CATIE DISHES

main beach, east hampton

2009-07-19T23:47:00.002-04:00

de Kooning statue...in the middle of town!

main beach (love)

letterman!

2009-06-22T23:39:00.004-04:00

outside the historic ed sullivan theater!

guest star: martin short (!!)

musical guest: regina spektor (!!!)

p.s. we missed megan fox by two days (sad face)

micro home brew

2009-06-20T16:00:00.001-04:00

today, we (make) beer

there's no beer in the apartment (there is, but it's rolling rock, and that's hardly a beer) so alex and i decided to make some pomegranate pale ale using a kit from mr. beer home brewing system

ingredients:
1 package booster - corn starch powder/sugar?
1 can pale ale
1 package brewers yeast

2 cups pomegranate syrup
1/2 small bottle of Finnish honey
(golden bear is probably ok.
honey adds alcohol content and make the beer drier...if that makes any sense)

stirring the booster, honey and pomegranate syrup
i stirred like i never stirred in my life. the booster has to completely dissolve and not clump up, and then we poured the honey and pomegranate. then we set the whole thing to boil.

pale ale (unhopped malt mix)
it pours easier when immersed in hot/warm water

poured the pale ale mix into our boiling booster/honey/pomegranate mixture
must stir virgorously!

it smelled awful. and made our entire apt smell awful too.

alex pouring the whole thing into our plastic keg.
now it sits for two/three weeks to ferment

i'll keep you posted
or not, if it's awful.

speaking svedish

2009-06-19T20:46:00.001-04:00

day one of weekend

naturally, we would be the ones who decide to finally go to the ikea in red hook (brooklyn) when they are having their one year anniversary sale. absolutely CHEEEP. we fed my aching tummy with swedish meatballs ($7.90) and...I guess I won't judge people for eating in big box store cafes anymore.

we went to ikea to shop for a wardrobe.
here's what we made out with:
152" curtain rod...99 cents
curtain rod supports and decorative ends...49 cents and 25 cents
sheepskin rug...$19.99
4 lbs of meatballs...$14

but I already have my eye on:

wall mounted wine rack(s)
orange paper boxes
stackable shoe storage

pax fevik wardrobe (oops)
(another) sheepskin rug

strawberry & grape - no mistakes

2009-06-19T08:49:00.001-04:00

strawberry grape smoothgasm
1 regular box strawberries
20 or so grapes (or blueberries. banana even!)
1 cup yogurt
1 cup fat free milk
cubes of ice

throw together in blender, blend, enjoy

guaranteed non-lame breakfast

last hurrahs

2009-06-18T23:24:00.000-04:00

sometimes, it just seems like everyone leaves. there are a couple times so far when i've had to say goodbye to extraordinary people, like graduation, summer camps & whatnot, and i gotta say, i don't like it, not one bit. tonight we say goodbye to lobna, our super amazing friend from the UAE, who was one of Alex's bffs at Columbia...

seaweed tasting at momoya

the love of my life - red velvet cupcakes (here, at magnolia bakery)

no flash photography please (at empire hotel rooftop bar)

fondue at disiac
we noshed and i drank peach sangria and we played "dirty minds"

ciao senorita, don't leave us for too long...

sunnyside: little bucharest

2009-06-15T00:09:00.005-04:00

had to run a romanian-food related errand for my mom today and rather than drag myself to sunnyside by myself, I dragged alex and his two brothers as well.

take 7 train to 40 Street, explore

romanian garden
(from left: russian beef salad, polenta with cheese and sour cream, eggplant salad with onions)
we also ordered skinless sausage (mici) and sarmale (stuffed cabbage)
the stuff that makes strong romanian women!
(and help ensare sexy american boys)
I honestly do think if you know how to cook you will obtain a (lazy?) boyfriend.
alex loves when i make romanian dishes.

whisky & tea trying to clear up my sore throat

savarine from nita's european bakery
recipe
i love this dessert
i fall for the oozy yummy rummy whipped cream puff every time

down to business

2009-06-14T22:59:00.011-04:00

My first polyvore experience, published here for you! Polyvore...will probably be my outlet for fashion/expression considering my *new* purchasing freeze. Ick. This textured taupe Alice & Olivia dress popped up (I will be looking for you at the next sample sale!) and I just went from there. I call it "Boring/Playful" - the Burberry dress reminds me of something I could find at Old Navy (albeit of much lesser quality), and is altogether very reserved (no big surprise here, but this dress is awful for the price). The Alice & Olivia dress is flirty and I paired with some abstract leopard print flats to wear during the daytime. This Polyvore seems to highlight the essential differences between high-high end designers and mid-range luxury designers (I'm talking merely about prices here)...Burberry seems fuddy-duddy (and taking a page from Calvin Klein's designs from the 90s), while Alice & Olivia seems to be taking advantage of youngish trustafarians looking for party frocks (Betsy J is what their 12 year old sisters wear these days).

I love Marni's take on the embellished necklace first made famous by the Burberry Prorsum "Albury" necklace. Only one season after these necklaces were introduced I feel like I see them everywhere (and imagine my happiness when I found something similar in my dusty jewelry pile).

Also, I added three purses - from high to low end. I feel like they all could go with either dress? Any thoughts?

sloppy bbq, your heart is mine

2009-06-13T23:13:00.000-04:00

today

view from new living room
(need to paint)

a flower grows in an industrial wasteland
(h&m pencil skirt, payless tory burch knockoffs,
marc jacobs pre-fall 2008 alice bag, j. crew ruffled cardi)

block party bbq festival; brisket from hill country
(I couldn't wait to take pictures of my salt lick bbq, I ate it too quickly!)

night

If We Don't Go Here, Where Will We Go?

2009-06-11T16:01:00.004-04:00

in Ijamsville, MD at our dear dear family friends' house...

the pond where i learned to fish
(kenar v-neck maxi dress - $39.99 at tj maxx!)

back and to the left -
the plot of land where i found my x-mas trees for years...

horses (a big passion)

k's beautiful zebra painting...
can you believe she learned how to paint only a couple of years ago?

Dear Olds

2009-06-11T00:57:00.004-04:00

my friday night

maryland pride
dear olds (mostly)

Omega 3 Republic of Delishytocracy

2009-06-10T18:03:00.002-04:00

Presents: lunch

pasta side

1 lb whole wheat penne rigate
2 small onions (i like it oniony)
2 largeish garlic cloves
3 tbsp pesto
huge bowl (maybe 1 lbs?) of ripped up & washed spinach
2-3 tbsp olive oil

After cooking the pasta to the desired specifications you prefer, set it aside.
saute the onions in olive oil until they become translucent and misty with fragrance
add garlic, mix it up
add spinach, mix, wait for spinach to wilt
add pasta, mix until well covered in garlic, spinach & onion
add pesto, mix to perfection

salmon side
1 portion salmon from Chelsea Whole Foods, purchased 1pm today
.5 lemon
tsp oregano
pepper

wash salmon, douse with lemon, add oregano and pepper
place on grill
(since I live in a tiny apartment, a george foreman suffices)

easy lunch, no excuses.

Balmain Again and Again

2009-06-08T15:15:00.006-04:00

[background] Balmain is a French fashion house founded by Pierre Balmain. In 1990s, the house was lead by Oscar de la Renta. Those two made Balmain famous for its classic and luxurious designs. Right now it is lead by Christopher Decarnin, whose vision for the house is modern & edgy - tres rock n roll chic.

Personally, I think that just because we're in a recession, it doesn't have to mean all our clothes/shoes/access. have to become severe & austere. If the world is going to fall apart...we might as well all go out looking fabulous. On to the shoes.

Balmain's Spring 2009 Covet-worthy Heels on Jen Connelly's fab legs

By now, every girl who loves fashion and isn't living under a - fairly big - rock in central middle of nowheresville has heard of Balmain's studded sparkly heels, and their exorbitant (maybe?) price. I love the shoe. LOVE. Sexy, rock n roll, delicious. Definitely a "get noticed" by the ladies shoe. But - I feel it's only something you can wear once. Like a really great surprise or listening to "Poker Face" again and again, the appeal will be diminished if you keep wearing it, right?

a copycat pair at the DSW in my hometown

So that's the closest I'll get to the Balmains - but take a gander at all these other *inspirations*...

Rumi @ Fashion Toast wearing Aldos
A pair from Zara at Electric Feel
Budget Balmains (ick) at ShoeWaWa
The Look for Less at FabSugar

Out in the Cut

2009-06-07T17:57:00.006-04:00

After going out to Columbia Heights last night, I needed to take some time...
spent the day walking around downtown
eating prosciutto & goat cheese crepes at NOLA
buying a gorgeous vintage bracelet from Venus on the Half Shell
taking a country drive up to the farmer's market for flowers & watermelon

running away in a greenhouse

gap tunic, dolce vita wedges, vintage sunglasses

Frederick Towne

2009-06-07T17:28:00.006-04:00

Been home since Friday night...loads has been going on. So much, in fact, that it's been hard to keep up. Every time I come back, everything changes. Is that both comforting and threatening?

the new: frederick cellars

the old: a strawberry lemonade martini and a peartini at tasting room

Mini-Break

2009-06-06T10:20:00.002-04:00

Follow my blog with bloglovin´

Taking the weekend to go back to my quaint Southern town to play with old friends. These friends are very different, but much loved and treasured. It's almost like I lived a different life when I knew them, and even though we're running off at 100 mph in every direction, I love & cherish the times when we get to play together.

Til I post the photos...

Brooklyn. Union Hall. 2 AM Club.

2009-06-05T11:05:00.004-04:00

Funny thing, the four of us live in Manhattan and we go to Brooklyn for a concert. We can't go to Pianos?

On Myspace.

At Union Hall in Park Slope, Brooklyn

Yes. There was Bocce, you guessed right.

blonde girls acting like groupies
(anna sui top w/ major bra strap violation)

Today...I Won The Grand Prize in Bingo.

2009-06-03T23:00:00.000-04:00

As if the day couldn't get more successful, I had to go win the big grand prize at Bingo at Black Bear Bar in Hoboken, NJ. I unpacked more of my delicate items and I had a battle royale with three intricately tangled necklaces - 1 fishhook, 1 teal beads, 1 tusk necklace. I seriously didn't think it was going to be untangled and then, miraculously, a (1/2 hr later), I was able to get them all untangled and I actually made the tusk necklace more wearable. I sincerely thought that was going to be my biggest accomplishment today. Apparently not - besides the necklace affair, I did laundry, finally unpacked the rest of the bathroom stuff, AND WON A TAILGATING CHAIR IN BINGO.

My dinner. Healthy, right?
(shown, mini burgers, french fries, whiskey sour)

Full on minis

Alex is mad - we've all won bingo except for him.

With my prize (said chair) and my winning bingo mat.

I now have a chair for wherever I need to go. The PATH wasn't full, but I wasn't about to let this thing go. I get uncomfy, I can just pull out my MILLER LITE tailgating chair. Thanks Black Bear, for making me more lazy than I already am.
(gap sweatshirt, theory shirt, forev 21 pants, fringe boots, yee haw)

Meeting with grad school advisor tomorrow morning at LIU...

