This Christmas we celebrated the family Christmas as they do in Eastern Europe and the Dominican Republic – on Christmas Eve – and reserved the 25th for my first Jewish Christmas! Honoring my 1/16th heritage, I made an early start to the new year with a new experience. Never had I realized that the burgeoning non-Christian population doesn’t just hunker down for indoor hibernation during other religious holidays: they keep NYC the City that never sleeps!
We started at Katz’s famous deli, best known for the filming of When Harry Met Sally, commemorated by a sign that reads “I hope you have what she had!” dangling above their table. The line was non-stop, but we lucked out with seating within 5 minutes of arrival, between the breakfast and lunch waves. Their pastrami never disappoints.
Katz’s deli is always hopping from counter end to counter end
Next we hopped a cab to Herald Square to catch a movie. The Greatest Showman was indeed the greatest show! From there we were a short walk from the new 7 stop on 34th Street, which took us straight to Flushing for some epic dim sum. There were enough people out that I had to navigate the sidewalks midtown style. Our restaurant had the typical buzz of a Chinese restaurant, with green tea flowing and rapid service keeping the traffic moving. After a 15 minute wait, we were seated and ready for some duck, scallion pancakes, pork dumplings, and other deliciousness. Many belly-fulls later we contemplated whether to double down on more movies and food. The group split in two then, half for the Transit Museum exhibition in Grand Central and half for home and hot cocoa. Much like Friendsgiving, we were filled with warmth from a grateful day – and the repeated cold-to-warm transition that marks the start of winter!
MBA in the City 