Monday, March 10, 2014

Some Kind of Wonderful

All last week the forecasters kept saying the weekend would be lovely. I believe they even used the word 'warm', and I guess when viewed through the lens of the snowiest winter on record, they were sort of right. While temps did hit 50 degrees in the city on Saturday, I still needed a coat, scarf, and gloves, which is not my definition of warm. Warmer, yes but spring has not quite sprung here folks.

Saturday hubs and I had tickets to see the musical Beautiful. When I mentioned that here on Friday a few people thought I was going to see Carole King herself, but no. Beautiful is the Broadway show about her life and music, and it really was 'some kind of wonderful'. 

She wrote that song for those of you reading here scratching your heads. 

Carole King was in fact, a prolific song writer, and she wrote a lot of songs for other performers too, that you may not have realized were hers. She stopped touring and writing a few years ago, but wrote her first number one song, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow, when she was only 17 years old. So much talent!  


The actress playing Carole King in the show right now (Jessie Mueller) is completely convincing in the role, and is an amazing talent in her own right. The whole cast was phenomenal, and we absolutely loved the show from start to finish. 

Hubs and I saw a matinee which let out around 4:30, and then had an early-ish dinner reservation in Greenwich Village. Early for New York that is, 6 PM. The restaurant was about 30 blocks from the theatre, and while we had every intention of grabbing a cab (30 blocks is about a mile and a half), we started walking and just kept going. It was a nice evening for a walk.  

We dined at Gradisca, which came highly recommended by one of hub's co-workers. I'm sure we didn't need to walk that far to find great Italian food, because I'm not even kidding when I say there are over 10,000 Italian restaurants in the city (Trip Advisor lists over 11,000 on their site). We're all about a great recommendation though, so we walked. This particular work associate is married to an honest to goodness Italian, so we figure they know what they're talking about. 

And they do! Fantastico!  

Gradisca's is known for the owner's mama's pasta recipes, and when she's in town she can sometimes be seen set up at a table, making the pasta herself. I'd read some reviews online too, and everyone  raved about the tiramisu. We had to try it, didn't we? Delizioso!

Our backyard may still look like this...


...but Saturday turned out to be 'one fine day'

17 comments:

  1. Joyce, what a wonderful day with your Hubs. Aren't those times special and I even think at my age, even "specialer." We had a very cultural weekend with attending two Mozart Requiem performances and "To Kill a Mockingbird" Little Theater production, plus and Italian dinner. Hope Spring springs around your home really soon.

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  2. Sounds like a wonderful time! The closest I'll get to that is watching the PBS James Taylor and Carole King that was on during a pledge drive once. But it was fantastic!

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  3. I played Tapestry until I wore it out - loved that album! So jealous you can spend a day like that in NYC :-)

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  4. Sure sounds like the perfect outing to me! I wish Chris enjoyed going to musicals as much as I do, but they're just not his 'thing'. Glad you and your hubby had fun!

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  5. Sounds like a perfectly wonderful day. So glad you enjoyed the musical. I don't know why, but I was one of those who thought you were actually seeing Carole King. haha I love her music. Your dinner sounds wonderful too.

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  6. Oh, I'm thinking I need to plan a trip to NYC to see this play. I love me some Carole King!! So glad you had such an enjoyable Saturday in spite of the less than desirable temps. Will let you know when I get my plans made. :o))))

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  7. I am SO jealous! First of all, New York!! How fun! Secondly, I just posted on my own blog how much I was craving Italian food Saturday night while we were on a date and the new restaurant we tried was absolutely horrible!! Glad you had a great time!

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  8. I could never turn away a musical... they all speak to me :)

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  9. So glad you had such a nice time, it sounds like a good musical to see! Your dinner sounds wonderful too.....

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  10. Sounds like a perfect afternoon/evening!

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  11. I guess your 'boot camp' paid off, since you were able to walk 30 blocks to the restaurant :)
    The musical sounds wonderful!

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  12. It sounds like an outstanding weekend!! My Joe is very picky about Italian restaurants, too.

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  13. Sounds like such a fun way to spend a Saturday! I heard about that show and was wondering if it was as good as it sounds. Allison & I are headed down that way for a long weekend soon and we both enjoy Carol King's music so that may be a fun show to see!

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  14. Sounds like a very nice time.-- We have 3 Italian resturants in our little town here in western NY. BLESSINGS

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  15. Sounds like you had a wonderful time in the City. There's a small enclave of Italians in St. Louis ... in an area known as "The Hill". Yogi Berra was born and raised there. There are many Italian restaurants there ... obviously NOT 11,000 of them! ha!

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  16. I love pasta and putting Gradica's on my bucket list. :-D

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  17. Sounds like a perfect afternoon/evening. After that long walk you didn't even have to feel guilty about eating that wonderful Italian food.

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