I’m proud to say I got told today at work how well I was coping with the US winter. In their words, “this winter’s been pretty brutal and you haven’t complained once!” We’ll see if I can keep that up if this lasts through March though… Last week, we saw just how brutal winter could be as the temperatures dipped to -17 degrees C (and back there again today!) Here’s the proof if you don’t believe me: -24 degrees with wind chill! Brrrrr! (P.S. if you’re not sure where the title quote came from, you need to go and watch Frozen, right now!)

Nevertheless, restaurant week is restaurant week so Cynthia and I braved the cold for a $38 three course dinner at Sushi Samba in the West Village. We had a great time catching up over wine and sushi, but our favourite part was definitely dessert – banana cake with rum ice cream and caramel!

My dad was in town over the weekend so we went to see Cabaret on Broadway (one step closer to learning more broadway songs for my next trip to Marie’s Crisis Cafe!) It starred Alan Cumming, who was amazing as the host, and also Sienna Miller so quite a famous cast in a theatre designed to look like the original “Kit Kat Klub” where the show is set!

I started out the weekend by making some new friends, but watch out! They can be a bit frosty at first…

And then the real snow came down… This is exactly what you would describe as museum weather, so after a hearty breakfast of oeufs en cocotte, it was up to the Guggenheim which lends itself to arty photos – never been so grateful for my Russian hat!

The art itself, however, left something to be desired so it was on to Central Park which had once again transformed into a deserted winter wonderland.

We’re standing next to the frozen reservoir in the picture below, with an almost non-existent view of the New York skyline across from it:

Now, if you ever come to New York and want to see a real piece of “old New York”, I have the place for you. The 21 club (a former speakeasy during the Prohibition) has been frequented by New York’s rich and famous for years, ranging from Frank Sinatra, to most of America’s Presidents, to Charlie Sheen in the film “Wall Street”. The ceiling is covered in donated memorabilia (apparently you have to be asked to donate) and along the entrance are about 30 iconic jockey statues. The service is fantastic and they insist upon formal dress so it makes for a very elegant dining experience, slightly contrasted with the ceiling, which even features a model “Ryanair” concorde…

Of course, I can’t say all of this without a mention of the food… I couldn’t resist the duck with a glass of Malbec (of course!) and then for dessert, the special was a giant raspberry chocolate soufflé which was incredible! I would definitely recommend this place for a special occasion.

And finally, I couldn’t let the weekend go by without celebrating Chinese New Year – the year of the sheep/goat/ram (this is the same as the year I was born so we know it will be a good year!) As temperatures moved above freezing for the first time in weeks, I waded through the slush (the downside of the temperature rising) to Chinatown to watch the parade – a burst of colour during a cold (and seemingly never-ending) February!

Gong Hey Fat Choy!