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Published: September 22nd 2008
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Ok so here I was on my annual pilgrimage to one of my favourite cities in the world - YAY! - this time with AlmostSpouse and Sprog in tow. AND...
horrifyingly... I was
deathly-chills-and-fever-achingly BEYOND ILL for the whole 2 weeks! We should've known that this wasn't JUST severe flu when my fever didn't break for TWELVE days and that horrid pink rash appeared... I later discovered, after blood test results returned with spiked white blood cell counts, that I had, prior to the NYC trip, ingested a waterborne bacterial infection (
meaning consumed something pretty poisonous - which isn't totally shocking given that I eat just about everything) which required turbo antibiotic injections upon touchdown back in KL, complete bedrest and further antibiotics for 2 weeks 😞
Was already feeling a little shaky on that 21 hour flight... but perked up on arrival in Manhattan. It's a feeling akin to that experienced whenever I return to London (which was HOME for a good 15 years) - just want to fill my lungs with all that brown smog and kiss the slushy pavements - I"m BACK!!
Middle Sister, BIL, and Tasch have recently moved to a gorgeous new apartment
(pre-war building, great views of Central Park, flat-screens in EVERY room - there's just sooo much TV to watch after all) It's just a few blocks north of their old home which was also on Fifth. Forget Sex And The City and Woody Allen movies - this is REAL LIFE -
and I want it! - well regular doses will have to suffice for now 😊
It's a TOTAL consumer society - ANYthing is yours to be had... When Big Sister lived here she had her coffee, cigarettes and bagel delivered for breakfast daily 😊 It has the BEST delivery service - you really NEVER have to leave home - for
anything😊 - though agoraphobia aside WHY wouldn't you want to?? NYC is part of the holy trinity of food meccas in the USA (the triumvirate being NYC, San Francisco and New Orleans). The restaurants/bars/clubs - the choice, variety, innovation- absolutely fabulous!! Yet, the women are whippet-thin - and generally talented and accomplished too. Hmmpphhh! The gyms are equipped with cutting-edge technology, the yoga classes are trendier, the spas indulge your every whim. The shops carry EVERYthing in EVERYsize and EVERYcolour. You can customise or colour-code anything. And yes
you can hire a 27 year old doctorate student at Columbia to give your seven year old a personal tour of the Samurai Exhibition currently at the Met Museum and teach him the significance of mask-detailing, play quiz games and make paper mache masks. It's hip, unnervingly sophisticated,
buzzing madly with neurotic competitive creative energy.
Middle Sister's 'hood of Upper Eastsiders are just sooo studiedly nonchalant about their bubble of privilege: Oh I got my neighbour Caroline (Kennedy) to sign her new book of poetry for you; Oh look - that's Oprah by the jewellery counter in Barney's/Bendel's/Bergdorf's; You'll just love Matthew Broderick/Kevin Spacey/Calista Flockhart in The Producers/The Iceman Cometh/ The Vagina Monologues tonight; Mmmm - that's George Clooney/Beyonce/Leo DiCaprio at the next table 😊 Oh it's a nightmare living in the same building as Eliot Spitzer - the press were all over the place this morning! YUP - chomping on that Big Shiny Apple! You've gotta LOVE IT!
Ok - so the above is me recollecting through my feverish haze. THIS trip was something else altogether
😞 Shivering on Middle Sister's TV room sofa under my cashmere (
what else?) blanket (I selflessly moved out of
the guest room for the physical and mental health of AlmostSpouse and Sprog who I really love obviously) - it hurt to touch my skin, it hurt to put pressure on my feet, my head was shot through with piercing spasms, my vision completely blurred... and WORST OF ALL - all I could sip/nibble was the blandest chicken soup with matzo balls and wheat crackers!! There weren't to be any fresh, crisp runs round Central Park reservoir; no lazy hours thumbing through gorgeous books, sipping hot chocolate in the hallowed nooks of my favourite Barnes & Nobles on the West Side; no nonsensical purchases from E.A.T.; no magic glasses and purple sugar from Dean & Deluca; no exciting discoveries in the little and large, musty and flashy shops around Prince Street; no trawling the magnificent Madison Ave with my jaw hanging open; no pilgrimage to Krispy Kreme, no raisinets at the movies, no Cuban at Victor's Cafe -
aaargghhhhhhh!!!! 21 hours on a plane to lay plank-like on a sofa listening to Middle Sister practising on her new baby grand (she's actually not bad at all now - good progression from Chopsticks to Chopin) and fantasising about The Shooting Of Lily - Tasch's excruciating, piercingly yappy, neurotically Upper East, uber-pedigreed rat-dog!!!
On my painful, pitifully few (
3!) tottering,
majorly drug-fueled forays beyond the patient's borders of Middle Sister's abode I did manage to:
1) SHOP - 2 pairs of running shoes (Saucony and New Balance) and 2 complete sets of running outfits (outer AND inner wear) from The Running Shop; the first 2 DVF dresses I grabbed off the rack at Barney's (brown safari shirtdress, one-shouldered knee-length print); Vincent Longo makeup and heavenly Olivia Giacobetti perfume from Barney's basement; scrubs soaps shampoos conditioners bodylotions bodywashes dinky hair grips lip balm at Zitomer's.
2) EAT - Le Colonial, my favourite French Vietnamese, shrimp on sugar cane and lettuce wrap with vermicelli; Le Pain Quotidien - chicken curry open face sandwich (AlmostSpouse had the shrimp) and heavenly hearty steaming mushroom soup, E.A.T. - divine takeout of roasted artichokes, bean salad and lamb cutlets; Via Quadronno - extremely good neighbourhood Italian (
this is where George Clooney caused time to stop incidentally) - one of the best carbonaras to be had anywhere, ditto the veal milanese and THE BEST hot chocolate.
3) Catch THE LION KING for the THIRD time (in addition to once in London too!). It's a terrific production - the Miyake costumes and all - but THREE TIMES! Yeah well - Sprog loves the songs and animals. YUP! That's the martyrdom of mommydom!
Sprog and AlmostSpouse did a WHOLE lot more. I believe it involved storms and 3D Dinosaurs at the IMAX theatre, dinosaur fossils, dinosaur skeletons, dinosaur eggs, dinosaur books, prehistoric birds, flightless living birds, the horrors of Ripley's, THE MAC SHOP!!!, LEGO, pokemon, psychedelic sugar heaven in Dylan's, greasy diners, pancakes, burgers, peanut butter milkshakes... and... uhmm... yeah... dinosaurs.
AlmostSpouse (in between nursing me and sprogsitting) managed to squeeze in some alcohol-driven nights out with old college buddies (aren't they always?). Have yet to see the pics from those nights - but that's a whole other blog entry 😊 Till then I'll live off my amuse-bouche, my little nibbles of my Big Apple.
HangLiPoh
xoxox
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Rizzie Lizzie
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Big Apple ... here i come
Yaaaaaaaaay.... gonna be going to the Big Apple soon so can't wait to check out all those places that AlmostSpouse and Sprog had visited although I'm sure the PreggerWife will have other ideas and drag me to those lovely departMENTAL stores and baby shopping for the unborn STINKY baby