NY recap

The alarm clock began buzzing at 3:30 AM, leaving me one hour to get ready to leave. We left the house almost on time and after weaving through 20 miles of orange road cones on 290 and 294 (Thank you Mr. President), we eventually boarded a 6:30 flight for LaGuardia Airport.

Two five-year-olds in the row were sitting right in front of me in the bulkhead row. Keep in mind both their parents were sitting across the aisle and two rows back. I think the airline should have had one parent sit with one child. So the boy and girl basically screamed at each other for all 2 hours and 15 minutes. Thank God for my headphones. As we walked past the security line at Newark, Mom recognized Judy, one of her old friends from San Diego, in the security line.

Dad pulled up outside the airport and we headed towards Manhattan. We had to deal with a lot of traffic on the Outerbridge, as three lines were merging into one. We drove through Jersey City and saw the Liberty Science Center as well as a great view of the side of the Statue of Liberty and the New York City skyline. The weather conditions could not have been much better: 85 degrees, the sky a magnificent shade of deep blue, and not a cloud to be spotted.

We took the Holland Tunnel into Manhattan and drove through Chelsea towards the Upper East Side. For lunch, we went to JG Mellon, an old restaurant/bar I saw on the Best Thing I Ever Ate as well as on Oprah's Top 20 Burger list. It's this old school bar, wooden interior with no TV's and about 15 or 20 tables. We sat outside on 74th and 3rd and I did a little bird-watching and noticed tons of dogs walking by. How could I miss them. Since the burgers cost $10 and the app's were a little pricey, we just went with burgers and two orders of cottage fries. Though the burgers weren't huge, they were thick. They came with a rick, thick cheddar cheese, coarsely chopped bacon (just 70 cents extra), very thinly sliced red onion, and dill pickle chips. Nothing else is really needed, though a slice of tomato would have been good too. The burger was incredible juicy, the roll was soft, yet held up very well, the cheese was melted, and a little dijon mustard made for an excellent burger experience. The sliced cottage fries were hot and crisp with a nice amount of chew on them. The one negative was there are no free refills on soft drinks. Though our server did mention that after we drank our firsts, that should be mentioned on the menu.

From there, we drove into midtown, towards 5th Avenue. We walked around Rockefeller Center,and saw Radio City Music Hall, the Ed Sullivan Theater, and the studios of CBS, FOX, SNY, and NBC (Conan tapings). We almost went into the observatory deck at Rockefeller, but for $21 a pop, that was a little bit too much. Besides, the view from the airplane that morning was pretty decent anyway.

Mom has a cruise tour coming up soon and the powers that be have arranged a formal evening. So we went to Anthropologie while she shopped, only to buy nothing at all. Meanwhile, I searched around the NHL Store and the new Jets team Store on Madison Avenue. At the latter, I thought about getting this green and black Jets polo shirt. But everything came in 3XL and 4XL. I guess they thought Rex was going to drop in any minute.

Around 3 p.m., we headed back to the parking garage, where we paid $33 to park for under three hours. We drove back through the Lincoln Tunnel into New Jersey, past the Meadowlands complex, and down Route 3. We continued shopping in New Jersey, which is smart, since you don't pay a sales tax in the state. Then again, we did go to the Short Hills Mall in Bridgewater, one of the bougiest malls in the country. Mom searched some more, while Dad and I mostly stood around, just waiting for something to do. She came up empty again and I was starting to feel pretty fatigued by this point. We then drove south to Old Bridge, about 20 minutes south of Edison.

We had dinner at Ponte Vecchio, which is owned by the same people that own Lou Ca’s, a great Italian seafood restaurant in Edison. I still can't get my mind off of the four old people standing right in the doorway with their backs towards us, as they blocked us from entering the restaurant. I thought that was a little inconsiderate and self-absorbing. Anyway, we quickly got our loaf of hot semolina bread with olive oil for dipping, always a tremendous start to any evening meal.

Mom had Boston Bibb salad and a Sicilian swordfish while Dad went two of his usuals, shrimp and crabmeat cocktail and tilapia oreganato.As for me, I had a disappointing experience with a swordfish dish the last time, so I mixed it up. I went with a cold mixed seafood salad of shrimp, crabmeat, and scallops and Chicken Giambotta; three thinly sliced chicken cutlets with slices of sweet Italian sausage, mushrooms, onions, and sweet sherry peppers all served in a lightly colored sauce dominated by lemon, white wine, and garlic. Tremendous flavor. Oh, I did somehow sneak in a slice of NY cheesecake with a dollop of the sweetest whipped cream imaginable. My stomach was in pain the rest of the night. Funny, how that never happens here at home.