Celeb-Spotting: Ben Bailey...again

2009-06-02T23:51:00.002-04:00

Only in New York. I saw the comic Ben Bailey (of "Cash Cab" fame) on Saturday night, and now that it's Tuesday and I'm out...obviously I would run into him again.

l to r: Chris, Ben Bailey, Rachel, Samantha, Catie, Jason

Catie Dishes Flashback: Sixteen Again

2009-06-01T08:35:00.003-04:00

So, I did something today that people only do when they are bored. I googled myself. Yes, google. I usually google "Catie Nastovici" but this time I used my (full) first name and...the findings were sublime. I discovered the web page I had designed for my then-boyfriend's spoof (maybe? It seems logical) rap group (funny, because he was probably the biggest Reel Big Fish fan ever) "7 Thugs and a Minivan". I won't post the website here (embarassing) but the photos are a precious time capsule of my sixteen year old self...I thought I knew everything...I now know I know nothing.

Sixteen-year-old me with then-boyfriend Jason
I believe I had pink hair and braces (that's why there's no smile on my part) at this point.

Friend Kedre with then-boyfriend Nick
On this night, we were running around the new Best Buy in our town (Frederick, MD)
while I took black and white pictures for my photography class.
Brian and Chris...probably ogling a DVD

Brian, Chris and Jason at Chris's house...I remember spending a lot of time in this dwelling

I think at some point I'm going to retroactively post pictures of myself in high school or post stories of myself in college...I need to find a scanner!

Sunday Sunday (Swimming) Sunday!!

2009-05-31T20:06:00.008-04:00

Great day today y'all.
I think I love Sundays more than any other day of the week.

Today, Alex, David & I needed to get up to the old apartment to take down some blackout shades. The new place is so bright, which I thought was good, when we were looking at apartments. Now, I feel like it's just really annoying to wake up 8 AM when you don't want to.

We also went to the Greenflea flea market, where I proceeded to deprive myself of $41...for asparagus ($4), jelly doughnuts (I historically love them) and french bread ($5), spinach ($3), half sour pickles (my weakness) ($6), shelling peas ($3), 2 lbs of ground water buffalo meat ($16...I know, 'spensive) and a block of buffalo ravello cheese (I did not pay for it). I also bought an antique key ($4) that I (preventing any laziness on my part) want to make into a necklace.

pretty/ugly picture of the greens (and key) i bought today. I love how all the green looks...

We then trekked it back to our glorious new place and put on bathing suits (!!!) to swim, drink Coors Lights, chat, play Buzz Time Trivia on PS2, and drink Dark and Stormy-s for the rest of the day with our amazing friends Kevin and Laura (and Skyy, let's be honest)...

Alex and I on the ferry coming back from Port Imperial, NJ

(vintage sunglasses, vintage earrings, Theory tank top, Syracuse - logo shorts - go cuse)

Moving Day...again? already?

2009-05-31T09:52:00.007-04:00

In the grand tradition of Catie and Alex moving every year to a swanky new apartment in a new neighborhood, here we are, moving from our amazing apartment on the Upper West Side to a doorman building + rooftop deck + laundry room abode in Hell's Kitchen.

Living room...boxes and boxes and boxes.
(mostly my stuff)

More of our precious things in our kitchen/hallway...

David painting my closet...and the rest of my apartment

In our new apartment at last...pictures coming soon!

Night Out with the Funnies on 14th

2009-05-31T00:31:00.000-04:00

First off, pardon the quality of these pictures, but I forgot my camera tonight! Alex found cheap tix to a Ben Bailey ("that cash cab guy") comedy show at Comix on 14th & 9th tonight so we're off.

Two chicken tacos from El Idolo Mexican food truck on 14th and 8th

Jim Gaffigan (surprise guest...talked about whales), Nick Stevens and finally, Ben Bailey.

After which, we headed off to Max Brenner's at 14th & Broadway.
I really wanted a banana split, but it's REALLY HARD to get something off-menu at this choco joint. They have bananas, ice cream, and chocolate, and sprinkles. Make me a banana split.
I got banana waffles instead.

Going out for an interview at Columbia!

2009-05-26T10:15:00.000-04:00

Hooray! Since I got into grad school, I've been trying to fill up my summer with something to do (and maybe look good on my resume too? is that too much to ask?)...so I interviewed to teach ESL at Community Impact! at Columbia University. Here I am, off to the interview at 116th & Broadway.

I love this outfit, so here I am. Great confidence today.
(wearing steve madden wedges, a silk banana republic dress, botkier purse, glass stone necklace my dad got me from Florida)

Fishing Day in the Adirondacks

2009-05-24T22:59:00.008-04:00

Another beautiful day (but still too cold for flip flops)...

Between Turtle and Sprang Ponds

The boys...fishing in the pitch-perfect pond.

Alex and youngest brother David. Looking almost alike, they blend into their dangerous Adirondack habitat.

All that work today and still no fish! They left, bought fishing licenses, and latched the canoe to the car. All day, and NO FISH. I get hungry by the end of the day...we ended up having steak :) (all photos courtesy of J. Sonneborn)

The last 2 hours

2009-05-23T23:43:00.008-04:00

The last two hours of my life have been spent looking up skirts...specifically ann demeulemeester and dries van noten skirts. After being a dress girl for the past two years (easy, effortless) i've been thinking i want to tack up my style quotient on this my 23rd year...

a typical ann demeulemeester skirt, beautiful and basic and lovely

I had a lovely day today though. I'm in Green Pond (Adirondacks, Upper New York State), enjoying my relaxing Memorial Day Weekend. It's consistently my favorite weekend of the year...

at Donnelly's Ice Cream in Donnelly's Corners (Route 86). Memorial Day 2007.

My man's family owns a cabin up here (on Green Pond, nearish to Saranac Lake and Lake Placid) and every Memorial Day (this is my third time, wow) we come up and indulge in a) Gap Outlet/Bass shopping (I know it's silly but we all love it and there's ALWAYS deals...) b) Taking in a movie in the super-old movie house in Lake Placid (no cash) c) "Opening Weekend" at Donnelly's Ice Cream (no cash) d) Smores on the fire(place) f) Hiking/Fishing/Canoeing/Sailing...tomorrow we're going fishing & picnicing for lunch!

Mmm...Weekend

2009-05-22T19:53:00.006-04:00

Up at the Adirondacks for the weekend...

Awesome pictures, I thought. Alex...hmm...not so much.

The "sun" was "burning" Alex's retinas, here enjoying some red raspberry ice cream at Donnelly's.
p.s. do you loooove my Adirondacks garb?

Alex and David in a little little picnic table

Alex trying...unsuccessfully...to ease into a baby chair

I'm weird and I actually like taxidermy, but this is too...accurate.

The men taking out the canoe

Syracuse Commencement Weekend!

2009-05-21T18:35:00.007-04:00

Sooo, I'm finally putting up pictures from the Syracuse grad weekend that was May 9-10, 2009. It was held in the Carrier Dome and the commencement speaker was Vice President Joe Biden!

My "little" and all my other sisters from Phi Sig graduated this year...and it's just so weird thinking that I'm two years out of school and I remember these girls when they were just getting into the house as little freshmen and...I'm rambling. But I love them, and my boyfriend's brother Matt, who graduated with a Masters degree in Communications and Rhetorical Studies!

Secret Service...hawt.

Aww Matt!

VP Biden...speaking his speech...

A happy grad & fam & roommate. Matt will be off to the University of Colorado-Boulder for his Ph.D. in the fall!

For a video of Biden's speech...click here.

My thoughts exactly

2009-05-19T19:59:00.001-04:00

Before I post the videos and pictures from Tulane and Syracuse and Columbia graduations respectively...here's something funny.

I break for liberty

2009-05-11T15:47:00.004-04:00

staten island ferry

Took a break and went down to Battery Park today. Whenever I start feeling really stressed, I always seek out some water. I find just staring at the even temper of the water extreeeeeemly relaxing.

she's very small, and it's a very nasty day, but the statue of liberty is still there!

I feel like there is a lot going on lately...but I got into graduate school!

The Philanthrophist. 8pm. AA Theater.

2009-05-07T18:21:00.007-04:00

Last night, I went to see "The Philanthropist" on Broadway. It stars Matthew Broderick and Steven Weber (with cute Brit accents). However, I do not think people like it. Maybe...simple...people, don't like it? The people sitting in front of us left. In back of us. A couple rows ahead, some people left during the second to last scene. Why would you do that?

I enjoyed it, immensely, but I couldn't really figure it out at the time. I probably would have enjoyed it more if I wasn't so damn tired. Frank Rich's review explained, gift-wrapped it even, the reasons why. It's a sort of anagram on "The Misanthrope"...while the protag in "The Misanthrope" was nasty and caused havoc through all aspects of his life, Philip, Broderick's character in "The Philanthropist" was nice and well-mannered and yet still caused the same hostile results. It seems, no matter what, human nature cannot change fate - or consequences.

Another episode of "why I don't understand people".

Missing in Action

2009-05-06T08:50:00.000-04:00

Me, at the Matt Duke show in Philadelphia, Making Faces.

Sorry I've been MIA, but sooo much has been happening.
SATURDAY: Bronx Zoo and Luna Pizza in Hoboken. And Jamba Juice. SUNDAY: "Accent on Youth" with David Hyde Pierce! MONDAY: Made a really horrible attempt at homemade Pad Thai. TUESDAY: "Suddenly Last Summer" (Off-broadway) at the June Havoc Theater. Tonight we're going to see "The Philanthropist" with Matthew Broderick, where we attempt to answer that age-old question...how much is too much theater?

Promise pictures will be posted soon...in other news, I did have my first etsy sale!

Thursday. 8pm. Norman Conquests. 50th & 8th.

2009-05-03T00:50:00.000-04:00

Above: cast from the norman conquests

Transplanted from the Old Vic Theater in London, A & I went to see the "Norman Conquests" on Broadway...thursday. Basically, it's about a married guy with an (too?) understanding wife wants to screw her sisters. There are three different plays (a writer, who also has a business degree?), called Living Together, Round and Round the Garden, and Table Manners. All the plays circle an evening at the wife's sister's house in the country. A had seen Table Manners, but based on the premise, I think I preferred seeing the Garden version.

It was hilarious, I highly recommend it. There's (partial) nudity, side splitting laughter, and unless you despise the Bard in all its forms, you will not fall asleep. Plus, the theater (Circle in the Square) imported the whole British cast, and didn't attempt to hire American actors with bad British accents.

Take a load off!

Philadelphia - Matt Duke, 9:30 pm.

2009-05-01T12:06:00.000-04:00

Two nights ago, my friends S. & R. (who are roommates) decided to go on an impromptu journey to Philadelphia. They invited me along - who was I to say no to such a request - and I met up with R. at her office, jumped in S.'s car, and we were off...well, off to wait in an hour of traffic at the Lincoln Tunnel.

The reason of our trip is to see an old friend, Matt Duke, perform at Tin Angel. He's not really *my* old friend, but we know him from our sorority, through one of our sisters. While back then it seemed like he could break out at any moment, now he's definitely in the zeitgeist, having appeared in Teen Vogue and Perez Hilton.

