Sweet Blog O'Mine

Category: Life

  • Playing Catch Up (and Other Games)

    Once again, my blog is lagging behind my life.  I got back last night from a great food and friend-filled trip to San Francisco, where I could counter at least some of the shock, grief, and depression I was feeling about the election results.  Ugh.  I’ll do my best to post my pictures, etc. tonight, but I have to go to Taste of NY first, to cover it for Gothamist Food.  Sigh — life is hard. 

    In the meantime, here’s some stuff from last weekend that I never managed to post.  I spent a great day in Chinatown with my friend Deb, and we had some dim sum at Ping’s Seafood, which was good, but I still think I prefer HSF.  We also spent some time playing a game we called Crazy or on the Phone?   So hard to tell these days what with all the hands-free headsets around, but I think we were running about 50/50.  We also stumbled across this sign, which we decided could have very well been a missed Midnight Madness clue:

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    I’ll catch up one of these days, I swear.

  • The Power of Music. And Scent.

    I was having a discussion the other day about the power of a song to take you back to a specific place and time in your life. There’s a song on the Garden State soundtrack — The Only Living Boy in New York, by Simon and Garfunkel, that brings me back to a certain point in my life. The same boy who wrote me the most romantic love letters I have ever received also made me a mix tape or two, one of which had that song on it. At the time, I was living in Boston and he had recently moved to New York, so I imagined him wandering around, exploring the city, and the song to this day makes me think of him and smile.

    Similarly, when I was at OJ, one of the guys there was wearing the same cologne as someone I dated at one point. It’s amazing how the scent kept making me think that he was lurking around somewhere, even though I haven’t seen him in ages, and I certainly haven’t smelled him in even longer.

    Both of these things are so powerful, it’s almost frightening. And talking about it with other people makes me realize how pervasive this is — a song or a scent bringing you back to a specific place and time in your life — good or bad. The brain works in strange and mysterious ways . . .

  • Whew

    It’s been another too-busy week, so tonight is my designated night in.  Of course, I have no food in the house, and am trying to save up some money for my vacation, so I get to play pantry chef — what do I have in the pantry that I can toss together and eat?  Looks like it’s going to be a variation of pasta all’ amatricana — tomatoes, bacon, onions, some crushed red pepper.  Not bad, if I do say so myself.

    The weekend was a bit of a whirlwind — starting with a Thursday night visit to Otto with folks from the beach house, the late arrival of my weekend visitor, a fantastic dinner Friday night at Strip House, a beautifully plated, delicious brunch cooked just for me, the Romare Bearden exhibit at the Whitney, a (sadly) rather mediocre dinner at John’s Pizza, a party in a spectacular duplex, brunch in Brooklyn with my Dad, stepmom, brother and sister, several naps, and rounded out with another visit to Otto to celebrate Augie & Lauren’s return from their honeymoon.

    124_2418_r1With no rest, I started the work week with dinner with Dad at Union Square Cafe on Monday, led my self-defense class graduation/open house on Tuesday, and just returned today from a day-long meeting in Albany. 

    One of the many highlights of the weekend was our dinner at Strip House, where Rene and his staff gave us the royal treatment.  I had never been before, and was very impressed — my filet was perfect, and I swooned over the goose fat potatoes with their crisy, flavorful crust.  How can you go wrong with goose fat, really?  And I had more foie gras that night than I have had in the past two years combined: the seared foie gras with peaches and green tomatoes followed by the foie gras meatball.  Rene rounded out the evening by sending out a piece of chocolate cake the size of my head — we had some difficulty determining whether it was twelve or fourteen layers, but regardless, it was decadent.  Plus, we had leftovers to take home!  Thanks to all for a great weekend, and after some rest tonight, I’ll be ready for the rest of the week.

  • Ah . . . Fall

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    So last weekend was our 8th annual OJ, and like others before it, this one was filled with friends, food, wine, and junior high potty humor.  Unlike past years, however, we were in a super-duper-kickass house in Vermont, thanks to the hard work of our man Sco.  We all plan to chip in so that we can ultimately buy it. 

