Greenmarket

I love to cook. And I love to eat. And I am somewhat fussy when it comes to both. I like fresh fruits and vegetables and stick to mostly organic foods and vegetarian meals.

One of my favorite places to get great produce is the Union Square Greenmarket. Most of the week Union Square is packed with little tents selling everything from fresh baked bread to in-season fruits and vegetables, organic wine and cheese and all sorts of other delicious finds (I'm a fan of Rick's Picks pickles. So good.) You can even drop off your compost while you're there which is terrific. Its a great way to give back to the farmers who've brought in all this great food.

Rick's Picks

Valentine's Day 2010

Valentine's Day was a particularly lovely winter day in Central Park. And there were many, many people out enjoying the sunny day. True to fashion, the park was filled with black-clad New Yorkers but I managed to find a few people in red which I found appropriate for the occasion of the day. So I lightly stalked a few of them and managed to get a nice shot of one heart-colored jacked amid its darker counterparts.

The Big One

Oh, how I am enjoying my first winter in New York. The snow just keeps falling. But here are some photos from the first Big Storm of the season. This furious blizzard turned the city, and Central Park in particular, into glorious snow globe.

Sunday in the Park, With My Mom

My Mom came to visit me a few weeks ago. She had not been to New York since the early '90s when she and I took a trip here together. So, she was due for some good old fashioned site-seeing!

We went everywhere and had a great time. We took a boat ride around Manhattan, visited Ground Zero, walked through SoHo and bought things we didn't really need from street vendors, had lunch at Katz's Deli (one of my favorite places), took a tour of Lincoln Center, saw a taping of the Letterman Show, and walked everywhere. There is more that we did but I can't remember it all.

And, of course, I had to include her in my weekend ritual of walking through Central Park. Even with the trees bare and snow on the ground the park is beautiful. But it was also very, very cold! So, we ducked into the Central Park Boathouse for lunch. The Boathouse is a great place for food, drinks, and taking in the view of the park. An iconic New York restaurant.

After lunch we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, then to PJ Clarke's for dinner, and ended the evening at the New York City Ballet at Lincoln Center for a performance of "The Sleeping Beauty." Not a bad day in the city.

Reel Abilities

A friend of mine invited me to a documentary film screening at the Reel Abilities film festival this past weekend. The festival is "dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories and artistic expressions of people with different disabilities." There truly is a festival for everything.

The film we saw is called "Shooting Beauty" about a photographer who, after spending time photographing a group of people with cerebral palsy, decides to give this group of disabled people cameras and ask them to document their unique lives. It is a touching and inspiring story. The great thing about a film like this is learning about a group or individual who is literally changing lives and that we may never know about if it weren't for the film. Or for that matter the festival itself.