1 down

It's been a year since this.
I didn't have this kind of victorious-hurdle-clearing feeling when we realised we had been going out for a year or even for 6 years.
In the pre-marriage era, anniversaries were always a - uhmm, we've been together for that long? interesting.
It was only when people called attention to the longevity of our relationship, that we felt it was something worth acknowledging.

But on the 15th, after just a year of marriage, I felt intense gratitude for the year that has been. I don't mean to take away from our live-in relationship, which I v.firmly believe laid the foundations to our life; but marriage is just a completely different cup of commitment. This last year has seen us deal with our fair share of adult issues, but has also furnished with so very many gorgeous memories.
To celebrate all the work, love & joy we put in to our relationship since the wedding, I had planned a weekend trip to New Orleans.
For, I am the anal, type A planner in our relationship. I research the hotels, the activities, the restaurants, our days and cram it with eats & everything in between; so even if we don't do much of anything, at least we have the option of knowing what the place holds for us.

Which is why it was such a mixed surprise to find, at the airport, that we were actually heading to our favorite little city in the world NYC instead, courtesy of the boy.
Mixed because it made me feel a little less in control. And v.much more vulnerable.
The boy asked me to trust & let go, which I did in bits. And oh, it was so good I did, because he did so v.good!

Things we did in NYC:

Wandered around Times Square on Friday evening, where the boy insisted on checking out the Theatre District, which I got annoyed at because really what is there to see on the Theatre District except the theatres & all the lovely Broadway hoardings?
I eventually relented, which was wise since he had tickets for us to see The Lion King.
Sigh. I leave it to the video in the link to describe what an exhilarating experience it was.
So beautifully produced in fact that the boy, who has no great love for theatre, was entranced by it all.

Walked in an post-play daze after & partook of the quintessential NYC slice of pizza. Mine was a plain cheese one with balls of ricotta cheese on it & the boy had his with chicken.

The next day, got on to our favorite form of transport to the Upper West Side for breakfast at Barney Greengrass, which we decided to try on Bourdain's recommendation & did it ever live up to expectations!
It was this small hole in the wall deli, with plastic tables and chairs but the food - the sturgeon with scrambled eggs & chopped liver - brilliant!

We wandered around the Upper West Side for a while and then headed to Chinatown for some cheap shopping.
That's the great thing about being back in a city you've visited many times over.
The first time you are there - it's a frenzied sightseeing tour, as A.D. puts it. The next time, you've seen everything & so can just sit back and enjoy walking about.
In Chinatown, we headed to the big grocery store & bought bean paste, giant bags of dried fish & dried shiitake & our first sake set.

Headed out to Queens after, and shopped at the columbian/latin & the desi parts of Jackson Heights, where we got a ceramic coffee pot, dirt cheap almond flour & lovely others.

And of course ate the v.flavorful & spicy briyani from a food vendor.

We trudged back to the hotel, where exhausted by all our shopping jaunts, we fell asleep and missed our lovely anniversary dinner reservations.
We woke, grinned, dressed up, and made our way to Russian Samovar, which we had come across in our earlier jaunts.
And though a bit on the unwelcoming & intimidating side because we were really the only non-russians in it, we had such a splendid time sipping their infused vodkas! & ingesting their caviar platter.

On our last day, we headed to Le Pain Quotidien for breakfast, which though a chain, was the most fillingly simple food experience we had.
The boy had their bread basket with the spreads - hazelnut chocolate, apricot jam, red berry jam.
And I had their Tartines - which the woman across the communal wooden table informed us was just an open faced sandwich on really thick bred. It was such fun sitting at that table, having people around us give us input & butt in to converse, that we were quite charmed.

After, we walked to Central park and just walked some more :)
And then strolled toward the Met, where we spent the afternoon in its coolness looking at beautiful things.
And when it was time for us to leave this most interesting city, both of us agreed that we felt none of that queasy reluctant-to-leave feeling we got the first time we vacationed there.
For this time around, we were heading back not to miserable, monotonous Missouri; but to beaches, rivers, and our lovely house in sunny Florida.

Thank you, dear sweet Lord, for the turns our lives have taken!