Saturday in Manhattan

We did a little shopping, including a stop at a thrift shop where I'd seen a a chair that might be worth buying. When the guy took it out of the window, I saw the fabric was torn on the seat and fraying badly, so we nixed that idea. We walked up to 86th Street and indulged in consumerism, which included a coat and belt for Marty, an indoor/outdoor thermometer for me, some envelopes, and an antenna for our tuner. We dropped everything off at the apartment and set off for AAA to buy movie-ticket discount coupons.

We took the 79th Street bus to Broadway and walked down to 62nd Street. Then we walked back uptown to the theater at 83rd Street, arriving just in time for Extremely Loud, Incredibly Close. I'd read the book years ago and knew this was going to be a gusher flick (not blood), but wanted to see how it stood up to the book. I'm a real snob when it comes to book-to-film conversion but I have to say, this was a good one. The book is so visual anyway that what's left out of the film hardly matters. Although the film is disturbing, it's also funny, has an element of suspense, and some great acting performances. Fort Greene is a setting briefly, and I always like to see the Old Hood to try to guess the street they're filming. The exterior of our house was once on The Cosby Show, but alas, Mariel and me walking back and forth in front of it fell on the cutting room floor.

After the movie, we met our brother-in-law, nephew and great nephews for dinner. They'd been at the Planetarium most of the day, and we had a chance to see them before they headed back to Newtown, PA. I had researched kid-friendly restaurants in the area and we ended up at Popovers Cafe, where they feature popovers. The boys, 8 and 6 were unimpressed by them and only wanted to play with the Lego pens we'd given them. It was decided that there were too many pieces to lose, so they'd have to wait until they got home to open them. This worked out as well as showing your dog a huge meaty bone and telling him he had to wait until later to get it.

No one was thrilled by the food, but Marty and I had gorged on popcorn at the theater, and the boys were exhausted. I had a Waldorf Salad which didn't have avocado, bacon or hard-boiled egg. It was still good, but I only managed to eat half. I'll eat it later.

We bused back to our apartment, got organized and watched The Tree of Life. I've been wanting to see this film for some time but didn't want to subject anyone to it. Marty was willing to give it a shot, and only napped 5 minutes. Brad Pitt and Sean Penn starred in it, and it was visually luxurious. It was also highly symbolic, which eventually got tiresome, but that was mainly because the film was long. It has an Academy Award nomination, which I find hard to believe, and hasn't made viewers rush out to see it.

Today we're going for brunch to a Cuban restaurant downtown on the Bowery. I'll let you know if it's any good. Then I'm making Bipimbap for dinner. It's a Korean recipe I got out of the West Warwick Public Library Cookbook. Thanks, Sue!