The Dupaix Project: chinese food

The weather has been so bitter cold lately. The snow is so beautiful, at least when looking at it from the warmth of my apartment. Haha. But last weekend we had a little taste of heaven/spring! It was in the high 40s and we were not about to stay inside and waste such a gorgeous day!

I don't know why I've felt so compelled to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Maybe it has something to do with the time I spent in Japan (except thats Japan, not China) or maybe its because it always looks so cool in the movies... But, I have been dying to experience a real authentic Chinese New Year celebration!

Friday night was the big fire cracker festival, and Sunday afternoon was the dragon parade. Unfortunately for us, Saturday was the only day we could make it down there. I was so bummed out, thinking we would miss all the excitement!

Once we got into Chinatown I noticed the stores were selling a lot of traditional holiday looking things, but there wasn't really any sign of celebrations. We were meeting Ellen at her favorite Chinese place (Tasty Hand-Pulled Noodles, it lives up to its name!) and as we turned down Mott street we found the party!

Everyone was shooting off fire crackers and there were streamers and confetti everywhere! There were a ton of cute little Chinese kids playing in the street and dancing. It was so colorful and lively! We met up with Ellen and had the tastiest hand-pulled noodles ever! This place is definitely a must-try!

We found our way back to the party and bought ourselves some fire crackers! This was like an hour PAST Gunner's nap time so he was not so excited about all the noise and flying confetti (but I was!) And it made for some awesome pictures!

After the police shut it down, we found our way to a cute little bakery in Soho (Little Cupcake Bakeshop) The cupcakes (and mini pies, and icebox cake) were heavenly. But, the company was even better. Guess who held the door open for us as we came through the door. You guessed it! Queen Latifah!!! (Did you really guess it?) She held the door open for us and then admired sleeping Gunner and his tiny little "Chucks". We all exchanged looks, confirming that yes, this was Queen Latifah and decided to play it cool!

Now, I'm seriously wishing we didn't play it cool because we have no proof of our encounter! Especially because meeting a celebrity is on our bucket list, but we can't cross it off without proof. Dang it! Next time, I'll just throw caution to the wind and go all star-struck/paparzzi!

Ellen and I are like good luck or something because we always see celebs when we're together. Like ever since we were kids! We've met Billy Crystal, Ryan Seacrest, Kathy Ireland, and NOW Queen Latifah. We really should spend more time together!! It is so much fun living close to her again.

Happy Year of the Horse Everybody!
XOXO
SD

As I was typing up our BUCKET LIST I realized there were a couple of items we'd completed that I hadn't written about! Mostly from our first couple of days in the city! So heres a quick rundown...

On our very first night in NYC we were unpacking our four suitcases and sort of trying to organize our empty apartment and realized we had nothing to eat. So, we got on our phones and found the closest Chinese place that would deliver to us! It turns out its like less than a block away, but I was too scared to send Zack down to get it in our new and scary neighborhood! So we ordered our favorites and within minutes it was at our door! Amazing. Why don't all restaurants in the whole world do this?!? Most of the time we like to get out and walk the neighborhood when we're getting dinner, but it is SO nice that most places will bring the food right to our door if we're not up for going out.

One time we ordered food and realized we didn't have any cash on us. Zack had to run downstairs to the CVS that was literally two doors down from the restaurant to get cash. The delivery man beat him here and I just had to stand awkwardly at the door waiting for Zack to get back with the money. Hahaha! It was so embarrassing. So, if you're going to order your food in, pay over the phone or make sure you've got cash!

Here's our first taste of NYC Chinese Food!

One of our first adventures when we moved here was The Metropolitan Museum of Art (aka The Met). This place is unbelieveable. Its huge. I feel like its the size of a small city. Its located on the East Side of Central Park right on the famous Fifth Avenue. Apparently 5th Avenue is also called Museum Mile around these parts because there is over a mile of continuous museums! Its sort of unreal. If I was into Museums I would love it. But maybe I'm not super into museums? So kill me…

But, seriously, the Met has something for EVERYONE!! As someone who doesn't know a lot about art, I wasn't DYING to go. But, Zack was… and its world famous!! So I figured it would be worth our time! Believe me, IT WAS!! If you're coming to the city and dying to see some insanely old art (or looking for something interesting to do on a rainy day) I highly recommend it! But, I do have one or two pieces of advice!

First, go with a purpose! Figure out what you really want to see before you find yourself lost, wandering aimlessly. Rack your brain for any famous paintings or painters that you can think of and find out if its at the Met (it most likely is! They have some of the most famous works of art.) Going with a plan will really make it a more enjoyable experience. This place is huge and you could wander for days! At first we thought we'd just get lost in the art. But that proved much less exciting than imagined.

So, we looked through the map and went straight for the Picassos, Monets, and Van Goghs (all conveniently located in the same wing). Those were pretty much the only artists I knew much about and it was really amazing to see the paintings in person. I was shocked by how some of them took up an entire wall, floor to ceiling, and some of them were no bigger than the text book I once saw them in. We also stopped by the contemporary/modern art wing… which (Spoiler alert!!) has a LOT of nudity. The Met has more than just paintings; there are sculptures and ancient jewelry from Pre-Colombian South America, Egyptian artifacts. When I say there is something for EVERYONE, I mean it. There really is. So figure out what's going to do it for you and check it out! Just being surrounded by so much history and beauty and talent is an experience everyone should have! Its an amazing museum and worth every penny!

This brings me to my second piece of advice! You'll notice when you walk in there is a price list ($25 adult, $17 senior, $15 student, ect) Don't be alarmed! Because what you may not notice is that these prices are "recommended", meaning you pay whatever you want, or whatever you can afford! A lot of the museums in NYC are like this! Don't miss out on the experience because you can't afford it! The purpose of the museum is to bring the art to the masses! So, if you can only pay a dollar per person, DO IT! I can promise you won't regret it!

My last pieces of advice are straight from the mouths of the guards! Don't try to charge your phone in the corner behind a sarcophagus, don't carry your baby on your shoulders, don't try to photograph one certain collection of sculptures, and lastly DON'T try to sneak a sip of the diet coke you hid in you diaper bag (they will see you)!!!! So maybe they have a lot of rules, but they do have like some of the most famous/valuable art in the world so I GUESS they have to protect it! :)

I didn't take like almost any pics at the Met (mostly because one guard scolded me for trying to take a picture of one of the restricted pieces) but I did get this pic of a half naked old guy walking down the street wearing a safari hat... and it is in front of the Met.