Wildlife, Search for The Divine and Punjabi Eats

Garrett and Libby headed out for the Metropolitan Museum of Art this morning and Ben went along to walk with them through the park.  I stayed home and studied up on Better Blogging as last night I realized I was getting a cold.  Life is so unfair.

Ben then took off on his own to explore the North Woods of Central Park, which are described as "rural".  He texted me this picture and message - "This is a herd of some sort of wild animals being escorted on leashes through the park - bp".  This is Ben Parker humor.  

I decided I might be in need of some divine intervention and recalled a recommendation to visit the gigantic St. John the Divine Cathedral at 112th and Amsterdam.  I called Ben and we decided to reconnoiter, as he was just bumming around Whole Foods.  He headed south on Columbus as I headed North.  Somewhere around 94th we passed right by each other.  Thank God for cell phones.  
Holy Mother of Jesus, this cathedral is impressive and it is not even Catholic - Episcopalian! We wandered in just as an organ practice was about to begin and though we are NOT organ music lovers,  we enjoyed it.  Here is a small taste: http://youtu.be/8hiNKy_7StY.  

This is a church we could love as they do an annual blessing of the bicycles, which is attended by hundreds of cyclists including bike messengers, who are an especially endangered population.  They also do a blessing of the animals, including bumblebees and camels.  Not sure who has a camel in their back yard in Manhattan...
Being holy really works up an appetite.  Doesn't it seem like we are always eating?  We called on our friend Yelp and the first place that got over 4 stars nearby was Busters.  Busters is about 8 feet wide but it was also closed on Mondays.  Next Yelp spot to pop up was Doaba Deli for vegetarian Indian (Punjabi region) food.  As one reviewer says, "Holy smokes!"  There is no way we would have ventured into this tiny hole-in-the-wall without the assurance of a bunch of other reviewers.  
Our patient chef explained the menu and we each selected 4 dishes to try and splurged on an upgraded order of Garlic Naan.  Lunch, without the upgrade was $6 each.  Food was delicious.  A New Yorker stopped by to ask us how we liked it and told us it is the best place in the neighborhood.  She had never heard of Yelp, but was a natural born restaurant reviewer herself.  She told us to go to Busters tomorrow, because it is really good, fresh food.

The view this evening from our fire escape!  Our last evening in Manhattan!

Garrett and Libby met up with her friend Stoddy Blackall from high school, a talented musician who now lives in NYC and works as an improv pianist.  After dinner at Klong, a Thai restaurant in the East Village, Stoddy took them to see his apartment.  They describe it as dorm-like and Stoddy's room is perhaps 7 X 10.  In this room he also had a small fridg and hot plate.  All this luxury for $1000 per month.  Hello!  Life in NYC can be cramped!

They hope to see him play piano in Brooklyn this week.  He and Libby had fun doing their own sing-a-long!