Visiting the U.N. headquarters in NY

This week, I finally went to visit the U.N. here in NY. 

The visit is interesting not only because of the importance of the building in itself and its history, but, especially as a reality check. We know that there are tons of problems in the World and that as much as we wished to solve them all, it's not that easy. So, even if the U.N. is sometimes (at least I do) seen as this huge, bureaucratic machine where "important" people meet to talk and talk for endless hours and nothing seems to be solved, it's important to be reminded that without this organization the World would probably be in a worst shape than it is today. 

Our guide was the first to criticize the whole system and the inefficiencies involved in it, but she also said something very important. For her, as a staff of the U.N., if she knows that another child went to bed, fed and safe today, then it is a victory. She's right, big changes come from an accumulation of small victories.

I was extremely moved by the visit and by some facts and figures that I learnt. Did you know that some mines are manufactured to look like "yo-yos" and are then dropped on the streets, so that kids can pick them up, thinking they are just toys, and then they explode? Did you also know that it would take around US$4bn/year to feed 66 million children that are undernourished? If that seems a lot of money to you, then you should know that countries around the world spend approximately US$2bn/DAY in military expenditure? 

There are plenty of ways to help. But I found out that they have a very nice bookshop and gift shop, in which 100% of the sales proceeds are donated to the U.N. They sell toys and books for kids (the same found at Amazon or other toy shops). The variety is not huge, but if you happen to be in the neighborhood and need to buy a gift, it is a nice way to help (no need to pay the entrance to access the store). 

Also, another fun way to make the children help is through the website Freerice.com. It is an educational game and for each right answer, the organization donated 10 grains of rice through the World Food Programme.

P.S: The Visitors Centre will close in April for renovations that will take between 2 and 3 years. So if you'd like to see it as it is now, don't wait too long.

Also, I don't recommend taking young children. There's nothing interesting for them to see there, the visit take approximately 1 hour and strollers are not allowed. 

Farming in New York

About a month ago, we took the kids to Stone Barns Farm. Like many other farms in the region, they offer educational programs for kids and adults and hands on farming experiences. On that day, the kids participated in the "Gardening" program and picked-up some fresh carrots. There's also an egg collecting program or a cooking class for kids (they pick their vegetables and then cook them). The kids had a really great time. They loved their "gardening" experience. They had a chance to breathe some fresh air, run around, see some animals and enjoy nature. 

The farm is lovely and is located at only 45 minutes drive from Manhattan. There's a nice restaurant onsite (Blue Hill at Stone Barns), but it's not recommended to go with young children, since they only serve multi-course menus. The coffee shop - Blue Hill cafe - serves light snacks and fresh baked goods. I would have liked to have an intermediate option, though. We are not huge fans of doing pic-nics and we missed being able to sit at a table and have a good (even if simple) meal, especially with those great surroundings. 

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There are many other farms that offer different kind of activities according to the season. Last weekend we also went apple and pumpkin picking at Hank's farm in Southampton. 

I think it's a great way to teach children about farming, especially when it involves seasonal, fresh and local products. You can even cut your own Christmas Tree if you want!

Coming soon: an easy easy apple pie to cook with kids!

Oh! Central Park! - The boats and Alice.

We've been back for more than a week now and in  a few days we are off again. We've been, however, even if it is for a short period of time, trying to get back to our routine. Or whatever you call it during summer vacation. 

The weather has been amazing lately. Sunny but not too warm. Yesterday, I took the kids to Central Park and we decided to rent one of the model boats at the park's Conservatory Water. Everything was nice about the experience. The quietness of the water, the calmly way the boats move around the pond, the excitement of the kids, the nice breeze while I watched them seated below the trees, the birds chirping, the ducks swimming around the boats. Exactly what I needed yesterday and what we frequently need when living in big metropolis - some quietness and nature.

Just next to the pond, there's a huge sculpture representing Alice in Wonderland. The kids love to climb on top of her head. 

