desserts while Alyssa...

...checked out all the varieties of sauerkraut!

The weekend had other surprises in store, including a Jell-O mold competition in Brooklyn and a Bubble Battle in Times Square! Stay tuned...

Best Street Performer Ever!

Street performer is probably one of the most common occupations in New York City and, as you can imagine, it's rare to find a good one. We've seen it all - flute, saxophone, guitar, xylophone, electric violin and even a kazoo. But this weekend was a first - a GRAND PIANO. Another first - he was actually good!

We're still baffled about how he got the piano into the park and what he does with it after the fact. Any clues?

Four's Company

It's now been more than a week since this foursome left NYC in the dust, and we continue to miss them! My two aunts, Sheila and Stacie, and two cousins, Maren and Maleah, bravely survived our 250 square foot apartment. They were troopers! Here we are, on our way to earning a Ph.D. in air mattress inflation.



This crew accomplished more in 3.5 days than some do in a month. They visited the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, Times Square, the Empire State Building, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Little Italy, Central Park, the Natural History Museum, the New York Public Library, and Union Square. Throw in a Broadway play (Wicked), a bus tour, shopping in Soho and Chelsea, and a thwarted attempt to visit the Met (it's closed on Mondays, they found out the hard way), and you can understand why they were exhausted when they left! Below are some photo highlights.

Us at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. They enjoyed it as much as we thought they would. I think they even got some ideas for their own gardens.

The bonsai collection fascinated us.

Maren found a secret entrance to this tree (sounds weird, but it makes sense, trust me) and we enjoyed the shade.

Shopping in Soho with these girly girls was an adventure that often left Bryan out on the sidewalk, playing games on his cell phone (rarely). He was around long enough to snap this photo of us in the Prada elevator.

Maleah surprised me when she requested to go to Marc Jacobs. What a fashionista! Though it was closed when we got there, she passed for a true New Yorker.

While we were shopping in Soho, Sheila and Stacie were on the bus tour of a lifetime! One of their tour guides kept saying, "And that's the difference," even when there was nothing to compare, which became the running joke of the weekend. It's so funny, I may just start using it in my day-t0-day conversations. "I would like to order a grande mocha. And that's the difference." The bus also pulled over to a "scenic" location (below) and tried to convince tourists this was a huge photo op!



We ate dinner in Little Italy in perfect weather. What fun! We felt like world-travelers - that is, until I ordered fettuccine alfredo. I probably should have been more adventurous.



The girls were always up for a treat - the best quality a visitor can have! We sampled the peanut butter and jelly gelato, but ended up getting lemon-lime gelato. In case you didn't know, second to Bryan's attempt to find a good malt, he's always on the hunt for lemon gelato (not to be confused with lemon sorbet - they are totally different, according to Bryan). We still haven't found the real deal, but the lemon-lime gelato was close.



The group wanted to try some New York deli pastrami. Artie's came through for us!



How can you go wrong with pastrami? Add cheese, sauerkraut and dressing - how is this legal?!



Umm....oops. Another treat stop. This time it was Rita's. Maren enjoyed her Italian Ice/Custard combo, but the real hit was the lemon "Blendini" with pretzel pieces my aunts ordered.



Some of our best times were the random moments, of course. Check out Maleah's new pal to the left. It doesn't get much more random than this.



When the conversation slowed (okay, actually, it never did), the only obvious distraction was to figure out how to get Maren and Bryan in the same photo as Maleah's reflection in the mirror. Mission accomplished!



It was so great having this cheerful group out to visit. It was like a big slumber party. We heard talking and laughing well past midnight - always a sign of a good time! Thanks for visiting and you're always welcome back!

Museum Mile

New York museums are incredibly expensive, so when we found out about Museum Mile night - the once-a-year event where the Upper East Side museums open their doors to misfits like us looking for free admission - we put it on our calendar!

Our first stop was the Met. Two free admissions = $40 value. Cha-ching!

Cheer up, dudes! It's Museum Mile night!

The Met has paintings of flowers, trees and a bearded man. Alyssa said they are famous or something.

For us, this was the best undiscovered part of the Met - the view from the roof!

On the downside, the Met custodial staff must be experiencing cutbacks - they are allowing a huge bird's nest to be built up there. Actually this is "art" made of bamboo that the artists will continue to build throughout the summer.

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. Two free admissions = $30 value. Cha-cha-ching!

Museum of the City of New York. Two free admissions = $20 value. Cha-cha-cha-ching!



Of course, the entertainment of the museums was not enough for New Yorkers. On the street, there were kids' shows, jugglers and musical performers. Way to go over the top, New York!

Although it was very crowded, we had so much fun, especially considering the great value! Total savings = $90. ChachachachachachachaCHING!