a scottish cop (a scopsman? aha ha ha ha.) full new york blue on top, FULL kilt and regalia on bottom, including spats and those horse-hair purses and a skirt and little star-bead chain. i think he must be really committed to his scottish heritage, because otherwise i can't imagine he would put up with all the ribbing down at the precinct.
i so rarely see a full kilt. even when i was in scotland, i don't think i saw a kilt. i love kilts. what wonderful male formal wear.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Sunday, February 3, 2008
new modern
every once in awhile we get to do things that are totally out of the ordinary, and tonight s and i enjoyed just such an experience. i got tickets to "fred sherry plays zorn" through my work, an hour plus of experimental modern cello music. i played the cello for about eight years and i love the instrument--it has a sound like the human voice, and it truly sings, from the low low dug out notes and to the ethereal high harmonics--but this was the cello like i had never heard it. the first piece "777" was three cellos playing simultaneously, occasionally in unison (which was always a pleasant surprise) but usually out of synch, careening from low to high and sliding back down, with aggressive pizzicatos and delicate tremolos. it was so unusual i couldn't help but smile. the trio for piano, violin and cello was my favorite; john zorn (the composer) described it as inspired by andre breton (an artist i have studied and am intrigued by) and with the goal of being lyrical and french. it sounded like the soundtrack to a dream, but a dream that cannot decide if it is good or bad. it was intense music, sometimes achingly sweet, sometimes jarring and suspenseful. i really enjoyed it. the third piece was dedicated to the artist joseph cornell, whose work i really admire and enjoy, but the piece was not my favorite of the three. the works were peppered with discussion between fred sherry, the cellist, and john zorn, the composer (moderated by charles wuorinen, another modern composer, who came off a little like an overeager professor.) oh, and it was at the guggenheim, which happens to be my most favorite museum in nyc. (they were working to install a new show while we were there which i cannot wait to go see.)
i like stretching myself, experiencing new art forms, learning something instead of just going through the daily motions. (you know, like being the reason nyc sucks now.) it was a totally wonderful night, the kind of magical night i could only have in this city in which something new is always happening.
i like stretching myself, experiencing new art forms, learning something instead of just going through the daily motions. (you know, like being the reason nyc sucks now.) it was a totally wonderful night, the kind of magical night i could only have in this city in which something new is always happening.
Friday, February 1, 2008
date night
i know you're totally sick of me talking about what i've gotten to eat recently, but restaurant week ends tonight, so bear with me.
i love my boyfriend. a lot. (so much so that i teared up on the train last night as i headed down to meet him, thinking about how much i love him.) but he works crazy hours and i have a weird weekend, so i don't get to see him as much as i might want to, so i was extra excited when we made plans to go out to dinner at the mercer kitchen last night to celebrate our three year anniversary (technically on monday, but i have a feeling we'll make it through the weekend.) i left work early and stood on the street waiting for him. it still makes me smile to see him walking towards me, makes me smile even larger to see his smile when he sees me. he's a handsome boy, my boy, and we looked good last night. maybe like we even belong in some fancy soho restaurant. mercer kitchen feels special (even without tablecloths, as s teased me.) we sat downstairs, below ground, in a cozy dining room with bricked walls and mirrors and candles and soft conversation and single lillies in vases and wonderful cucumber-mint martinis. we toasted our three years together with speeches and smiles. for dinner (i know you're reading for the food, not the love) we forewent the restaurant week menu and both had the butternut squash soup with black trumpet mushrooms. they bring you a plate with a bowl on it with tiny green onions and mushrooms and cubed squash in still-life and then they pour the pureed soup into your bowl table-side from a silver samovar. soup never felt so special! (also: absurdly delicious. oh my gosh. two great soups this week.) s was a major fan of his roasted chicken and mashed potatoes ("almost as good as grandma's", he pronounced, high-praise from a boy who often talks about his grandma's mashed potatoes) and i enjoyed my thin italian pizza. it was a lovely dinner.
and this is how i know we are perfect for each other: we decided to skip dessert to make it home in time to see the season premiere of lost. it took forevs, between the r train and its bajillion stops on the way to the f (though we got to hear the sweet sounds of the subtations! i love them! and they gave s fist pounds for his girlfriend! who gave them a dollar.) we were invited to various viewing parties, but my wicked cold (thanks, workday fever) kept us in, which led to some last-minute panic. the hd projector, for all its magic, is not attached to any kind of television cable, so we had to take camp's tv out of another roommate's room and using RABBIT EARS (which had to be adjusted and foiled and ohmyGOSH this is 2008 and we have an hd projector and we are watching tv with rabbit ears), we were able to get our picture. and s got dessert in the end (i had prepared these little gems for the occasion, albeit with a few changes.) it was a wonderful night.
