Sweet Blog O'Mine

Category: Food and Drink

  • Catching Up

    For some reason it seems like I haven’t had the time to post as much lately. Maybe it’s because I’m busy, but maybe it’s because all my food-related writing is going to Gothamist Food, and the rest of my life isn’t as much fun to write about with all the food stripped out of it! Not sure.

    Then again, I had a good weekend. It started off poorly, but improved steadily, thank God. Friday night, after a busy week, I decided that I needed a night in (see, Dad, I am maturing, at least slightly). Armed with Young Adam (after all of Hugh‘s pimping, I figured I should see it), and two DVD’s of the first season of Six Feet Under, I headed home to begin my first experiment with cooking tofu at home. I had gotten a recipe from Whole Foods, and as the tofu was marinating in its garlic and gingery bath, I popped in one of the DVDs, sat down, and noticed that there was no sound coming out of the TV. I switched discs. I cranked up the volume. I unplugged, replugged, and even tried a new cable. Nothing. Then I noticed that not only was there no sound, but there was nothing on the display panel. Cursing under my breath, I headed to the internet to find out where I might send the thing to be fixed, knowing full well that I’d probably spend less buying a new one. Lo and behold, I discovered that several other disgruntled consumers had encountered the same exact problem with the Toshiba SD-1700 — after about a year and a half, kerblooey for no apparent reason.

    Cranky and hungry, I extracted the tofu from its marinade, and proceeded to follow the recipe I had printed out. I eagerly tasted the results, and got . . . salty, garlicky sponges. Very sad. Still hungry, I settled in to watch TV, amusing myself with The Apprentice, What Not to Wear, and other random crap. I returned to finish up the dishes and saw . . . the biggest fucking water bug/roach/whatever the hell it was crawling across my counter. I let out a surprisingly girlish gasp, grabbed the Raid from under the kitchen sink, and sprayed the shit out of it. After calming myself, I sprayed more Raid in every crack and crevasse in the kitchen, scoured all exposed surfaces, threw out the tofu disaster, and drifted off into a disgusted and fitful sleep.

    I was awakened at 8 am on Saturday by a clap of thunder so loud that I thought that either my building had been struck by lightning or that we had been bombed. So much for sleeping in. I will admit, though, that things greatly improved from then on . . .

    I’m too tired to finish at the moment. Hopefully these graffiti photos I took will tide you over until I can finish the update. Stay tuned for a dinner party, a trip to Winnie’s, shopping, and foodie (you see, I told you it got better)!

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  • A Sweet and Healthy New Year

    Whew. Lately I’ve been feeling like I’m incredibly busy, yet I have nothing much to show for it. What the hell have I been doing, and why am I so damn exhausted? Well, let’s see. Work is heating back up. I’m trying to clean up my financial act a bit, with the long-term goal of possibly buying a home somewhere (gasp! well, we’ll see . . .), by cooking more and eating out less without cramping my social life, quitting one gym and joining another, and switching around some of my band accounts to eliminate the constant gouging by ATM fees. I’ve been running from hither to yon — to DC for work this week and another business trip to Rochester (where I MUST visit Dinosaur BBQ this time to see what we’re in for here in NYC) at the end of the month. Over the next month or so, each weekend brings a wedding or event, often involving travel (and certainly not helping my financial situation any — I may actually break down and take the Chinatown bus for the first time ever). Of course, these are all fun events that I’m looking forward to attending, so I can’t really complain.

    Gothamist Food continues to go well, and my quest for good, cheap food continues to go quite well. Go take a look if you want to see the latest finds. And on another food-related note, I’m heading to my second Foodie on Sunday — I’ve been looking forward to it since the last one.

    Regardless, today is the beginning of the New Year, at least for us Jew-y types. I’m celebrating in a somewhat non-traditional fashion by getting my shit in order — paying bills, cleaning the apartment, doing laundry, etc. It’s pretty much in the spirit of the holiday — the idea is to get your spiritual house in order so that you can start off the year with a clean spiritual slate, so to speak. Later, I’ll be joining a friend and her family for some wine, and then having my brother and his girlfriend over for a decidedly non-Jewish, Cuban-style dinner of pork chops, rice and beans, and plaintains. Never fear, we’ll serve apples and honey in a nod to our heritage. It’s good to have a day to yourself before starting the new year — and I also had the time to make homemade pizza for lunch, which came out with the thinnest, crispiest crust I’ve managed to create yet! Woo hoo!

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  • Something to Munch on While I’m Gone

    The New York Post provides a list of places you can eat for under $2, including one of my personal favorites, Fried Dumpling on Mosco Street in Chinatown. Now get eating and let me know what you think!

  • Recovery

    Yes, it’s Saturday night and I’m home. Alone. Blogging. Granted I had dinner with my brother, but I am happy to have some time to myself on the couch. Last night ended up much later than I had intended, and I have work to do before heading off to DC for work tomorrow afternoon, but I wanted to post some pictures before I left. First, the pictures from Maine. And below, some highlights from last night’s festivities:

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  • Blog-o-riffic!

    Last night was one of those multi-event social evenings, but this one had a blog theme going. First a food blogger gathering at in Vino in the East Village (on a side note — if you haven’t been there yet, go. Friendly, helpful staff, and solid, classic antipasti), organized by the delightful Vittles Vamp. Also in attendance were Jeremy of Frost Street and GirlyNYC (all three are my partners in crime at Gothamist Food), Lockhart Steele, and Matt of Bourrez Votre Visage. It was such a pleasure to eat and drink with other foodie types and to meet the folks I hadn’t yet met in person. Thanks again to the Vamp for putting the evening together.

