october checklist
Is October my favorite month? It might just be. Every year I hope and pray summer will never end, and then suddenly there's a crisp morning and I remember: this is when NY is at its best. A slight nip, a change in the lighting, and suddenly the city takes on depth and just a little pathos and it's all too movie-like. No one can live like that forever, and so fleeting it is. But while it's here, revel.
Storm King: I've always wanted to visit this incredible outdoor space with enormous installations built into the natural landscape of upstate NY. While we were lucky enough to be taken there this month, YOU should go immediately, which means October. The leaves were just changing when we were there, creating a beautiful backdrop to the enormous pieces ranging from the abstract to a three-footed Buddha, from a hand-built wall to a mirror fence. Totally incredible, and very child-friendly (though sadly their lawyers seem to have caught on to the fact that clambering on top of the sculptures may be a liability).
Rucola: Our local neighborhood spot in Boerum Hill and fall is when it shines - tuck yourself into a candelit corner, order a glass of red, and a nice big bowl of mushroom pasta, some chocolate mousse and just be happy to be there.
Prince St. Pizza + Hocus Pocus: The best of traditions, because we're actually nine. On the Friday night pre-Halloween, I pick up an enormous box of Prince St.'s finest squares (arguably the best pizza in the city) and bring it home to inhale while watching Hocus Pocus. Bette Midler and the most perfectly curled up little swirls of pepperoni: it doesn't get much better.
Cider + bourbon: The thought of this drink brings comfort as the days start getting darker earlier. Procure yourself a nice big jug of real apple cider, the non-alcy kind, and then dose it up with bourbon or scotch, throw in a cinnamon stick if you're getting fancy. Hot, it's hygge all the way; cold, it's a refreshing way to remember the winter will be a-okay.
Sticky buns: As part of the man's christmas gift last year, I got him a cast-iron pan, ostensibly so he could get that perfect seer and make the perfect egg... but really so that I could make adorable baked goods all squished up together. I've been waiting for the perfect Sunday morning for a pan-full of cinnamon goodness, and by October I think we've earned it.
Hitchcock time: I grew up watching Hitchcock's sleek and adventury tales (To Catch A Thief, North by Northwest) and in college took a class that dove into his darker side (stocking murders, anyone?). In the summer I want all bubbles and froth and action sequences; come October I'm ready to hunker down again with the classics, all stylized and shadowy. This year I finally managed to snag tickets to Rebecca playing during City Cinemas October spree.
Also, while on movies: Arsenic & Old Lace is an old charmer that is perfect for Halloween. The tale of tiny old sweet ladies who kill their gentlemen callers via elderberry wine and bury them in the cellar is in my opinion one of the most underrated films of all time. Carey Grant as the nephew who stumbles into the scheme is all screeches and harrumphs, but the real show stealer is John Alexander who plays their second nephew... who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt. Total absurdist, raucous joy with just a little creepiness thrown in for fun.
Wifey: A pop up shop in a former renal (?!) center from Simone Shubuck, a former florist formerly of the food world (who happens to be married to Adam Rapoport, the Editor-in-Chief of Bon Appetit). Bringing together soft serve and pastries from the Estela crew, beautiful ceramics, and, one hopes, flowers, this literally might be my dream and I hope to go all the time (but plan to at least once).
