Sweet Blog O'Mine

v. 2.0

  • Sunday Evening Respite

    WCOU

    Made it back in one piece from Philly and proceeded directly to brunch with the lovely ladies from the beach house at AOC, then headed to the Duplex for some cocktails and celebrity-spotting (Sarah Jessica Parker and Philip Seymour Hoffman — must have been the day for three-name celebs).  After that, the 7th annual East Village Idiot Dive Bar Crawl (didn’t take as many pictures as I did last year, unfortunately), and an appearance at the third annual Rob’s Friends Suck night. 

    This morning I had a farm-fresh brunch right from the comfort of New York City with Augie, Lauren, and their friend John — complete with bacon from Flying Pigs Farm.  Afterwards, I thoroughly enjoyed the gorgeous weather by walking around Union Square (passed the line at Trader Joe’s, which I chose to skip), reading the paper in the park, and then finally joining Katie for a pedicure for Spring-ready feet.  Tonight, I finished up my taxes, saving a wad of cash thanks to some handy tips from my mom (thanks, Mom!), and am getting geared up for yet another whirlwind week before my next trip — Vegas, baby.

    ADDENDUM:  I just realized that I would be remiss if I didn’t mention all the fine people who joined me in my food-based exploration of the Terminal Market and some of Philly’s food – the Pro Bono Net team at White Dog, Saralyn, who shared the DiNic’s sandwich, the soft pretzel, and Bassett’s ice cream, Doug, who joined me for breakfast (yes, I was alive and somewhat functional at 8 am thanks to a visit to the gym), and Alison, Saralyn (again), Marlene, and Tiela, who joined me on my cheesesteak pilgrimage.  And a special shout-out to Jeff, who I didn’t even realize I was going to get to see!

  • I Know It’s Not a Cheesesteak


    DiNic’s Roast Pork Sandwich

    but damn it was good. Roast pork with provolone and sauteed greens from DiNic’s in the Terminal Market. Never fear — I didn’t eat the whole thing myself — I saved room for the best soft pretzel I have ever had in my entire life!

  • Mmm . . . Cheesesteaks

    This week’s destination is sunny Philadelphia, where I haven’t been in a few years.  Although I’m going for the Equal Justice Conference, my mind’s really only on one thing.  Take a wild guess. 

  • Crawfish!



    Gotta love it when you smell a crawfish boil halfway down the block and stumble upon this in the doorway of Royal Grocery in the French Quarter.  I didn’t eat any this time around because we had just come from lunch at Acme Oyster House (finally! oysters on the half shell + soft shell crab po’ boy = yumilicious!), but even though we spent less than 24 hours in New Orleans, we ate well.  In addition to eating at Herbsaint, I also finally made it to Mother’s for breakfast — "debris" on a biscuit.  I couldn’t resist.  Debris, for those who don’t know (I didn’t until about two days ago), is the pieces of roast beef that fall off into the gravy while cooking.  Breakfast of champions.

    Ana’s wedding was lovely, although it made me realize how we don’t spend nearly enough time together back here in New York.  We’re going to work on remedying that.

    Getting ready for the next trip — Philly on Wednesday.

  • And, We’re Off!

    For the first of a series of trips over the coming month.  This time, to a wedding in Gautier, MS with an overnight in New Orleans.  Just doing my share to help boost the economy, not to mention celebrate along with my friend Ana, whose wedding was postponed due to Katrina. 

  • Too Busy

    Toobusy
    courtesy of Hugh at Gaping Void

    It’s funny because it’s true.

  • Dreaming of Truffles and a Clean Apartment

    I didn’t take any pictures at the Gothamist/Slice pizza party at Fornino last night because I was too busy enjoying the outstanding truffle pizza — a white pie with mozzarella and fontina cheeses, generously topped with shaved black truffles and garlicky truffle oil. Thinking about it still makes me drool.  Check out Flickr for others’ pictures.  This morning I left my apartment in the capable hands of Brenda from Zen Home Cleaning — I can’t wait to see the results when I get home tonight after Chinatown dinner with the siblings — probabaly Vietnamese at Nha Trang.

    UPDATE: seem to have caught the plague so stayed home and had a hot date with a bowl of soup, puffs with lotion and Airborne.  But — all the better to enjoy my super-clean apartment!!!

  • Blasts from the Past

    This weekend was all about catching up with old friends — Friday night I had dinner with law school classmates (and some of their respective spouses) and Saturday night I hung out with high school friends.  After dinner on Saturday we came back to my apartment to play a rousing game of Asshole (which I hadn’t played since college) while listening to one of my taped mixes from 1986 — the kind I taped off the radio (WLIR, of course).

    I also spent a great deal of the weekend purging some of the crap lying around my apartment in preparation for the cleaning service I’ve got scheduled to come tomorrow — I can’t wait!

    Finally, I visited the new Trader Joe’s in Union Square.  It was still a bit too crowded for my taste, and the selection was somewhat odd, but the prices were very appealing — I’m sure I’ll be back. 

  • The Picture is Crappy, but . . .


    Image053.jpg

    God, I love my neighborhood!

  • From 700 to Zero

    in . . . oh, about a week.  I’m using 43 Folders Inbox Zero series on how to keep your inbox empty.  Given that for the past five years I have used my email inbox at work as a giant repository rather than a useful tool, this is a huge step for me.  Since I started my new job, I have been much, much better about keeping the inbox count fairly low (thanks to GTD techniques, to some degree), but after I returned from DC, the inbox was bursting at the seams at over 700 messages.  I’m down to about 130 as of today, but aim to have it empty before I head down south next weekend.  Wish me luck!