We met up with our friend LK, who lives in Philly and goes to Medical School, and first went to a Medical School Party, complete with flip cup. They were about as socially awkward (her words, not mine) as I expected, for medical students, and there was a key lime pie. We left for the show soon after arriving.

Tin Angel, the venue, is at 20 South 2nd Street in the Old City, but it was confusing at first because I thought we were going to eat Italian food...you'll see what I mean if you ever go there. Matt was already playing, but we caught a good portion of his set, including this:

but at first I thought he sang "sexy reruns", which, I think, gives the song a new meaning. After saying hi, we needed food desperately...after all, we had only eaten Girl Scout cookies on the ride down (delicious, yet, not filling). We walked a little ways and hit up Soho Pizza, and it was yum. They even have Chicken Ranch pizza!

All & all, great night, except maybe the whole waking up the next morning at 5:15 part. I hate jobs!

Being Ill = The 39 Steps

2009-04-29T00:33:00.000-04:00

So...I've been a little ill lately (no swine flu, oops), just a sore throat, and my boyfriend did just about a million nice things for me today - he bought skinny cow ice cream sandwiches, my favorite duane reade honey-lemon cough drops (that I actually use as mints), chicken noodle soup and haribo gummy bears..but the best was theater tickets!!!

A. and I go to the theater pretty regularly, and I have been nagging him to see "The 39 Steps" since we moved here...and finally we found tickets we could afford (today, for a show at 7pm!) Ah, and it was everything I wanted it to be.

From the website:

"Mix a Hitchcock masterpiece with a juicy spy novel, add a dash of Monty Python and you have THE 39 STEPS, a fast-paced whodunit for anyone who loves the magic of theatre! This 2-time Tony and Drama Desk Award-winning treat is packed with nonstop laughs, over 150 zany characters (played by a ridiculously talented cast of 4), an on-stage plane crash, handcuffs, missing fingers and some good old-fashioned romance! In THE 39 STEPS, a man with a boring life meets a woman with a thick accent who says she's a spy. When he takes her home, she is murdered. Soon, a mysterious organization called "The 39 Steps" is hot on the man's trail in a nationwide manhunt that climaxes in a death-defying finale! A riotous blend of virtuoso performances and wildly inventive stagecraft, THE 39 STEPS amounts to an unforgettable evening of pure pleasure!"

It's playing at the Helen Hayes Theater at 44th between 7th & 8th.

p.s. i really appreciated the shadow puppet theater show.

Salata de Vinete

2009-04-27T12:27:00.000-04:00

Until I was in my teens, I didn't enjoy, or eat much, Romanian food. A lot has changed and now I figured out how to make the foods I used to hate! Salata de vinete (eggplant spread) is a classic recipe that I obsess over and like to make at least 2x a month. It's really easy and simple peasant food, and now that I am a peasant, it's really quite appropriate.

Need:

3 medium-large eggplants
1 medium onion (can leave out if you want)
3 cloves garlic (more or less, depends how garlicky you like things)
4 tablespoons olive oil

Make:

Place aluminum foil on a large pan and crank the oven up to 550 degrees. Take a fork and poke holes all over the eggplants. Pop 'em in the oven and wait for the eggplants to "collapse" - about 25-30 minutes or longer, depending on the eggplants. So finicky, these eggplants.

Take the eggplants out of the oven and peel the skins off the eggplants (and the tops), leaving the meating insides. Put the insides in a blender with the minced onions, minced garlic and olive oil and puree.

It'll still be really hot (and it's best cold) so put it in the fridge and enjoy...with bread or crackers....later!

Brunchpeditions: Village Restaurant. 62 W 9th. 11:30 AM.

2009-04-26T21:09:00.000-04:00

So because of of my old CNT friends was visiting "from out of town"...aka Princeton, NJ, I definitely wanted to get in some quality brunch time. My usual go-to spots are near my apartment, like Good Enough to Eat and EJ's Luncheonette, but I thought today could be...specialer.

Browsing Yelp! and Opentable, I came across Village, a cute spot that I fell for utterly and completely because it's petit francais. At 62 W. 9th Street, it's almost at the corner of 6th Avenue, but that was news to me. Almost every time I venture down to the West Village I feel lost and incapable of following simple directions. Today was different (I didn't get lost - Thanks Phone GPS!) and pleasant since I also had the opportunity to walk by Le Petit Puppy...where I saw the most adorable black puggle puppy in the window. In my head, I named him Deiter.

Village, in a word, was filling. To add another? Satisfying. Not in a Southern way, where the grits are dipped in lard fried and covered with lard again (i'm joking), but very understanded and hearty. All three of us were on the prix-fixe brunch bandwagon - for $19.50, we all got coffee, soup/salad, mains & a cocktail. I know you can do better than that, price-wise, in Manhattan, but think of the food. This isn't greasy spoon fare. I ordered a bloody mary (can't live without 'em on sundays) to start, which came with green olives and was properly spiced, as if the bartender actually made it special. Then came the salad with herb dressing and, for my main, the roast tomato, asparagus & goat cheese omelet - egg white omelet. I don't usually do egg whites only, but I've been going to the gym lately and I'm trying to do what the magazine say and eat healthier. Yikes, was I full after.

Not only was the food exactly what my stomach could handle after last night, but the ambience was perfect too. We sat at a table in the window, people-watched & listened to the circa-1940s French jazz piping through the stereo.

So we're probably going to make this a regular thing now - especially with the puppies.

Feast Pt. II : Stuffed Peppers with Couscous

2009-04-25T02:33:00.000-04:00

My grandmother used to make the most delicious stuffed peppers, but these, I made with a twist. I barely eat meat (outside of restaurants) - an anomaly in my Romanian family. Growing up, I was vegan for a while, so I learned pretty quick how to stuff myself silly with weird sounding thingys like "cracked durham wheat". Couscous, I actually enjoy, and it's a lot easier to make than rice - which, for some reason, I seem to burn almost every time.

So easy mix, right? Stuff the peppers with couscous and you are filled up like you just ate some steak from Luger's.

And so, we have a pot of boiling water, and dunk some peppers into it (taking out the stems and seeds beforehand), making sure to cover the peppers with the water evenly and keep them there for 5-7 minutes, until they get tender.

Meanwhile, since you're not busy, make the couscous, but make sure you prepare it with chicken stock. Chicken stock = so much better than water. Then, pour the couscous into a bowl along with 1 tbspn olive oil, however much dill and basil you like and crumbled feta cheese. Mix up the mixture and stuff it into the peppers.

Voila, dinner! I used mozzarella cheese here as a last resort, but feta would be better. Food is food though...and I'm not about to argue.

In Where I Make A Feast!

2009-04-24T11:54:00.000-04:00

Oh tonight was a sheer colossus of food. And you're going to make it to - it's so easy, it's disgusting - ha, not the food, but the process. It's all about the process here, people.

Here, I made varza - a Romanian sauerkraut treat!

First, add some olive oil to a pot on medium heat. Then chop up 1 medium onion. Maybe less though, if you find it's too onion-y. After you add it and it's all "saute-ed" up, add about a 1/2 a 12 oz. can of tomato paste to the mix. Mix the onion and tomato paste mix until it reaches a less clumpy, more sauce-y consistency.

Then, oh - then comes the fun part! Open a regular old can of sauerkraut - you know, the stuff that tastes sort of sour and delicious and pour it into the pot. The juice in the can will make it as sour as you want, so if you're anti-sour, take it out. I like it semi-sour, so I pour most of it out. Then you just plop it into the pot and stir it up! After it gets pretty hot - hot - hot, cover the whole concoction with water, and watch it boil.

The point here is, that all this water need to be absorbed, yet also evaporate. Stir vigorously, do whatever ya gotta do. I don't even really know why I add expect - except my mother tells me I need it, and well, I can't argue with tradition. After all the water has leached out of the varza (about 15-30 minutes), it's perfect to eat.

Late Lunchpeditions: Delta Grill

2009-04-24T01:52:00.000-04:00

Another day, another apartment. I've been looking at new apartments around Chelsea/Hell's Kitchen all week, and up until today, they've mostly been a bust. Finally, we hit a great spot. Loads of sunlight, skyscraper views (a hint of the Hudson, perchance??) and big closets. And, cherry on top, it's next to an amazing-smelling fried chicken shack (Piece of Chicken) that I'm sure will greatly add to the circumference of my thighs in the coming months.

After our long, yet hopefully productive day, we were walking to the subway, and decided to eat instead at Delta Grill instead. Such a great place, and since I love all cajun food (maybe I lived in NOLA in another life), I decided to get adventurous - and try crawfish for the first time.

You can't really tell from my awful cell phone picture, but we devoured a delicious popcorn crawfish po'boy and chicken tortilla soup with sweet potato french fries. And, when A. & I go to an cajun joint, we must get fried green tomatoes. And my sweet tea of course. Don't leave home without it!

Cassoulet: Vive La France!

2009-01-19T23:27:00.000-05:00

Finally getting readjusted to living in reality. Mexico isn’t reality, so I’m back to doing the things I do. Cook, read books, watch movies, sleep til 1. Oh, it happens. Tonight, I made cassoulet. I’m obsessed with all things French so I bought all the delicious goodies that come with making a French meal…baguette, red wine & well, I was going to watch “Breathless” but I’m a Robert Downey Jr. mood so I chose “Only You” instead. It’s set in Venice - is that close enough to Paris? Magnifique!

I found the recipe at epicurious.com - it’s basically just cooking some bacon, throwing a lot of veggies with some olive oil in a pot, add garlic, add beans & red wine and pop it in at 400 degrees for a half hour. It’s a peasant’s dish and considering that’s what I am at the moment, it couldn’t be more appropriate.

Cassoulet: the finished product!

Ah, and just for the hell of it, I made some eggplant dip (see the eviscerated eggplant carcass on my stove?). Oh my grandmothers would be so proud!

In Search of the Elusive Romanian Jew

2008-11-18T22:03:00.002-05:00

So I really needed to check out this Sammy's Roumanian place. Alex's parents came to eat here 20+ years ago and, from first impressions, it really seems like it's the type of place that never changes. Halfway between 2 AM at a Bar Mitzvah and "Christmas" dinner with your Jewish friends, Sammy's is one of those quintessential NYC joints that makes us newbies wax nostalgic about the good ol' days (pre- Bloomberg, pre-Giuliani, crazy, coked out, dangerous & dirty New York)...

Wine...so far, promising.
There's literally, 8 things on the menu. Steak (single or double size), latkes, stuffed cabbage and chopped liver. You must be willing to clog your arteries and be slightly weirded out when you contemplate eating here.

me, eating my stuffed cabbage rolls, which I regret I ordered in lieu of the steak.
Not because they weren't good - my grandmother's are just better.

The double steak - it flops off the sides of the plate and is covered in butter and garlic.

David and the steaks, with the latkes & applesauce and pickled tomato appetizer.
The pickles tomatoes, unlike the cabbage, was exactly how I remember eating them growing up.

We finished up the meal with an egg cream (chocolate syrup, seltzer water and milk).
A really tongue-tasty culinary experience. Not refined, not cultured, but who wants to be in this economy?

