The Roof Garden Commission: Lauren Halsey

Happy Memorial Day ! I hope you are all enjoying the start of summer. This is the most fabulous exhibit on the roof garden at The Met which is on view until October 22, 2023 and highly recommended! If you are at the museum on a beautiful day, there is nothing more enjoyable that visiting the exhibit on the roof. This year's exhibit is very cool, and the views are to die for. 

Here is some information on the exhibit from The Met: 

American artist Lauren Halsey (b. 1987, Los Angeles) has been commissioned to create a site-specific installation for The Met's Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden. Halsey will create a full-scale architectural structure imbued with the collective energy and imagination of the South Central Los Angeles Community where she was born and continues to work. Titled the eastside of south central los angeles hieroglyph prototype architecture (I), the installation is designed to be inhabited by The Met’s visitors, who will be able to explore its connections to sources as varied as ancient Egyptian symbolism, 1960s utopian architecture, and contemporary visual expressions like tagging that reflect the ways in which people aspire to make public places their own.

It does not get better than this ! 

The Roof Garden Commission: Lauren Halsey On View: 

April 18th - October 22nd, 2023

The Metropolitan Museum of Art 

Hours: 10 am–5 pm

Extended Hours: Fri. and Sat., 10 am–9 pm

Closed: Wednesday

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Van Gogh's Cypresses at The Met

Here are a few more photographs from the wonderful paintings at the Van Gogh Cypresses exhibit which is on view until August 27th 2023. This is a must see exhibit if you are an art lover, and I would highly suggest planning a visit this summer. 

This was probably my favorite and I am looking at obtaining a print to hang on the wall in my home. The colors are just so magnificent and make you smile! 

Be sure you are following me on Instagram as there will be more photos showcased there from this beautiful exhibit! I would love to see you and please give a comment and say hello! 

Van Gough's Cypresses is on view at The Met from May 22nd - August 27th 2023

Hours: 10 am–5 pm

Extended Hours: Fri. and Sat., 10 am–9 pm

Closed: Wednesday

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Van Gogh's Cypresses

Happy Monday! I hope you are all having a fabulous month of May! I cannot believe Memorial Day is almost here! I had the pleasure of attending the press event for the new exhibit which opens today, Van Gogh's Cypresses, at The Met. It was great to be back in the swing of things in my favorite city, and the exhibit will blow your minds. The work is just incredible and a once in a lifetime opportunity to see all these works together. 

Here is some information from The Met: 

“The show is a dream come true,” said Max Hollein, Marina Kellen French Director of The Met. “Marking the 170th-anniversary year of Van Gogh’s birth, this highly focused survey unpacks his distinctive vision of the commanding cypress trees. A once-in-a-lifetime gathering of works presents both an overview and an intimate glimpse of his creative process, challenging prevailing notions with fresh insights.” The trees Van Gogh painted, which were a fixture of Provence, France where he was living when he created these paintings (1888-1890), were not so much background characters in his works but recurring stars. According to The Met, Van Gogh was taken by these flame-like cypresses from the beginning of his two-year stay in the South of France. In letters to his bother, he expressed a “need” to paint them.

“To find the real character of things here, you have to look at them and paint them for a long time,” he wrote.

How cool to see this up close ! Just amazing !! 

There will be a few more posts on this to showcase some other paintings in the exhibit, please be sure to follow me on Instagram as I will be sharing lots of photos there from this exhibit as well as my travels into the city. I appreciate you all who visit this blog and hope that you learn some new things about one of the best cities in the world. I love sharing information to make your trip to NYC the best it can possibly be! 

The exhibition is made possible by the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Foundation.

Additional support is provided by the Janice H. Levin Fund, Katharine Rayner, and the Aaron I. Fleischman and Lin Lougheed Fund.

This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

The catalogue is made possible by the Janice H. Levin Fund.

Additional support is provided by Adrian Sassoon and Edmund Burke.

