Category: Life

  • It’s 4:30 pm — Time to Get off the Couch

    I’m actually wrapping up this weekend before the weekend’s over, for a change.  After a somewhat draining week at work, I stayed in Friday night, stopping briefly at Von Singh’s for dinner on the way home, then flopping on the couch watching The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and knitting presents for my brother and my mom.  Exciting, huh?   Actually, it was perfect.

    LatkesSaturday I made up for it, frantically cleaning up my apartment in time for brunch with the lovely ladies who blog.  Now, I generally have a latke party every year, but this year I didn’t plan one, so I took brunch as an opportunity to make latkes, and to use the platter my friend Deb thoughtfully gave me last year (thanks to Nichelle for the photo).  I was so much fun just catching up, eating, and gossiping, and we certainly missed the ladies who weren’t in attendance this time around.

    Next, on to a haircut, then off to dinner with my brother and stepmom at Angon on the Sixth, where I’ve wanted to go for a while, given all the raves on Chowhound.  Unfortunately, I was so full from brunch I could barely eat, and the service was dreadful for some reason.  I’d like to go back and give it another chance.  After dinner, my brother came along with me to my friend Sara’s holiday party out in Fort Greene.  We walked a route from the subway that was new to me, and I have to say that I really liked the neighborhood out there.  The party was lovely, and we bonded with some very friendly folks over the varied and plentiful cheese selection.  I impressed one party-goer, not to mention myself, by pulling out the name of a cheese that was there — an ubriaco.  I had tried one in the past, and enjoyed it so much that I remembered it, and was able to identify it immediately.  We talked food and cheese for a while, then headed back to Manhattan so I could get to my next stop, which was Jake‘s Chanukah party.  Since it was a bit late, I ran into a few people I knew on their way out as I was on my way in, but stayed chatting with my friend Ethan for a while.  Finally, we headed out, and I stopped in for a nightcap at Otto, knowing full well that someone I knew would be there.  And, of course, Nic and Luke were at the bar. 

    Today is a pajama day — I had leftover latkes for brunch, and have been lazing around, reading the paper, chatting on the phone, and am going to head uptown in a bit with my friend Roopa for dinner at our friend David’s.  He’s been threatening to have us over to his new place for a while, and I’m glad we finally managed to pull it together, so we can catch up and taste these chicken tacos he’s been telling us about all this time.

    This week is my last full week of work before a much needed two week vacation.  I can’t wait.  But, have to make it through the week first.  Wish me luck.  Okay — I’m off hit the shower and get out of my pajamas.  At 4:30 in the afternoon — nice job, lazy girl.

  • ABC’s of my Weekend: Art, Burgers, and Crudo

    I love how I’ve gotten into this ridiculous habit of "catching up" on my weekend activities sometime mid-week.  I’ll throw in some of this week too, just as an extra added bonus. 

    After recovering from my cold among other things, I was ready for a fairly mellow weekend, so I started off with a visit to the new MoMa with Bill, Sarah, Katie, Romy, Carrie, and John.  It’s free on Fridays — $20 is a tad pricy for a museum, even a newly-renovated one here in NYC — and although it was a little crowded, it’s a great way to unwind on a Friday night.  We only got to see a fraction of the art, but the new building itself was worth the trip.  But since I’m rarely in midtown, I was originally at a bit of a loss as to where to go for dinner afterwards, until it hit me — the Burger Joint in the Parker Meridien hotel.  Made for a perfect high culture/low culture evening, and great for the budget.

    127_2714_r1The next day was my good friend Erika’s bridal shower.  As she well knows, I am not much of a fan of bridal showers, for about a million reasons, so the fact that I went is a testament to how much her friendship means to me.  But you can’t spend any quality time with a friend during a bridal shower, so we made plans to go out to dinner later that evening.  She was so proud that she could take me to Bar Tonno — she had gone there before I did, and she knew it would impress her favorite foodie.  And she was right.  I’ll be reviewing it later tonight for Gothamist Food (I also wrote up the Burger Joint); not only was the crudo (sort of like Italian sushi) fresh and light, which balanced out the huge brunch we had eaten earlier, but we sat right by the sous chef, who had a great Australian accent, a nifty hairdo, and was flirting with me, to boot!

