Sweet Blog o' Mine

C is for Cookie

This piece from McSweeney's made me laugh way too hard.  Self-reflection by Cookie Monster: Is Me Really Monster?  I will now have "C is for Cookie" stuck in my head all day. 

Weekend Wrapup

Let's see, where to start.  Friday night I went to a concert put on by middle school students from a set of city charter schools.  We provide pro bono legal services to the parents of one of the schools, and I've got to say, it was so wonderful to see these kids play in the orchestra knowing that some of their families are dealing with a whole host of legal issues that could potentially have an impact on their education.  It feels great to know that our lawyers are helping out.  After the show, I hit the couch hard, and as a result I was up very early Saturday morning.  I took advantage of this odd occurrence and read the paper, then went for a swim.  Afterwards, it was on to a haircut (looks good if I don't say so myself), then Mom, Stephen, and the Lovely Miss Katie came over for some snacks, prosecco, and some home improvement.  Thanks to Stephen, I now have a new light fixture in the bathroom, a shelf and a towel bar -- they look fantastic (thanks again, Stephen!).  Afterwards I met up with Rob Y. for a movie, My Blueberry Nights, which, despite having some great Jude Law eye candy, was sort of mediocre.  Cute, but mediocre. 

Sunday brought a last minute brunch with Matt and his harem, then off to Whole Foods to shop for Sunday night's dinner -- an Asian-inspired feast.  I started off with Japanese rice snacks, edamame and roasted nori to snack on, then a spicy Thai eggplant salad, followed by sesame soba noodles.  The main course was a fish with black bean and garlic sauce and sides of sesame asparagus and steamed rice.  For dessert, I made a ginger ice cream with crystallized ginger.   The recipes that weren't from Epicurious were all from the Moosewood Cookbook (a.k.a. "the cult," per Gabe).  Major thanks to Jimmy for being a fabulous sous chef and co-conspirator.

So, on the Cure front, I'm a little behind.  Only cooked a few times this week (but Sunday should count for more than one meal, I think), and didn't do so much on my list.  Although I sold my TV cabinet, the TV hasn't yet found a home -- I should probably wait a little while before I buy the new one anyway.  Maybe this weekend I can carve out some time for purging some clothing and files and begin the long process of getting all of my CD's onto iTunes. 

In case you missed it, Chip forwarded along a great article from Slate entitled "How economics and game theory explain the shortage of available, appealing men," in response to my Mapquest post.   An interesting theory . . .

I'm So Not a Football Fan

But, I'll admit, the last two minutes of that game were pretty damn good.  And don't get me started on the Puppy Bowl . . .

It's A Bird, It's a Frog, It's . . .

Every day on my way to work I pass a billboard on the side of a phone booth for the movie version of Underdog.  What this means is that the theme song (which I absolutely love) is stuck in my head for at least an hour -- or until Hold the Line pops back into it.  If you haven't listened to it in a while, I highly recommend it.  And you might want to check out the a cappella version from Scrubs.

Questions of the Day

1) How is it possible that Grey's Anatomy can make me flat out bawl uncontrollably, even when there's no PMS involved?
2) Who left a white, square ceramic plate with my doorman this morning?

Any insight out there in cyber-ville is most welcome.

Ah . . . A Long Weekend

But filled with fun stuff, as usual!  Friday night I met up with the folks who handle the PR for the Modern Mexican restaurants and had some drinks and snacks at Pampano, then headed out to Brooklyn for dinner and catching up nwith the lovely Miss Katie, Kim, and Rachel.  Saturday morning I headed to Chinatown Brasserie to check out the fabled dim sum with my aunt Ellen, who was visiting from DC and my cousin Sara, who had recently returned from her Christmas break from college.  We then headed down to Soho for some shopping.  After some modest success, I returned home to relax for a while before hitting the gym.  Saturday night Roopa and I went to Ditch Plains for dinner, where we sat at the bar and were entertained by Rob, the bartender.  After dinner we headed to Otto for a glass of wine to finish off the evening.

Sunday I went to the gym first thing before making some brunch and then attempting to visit the Brooklyn Museum to see the Annie Leibovitz exhibit with Rodez.  I say "attempting" because the line was ridiculous -- after waiting for about 20 minutes, they made an announcement that the wait would be well over an hour.  We gave up and headed to the Botanical Garden instead.  Certainly not the best weather for it, but fun nonetheless.  I then met up with Jenn, Carolyn, and some others for salsa lessons on Smith Street -- this woman gives lessons out of her father's barber shop -- it was a blast!  I managed to pick it up fairly quickly despite the fact that it was my first time.  When we were done shaking our groove thangs we met up with a crew on an Atlantic Avenue bar crawl.  We were so hungry from salsa-ing that we skipped some of the bars I really wanted to visit because I haven't yet been (Floyd and Last Exit), but it was probably a good decision.  We met up with the crew at the Brazen Head.  At this point Jon had joined us -- the Brazen Head was really loud (I swear, I'm turning into an old woman when it comes to noise level in bars -- my voice just doesn't carry in a loud bar, and it's frustrating), so I was very relieved when we went to our next stop, the Brooklyn Inn.  It's a gorgeous old bar on the corner of Hoyt and Bergen -- Jon and I liked it so much there (and could actually hear each other talk), so we stayed even after the bar crawl team left for the next stop.  We ultimately met up with them for a bit of music at Hank's to finish up the evening.

