Review : The New York Ballet's Nutcracker

     A few nights ago, Derreck, Franco, Lewis and I enjoyed 1st-tier seats to lovingly admire NY Ballet's Nutcracker.  Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (gay) and choreography by NY Ballet "founding father" George Balanchine (gay).  The annual performance is one of the most complex theatrical, staged ballets in the Company's active repertory, involving 57 people backstage.  To begin our enjoyment, we stopped at the bar on the second floor for some champagne to toast the season!

     The ballet is based on a fairytale The Nutcracker and the Mouse King written in 1816 by a Prussian named E.T.A. Hoffmann.  The storyline encourages people to preserve their creativity and imagination, and it emphasizes the importance of being--and having--mentors.  It is one of the few stories where a girl rescues the prince, which is the opposite of the plots of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White!  Another undertone is the inclusion of all races/creeds to foster a harmonious society.  In the 1845, the story was translated and publicized by Europe's most successful author: Alexandre Dumas.  As the grandson of a French aristocrat and an African slave, he was determined to promote a world where different nationalities coexisted.  

     We had great First Balcony seats and savored the amazing form of the hard-working/immensely talented dancers (90 dancers, with 50 children from different dance schools/academies around the city).  Every instrument imaginable is used in the 62-person orchestra, and it is a percussionist's wet dream!  

     Since it was Derreck's first NYC Christmas, Lewis delighted in highlighting his favorite parts of the performance: the twinkling Christmas tree that magically grows to reach the top of the 41' stage (it really does weigh 1 ton), the swordplay, the beautifully form-fitting tights, the blustery on-stage snowfall (those poor girls!), the 150 gorgeously colorful costumes (144 jingle bells on each of the Candy Cane dancers, the Sugarplum Fairy's tutu has 7 layers of tulle, the grandmother's cape is original from the first 1954 production, the Dewdrop costume has 65 hand-applied crystals, and Lewis really adores the Mother Ginger scene--where a lovely male dancer in drag (great makeup) seems to be on stilts while wearing a huge dress--supported a 40-pound metal frame!  From under the dress, 8 kids run out, dance about and scamper back under… all-the-while, he admires himself in a hand mirror, bangs a tambourine and cutely blows kisses.  

     Of course, the sprightly music is captivating and toe-tapping: strong brass, plucky reeds (all that bassoon), triangle, tambourine, tympani, crash cymbals, harps, the celesta and lots of pizzicato! 
     More champagne sipped on the outdoor balcony at Intermission!
    Afterwards, we bundled up and crossed Broadway quickly for a good dinner at The Smith: a rye Manhattan, lamb chops and friend string beans for me.  Chatty dinner talk about the show, as we each gushed about our favorite parts, made it extra nice!

A Day of Christmastime Surprises

     Glad tidings of joy!  That's what I enjoyed yesterday.  I decided to spend my lunchtime at St. Thomas Episcopal Church to enjoy their Christmas carols.  I couldn't think of a better way to get away from work or spend a December afternoon.  St. Thomas is an unexpected sanctuary (literally) betwixt the bustle and commercialism of midtown Manhattan.  
     I occupied a pew on the left and admired how other joyful people joined the merriment from their jobs or boroughs.  I was happy to see a change in patronage.  There were still WASPs wearing Brooks Brothers blazers and Belgian Shoes.  But, since the Episcopal church is gay-friendly now, there were lots of young men in pony-tails, clusters of gay fellows, and a handsome couple sat in front of me, in matching red deep-V sweaters… with one's arm around the other's shoulder.  Before its official gay-friendliness, St. Thomas merely had an older group of "confirmed bachelors", as its only gay demographic.

     High above the altar, on the magnificently carved wall, violet-colored stained glass windows glinted.  They were beautiful jewels of color!