Caught!

2008-11-04T12:36:00.000-05:00

eating my cake.

Broken Apartment

2008-11-03T12:47:00.000-05:00

Ever since moving to my new place back in May, I feel like Jekyll/Hyde. I love my apartment. I hate my apartment. I love my side-view of Central Park. I hate the rotted, warped floors. I love my big kitchen. I hate my teeny bedroom. I love my huge closet. I hate cockroaches.

I love the flea market across the street. I hate scary alley pigeons. I love Shake Shack. I hate the long lines at the Shake Shack. I love Loehmann’s and Filene’s Basement and Westside Markets. I hate Pinkberry. I guess those are just my neighborhood, not my apartment but I feel an all-encompassing neutral energy about the whole thing. This is how it is in Manhattan. Unless you have bajillions of dollars, nothing is your way and every positive moment is canceled out by a low blow. I love that I live in a better neighborhood, closer to work, closer to bars, closer to everything and I pay, on average, less that I did before. And now I have turtles. But,

The old-timey heater exploded and shot steam all over our bedroom. That thing on the ground is supposed to keep that from happening. And this is a staged picture - that thing flew off into our laundry hamper!

(New) Bar Night

2008-10-22T02:40:00.000-04:00

I love going to new places. Case In Point:

Burp Castle

Loved the look of this place - murals on the walls and belgian ales galore.
Only problem? We kept getting shushed!

Finally get to McSorleys.

Book Party at Diane Von Furstenberg

2008-10-14T23:00:00.001-04:00

Erica invited me to a fancy pants book party in Meatpacking and…wow…i just impressed by this store (and the people). So gorgeous...a candyland of exactly the clothes I would wear if I didn't have to shop at thrift store/Goodwill. I actually have two DVF dresses (one blue/white wrap dress ($29) and one tangerine ruffle dress ($19) both purchased at beacon's...oopsy) plus my luggage. Highlights of the evening include seeing DVF in the flesh and nerdy journalist spotting - Bill Cunningham of NYT.

The book is Kim Hastreiter’s “Geoffrey Beene: An American Fashion Rebel”.
Nobody really thinks about GB anymore (anyone? bueller?)
but he really was influential in developing the modern fashion market. And there was a film.

With designer Robert James - of By Robert James designs - a fabulous, super nice guy - check out his beautiful clothes…Kim Hastreiter is signing books in the background…
(hawks by geren ford top, botkier purse)

We are upstairs in, what I can only assume, is the lounge area for frequent/bajillionaire customers.

Best photo of the night.
Erica at the top of the DVF stairs.
Great nights are pizza at Carbone’s + fashion party. I’m convinced.

Red Lights, Big City

2008-10-11T23:09:00.000-04:00

Best, loyal-to-the-death friend Jane comes back home to New York today.

Us at May's Place Sushi (50% off) on 7th & 2nd Avenue

Telephone Bar with Becker

Bowlmor Lanes on University

Always a good time when that girl comes round.

Got My Hair Did

2008-10-10T13:41:00.000-04:00

Went to Lindz at GiGi Salon in Astoria to get that nasty brassiness out of my hair.

Have you ever see so many foils!?!?

Craziness ensues!!

Hookah

2008-10-10T11:58:00.001-04:00

Great night last night. It was Yom Kippur, so no eating. Ugh, absolutely one of the hardest things ever. But, I went out with Alex & Kevin for some delicious burgers at Brother Jimmy’s.

Notice the “ramrod”. Oh yeah. After our meals, we trekked down to the East Village for some hookah fun at Hade Bade hookah lounge.

It says “for ultimate wakey-wakey-ness”. So cute!

Now, at Hade Bade, there are soft, comfy mattresses and pillows everywhere. We had Efes and He’brew beers, and enjoyed Double Apple + Honey tobacco. Copious smoking pictures of Kevin, Alex and Erica ensued.

Mets Game with a Romanian and a Hungarian

2008-10-09T23:28:00.000-04:00

Mmm, Queens.

We took Ms. Pants, my Hungarian friend & Dave's roommate, to a Mets game.

Of course, this is before their wicked postseason collapse!

She really likes the foam finger!

Last look at Shea

Dave is disingenuous. Angela is quite serious.

Goodbye Shea! (Go Phillies!)

Conde Nast > Dexter, of Showtime Fame

2008-10-09T21:08:00.001-04:00

GQ and Wired are both Conde Nast Publications titles. This ad campaign (found at the 42nd Street subway stop) is absolutely delicious!

In Ten Years

2008-10-08T19:05:00.000-04:00

This is what Mulboo & Yick will look like!

(They are currently about 2.5 inches long, this guy is about triple that)

Monday Night Funball

2008-10-06T21:14:00.001-04:00

Blondies, where you can find me almost every Monday night since football season started.

Don’t mind the creeper staring at the camera. There’s a game on!

Boyfriend is a cutie.

Angela and Dave: funny faces.

On Saturday I Went Around the World

2008-10-04T23:43:00.000-04:00

I started in New York this weekend, celebrating Angela’s big 2-4. Boy + I went to meet up with A and Big D at Wogies in the West Village - a Phillies bar - because we thought the Phillies game was on at 2pm. Nope! 6pm. 4 hours to kill, if you can’t do math. So, that said, we decided to do something I loved in college - going “Around the World”...food, drinks, you name it.

Maracas - Tastilicious tequila! This is possibly the least Mexican eatery besides Taco Bell, for one. But tequila is tequila, anywhere you go, and we wanted it! 4 shots + 1 free for the birthday girl + chips and salsa = golden.

At Lederhosen, ordering authentic Germanic brews

Flaming absinthe drinks at Pegu Club

Angela and I (with my drink (corpse reviver) and hers (absinthe & champagne)

it's almost summer...right?
Happy Birthday Angela!

My Last Meal

2008-09-26T09:03:00.000-04:00

Watching “The Practice” lately (I love lawyers, and the law). One episode is entitled “Spirit of America” and it shows the last meal of a death row inmate. He eats lobster and strawberry ice cream. It’s got me thinking about what I would eat, just eat, for my last meal. Probably everything, I think. But mostly just tapas of everything I love.

Here goes:

- my eggplant dip

- georgia peach

- dad’s seed-y pretzels

- sarmale & mamaliga

- maryland crab cakes

- mom’s pizza

- rib eye, prepared by Alex

- vosges truffles (why not have the best?)

- fried chicken from vai

mm. i’m hungry.

Black and White Nights...in D.C.

2008-09-21T21:17:00.000-04:00

I don’t like D.C. so I’m happy that I actually didn’t “go” there, but mainly stayed in Clarendon and Fairfax with Jane, my corporate “pitbull with lipstick”. We took the Vamoose bus down to Arlington and enjoyed tapas, shopping at Tysons, Jane’s housewarming party and a delicious brunch at the Silver Diner.

In Arlington Old Town with Natalia and Jane

There’s a LEGO store in Tysons???

Boy plays with mannequin. See what happens?

With Boy at J’s Black + White party

Breaking it down

(wearing an Alice and Olivia dress)

Discussing the meaning of life over brunch

Silver Diner with Jane and roommate Lori

At Crate & Barrel in Clarendon.

(wearing a Gryphon jacket, H&M tank, Botkier purse)

Thanks for being a wonderful host & friend, Janey!

Jean Company Media Party, Murray Hill, NYC

2008-09-18T20:59:00.001-04:00

I love going to media parties. Who doesn’t? Pretty goody bags, free gifts, good conversation. I’ve been to loads as a member of the “media elite” (whoosh big claim) and last night I used the media party at The National Jean Company to get chat up my friend Erica from PAPER magazine.

With Erica. Wearing a Target skirt, Forever 21 tank dress (worn as top) and thrifted top. Botkier purse.

Syracuse Pride...with a dash of pink

2008-09-16T17:50:00.001-04:00

I just saw this picture from Betsey Johnson’s Spring/Summer 2009 runway line:

Pink and green are Betsey’s signature colors. I should know, I have a beautiful green + pink ruffly flowery dressy number my mom bought me in the Hamptons (in 10th grade, before I knew who the heck BJ was). I still fit into it (yay!) and I wore it to my college graduation in 2007.

With my amazing parents at graduation with The Dress

Betsey was an obvious choice - she was an SU alum, after all. It was not a conscious decision...I think.

Missing Londra

2008-09-15T21:45:00.003-04:00

When I was sixteen, I left the U.S.A. for a SIGNIFICANT amount of time. I went to Kings’ College in London to study filmmaking. I edited, I developed film, I worked with cranky actors, I made a huge mistake which cost me my best friends back in the States. I ate a lot of Pret a Manger, I did the sightseeing stuff, I watched a lot of movies and fell in love with Godard at the Curzon Mayfair. This is cheesy (I should know, i hate cheese) but I learned more about love, friendship and art that summer than in any of the previous fifteen years of my life.

It changed my life — one of those defining time periods that…only recently I’ve been mulling over and really appreciating. And I know this is pretty lame, but when I saw these pants I became really nostalgic. I had almost the exact same pair (no buttons) that I wore (almost) every day. Matched with my tie-dye Powderpuff shirts, of course.

Hangin' With Madre

2008-09-14T21:10:00.000-04:00

My mom came to visit this past weekend and it’s about time I post some photos! A great weekend starts off with great food, right?

Try Good Enough to Eat (Amsterdam at 83rd)

Delish, especially the buttermilk biscuits with strawberry butter!

After meeting up with Mama, we took the subway down to Canal, and Alex (finally) bought me a meat hammer!

Though nowhere close to these ladies’ sizes, Mom likes to show off her curves!

Love you mom!

Found: Tasty Noodle Bar in W. Village

2008-09-12T22:00:00.000-04:00

I have a thing for noodles. Wok-fried, boiled, whatever - they find a new home in my stomach! Two nights ago I had a delicious dinner with Alex and Kevski at Noodle Bar, and since I (weirdly enough) like having my picture taken with food, here we are.

Enjoying my shrimp wonton noodle broth with wanton abandon…

(wearing a Theory top, Swiss Army watch, vintage earrings)

My noodle-eating companions’ antics…too cute!

This has put me on a new path/mission: eat at everrrrry noodle bar I can find - Chinatown, here I come!

Feeling Lucky

2008-09-11T08:42:00.002-04:00

Sometimes you forget what you have and something snaps you back and you’re like “wow, i am truly, ridiculously, happy and blessed beyond all blessings”. The first part is not this situation because I have a constant reminder of “what I have” (relationship-wise) waiting for me when I get home. But during the day things can get hectic and I lose my mind and it’s times like that where I get a little “bloop” in my Gmail chat box and it’s the boyfriend.

boy: you think you are soo funny
me: i am funny
you know it
i can haz kiss?
boy: HAHA
you kan haz meni kizzes

Moment of silence today.