Kiddie songs for grown-ups?

Are you tired of the traditional nursery rhymes? Of that childish melodies in your car and your house? Do you hear yourself sometimes singing "The Wheels on the Bus" in the middle of the supermarket?

Is it possible to find kiddie songs that would please both children and adults? Yes! As a matter of fact, I recently discovered that they do exist.

Meet Elizabeth Mitchell. She's actually being around for some time now (she's been recording children's albums since 1998), and I'm a kinda late "discoverer" of her talent. But I thought that maybe other people, like me, didn't know her. She has a sweet voice and sings old-fashion songs, accompanied just by the sound of a guitar. Some songs are well known, but they she gives them a special touch, singing them in her own version and rhythm.

The Obliteration Room by Yayoi Kusama

The Obliteration Room,  The Guardian (Photographies by: Mark Sherwood, Stuart Addelsee and Natasha Harth)

The Tate Modern, in London, is currently hosting a major exhibition from Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. If you happen to be in London (which unfortunately is not my case), it seems to be one of those unmissable things to see.

However, the reason I'm really writing about it, is because of The Obliteration Room, which is part of the main exhibit Look Now, See Forever. Yayoi Kusama had this fantastic idea of making a fun interactive project for the kids. It started with a completely immaculate white room (including furniture and objects) and each person who enters the room is given a sheet of colored stickers dots and is asked to stick them wherever they want. How fun is that?

Park Here - the indoor pop-up park

Today, while we were waiting to pick-up F from a play date, P and I went to this indoor "pop-up" park in  Openhouse Gallery, located in the heart of Nolita. 

Isn't the idea fantastic for a long and cold winter like we usually get in New York?

There were kids playing around, people reading, others using their computers, others just chatting - just like a real park, except that we were in an indoor space. Unfortunately, the park will close on Wednesday and tomorrow (02/14) is the last day opened for the public. 

Given that we were in a gallery, space and infrastructure were not great for an indoor park. Nonetheless, wouldn't this be a great idea for any big city to have an real indoor park?

While I was hanging there, sitting on one of the benches watching P playing, I did a small list of things that I thought worked here and others that I would have liked to see or to be different.

Let's start with the pros:

• Great great great idea for the winter;
• The park was quite big (for Manhattan of course);
• Free for everybody;
• Free Wi-fi;
• There were some picnic blankets, bean bags, benches, tables, hammocks;
• Many events during the two months it was opened (movie nights, activities for mothers with their kids, games, afternoon tea, and more);
• It became a place to hang out with friends or just to enjoy a cup of coffee while reading a book, just like a real park

Now the not-so-good things I found about it:

• No windows, no natural light - felt a little bit too indoors;
• The illumination wasn't good, so it was a little bit dark;
• Since it's an indoor space and people come to eat, there was a strong smell of food when we entered the space;
• All the flowers and plants were fake. They looked very nice, but it would have been better if they were real;
• The ventilation system was making too much noise;
• I said that the park was quite big, considering that we are in Manhattan, however, the bigger the better.

Anyway, those are just ideas in case someone decides to build a real indoor park. In the meantime this was a really nice initiative from Openhouse Gallery. 

Tempting invitation

As I posted here, I really like the art work of Vahram Muratyan. Paris and New York are most probably my favorite cities in the world. And I just love the simple, smart and funny comparison he makes between the two of them. Therefore, when I saw the invitation on Vahram Muratyan's blog, I was immediately tempted on going.
Anyone wants to join me?

The Circus, the movies and the not so memorable restaurant experience

This was an intense weekend.

We started on Friday night with Hugo. This is a movie for cinema lovers. The story is magical, the images and the music are beautiful and the 3D effects are so well done that you can't imagine seeing the movie in another way. What I thought was fantastic about the movie is that is about the story of the cinema, the really first movies that were made, but seen in 3D with the latest technology. It's just beautifully well done and told.