Even thought I brought Sequence and Yahtzee along, Mom and I were both pretty beat by 7:30 p.m. So we turned on the Cablevision music channels. We basically flipped through the oldies and country stations. Found some good ones, found some absolute clunkers. I guess the highlight was me dancing to "Then What" with my own unique brand of whiteness. I got into "I Think I Love You" also.

The next morning, we woke up around 6:30. Mom and I stopped in downtown Metuchen for some take-home good stuff. First we grabbed 16 bagels. In the store freezer, two sleeves of six frozen bagels each set us back about $3.70. I picked one bag of wheat everything and one bag of wheat sesame. So for about 31 cents per bagel, I'd say I made out awfully well. I added a cinnamon burst and of course, three poppyseed. From Bagels-4-U, we walked past Roberto’s Pizza to the Buttery Bake Shoppe. Though the loaf of seeded rye bread tempted me, I went with two pieces of crumb cake. I don't understand why I have not been able to find crumb cake in the suburban bakeries where I live. Anyway, the crumbs were probably 2/3 of the cake and it was incredibly sweet, sugary, and satisfying.

We planned to go to the Brooklyn Tabernacle for church. Mom had been there once a long time ago and so I researched the place. After turning of the BQE, we drove 5 miles down Atlantic Avenue, past the future home of the Barclay Center. We drove parallel to the L train towards an area with a lot of chop shops and small residences. We turned onto Thomas Boylan Avenue around 8:10 AM, well ahead of schedule. It was similar to the south side of Chicago.

As we drove down this tiny street, I thought it was a little unusual considering this church was supposed to be quite prominent and expansive. This neighborhood was filled with one-way streets and gated homes and shops. When the street dead-ended, Dad drove back, much to Mom's chagrin. I was a little bewildered and I just hoped everyone would just stay cool. As we drove back down Boylan again, looking for #58, we suddenly spotted the Brooklyn Tabernacle. Except it was the wrong one. Apparently there are two Brooklyn Tabernacles just five miles apart. I pulled up Blackberry directions and it turned out we passed the street, Smith St, ten minutes before. So Dad drove back west on Atlantic Avenue, hung a right on Smith, and we pulled into the parking lot around 8:40.

We walked through the lobby into the auditorium, which looked like a converted theater. There were seats on the sides of the building, the floor was slanted, and there was a large balcony. As for the makeup, there was a great range of age groups. There were seniors, families, a few young adults. I'm guessing the 20-something's came for the noon or 3 pm services. The racial makeup was mostly black with a healthy dose of whites along with a few Latinos and Asians as well. I liked how many socioeconomic backgrounds were represented instead of one type of demographic. It seems to be a church that is bringing many types of people together and isn't that one of the main missions that the church is supposed to be about?

Mom was disappointed early on that the choir was not going to perform in the service though. But I think she got past it once the music kicked in. The service lasted two solid hours and I think we sang for the entire first hour. The worship leader was a big, charismatic black man who looked like a fatter Steve Wonder with the dreads and dark glasses. We did everything from "Open the Eyes" to "Mighty to Save" to a few others I didn't even know. It was a very loud, spirit-filled, not the type of service I'm accustomed to seeing in the more reserved Midwest.
Pastor Jim Cymbala's message was called Gospel rewind. Basically, he asked us why do we not share Jesus with people? Why are we afraid to talk about him? Can I get an Amen? Pastor Jim even invited all the first-timers to come up after the service and give them a hug. As we walked out, Mom remarked "Just like Bill Hybels would do!" I had to admit, that was pretty funny. I used to be a much bigger hugger. For whatever reason, not so much now. Maybe it was easier to get away with in high school!

After paying the $10 to park and getting our car lowered (there is no space there), Dad drove ups 20 minutes away to LaGuardia Airport. on the way, we passed Citi Field where R.A. Dickey would mow down the lowly Houston Astros. I would have been smoking the Dickey pipe had I been there. Right before entering the security line, I noticed a Five Guys to my left and it's a good thing I had no appetite or time, for that matter.

Despite being #12 and 13 on the standby list, we made the 12:25 flight back to Chicago, which was completely full and I sat in the last row in the aisle between a married couple who rose up four times between them to use the bathroom. And since I sat in the last row, as I got up, I was finding myself engulfed in a line of people waiting to use the bathroom. I was also lucky enough to enjoy a great view of both engines, which meant I couldn’t see when we were landing. We actually had a sudden descent for about two seconds and I'll admit my stomach tightened up. As we did land, the first impact jolted me. But when nobody was screaming, well, I figured we were cool. And I’m sitting at my desk typing now, so I guess we were.