Last night, Chris and I were lucky enough to go to the Met to attend a social gathering with Bloomberg and Jeff Koons. If you recognize the name but you’re not sure from where, maybe it’s because you saw his name and artwork on Google; his chrome tulips were on the homepage:

Google launched iGoogle Artist Themes yesterday and had his tulips on display (his tulips weren’t on display at the Met rooftop because they’re too large for the space). Google is also showing some of the artwork from their 70 collaborators this weekend in the meatpacking district - you can find more info here. (I’m not sure if anything by Jeff Koons will be there…but I’m going to check it out anyway!).

The Bloomberg/Met event was fun and we were able to see Koons’ work and listen to him explain his amazing stainless steel sculptures that are currently being shown in the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden. Here are the three sculptures on display:

Who doesn’t love a balloon dog?!:

The detailed creases made me want to touch it to make sure it wasn’t an actual balloon.

Sacred Heart:

Coloring book:

Coloring book is supposed to be a sloppily colored-in illustration of Piglet - cute, right?

The exhibit runs through October 26th and is worth checking out - if you don’t want to see the art, at least check out the amazing view of Central Park and the Manhattan skyline!

Over the weekend, I went to the Guggenheim Museum to see Cai Guo-Qiang’s exhibit, I Want to Believe. Here are some shots:

It was my first time at the Guggenheim, but I thought the exhibit was interesting. Thanks to Ariel for getting us free passes! The exhibit is going on through May 28th (a day before my 24th birthday!)

David Burke, owner of davidburke & donatella on the Upper East Side, opened up a small shop on the side of Bloomingdales, accurately named David Burke at Bloomingdale’s. It’s a small eatery on 59th street (close to cosmetics) and I ventured there with Chris last night for a bite to eat. I heard of them because of their “sliders” - small burgers that pack a punch, so I decided it was time to check them out. These cheeseburkers (haha - get it?) are bite sized beef patties with a sliver of cheddar cheese placed delicately on a crusty piece of bread (not a bun), all topped with half a cherry tomato:

Cute, right? They usually come in packs of three for lunch (as a meal) but for dinner, they are only served as appetizers. I ordered one (just to try it) and it was actually pretty delicious. The bread is what makes the cheeseburker special - you definitely have to bite into it because it’s pretty tough on the outside, chewy on the inside (in a good way). The meat didn’t taste too flavored, but for a cheeseburger, it wasn’t bad. For $3.95 though, I don’t think it’s worth it.

David Burke at Bloomingdale’s has a great deal for dinner - $24.07 for a prix fix dinner (appetizer, main course, and dessert). You can choose anything off the menu - there are no restrictions! (most appetizers are over $10, main courses are all $18-$22, and dessert are another $10 if you order them separately)…why wouldn’t anyone get the deal? Since I wasn’t that hungry, I thought it would be a good idea if I just got the cheeseburker and then Chris got the prix fix meal, but I would share with him. Great idea, right?

We started off with the lobster bisque - described to us as not a thick and creamy bisque like you would expect, but paired with apples for an interesting combination. I was skeptical, but we ordered it anyway:

Talk about presentation! I love the bowl. Anyway, the bisque was really quite yummy - I don’t like mixing savory with sweet (there’s just something wrong with that!) but they used granny smith apples and the tartness complimented the bisque. I also liked how the bisque tasted more like a chunky puree than a creamy mess that you might find elsewhere. Too bad there wasn’t much lobster (although whenever Chris found a piece, he offered it to me!).

For our main course, we ordered the filet mignon:

Talk about STEAKY! We’ve learned that if you want your meat medium rare, you should order it medium, especially with filet mignon. The cut is just too large for them to cook it all the way through (understandably) so they just kind of go as far as they can with what they have. uhh..yeah. So anyway, the steak was cooked to a perfect medium rare, the carrots were delicious (I LOVE carrots) but the potatoes tasted a little stale. I won’t hold it against David Burke, though.

For dessert, we ordered the blueberry and peach tart:

Who knew it came with a side of ice cream? What a wonderfully delicious surprise! The ice cream was pretty sour (raspberry with something that made it sour…I couldn’t tell what it was) and went really well with the super sweet tart (but not overly sweet).

Overall, the meal was great - I mean, $30ish for all that food?! The service wasn’t that great (the hostess was just walking around the restaurant aimlessly while we were waiting to be seated, the waitress took a while to get our order, she forgot to order our dessert, etc) but understandable since it’s a small operation in Bloomingdale’s. I enjoyed the meal and it was so nice seeing Chris since I JUST got back from Europe!

Speaking of Europe, yes, I know that I haven’t updated yet (actually, I haven’t even started to think about it) but life’s been busy and who wants to spend time indoors updating when you can be outdoors having fun? They will come eventually….please be patient!

Okay, last side note - do you realize that my pictures have gotten better? That’s because I have a NEW camera - the canon SD 850. Image stabilizer, 4x zoom, 8 megapixels, general awesomeness. I love it!

How to get to David Burke at Bloomindale’s:

David Burke at Bloomingdales’
Bloomingdale’s between Lexington and 3rd
New York, NY 10079
212-705-3800

On Sunday, after a nice trip to Chinatown for dim sum, my mom and I headed to the UES to walk around the Met. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the largest museums in the world and also one of the best museums in the world. One of the things I wanted to check out was the new Greek and Roman Galleries, which opened in April. Pictures from the day:

Another piece from the Greek and Roman galleries:

We went on the general tour and saw lot of interesting works of art (you need at least a week to go through the entire museum - it is HUGE!) and here are some of my favorites:

The museum has so many great original pieces of art and it’s definitely a great place to take visitors. It’s definitely a must-see in NYC!

How to get to the Metropolitan Museum of Art:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 5th Ave
New York, NY 10028
212-535-7710

After our Vietnamese sandwiches at Nicky’s, Chris and I headed to the Takashi Murakami exhibit at the Gagosian on the Upper East Side.

Takashi Murakami is probably best known for his smiley flowers, like these:

He also worked with Louis Vuitton (do you remember those white bags with all those smiley flowers?!):

For this exhibit, he did portraits of Daruma, the founder of Zen Buddhism. From the Gagosian website, I learned that Daruma achieved enlightenment by “sitting in meditation before the wall of the Shaolin monastery for nine years, without blinking his eyes. During this process, his arms and legs atrophied, withered and fell off. In today’s Japan, Daruma’s continuing popularity as the embodiment of resilience and determination has given rise to an entire industry of good luck charms in the form of armless, legless and eyeless dolls, available in endless variations.”

Here are the pictures of Daruma:

My favorite is the one on the far left - the background, if you look closely, is actually black with glitter! Interesting, huh? The exhibit runs through June 9th and I posted pictures of all of the art from the exhibit (in case you’re too lazy to go), but it’s fun to see if you have the time (it only takes 20 minutes, I swear).