    Sunday I went with Mom, Rob and David to the 10th foodie — this time, a regional Italian tasting.  As usual, a great time was had by all.

    Last night I got to see a free advance screening of the Life Aquatic — it was fantastic — funny, heartwarming, quirky.  Go see it when it opens this weekend.  Tonight’s my designated night in — I was finally able to replace the DVD player that died in the night of the grand tofu-roach-DVD disaster, so I may watch a movie, but first, must eat the turkey pot pie that my dad thoughtfully made after Thanksgiving (it’s been hiding out in my freezer), and I’ve got a review to write, along with some additional posts.  Turns out it’s been a shitty work week for some of my columnists (myself included), so I’ve got to do some extra stuff this week, which also explains my sporadic posting here.  Sorry gang.  And I won’t even go into how behind I am on posting pictures . . . Ack!

  • Flannel PJ’s and Chicken Soup

    First of all, gotta love it when you look at your referral stats and see that someone from the Pentagon’s been looking at your blog.

    And on a totally unrelated note . . . earlier this week, as I was sitting on my couch in my red flannel pajamas with a box of tissues, blowing my nose every five seconds, I realized how much I miss having someone take care of me when I’m sick.  I absolutely despise being sick — I’ll admit, I get a little whiny, and all I want is to get better as soon as possible.  I really miss the days when I was in a relationship, and someone was there to fetch me soup, orange juice, tissues, movies, an extra blanket, or whatever I needed.  Someone who would look at me lovingly despite my red flannel pajamas and my matching red nose, or just sit and rub my legs, feet, or forehead when I was too sick to do anything more than crash on the couch. 

    Now that I have good friends in the neighborhood, many of whom are single, I almost feel like we have a duty to each other to deliver soup, tissues, cold remedies, or whatever when someone’s knocked down with the plague.  I would have loved to have a friendly face stop by the other day, and I’m sure any of my friends would appreciate the gesture.  Sure, you might catch a cold, but what goes around comes around, whether it’s the sniffles, or chicken soup.  Personally, I prefer wonton when I’m sick, just for the record.

  • ‘Tis the Season

    Well, I made it through the double-header Thanksgiving, and I suddenly feel like the holiday season is upon me with a vengance.  Holiday parties and events, shopping, making gifts (of both the knitted and chocolate varieties), putting together all the holiday tips for the doormen, and just my general busy social life — it’s a little overwhelming.  This week, for example, I already have plans every single night — a birthday dinner (not mine), dinner plans (seafood, mmm), a restaurant opening, a work event and the first of the holiday parties, then Friday (free) night at the new MoMA.  Whew.  At the same time, I’m also trying to reorganize my finances and get a decent amount of sleep and exercise.  Not sure I’ll succeed on all fronts.

    Is anyone else starting to feel the onslaught of the holidays setting in, or is it just me?

  • Giving Thanks

    I’m recovering from Thanksgiving, take one, with Mom’s side of the family today, and off for Thanksgiving, take two, with Dad’s side of the family tomorrow.  Enjoy the weekend, everyone, and have a happy Thanksgiving!

  • Another “Only in New York” Moment

    Gotta love it when U2 rides down Seventh Avenue right past your office on the back of a flatbed truck.   Yes, they’re blurry — too much adrenalin pumping to hold the camera steady!

    Bono1_1

    Bono2

  • Early to Bed, Early to Rise

    That’s tonight’s motto.  Although I didn’t overdo it at all this weekend, I’m feeling a cold coming on, and I do not want to be sick for Thanksgiving.  That would be so like me — to get sick for my time off.  So, I’m taking some preventative measures. 

    126_2607

    This weekend was great, and very social.  I had about a dozen women over on Friday night for a fur-and-feather-themed cocktail party.  I was a little concerned about space, so I didn’t invite quite as many people as I wanted to, but I think that I could certainly fit more in the next time, and it was such a success that is definitely going to be a next time!  Everyone really enjoyed having a girls-only night, although when the conversation turned to Star Wars at one point, we realized how un-girly we were being.  But being the non-girly girl that I am, that’s exactly why I get along so well with them.  Saturday I went to a cocktail party at my Mom’s apartment, and got to spend some time with my family (prep for Thanksgiving) and then on to Tien’s party in Greenpoint.  Today I made pancakes for brunch with Rob and then headed downtown for wine and cheese at Katie’s.  And now — laundry and writing.  All this sniffling is somewhat distracting, however, so I think I’m going to end up reading or watching TV with a cup of hot tea and then going to bed early, so I can work out in the morning.  Wish me luck — I’m not good at going to bed early, no matter how much I want to.  I can always find something to distract me . . .

