Chef Ramsey's Restaurant (New York)

Being in NY was the perfect opportunity to try Chef Ramsey's restaurant.Astrid looking at our table arrangement - a floating rose. (The only flower Astrid know is rose, and she also knows it's mama's name.) It was funny to see her sniff the rose.Decor is rather cold (which I wouldn't have expected from Chef Ramsey) with lots of mirrors and glass on the far side wall. It's not a place you want to hang out in for hours. It's an obviously sophisticated restaurant where you go just for the food and wine despite the cold decor.

The revolving panels however are a nice touch. Lunch has one side of the panel with a soft green, and the other side of the panel has a dark design for dinner service.

The food was excellent. All courses had small but delicious dishes. The food makes me want to come back for dinner.

The service was good, they clear plates away quickly and the food was prompt, but we had to ask them to refill our water glasses.

Be forewarned about the champagne. They bring out a rolling champagne cart in case you're interested in trying the champagne. The vintage champagne I had was $46...a glass...gulp (literally).Gourmet cheese cart.

While eating, I couldn't help replaying Hell's Kitchen episodes in my head.
Here Astrid and I are standing outside the restaurant.

(I later read that the restaurant picked up another Michelin star for 2 stars.)

Dressed for dinner (New York)

We've developed a routine which includes showering each evening, and getting dressed for dinner. Astrid's like a New York socialite. =)

Back to Sara D. Roosevelt Park (New York)

This time when we went back to Sara D. Roosevelt Park there were lots of kids to play with. Astrid introduced herself to the other kids by announcing, "My name is Astrid. Aaaastrid."

ABC Playground (New York)

We first saw this playground on the way to the East River, and Astrid was excited to play there with all the other children. We tried to enter it, but found out the local elementary school was using it for their recess, and it was closed to the public until 1:30. That was so disappointing.

So when we came back down Houston towards Soho, we passed by it again, and this time were allowed to enter the playground.It had a handful of small children there, and some High School kids hanging out, but was not nearly as busy as when we passed by it earlier in the day.Having fun on the larger slides.Playing in the toddler section, on the small slide.Astrid met this little boy who was the same age and she struck up a friendship with him. Not knowing that he was Autistic she held his hand. The boy's special education tutor who was there him said that was the first time she'd seen him hold another child's hand.Playing on the elephant.

With the long walk and adventure today (plus we have one more playground we will pass on the way home) I ruled out the daily nap. Once we get home we'll have just enough time to get ready for dinner, and then Astrid should be exhausted from the day's activities, and ready for a long night's sleep.

East River Park (New York)

This walk was longer than I expected it to be, and turned into quite an adventure, especially since I was on the journey with my 2 year old daughter. Luckily we had plenty of water and had our walking shoes on.

Getting to the East River was pretty easy. Long, but it was a straight shot over, and then across one street/bridge and we were there. The difficult part was that we had to go through the lower east side; not that we felt in danger, but there was no place to eat. I take that back. We came across a few places that looked so disgusting from the outside that I didn't want to step one foot inside. So what did we do? We kept walking.

We passed by numerous hospitals, project type housing, and people who looked like they lived a hard life. At this point I have no idea where we were. I'm sure we passed a number of ex cons during the course of our walk as well.

And then we were in China Town. Don't ask me how we got there in a round about way, but I was just so relieved. Food, glorious food, and a place to sit down inside with air conditioning and a cold drink. We stopped inside a large Chinese bakery with all sorts of goodies. The bread with baked Taro inside was so delicious that Astrid and I had two.Then we headed back to the East River Park, which we had originally passed on our quest for a place to stop for lunch.Standing in front of the East River.
Running down to check out the boats.
I can't believe after all that walking, she still has energy to walk and run. The lunch break did give us a second wind though.
This part of the park was pretty run down, but after walking in a concrete jungle for the past few hours, I let Astrid run around on the grass and play.What's more fun than chasing pigeons? Chasing squirrels of course.
This one ran up a tree when Astrid got too close.
The squirrel's up there Mommy!We stumbled onto this outdoor amphitheatre. Again, rundown but it could be a very cool venue. A concert by the river. Astrid enjoyed running up and down the steps.Taking a breather. You can see how red her face is from all the walking, as well as the hot day. My face was red too.
I made her wear her hat the entire time, except when we got back to the park. She no longer wanted to wear her hat and seeing as there was shade, I acquiesced and put the hat away.A large field made of AstroTurf, with a view of the bridge.There was no one there, so it felt like it we shouldn't be there. Hence the look of guilty pleasure on Astrid's face as she runs back to me.This was the best part of the entire park (for us anyway) - an adorable fountain with seal (or sea lion?) sculptures.The water would spout at different intervals and places. Here Astrid got wet and is running away from the spray. Sitting on top of one of the sculptures.Had enough sitting. Now she's going to run back into the fountain again.You can see the pools of water, where the water shoots up, and then stops for awhile, only to start up again later.On such a hot day, the water play was fun and refreshing.Astrid found a couple of abandoned softballs to play with.
Getting even more wet.This was a gem of a find. I could sit back and relax (and take pictures) while Astrid ran around and played in the fountain spray.There was another little girl there with a baby doll and baby stroller. We didn't take the baby stroller with us, and we forgot the baby doll in our car, so she was begging me to play with them. The girl didn't want to share unfortunately, but then Astrid found these balls to play with and that distracted her from the baby toys for a bit.