i still have the cold, however, and have already sneezed on my blanket, my hands, and my sweatshirt. don't worry, i washed all of them.
i love my boyfriend. a lot. (so much so that i teared up on the train last night as i headed down to meet him, thinking about how much i love him.) but he works crazy hours and i have a weird weekend, so i don't get to see him as much as i might want to, so i was extra excited when we made plans to go out to dinner at the mercer kitchen last night to celebrate our three year anniversary (technically on monday, but i have a feeling we'll make it through the weekend.) i left work early and stood on the street waiting for him. it still makes me smile to see him walking towards me, makes me smile even larger to see his smile when he sees me. he's a handsome boy, my boy, and we looked good last night. maybe like we even belong in some fancy soho restaurant. mercer kitchen feels special (even without tablecloths, as s teased me.) we sat downstairs, below ground, in a cozy dining room with bricked walls and mirrors and candles and soft conversation and single lillies in vases and wonderful cucumber-mint martinis. we toasted our three years together with speeches and smiles. for dinner (i know you're reading for the food, not the love) we forewent the restaurant week menu and both had the butternut squash soup with black trumpet mushrooms. they bring you a plate with a bowl on it with tiny green onions and mushrooms and cubed squash in still-life and then they pour the pureed soup into your bowl table-side from a silver samovar. soup never felt so special! (also: absurdly delicious. oh my gosh. two great soups this week.) s was a major fan of his roasted chicken and mashed potatoes ("almost as good as grandma's", he pronounced, high-praise from a boy who often talks about his grandma's mashed potatoes) and i enjoyed my thin italian pizza. it was a lovely dinner.
and this is how i know we are perfect for each other: we decided to skip dessert to make it home in time to see the season premiere of lost. it took forevs, between the r train and its bajillion stops on the way to the f (though we got to hear the sweet sounds of the subtations! i love them! and they gave s fist pounds for his girlfriend! who gave them a dollar.) we were invited to various viewing parties, but my wicked cold (thanks, workday fever) kept us in, which led to some last-minute panic. the hd projector, for all its magic, is not attached to any kind of television cable, so we had to take camp's tv out of another roommate's room and using RABBIT EARS (which had to be adjusted and foiled and ohmyGOSH this is 2008 and we have an hd projector and we are watching tv with rabbit ears), we were able to get our picture. and s got dessert in the end (i had prepared these little gems for the occasion, albeit with a few changes.) it was a wonderful night.
i still have the cold, however, and have already sneezed on my blanket, my hands, and my sweatshirt. don't worry, i washed all of them.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
rain on city sidewalks
it rained today, i guess. (i don't have a great sense for weather, what with having to sit with my back to the offices with windows.) when i went outside the sidewalks were dark and wet, but it wasn't still raining. which i was disappointed about. i know i've blogged before about my love for city rain, so you know why i wished i hadn't missed the mist. (ha! such a good play on words, right? ok, ignore me.)
so anyway, i was walking to the train by myself (i worked late tonight) and someone in front of me was smoking a cigarette, and while i hate cigarettes (do not smoke, do not think anyone else should smoke) the combination of wet pavement and smoke took me back. my freshman year at nyu, i remember standing outside in the rain on broome st, pretending i knew how to smoke cigarettes with the hip kids who would stick out the remaining three years. that new york then, my new york then, had so much promise and excitement. i had left my sleepy oregon town for new! york! city!, the only person i knew to make such a move. i was proud of my bravery, glad i had made it more than a week (like i think some people thought i might not), pleased that i was standing on a street with girls who wore eyeliner and cursed like sailors and drank absinthe and would be friends with me. i was seventeen, or maybe eighteen by then, and totally idealistic about new york and my future, about making art and theatre and bringing about cultural change, and all of the other things i still think about but do not always have the energy to act on. my new york was huge and full of possibility. and my new york then was smaller, too, confined by classes and studio work and dorm rooms, it was safer and easier, it was an idyllic new york, but it is one i still cherish. i didn't "make it" then, i left (for myriad reasons), but i clung to my new york, knowing i wanted to come back, to try again with some experience under my belt. my new york made me something more, reminded me that there was a world beyond my little college towns, first in oregon and then in indiana. it made me push myself, not give up or stay put, made me leave the men who might've held me back. ("you could act in d.c.", the politician said to me, ignoring the fact that it was my new york i wanted back. of course when i was in d.c. this summer, he wouldn't even talk to me. i guess i hurt him more than i thought.) i think little towns are dangerous; life is easy, it is safe, it is clean, it is nice, it pulls you in and inertia keeps you there. but i always had new york to motivate me, to keep me going. i have always known i wanted to live here (and always known i would not live here forever, but that is its own post.) i have always known i could live here; let not my blog fool you, i am pretty damn tough when i need to be. i have always known that i should live here, that i need a city that keeps me on my toes, that intimidates me and teaches me, helps me grow as a person, never lets me give in to the temptation to settle. and so my new york, i am here again, i am more ready that i was six years ago, i am anxious and excited to keep experiencing whatever i can. and i was reminded of all this from the mingled smell of wet pavement and cigarette smoke.
