Travels in the 2nd half

The Christmas Market is a European tradition that dates back to the 13-14th centuries in what is today Germany. Markets in Europe open with the start of Advent, which begins on the 4th Sunday before Christmas for most Christian sects. These outdoor markets are usually stalls selling traditional food and gift items. The markets often also include a nativity scene, carolers and Christmas trees. More recently cities around the world have begun to set up Christmas markets. In NYC we have several. Union Square Holiday Market My favorite Holiday fair is the Union Square Holiday Market . Taking up the southern end of Union Square (along 14th street) This market invites to to slow down an wander through its aisles of stalls. With 300 vendors there is a lot to see. The aisles are a little tight, especially on a weekend when it gets crowded. One vendor I liked was Spices and Tease. Their booth was lined with beautiful bowls of spices and teas. Much like a Middle Eastern baz...

I am taking this week off.  Enjoy your Holiday, I will be back next week with a new destination!

It is holiday party time and that means many of us are reaching for the instant onion soup and sour cream to make dip. I found an excellent and easy replacement - körözött. Körözött is a Hungarian cheese spread. In The New York Cookbook , Molly O'Neill gives a recipe from Andre Balog, manager at Paprikas Weiss, a spice store on the Upper East Side of NYC. This type of cheese dip was common throughout the old Austro-Hungarian Empire. It can be made of a mixture of creamy cheese and goat cheese. Spices are added to give individual taste.   The heart of the dip is a mixture of 8 oz. of cream cheese, 4 oz. of Bryndza cheese and a stick of butter. To this mixture add paprika, onion and caraway seeds. Or mix whatever spices you might like. It is easy, fast and tastes much better that that old sour cream dip. Serve on crackers, or a good, hearty peasant bread. This dip will be the hit of the party.

The Elevated Acre As I have written in my last post about the Financial District, there has been a lot of new construction during the past 40 years. One positive aspect of all of these new buildings is that New York City has given developers extra floors in their buildings in return for open space and plazas. Some of these open spaces are old squares and plazas dating back to colonial New York, some of them are just little spaces at the intersections of streets, and some of them are large, new spaces that just could not be there without the new buildings. There is a wonderful little pocket park at the corner of Water Street and Pine Street. The park has benches for hanging out and a lovely sculpture by Taiwanese artist Yuyu Yang , called the East-West Gate. A couple of blocks south from The East-West Gate, Water Street crosses Old Slip. Old Slip gets its name because it used to be a boat dock. Most of the old docks along the East Side of the Financial District were f...

  St. Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in North America. It was also the original home of Florida tourism. Henry Flagler was one of the founders, along with John D. Rockefeller and Samuel Andrews, of Standard Oil. However when his first wife became ill, Flagler traveled to Jacksonville FL. After she died, he remarried and moved to St. Augustine with his new bride. The Cyclopaedia of American biography, 1918 Flagler quickly saw that Florida could become a tourist destination for the rich of the northern United States. To facilitate this he built his first hotel in St. Augustine - The Ponce de León . Today this masterpiece is the heart of Flagler College. He also purchased the Florida East Coast Railway to provide passage south from Jacksonville. Advertisement from 1913 In 1887 Flagler built The Hotel Alcazar, as an overflow hotel for the Ponce de León. The two hotels sat across the street from each other. The building is base...