Saturday was non stop. In the afternoon we went to the Big Apple Circus. It was a fun experience, mainly because of the kids. For their young eyes everything was new and astonishing. For our older and much more blasés eyes nothing was new or impressive. F is absolutely convinced that a doll became a human being in front of his eyes. P, who is only 2, remained concentrated, with his mouth wide opened, for two hours (I couldn't believe it). Seeing their reaction, their enthusiasm and their amazement was priceless.

After the kids were tuckled in bed, we ran to the movies again. This time to see A Dangerous Method. But I didn't like it. I thought it was boring and not a very good description of the characters. I have recently seen a play about Freud, that I found much more interesting (Freud's Last Session). After that disappointing film we went to the recently opened Boulud Sud and that was another disappointment.

We were six at the table, so as appetizers we shared some "small plates" that were good, but not great. Then as a main course I had the Daurade, which was extremely dry (it was suppose to have a "Romesco sauce", but I couldn't find any trace of it). My husband shared with someone else the "Rib Eye" and that was delicious. It says in the menu that is for 2 people but is actually for 4, so at least, I could leave my fish and have some of the meat. Desserts were good. Overall, in my opinion, the restaurant was nothing to write home about (I have however just dedicated a full paragraph to it).

We ended the weekend with a very lazy but fun Sunday, hiding in the most unexpected spots.

P.S: When I wrote the title of this post it made me think of the film The Trip, that I watched a few months ago. Have you seen it? I think it might be the best movie I saw this year. I'm pretty sure is the most hilarious I saw this year. I laughed in the theatre like I hadn't in years.

Don't you love all these autumnal colors?

Yesterday, after going to the Pace Gallery (here's the post), P and I went to Central Park and it was gorgeous. Fall could be felt everywhere, but with a kind of spring-like weather (today we are back to reality and it is quite cold outside).  While I was walking in the park, surrounded by all these colors and seeing the leaves falling off the trees, I wondered about my preference between spring and autumn. I couldn't really decide, until I remembered a relevant fact. After fall comes winter and after spring comes summer. So, I'd definitely rather be in spring that in fall. But, since I can't do anything to change this, let's just enjoy the good aspects of the season.
I didn't have my camera with me, but I couldn't resist the temptation of taking some pictures with my blackberry. The quality of the images is not the best, but it gives you an idea on how beautiful the park looks now.

P., frustrated, trying to convince a squirrel to come down the tree.

Plans for the weekend:

For the kids

• F. is running the Ronald McDonald Kids Charity Fun Run on Saturday morning;
• This concert for kids seems great - I'm thinking on going on Sunday. TIP: If you are planning on going, buy your tickets through the phone instead of the internet. I've just bought mine for the Sunday performance and the seats that I was offered over the phone were better than the ones that were offered on the website, plus they didn't charge me the handling and processing fees that they charge on the internet;
• F has been asking me to take him to the cinema to watch the "Puss in Boots". However, I'm not sure we'll manage to do everything we are planning to do.

For the grown-ups
Nothing planned yet. My husband arrives from his business trip on Saturday morning, so we won't kick off the weekend with our usual dinner on Friday night. It's been a while since we went to the cinema and I know that there are a lot of new movies right now, so we'll probably go watch one of them on Saturday night. Any suggestions?

Have a great weekend!

Picasso and the High Line

What does Picasso have to do with the High Line in New York? Absolutely nothing. It's just that I went to see the Picasso exhibit at the Frick Collection on Wednesday and I went to the High Line yesterday. If you've just arrived on my blog, you may think that I'm either a tourist in New York, trying to see everything in a few days or just a very active person. I'm neither of the two options. My mother was visiting, so it was an atypically active week.

