First's

This past Friday Stuart and I got to experience two of our first's in NY, the NYC Ballet and our first Mexican food dinner. We had high hopes for the NYC Ballet but not so much for NYC's interpretation of 'South of the Border' specialties...I mean we are really far from Mexico, but we had to try since our hankering for a taste of home was so strong.

Jalapeño

As we made our way north from our house to the Upper West Side, we came across Jalapeño, a Mexican food restaurant. The interior was warm and inviting and upon entering we were kindly welcomed in and did not get the normal "crooked, confused face" from a rude hostess that can't believe we would not have made a reservation. Geezzz...one thing we have learned about NYC is never show up somewhere expecting you can just go in. Everything seems to require reservations, tickets, 3 months pre-planning, or a possible hour or two wait. We are adjusting though and in the process becoming a little less spontaneous and instead a little more planned, by force of the city. Stuart made the comment the other day that he has become a lot more patient because of this city, and I totally agree. You have to approach NYC with the idea that so many things are out of your control and you just need to roll with the punches (literally, since this is how I feel walking home sometimes as I get elbowed in the back by the other hundreds of people walking home in Midtown). Anyway, back to Jalapeño, Stu ordered a pulled pork burrito and I tried the Veggie Tortilla soup. Both dishes were fairly basic, not very memorable, and definitely did not look or taste like anything you get back in Texas. And in true Texan form, you can only judge a Mexican restaurant by the chips and salsa, and Jalapeño just did not deliver. A shot glass size plastic cup full of Salsa won't cut it. All in all, we really did have fun trying our first Mexican food restaurant and judging it like a snooty Texan who knows a little bit about the cuisine.

Ballet

Our next stop was the NYC ballet to see Concerto in G Major! Another thing about NYC is that everything is insanely expensive, for this reason we got a little crafty in finding tickets to the ballet. Normal third tier tickets to the ballet have a face value of $89. This is pretty high for your first ballet experience, not knowing what to expect or if you will even enjoy it! There should definitely be a discount for first time ballet ticket purchasers, I am sure there is no way to keep track of this information, but it would surely get "non-ballet" goers to give it a try. After researching the ballet, I did a quick search on Craigslist and hit the jackpot with a guy selling third tier tickets for $20 each. Wow- it sounded too good to be true, but we are not scared and we went for it. It turns out the tickets were real, the seller was very nice, and it ended up that the seller works at the NYC Ballet and always gets discount tickets. We will now be pen pals with the seller and hopefully score many more tickets to the NYC ballet. The ballet was absolutely beautiful! It is mesmerizing to watch the dancers and imagine the work they have to do to bend, leap, and stretch into the positions that they do. I cannot wait to see a ballet with a more well known story line so that I am able to follow along easier. For two people who never see ballets on a regular basis, there is a shift in thinking that must take place because it is an art form where the story is played out by movements instead of words or pictures. It is quite interesting and keeps you engaged the entire time as you try to connect and interpret the dancers moves to the story they are trying to tell. I am sure this stands true for Opera but in a different way, and we plan on giving that a go next!

After all of Friday's fun, and just when we didn't think anything could get better, Stuart and I woke up to snowflakes falling past our window and our first white New York Day. I will save this story for the next post though...hehe! You can so tell I am in advertising with my little teasers- got to draw my viewers back for something. ;)