May has been the month of food festivals for me! This girl is surely not complaining either. As you all probably know by reading my blog.. one of my favorite things about NYC? Definitely the food! The first food festival of the month I went to was called LuckyRice. Some of our friends ended up having an extra couple of tickets so Chris and I were the lucky ones that got to use them!

LuckyRice is a food festival that has been a sold-out event since 2010, celebrating the culture and flavors of Asia. After such success in NYC, the festival is also heading to Los Angeles and Las Vegas this year. 

The event took place in DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) in Brooklyn. If you watch Gossip Girl, It was right around the apartment that Dan lives in (little dose of tv facts for you). When they say sold-out event, they really mean sold-out! All of the food tastings took place under the actually bridge and space was pretty tight. When you live in NYC, packed events start to become the norm. Once we tried a variety of bites from amazing restaurants we headed into the other part of the festival. The drink loft! We discovered the area early into the event so we took advantage of cocktail and sake wine samplings before the mob flooded the area as well. 

We wrapped up the evening with a performance from the night festival’s head-lining band, The Notorious MSG. And yes, that is their real name, I couldn’t make it up if I tried!

Something I have been wanting to do for awhile is check out the driving range at Chelsea Piers. Confession. I don’t golf (unless you want to count mini golf). I don’t aspire to golf. And, if we’re being completely honest, I fell asleep watching the Masters this year. So why head to the driving range? I’m not sure. Something about hitting a bucket of balls out on the Hudson river just seemed like an alluring idea to try out. So that is just what we did! 

We headed to Chelsea Piers and bought a $25 card for balls, rented a $4 driver and waited for our ticket to be called. We got at the driving range at a great time because they were just about to go to their “off peak” hours, which means the balls were less expensive. When our number was called I was ready to go! Up to the third floor we went. 

When I got up into our post I tried recalling my memory for advice my Aunt Di and Uncle Del gave me the last time I was at the driving range. Feet shoulder width apart, a straight back, and hand over hand? Hopefully my memory didn’t fail me too bad since that was probably at least 10 years ago. What I really remember was that it was an uncomfortable position, and I nailed the uncomfortable part again so that has to count for something right?

Regardless of our poor form, we still had a great time and I only missed the ball a couple of times. I did accidentally hit the poor golf cart driving around collecting the balls though. Oops. Luckily those carts are pretty geared up to deflect the balls so hopefully I wasn’t the first person to do that of the day. I just said I was going to try my best to hit the balls, that aiming thing is a whole other issue!

It was so much fun though! It was pretty cool too because you didn’t actually get a bucket of balls to hit. Instead the tee and ball automatically came up from your post each time after you hit a ball. It was like a whack a mole machine kind of. Hit a ball, another tee and ball came up, hit, ball. It was such a cool view too because the range is floating over the river and you can see New Jersey on the other side. The sun was also starting to set while we were hitting, which made for a pretty beautiful evening. I definitely won’t be going pro anytime soon, but I’m glad we checked it out!

I’m so excited to finally write to you all about the Death Cab for Cutie concert! I bought tickets for the show in late January as a Valentine’s Day present to Chris and it feels like it seems like we’ve been in count-down mode forever! 

I was also pretty excited about the concert because 1. It’s a band that Chris and I both enjoy (this doesn’t happen, more often than not) 2. The show was at the Beacon Theatre and I have only heard great things about the venue 3. They were performing with an orchestra! How often does that happen at an alternative rock show? and 4. Death Cab is from Bellingham, WA — shout-out to the home state!

The venue, lived up to every one of my expectations. The theatre is done-up in ornate detailing from wall-to-wall expressing vintage and classic decor.  I would expect nothing less from Samuel “Roxy” Rothafel who was the “brainchild” behind the Beacon and its sister theatre the Radio City Music Hall. When you walk through the doors you can envision the past musical, dramatic, and other arts acts that have taken place within its quarters all the way back to the 1920’s.

At 2,600 seats, the venue also provides an intimate concert experience compared to other larger venues. Don’t let me forget to mention that it is also known for its phenomenal acoustics, which makes it a favorite for concert-goers. Because of the size, and the steepness of the seats there really isn’t a bad seat inside the venue. Pssst, if you haven’t caught on already I really LOVED this concert and theatre ;-)

So how was the actual concert? Truly amazing. Definitely one of my favorites in the city so far. Death Cab is a band I’ve been listening to since the early 2000’s (They started in 1997) so it was so awesome to see them in concert and listen to songs I’ve really grown up on over the last 12 years. Ben Gibbard is the lead singer, and he really has a way of capturing emotion in his songs. Chris really said it best by saying no one does depressing much better than their band. Which, well, sounds depressing, but the great thing about their music is they can take deep emotion from hardships and life and turn it into something inspiring. Add in the 8 piece string section from Magik*Magik Orchestra and it really just added a completely different dimension to their music.

Definitely a night to remember here in the city and every cent well spent on tickets!