i told s i think about this blog a lot, that it makes me really happy to have this to work on, because it reminds me to look for the positives in my life and my experiences here (and encourages me to seek out new things, if only to have something to blog about.) and i have always loved to write, and think i am occasionally moved to greatness, and if nothing else this keeps me thinking. so thank you, blog, for being here.
and also, because i talk a lot about being boring (though i am NOT married), i found this hilarious and thought it was worth a share:
spring is a great time for zinfandel
so anyway, i was walking to the train by myself (i worked late tonight) and someone in front of me was smoking a cigarette, and while i hate cigarettes (do not smoke, do not think anyone else should smoke) the combination of wet pavement and smoke took me back. my freshman year at nyu, i remember standing outside in the rain on broome st, pretending i knew how to smoke cigarettes with the hip kids who would stick out the remaining three years. that new york then, my new york then, had so much promise and excitement. i had left my sleepy oregon town for new! york! city!, the only person i knew to make such a move. i was proud of my bravery, glad i had made it more than a week (like i think some people thought i might not), pleased that i was standing on a street with girls who wore eyeliner and cursed like sailors and drank absinthe and would be friends with me. i was seventeen, or maybe eighteen by then, and totally idealistic about new york and my future, about making art and theatre and bringing about cultural change, and all of the other things i still think about but do not always have the energy to act on. my new york was huge and full of possibility. and my new york then was smaller, too, confined by classes and studio work and dorm rooms, it was safer and easier, it was an idyllic new york, but it is one i still cherish. i didn't "make it" then, i left (for myriad reasons), but i clung to my new york, knowing i wanted to come back, to try again with some experience under my belt. my new york made me something more, reminded me that there was a world beyond my little college towns, first in oregon and then in indiana. it made me push myself, not give up or stay put, made me leave the men who might've held me back. ("you could act in d.c.", the politician said to me, ignoring the fact that it was my new york i wanted back. of course when i was in d.c. this summer, he wouldn't even talk to me. i guess i hurt him more than i thought.) i think little towns are dangerous; life is easy, it is safe, it is clean, it is nice, it pulls you in and inertia keeps you there. but i always had new york to motivate me, to keep me going. i have always known i wanted to live here (and always known i would not live here forever, but that is its own post.) i have always known i could live here; let not my blog fool you, i am pretty damn tough when i need to be. i have always known that i should live here, that i need a city that keeps me on my toes, that intimidates me and teaches me, helps me grow as a person, never lets me give in to the temptation to settle. and so my new york, i am here again, i am more ready that i was six years ago, i am anxious and excited to keep experiencing whatever i can. and i was reminded of all this from the mingled smell of wet pavement and cigarette smoke.
i told s i think about this blog a lot, that it makes me really happy to have this to work on, because it reminds me to look for the positives in my life and my experiences here (and encourages me to seek out new things, if only to have something to blog about.) and i have always loved to write, and think i am occasionally moved to greatness, and if nothing else this keeps me thinking. so thank you, blog, for being here.
