b-e-a-utiful saturday!

after two consecutive saturdays of raining cats and dogs, we were blessed with a gorgeous saturday today! given we had absolutely no plans for today other than an exhibit at the ny historical society, it was not surprising that we ended up spending the entire day walking and biking through nyc. lol. it's always those slow, unsuspecting days that are the most fun!

we started the morning with a blue bottle coffee, and then a dough lemon poppyseed at the new dough flatiron location! i had no interest in these bad boys when i saw them at smorgasburg in may due to their ginormousnous, but one of kevin's coworkers had claimed that dough donuts were far superior to doughnut plant and last week one of my friends mentioned they were "heavenly". so i took the challenge!

although i was told that the exotic flavors (passionfruit, hibiscus, etc) were the most popular, i was craving something a bit more simple, so we went for the lemon poppy. it was pretty tasty and we finished it before we reached the end of the block, although i think it was the sweetness of the icing and not in the bread part of the donut. in fact, it was a bit like the texture of a bun, not nearly as light and fluffy as the yeast donuts from doughnut plant.

i think i will try a couple more flavors before i make my final call on dough donuts =P

dough donut spread

our next stop was the ny historical society for the "chinese-american inclusion exclusion" exhibit, which opened this weekend. i went with little to no expectations, and really enjoyed the exhibit. i think it would be an interesting exhibit for anyone, but it was definitely helpful to have some understanding of the sino-american relations and events during the 1800-1900s. kevin and i both learned something new - neither of us had known about the chinese exclusion act of 1882, which was sad to learn about ... the exhibit also depicted the events within three generations of a family which immigrated to nyc in the early 1900s.

although my parents' immigrated to the US from taiwan, their parents were raised in china and so there were many parallels between the stories described in the exhibit and in my parents' lives. it's humbling to learn about the struggles and challenges our ancestors overcame for future generations.

brief introduction to the chinese exclusion act

two of the earliest chinese scholars with us degrees

we caught two other short exhibits afterwards: "selections from a history of ny in 101 objects" and "madeline in new york". the former was awesome! there were so many unexpected iconic objects, some of which i recognized and some i learned about, at the exhibit. the latter exhibit was sweet and a blast to the past from all the madeline books i poured over at the library. bemelmans is genius!

selections from a history of ny in 101 objects

madeline in new york

finally a trip to soho to look at dining tables, couch fabric swatches, rugs, and media consoles. nothing purchased, but we are narrowing down our options! it's a start.

don't half of these look the same?

best: the ny historical society was two blocks from levains! woohoo ~ picked up two chocolate chip walnut and oatmeal raisin puck-sized cookies :) and we finished BOTH already.

worst: kevin raved about these delicious veggie dumplings from ny noodletown, but when we ordered them tonight, they were sooooo bitter. i usually like bitter - i love bittermelon! but these were the mooost bitter watercress-mushroom dumplings ever. blehh.

smile: as we were leaving the gym, we saw an SUV unload with a handful of costumed kids! one minion, one purple batman (?), and one elise from frozen. i totally wanted to follow them to see the probably hundreds of other adorable = rugrats in costume! if there's a halloween kids parade, i want to be there! they are THE CUTEST.