11 years ago (this past Saturday) Neil and I were married in his parent’s backyard in the Berkshires. We had a beautiful weekend, and 11 years later, we also had a beautiful weekend.

We started the day by going to 2 kid’s birthday parties. Lindsay stayed at her friend’s house for a sleepover after the birthday party, so we had the rest of the afternoon to ourselves. What do parents do when they have some time off? Rest! We watched most of Arsenic and Old Lace before it was time to go for dinner.

We ate at Blue Hill restaurant in Manhattan. When we made the reservations, we didn’t know that the Obamas just ate there. It was difficult getting a table, but Neil persevered. It was worth it. We got the 5-course tasting menu with wine pairings. It was the best meal we’ve eaten in years. They get their ingredients from Blue Hill Farm in the Berkshires and from Stone Barns in Tarrytown, NY.

We laughed so hard when they put the first “plate” down on our table. To be fair, it wasn’t part of the 5 courses, but if you were to ever see a spoof of an expensive Manhattan restaurant, they would show what we were served. They gave us a block of wood with many spikes coming out of the top. The spikes made a wavy row on the top of the block. The food was speared onto the spikes as the presentation. So the funny part was there were 2 tiny carrots, 2 tiny pea pods, 2 cherry tomatoes and 2 florets of something related to broccoli. But they were delicious and we didn’t go home hungry at the end of the meal.

After dinner we went to the Highline in Chelsea. I wrote a little about it in this post, but hadn’t gone in person until Saturday. We went after sunset and it was really magical. They have beautiful wild plantings of grass and flowers that weave in and out of the train tracks and the stone walkway. You are raised up, so you have a nice view of the streets and buildings in the neighborhood. We had a nice New York moment there too. The Highline ends rather abruptly around 28th street, where it will eventually be extended to 34th street. When you are at the northern end of the Highline, you are right next to some residential buildings. There was a woman out on her fire escape, who had strung lights up and was entertaining the Highline visitors with her stand-up comedy. She had quite a crowd of people watching her as I’m sure she does every weekend. I love New York and am glad there are still some characters left!

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