Escape

Manhattan Skyline

Last week Alex and I escaped to New York for a few days while my husband went on his own excursion through Hong Kong, Taipei and Seoul. The prospects of driving for two hours with an active baby was nerve wracking, and I almost talked myself out of the trip imagining a red-faced baby crying hysterically in the backseat but off I went desperate to get out of the suburbs. As it turns out Alex slept the whole way there and back.

Alex's lucky play date with the cutest little girl in Hoboken

The reward was a reunion with a friend who I met in my obstetrician's office, her rambunctious 4-year old son and sweet daughter who is a week apart from Alex. It was so great to watch the loving care of an experienced mother and highlighted how much I yet to learn.

Grimaldi's Pizza of Hoboken

Choc-o-pain of Hoboken

We popped into Grimaldi's, Hoboken's renown pizzeria, where Alex stood fascinated by disks of pizza dough spinning in the air. The charmed chef was only happy to oblige spinning more pizza dough to feed my little boy's fascination as he squealed and kicked his chubby short legs. We topped off the experience with a heavenly warm crisp melted chocolate croissant from Choc-o-pain.

Lower Manhattan

Across the Hudson River we step onto our beloved urban jungle, where we spent a few days with a very dear friend of mine and her two sweet children Ben and Jenny. The delights of this busy city occupied Alex's attention from the tall building, bright lights, ferries jetting across the Hudson to the helicopters chopping over our head and sirens screaming along the West side highway. There was a time when I found these things a severe nuisance, but on this visit my heart was riveted.

New Trade Tower

Eataly, Madison Square

Along with the sky high sights of Manhattan, I made sure to hit a couple old haunts including Eataly, Mario Batali's Italian market, where we picked up a couple of exotic ingredients, such as kaffir lime leaves and a chunk of mangalitsa lardo, which is pure and glorious creamy pork fat sliced thinly and meant to be eaten on a good-quality piece of bread. The highlight of our trip was lunch at Andrew Carmellini's Locanda Verde, where Alex shared with us a porchetta sandwich that was so tender it seemingly disintegrated upon bite. Also notable was the tartara Piedmontese, which was beef tartar integrated with luxurious black truffles and topped with a quail egg. It was like nibbling pieces of Italian heaven. Locanda Verde is one of my top recommendations if you are visiting New York. Between my foodie friends and I, we've never had a meal here that disappointed.

Hudson River from Battery Park

This was our first mother-son trip, and while it was not very far from home nor was it new to either of us, it was still quite a memorable escape. My favorite recollection is sitting before an abnormally serene Hudson River against the backdrop of a glowing sunset with my sweet little boy while we were feeding the sea gulls. I watched Alex's arms stretch up to the sky towards the sea gulls circling above us. It was as if he thought that if he just reached his short baby arms out far enough he would be able to capture these mystical birds. It was then and there that I realized how much I live vicariously through Alex, and how wonderful it was to experience the newness and magic of the world again.

At the end of each day Alex was passed out faced down on the floor. It is cute now but it also made for an uneasy foreshadowing of things to come ....err... his college years? If so, hopefully it's not farther out.