Although I'm a little bit mad with the Frick Collection (here's why), I'm too much of a Picasso fan to miss their special exhibition. The show concentrates on drawings from Picasso's first three decades of his career as an artist. Whether you like Picasso's art or not, if you have any doubt left that the man was a genius, you should take a look at those drawings. It is simply amazing and unbelievable what he could do with a pencil at only fourteen years-old.

For me, Picasso was an acquired taste. Hence my argument that children should be introduced to art at a very early age. Sometimes it takes years and some studying to understand and appreciate an artist work and sometimes is just love at first sight. In my case, it took me some years and a lot of exhibitions to understand what a true genius Picasso was.

What I love about art in general is that is an endless source of knowledge. The more you see, the more you want to learn. Tastes also evolve with time, which makes the discussion of art even more interesting. For instance, as a teenager, I was a huge fan of Renoir and, nowadays, although I still appreciate his art and understand his importance in History, he's not in my top list anymore. Throughout all these years, I have been exposed to new forms of art, new artists and my perception of beauty changed as I grew older. My relationship with Picasso grew in the opposite direction.

So, if you have the opportunity, don't miss the exhibit: Picasso's Drawings, 1890-1921: Reinventing Tradition, at the Frick Collection, until January 8, 2012 (remember that children under ten are not allowed in the museum).

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Posmanbooks in Chelsea Market

Thursday we spent the morning in Chelsea. We walked on the High line, which is a magnificent project and example of urbanisation. Then we went to the very charming Chelsea Market, where we had lunch (the restaurant is not worth mentioning here) and spent some time in one of my favorite libraries in New York (Posman books). This is a nice and easy outing to do with kids. P loved to run on the High line and the library has a big children's section.

Here are some pics that I took of the High line.

Any plans for the weekend?
We are starting with a nice dinner at David Burke's new restaurant Fishtail (I actually have to run, otherwise I'll be late). For the kids, we have a birthday party tomorrow and, other than that, we'll see where the wind will take us.

Have a great weekend!

Plans for the weekend

Our weekend just started with a nice dinner at Brasserie Beaumarchais, located in the middle of super trendy Midpacking district. The food is very good. And if you like extremely loud disco music while you are eating you should check it out. I'm the kind of person who likes to separate restaurants from nightclubs. Restaurants, in my opinion, are places where you should have a good meal while talking with the other persons at the table without having to scream during the whole dinner. However, by looking around me, people didn't seem bothered with the high decibels of the place and, apparently, the kind of clients who go to this kind of restaurant don't really go for the company or to have a conversion, since in every single table I saw people more interested on their blackberries, iPhones or whatever their mobile phones were, than on the other persons at the table (would it be possible that they were on Facebook chatting with their online friends?).

Plans for this freezing weekend:

For the kids, our plans for the weekend include a birthday party, baking some Halloween cookies and a possible trip to the Bronx Zoo (depending on the weather).

As for the grown ups, tomorrow night we are going to see the play Freud's Last Session. The reviews were good and I don't go as often as I'd like/should to the theatre, so I'm quite excited with this program.

Weekend update

Here's where we've been strolling around this weekend.

With the kids:

The Aquarium at Coney Island.

I also have to confess that it was my first time in Coney Island. We will definitely need to come back to see more.

On sunday we went to see a great play for kids from 2 to 5 years-old. My two boys just loved it! And I think it's quite fun for adults too. If you are interested, don't wait. White is playing until November 13th and the tickets are selling fast.

 Grown ups only:

1. Dinner at Milo's - one of my favorite restaurants. The spreads and the Milo's special as appetizers were delicious and the St. Pierre was delightful. As a dessert, I always order their Greek yogurt with honey.
2. Margin call - available on Apple TV. Good movie about the last financial crisis.

Oh, and I was almost forgetting. We baked some cookies for F's bake sale at school. We frequently bake cookies together. It's a fun activity to do with the kids.
Imagine how proud F. was this morning when we told his teachers that some of the cookies had been prepared by him.

It seems that these where a success and sold out fast.