Irish Hunger Memorial by Asha Agnish

TC EXCLUSIVE When I get a few days off in a row, I’m anxious to be out and about as soon as possible—but with Thanksgiving, the sit-around, lazy day comes first (unless you’re cooking, obviously). While much of the city will be closed on Thursday, it’s not a total wasteland. Here are seven suggestions that won’t take you too far from home: Earn Your Turkey.

FOUR YEARS LATER The northbound R/W platform at the Cortlandt Street station opens this afternoon.

WAY COOL Battery Park City’s new ice-skating rink may debut on Friday, depending on the weather, reports Broadsheet Daily: “‘We hope to start making ice in the next 48 hours or so,’ said Cindy Matthews, the marketing coordinator at Rink Management Services, which has partnered with the Battery Park City Authority to build and operate the seasonal, outdoor facility for the next six years. ‘The only things that would be likely to stop us are prolonged rain or temperatures much above 60 degrees.’ The new rink [which is being built on the ball fields] will operate from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturdays, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sundays. The admission fee will be $10 and skate rentals will cost $3.” ••• In other BPC news, the BPCA has released a request for qualifications for prospective tenants of Pier A, at the southern end of BPC. Interested? Click “opportunities” at batteryparkcity.org. Responses due January 29.

WHAT, NO CUPCAKES? I stopped by Ashley’s European Bakery, the new pint-sized storefront at 96 Chambers (Broadway/Church) to introduce myself to owner Asli Cavlak, who has transformed the former tobacco stand into a homey nook with pink walls and white cabinetry. (She enters through the miniature white door in front.) Originally from Turkey, she’s selling pastries such as simit (like a sesame bagel with a much higher sesame-to-bread ratio, and delicious); poaco with cheese; and potato, spinach, and cheese rolls. Buy any pastry and you get a free coffee.

OUR MAN SQUADRON At last night’s CB1 meeting, state senator Daniel Squadron—who continues to impress—said that he had made progress persuading the Department of Transportation and the N.Y.P.D. that the FDR’s Brooklyn Bridge exit is a raging mess (my words), and that better signage and (more important, one would think) increased enforcement will help stop it from getting jammed up from drivers cutting in at the last minute. He pointed out, however, that the “nightmare” (his word!) Brooklyn Bridge construction will be what ultimately makes a difference.

AROUND THE WEB From Curbed: “Another frozen condo project might be on the thaw down in Tribeca. We point your attention to 71 Laight Street, the cool and kind of crazy plan for the block between Greenwich and Washington Streets, where architect Morris Adjmi will replicate an existing century-old brick warehouse by building a mirror image in aluminum on the lot next door. Together the buildings will contain 32 condos, including a pair of penthouses. The old brick building on the corner of Washington, once the home to the Ragus Tea and Coffee Company, is sheathed in a sidewalk shed and, while DOB shows that full approval still awaits, the old tenants are but a memory.” ••• From Mommy Poppins: Details on Christmas tree lightings at South Street Seaport (Friday, Nov. 27, 6 p.m.) and World Financial Center (Tuesday, Dec. 1, 6 p.m.), which includes a “child-friendly one-hour performance of The Nutcracker” by New York Theater Ballet (also at 12:30 p.m. that day). ••• Bloomberg‘s restaurant critic Ryan Sutton gives Bouley three stars: “If high-end dining is theater, then Bouley is a French Medieval Times, minus the live horses and eating with your hands. Who else would bake chicken with hay other than a rural cuisinier? The 3 1/2-hour show continues over eight courses (not counting amuse-bouches, petits fours and gifts from the chef) for $150. The downtown deal of the decade might be its five-course-plus, $48 lunch.”

STEALS AND DEALS Tribeca Beauty Spa is taking 20 percent off all holiday packages on this Friday and Saturday. •••  Euphoria Spa is offering a private Mama Glow Prenatal Yoga class combined with Tender Shoots wellness nutritional counseling for $99 (regularly $140). ••• If the last thing you want to do tonight is cook, consider Kiva Cafe‘s $10 Wednesday special: an asparagus-and-gruyere omelet served with a toasted baguette and side salad. It’s also available to go.

AN APOLOGY In yesterday’s newsletter, I whined about how aggravating I find the World’s AIDS Day event in City Hall Park without pausing to think about how insensitive it would sound to people who lost loved ones to the disease. I’m truly sorry. (This is why writers need editors! Especially writers who write at 8 a.m.!)