    Next, GirlyNYC and I moved on to our second stop of the evening — the PlanetGordon party, where I got to hang with the famous groom (and bride) and a portion of my Tufts posse. After a brief bit of mixing and mingling, we moved on to the Magician, with Jake and Rion in tow. The bar was full of so many blog-type-folks that it would be futile even to make an attempt to mention them all. I also ran into a fellow AIDS-rider, who I hadn’t seen in a while, there for an unrelated event. I think there were three separate blog or web-related events going on there all at the same time. Not sure why the Magician has become such a blog-centric hangout, but the bartender (who wasn’t Lulu) was sure happy to have us packing the place.

    And of course, all along the way, we kept checking in to Dodgeball, and I even got a personal thanks from the founder (who was at the Magician with everyone else) for being such a loyal user.

    Tonight is Soundtracks Live: Sixteen Candles (being taped for VH1, apparently), and tomorrow are various and sundry parties, so the Maine pictures may not make it up till the weekend, when I have five minutes to breathe . . .

  • And We’re Back

    fd_logo_sm_gl_nvMade it back safely from Maine on a ridiculously early morning flight, and have a ton of work to dive into, but I just wanted to give a quick plug for Fresh Direct — how fantastic is it that I can place an order from anyplace with internet access, and time the delivery so that I can arrive home to a stocked fridge?! Love it. I am eagerly awaiting my boxes of goodies this evening. . .

  • A Bicycle Built for Two

    I just returned from a weekend in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, at the wedding of my dear friends Doug and Leora. Doug I have known for about a decade at this point, and it was several years ago while training for our second AIDS Ride that we both had the pleasure of meeting Leora. It has always been clear that they were a good fit for each other, particularly when he brought her to OJ for the first time to meet our group of college friends. We’re a little hard to bust into from the outside, and I’ve always known that the right guy for me will be one who would fit in at OJ, our annual fall getaway weekend — if he didn’t like the weekend, or my friends, or if my friends didn’t like him, he would be out. I know Doug felt the same way, so when Leora blended in seamlessly, it was like a seal of approval. Training for another ride the following year, I got to know Leora even better as we chatted away the miles (she and I ride about the same pace; Doug’s somewhat faster), and to develop a friendship with her beyond just as “Doug’s girlfriend.”

    Joining them to celebrate their wedding was a reaffirmation of my initial impressions of their relationship — they fit perfectly together, and it was such a treat to take part in a wedding that truly celebrated this fit, filled with love, laughter, joy, friends, family and tears. Congratulations to both of you — enjoy the next leg of the ride.

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    You can see the rest of the pictures here, and read PlanetGordon for the backstory on the wedding.

  • A Picture is Worth . . .

    Because I know that’s what you really want, anyway. The fun part about going out with bloggers, even if it’s just a casual night out for wings, is that whatever silly, goofy thing you do, it’s all over the internet the next day.

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    The wings per person consumption chart.

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    Some of the lovely ladies who blog.

    And Joe, I love, love, love the chart.

  • There’s a Party in my Panties!

    And you’re all invited! Join me for “There’s a Party in my Panties!” — an evening of cocktails and vintage lingerie at the Tainted Lady Lounge. Tainted Lady Lounge, 318 Grand Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Thursday, August 19, 2004, 8:00 PM. Sponsored by Hottpants, Nichelle Newsletter, and the Vicar’s Vice. Click here to RSVP and I’ll see you there.

  • It’s a Small World After All

    Friday night, for the second time in a week, I ventured to the Upper West Side. For those of you who know me, you realize that this is somewhat of a big deal — I’m one of those annoying people who rarely goes out above 14th Street, and would sooner haul out to Brooklyn than uptown for whatever reason. Earlier this week I had dinner with two law school friends whom I hadn’t seen (at least together) in ages. Last night, I had dinner with my friend Eric. Eric and I were walking down the street and lo and behold I bump into one of the aforementioned friends and his girlfriend. Jon was stunned that I was on the UWS twice in a week, and Eric commented that virtually every time he’s with me, we run into someone I know. It’s true — I run into people I know all the time. I don’t know if it’s because I just know a lot of people or because I’ve been here for over a decade. [A brief digression — Jon volunteered to organize a trip up to the Blue Hill at Stone Barns, since he has a car — just wanted to memorialize that in writing . . .]

    As the evening progressed, I kept running into more and more people. Some of it was planned — after dinner I headed to the Magician on the Lower East Side to meet a friend for a drink. He was there with another blogger I had met earlier in the week. Some of it was less planned — on my way to the bar, I ran into my neighbor, whose band was playing at Luna Lounge — so I had to run over and see the set. When I returned to the bar, I bumped into one of the Speed Sisters, who had tapped my shoulder inadvertently, thinking I was someone else.

    Friday night was also my first experience meeting a new person through Dodgeball. I’ve been using it to check in when I go out, and I met up with Nichelle last night because she knew where I was, but last night one of the folks in my “friends of friends” group started text messaging me because I was nearby. On my way back to the Magician from Luna Lounge, I stoped into Pianos, where he was, and introduced myself. So it works!

    I finished the night at ‘inoteca — where I hadn’t been in a while. And even though I arrived there just after they stopped serving food, they were kind enough to serve me a little snack because I’m friendly with some of the folks who work there. All in all, a fun, social, people-filled Friday night.

    The only downside to a night like that was that it completely derailed my plans for an active Saturday. I ended up relaxing for most of the day, doing a few errands, then staying in and cooking for the evening (the picture is for Tien — I think the crust needed much more salt and I’m still not great at making it round, but it was nice and crispy). Now I’m off to fit in a quick rollerblade or run before I head up to my camp reunion, but more on that later. . .

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