09/10/12 - 0 Comments
This Week: Things To Do
Fall is in the air—but, please, don’t let that stop you from getting out and strutting your stuff, because it’s certainly not stopping New York from being actively fashionable. With Fashion Week in town from September 6 to September 13 (although, really, do we have to remind you of the dates?), the city is pulling out all the stops to make sure that culture doesn’t end with the designers’ spring/summer runway shows. New restaurants, new stores, fall-inspired festivals—the list is endless. This week, NYC is in the mood for autumn.
What to Read: The Roots of the Olive Tree by Courtney Miller Santo
This week, we thought we’d get in a festive fall mood by picking up some harvest-themed reading. The Roots of the Olive Tree by Courtney Miller Santo is, aside from being a book set on an olive farm, a story about five powerful ladies with a secret—two of our absolute favorite things! Anna, the oldest member of the Keller family, is 112 years old and still looking fabulous. Somehow, on their tiny farm in Northern California, these women have come across the secret of longevity, and a geneticist wants in. According to IndieBound, The Roots of the Olive Tree is “a beautiful debut novel that goes best with a pitcher of iced tea and a seriously comfy chair”—exactly what we love in our fall books.
Bonus! Where to Read: Brooklyn Book Festival
Seriously, a festival dedicated to books—how could this not be a good idea? On September 23 at the Brooklyn Borough Hall and Plaza, more than 280 authors will participate in over 100 panels about everything literature and everything books. Even better, the day’s events are all free. For any serious bibliophile, the Brooklyn Book Festival is definitely an event that should be marked in bold on your calendar.
Where to Eat: Cómodo
There are plenty of reasons why Cómodo has caught our attention. And while it isn’t hard to come up with a good reason to try a new and flavorful Latin-American restaurant, visiting Cómodo is one of our top priorities this week because this new restaurant has the most charming backstory.
The whole project started when Tamy Rofe (the writer) and Felipe Donnelly (the chef) decided that they wanted to spend an entire year hosting weekly dinner parties at their home, where they do the cooking and their friends bring the wine. Pretty soon, the project grew bigger than either of them imagined. They had to move to a new space to accommodate the friends and even newcomers who were all begging to be invited. Cómodo was their inventive solution, and we love the family, conversational feel—and, of course, the food. We’re dying to try Felipe’s escolar (line-caught wild white tuna with agridulce blueberry sauce served with red rice). From pop-up dinner party to a gourmet affair—yep, we’re pretty pumped.
Urban Countryside: Corn Maze at Queens Farm Museum and the New York City Honey Festival
Many New Yorkers miss out on much of the fall experience. Hay rides and apple bobbing, they assume, are just not possible in a city like this. Well, we’re happy to announce that this assumption is dead wrong. It’s surprising how easy it is to get a taste of the good old country air.
Two of our favorite fall activities are the annual three acre corn maze at the Queens Farm Museum (Saturdays and Sundays from September 15 to October 28) and the New York City Honey Festival at the Brooklyn Grange Farm (September 15). At both events, urban spaces transform into fun country festivities and we’re definitely looking forward to looking stylish in some farm-appropriate boots.
Where to Stay: Hotel BPM
Hotel BPM—”Where music meets hospitality,” as their website brags. Ladies, we haven’t been this stoked about a hotel opening since, well, ever. Hotel BPM, or “beats per minute,” is the latest luxury reason to decide to spend a night out in Brooklyn. Guests really do get VIP treatment here—when you book your stay you can request that your favorite song be added to the hotel’s playlist, arranged by DJ BIJAL, the hotel’s founder. Along with standard hotel amenities like fine linens and wifi, all rooms at Hotel BPM come standard with the latest entertainment magazines like Rolling Stone and Vibe, as well as a sound system incorporated into your room and bathroom, making it easy to jam as you get ready to head out.
Fabulous Festivals: The Feast of San Gennaro
The 86th Annual Feast of San Gennaro is all set to get started this September in Little Italy. From September 13 to September 23, more than one million people are expected to show up to help NYC’s oldest Italian community celebrate the salute of the patron saint of Naples. Expect parades and music. Oh, and food. Personally, we’re excited for the cannoli eating competition on September 13.
A Bit of Culture: Tony Orrico: Penwald 15 at the New Museum
As cultured women, we like to look at art in museums. What we love even more, though, is watching the art be created firsthand. On September 22, Tony Orrico will create/perform his “Penwald 15” drawing—only Orrico won’t be just drawing with his hands. Instead, he’ll use his whole body and all of his experience as a choreographer to use gestures and bio-geometrics to create graphite drawings that bring to mind a blending of Sol LeWitt and Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man. Precise mathematical gestures mixed with human error equals one evening of entertaining art.
Where to Shop: The Art of Knit by United Colors of Benetton
You don’t have to tell us that fashion is sexy. Sexy knitwear, on the other hand—that we’d have to see to believe. Well, ladies, the folks at United Colors of Benetton have convinced us with their latest NYC location, The Art of Knit, in SoHo. In this pop-up shop, open from Fashion’s Night Out until December 31, the team at Benetton seems to have taken a page from Anja Rubik’s playbook by featuring yarn-covered mannequins posed in provocative positions. As Sam Baron, the design director of Fabrica responsible for last year’s UnHate ad campaign, which featured prominent political leaders making out, explained to NTN24, “It’s not about provocating. It’s about making people think twice.”
Well, Baron and the Benetton team have certainly done that. On top of the fabulously season-appropriate knits on display, the yarn-wrapped mannequins are definitely cause for pause (the full-body yarn attire not so subtly reminding us of S&M gear). There’s even a set of mannequins posed on the building’s roof. Sexy knitwear: we’re definitely believers.
Photo credit: Barnes and Noble, The Village Voice, Thrillist, Joshua Bousel, New York City Honey Festival, Hotel BPM, TheyKnow.com, Gothamist, New Museum, United Colors of Benetton