     The mammoth organ rumbled alive for "Silent Night".  Stashed all around the church, winter greenery adorned the pulpit, choir seating, and candle holders along the aisles.  Large bouquets of white poinsettias punctuated the aisles.  All the candles were flickering, including lanterns nestled by the baptismal font and chapel, as well as the ones in the huge advent wreath, which hung down on chords from the vaulted ceiling.

     The world-famous Choir of Men & Boy sang "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", "Angels We Have Heard on High", "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear", and "Winter Rose".  I savored the boys' soaring high voices in "Sussex Carol".  The church's acoustics are amazing, and our voices resounded with the organ--really instilling a sense of camaraderie and joy.
    I shook hands with Rector Mead and returned to work.  There, I was delighted that two people coincidently brought Bûche de Noël from Francois Payard: chestnut and mandarin.  'Twas the perfect mid-afternoon treat!

      Nearing the end of my day, a friend of ours, Lauren, spontaneously invited us to dinner at Rosa Mexicana.  I had just received a surprise package from my Dad, so I carried the box to the restaurant.  The place was jolly and festively decorated with colored lights, wreaths and red poinsettias.  We met her Floridian friend, answered her requests with tales of living in the city, and munched on fondue, duck tortillas, chicken enchiladas, and fresh guacamole (made table-side).  The fondue reminded me of my travels through Geneva, Switzerland!

     When I got home, Lewis and I opened my package to reveal a fully cooked duck and a ham (both gently smoked over corn cobs and maple wood).  And a jar of "Game Sauce".  They came from Harrington's (established 1873 in Vermont).  Lewis knows how I like certain meat.  (coy smile)  Ha ha!

Walking Tour : Sauntering thru SoHo

     As frigid as it was outside, it couldn't have been warmer in our hearts!  The only "hiccup" in our plans was discovering that our chosen luncheon spot was out of business.  That is a plight of many businesses in NYC.  So, we opted to have Soup Dumplings at Deluxe Green Bo Restaurant on Bayard Street.  They make the BEST in the city.  The dumplings are succulently perfect to "warm you up" on a winter day!  

     To burn those calories, we headed north into SoHo, admiring the store windows, like this cake shop.

     We popped into Uniqlo in an attempt to replace my favorite (and expensive) triple-ply Scottish cashmere sweater.  Uniqlo's are only a quarter of the price, and they are made well!  As a pleasant surprise, their sweaters were on sale for $69, instead of $89.  Lewis picked out two new colors for me: "Cadet Blue" (which has a hint of spruce) and "Heather Grey".  

     Cold wind blowing between the skyscrapers encouraged us to warm up inside Dean & Deluca.  While humming Nutcracker music, I patiently waited for the cheesemonger, a lovely French woman, to get Lewis some bleu cheeses: a wedge of British Stilton (that earned Protected Designation of Origin status), and Valdeon (wrapped in sycamore leaves).  

     However, she made a mistake while ringing them up, and we got the more expensive smoked cheese at a much better price.  She caught her mistake and was about to fix it, but then she looked at us, smiled and said, "The error is in your favor.  You seem like very nice guys, so enjoy the cheese with a great discount!"  After a flurry of Merci Merci, we left.  I also got a lovely jar of Mincemeat.

     We admired the Christmas cookies.  None of the local Astoria bakeries make Christmas cookies: they just keep making things like Oatmeal Raisin and Chocolate Chip.  So, that was another hope answered!

     Cutting through the cobblestone streets, we admired a nativity scene outside a church.  Lewis observed that they withheld the infant Jesus probably until Christmas Day.  I remarked that, in that case, they should also omit the 3 Wise Men until the 12th Day of Christmas, too.  

     Taking the 1-train uptown, we visited the Fashion Institute of Technology's Museum.  It is Lewis' alma mater.  

Do you admire historical costumes or outfits?  If so, notice how humanity grew taller, since the turn-of-the-century!  Clothes before the 1800s and are so petit.  Could it be from modern growth hormones?  

     We exited the subway again at upper Madison Ave.  It was almost 6 o'clock, as we visited the Asia Society Museum's new exhibit: Iranian Moderne.  