Discovering that Manhattan is an Island

2008-09-10T18:29:00.000-04:00

After doing completely squat this past weekend and failing to rally friends to go to Astoria’s Bohemian Beer Garden, I managed to rally Mars out of Queens and we went tanning in the Park. It was a beautiful day when Hurricane Hanna left town but it was a smidge too hot for early September (global warming?). After deeming it too hot to layabout in the Park sipping iced tea and watching puppies all day, we moseyed to Riverside to wander, go (free) kayaking and enjoy popcorn shrimp and chopped salad at Boat Basin Cafe.

The view of (many) Trump buildings from Riverside

A pretty awesome shot of Mars…too bad there’s a West Side Highway:

A view of Jersey from the riverwalk

After kayaking…I was really happy!

79th Street Boat Basin (and Boat Basin Cafe)

The Boat Basin is awesome - I highly recommend it, not just because it’s a cool summer hangout to watch games and drink margaritas but also because they are living green! Their plastic cups are completely compostable and made from plant matter. I think I’ve tracked down the brand: Greenware.

The Food Snob

2008-09-09T22:22:00.000-04:00

Yes, that is I. Food snob. Almost reason number 1 for moving out of Harlem? Horrible (C-Town) grocery store run by maniacs.

I shopped for the first time at the Pioneer Market *thinking I would save money* and felt like I needed to shower afterwards. Thing is, you almost can’t live in Manhattan and not be concerned with what you eat. The city is home to thousands of restaurants and, mostly to stay in business, the chefs really care about what goes in their food. On the other hand, I am the daughter of two pretty amazing cooks. I try to buy organic (when I can afford it - and when it’s the right call - like dairy and animal products, thin-skinned fruit and veggies - those definitely need to be organic!) and I’ve learned a lot this past year about spices, spring rolls and salmonella. In this fashion, I shop, most every Sunday, at my local (Columbus & 77th) Farmer’s Market. It’s usually directly across the street in the school’s parking lot, but this summer it’s next to the Museum of Natural History on Columbus.

Neighb people, everything is there! Tasty tomatoes, sublime squash…even a violinist belting out “Annie” showtunes.

I picked up:

6 ears of sweet white corn

Plums, peaches

Jelly doughnut & Italian sesame bread (from Not Just Rugelach)

New basil & mint plants (since ours died…oops)

Arugula & Romaine

Zucchini & Tomatoes

Murderous Art

2008-09-09T20:27:00.000-04:00

If you know anything about me…well…maybe you don’t. But I love guns. I dream of waking up Hanukkah/X-mas morning, running into the living room and opening up a package - inside there would be a lovely velvet-lined box with a Walther PPK inside. And so today, I bring you my new obsession. The perfect - if not very practical (what luxury is??) - sculpture collection from Peter Gronquist.

What can I say - I’m from Maryland…I blame it on that.

Dali @ MOMA - Cinephile In the City

2008-09-08T23:18:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I went to see Dali’s exhibit at the MOMA before it closes on Sept. 15. It was raining hard (thanks Hurricane Hanna) and it was so humid - you could see it in the air. I still went! Can’t stop le artist. I’ve been to the MOMA before so I’ve seen the biggies - Brancusi, de Kooning, Pollock, Johns…but I love going to see the special exhibitions. Dali’s in particular stands out because it focuses on some of his lesser known paintings and his film work - of which I wasn’t aware he was so prolific. Here is one of the beautiful pieces that I saw!

Personal Enhancement

2008-09-07T08:17:00.000-04:00

I decided to enroll in some certificate courses at NYU, specifically “Art Business”. I’m pleased with myself finally because I’ve been talking about taking classes for a while but was so stuck on what exactly I wanted to throw some money (and time) at. Art History? Dance? An(other) instrument? Argh. But I’m taking three course starting in October - December. One (”the Art Auction”) is just over the October 18th weekend, but the rest (”Law and Ethics in the Art Market” and “Today’s International Art World”) are Wednesdays and Thursdays essentially 6-8pm.Hopefully I can score a gallery job in the meantime…here’s hoping!

2008-09-06T20:08:00.001-04:00

Still haven’t gotten to the grocery store, still too poor to go out to eat…so after (hopelessly) shopping at Loehmann’s on 73rd, I hopped the C train with Boy to meet DK at Rudy’s in Hell’s Kitchen. This is our go-to spot since Boy & I feel ripped off if a bar doesn’t give us food with our plumb-cheap beverages.

The Giants game was on the tube, but so was the RNC…there seemed to be a war over the remote. No worries for true-blooded Americans will always pick the redskin over any politics.

Rachel, Alex & I at Rudy's

Beers and a few hot dogs later, I called it dinner and….deliberated over going to see “Tropic Thunder” or “The House Bunny”…but decided to do neither, went home & watched Bones reruns before sleepering at midnight. Fabulous!

P.S. There are ONLY condiments in the fridge a la “Fight Club”…

Caipirinhas & America's Next Top Model

2008-09-05T19:55:00.001-04:00

Wednesday nights are for what? Drinkies, quesadillas & bad tv, most definitely.

Since I went to Brazil for spring breaky of ‘07, i have been obsessed with Caips (Caipirinhas). It’s vury special.

Take oh, about a whole lime, dump 1.5 tablespoons sugar (depending how much sugah you want) and 2 shots of CASHAZA (tis the phonetic pronunciation, it’s spelled “cachaca”). Mix and enjoy!

I went to Astoria with Rachel for a Mexican fiesta with Mars & Sammy and finally met Z’s “other woman” - her hairstylist, Lindsay. She works at Gigi on 30th Avenue in Astoria - it’s an Aveda salon so I will shamelessly plug it.

So we put our “cook” hats on and made quesadillas, burritos, margaritas & caips and flopped to watch America’s Next Top Model!!!!!

Like All Good Things

2008-07-30T23:11:00.001-04:00

A good mix of scrambles to start the day. The trailer for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince has been chucked into the UK web-sphere but landed on American ground as well (of course). After numerous failed attempts to read Harry Potter to the Boyfriend (he still asks me to read to him, I am slightly too tired), I think we’ll just have to stick to watching the films. So here goes:

Sitting Shiva For Caesar

2008-07-30T11:13:00.000-04:00

I didn’t want much consolation for this because I just…don’t do the attention thing. But now that it’s been a week, I am unbound and able to talk about the best thing that’s happened to my mother & I in the past few years. I don't feel ok. I am not ok, and probably won't be for a little while.

I have never felt death before. My grandfather died when I was first born and nothing besides a few goldfish since — so you can see how this would be a pretty big deal. He made everyone happy and put a smile on everyone’s face every day he lived. We will miss you so much lil’ Caes...

Central Park MS Benefit, Featuring Immature Twentysomethings

2008-07-24T22:15:00.001-04:00

Oh hush, not really. We just may have enjoyed the swings and rides a teensy bit too much. We trekked from our new apartment through the Central Park to meet up with our friends Kevin and Laura Holland for the Multiple Sclerosis Benefit Carnival.

Boyfriend and I
(wearing a Armani Exchange dress, Botkier purse)

We were invited by said couple who were actually working the event…we were mainly being entertained and drinking pints of Sam Adams. Our red noses are courtesy of a winery at the event...I definitely think I would have frequented more carnivals growing up if I could have dunked my nose in a nice glass of white!

There were so many fun games to play! Whack A Mole is pictured here, but I, showing my carnival background here, definitely made some people cry when I won the “horse race”.

Sometimes you can have so much fun that you forget where you are. In the midst of all this carnival-going, I looked up, and there was Manny! (and Kevin)!

NMS put on an amazing benefit (and I had one of the best nights since moving to Manhattan) but it can’t be done without your support! Click and learn more - or get involved!

Boyfriend and Matt (behind him) on the swings!

Jib Jab Sendables: Fun or Distraction.

2008-07-19T23:08:00.000-04:00

Whatever it is, it is amazing. Just go to jibjab.com and you can make your own talking head. Make it dance, make it cry, make it zoom in on "your" breasts...you're an internet celebrity. Live the dream.

Send a JibJab Sendables® eCard Today!

Holland Wedding: Love In A Blue Box

2008-07-18T23:16:00.006-04:00

I went to my first (judeo-christian) wedding! A true sign of age, I dare say. The happy couple are my (but mostly Alex’s) friends Kevin and Laura, fabulous urban professionals in Westchester Co., but they married in Syracuse, NY, where they met and went to school (like me!). They are on their honeymoon in the Caribbean now so I thought I’d keep the happy feelings going on this here blog. Boyfriend was the Best Man (but not best enough to snag L, har har) and shipped off to CNY the wednesday before the wedding to enjoy the planning…i.e. the bachelor party (i know the details and give myself credit for the ideas). On Friday I arrived for the rehearsal dinner at Pascale Wine Bar:

Bride to Be Laura and I
(wearing a Nine West dress, Botkier purse)

Later that night, at Chuck's Bar
(wearing Victoria Secret shorts, Urban Outfitters top, vest from Romania)

Sorority sister Stacey & I outside Hendricks Chapel
(wearing a Badgley Mischka dress)

BEST MAN (and boyfriend) + Myself
(wearing a Catharine Malandrino butterfly dress)

Boyfriend wants the Tiffany cake!

Newlyweds...and one pesky garter!

Reverse garter!

Best man playing bartender...

Congrats, beautiful couple!!

Fetishists at Mattel Love Butt-Kickin’ Black Canary Barbie

2008-07-17T23:03:00.000-04:00

Super exciting news I learned about just today, but has been out for nearly a week (oops). Seems like Barbie is getting another makeover - a supernaturally awesome makeover. In October, they are releasing “Black Canary Barbie” after the famous DC Comics superhero. They’ve done this before (enter Catwoman Barbie) so it’s not terribly new news, but again and again the religious right wants to come in and stomp out all the fun we liberals and our perverted minds want to have.

Everyone in the blogosphere is trying to say how trashy this new Barbie is and it’s really annoying how much people just read a couple of sentences about it and make a judgement. I grew up reading Spiderman, Wonder Woman, Daredevil and Black Canary (among others. I love comics!) and used my Barbie and Ken dolls to recreate the fight scenes from the comics. Of course, back in the 90’s there were no superhero costumes (just neon jumpsuit costumes!) and so I’d have to improvise. Or I’d get lazy, get the Barbies naked and use my imagination to fill in the rest. Justice League, anyone?

The part of the whole drama that perturbs me is that everyone takes a gander at Black Canary Barbie and judge her by today’s standards. Do they know that she was created in 1947 by male animators!? She’s a post-war symbol for female empowerment (I like to believe). Her fishnets are characteristic of her costume. Yes, costume. On Jezebel, they think she’s 80’s. On Perez, they think she is a street walker (except for one awesome commentator - heath - who delightfully retorts “Pants get in the way of fighting crime!)

So people, please. It’s a superhero. You don’t have to buy it if you don’t want to (I would if I had a daughter). But stop giving these stupid Christian conservatives ammunition - these are the people who thought Tinky Winky was gay, remember? And he still hasn’t come out!

Serious Ass-Kicking, courtesy of Tugg Speedman

2008-07-16T23:01:00.000-04:00

Dreamworks has set up three websites to promote Ben Stiller and his movie “Tropic Thunder”, coming out this August. They are part of a viral marketing campaign to introduce “Tugg Speedman”, Ben Stiller’s character in “Tropic Thunder” to an unsuspecting audience, not unlike the famously fun “Why So Serious?” website to promote the new Batman installment “The Dark Knight”.

