Tag: bryant park

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Spring & #Strawberry #Recipes

Even though it’s still in the twenties today, Spring is definitely here! This morning as I walked through Bryant Park, the ice skating pond was gone and the lawn was back in place. Lovely flowers were in bloom in various spots.

I love the Spring flowers and I also love one other thing about Spring: STRAWBERRIES!

They are so luscious and of course, healthy for you. They have a good deal of sugar, but have a low glycemic load which means they won’t make your blood sugars shoot up and then crash. A cup of strawberries has 150% of your daily requirement of Vitamin C. They also contain manganese and antioxidants.

So, today I’m going to take you to a list of 60 – SIXTY – fabulous strawberry recipes. Just click here to see them!

Also, don’t forget this is Day 2 of the Double Trouble Blog Tour! Come visit with me at the All the Fun Starts After Dark blog today and follow the rules for a chance to win some fun prizes!

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Christmas Fun!

With my daughter now running her shop, we had to mix two traditions together this Christmas season: Getting the tree and visiting New York City.

We started our morning yesterday with a run out to the Anne Ellen Tree Farm in Manalapan where we walked around in gorgeous weather to pick out our tree! We also pick out new ornaments to add to the tree each year. This is a picture of the ornament shop at Anne Ellen!

Then it was a rush home to get dressed and ready for our annual trip to New York City. We love seeing all the windows, visiting the NY Public Library to check out their exhibits, seeing the tree in Rockefeller Center and St. Patrick’s across the way before finally getting to Lincoln Center to watch the Nutcracker.

It was a day packed with walking and lots of fun and I’ve got a mess of pictures to share with you.

At the library, they had an exhibit on lunches in New York City. It was fun to see the evolution of city eateries, from the pushcarts to power lunches. The part of the exhibit on Horn & Hardart brought back memories of going to one with my mom. The last functioning automat was actually across the street from my old office! Here’s a shot of what they looked like.

Then we were off to see the tree in Rockefeller Center. It looked lovely this year!

We had a lovely time walking up Fifth Avenue and through part of Central Park before heading to our final destination – Lincoln Center!

Those are just some of the photos! To see more, you can click here.

What are some of your favorite holiday traditions?

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Sharing Christmas in NYC with you!

Every year my family and I do our annual trip to New York City to take in all the Christmas sights and decorations. It’s always a great time and we’ve got our little routine we follow. We start off in Penn Station and then walk to Macy’s and then Lord and Taylor to see the Christmas windows. Then it’s to the Research Library on 5th and 42nd to check out the exhibits and lovely reading room as well as Bryant Park, the Pond and shops behind the library.

Sadly, we got to the library too early this year and it was closed, but that made for some extra time for something old – St. Patrick’s Cathedral – and something new – a walk through Tiffany’s and Cartier to check out some bling.

While we were near St. Pat’s, we hit Rockefeller Center to see the tree, promenade and skating rink as well as the NBC store. My daughter is totally in love with PSYCH and they have collectibles from that and a number of other shows.

Then it was walk up Fifth Avenue, including Tiffany’s and Cartier (sigh, such pretty things) and over to Grand Army Plaza and Central Park. We hurried up to Columbus Circle and then pushed on until we were in Lincoln Center where we had tickets to see THE NUTCRACKER. It was lovely as allows and after a quick dinner, it was back to Penn Station and the trip home on the train.

So much to see, but it was a lot of fun. Just a bit chilly with weather in the twenties, but at least it was sunny and pretty nice outside.

I hope you enjoy these photos! If you can’t see the slideshow, you can click here to see the album.


Created with flickr slideshow.

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13 Places to Visit in New York City

With the Romance Writers Conference arriving in my hometown on June 28th, look for me to start offering up some tips on Eats, To dos and To Sees! Look for Countdown 2 #RWA11 starting on June 1 on Twitter and my Facebook Fan Page.

But today I’m sharing some other favorite places to visit in New York City. I work there every day and for the longest time really didn’t get to see this amazing city. Once I decided to become a “tourist”, I discovered lots of different little neighborhoods, restaurants and sights to see. It’s one of the reasons I set THE CALLING in Manhattan – to offer up views of all the unique neighborhoods.

So here goes!

When you think of New York you probably imagine there is a lot of hustle and bustle in the city that never sleeps. You’d be right, but tucked amongst all those skyscrapers are oases of green and calm. Here are some of my favorites.

    1. Tudor Greens
    2. Union Square Park
    3. Central Park
    4. Bryant Park

I’d list Gramercy Park in there, but unfortunately this park is open only to those who pay an annual fee and possess a key to enter. Ugh.

Next up – America’s story locations. Unless you’re a Native American, your ancestors came here from somewhere else and New York City is a vibrant part of that immigration story. So be sure to visit these locations to learn more about America’s famed melting pot and experience some of the flavor imparted on New York by its immigrant populations:

    5. Statue of Liberty
    6. Ellis Island
    7. Tenement Museum
    8. Museum at Eldridge Street
    9. Chinatown
    10. Little Italy

To experience the hustle and bustle, from both on the ground and above, these locations can’t be beat:

    11. Empire State Building
    12. Top of the Rock
    13. Times Square

I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s Thursday 13. If you’ve been to New York City, take a moment to share some of your favorite places to visit.

