Best of 2023

 Top 10 Dessert Recipes (all taken from What's for Dessert by Claire Saffitz)

10. No Bake Grapefruit Bars

9. Marbled Sheet Cake

8. Hot Chocolate with Homemade Vegan Marshmallows

7. Morning Glorious Loaf Cake

6. Coconut Macaroon Bars

5. Coconut-Jasmine Rice Pudding with Lychee

4. Marbled Mint Chocolate Mousse

3. Cinnamon-&-Sugar Apple Pie

2. Blueberry Buckle with Cornflake Streusel

1. Salty Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches

 

Sharon's Best Nonfiction (Serendipitously this year Sharon read mostly nonfiction & loved each one)
(1) Every Teacher a Leader by Barbara B. Levin and Lynn R. Schrum
(2) Hold Fast to Dreams: A College Guidance Counselor, His Students, and the Vision of a Life Beyond Poverty by Beth Zasloff and Joshua Steckel

(3) Stop Waiting for Perfect by L'Oreal Thompson Payton

(4) The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World by Melinda French Gates

(5) Critical Small Schools: Beyond Privatization in New York City Urban Educational Reform by Maria Hantzopoulos 

(6) STEM, STEAM, MAKE, Dream: Reimagining the Culture of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics by Chris Emdin

Sharon's Best Novels

(1) The Lover by Marguerite Duras

(2) Fifty Shades of Gray by E.L. James

(3) Swimming Lessons by Claire Fuller

David's Best Novels

(1) Thorn of the Honey Locus by Geoffrey Burgess

(2) Broadway Butterfly by Sara DiVello

(3) The Last Dance by Martin L. Schumacher

(4) The Fires by Sigridur Hagalin Bjornsdottir

Books Read and Discussed Together by Sharon and Alexi  - When I Was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago and Flatlands by Edwin Abbott (aka A Square)

Book Read Aloud by David to Mateo - The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien

Best Art Seen All Year - Beyond Monet: The Immersive Experience

Our Favorite At Home Grown-Up Movies

(1) Triangle of Sadness
(2) Air

(3) Cha Cha Real Smooth

(4) The Platform

(5) Everything, Everywhere All At Once

(6) Sexy Beasts

(7) The Beasts
(8) Women Talking

(9) All Quiet on the Western Front

(10) Juliet, Naked

(11) Nowhere

(12) Causeway

(13) Elvis

(14) Maestro

(15) The Salvation

(16) Force Majeure

(17) Wild Sage Mountain

Best Concert - Fred Again.. @ Forest Hills Stadium (best part was actually at OBA Mediterranean Gyro & Grill afterwards where Sharon and David stopped for a bite to eat...they were playing Fred Again.. and fans like us who had just come from the show were dancing with strangers in the restaurant)

Best Family Member Performance - Mateo peforming Village Musicians by Igor Yakushenko and David performing Lamento Andino by Teofilo Alvarez Alvarez on oboe, both at the Prague Piano Festival 

Best Movie Sharon+David Saw In a Movie Theater - Chevalier & Oppenheimer

Best Movie Our Entire Family Saw In a Movie Theater - Next Goal Wins

Best Tribeca Film Festival Movie - Maestra (Documentary about Paris Competition for Female Conductors - PHENOMENAL!)

Best Movie Sharon+ Mateo Saw At Home - Arthur Christmas

Best Family Movie Seen @ Home - Big Hero 6

Best New Year Activity - Bowling @ Bowlero in Queens (first time bowling as a family ever!) and Indian Dinner @ Jackson Diner (before they gave up their beautiful spacious location)

Best Birthday Party - Bowling and Arcade Games @ Bowlero in Manhattan in a semi-private room to celebrate Mateo turning 10(!)

Best NYC Family Event - RISENY (a cool three part immersive adventure culminating in a 4D ride soaring over the NYC skyline; David surprised Sharon by taking her and the kids here on her birthday)

Best NY Museum for Families - Slomoo Institute (ready for SLIME?!??!)

Best International Family Show - The Lava Show in Iceland

Best Yoga & Mindfulness  - Down Dog Yoga & Meditation (website and app)

Best Family Cycling  -  Biking along the Hudson River Greenway to the Governor's Island Ferry, and then along the Governor's Island Outer Loop

Best Sharon+Alexi+Mateo Event - Sunset @ Edge in Hudson Yards

Best Opera - Dead Man Walking @ Met Opera (Sharon saw the movie and heard Sister Helen Prejean speak many years ago @ St. Paul's Chapel @ Columbia University)

Best Broadway Tony Winner - Kimberly Aquino (Sharon the Jersey girl LOVED this musical focused on HS kids growing up in a town in Bergen County, New Jersey, which is where Sharon grew up) 

Best Broadway Future Tony Nominee - Here Lies Love (in which Sharon received standing tickets and was standing right next to the stage, inches away from the actors, singing and dancing along, and actually part of the show)

Best Classical Concert - Andras Schiff Recital @ David Geffen Hall

Best TV Series - Better Call Saul

Best Travel Destinations 

* Catalunya, Spain

* Reykjavik, Iceland

* Jersey Shore

* Killens Pond, Delaware

* Heckscher State Park, Long Island

Best NYC Family Adventure - going to Liberty Island and climbing all the way up to the crown of the Statue of Liberty

Best International Family Adventures - Montserrat in Spain and Golden Circle in Iceland

Best Camping - beachfront cottage for fall foliage camping in Heckscher State Park (again)

Best Halloween Event - SMS Halloween Party and Trick or Treating in Dumont

Best New York Vegan Restaurant - The Witches Brew (on Long Island)

Best International Vegan Restaurant - B*12 in Girona, Spain

Best Outdoor Dining - Peacefood Cafe

Best Pick-Your-Own Fruit - Strawberries @ Specca Farms and Apples @ Indian Farm in Pennsylvania

Best Sporting Event - Alexi and Mateo's weekend soccer games

Best Holiday Event - Manhattan Christmas Shopping and seeing the Rockefeller Tree

Best View of NYC - View of New York City and New Jersey from Edge in Hudson Yards

Top 5 Reasons to Love New York City at the End of 2023

(1) VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES 

(2) MUSIC 

(3) BROADWAY 

(4) SOCCER 

(5) VEGETARIAN & VEGAN DINING