Tugg Speedman has his own website and websites for his movies “Simple Jack” and “Scorcher 6″ which chronicle Tugg Speedman’s life as an action star - the ins and outs of the fickle martial arts film industry, his failed turn as a serious actor in the aptly titled “Simple Jack” and his future plans of starring in “Scorcher 6″, part six of a six part movie. “Scorcher 6″ reveals what “Zoolander” and “Meet the Parents” already explained to us about Ben Stiller: he is amazingly clever at playing dumb people. So here are two conversations I believe could happen if these websites were for real:

Two dudes walk out of Tugg Speedman’s new film “Simple Jack”

Dude: Dude. That was just wrong, yo. I don’t care who you is, that Rebecca chick was mad hot and so should have jumped on Jack. Who does she think she is? Yo, she is retarded for not mackin’ on Tugg. And did you see him with that horse? That was magical, dude. Whoa! Is that Tugg Speedman?

Tugg Speedman: Yes. It is Tugg Speedman and I’ve come here personally to tell you this movie does not suck. Sure, it’s about a retard and a sexually under satisfied woman, but it’s got puppies.

Two dudes win a contest to meet Tugg Speedman and talk about his new film

Dude 2: Where’s Tugg? Yo, he said he’d be here. Oh, there he is. Hey dude!

TS: What’s up dudes.

Dude 1: Hey man! How’s the world treatin’ you?

TS: It’s good, it’s good man. Tropic Thunder is comin’ out in August and that’s really big for me.

Dude 2: Ya, especially after that “Simple Jack” drama.

TS: Yes, well sometimes you want to step away from the ass-kickin’ once in a while. I stepped, and well, sometimes you just don’t make it. I tripped, big time, dudes. I had to though; those kung-fu nuts back in China were killing me.

Dude 1: So what can you promise us from “Tropic Thunder”..your new flick?

TS: I can promise you…a lot of blowin’ shit up. Crazy atomic, I mean, nuclear, no, wait, submachine gun weapons. And ass-kickin.

Dudes: Ya! Ass-kickin’!

Road Trippin': San Antonio & Greune, Texas

2008-06-28T13:13:00.003-04:00

About a million years ago, some crazy cowboys took a stand at the Alamo. A lot of them died, and San Antonio was founded. As a side trip over the weekend, Alex, Cristiana, Aunt Afina and I went to San Antonio to check out the awesome history, the famed RiverWalk and some tasty tasty guac!

Alex and I in front of the Alamo - Remember the Alamo, y'all.
(wearing a Charlotte Russe top, BCBG linen shorts, payless gladiators)

On the RiverWalk

Here we are in Gruene, another "old" town in Texas, with a quaintly uncomfortable dancehall (open during the summer, no air-conditioning!).

said dancehall, and a little infoz

with happy graduating cousin, about to nom some BBQ in Gruene

Leaving tomorrow :(

Goin' Prowling in Austin, TX!

2008-06-27T00:46:00.004-04:00

Graduation is a four-letter word for college seniors. The endless questions from anxious parents, praying hopefully that their 120k investment pays off for the kid…mostly in the way of a Ferrari and a New York City penthouse.

For masters’ graduates, the future has been swept under the rug for far longer. When their peers were scurrying, crying, and worrying about their interviews or faltering job prospects, these captains of industry (in their minds anyway) retreated into their books, thesis writing and nights of drinking. My graduating cousin, Cristiana, in turn, felt liberated. From Tulane to UT-Austin, non-stop, she’s actually relieved to find work and a new environment when she moves to Seattle in the fall. She asked me to come visit for the graduation weekend, arguably the busiest time for UT-Austin’s 50,000 students. People graduate, people move out, people move in, the expiration of the last year reverberates through the town.

From the major delays prevalent in the US airline industry today, I unfortunately never even made the graduation ceremony. Landing in Austin after missing a connection from Houston late in the evening, all I wanted to do was grab a slice and drink a brew. But this is Texas, and they do things differently here.

I walked with the graduate (my cousin, Cristiana) to “The Parlor” for a late nite pie & brew with Boyfriend, her parents, her roommate’s parents…you get the picture. We ordered the Dejay & Pete’s, and while I loved their vegan options, no one would go in with me.

It is Tejas, after all. I’m a pizza baker’s daughter, and while this pizza - think crispy, thin crust and a mountain of toppings - did impress, I’m siding with my parents on this one.

The happy graduate and her father enjoying some pizza pie

Staffed by the famous Tony Sansalone and Scott Halverson, the 1886 Café & Bakery simply has the best chocolate cake I’ve ever had. I know I probably shouldn’t say that, but I don’t have the patience for indecisiveness and redundancy. So, I applied for one university early decision and visited two others in the event that I had failed so horrifically in high school that I didn’t get into my first choice. University of Texas-Austin was one of those schools and 1886 was a major deciding factor.

I went to Texas with my father some time before the applications were due. We share an affinity for chocolate in the way monks love God. Hell, isn’t chocolate a religion anyway?

1886 is a classy, white tablecloth sort of place nudged inside the Driskill Hotel with a beautiful patio overlooking the pedestrians on Sixth Street, the main thoroughfare. Since vacation is no time for a diet, I proceed and order the “Hippy Hollow” skillet and the aforementioned chocolate cake.

My cousin gives me a knowing smirk as I tuck into my egg-and-potato skillet delight. What I don’t know and what comes to light later, the “Hippy Hollow”…might actually be an elderly nudie beach near Lake Travis.

In this badass, not-monkeying around hard-drinking establishment, Chris Marsh has made a shrine to Johnny Cash the likes of which have never been seen (outside of a private trailer park, that is). “Mean-Eyed Cat”, named after one of Cash’s classics, has been lauded by everyone from Conde Nast Traveler (my personal fave…well….I think we know why) to CMT News.

Growing up in Maryland, we have loads of crabs, and crab-smashing parties. BBQ escapes me somewhat and I guess I can’t be called a real Southerner for that. Trying to make for my lack of eduation, it’s been my goal to (try, anyway) visit the best BBQ smokehouses in the country. At Syracuse, I always was a sucker for the Chicken Diablo platter (before I was a red-meat eater) at Dinosaur BBQ and haven’t been able to find a decent BBQ place (besides Dino) in the city since I graduated. Needless to say, Salt Lick was a delicious, delicious surprise.

Boyfriend with a delicious plate of snaaasauge!

Salt Lick is about 25 minutes outside Austin proper but it’s so worth it. Just look at this sausage! We pulled into a extremely large (think state-fair large) parking lot where, literally, the Po-lice was helping park cars. There were 18 of us in our party, sitting around huge platters of BBQ chicken, grilled sausage, coleslaw & brisket, savoring every last bite.

With my delicious Lone Star beverage...love those riddles!

Ohh baby when I came back to Manhattan I was cravin’ some TEXAS bbq (the only BBQ in my opinion)…lucky for New Yawkers, we have our very own Salt Lick bbq stand, courtesy of Big Apple BBQ Block Party . Yes, I waited for 30 minutes to enjoy a delicious brisket & white bread sandwich. If you know what I’m talking about, who wouldn’t?

More pictures coming!

Now Departing, Delta Flight 76 to Berlin

2008-06-24T22:59:00.000-04:00

It’s summer again, so it’s off to Europe I go. Having the majority of my family in Romania makes for some pretty interesting tales - like, hopping a jet, zipping into a bridesmaid’s dress for my cousin’s beach wedding.

So I just booked my tickets for Berlin for Aug 13 - 28th. This will be the third time I’ve been to Germany, but I have this major major desire to creep into the capital of East German socialist nostalgia.

Maybe it’s because I went to the Statue Park in Budapest two years ago.

What It'll Turn Into

2008-06-07T22:53:00.000-04:00

Many American airline operators are cryin’ about high oil prices. By August, there will be hundreds of cut flights and you’ll be lucky if an airline even circles Topeka. Once again, flying may the dominion of the rich and wealthy and that means we’re all stuck here, hitchhiking to the border. But don’t count AirAsia in on all that fun. CEO Tony Fernandes is brushing his shoulders off and thinks this is all some fun ‘n’ games. He says: “We are comfortable even with oil at US$200 (a barrel). There is a silver lining. We have taken a very different approach in that we will market ourselves out of this problem. We think that just putting your head in the sand and crying about oil and cutting routes is not the solution.”

I tend to agree. It’s business! Things come up, you have to figure a way out. Charging everyone $15 is just going to get people mad at you. What if everyone just up and said “what’s this talking picture business? Silent films are great!” Airlines: change happens! Adapt!

Summer Breeze, Makes Me Feel Fine (In A Dress)

2008-06-03T22:44:00.005-04:00

As East Coasters know, the weather has been, well, unseasonably warm. 90+ degrees in May? Thunderstorms? Humidity reaching 90%? Being forced to leave my air conditioning unit has me kicking and screaming, but also scratching my head when it comes to outfitting.

This slideshow from the New York Times would have benefited me two weeks ago and since. Aside from picking up some nosegays to protect my delicate olfactory sensors from the pungent aromas of garbage dumpsters, the only way I seem to figure out how to beat back my sweat glands is to revert to wearing a dress.

I love a good dress. The weight, the color, the length. Everything about it screams “easy chic”, which is what I strive for (but rarely achieve, it seems). The trick to a dress is garnering the right accessories. A cute belt, cute shoes, a bracelet or two, boho earrings.

While I love a dress, I never experiment and get the perfect outcome. It’s always missing something. That’s why the women in the slideshow make me so happy (especially Ms. Trump, from who I will soon gather inspiration!). They are simpe, not laden down with anything heavy, obtuse or ornate, just easy chic. And that’s how summer should be. So I shouldn’t have a heart attack when I’m getting dressed in the morning. I’ll slip on my havaianas, throw on some gold eyeshadow & be out the door in 5 minutes flat. When there are busted fire hydrants outside your apartment, you run!

Here are two gorgeous examples from ModCloth.com

Move-Ment

2008-06-01T10:38:00.000-04:00

I’m moving out of Harlem today!! Into a lovely location on the Upper West Side, a block from the Museum and the Park. It’s much smaller overall, but there are certain perks that are well worth the massive headache.

1. My closet. In the brownstone, there were two big closets. 1 in the bedroom, 1 in the main room. 1 closet for the bedroom? My thoughts exactly. Alex doesn’t take up much space, but I often fretted and huffed about where to put my beloved shoes - which were banished to the main closet! The new Closet (it deserves the C) is my own. It even has shelves in the back for all my shoes! It seems a little empty, so I’ve bought a pair of Christian Dior white patent leather pumps and a gauzy Malandrino to try to fill more of it.

2. Big Living Room. I love to entertain, so a dealbreaker is a bad living room. My bedroom is half the size of my old one, but I’m never in the bedroom! What do I care? The living room fits our massive, comfy couch, the TV, the bookcase (which I never got a good look at before because it was in the kitchen, but it is a beautiful and massive piece - and FULL of books!), my desk, Alex’s desk, our DVDs, and gave us the opportunity to purchase a bench - something I’ve always wanted! It’s from the Island Collection by Target (which, apart from our horrible TV stand, isn’t too too bad on the affordable home furnishing end).