Tomorrow, look for the winners of the prizes from last week’s live video event, news on the next live video event and a chance to win an autographed copy of Margaret Mallory‘s THE GUARDIAN!

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Guilty Pleasure Heat for an Arctic Monday

How cold was it this morning when I left my house? 2 degrees Fahrenheit. 2! How cold is that really? Well take a look at this snapshot of the Bryant Park fountain which was freezing over from the arctic chill.

Well, we definitely have to generate some heat to combat that arctic chill and what better way than with a nice hot Guilty Pleasure? But with it being so cold, we need a man who can heat us up in the kitchen as well with something so delectable we’ll be shivering in anticipation. So today’s Guilty Pleasure is Curtis Stone, celebrity chef. Curtis has been on a number of television cooking shows both in his native Australia and here in the States. You may remember how nice he dressed up when he appeared on Celebrity Apprentice.

Curtis Stone Celebrity Chef

I hope you enjoyed today’s Guilty Pleasure.

Curtis Stone Photo Credit: Joseph [email protected]

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Thursday 13 – Holiday Favorites

With Christmas just over two weeks away, I am struggling with work and writing deadlines and getting the house ready for Christmas Eve, and yet there is no denying that I am getting in the holiday mood. I love this season with all that it represents – love for each other and sharing that love through the simple things like a hug or a smile. For Christians like me, the celebration of our Lord’s birth and embracing the principles of love and respect for all humans, regardless of race, ethnicity or religion. The important things, you know.

But there are also the little things that bring a smile and lift the heart and so today I am sharing thirteen of those little things that elicit joy in me during this holiday season!

1. Christmas carols. Love to hear them and sing them.

2. The smell of roast pork on Christmas Eve morning.

3. Hot apple cider.

4. Hot chocolate.

5. Christmas lights.

6. Santas. One year we were on a train filled with dozens of Santas on the way to Santacon. What a blast!

7. The Nutcracker. We go to see the ballet every year as part of our holiday tradition.

8. Christmas trees. Love picking one out and decorating it (look for more on this on Fun Friday).

9. Exchanging gifts with friends and family.

10. A child’s face on Christmas morning as it lights up at the presents Santa brought.

11. Watching Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the original animated one).

12. Christmas Eve dinner with family and friends.

13. Going to NYC to see the holiday windows, the tree in Rockefeller Center and the pond at Bryant Park.

Hope you enjoyed today’s Thursday Thirteen. I welcome you to share some of your favorite things about the holiday season.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others’ comments. It’s easy, and fun!

As a P.S. – This is a photo my Christmas village from a few years back. It’s still in the works this season and I hope to finish it soon!

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Thoughtful Thursday – New York Minutes

I love New York City and I guess by New York City I mean the island of Manhattan. It’s one of the big reasons I decided to set THE CALLING vampire series in Manhattan — I wanted to give you a flavor for the different parts of the city. If you’ve been reading the books, you know that the stories move from Tribeca to SoHo to Spanish Harlem. In future books in the series (ARDOR CALLS and VENGEANCE CALLS – dates of release to be known shortly), you’ll see shots of Midtown and Times Square.

I thought I’d share on these Thursdays some little known facts about Manhattan and also about some of the Jersey Shore locations in the SINS series.

Today’s New York Minute is about Sixth Avenue also known as Avenue of the Americas. Much like hearing someone say Houston St. (like the city in Texas) instead of like “Howston”, it’s a dead giveaway that you’re a tourist if you say Avenue of the Americas. It’s also very confusing since most New Yorkers call it Sixth Avenue.

The problem began in 1945 when Fiorella LaGuardia, one of the city’s most beloved mayors, renamed Sixth Avenue. In the years since then, the lamp posts bore plaques donated by the OAS – Organization of American States to symbolize each of the countries in the Americas. I remember seeing them as a kid whenever we came into “the city” for some event. Unfortunately, the plaques were lost when the city put in new lamp posts in the early 1990s.

Forgotten NY has wonderful shots of these plaques. You can click here to see the Sixth Avenue country plaques.

There are also a number of statues all along Sixth Avenue to honor famous people from the Americas. From the western most edge of Bryant Park (also along Sixth) to where Sixth runs into Central Park, there are gorgeous bronzes to be admired. This is a statue of Jose Marti, a leader for Cuban Independence from Spain. The statue sits at the entrance to Central Park on Sixth Avenue.

Above Central Park, Sixth Avenue once again changes names, this time to Lenox Avenue/Malcolm X Boulevard, also creating confusion with the use of two names!

Beneath Sixth Avenue run a number of things –The IND Sixth Avenue subway lines (B D F V trains) as well as the PATH Trains to New Jersey. As for how long Sixth Avenue is — it’s one of the longest in the city running from as far south as Canal Street at the southernmost part of Manhattan up through Harlem.

Want to know more? You can read more about Sixth Avenue by clicking here and visiting Forgotten NY!

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