Van Gough's Cypresses is on view at The Met from May 22nd - August 27th 2023

Hours: 10 am–5 pm

Extended Hours: Fri. and Sat., 10 am–9 pm

Closed: Wednesday

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Brooklyn Chocolate Tour Up and Running

I was thrilled to receive the email from Tony at A Slice of Brooklyn Bus Tours that my FAVORITE tour is staring up again, The Brooklyn Chocolate Tour ! I was honored to be on the first tour Tony did and it just blew my mind. It's so nice to have someone else handle the worries of travel for the day and take you to the best chocolate makers in Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Chocolate Tour from A Slice of Brooklyn Bus Tours needs to be on your bucket list. I feel Tony's tours are the best to see Brooklyn, they are very carefree, and you can tell much work went into the planning of the tour.    

 

The new addition from when I did the tour is the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory in DUMBO, Down Under The Manhattan Bridge Overpass, and who does not love ice cream! Such a great addition I think and will go well with the other fabulous spots as well. 

  

We also visited Valentino Pier  in Red Hook, Brooklyn, which had gorgeous views of Lady Liberty  

We were really very lucky with the gorgeous day we had on this first of many chocolate tours! When you go on a tour with someone who is from Brooklyn, they will take you places you probably won't know to go on your own. That is what makes it worth while. 

 

The Chocolate Room was a place I had heard about and always wanted to visit. It did not disappoint. How nice of Tony to hold the door for everyone to check out this chocolate heaven! 

We were able to meet one of the owners, Jon Payson, which was very neat. He talked about how they started the shop, and we were able to ask questions. Now I must say, the smell in this place was like being in the chocolate room of Willy Wonka! It smelled so, so good. I could have stayed all day.  

We were treated to the most tasty hot chocolate, think of a melted chocolate bar! 

Their famous chocolate layer cake was given to us to taste in cupcake form.  

This was truly an amazing foodie experience. This place was really the highlight of the trip for me!  

Adorable cafe, not very big, but oh so worth the trip. I hope they open one in Manhattan in the future as I would be really thrilled! They do ship some of their items online.  

Raaka Co. Chocolate Factory in Red Hook was our next stop. Raaka is Finnish for "raw" because they do not roast the cocoa beans. Most chocolate that you buy is made by roasting the beans, this is a different process that produces some of the most amazing flavored chocolate. 

Happiness is Unroasted 

We also had the pleasure of meeting the co-owner here as well, Ryan Cheney, who talked about what was important to the company. Raaka supports in-country growth and development by giving cocoa farmers around the world an effective 20 percent raise for their beans.  

We had a tasting of about 5 of their bars, and one was better than the next. The coconut milk and apple pie were my favorites, and came home with me. 

 

The bars' gorgeous wrappers, are pretty amazing as well. Printed with soy inks on 100% recycled paper and processed with wind-generated energy, it's good for the planet, too. This apple pie bar is just unreal, you can actually taste the crust from the graham cracker on top. Sublime. 

Li-Lac Chocolates in Industry City was our last stop on the tour. This is the oldest Manhattan chocolate shop, opening in 1923. I have been to their location inside Grand Central Terminal, but this was a nice spot to check out their new place. Industry City is really growing by leaps and bounds. 

I never met a chocolate shoe I didn't like! They have some of the best chocolate molds here. 

This was amazing to see the chocolate being dipped on what looked like cookies! I was looking to see if Lucy was going to come and try to work the machine! (I actually have a hallmark ornament of her doing just that!) They are also in Chelsea Market and Greenwich Village. A must stop for the chocolate lover! 

This Brooklyn Choolate Tour was just wonderful. The time went by too fast, I need to do another one with a friend! The tours run Tuesday and Thursday, leaving from Union Square area. The tours run about 4.5 hours, cost is $80.00 per person, children under 12 are $70.00. Advanced tickets are required, and you will not be disappointed in this tour. You actually may wish to take it more than once, to cater to your chocolate and Brooklyn fix! The tour is worth every penny, you are also patronizing  small businesses, the bus tour company and chocolate shops. 

Disclosure: I was provided one ticket to attend this chocolate tour by A Slice of Brooklyn Bus Tours for this review. There has been no monetary compensation for this post. I only recommend products that I feel will be of interest to my readers, and that I am truly impressed by. All opinions are my own. Thank you!! 

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