“We’ve made reservations for tonight at Otto’s in The Village,” said Madam Brooklyn. “If you’re into celebrity chefs, it’s owned by Mario Batali." I hadn’t heard of this famous chef known for his brawn, red hair, and habit of wearing shorts and bright orange Crocks in the kitchen. But, she soon filled me in.
Madam Brooklyn works on Madison Ave so we met on the corner of 5th Ave. and 50th street, not far from St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the Museum of Modern Art. We then navigated our way through the stream of business-suited New Yorkers with their ears glued to cell phones to a coffee shop across from Rockefeller Center. It was heart-warming to catch up with this childhood playmate that I hadn’t seen since her small, private wedding seven years.
“We’ve made reservations for tonight at Otto’s in The Village,” she said. “If you’re into celebrity chefs, it’s owned by Mario Batali." I hadn’t heard of this famous chef known for his brawn, red hair, and habit of 
wearing shorts and bright orange Crocks in the kitchen. But, she soon filled me in.
That evening we feasted on a variety of delectable treats: gourmet pizza with a shared bottle of wine and a fine collection of shared, mouthwatering appetizers. The best part was the dessert: hazelnut and olive oil gelato. To use Madam Brooklyn’s words, “it blows my mind.”
Taking the subway home, Miss Mary Mac and I couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to live in New York. It’s probably not unlike living in our city Somewhere in Asia, where we go to work and hang out with friends after-hours, not really spending much time seeing the sights. As a matter of fact, back in That City Somewhere in Asia, sometimes the only time we visit temples or villages are when we host friends visiting from out-of-country. When you live and work in an amazing city, you don’t always take time to visit the attractions that tourists from all over world come to visit. You’ve heard the stories: New Yorkers who’ve lived in the city all their lives but have never visited the Statue of Liberty, Londoners who’ve never visited The Tower of London, or Parisians who’ve somehow forgotten to visit the Eiffel Tower.
Today Miss Mary Mac and I head back to Pennsylvania. We didn’t buy enough shoes, but we did see some great shows: The Lion King and Avenue Q. I did find some great leather bags at The Village Tannery. We did stand in awe at the flashing Times Square digital screen- all 13 of them, some of them 10 stories high. We did navigate our way in the convoluted NY subway system, visit the Apple Store, and meander down Broadway and Park Avenues.
NYC: The Big Apple. The city to which I keep returning to with a nostalgia like the memory of a familiar lover.
Great article. Thank you for sharing.
Posted by: Cassandra Gossett | Wednesday, 06 February 2013 at 05:29 AM