3. Greenflea. Alex & I discovered this farmer’s/flea market browsing the interwebs and it stole our hearts. We used to venture “downtown” (for us anyway) and shop, buy produce and then go to Jacques-Imo’s Cafe on the corner of 77th & Columbus to chat up the bartenders, nosh on fried green tomatoes and shrimps, eat po’boys and drink the best Bloody Marys this side of the Mis’ip. Sadly, Jacques-Imo’s is no more (broke my heart!) and I have yet to go to Bourbon Street Bar. But…50 cent beer is almost as good as the Marys are. Almost.

There’s probably plenty more - what with my new gym (Jewish Community Center), my amazing gold BCBG strappy heels REPAIRED (after going to 5 different shoe places no less!) at Planas, my new laudromat, new dry cleaners…I could go on and on. And there’s sushi. A Planet of Sushi.

Now if only I could get this pesky recession to work itself out…

Mojai: Funk Is Not Dead in D.C.

2008-04-24T11:32:00.003-04:00

I never expect to find good things when I head back to my hometown. It is a perfunctory experience. At best, I spend most of the time in my bedroom or playing with my dog or the random friends I still keep in touch with since high school graduation. At worse, I run into particularly shady ex-friends.

But the pleasant surprise still comes my way. I met up with my friend Rachel in Adams Morgan to check out a funk band, Mojai , and I’m sure glad I did.

While the video is, I’ll admit, a bit poor, the music is transcendental, transparent and rhythmic in its sometimes lullaby-quality, sometimes jazz-jam quality, even with little notes of hard-rock. The keyboards, guitar, bass guitar and seemingly millions of saxophones mesh into brilliant notes. Great for dancing, great for the general vibe of the bar (The Space).

And, I love music sometimes that is just purely instrumental. Lyrics sometimes get in the way of, however cheesy this sounds, the “melody”. You can’t ignore dueling saxophones, but you can ignore (or try to) bad lyrics.

During a funky long keyboard sesh

A Thought: One of these is not like the other...

2008-04-20T11:27:00.001-04:00

Something reminiscent of Frederick, though transplanted to South Carolina.

More line dancing in Greenville, SC

Something reminiscent of living in Syracuse, though transplanted to New York City.

Insomnia Cookies on W. 4th...not Marshall St.

Home?

2008-04-19T23:20:00.003-04:00

I’m laying in my bed. “my” bed. the one i slept in for six years. And not even a bed, but an overpriced silver-frame futon.

I arrived in Baltimore’s Penn Station this morning at 9:50 am after a 2hr train ride from - you guessed it - New York’s Penn Station. original.

Another leg of the journey takes me to oft-traveled highway 695 W to Frederick. It’s a lazy drive with hardly any cars on the road for distraction. A brownish grey Maserati GranTurismo 4.2 passes us - and it seems my two lives have just crossed over.

No rest for the weary - by 11:40 I’m sitting outside my restaurant with some fresh mozzarella sticks and - my favorite - cherry italian soda. Downtown Frederick is sleepy and cheerful and I’m just doing my part to help customers feel at home. Strike up a conversation about coffee mugs. Get more pages read of “The Geography of Love”. Enjoy the sunshine. Today’s the busiest day of the weekend - the day I think I feel like I never left New York. Hustling to a meeting with a financial advisor (please, tell me how i can retire by 40), doctor’s meeting (bad news), eventually, a much - needed facial at The Strand. The sun (84 degrees) is making everything too hot; like summer surprised me when I was looking for more hot cocoa and warm soup.

The clocktower in Baker Park, Frederick, MD

Even though I’ve made the switch from Southern Belle to Uptown Girl, it still feels like a part of me is irrefutably linked to this place. History was made here, even if it was so inconsequential that it didn’t affect anyone outside a 5 mile radius. Life was much smaller when 21701 and (301) were my only history - before I moved to 13210 and (315) or 10031 and (212). My first boyfriend, proms, endless school trips and “please stand for the pledge” and Field Day.

I really miss Field Day.

How often do people end up in their hometown for the rest of their lives. Close by, maybe, but not “in it”. Have your kids go to your schools, become the Mayor? A line gets crossed from “I gotta get the hell outta this town” and finding that you never left. I never wanted to stay in Maryland and I trade jokes with a colleague (originally from Upper Marlboro) about the “Fredneck” pride I have even now. I love County Fairs, In The Streets, Velvet Lounge, Pit Crew, La Paz chips and salsa, Mudd Puddle, Denny’s, Frederick Coffee Company, C. Burr Artz PL, The Bridge, Wonder Book and Video, Wa Wa’s, Sheetz MTO sammies, The Mall, Barber’s Darkroom, My Darkroom, Bob Evan’s (Rt. 40), Belles’, Teal Lane, and all the rest of my haunts (21+ - Firestone’s & Old Towne…never fails).

But I’m wondering, as I’m walking around the room I spent the past ten years living in, how do you know when your “room” isn’t yours anymore. When you can’t recognize anything. When it’s so stripped bare to create your new life that it’s rotten and empty…and you don’t even want to set foot inside it? I was 15 and had a vision. I was so over the pastel pink walls and tidy preppie furniture. I wasted no time signing up then-boyfriend (now married) to help me paint the room navy blue. It took a gallon of paint before I realized 1 gallon does not = one wall.

I let my friends write witty quotes in Sharpie all over my closet doors and I put up “Evil Dead” and “Trainspotting” posters on my walls to show off how cool I thought I was. I burned mixes of Dashboard Confessional, The Get Up Kids and Reel Big Fish for the boyfriend and chain-smoked cigarettes on the roof outside my window when my parents fell asleep in the room next door. I stayed up late chatting on the phone until said parents, weary from my contradictory combativeness and ambivalence, half-heartedly told me to shut up. And, let’s not forget my 15th birthday, where as my mom was singing me happy birthday with a homemade ladyfinger cake, a combustible mix of cliques were present - goth kids, druggies, photo nerds, skaters, Cool Juniors. I made home movies about interviewing famous, albeit, invisible, diplomats and Rwandan warlords (fancying myself a Eastern European Christiane Amanpour, I think). I set up a volleyball court in my backyard for my graduation party but ended up playing spades and drinking non-alcoholic beer. Spades was a theme that summer, but we quickly realized non-alcoholic beer was not.

Leaving my old room for a dorm wasn’t a change in scenery. There, I could always sneak out, sneak food, sneak boys and phone calls, and still keep a part of myself hidden and mysterious. My sophomore year in college, I came home to find the reliable silver futon had found new roommates: whitewashed desk/bureau set from the early 90s and a great big plasma TV. It all fit wonderfully, but now it’s empty. The shelves hold books I don’t want to bring to my apartment, scratched CDs I feel too nostalgic about to throw out, old yearbooks and high school photos, endless cables I have no use for, piles and piles of journals, VHS tapes (both commercial and homemade), discarded negatives and Mini-DV cassettes. The scrapyard of my life is in this room. Projects started but never completed-unopened acrylic paints from my “painter” phase. Gaelic and Russian language books and cassettes - though I did succeed in learning conversational Gaelic at one point…but the possibility of actually going to Ireland was depressing, and that was abandoned as well.

I’m in no hurry to clear it out. Where will it all go - all the things I simultaneous want to hoard and toss? My life, being packed into boxes, but also boxes I don’t want?

Until I went away to Syracuse, I hadn’t slept on a proper bed for four years. Bringing the Biologist (the going Boyfriend pseudonym) to F is met with groans and forgetting to pack ibuprofen (for backs made sore by aforementioned futon).

But we’re a lot more alike than he cares to think. Visiting Syracuse, we sleep, once more, on a futon.

Batter Up!

2008-04-08T11:18:00.000-04:00

Since the baseball season started, I have been to two Yankee games (last thursday and yesterday) and I’m heading to Queens for a Mets v. Phillies game on Thursday. Baseball is the only (American) sport I follow with any conviction or passion so when a season comes around I can get cranky, moody, or delirious. Depends how the season goes.

Baseball is “America’s Pastime”–a great excuse to scream, drink beers, get tan and eat artery-clogging amounts of Hebrew Nationals. So, why do journalists and commentators and all these other yippity yaps in the peanut gallery going on and on about how boring the sport is. Nothing Ever Happens! Scoreless Innings! Et Al.

But I think there’s a secret reason people like baseball. However “boring” it may seem, I think it’s the speculation that makes the game worthwhile. Sitting in the stadium, sitting in front of the television, people are always discussing what’s the next play, what’s the next pitch going to be, who’s up, who’s on base…the questions are endless and the suspense is almost crippling.

A general hypothesis could be this: baseball is for readers, football is for TV watchers. I understand these massive generalizations, but football is quick animal. There’s a blitz, a passing game…even though a football game is roughly the same span of time as a baseball game, it seems like everything happens with no speculation. The game is happening to quickly to discuss strategy and options.

With Baseball, there’s imagination…trepidation at every turn, and with both the Mets and the Yankees playing their last seasons in their venerable institutions, this season will be a weeper.

Lecture: Sue Halpern Book Tour

2008-04-07T10:58:00.000-04:00

Going to readings and lectures is something I’ve heavily avoided doing, even in college. But, after the plays and movie screenings et al. I thought it’d be nice to change it up a little. Sue Halpern, famous author & magazine contributor, was speaking at Columbia University Medical Center at 168th & Broadway last Wednesday, April 12.

The lecture mainly focused on excerpts from her new book, Can’t Remember What I Forgot, and discussed “normal memory loss”. Even I, at 22, cannot seem to figure out what my memory drifts in and out, some exaggerations, some mistakes–I cannot figure it out. On the opposite end, my grandmother is having horrible memory loss. Repeating simple questions, forgetting the ingredients to dishes she’s made millions of times — for someone who has a Ph D. in History and was a professor, I can’t imagine being in her shoes…unless I’m going in that direction myself.

The excerpts also detailed many personal experiences Halpern shared with the “memory loss” scientists she worked with, experimental memory procedures she went through, and her father’s experiences with memory loss. From a non-scientific perspective, seeing a human perspective on memory loss is better then the mumbo-jumbo scientists spill out. She espoused her desire for a “more open…collaborative” scientific community and a sort of “open source” scientific community. Doctors speaking with doctors about their findings? What a novel concept. Maybe this is a good start to the kind of change our medical professions (and our wallets) could really use.

All I Want is Beer for Breakfast

2008-04-06T11:11:00.000-04:00

On Saturday, I did two things I try hard to avoid. 1) Drinking in the Daytime. 2) Hopping into a car, going on the BQE on a Saturday morning, and getting out of Manhattan.

I’m not a borough snob, I’m the opposite. Some of my closest friends live in Astoria and Brooklyn Heights, so I’m actually there a bit. Haven’t ever spent a great deal of time in Williamsburg and Greenpoint (hipster enclaves in immigrant/ethnic communities - I’m sure it’s to feel “connected”) so , partnering my love of breweries and all their byproducts, and my softness for advertisements in foreign languages ended up bringing me to the Brooklyn Brewery.

