Rice to Riches

Only in New York City would you find a bustling establishment solely devoted to the sale of rice pudding.  Last Saturday night we entered this other-worldly portal...

Despite its futuristic appearance, Rice to Riches serves up some amazingly delicious, good ole fashioned rice pudding.  After entering, we were amazed by the hordes of people jostling their way up to the counter to marvel at the buckets of rice pudding.  After we overcame our initial wonder, we pushed our way the front, eager to sample as many flavors of rice pudding as possible. 

The flavors were seemingly endless: coconut, rum raisin, eggnogg, chocolate hazelnut, cinnamon, peanut butter, pumpkin spice, chocolate chip, chocolate chip cookie dough, pineapple...  John and I finally settled on a combo of rum raisin and eggnogg, served up in one of these funky containers shown below.

Let me tell you, the pudding was DELICIOUS!  And expensive.  The red container we shared set us back about $8.  Pudding is pricey!

Perhaps the most entertaining part of our rice pudding adventure was the establishment's decor: very blunt statements regarding rice pudding and health.

My personal favorite was a sign just over the cash register which said "Eat all you want! You're already fat."  Wow.  I think the signs were intended to liberate people and make them feel better for buying an $8 container of rice pudding...If you spend that much money on dessert, you better eat every last morsel!  Especially when it's this tasty.  (Note: John and I were able to eat in moderation.  We did not eat our entire container of rice pudding in one seating.)

The photo below isn't from Rice to Riches, but I thought it was nice.  So, I'm posting it anyway.

Over the Bridge

Last Thursday night John and I embarked on an adventure, accompanied by my sister, who was in town for the weekend.  Our adventure began at dusk, at City Hall Park.

Our mission was to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge to Grimaldi's Pizza, reportedly the best pizza in the NYC area.

By the time we reached the bridge, it was very dark.  There was a suprising amount of traffic on the bridge for 5pm on a Thursday night: walkers, tourists, runners, and cyclists.

It was very windy and chilly.  I tried to convince myself that the frigid weather and long walk provided a very good excuse for eating multiple slices of pizza.

By the time we reached Grimaldi's, John was very excited to eat.

Actually, I think he was humoring my request for a large smile.

Awwwww, sisters!  This makes me want to break out into the song "Sisters" from White Christmas.

We were a little wind-blown from the walk.

Yum!  Coal oven fired pizza. 

After the three of us scarfed down this entire pizza, we took the subway back home.

1 Month Anniversary

Last Tuesday was our one month wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe how quickly the past month has gone by.

John gave me these beautiful flowers to celebrate our first month as a married couple. I gave John a jacket. Ahh, romance!

Sunday Fun

We have been blessed this fall with wonderful, warm weather in New York. Last Sunday was particularly beautiful- 65 degrees and sunny. After church, John and I walked in Central Park and took in all the beautiful fall colors.
Now that the dark, cold weather has descended on the city, I will look at this picture often, just to remind myself what the sun looks like.

I'm thinking of selling the photo below to Wheaton College, for use in their marketing materials. What do you think? Central Park looks remarkably like Wheaton in the fall.

John likes this statue. I think it's a memorial to some Polish war or king.

Our long-arm photography skills are improving, slowly but surely.

Bear Mountain

On Saturday, John and I accompanied 100+ kids to Bear Mountain State Park. About an hour outside of New York City, Bear Mountain offers a wide variety of outdoor activities, including hiking, a lake, beautiful scenery, a zoo, and even an ice skating rink.

The field trip was part of our work with Operation Exodus Inner City (www.operationexodus.org), a Christian mentoring program for students living in Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City. John has volunteered with Operation Exodus for the past year, and I joined John as a volunteer in September. During my two months of involvement in the program, it has been a joy to see the impact of the gospel and positive adult relationships in the lives of our students.

On Saturday morning, we loaded 100 kids, about 20 mentors, and 200 sandwiches into 3 school buses. The drive out of the city was just beautiful. I really enjoyed seeing the fall colors.

After arriving at Bear Mountain, we soon saw why it is called "Bear Mountain."

Don't worry, this cuddly guy is in the Bear Mountain zoo.

The kids loved riding the carousel in the Bear Mountain Lodge.

Isn't it beautiful?

After lunch I went with a group of 4th and 5th grade girls on a hike.

We hiked all the way around this lake.

We stopped to test the "echo" over the lake. Much shouting and screaming ensued. Oh, to be a 5th grade girl again and have an endless supply of screams...

After our hike with the girls, we met up with John, who had taken his boys to the zoo.

We arrived back home at around 5pm, exhausted but refreshed by the beautiful scenery, lovely fall weather, and fun memories with the kids.

NY Rangers!

John and I attended a NY Rangers game recently. It was John's first time in Madison Square Garden (my first time too) and my first hockey game ever. Having grown up in a family that never watched sports, John has given me quite the introduction to the professional sports world!

The Rangers were playing the Boston Bruins. The Rangers won.

After the game, we took a quick walk through the park near our apartment. The fall colors are beautiful.

We're getting pretty skilled at long-arm photography. Wouldn't you agree?