Good eating at the Sen's

Steff and Mom on the train

On Wednesday night, our first night here, Katie and I went to a local restaurant and got Italian takeout. Spaghetti and meat balls, a egg coated fried chicken on noodles dish, and Penna Vodka with salads and cannoli. Certainly misspelled, but delicious.

Christmas Eve. we left for the city early, after bagel and eggs sandwiches. Until I ate a NY bagel I didn't know how great they are, how different from the mid west or Texas bagels, very soft and tender with a mild taste. They say that it is the minerals in the water, it is piped into the city from the Catskills apparently. We had lunch at Rosie O'Grady's Pub. A very nice, white table linen place. It was nearly empty. (And actually the stores weren't that crowded.) The food was good, Paul and I split a huge hamburger and soup. Excellent soup and very lean, tasty HB. We did a lot of tasting and it was all excellent. Lots of fun. Hard to explain all the restaurants in the city. As soon as you get off the main streets they are everywhere of every country. They all look wonderful. Attractive and clean and interesting. Another surprise that I enjoyed was all the little children speaking in foreign languages. It seems that many Europeans spent the holidays in New York. And what a wonderful experience for them.

On Christmas we went to 11 am Mass. Mark and Katie made prime rib for dinner with sweet potatoes, corn, baked potatoes. Wonderful, cooked to medium perfection. The next day we had prime rib French Dip sandwiches. Oh dessert. Katie picked up a Cherry Cheesecake at Junior's in Grand Central Station as we left the city on Thursday. Said to be the best in the city, and it is hard not to agree. The base was sponge cake, the creamy part was light and a little whippy, the topping yummy tart cherries. OMG, it was perfect.

On Saturday, Mark drove Steff to the train station, later we all went shopping up in Kingston, a city about 20 minutes north of the house. Paul and I had been there before, when we drove into the Catskills. Missed the malls though. Very nice shopping. Looking for an interesting place for lunch, we drove through the very old part of the city, it is on the Hudson River. Large stone houses are right on the sidewalk and the streets are very narrow for modern times, but must have been wide for their time. We ended up having very good bar food at a locals bar. I had a great wrap, everyone else had awesome bar burgers. Perfect sweet potato fries.

Sunday was sort of a wind down day. They cooked a turkey with all the trimmings. Katie made dressing from a Sen's family recipe. Scratch apple pie. So good. I guess it was wind down because we didn't have a field trip. Except Mark has a fire call, they took out the new fire truck! And Katie and I walked over the bridge on the Hudson. NY state turned an old half burnt railroad bridge into a State Park. I have pics that I will post later. It was fun to walk and full of people and dogs.

Monday was pizza takeout night. Katie and Mark ordered a pepperoni and onion pizza with thick crust. We had a Meat Lover's with the traditional thin crust. Very good, has to be healthy with less crust. They have less cheese than our Michigan pies and the sauce is a little spicy. Fun to try different foods.

New York City on Christmas Eve

New York City was wonderful fun. The top pic is Stephanie in front of the Sbarro Pizza place that was in the Office TV show. Or mentioned in said show. Paul and I are in front of the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. Katie and Mark by the ice skating rink at Rockefeller Center. I have a lot of pics but they can wait until I get home.

We took the 8:45 train at the station closest to Katie and Mark's home. This was at Pougkeepsie, NY. The ride is almost two hours one way. After we got to Grand Central Station we hit the ground running. Did some shopping, went to Times Square, saw the Today Show set and the famous red steps, there are pics. We had lunch at Rosie O'Grady's Pub, shopped some more on our way to see the Rockettes. We had balcony seats for the show. After all the exercise and lunch it would have been easy to fall asleep during the show, and Mark did. But just for a few seconds. The show was beautiful, fast and fun, lots of dancing and singing. Of course. It was so worth the trip to see. A great experience.

After the show we shopped on the way back to the station. Grabbed some snacks for the trip home and headed back to Milton. The day was so fun that the sore feet didn't matter at all. There is so much to see and do in the city.

New York

Made it to Katie and Mark's home in Milton NY, 1 am on Wednesday. Long day at the airports. Good trip, Thursday we take the train into the city. Pics and lots more soon.

Leaving on a jet plane

Today, Dec. 22, we are flying to Katie and Mark's for Christmas for a week. William is driving us to the Corpus Christi Airport. I will still have blogs and hopefully many pictures. We are taking the train into the city on Christmas Eve to see the Rockettes show and enjoy the city. Steff is meeting us in Chicago for the last leg of our flight. Katie and Mark live about 70 miles north of NYC, about a mile west of the Hudson River, in Marlboro.

Our nice weather is holding. Sunday was beautiful again. Went to church, had happy hour here in the park with our neighbors, and went to Bernie's for the band with Mavis and friends. Monday was sunny and 60s too. The ocean was very calm, a very rare thing. Reminded us of Lake Michigan. Had some nice walks. The only day I didn't take my camera to the beach.

Three in a row

Sunny days, that is. And warm enough to wear Capri pants. Saturday we went back to Bernie's for the free lunch, and left a big tip, of course. Cheryl's husband made chilie and refried beans, had warm tortillas, sour cream, cheese and fritos. Very good. Lyn and Ken were there, Randy and Larry, Frank and Denise. Jan and Jim. An interesting group.

I took this picture on the way home from town, we were doing our walking and I noticed several little clouds in a row that looked like beards. Not sure how this will show up in the picture. The beach was wide and beautiful again. The tides are extreme, high tide is up to the dunes and low, is very, very low. I found some exceptional shells on Saturday.

That lovely, sunny Friday

Temps in the low 50s but no wind and SUNNY made for a perfect day. Paul took pics of a flock of white pelicans that winter in this area. Pelicans tend to fly in a long synchronized line, choregraphed by the wind currents. They were soaring and gliding, making figure eights and circles, very beautiful and graceful.

We had a long beach walk, met Lyn and Ken at the Spaghetti House for a late lunch. Then we headed over to Bernie's for socializing. The ladies from the VFW were there after putting together all the Christmas Baskets for the area. The bartender, Richard, got out some of his favorite toys to play with. We got some photos of that too. Met some new folks. A nice treat after the rainy week. And the sun is coming up again, no clouds.

Looks sunny out

We haven't seen the sun in a week, and it wasn't bright then, still a bit foggy. All dreary and foggy and heavy rain this week. I can see the sky brightening for the sun rise. YAY! This is the worst December weather on record here in Port Aransas. Usually we are wearing shorts and walking barefoot on the beach.