Dinner at Famous Rao's New York

This past week I was lucky enough to have dinner at the 119 year old Rao's Italian restaurant in east Harlem. It is noted as one of the hardest restaurants to get a reservation at. I was lucky enough to score a reservation through a charity auction. 

Rao's has amazing pasta sauce and it is something I have been enjoying since I was a little girl. Walking in it is very warm and comforting. Like walking into a warm Italian family home. The people there are very traditional and you can tell this has been their go to spot forever. 

The food is amazing. They serve it family style and we had three courses. The first course was appetizers. We had calamari, fried mozzerela, salad, fried cod and baked clams. All AMAZING! 

The second course is family style pasta. We had a few types, vodka, lamb sausage and of course meatballs. 

Really tastes like an Italian mom made it all day. Some of the most authentic Italian food I have ever had in my life. 

For our main course we had the veal parmigian, lemon chicken and fresh sole fish. All three were outstanding. 

We were able to stay at our table and enjoy it throughout the whole night. A lot of people with strong Italian accents came in and all seemed to know the owner and management like family. Overall the experience was one of a lifetime and I am so happy I got to experience the best Italian food in the USA. 

Traveling with the Brooklyn Nets

This past weekend my boyfriend and I were very fortunate to be able to travel with the Brooklyn Nets. Immediately after their Friday night game against Orlando's Magic team at the Barclays center in Brooklyn they came to the airport where we were waiting. Unfortunately they had just lost the game. We would be traveling on the team plane to Detroit, Michigan for their Saturday night game against the Pistons. Then after that game return back to New York on the team plane again. Very exciting and unreal! We get to travel with the team and meet the coaches and players !!

My boyfriends mom won this opportunity in an auction at a charity event for the Alzheimer's Association. This was one of the big wins and we were lucky enough to get it. My boyfriend is a huge basketball fan and I would say I'm a pretty big fan as well. 

We went to the signature private airport in Newark, New Jersey. We got there early so has some extra time to wait until the team got there and we could board and depart. The plane was a Delta private plane and it was massive. It was like a regular plane turned into a nice exclusive plane. The front is where the players sat and they had big tables and first class seats. I would say this is the nicest section. The coaches sat in similar seats. Our seats in the back not as nice but still business class seats. There was delicious food and flight attendants. Short flight just over an hour to Detroit. As we were exiting the plane in the front some players were gambling. There was some big piles of money so the stakes must've been high. We got off and they did shortly after. We landed around 1:30/2am. We headed straight to our hotel in Brimingham, Michigan on big bus with everyone from the plane, players, coaches, assistants, media people and then us. 

The next day was our free day. The game against the Pistons wasn't until 7:30. My boyfriend and I grabbed lunch and walked about the cute town. It was unseasonably warm for January. 

Above is my boyfriend Randy standing outside the Brimingham towns movie theater. 

We had to end our day of exploring short because we were heading to the game with the team. This meant early, 4:45 to be exact. I was excited to get to see the players warm up and get some pictures with them. We loaded up on the team bus again and headed to the arena. Once we got there the bus backed into the arena and we were now only yards from the court. 

 

We had media passes so we were able to sit on the court as they warmed up. 

It wasn't long until we started to get photos with the players. 

Above is Brook Lopez and myself.  He was really nice and talked to me ( a couple of sentences) more than the others. 

Above is Randy (my boyfriend), Joe Johnson and I.

 

Above us and Willie Reed. 

Above us and Bagnani. 

Those are just some of the players we were able to get photos with before the game started. The game overall was good but unfortunately the Nets lost to the Pistons. We got to see the press happen after before leaving. It was an amazing experience. 

We took the same plane back as we took over. On the plane ride back to New York the coach Lionel Hollins came up to us as we were sitting. He was very friendly and remembered us from the press. A very nice guy. I immediately regretted not asking for a picture but oh well. 

The flight home was quick. We landed and exited the plane. Again I see 4 players in the front gambling with each other. Even bigger stacks of money than last time! So amazing to see the players just having fun after a game like that.

 We said our goodbyes to everyone we had met and thanked them for such an amazing experience. Overall this will be something I will never forgot and I am lucky it helped support the Alzheimer's Association.  

City kitty

A few days ago I got a kitten. He's a beautiful Bengal cat that will live with me in my apartment in New York city. I am calling him my city kitty but I have named him Tyga like the rapper. He will never go outside, he's a New Yorker now living a domestic life. 

Original Bengal cats are a hybrid of the Asian leopard cat and domestic cats. They were developed in the 70's and 80's by various people but most notably a women named Jean Mill. Now my kitty will grow up inside like a domestic cat even though he may look wild. Tyga will never experience the outdoors like his Asian leopard cat ancestors. Even though he has wild blood in him his predator instincts will have to be tamed. Well that's my news and information about my new city kitty Tyga. 

Xo,

Melody

Long Island Railroad 9:42am

As a bi-coastal traveler you have to be savvy about getting from place to place. There are four options to get to what people colloquially call "The Hamps." You can take the jitney bus, take the Long Island Railroad, drive yourself, or fly out. The lucky few fly. The rest of us have to chose between the three other options. I usually take the Jitney, but that can run into traffic and it is hard to do much while driving. Today I am taking the train, and it is much better! 

But the train comes with its own problems. This was my first time taking the Long Island Railroad out to the Hamptons and it was quite the experience. The 9:42am train to the east end was packed. People literally had to sit on the floor! Looks like all of Manhattan got the memo to go to the east end on that train. The train from Penn Station to Southampton (where I got off) takes a total about 2 hours. It costs 26$ for a one way ticket. This is cheaper than taking the jitney which is about 30/40$ a way. The perks of the Long Island Railroad is that you will not experience traffic. The jitney can run into some traffic on the drive out. Overall I would recommend anyone coming from the city to the east end to take the train. It is an experience. You can see beautiful Long Island through the windows. And you can relax a bit more than on the bus. It's not style, but at least it's comfort.