parental units come to new york!

A couple of weeks ago, my parents came to visit me. I was equal parts nervous and excited. This was the first time they would be seeing me in my new apartment, that while they helped move me into and furnish, it was the one that I was responsible for. I had created a little home for myself, I had my grocery store I liked, my shoe cobbler, Angelo, around the corner, and the parking attendant who told me to “Have a beautiful day” whenever I walked by him. I wanted them to be proud of what I had created, but knew their approval wasn’t a given. While that accounted for the nerves, I was excited for the restaurants and activities I had planned for us. Having your parents come to visit usually means you can make reservations at those restaurants that you would not necessarily want to pick up the tab for yourself. 

For lunch on Saturday, we met my mom’s best friend from high school, Robin, and her husband for lunch at Gramercy Tavern. While Gramercy Park is only twenty blocks south of me, once there I feel like I am in London. Despite only being able to peer into the park from the outside, I am always transfixed by its beauty. I have seen some people come and go from the park, but I have never seen the key use to get in, but in my imagination it is one of those beautiful ancient skeleton keys (if you know what the key looks like and it doesn’t live up to my expectations, please don’t tell me). Back to the food, Gramercy Tavern was delicious, it had an open kitchen so when you were walking by you had a chance to see the chefs hard at work, which I loved. 

After lunch we went over to Lee Radziwill’s preview auction at Christies. All of her items were on display and it was cool to look back at her life by looking at all of her items. Mom and I have good taste and were partial to a Peter Beard photograph of a giraffe running across the savanna, which ended up going for $60,000. 

 

Looking through all of her items, I was reminded of a quote by her, “When I buy something, I do so with the intention of keeping it forever.” Clearly by the pieces, she surrounded herself with, she embodied this notion. Additionally that quote has given me pause recently, when I have considered buying something, do I think I will have this item forever or do I just want it because everyone wants it now? Especially during a time when consumption is often prized and there is often a race to accumulate it makes me want to be more thoughtful about the items I choose to spend money on. 

For dinner, we went to Rotisserie Georgette, I could eat here everyday for the rest of my life and I do not think I would be sick of it, despite the fact that I would probably resemble a stuffed chicken by the end of it. When a restaurant boasts a roast chicken as their speciality, it can seem a bit dull and uninspired, but I am convinced Julia Child is in their kitchen, because it is without a doubt the best chicken I have ever had (and it was still the best on Monday and Tuesday as I worked my way through leftovers). While I love to eat I also love to see how restaurants are decorated and this one did not miss a trick. The walls were covered in blue and white tile as well as antique mirrors. I cannot recommend enough. 

On Sunday morning, we rolled out of bed and I cannot express that enough because we were all still full from the night before and made our way to Meatpacking. I have a certain fondness for Meatpacking, because my internship last summer was there, but even in a year it has changed so much and gotten even more high end than it already was. We went to Pastis for brunch (can you tell I have a certain fondness for French cuisine?). We sat outside under heat lamps (tres European), I had the French Onion Soup. If I see French Onion Soup on the menu, I cannot usually hold myself back from ordering it and this one did not disappoint. It was made with veal stock and it showed. One of the benefits of our outdoor seating was Mom and I got to see Jill Kargman walking in, who cracks us both up. 

After we had finished filling ourselves with frites we walked over to Greenwich Village, Mom has always said she prefers uptown, but somewhere between Greenwich Village and West Village she may have converted to downtown. It was a quiet Sunday so walking in the streets was not a death wish and we went over to two of my favorite book stores BookMarc and Three Lives & Company. After wandering through some more shops, we made our way back to my apartment where we spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning and reorganizing, which I won’t bore you with the details with. 

The cherry on top of the whole weekend was Sunday night, when we went to see To Kill A Mockingbird. There is plenty of hype around anything Aaron Sorkin does, but it is well-deserved. At the end of the show, there was not a dry eye in the whole theatre. I am not sure if everyone had this reaction, but as the show went on I was brought back to Mr. Emmon’s eighth grade class where I first read it. It is still one of the most heartbreaking tales, but I found it to be incredibly motivating. It made me want to acknowledge the injustices we see everyday, even if I cannot personally take action to prevent them, I can at least discuss them and not shy away from having these conversations because they are “unpleasant” or “depressing.” If you have the opportunity to see it, I would highly recommend you do so! 

Overall it was really fun to see my parents and made me look forward to their next visit. So when is it, Mom and Dad?