     Earlier in the morning, I searched online for Handbell Choirs in NYC.  Despite such a massive overpopulated city, there are very few of them.  I discovered one at Christ Church on Park Ave & East 60th.  Calling their Church Office, a woman told me that I was "just in time" because they were having their Christmas Concert that night!  Thus, Lewis and I delightedly got to the church before it began.  Such a beautiful interior!

     The nave was almost full.  We occupied a pew near the center aisle.  The marble pillars and illuminated finials loomed upward.  The glittering tiled ceiling and darkened stained glass gave a homey effect.  The 30-person handbell choir rehearsed, and we savored each tingling note.  They ringed, dinged (with soft mallets), and "clucked" their bells.
     During the free performance, a brass octet accompanied the pipe organ.  The music was imaginative and stirring!  The choir sang one carol in Polish.  A perfect song for handbells is "Still Still Still", which they did beautifully!  "O Holy Night" had such soaring choir voices that it resembled the perfection of a Fred Waring version.  Credit went to the young organist, who's hands flew all over the many knobs! 
     It was admirable that those folks invested hours/nights for rehearsals… coming together from all parts of the city, after each person's days at work.  The whole idea was to share their talent with the community.  Performing Arts have such noble intentions.  

     Everyone stood to belt out "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" and "The First Noel".  Such gleefulness!  NYC has instances were total strangers collect together for camaraderie and then disperse.  
     Brimming with Christmas spirit, we boarded the subway and hurried into Sanfords for an impromptu dinner.  I drank a Manhattan, made with an organic rye distilled in Virginia: a state named after the Queen of England: Elizabeth I, "the virgin queen".  We ate locally-caught red snapper, and chicken cacciatore.  It was a nice surprise to see that a familiar bus boy had gotten promoted, and he did a fine job as our waiter!  (Good timing, too, considering NYC holiday-time tipping).

     Arriving home, we poured eggnog and cuddled in my darkened living room to admire our Christmas tree.  We hope that you keep your Christmas bright and gay, too!

Signs of Christmas

Signs of Christmas:

• Santa arrives at the end of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
• Neighbors with poles and ladders string lights along anything on their property.
• Wreaths appear on doors, lamp posts, fence posts, fire trucks and SUVs.
• Christmas carols fill the air.
• Visions of sugar plums, gingerbread houses, plum pudding, piedmont terrone, sticky toffee pudding, candy canes, petit fours, panforte, stollen, fruit cake, marzipan, marshmallows, and stilton with figs dance in children’s heads.
• Kids star in the nativity scenes of the Christmas Pageant as angels and wise men. (some hoped for elves).
• Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker opens at the New York City Ballet.
• The giant tree at Rockefeller Center is lit with much fanfare.
• The Boy’s Choir at St. Thomas Fifth Avenue performs Lessons & Carols.
• Store windows attract crowds and photographers.
• You read the 1823 story, T’was the Night before Christmas. (A visit from St. Nicholas)
• Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” is performed with a "year-round" meaning.
• Folks donate more to St. Jude’s Children Hospital.
• Bartenders create magic with cinnamon, cloves, honey and peppermint schnapps!
• Office parties!
• Brass ensembles perk up passengers at airports and bus terminals.
• You notice that the list for Christmas cards has gotten bigger, this year.
• Garlands of holly, holly berries, pine, magnolia, bay leaves, coxcomb, boxwood, juniper, spruce and mistletoe are everywhere.
• Jolly Old Saint Nicholas (a.k.a. Kris Kringle and Santa Claus) is outside grocery stores, on street corners (which is perfectly legal), and in department stores.
• People are looking everywhere for mistletoe.  (Enterprising folks carry their own).
• Eggnog hits the shelves (with the better and more authentic ones at fine liquor stores)!
• Roasting chestnuts.
• Decorating the Christmas tree during a Tree Trimming Party!
• Big-game hunting skills, stealth, strategy, creativity, intuition, negotiation, and asset management help with the gift-buying.
• Advent wreaths and Advent calendars count down the days.
• Churches are packed.
• It becomes a joy to bake Christmas cookies. 
• Sprigs of holly replace boutonnières in men’s lapel buttonholes.
• People hum, whistle, sing or slur “Jingle Bells”.
• Kids make all kinds of tree ornaments out of things like macaroni, popsicle sticks, Q-tips, pipe cleaners, felt, and construction paper.
• Letters to Santa are thoughtfully worded and neatly written. Later, milk and cookies (and carrots for the reindeer) are carefully placed under the stockings.
• Everyone stays up late the night before, but stills gets up early on Christmas Day!
• The joy of receiving a gift—even if it’s from yourself!