After a change of clothes, we headed back to Soho. Astrid continued to want to walk (rather than sitting her stroller). Round trip we walked probably 8 miles in total, and Astrid walked the entire way (refusing to sit in the stroller). Unbelievable!

Walking in New York

No one walks in LA, but everyone walks in NY. For some reason Astrid just wanted to walk - and walk and walk. You'll see later she never stopped.

We took Houston all the way to the East River.

Hamilton Fish Park (New York)

This park looked intriguing. What is a fish park? Apparently a park with 2 drained pools. Astrid kept thinking they were full because the bottoms were painted blue.There was a preschool class playing there for recess. When it was time to go, the teacher asked everyone to stand in line, and Astrid lined right up with the class.Each kid was required to hold onto a loop in a kid's rope, to make sure everyone stayed together.

The one teacher's aide laughed and remarked that her colleague almost gave Astrid one of the loops to hold onto, confusing her with being a student in the class since she was right there in the mix with the others.

I guess it won't be long until Astrid's ready for school. She's already fascinated by "school" because she's seen all the kids playing at the elementary school playground and wants to play with the kids, and go inside. Or as she says, "Go in dare (there)."

Dinner in New York with Mommy

Astrid and I went to a Cuban restaurant for dinner tonight. It's funny how some restaurants/waiters/waitresses get the whole kid thing and some don't. Here they definitely didn't. They gave Astrid a really tall, skinny glass of water at first, that was just asking for a disaster. There was no way she could hold it without tipping it over. In the photo you see the smaller glass I requested, that's more suitable for a toddler.

Being a parent, when you dine at a restaurant with your toddler, you have to be prepared to ask for:
1) Another menu for the kid (b/c yes, she does want to look at her own menu)
2) Water for the kid, preferably in a kid friendly cup, or a small glass. (Lots of places completely ignore the kid and just bring 1 glass of water to the table.)
3) A separate set of silverware. (Some places just assume you'll be feeding the kid, so you only need 1 set. But as a toddler, she wants to/and can feed herself with utensils.)
4) Silverware that can fit into the baby's mouth. (Several times when I've asked for a spoon for the baby I've been given gargantuan serving spoons that will not do. Others will give her a plastic spoon and fork without prompting.)
5) A separate small plate for the baby. (Lots of places just assume she'll be eating off my plate. Something which I don't allow.)
6) Extra napkins. (I'm always prepared for the mishap, spill, or mess).

From experience I've learned to ask for all of this upfront so I don't have to wait or have to flag down a lone waitress. And now that Astrid's old enough, she too asks for these things.

Our waitress stared at us and seemed to be in awe when as soon as she brought out my frozen pear mojito - Astrid raised her water glass up to mine to toast and said "Cheers!"

First Park (New York)

After Astrid's nap we went to yet another park, this one called First Park on the corner of Houston St. and 1 Ave.It's across the street from Sara D. Roosevelt Park, and there were lots of kids to play with.And swings! Astrid's favorite.It seems we got there right when all the parents take their kids to the park, after work.Crossing the bridge.Playing on the drawbridge.A small slide.A little boy Astrid's age who also wears Crocs, and wanted to play with her.Astrid spotted this bicycle in the park and wanted to ride it.A local parent told me the bike has been sitting in the park for a few weeks and didn't know who it belonged it. So I let Astrid sit on it while I pushed her around.Is it just me, or is a Barbie doll head on a bike a bit freaky?Now that she's got the hang of it and conquered her fear, she loves jumping up and down on the drawbridge.

When we used to go to the park it used to be such a struggle to get her to leave - major tantrums and all. Now it's a whole lot easier since I started giving her little prompts that we would be leaving in 15 minutes, 10 minutes, 5 minutes, etc. Occasionally I still get the "No mom. I want to play!" but it's no where close to the power struggles we used to have.