104 PERRY ST. DAY 4

We don't get up very early Friday. It's quieter then usual next door. We are headed to MOMA today. Admission is free every Friday 4 til 8 p.m. I should know better.
First it's sushi. We have read about a place not far from Perry St. Koo Sushi is the name. Koo is on West Houston. I'm not sure exactly what time we got there, it was around lunch time. Koo was not busy. We sat and had water. We ordered a salad and a couple rolls that were recommended in the article we had read about Koo. We also ordered two pieces of Unagi, freshwater eel. I love Unagi, especially warm. This was warm and was pretty good. Not great. Same with entire meal. Good not great.

We walk and end up at Union Square. The market is wide open. There are hundreds of vendors. Selling everything from art to fresh rabbit meat. There is produce, milk, cheese, bread, plants, honey, juice, cloths, fish, meat, and grits. And more. The guy selling the grits had them labeled as Hudson Valley Stone Ground Polenta. They were grit. I bought a bag and have made a batch and they were good. I made them with a strong chicken stock, I need to try them with butter, cheese and two fried eggs.

We talked to the guy who runs the farm this polenta comes from. His name is Don Larsen and his farm is Wild Hive. I ask Don if indeed his polenta was grits. He confirmed it was. We talked grits a bit and he ask where we were from. I mentioned Atlanta and he mentioned Anson Mill. Anson Mill is in South Carolina and a big deal with all the hot shot chefs through out the southeast. I told him about Jenny Jack Grits, the best in the world as far as I'm concerned. He wrote down the name and said he'd look up Jenny Jack Farm.

We walked. And we walked, on and on. We stopped some where for a beer.

We got to MOMA about 3. Free started at 4 and the line was around the block. We almost left right then. Instead we went in and sat on the huge plush couch. I ask a volunteer dude if the line moved fast. He said it did. He said this was a rather light day. So we waited. About 15 minutes after the line opened we walked around the corner, got in the line and we were in the museum in another 15 minutes. We had to check our backpack, that looked like it could take days and cost lives. It wasn't bad at all. This is a well oiled machine this MOMA.

Things got tougher from there. The main exhibit is performance art. I just don't usually dig performance art. And this did not disappoint. I just don't get it. The "star artist" of the show is a lady who has been at it since the sixties. This exhibit consisted of her preforming her latest "piece". Her assistants were in other galleries repreforming older "pieces".

The Star Artist is Marina Abramović. Marina Abramović is sitting in a huge gallery, across form someone from the public. You come in, sign up and sit on the floor and wait. Watch and wait. And what you watch is Marina Aramović stare at whoever is next on the list..

After signing up to stare at MA and after your wait, you get your turn. You can sit and stare as long as you wish. The longest someone has sat and stared at MA was the whole day. Some lady was the first one that day and the only one that day. The Museum is open from 10 a.m. til 8 p.m. six days a week. MA does this everyday for over a month. Click here and you can read an interview with Marina Abramović. I found the interview more interesting than the performance.

The remainder of the exhibit is upstairs in other galleries. Lot's of naked people. I just don't get it. I always think "shock factor" when I see exhibits like this. To bad, maybe back in the sixties it was shocking, I find it boring.

A lot of the art on display we looked at last time we were here. Just a couple months ago. Not that it's not great stuff. There is a little bit of art from many different artist. But, the crowds are so large it is impossible to enjoy. We collect our backpack hit the nearest subway station. We don't use the subway system much in NYC, but today we use it to get us back to the west village. We head straight to Murray's Cheese Shop. We get bread, blue cheese, and some fancy crackers. Then we get six pack and a bag of chips. Then we head to 104 Perry St. We have a beer and snacks and watch the news. And take our shoes off.

Friday night we don't do much. We walk around the neighborhood. We are looking for fried chicken at the Dirty Bird. The Dirty Bird is just a few blocks from Perry St. We walk that way and find it closed for the night. It's about 8 p.m. on their website they say open til 11. WTF.

So we grab a slice and then head for POPBAR. They sell Popsicle's. Gelato on a stick. The have a few different flavors and you pick nuts to roll it in and chocolate to dip it in. Check their website for details. These things were good. I hear Popsicle's are the next big food thing. POPBAR was one of the best things about this trip.

Across the very busy 7th Ave. from the POPBAR was a large food truck. Food trucks are the thing right now. Hell people are doing books about food trucks these days. There are websites dedicated. Food trucks have always been a part of most of the older, larger cities. New York, Chicago, Philly, ect all have a huge food truck scene. Taco trucks are big in California and out west. Pork is popular everywhere. I bet there is a gourmet Popsicle truck soon. Anyway this is a taco truck, we got to check it out. So we cross over, it's about 10 p.m. and he's just getting set up. This is a nice truck. It is huge and stainless steel. There is a big menu. I order flatus. One of my favorite. I don't remember which meat. The flatus were OK. I was hoping for a little better from such a nice truck. Oh well.

We take a long walk back to Perry St. Using side streets the entire way. If you walk around Manhattan much you soon get tired of all the people you have to dodge. The side streets are nice and you can usually find some cool little bar or shop or something.

35$ sushi

4.50$ subway

4.50$ polenta

13.50$ bread, chz, Murray's

7$ chips & beer

9$ beer at bar

10$ 2 popbar pops

12$ fruit, cream, water

4$ slice

5$ truck food

104.50$ total day 4