Walking Tour : 'Tis the Season (an unplanned day can have surprise)

     December 2 arrived, and after a treadmill run at the gym, Lewis and I were inclined to meander through Manhattan.  We began at Ping's Restaurant for many small plates of dim sum.  It's a well-known eatery on Mott Street, which is an iconic street evocative of Chinatown and Little Italy (which has nearly disappeared).  (Laid in the 1780s, its curve predates Manhattan's street-grid, and it's named for a prominent family during that era).  Lewis and I learned to overlook its squalor, since the city neglects the ongoing dilapidation that Asian inhabitants are forced to endure.  In that way, the area is unchanged since the decrepit landlord-created tenement houses of the 1870s.  

When we bring friends from China, Taiwan, Vietnam, or Japan, they are appalled.

     Considering its value, Ping's the better choice.  Alas, our friends who were born in China criticize its dumpiness, as compared to eateries in China.  (Well, that's NYC's Chinatown at its best).  

If you want classier presentation or service, you must pay three-times as much at an eatery outside of Chinatown.  At Ping's the waitstaff is always helpful, classic recipes are made, and servers use the tradition of pushing carts of freshly-made food through the restaurant for customers to choose from.  (You never know which foods will arrive next).

Everything at Ping Seafood Restaurant is consistently delicious: rice-noodle rolls, dumplings, fried shrimp wrapped in bacon, shumai, sticky rice (enveloped in lotus leaves), turnip cakes, taro cakes, duck, and I adore their recipe for tripe!  We savor their Chrysanthemum blossom tea.  

We also respect how the restaurant doesn't give fortune cookies.  Those are American inventions (like crappy Chop Suey), with no representation of Chinese culture.  Since they originated with the Japanese, they should not be with authentic Chinese cuisine.  

*Proving that point, during our glorious trip to Amsterdam, none of their Chinese restaurants served fortune cookies.  To read about that trip, please go here:

https://halfwindsorfullthrottle.blogspot.com/2019/08/our-trip-to-netherlands-part-1-of.html

*Of course, fortune cookies are unheard of in China.  To read about our tasteful trip to China, please go here:

https://halfwindsorfullthrottle.blogspot.com/2014/11/our-trip-to-china-part-i.html

     Afterwards, we walked a few blocks and decided to pop into Ferrara's Italian bakery.  Out of all the Italian bakeries--along hundreds of streets in Manhattan--only TWO create traditional Italian Christmastime confections: Ferrara's Bakery and Rocco's Bakeshop (which costs less and is less touristy).  I got a Pasticciotto cream tart, a wheat grain tart, and a Sfogliatella (lobster tail)!  Lewis got a cup of Struffoli!

*To see our visit to Italy (full of great food), please click this link...

https://halfwindsorfullthrottle.blogspot.com/2022/03/our-trip-to-italy-part-1-of-7-milan.html

     We took a detour to Bloomies (Bloomingdale's) for some men's grooming lotions.  Lewis and I compared winter Vetiver fragrances that we both liked.  It would be our Stocking Stuffer Swap!  Ha ha.
     We paused at Top Man, where Lewis found a great deal on a necktie with gold damask (which he thinks will be perfect to adorn his shirt at the NY Ballet's Nutcracker).  Onward, we toted our bags to Payard Chocolatier on Houston St.  There, we were mortified to find that Chef François downsized his bûche de Noël!!!  He carelessly left it displayed on the gold cardboard from last year--so you could really see how much smaller it had become!  How greedy.  Does he think we're all stupid?  Turning on our heel, we left.

