Author: Tara Taft

Touring NBC Studios

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Have you ever wondered what it was like to go back stage at NBC? To be in the studios of the “Today Show” or “Saturday Night Live?”

In 2012, I toured NBC Studios for the second time (the first time was in 1988) and thought of my mother guiding people through the studios back in 1952, the year she arrived in New York City, before she embarked on The Tucker -Tyler Adventure.

Although you can’t tour the studio now (it’s being renovated and won’t be open to the public until mid 2015), you can book tickets to be part of the audience on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” and the “Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.”

Trip taken February 2012.

Photo from Eddie-S licensed by CC 2.0.

Where to Eat Brunch on the Upper West Side

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Although Yelp and Trip Advisor do a good job of helping the tourist discover those out-of-the-way and less touristy places, sometimes it’s nice trusting a native.

I looked in the window at Cafe Lalo where Meg Ryan waits for Tom Hanks in “You’ve Got Mail.” but decided to eat at Good Enough to Eat, just a short walk away. Both serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner and include a plethora of yummy looking baked goods.

Good Enough to Eat

What to Eat? There were apple pancakes, waffles, omelettes, and French toast. After much debate, I chose the Gramercy Park omelette – slices of Granny Smith apple and Vermont sharp white cheddar cheese served with buttermilk biscuits. Mmmmmmm.

Trips taken July 2008 and July 2012.

How to Style Your American Girl Doll’s Hair

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When your daughter, niece, or granddaughter’s favorite doll is injured, it’s time for a visit to one of the American Girl Places.

Kaya’s hair was a wreck. So matted and snarled that we thought she would need to go to the American Girl Doll Hospital (to get a new head!). Instead, I was assured that an appointment with the American Girl Doll Hair Salon on 5th Avenue in New York City ($25) just might do the trick.

Kaya (the doll!) sat on a stool while her hairdresser worked patiently and carefully on her hair. My daughter and I watched as her hair was unsnarled, unmatted, and braided. Although she wanted to get her ears pierced, we decided that she was too young. Instead, for an additional $5, we gave her the pampering plus manicure and facial.

To celebrate Kaya’s recovery, we ate lunch at the American Girl Place restaurant. Kaya was seated in her own attached high chair. She was served in tiny tea cups while my daughter and I ate a gluten-free lunch and gluten-free birthday cake.

We skipped the show, electing instead to see Mary Poppins on Broadway.

Trip taken 2008.

When National Parks Become Monopoly Properties

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Before our kids could read, they could play Monopoly. Recognizing the properties by their colors and learning to count the money, they loved to play, especially my oldest, quickly learning to bargain with other players and create his own monopolies.

We never played the Monopoly Junior version. Instead, we played National Parks Monopoly, where Yosemite replaces Park Place and Yellowstone takes over the Boardwalk.

With my canoe, bear, tent, or ranger hat token, I traveled around the board, from national park to trail to national monument, paying $75 to eat dinner at Yosemite’s Ahwahnee Lodge or becoming park ranger of the year. Although equivalent to the least expensive dark purple properties, I couldn’t resist buying Mount Rushmore, but I always hoped to be the first to land on the magenta properties of Hawaii Volcanoes, the Grand Canyon, and Glacier Bay.

Monopoly

Playing National Parks Monopoly is always an adventure. Once I stepped on a cactus at Saguaro National Park. Another time I got caught looting an archaeological dig and had to go to jail. But when I discovered fossils at Agate Fossil Beds, I got out of jail free.

So when our family was planning a drive from Colorado to South Dakota, we were excited to find Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, one of the red properties on our Monopoly game, located in the northwest corner of Nebraska. With only a slight detour, we spent a morning exploring the park.

Agate Fossil Beds

When we returned from our trip, we played the game with a renewed interest.

Playing Monopoloy

Over the years, I’ve visited only 12 of the 27 properties on our Monopoly game board, but the places I haven’t been still intrigue me: the Everglades, Isle Royale, Mesa Verde, the Limberlost Trail. Which park, or which property, should I explore next?

Trip to Agate Fossil Beds National Monument taken in 2005.

Walking Across the Brooklyn Bridge

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I’d never walked across the Brooklyn Bridge until I met up with some California friends in Manhattan. They were on a mission to see and take in as much of New York as possible in the few days they were there. I tagged along as they ventured to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.

We found the entrance to the bridge announced by a hand painted sign,

Brooklyn Bridge 4

and discovered that we weren’t the only tourists with the idea for a walk.

Brooklyn Bridge 1

We gazed up at the tower,

Brooklyn Bridge 5

and played the ukelele in the middle of the bridge.

Brooklyn Bridge 7

We paused along the way to enjoy the view.

Brooklyn Bridge 3

We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, then turned around, saving the exploration of Brooklyn for another day.

Brooklyn Bridge 6

 Trip taken June 2012.

Single in New York in 1954

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When you want to be an actress, living in New York City is a dream, especially for a girl from the midwest. For Marialyce Tyler, moving from South Dakota to the Big City in 1954 was exciting. With a couple of college friends, she lived in two different apartments on the Upper West Side of New York, right near Central Park, on West 74th Street and West 68th Street.

West 74th Street

Rusty described the apartment on West 74th Street as the old Borden Mansion. According to Rusty, they lived in what was the old library.

We were on the first floor, a 14-foot ceilinged room with a huge marble fireplace, tall windows draped in dark red velvet and then beyond a huge room that had three twin-sized beds, a very large and long dark mahogany dining table, chairs, etc., a small one-person-at-a-time kitchen, and beyond that a bathroom that had been made out of a closet.

From The Tucker – Tyler Adventure, written by Katherine Tucker and Marialyce Tyler and edited by Nancy Cowan and Tara Taft.

Blackie: The Horse That Won’t Be Forgotten

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I don’t remember sitting on Blackie’s back. I don’t remember seeing him stand in the same spot day after day, year after year, in a field now known as Blackie’s Pasture. What I do remember is visiting his grave at the end of the bike path in Tiburon, California, and hearing stories about the love for this gentle and swaybacked horse.

Although he died in 1966, children can still sit on his back.

Climbing on Blackie

In 1995, the Tiburon Peninsula Foundation erected a life size statue in the same spot where Blackie spent his last 28 years. In 2006, Christopher Cerf and Paige Peterson published a children’s picture book, Blackie, the Horse That Stood Still about Blackie.

IMG_8512The next time you visit San Francisco, consider making a trip across the Golden Gate Bridge to visit Blackie. He stands alongside the bay in Tiburon among the many cyclists, joggers, kite flyers, and walkers just out to enjoy the view.

If you want to learn more about Blackie’s life, click here.     If you want to visit Blackie, click here.

My Grandmother’s Apple Crisp Turned Gluten Free

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Making apple crisp after picking apples in the country was a tradition I grew up with. Now, years later, I make a gluten-free crisp with apples I’ve picked in my home town.

Here’s my favorite recipe, adapted from the one my mom and my grandmother used to make.

Ingredients

4 medium, peeled, sliced, tart apples (Granny Smith or Cortland)
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup gluten-free flour
1/2 cup gluten-free oats (I used Bob’s Red Mill quick gluten-free oats)
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/3 cup softened butter

Method

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a square baking pan. Place the apples in the pan. Combine the butter, flour, oats, and spices together into a crumbly mix. Sprinkle over the apples. Bake 30 minutes or until the apples are tender and the topping is golden brown. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. Yum!