Luckily, it was a three-day weekend for me.  I was determined to make a vat of chili for the week, so I did some grocery shopping, and ran into Augie, Lauren and Rob on the way home.  They were headed to Pearl Oyster Bar, so I joined them for some lunch (how could I resist, really?).  I had a very domestic afternoon -- tidying up, making chili (I used a bit more chipotle than the recipe calls for), and doing laundry.  I wound up the weekend at a dinner party at my friend Matt's, which was quite fun and delicious -- Silvia, a business colleague of his, was visiting from Italy, so she cooked us an Italian feast of panzanella, risotto, and a roasted pork loin with dried fruit.  It was a great meal, but I got to bed a little later than I had planned. 

On a side note, the Food Network show that contains footage of the 2005 Vendy Awards (for which I was a judge) finally aired last night.  Some of my family saw it, but I'm DVR'ing it tonight, so I haven't seen it yet.  Be sure to tune in!

Paris Recap, Part 1

I've gotten a bit of grief from the peanut gallery that I haven't given a detailed rundown of my Paris trip, so here goes.  As a bit of background, with the exception of my last night, I stayed at a studio apartment owned by Blue Marble, the company through which I've done my bike trips to Provence, Tuscany, and Galicia.  It was very centrally located in the 2ieme arrondissement, close to the Chatelet les Halles metro.  I've been to Paris a number of times before, so really didn't feel the need to do a whole bunch of touristy things -- I really just wanted to unwind, decompress, see a few people, and see what it was like to travel alone.  Aside from the bike trips, which are with a group, I really haven't done much solo traveling.

I left New York on the day after Beaujolais day -- the day when the Beaujolais Nouveau is released.  My friend John has an annual party celebrating this day every year, and although I was sad to miss it, I was offered my own mini-bottle on the plane, so I felt like I was there in spirit.  I was also excited to learn that my seat was upstairs on the plane -- a new flying experience for me (next time, I wouldn't mind a first class upgrade instead, but we'll see).  I arrived around lunchtime and was pleased to discover that Carlos, who led my Galicia trip, was not only closeby, but literally in the apartment next door.  We caught up over a cup of tea and then I set out to do some shopping for provisions for breakfast and snacks for the week.  I picked up the staples (bread, cheese, red wine) and then got the rest.  After dropping off the goods at my apartment, I went to meet Robyn, a fellow food blogger who is currently spending a semester in Paris.  While she's there, she contributes weekly to Parisist.  We had agreed to meet up for pastry at Ladurée on the Champs Elysées.  We finally found each other and shared delicious pastry and coffee while chatting about her ongoing quest to sample all the pastries in Paris.  I strolled home after dark and took in the lights of the city, and when I got home, recruited Carlos and his friend Catalina (which I may be spelling wrong, so please forgive me) to help me drink my bottle of wine.  The jetlag finally hit and I headed off to bed.

More to come, but for now, Gothamist calls.  I should have made more time to post over the weekend, but it was a bit of a whirlwind, with the first holiday party of the season, dinner with Mom, our monthly girl brunch, a great deal of time in the outer boroughs, some major paper purging (I can see my dining table!), and completion of the first season of Lost.  Tonight, I'm off to join Jon for a close up view of Wheelhouse Pickles in the making. 

Addict

Like many Americans, I am now addicted to Lost.  I rented a whole bunch of episodes from the first season (because I have to catch up) and watched about four of them yesterday.  Other than that, the weekend was fun -- "anniversary" dinner with The Lovely Miss Katie at Applewood on Friday night, a long run on Saturday, Roopa's birthday dinner and two fun Halloween parties.  Pictures from that, OJ, and the Vendys to come (I'm a little behind schedule).

Not Bitter

Things that made me smile yesterday:
- leaving for work without a jacket;
- listening to and singing along to Fidelity by Regina Spektor for the umpteenth time in a row (thanks, Ben!);
- listening to Catch Me Now I'm Falling by the Kinks yet again;
- dinner with Jimmy at Tides (go try the boulliabaise immediately if not sooner);
- a message from my mom telling me that I'm mentioned by name on page 52 of Time Out New York (the only other Vendy Judge mentioned was Mimi Sheraton!);
- watching the premiere of Top Chef 2 right before bed.

Another 10 Seconds

Towards my 15 minutes of fame.  Yes, that was me you saw eating a spam musubi at the new Bamn! automat on CNN's American Morning this morning.  Missed it?  Watch the video clip here (there's a short commercial first -- consider yourself warned).