     Suddenly, we came upon a tidy shop: Sullivan Tea & Spice. We pushed open the door (replete with antique glass doorknob).  

     The young man with nice eyes was delighted to tell me that they HAD chrysanthemum tea--loose!  I voiced my next concern, that flower teas (like chamomile) tend to clog up my tea ball, so the other shopkeeper recommended recycled paper tea sachets (100 for $7).  I was delighted!  It's funny that when you set out to find something, how twists and turns in the journey eventually do bring you to them.

     Happy with our purchases, we walked to the sex shop, "Pleasure Chest" on 7th Ave (for Holiday gag gifts for friends, and massage oils for ourselves as "Stocking Stuffers")  

     We meandered past brownstones, admiring the folks decorating their homes: hanging lights, tying fir garland onto their bannisters and window boxes, placing poinsettias, and carrying trees.  Lots of Christmas tree "shops" (the original Pop-Up shop!) had sprung up on random street corners… each one strung with white lights over the sidewalk.  
     Next stop was BB&B for my favorite Mistletoe candle (to complement the mistletoe that I have hung strategically all over my apartment).

     Finally, we entered Trader Joe's.  Seeing that it was nearly 5pm (an expectant Rush Hour), I put Lewis on line with a basket.  If you shop healthy, the strategy to use is picking the "outer" check-out line at Trader Joe's locations (as opposed to the "inner" line).  The outer line moves along all the "fresh" foods.  It allows you to kick along your basket, while you pick out the choicest veggies, fruits, cheese, pâté, dairy, and fresh juices.  

Considering the conscientious NYers who shop there (and doing the same thing you are), it's easy to "hop off" the line to grab something and then get back in the line.  So, I grabbed pasta sauce, cereal, sunflower seed butter (tastes like peanut butter!) and cranberry juice (they make the BEST one I've ever tasted)!  As we came around the last turn, I was ecstatic to find boxes of Pfeffernüsse!  It inspired Lewis to christen me with a new nickname: Pfeffernunu.  Lol!  (Because he's called Lulu).  

Despite NYC's huge size and former German population, it's nearly impossible to find such cookies at the thousands of bakeries.  So, I was elated to see them at TJs!

I was also happy to bring in some winter greenery, via a lovely swag of holly with plump red berries.  

     Getting off the subway near my apartment, we walked under the lit Christmas decorations stretched across Broadway.  I pointed out that as soon as the restaurants install their Christmas trees, we should dine at tables right next to the trees!  Love that smell!!  
     We passed The Strand Smokehouse.  I paused and suggested that we go in because the ENTIRE restaurant was EMPTY.  How cool to have the whole place to ourselves?!  So, we swung through the door--shopping bags and holly swag in hands--and were the first (only) ones on line to pick up smoked/barbecued goodness!  Brisket and mammoth short ribs (in bone), mac 'n cheese empanadas, pulled pork empanadas, tomato/mozzarella salad, and string bean casserole.  The ($5 ea) side dishes were huge, and the ($2 ea) empanadas (a dollar less than the nearby Brazilian cafe) are always made fresh and brought to your table--nicely flaky/crispy and succulently stuffed.  All of the meat was perfectly tender--falling right off the bone--and moist.  Their homemade hot sauce, BBQ sauce and sweet molasses sauce were delectable.  Twas the BEST mac 'n cheese--perfect consistency and dripping from the pasta.  

We finished everything with a satisfying sigh and headed home.

     There, we lit our tree, which Lewis and I had merrily/tipsily decked last week (notice the bubble lights in the picture!)  And all that mistletoe came in handy!