  • Rants o’ Mine, Take Two

    So we all know how challenging simply walking down the street in New York City can be, right?  So why do people feel the need to make it more difficult by not only offering flyers to me, but literally shoving their entire arm in my direct path, forcing me to swerve wildly in order to avoid being knocked in the stomach?  Even on the days I take the subway to work, when I’m only walking a few blocks on either end, I am accosted no less than 3 or 4 times during those blocks.  First, the Metro and A.M. News folks, who are by far the most polite.  They never use the full-arm approach, and when you mutter, "no, thank you," they’ll even tell you to have a nice day.  Upon exiting the subway, however, I leave the polite news territory and enter the land of the menu people.  These folks act as if they’re out to get me, viciously thrusting menus at me, with absolutely no regard for my personal space.   Drives me absolutely batshit.  There are at least two of them every day, in the two blocks between my subway and work.  And finally, as an extra added bonus, there’s the fur guys.  I work in the fur district, where all the wholesale furriers hang out, and as a result, in addition to the news and menu people, I’m often bombarded with flyers for fur sales.  Do I look like I wear fur?  The only fur I own is so faux that I feel guilty about the teddy bears who have died so I can have cool fuzzy green shoes and a fluffy silver coat.  But real fur?  No thanks.  And regardless, there’s no need to shove that much paper at me before I’ve even come close to having coffee.  I’m surprised I haven’t throttled someone yet — some of you have seen me before coffee — not a pretty sight.

    Okay.  Today’s rant is now over.

  • At Least There’s Still Some Good News

    I may be depressed about most things I read in the news lately, but this gave me a smile.  Big-Bottomed Mannequins Boost Profile in New York. Guess I’ll be stopping by Macy’s for some new jeans on my way home to show off my bootyliciousness. [via Gothamist]

  • Visiting Another Blue State: the San Fran Report

    Jenn and I had both stayed up late to watch election returns last Tuesday night, so when we met super-early on Wednesday morning, we were both incredibly cranky and depressed, hoping that the worst was not yet inevitable.  During our flight over Jesusland (as the map that’s been going around now calls it), our pilot announced that Kerry was planning his concession later that afternoon.  Fuck.  At least we were on vacation.

    Our goals for our trip were to see friends, catch up on sleep, and relax, and I had the additional goal, as I always do, to find fantastic, cheap, local fare.  We succeeded on all fronts.  Between my SF Mates dinner at Tao Cafe (thanks again to the Chowhounds), to dim sum at Ton Kiang, from hitting happy hour at Nectar, a sleek and comfortable wine bar, to happy hour at trendy-wendy Lime, from sushi on boats at Warakubune to small plates at Three Seasons to modern Chinese at Firecracker, and the grand finale at the Ferry Building Farmers’ Market (where else can you have sweet, fresh oysters at 10 AM?!), I was definitely grateful for the hills and a travel companion who liked to walk as much as I did.

    Without going into too much detail (or I’ll never catch up), it was great to see Hinman, Leslie, Spike, Mindy, Joe, Jon, Eric, Bill, Adam, Arielle, David R., Stephen, Sid, and Seth — I was thrilled that I was able to spend at least a little bit of time with so many people and some quality time with a few folks I hadn’t seen in way too long.  Thanks particularly to Eric and Bill for their incredible hospitality and to my cousin Matt for letting me crash at his home away from home.

    Baybridge
    (yes, it’s the Bay Bridge, not the Golden Gate, but this is the view I had while eating those oysters I mentioned.  Nice, huh?)

    Can’t say I’m ready to move quite yet, but I had a great trip — and although I still have a great deal of recovery to do from the election, I’m glad I started down the road with friends and like-minded blue-staters.  It certainly softened the blow.  You can see the rest of the pictures here.