Weekend Update

Today is the day after the Times Square attempted car bombing. We got up early and went out for breakfast at a chic diner called "Moonstruck" located at 38th and Madison. Some of our KC friends had given us a gift certificate there as a going away present, and we finally had the time use it. We had a delicious, relaxing meal eaten while we read the New York Times arts and leisure section (we left the real news at home). Afterwards, I went to the more upscale, but not higher priced, Duane Reade drug store on 5th Ave and 45th St. then strolled by Rockefeller Plaza towards home with a bottle of Tide Free in one hand, and a nice handled shopping bag in the other full of goodies like shower gel. It was great to see, life was normal and no one was going to stay off the streets because of what happened the night before. That is the NYC attitude and I love it.

Yesterday, we took in a free concert sponsored by Carnegie Hall. The venue was up in Harlem at the Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture and it is very intimate seating around 200. It resembles a small school auditorium. The Carolina Chocolate Drops, a string jug band, performed and more than met my expectations. At times it sounded like a Ken Burns soundtrack, spanning music history from the 17th to the 20th centuries. These three versatile musicians all took turns playing fiddle, banjo, dobro, and more. A couple of them danced, one in bare feet. One played the bones while dancing and used them just like a flamenco dancer with castanets. In between songs, we learned the origin and role of each song in history. Here are a couple of tracks from their latest CD: LISTEN

During one of these song break talks, the topic of southern style food came up. Earlier in the day before the concert one of the musicians ventured down the street for lunch. He told us about an authentic southern food kitchen he highly recommended we all try. He specifically praised the macaroni and cheese as it tasted just like his momma made. We knew this was a good tip, after all we were in Harlem, and he was from Carolina. After the show the group was out in the lobby to meet with fans. I caught him unoccupied for a moment and got directions to the restaurant.

We are not inclined to ignore a good restaurant recommendation so we promptly walked a block and a half to Miss Maude's. We selected our seats and saw that many others who had been in the audience also had taken him up on the recommendation. We enjoyed homemade mac and cheese, BBQ chicken, string beans, gumbo, and hot freshly baked cornbread. All were perfection. Our first Harlem experience was complete.

After we ate, we noticed there were no taxis in sight so we decided to do something we had been quietly putting off trying. We took a bus home. It is just too easy to justify taking a cab instead of a bus. Normally we would have painfully planned this initial bus ride out to avoid all surprises but we had no way to do this now. Our first attempt to board was quickly aborted when we learned we could not use paper bills, coins only, so we had to get off, regroup, and go scrounge around get our currency changed. With that done, we successfully boarded the next bus and tried to look like we knew what we were doing. We really had no idea what the route was for this bus, only that it was going South and we figured we would hop off when it got within striking distance of our apartment and we could catch a cab for the last short leg. We rode from 136th street and Lenox Blvd. (aka Malcolm X Blvd.) to 54th and 7th Ave. Call it beginner’s luck because this bus came within fifty feet of our destination. We got a great little tour of upper Manhattan for $2.25 each. We got off shortly after 6 PM and walked to 53rd Street and around the corner to home.

A few minutes later after getting settled in, I looked out the window and said to Bill, "that's weird, there is no traffic or people on 7th Ave.", then went about business as usual. Keep in mind, that just that same morning I looked out the same window and saw 40,000 people participating in the Revlon Run/Walk packed curb to curb on 7th Avenue going toward Central Park.

A couple of hours later, we turned on the TV and got the explanation for the deserted street as we learned about the car bomb and watched as the story unfolded before our eyes. We were not in shock or disbelief as there had been talk something like this could happen after the attempted subway bombing trials had ended a week or two ago. Knowing the police here are well prepared, and they did do such a fantastic job, we feel safe. We fell asleep soundly just after 11:30 because we had such a fine day, and like the long time New Yorkers, we are resolved to not let any terrorist ruin it for us.