and also, because i talk a lot about being boring (though i am NOT married), i found this hilarious and thought it was worth a share:
spring is a great time for zinfandel
Monday, January 28, 2008
a little local flavor
here i am with another update on the restaurant week front: delish. to the max. tonight i went out with mk (my bwf) and a (my owf) to mesa grill, which is a bobby flay take on southwest tex mex. i love a prix fixe dinner--i would never order an appetizer and an entree and a dessert, but tonight i got to try all sorts of deliciousness. mk and i started with a black bean soup that was not too thick but not too soupy, with different salsa toppings, a little spicy and a lot good. (a had a fry fread--i love! taquito which looked great.) my entree was a chile relleno stuffed with goat cheese and acorn squash with a roasted fig sauce. so good, although a little rich. mk had chicken and mashed potaotes (with a southwest twist) and a had some mango salsa'd fish with a risotto. dessert was the best sweet thing i have eaten in a long time: crunchy vanilla profiteroles. a puff pastry with vanilla bean ice cream and crunchy vanilla caramel and a spicy mexican chocolate sauce. ohmiGOSH so amazing. i would eat it again right now. it's a good thing we live so far away. dinner was made even better by the conversation. i really really like the girls i work with; they are truly fantastic women, funny and smart and really great. i just feel so lucky to have found friends in the workplace who i like so much outside of the workplace. we talked about work and men and books and theatre and the dentist, and it was just a lot of fun to have such a great evening.
now i am home, a little sleepy thanks to 1991's best margarita. but i do want to relay these two fantastic overheards.
friday night we went out for some tv-watching treats and the corner store opposite the local bar was open. after selecting ginger ale (and ok, some ice cream, it's my weakness) we were getting ready to pay when these brooklyn neighborhood guys came in, drunk and loud and having a good time. they were friendly with the guy behind the counter (mohammed called "mo") and were yelling at each other and at mo, especially "joey cheeseburgers" who loves, you guessed it, cheeseburgers. and who was really upset that they were all out of cheeseburgers. then this enormous guy in a coat with a fur collar came in, and they started shouting about the godfather, and that the godfather was here and "hey yuppies, don't be afraid of the godfather" (which sounded like "gawdfahthah".) though we were the only people in the store, it did not occur to me until stephen said later, that we were the godfather-fearing yuppies in question. what, i don't look like a girl from the neighborhood?
also overheard this weekend in windsor terrace (in my building, no less.)
guy: so this is my friend dave huspah (some last name that sounds like chutzpah), but we just call him chutzpah.
girl: what's chutzpah?
guy: you know, chutzpah. it's yiddish.
girl: oh, yiddish, is that like british but not really?
guy: seriously? (she doesn't say anything.) no, yiddish is the language spoken by eastern european jews (he gives a very intellectual explanation of yiddish and its origins, which i didn't catch all of.)
girl: oh, so you're jewish? welcome!
she then proceeds to tell a long story about a jewish friend who celebrated chanukah (which she pronounced like the chan in "change") and found a cracker and got $200 and "made out like a bandit". which then devolved in a story about make-out bandits (who are, i guess, those who will make out with anyone.) ah, the things overheard.
now i am home, a little sleepy thanks to 1991's best margarita. but i do want to relay these two fantastic overheards.
friday night we went out for some tv-watching treats and the corner store opposite the local bar was open. after selecting ginger ale (and ok, some ice cream, it's my weakness) we were getting ready to pay when these brooklyn neighborhood guys came in, drunk and loud and having a good time. they were friendly with the guy behind the counter (mohammed called "mo") and were yelling at each other and at mo, especially "joey cheeseburgers" who loves, you guessed it, cheeseburgers. and who was really upset that they were all out of cheeseburgers. then this enormous guy in a coat with a fur collar came in, and they started shouting about the godfather, and that the godfather was here and "hey yuppies, don't be afraid of the godfather" (which sounded like "gawdfahthah".) though we were the only people in the store, it did not occur to me until stephen said later, that we were the godfather-fearing yuppies in question. what, i don't look like a girl from the neighborhood?
also overheard this weekend in windsor terrace (in my building, no less.)
guy: so this is my friend dave huspah (some last name that sounds like chutzpah), but we just call him chutzpah.
girl: what's chutzpah?
guy: you know, chutzpah. it's yiddish.
girl: oh, yiddish, is that like british but not really?
guy: seriously? (she doesn't say anything.) no, yiddish is the language spoken by eastern european jews (he gives a very intellectual explanation of yiddish and its origins, which i didn't catch all of.)
girl: oh, so you're jewish? welcome!
she then proceeds to tell a long story about a jewish friend who celebrated chanukah (which she pronounced like the chan in "change") and found a cracker and got $200 and "made out like a bandit". which then devolved in a story about make-out bandits (who are, i guess, those who will make out with anyone.) ah, the things overheard.
