Helicopter Above Ground Zero

At first the helicopter is difficult to see in the picture. It looks like a smudge, or a bug that landed on the camera lens.

Yes, it might be difficult to see, but it wasn't hard to hear that afternoon, even among all the Lower Manhattan hubbub after Osama bin Laden's death.

The TV cameras were on the ground capturing the reaction at Ground Zero, and I imagine this helicopter was doing the same from the air. A co-worker mentioned that it reminded him of 9/11 itself.

On this Memorial Day weekend, it seemed appropriate to remember.

The blog will be back on Wednesday.

NYC's Best Doughnut Search: Dough

My search for the best doughnut in New York City took an unexpected turn to the Brooklyn Flea.

When we visited the outdoor flea market a few weekends ago, amid the old typewriters and ironic t-shirts was Dough. The doughnut shop, based in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, was displaying doughnuts like I've seen nowhere else -- certainly not in the cookie-cutter doughnut shops of New York.

Dough offered classic flavors like cinnamon sugar as well as more unique ones like hibiscus, and I couldn't resist the bright pink frosting of the latter. I forked over $2 and got the doughnut wrapped up in a brown paper bag to go. I couldn't wait to get home, eat lunch and take a big bite.

The doughnut was the size of a big grapefruit and had about the same heft. But the weight was pure frosting -- the doughnut itself was light and airy. The frosting tasted, well, pink. It was super sweet with a slightly sour, fruity punch. Maybe it tasted just like hibiscus. I've never tasted it before, not even in tea, so I'm not sure.

Overall, delicious. So much better than Dunkin' Donuts or Tim Horton's that it's not even a fair comparison. My mouth is watering just typing these sentences. I'll definitely be returning.

The Travels of Flat Stanley, Part 2

Flat Stanley's adventures have come to an end.

As you may recall, Flat Stanley arrived in my mailbox last fall, a manila-enveloped package from my second-grade cousin, Junior. Could I take Flat Stanley to see the sites -- and take photos to prove it?

It's the end of the school year now, and so when I went home to Ohio this past weekend, I packed up Flat Stanley and the last batch of photos to hand off to Junior. Flat Stanley had quite a year -- he saw the major attractions of New York, and a few things besides. A few highlights:

Times Square

Jefferson Memorial, Washington, D.C.

Washington Monument, Washington, DC

Casa Rosada, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Colonia, Uruguay