Monday, July 21, 2008

Dali, Waterfalls and Stone Barns


The Road Show has been in New York for the past week! I went to the Museum of Modern Art
to see an interesting exhibit of Salvador Dali's art and his films. There was an interesting section about a collaboration with the Walt Disney Company where Dali was to do the illustrations to a piece of music a la Fantasia. A lot of drawings were made,but only a few seconds of film were completed. People at Disney finally completed the film about 5 years ago. It's called Destino
and hopefully will be released in the future, although I don't know when. There's a new exhibit on prefab housing, but that hadn't opened when I was there.This photo shows tired people at MOMA.

I also saw art at the Rubin Museum, The Folk Art Museum, the Met, and the Neue Gallery. I especially liked the Himalayan exhibits, the art of Henry Darger, the balloon dog by Jeff Koons, and the turn-of-the-century German jewelry.

On Saturday, DH and I took a New York Water Taxi tour of the New York City Waterfalls. These are 4 artificial waterfalls constructed on scaffolds that are over 100 feet high. They are an art installation by Olafur Eliasson. I liked the one under the Brooklyn Bridge the best. The boat is a great way to see all the falls, and I would recommend getting a sunset tour. At night the falls are lighted, which we didn't see, but I heard that's the best way to see them.
We also got some great views of the NY Harbor and the Statue of Liberty.

My gourmet adventure for this trip was to eat at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, in Pocantico Hills, NY. This restaurant is owned by Dan Barber, a famous chef and restauranteur, and is special because they grow lots of their own food, harvest it and prepare it on site. In the summer, they do tasting menus and we chose a 5-course meal. There are lots of amuse-bouches as well, and the servings are small, so you can eat a lot before you feel full. I'll post pics when I get them uploaded.
The service is great and the food was excellent! There was a small uproar at our table when 2 different desserts were served-we had no choice as to what we got. A few who would have preferred the chocolate dessert were reduced to begging from their neighbors and some wanted to have had both desserts on one plate. Luckily, a plate of truffles and homemade marshmallows presented at the end soothed some souls. Thanks to the hardy eaters who went on the adventure with me! You know who you are!

The RS heads home soon and will next post about a weekend in the Hill Country!