Friday, January 25, 2008
holy two posts-a-day, batman!
i just wanted to rave over aspen. totally delicious food (i liked my goat cheese and arugula salad, i loved my trout tacos, i preferred the pumpkin flan to my so-so cupcakes) and a really gorgeous, romantic interior. i especially like the stands of birch (real or fake? who knows) outside the windows. a must to go back to, for sure.
tonight: italian dinner (stuffed shells and caesar salad) and a movie. probably some laundry, too. we're back to our usual cool selves.
tonight: italian dinner (stuffed shells and caesar salad) and a movie. probably some laundry, too. we're back to our usual cool selves.
part of your world
i am so excited to have new readers and commenters; i take great joy in inspiring a love of this city in others.
so remember when i said we are like boring old people and never do anything? well not anymore, mister. yesterday s asked me if i wanted to go out that night and i said "yes, yes and yes!" (we do things all the time, i just needed a plan to look forward to, as i worked another ten hour day.) after work, taking the train down i said to mk "i am just so excited to see my boyfriend some place other than our apartment." after feeling like this week's refrain at work was "i am so sorry about ...", i was looking forward to the evening. (so much so that in preparation, i ratted my hair. like i was going out in 1987. whatever. my hair does not achieve volume of its own volition. also i put on a headband. i am not so wild.)
i took the v downtown to the LES. the actual lower east side, not the virtual lower east side (which i find totally hilarious and antithetical to what the LES actually is. whatever, mtv. keep reaching your youth demographics.) i met s, camp and ricardo love (another roommate, now making his blog debut, i believe) at rockwood, which has a teeny tiny bar and a larger room with a stage where live music played all evening. we did not leave the bar, however, as we went there to hang out with the bartender, a friend of my roommates. (can i just say, it is way more fun being friends with the bartender. she makes you amazing key lime pie martinis, and it barely costs you. excellent.) we sat around, drinking and talk and laughing for about three hours. and because new york is the biggest small town in the world, we ran into r. love's one true love on the street corner. i love when that happens; it makes you feel like new york is just the right size, big enough to get lost when you want to but no so big that you'll be lost forever. and then, since none of us had eaten dinner before going out (sorry, mom) we went and ate pizza. and just as last weekend i was free pizza pretty (i will tell that story sometime, i'm sure) this weekend i was free garlic knot pretty. such a score!
i sang and danced on the train home (to the chagrin of my dear s--sorry, sweets.) i didn't mean to make a fool of my self, but r. love was singing disney tunes, and how can a girl not join in on little mermaid songs? we made it home and cuddled our way to sleep, and now i am eating a brunch pb+j and getting ready to meet my owf for a restaurant week lunch at aspen. (i am link-crazy today, huh?) so, blog, what did you do last night?
so remember when i said we are like boring old people and never do anything? well not anymore, mister. yesterday s asked me if i wanted to go out that night and i said "yes, yes and yes!" (we do things all the time, i just needed a plan to look forward to, as i worked another ten hour day.) after work, taking the train down i said to mk "i am just so excited to see my boyfriend some place other than our apartment." after feeling like this week's refrain at work was "i am so sorry about ...", i was looking forward to the evening. (so much so that in preparation, i ratted my hair. like i was going out in 1987. whatever. my hair does not achieve volume of its own volition. also i put on a headband. i am not so wild.)
i took the v downtown to the LES. the actual lower east side, not the virtual lower east side (which i find totally hilarious and antithetical to what the LES actually is. whatever, mtv. keep reaching your youth demographics.) i met s, camp and ricardo love (another roommate, now making his blog debut, i believe) at rockwood, which has a teeny tiny bar and a larger room with a stage where live music played all evening. we did not leave the bar, however, as we went there to hang out with the bartender, a friend of my roommates. (can i just say, it is way more fun being friends with the bartender. she makes you amazing key lime pie martinis, and it barely costs you. excellent.) we sat around, drinking and talk and laughing for about three hours. and because new york is the biggest small town in the world, we ran into r. love's one true love on the street corner. i love when that happens; it makes you feel like new york is just the right size, big enough to get lost when you want to but no so big that you'll be lost forever. and then, since none of us had eaten dinner before going out (sorry, mom) we went and ate pizza. and just as last weekend i was free pizza pretty (i will tell that story sometime, i'm sure) this weekend i was free garlic knot pretty. such a score!
i sang and danced on the train home (to the chagrin of my dear s--sorry, sweets.) i didn't mean to make a fool of my self, but r. love was singing disney tunes, and how can a girl not join in on little mermaid songs? we made it home and cuddled our way to sleep, and now i am eating a brunch pb+j and getting ready to meet my owf for a restaurant week lunch at aspen. (i am link-crazy today, huh?) so, blog, what did you do last night?
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