    Highlights included:

  • Leg of lamb stuffed with wild mushrooms and greens and "OJ Potatoes" by John (and his assistants, for when he was, um, indisposed)
  • Delicious desserts by Doug, including deep dish apple pie with a cheddar crumb crust, strawberry struessel cake, and pumpkin spice cake shaped like a pumpkin123_2391_r1
  • Squash risotto adapted from this dreamy fall recipe (in veggie and decidedly non-veggie, i.e., with bacon, versions) by yours truly (thanks to Katie from the beach house for this one)
  • bacon with just about every meal
  • wine, wine, and more wine
  • soup, soup, and more soup
  • beautiful foliage
  • punkins!
  • "look at the pretty!"
  • "Lever 2000 Fuckface – ask for it by name"
    and, of course,
    "P.S. — doody." 

    You can find the pictures here.


  • And We’re Off!

    Off to the woods for our 8th (?) annual OJ — the October soJourn, this year to VT. I’m sure I’ll return with scads of pictures, several tasty recipes, and tons of nauseatingly-gushy-sweet things to say about how amazing my friends are. For a preview, read last year’s entry.

  • Welcome to the Working Week*

    123_2371_r1Back from a completely relaxing weekend in Kismet. Not as many pictures, or as many people as last time, but once again, I am so happy that I got a chance to escape a bit this weekend. I even got in a beach day — yes, the weather cooperated enough for us to have a beach day in October. Fantastic. I met a new batch of people, who were all interesting, smart, fun, and had a shared passion for food. We had several amazing feasts, including a squash, chestnut, bacon and sage risotto that was perfect for fall, and a leg of lamb, infused with garlic, thyme, and rosemary, done on the rotisserie (damn, I need one of those), and talked everything from politics to our first music purchases (for the record, my first two 45’s were “I Will Survive” and “We Are Family“). Strangely enough, the five of us had a number of “NYC small world” coincidences, including sharing former employers, knowing various people in common, and being kick-ass Scrabble players. Oh wait, that wasn’t me. Argh. Note to self — must improve vocabulary before next Scrabble tournament.

    Thanks to John for being an extraordinarily welcoming host — for giving me a ride and letting me stray in, even as an “outsider,” and he gets extra bonus points for introducing me to my new favorite cocktail, the sidecar, which I believe is long overdue for a comeback. It was wonderful to meet you as well, Jenn, Jay & Katie — hope to meet up with you soon, perhaps at my neighborhood joint.

    You can see the photos here. I particularly like the fact that I was able to capture one of the alien deer that lurk about the island (yes, I know it’s the flash, but humor me, dammit):

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    * A tribute, of course, to my boy Elvis. Costello, that is.

  • Rants o’ Mine

    Why is it that people have not yet adopted the simple rules of walking etiquette? When you are walking down a crowded New York street and you want to get out of the way of an oncoming pedestrian, you are supposed to veer to the right. TO THE RIGHT, people. Like when you’re driving. Get it? Good. Now pass that information to everyone you see today. Thanks.

  • Amalga-Love and Smooches

    122_2275As usual, I’m a little too tired to do much else, but I wanted to post the pictures from the Mates’ 20th anniversary gala weekend. The Mates, or Amalgamates, is the Tufts coed a cappella singing group, in which I was not only a member, but president and business manager as well, not to mention president of the AAA — the Amalgamates Alumni Association. Or — as a friend of mine said earlier tonight — I was queen of the dorks. The Mates meant and continue to mean so much to me, as the speech I wrote for the occasion details in full. I can’t imagine you’d really want to read it if you’re not a Mate, but I just wanted to post it for posterity’s sake.

    You can find the pictures here.

  • Pictures Coming Soon

    Had a fantastic weekend and will post and upload pictures tomorrow (I’m having some technical difficulties uploading the photo file). In the meantime, here’s a subtle reminder for those of you who haven’t already done so:

    Get off your lazy ass and
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  • Another New York Moment

    122_2243_r1_1Given the surreal and scary New York moment I had yesterday, it was somewhat fitting to have another completely contrasting New York moment last night. I met up with the new Mr. & Mrs. C to have some dinner and look at some wedding pictures. In the midst of the first album, Augie’s cell phone rings and he asks us to hold up for a moment. He then proceeds to tell us how he had convinced a street musician to come up and play some music for us while we were looking at the wedding pictures; he was about to arrive at the apartment. We were somewhat befuddled, but when, a few moments later, we had shut off the iPod and were listening to the sweet, lush strains of a cello as it filled our friend Nic’s apartment, it really did seem like a fitting accompaniment to the pictures. Augie had paid him $20 to play two pieces for us, and then a few of us bought CD’s; he presented one to the newlyweds as a gift.

    Only in New York, I tell you. Only in New York.