Strolling Through the Midtown Central Farmer's Market

Twice a year, the Central Market at Midtown's 30 Rockefeller Plaza opens, bringing from Wednesday through Friday fresh fruit, vegetables, pies, quiches, cookies, muffins, butter, bread and unpasteurized juice with which to torture H1.

She is always talking about stomach aches and unpasteurized juice or some such thing.

Every year we take a gander through and over the years we discovered that quiches, apple cider doughnuts and cookies from Meredith's are awesome, mini pies are a wonderful little treat and fresh white bread from the Amish stall is the best.  The Red Apple Orchard gives us yummy juice blends and we have yet to buy a jar of honey from someplace.

This year we discovered a new favourite from the Breezy Hill Orchard.

I present to you a table full of cranberry walnut squares.

Summer Fun in Midtown 2011: The Tons of Buns Edition

Last year, The HOchieS ventured away from the desks at work to go the annual event for cheap sample lunches from the restaurant vendors in and around Rockefeller Center.

As with last year's event, the plaza was filled with green umbrellas, Midtown suits looking for eats, and a Super Scooper Ben & Jerry's man who scooped the good stuff out for $1.00.

In what may become a yearly tradition, we again went out to this fair to get our brains addled by the sun for a decent meal to fill our bellies.

This was not actually during lunch, but earlier in the morning.

Almost Time

Oh NBC Summer Concert Series at Rockefeller Center, how I loathe thee.

Let me count the ways:

MAY

14 Sting  - Not bad on the crowd.  Should be manageable. 
21 The Script - Who?
27 “American Idol” winner and runner-up - Who cares?

JUNE

4 Justin Bieber - Shoot me now! Spare me the little girls who will be flocking Midtown with their hardback hard ass mothers screaming for this little no talent nightmare.
8 Christina Aguilera - Good voice, washed up by her own design.  Not expecting a crowd.
11 Rascal Flatts - should not be bad.  I will not be offended.
18 James Taylor and Carole King - ooo, classy.
25 Maxwell - I might have to hold H1 back.  Or something.  Hmm, crowd might be slightly out of hand.

JULY

2 Maroon 5 - LAME.  I hope no one shows up.
9 Lady Gaga - Let's see.  People will be sleeping on the street on Monday.  Not only will this be a ZOO, but it'll smell like one too.
16 Enrique Iglesias - Meh.
23 John Mayer - Would it be illegal to throw something at his smug, stupid face?
30 Carrie Underwood - Would it be illegal to throw something at her just 'cause?

AUGUST      

  6 Train - H1, we are not lingering! Ugh.
13 Ke$ha - Illegal or not, I'm throwing Bieber at her head.
20 Keith Urban - Boring.
27 Katy Perry - ... I really dislike this idiot.  Ugh.  Why does she have a career again?

Thus H1, it appears on  June 4th and July 9th we must make plans to be elsewhere in the morning.  Surely we can walk a little ways away on a different street to get to work.

However, do you not think that a dim sum trip and/or a Cafe Zaiya trip might be ten times better than crowds, tweens, crazies and work?

Mini-Concert

In all the years that H1 and I have been working at Rockefeller Plaza, as we have said before on this blog, we have had to endure rubbish mini-concerts as we walk past Rock. Centre on mornings.

Every summer, with assaulted ears, we shove through the throngs of old people, of tweens, of thugs, and emos (a tween is an emo though, so I suppose I am being redundant), depending on who is playing.

This year alone we have had to woefully experience Hannah Montana, NKOTB, Fergie, Kings of Leon Alicia Keys, Mariah Carey and Bon Jovi (twice, in two weeks - he was there this morning after being there for Veterans Day).

Last year for the first time, we had a bit of a pleasant shock when R.E.M. performed.  It was the pinnacle moment of glory in our six plus years of working in the area.

There's a saying H1 and I utter every time we go by and say to the screaming clusters..."unless it's Arctic Monkeys or MUSE, MOVE ALONG!"

That day has yet to come but we're one step closer to greatness...

MUSE will be performing on December 19th, 2009 at Rockefeller Center for their performance on SNL!!!!!!

Beetchie and X, will you two come with? Please?

Edit on 12/18/2009: And just like that, we're now two steps closer to greatness.  The performance is indoors, so no standing in the cold for me tomorrow.  Ah well.  At least our future is not as bleak as it once was.

NKOTB09

Assaulted for a week by ugly, and for what (for the second time by the same offenders)?



This girl honestly thought we were asking to take pictures of her because we were impressed by her jacket.

If not for her being so damned smug, I would have felt slightly sorry for taking a picture only to make fun, but since she was a biatch then I just feel slightly sorry...for myself, my camera eye and H1.

Also, you can't see the entire sign (click the picture to see it clearly) but it said "California Girls Got The Right Stuff".



This girl - Californian or not, she clearly believes that she's got the right stuff.

Currently: Waiting for my meat pie to finish baking.

Yesterday's Mini-Concert

The "show" at NBC yesterday morning was one we could have done without. As we were doing our usual walk-by, we heard Fergie and she sounded much like how her face looks: like ass.

Apparently many others could have done without that show as well because no one was there. Bwahahahahahaha.

April Fools, Adventures on the Street and Misadventures at the Train Station

H1 and I have walked past Rockefeller Center countless times and have often been forcefully mini-concerted upon.
There have been countless times that we cursed people out for sidestopping instead of sidewalking, 2 times we've walked the devil's path through throngs of 9 year old to 37 year olds screaming for a not yet legal Chris Brown, and we are currently dreading the sea of umbrellas that will assault our senses on a sunny day in June when Man Hands Rihanna plays (Frass, are you taking note?) - we can only hope she gets rained out much like NKOTB did yesterday.

NBC's Today Show played a trick on NYC on April Fool's Day by actually having a good band perform a mini-concert. We actually stopped for a while. I got a picture with camera eye and LO, which isn't as good:



See that bald head? Michael Stipe, people! R.E.M.! I've not R.E.M.'d in a decade and forgot just how good that is. They sounded amazing as expected. Memories…ahhh.

The first week of April proved rather eventful, in addition to an R.E.M. sighting.

We spotted an April Fool's joke - and it was plastered all over Grand Central Terminal, and surprisingly tied in quite nicely to this week's episode of South Park:



Also found in Grand Central 2 warm mornings later, was someone who apparently just got back from Montreal:



Those Canadians, they're really not my friends, buddy.

This week was also Scotland Week in NYC.

A cart half an hour late on a rainy Friday morning made for an empty stomach of sheep's stomach.



I at least got a picture of the damned cart that was giving out free haggis of which I had none.

But H1, thanks a lot for putting my name out there on a blog for all to see.

You are so not my pal.

Currently listening to: "Sing For The Submarine" by R.E.M.