Siren festival!

Well, the temperatures in NYC and the eastern seaboard have been unbearable the past few weeks. With the extreme heat (80's, 90's, 100's, OH MY) and insufferable humidity, I don't have the energy to do much. But, I did muster the strength to venture out to Coney Island on Saturday to go to the Siren Music Festival, which is a free concert put on by The Village Voice. I'm not a huge music person, but this is the second time I've gone to the concert. I had so much fun with my friends Madeline, Gia and Stephen (who are all HUGE music people). We battled the crowds, the heat and had our fair share of Italian ices!

This year's headliner for Siren was the band 'Matt & Kim.' Sadly, Madeline, Gia and I decided that we had had our fair share of Siren by 6:30, so we didn't get to see 'Matt & Kim,' but I would have liked to!

Weekly adventures with Madeline

Tonight Madeline and I went to Essex for dinner because she had a Groupon. While we were looking at the menu, Madeline even mentioned that she had read awful reviews for the restaurant, but she got the Groupon anyway. Well, Madeline was right, the food wasn't that great, but we did have some rather delicious mussels as an appetizer! Afterward, neither of us wanted to go home, so we wandered around the les for a while. We wanted to go to the Doughnut Plant, but they were already closed. boo. So we decided to go to the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory and we struck up a conversation with a famous person and his very large crew about ice cream flavors and sprinkles! We didn't know it at the time, but an elderly woman informed us that it was Matthew Gray Gubler! Then Madeline and I wandered the aisles of Duane Reade looking for hair dye and stuff for bug bites, respectively.

weekly adventures with Madeline, featuring Gia.

Today for our weekly thing, Madeline and I decided to go to the Brooklyn Museum to see the American High Style: Fashioning a National Collection exhibit and we invited Madeline's friend Gia. It's linked to the Costume Institute exhibit, but it's actually a bigger collection. I was quite pleased with the exhibit, my only complaint was that I wanted to see more! My favorite looks were by Lanvin and Chanel. Even though the gowns were made by the designers, Jeanne and Gabrielle (Coco), the looks were completely timeless and still so chic and modern! There were also these three looks with the same textile that I absolutely loved. The textile had a Indian or Thai feel to it. It was hot pink and Hermes orange with gold accents.

Weekly adventures with Madeline, featuring Johnny.

My dear friend Johnny decided to take a spontaneous trip into the city today! So for our weekly luncheon, Madeline and I decided to have dinner at Rice, in NoLita. I've been meaning to try it, and I'm so glad we went! The decor was quaint, there were a lot of rice bags and other country-esque decor touches but the furnishings were very sleek and modern. We all had the Thai black rice (my new obsession is Thai/coconut rice!) with our meal and all three of us were quite pleased. Afterward, we went to The Meatball Shop to get ice-cream sandwiches. mmmh, they were so yummy! Johnny and I shared a brownie/caramel sandwich and Madeline got a Chocolate chip cookie/caramel sandwich. It was such a pleasant evening (the weather in NY is currently fantastic!) with great food and excellent company.

Weekly adventures with Madeline. Williamsburg edition.

This week, it was Madeline's turn to choose the restaurant for our weekly lunch, so she chose Pies 'n Thighs in Williamsburg. It's a little hole in the wall filled with Southern cooking and plenty of it! We both had the chicken biscuit which has a strangely delicious combination of honey butter and hot sauce. It was divine. Then, for dessert, we had to have a slice of pie, so we chose guava. It was slightly strange, but also delicious. There was a guava jelly layer on top of ricotta cheese-esque filling and a flaky crust.

and then once we got out of the subway back in Manhattan, we were greeted by a huge movie set for a Ginnifer Goodwin movie—it took up two blocks!

Lazy Summer Days.

It was a sweltering 89 degrees with 47% humidity today in NYC. I bought something at the MOMA design store a few weeks ago, and got a free museum admission with my purchase, so I decided to escape the heat and head uptown for a wonderful day at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). I didn't have too, too much time to spend in the museum, but I definitely got the highlights.
Afterward, I met Madeline at Stuffed Artisan Cannoli on the LES. They have so many flavors! I had peanut butter cup, girl scout cookie and key lime pie—I didn't think I'd like key lime pie, but all three were amazing! They have around 75 flavors, and many of them (like key lime pie) are seasonal. I can't wait to go back in the fall and get a pumpkin cannoli!
(note: I forgot my camera, so the pics are from my phone. booo)