And in the 'How Could I Have Missed This' Category: ChikaLicious!

A restaurant that only serves desserts. That is all I have to say.

Well, no, I'll go on a bit more, given this joint dishes up the things I love best, cakes and pastries and ice cream and stuff. At ChikaLicious, A prix fixe menu allows for an amuse, choice of dessert, and petit fours. Located on the lower east side at 203 E. 10th, I'll be heading there as soon as my blood sugar drops after holiday candy overload. Be sure to check out their Dessert Club, too!

Man on Wire Balances the Obsession with Artistry and NYC

Perhaps the best film I've seen on the obsession and sometimes madness required to follow one's dream, Man on Wire artfully explores Philippe Petit's quarter-mile high walk between the World Trade Center's Twin Towers in 1974. It is also a love letter to New York City.

Petit began dreaming of stringing a wire between the world's tallest buildings upon reading an article on their construction in a dentist's waiting room. He built some notoriety in the time it took for the Towers to be built by performing high-above balancing acts in notorious locations like Notre Dame Cathedral and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. But upon completion, the Towers were a quarter of a mile high, hundreds of feet apart, built to sway in the wind. It was impossible, ludicrous to think of such a feat. Certain death.

Still, Petit and his cohorts schemed and planned the perfect caper. The film amusingly captures the process of how, amid strict security and impossible odds, a wire could be strung from one tower to another. Petit's love of mischief and sheer chutzpah has him disguised as construction worker, tourist, and even journalist in order to gather the necessary information for the stunt. Even knowing the outcome, the personal accounts and sublime editing leave you on the edge of your seat. When Petit finally steps out on that fateful wire, there is awe. Not only from the great physical achievement, but in witnessing the realization of a persistent and agonizing dream.

Less overtly, Man on Wire lovingly explores New York City and just how this city can get under your skin. The shear lust for the place can drive anyone to madness, as the Towers arguably did to Petit. And while left unsaid, the knowledge that the site of Petit's masterpiece no longer stands adds a gentle poignancy.

For anyone whose life-long dream of this city sweetly haunts and torments them, Man on Wire dares us to believe that following such fancy is as magically possible as walking on thin air.

NYC Charities: 'Tis the Season for Giving

I don't know about you, but all this talk of the economy has me feeling not at all in the holiday spirit. So I've turned off my tv and am making an effort to celebrate all I do have, and how even in tough times I can give a little. I am so blessed to live in the amazing New York City. Unfortunately, some out there are struggling. Here are some favorite places that help:

The Bowery Mission: probably one of the best known missions in town, they provide a ton of help to those in need. Programs range from shelter to food to educating men and women on how to get back on their feet.

Central Park Conservancy: to raise the spirit, sometimes there is nothing better than nature. This group keeps Central Park the gorgeous masterpiece it is.

City Harvest: rescues food to feed the hungry, and they'll arrange to pick up leftovers to distribute to New Yorkers who really need it.

God's Love We Deliver: improves the lives of children, women and men living with HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening illnesses by delivering delicious and nutritious meals.

Fresh Air Fund: this 130+ year old charity gives inner-city children the joy of a summer vacation. Be a host family or donate to help provide great memories for NYC children in need.

New York Times Neediest Cases: arguably the best paper in the world, the New York Times pays all administrative costs of this charity so that donations can go directly to troubled children, adults and the elderly, many of whom are profiled on its pages.

New York Cares: mobilizes New Yorkers into volunteerism. They also run a very successful coat drive to help keep New Yorkers in need warm.

New York Foundation for the Arts: provides NYC artists with financial assistance and publicity, and serves the artistic community with comprehensive info on employment opps, grants, and more.

North Shore Animal League: a great no-kill shelter and helps thousands of pets find new homes.

Robin Hood Foundation: targets and funds the best programs that alleviate poverty in the city to maximize their effectiveness.

And here are a few of my fav global groups that are worth supporting as well:

The Hunger Project: helps those in extreme poverty meet their basic needs and build a better life for their communities. Especially good at empowering women, this is an amazing, high-impact group.

Habitat for Humanity: builds homes for those who need them and a classic example of how to empower those less fortunate by providing permanent shelter.

Susan G. Komen for the Cure: the nation's premier organization leading the fight against breast cancer, and the group behind the amazing Komen Race for the Cure. Go pink!

The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research: my grandmother had this debilitating disease, and this great group is making real strides in finding a cure.

There are many, many others that I am sure to have missed, but you can always find more at NYCharities.org. Feel free to add more in the comments section, and Happy Holidays all!

Kermit sings "New York, I Love You, but..."

Thanks for the heads up on this, Robin.

