Smorgas Chef and Mandance

Spent a wonderful day with my mom today just browsing through Manhattan. We went to The Container Store, West Elm, some antique stores in the Manhattan Antique market building, and some thrift stores (Angel and Housing Works).

After that we had dinner outside at Smorgas Chef, which consisted of

• Swedish Meatballs with lingonberries over some potatoes
• Fresh herring grilled with a lemony vinaigrette and some salad
• A main course lamb over some potatoes with cheese
• A main course Grouper with Risotto with Fava beams and shrimp

We were quite pleased with the food, and it was nice to dine outside, even if it was a touch chill. We don't often eat outside so it was refreshing change of scenery. We skipped desert in favor of going to Pinkberry, and I was disappointed to find that they no longer do fresh fruit over shaved shaved ice, so I had Green tea frozen yogurt with with mochi, strawberries, bananas, and kiwi fruit. The real reason I go is for the mochi.

As an extra treat we stopped by Lilac Chocolates and picked up some Almond Bark and dark breakup before we headed a few blocks up to the Joyce Theater to see Mandance.

Mandance was spectacular. Their Backchat piece involved a plywood wall covered with rubber tire tred and some metal sculpture. 3 male dancers in bicycle pants did the rest and the movement was engaging to watch.

A promotional piece for Mandance featuring part of the Isis in Transit set which was the picture that made me buy tickets.

The featured piece, Isis in Transit, was technically amazing and had an interesting set with with the dancer interacted. The last piece that they did was called Odette and we both enjoyed that too. There were some amazing contortions, and the control that the dancers have over every part of their body is simply astounding: their toes were as prehensile as fingers it seemed.