The Few, the Fave Restaurants in NYC

You are never supposed to tell another New Yorker about a great restaurant. Well, you can, but you run the risk of the place being overrun and suddenly your favorite table is always unavailable. But hey, it is tough to find a good nosh spot in this vast city, so I thought I'd jot a few down here (at the risk of ticking off my friends who recommended them. Sorry!) Would love to hear your top restaurant picks, especially on the Lower East Side or Midtown. Here are a few of my favorites:

Soho:
Balthazar: 80 Spring St. 212-965-1212 (French. Amazing escargot.)

West Village:
Alta: 64 W. 10th St. 212-505-7777 (Tapas. Great atmosphere.)
Cafe Asean: 117 W. 10th 212-633-0348 (casual but hip pan-Asian, with beautiful, romantic garden in the back.)

Upper West Side
Isabella's: 659 Columbus Ave. (At 77th) 212-724-2100 (American food. Iconic restaurant.)
Mermaid Inn: 658 Amsterdam Ave. (At 87/88th) 212-799-7400 (hip and happening seafood.)
Blossom: 466 Columbus Ave. (At 82nd/83rd) 212-875-2600 (great vegetarian. Also a location in the Village.)
Josephina's: 1900 Broadway (btw 63/64th) 212-799-1000 (American. Great spot near Lincoln Center.)

East Village
Banjara: 97 First Ave. (at E. 6th St.) 212-477-5956 (Indian food galare.)

Live Hard with LVHRD

Cool stuff begets cool stuff. At Lucid NYC the other night, I saw a presentation by the viral buzz genius behind thehappycorp. He is also involved in an inspired event series LVHRD.

There is a similar premise to Lucid NYC - bring together like minded people in a way that is mind expanding, not numbing. The next happening is Monday, Nov. 24 at 8pm, something to do with on-the-spot fashion design out of material yet-to-be-determined. The event is in the mecca of hip, Williamsburg, at a mystery location. Get more info here.

Awaken Your Social Self with Lucid NYC

There are enough social things to do on a Thursday nite in NYC to make your head spin. Most are fun, frivolous, fancy. But if you are searching for a night out that mixes the whirl of massive mingling with a drop of social enlightenment, then come to a Lucid NYC event.

Lucid NYC is a new social experiment. The model is simple - throw a party in a chic Manhattan loft space and let a few presenters onstage to gab briefly about how they are changing the world. People interface on what they have heard and are inspired to also change the world. Not too ambitious now, is it?

Luckily, Lucid NYC exists totally without pretension and holier-than-thou preachiness. Every event I've attended has an overstock of humor. Presentations have covered every topic from ending world hunger (The Hunger Project) to the world's worst automobile race (The Mongol Rally). I've learned about Freegans as well as a recent corporate innovation exercise at an NPR station. Attendees are of the hip, arty, whipsmart and enlightened variety. Let's just say its a good time.

So hope to see you at the next event, which is scheduled for November 20. Check Lucid NYC's website for more details.

NYC Voting on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008

This election will mark my first time voting in NYC. I'm registered and ready. Polling places are open from 6:00 am to 9:00 pm. Here is a great link from the NYC Board of Elections with details, and you can click here to find your polling site.

Have a wonderful, history making day.

New York City Photo Safaris

My high school friend Karen, who lives in Florida, turned me on to this cool happening this weekend. Leave it to the hip out-of-towners to spread the word! Anyway, Photo Safaris are these fun-fabulous photo events put together by Photojojo. According to their site, (1) You bring a camera (2) You take pictures (3) You go to a gathering place and put photos in a slideshow to win prizes. This weekend's event is hosted by Jake Dobkin of Gothamist fame. Sounds cool to me.

Cost is free and upcoming NYC events are on 10/25, 11/15, 12/6. There is no need to pre-register, but because details can change at the last minute they recommend you sign up for emails. You can also read more details about each safari on Facebook.

Check it out and be creative:

Saturday, October 25th / NYC
DUMBO Street Art Photo Tour
Host: Jake Dobkin of Gothamist & Streetsy
Time: 3:30 pm (RSVP)
Meet at: York St F stop

Gee... wish I had a photo to insert in here....

Here is New York

My friend Katherine, who followed her dream of living in NYC all the way from Australia, read this passage from E.B. White and sent it along to me. It makes us both cry:

There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born there, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size, its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter--the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something. Of these trembling cities the greatest is the last--the city of final destination, the city that is a goal. It is this third city that accounts for New York’s high strung disposition, its poetical deportment, its dedication to the arts, and its incomparable achievements. Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness, natives give it solidity and continuity, but the settlers give it passion. And whether it is a farmer arriving from a small town in Mississippi to escape the indignity of being observed by her neighbors, or a boy arriving from the Corn Belt with a manuscript in his suitcase and a pain in his heart, it makes no difference: each embraces New York with the intense excitement of first love, each absorbs New York with the fresh yes of an adventurer, each generates heat and light to dwarf the Consolidated Edison Company. . . .

"Here Is New York" was written in 1948 and appears in Essays of E.B. White, Harper, 1977