The Brewery is housed on N. 11st Street in Brooklyn, across the street from the delicious vintage clothing store Beacon’s Closet and overall awesome skate shop KCDC. Coming from a major alternative-sport-heavy town, I truly respect such a “see” then “do” shopping experience - like a board? Try it out on the ramp. So rad.

But, the true delight is the Brewery in this gritty little section of Wburg. Graffiti is everywhere, with my favorite example being a bubbly “Les Crabs” stamp on the back end of the Brewery wall. Les Crabs? A French gang in Brooklyn? I wonder if they even have sub-sects…some are soft shell, some blue, some King? Do the Blue crabs wear blue - and subsequently get expelled from their high school? Les Crabs popped up even during the ride back home, leading to these very suppositions.

So I’m not a big fan of drinking during the daytime, mainly because I’ve just been during the nighttime and I often don’t want to see another 12oz. But I sucked it up and enjoyed a delicious BB India Pale Ale (my favorite of the Ales). Arriving around 12:30pm, my boy/friends, the Boyfriend & I took a, well, abbreviated tour of the premises, which basically embodied a trip from one room, to another. But it’s ok, like many small(ish) micro brews, they contract out their recipes to larger, more established manufacturers, so they

only produce 1/3 of their total output in Brooklyn. Just like you readers, I was asleep as this was being told to me. Far more interesting was a huge plastic tub of tubes and a dark colored liquid, which, unfortunately, did not contain beer. Quite a Tease.

With a great dollar - beer ratio ($20 for 6), the ability to get delivery pizza and garlic knots and play endless rounds of Kings all afternoon without a hovering snarly waitress makes this a great bet for a Saturday afternoon…if you’re willing to get out of Manhattan.

2008-04-02T16:01:00.000-04:00

Alex and I celebrated our one year anniversary on Monday. All I heard about the Big Day was “wear fancy clothes”…one thing he knows about me: I love Fancy Dates. Though I’m not particularly comfortable with wealth, I love stepping into it from time to time. Eating at 4* restaurants, mainly. And I love experiences vs. material items.

I love my dress. Long, one-shouldered, with pretty velvet flowers gathering at the top and bottom. Sounds dreary to the average fashionista, but I assure you, it’s fabulous. I waited in my company’s lobby for my “equal half” (does that work, or could it be more like “fuzzy naked one”?)

I will say one thing, running around Times Square in formal wear trying to hail a cab, is an experience. In a second, I even felt like a rock star “all eyes on me”. Quite the change.

Quick step into a cab, uptown, 76th & Madison. Foreign territory. Posh boutiques and eateries surround us, but we head to 35 76th: The Carlyle Hotel.

A venerable UES institution. I mean, this is New York. not new york. I flash Cute, Thoughful Boyfriend a knowing grin - I had mentioned wanting to see this for a couple months now. I love surprises.

Cafe Carlyle is in the back of the building, a basement=type setting with a mural - a seeming ode to Greek Mythology. Arrival at 7: Show starts at 8:30.

Dinner, though slightly mediocre with steak & halibut in a bore of an arrangement, was satisfying upper crust (foie gras was a nice touch - though I’m sure it’s not too heart/healthy, organic or even acceptable). Woody came on at 8:30 - I was expecting a little jazzy numbers but it - another surprise - was a little more dixieland. Up-tempo.

Rain after a lovely chocolat gateau w/ raspberry coulis.

Interesting to dip a toe into a life so completely removed from my own. Again, something you can only experience in New York.

Reunited in Dixie - Asheville, NC

2008-01-24T13:16:00.000-05:00

Last day before I leave for New York and the plan was to visit Asheville, NC. I've never been and seen countless advertisements (ha). Too bad it was possibly the most frigid place I've ever encountered...

My cold weather improvised outfit, standing in front of the Double Decker Cafe in Asheville

Jane playing with bonnets

And me, clutching my coffee for dear life, attempting this sheriff/fire captain hat.

We also went to the Asheville Museum of Art, where I picked up another postcard to add to my collection! When I got to the airport the next day, I found they over-booked my flight for 2pm and ended up booking me first class on the 10pm flight AND refunding my money! Um, yes, Continental, I sure love you.

Reunited in Dixie

2008-01-23T01:00:00.000-05:00

On a whim (pretty much) I flew down to Greenville, SC to visit my best friend Jane...we always get into some sort of trouble when we're together. This time? Line dancing!

Oh line dancing you say? Yes, since I am a product of the Maryland school system, I know how to line dance from P.E. class. Since the early spring of my young, I know the two step! That, and how to hustle...with a pool cue.

Smoky smoky Blind Horse Saloon...

Using the looks and (questionable pool skills) I was given...

I think, if you're in a sorority...some dancing on the bar is to be expected

two steppin'

Jane with Kenneth...it's the end of the night, folks.

With my bestie Jane, look at that Southern glow!

With Concern for the Garment District...

2008-01-04T12:28:00.000-05:00

With forethought and hope, I have been continuing my ban on Chinese products but now it looks like I’ll have to include the rest of Asia as well. It’s been tough…I really try hard not to purchase these products, but our economy is such a whore to Asia that nary an American (or European, or South American) product is in sight.

I, maybe somewhat naively, thought all Asian factories were the same. They all get the same orders from the people at Company X and the workers get paid in rice and so on and so forth. There’s not much I can do about that but ban my consumption. I don’t even eat Chinese food.

Continue reading for a list of sweatshop - free companies - because Asians are humans too. In case you were wondering.

Then I learned about Cambodia. I am falling in love with this country. I was listening to This American Life on the radio and heard that Cambodia has amazing labor laws which rival our own out here in the developed world. To quote from FashionIncubator.com :

“Imagine a nation where the sewing industry is characterized by:

Eight hour work days
Seamstresses earn two to three times as much as teachers and policemen.
Child labor is unheard of.
All overtime is paid.
Free medical care on site.
Three months paid maternity leave.
Employers must give breast feeding mothers unimpeded access to their infants
Forty three paid vacation days per year (no, we’re not talking about France, although it once was a French colony).

Does this sound like Shangri la? It’s not. It’s Cambodia; the only poor country in the world to guarantee fair labor practices in the needle trades. Comparatively, their successes far outweigh the standards used in more developed nations. Yes, Cambodia, where one third of the population was killed during the civil war in the 70’s. Today, the needle trade amounts to nearly 100% of the nation’s exports and one third of GDP, thanks to a program instituted under the Clinton Administration. Then, Cambodia agreed to become an unlikely experiment in quality manufacturing and workplace standards, agreeing to random and unsceduled factory monitoring. By all accounts, the experiment was a rousing success. That is until preferential trade practices expired in 2005. Then, it seemed that all could be undone.”

Outsourcing you can feel good about. Though still and underdeveloped country whose teachers and civil servants, etc. are underpaid (hey, not much different than here), their garment industry is leaps and bounds above China’s horror show.

And now, as promised, links to buying super cute, sweat-shop free clothes and other items:

Sweatshop Watch’s Shop With a Conscience

Behind the Label

It won’t keep you up at night to shop at:

American Apparel
Gap Inc. (with 45 factories in Cambodia)
Levi’s (also with large presence in Cambodia)

You’ll have nightmares about:

Nike
Wal-mart (of course)

I’m trying to find more…but these big companies are pretty sneaky.

Cold, Or Without My Usual Blanket

2008-01-03T16:23:00.004-05:00

Warning: Post May Induce Seizures and the Need to Listen to Punk Rock for Sheer Anti-Romanticism

If you live in NYC and haven’t been outside yet, do not venture into the vast tundra. It’s disgustingly cold-to the point I was thinking “oh great, another ice age” and “oh my, i am certainly feeling the effects of global warming” (it also causes vast disparities in temperatures, come on people!). I’m wearing long underwear for the first time–can’t feel fashionable, can’t look good, I’m thinking very bad thoughts about numerous slow-walking people and there are still bay gulls (har har) outside my office window! Nothing will make those birds leave the city-though I know how they feel.

My thoughts today are somewhat vomit-inducing, if you’re not a fan of schmaltz-y romantic, lovey thoughts. But not to the point of fluffy kittens and clouds that look like bunnies, or even watching “Enchanted”. It’s more like when Juno tells Bleeker she thinks he’s the coolest bloke ever (sorry for all the Juno posts, without the Juno movie wrap up, check out NYTimes’ here).

Events happened the night of New Year’s that prevent my “roommate” (code: boyfriend) from taking over his side of the bed last night. No, he didn’t die or anything, but we were in Montreal and the night took an ugly turn…more on that later. I haven’t seen him since the 1st but he’ll be back tomorrow night (whew)…which brings up lots of weird feelings. Since we moved in together in July (though we’d be living together, just not in our own place since May) we haven’t spent a night apart.

i'm cold here too...snowboarding in Mont Tremblant

It’s the normal stuff, he locks the doors, turns the smoke detector back on, makes sure to remind me to refill the humidifier, set my alarms, take a shower…i’ve decided he’s the responsible one. He turns the power off when we leave the house, he does the dishes, closes the refrigerator when i leave it open (absentmindedly). He always knows where I put my keys and when’s trash day, recycling day, bulk trash day and when to have our parents park on the opposite side of the street. As I’m writing this, it’s pretty obvious I’m dependent on him for regular apartment happenings. I don’t know when I have to pay rent, the utility bills, cable or when to water the plants. He does though and is pretty willing to stay in his position.

I bet a lot of women are mad at me after reading this. How are you supposed to be independent with Boyfriend reminding you of stuff all the time? Aren’t you interested in figuring out when Tax Day is? (I seriously only know it because it’s my best friend’s birthday)

Fact is, this being dependent business, I feel, makes me more independent to think creatively–something I love to do and think I’m pretty good at. Who needs to think about what exactly can go in the garbage disposal when you can read Voltaire and/

Or maybe this is a worthless argument and I really should learn how to read Voltaire and figure out how the milk keeps replacing itself.

A Little Rant...

2008-01-03T00:49:00.000-05:00

Barack Obama (yay!!) and Mike Huckabee (boo!) won at the Iowa caucuses today. To me, Iowa doesn’t mean squat because by November, no one’ll remember who won and who lost–just like the Oscar movies from early 2007. Iowa, to me, doesn’t seem to correctly identify with the rest of the country, so I don’t like to count them - before anyone gets in a tizzy - I’ve been to Iowa and wasn’t impressed. But I really can’t believe Huckabee won - it’s as if the Democrats have too many great candidates and the Republicans are up in the mountains doing a jig. Just look at their choices! A adulterer (most of us have been there, but conservative Repubs can’t like him), a capitalist Mormon (can’t decide which is worse) and (for now) a Baptist minister/rocker/ex-governor. All hacks. I can’t see anything genuine in any of them and I’m ready (been ready for about 8 years) for something genuine. Maybe I’m too far from the religious crazies but I just don’t see how Americans blindly believe in what people say if they are backed by religious fervor. Maybe I just can’t trust anyone too closely tied to religion…Bush is a born-again and all I see is a nation-building, poor-people killing, ignoramus. But you already knew that.

So my question about Huckabee is this…do we really want another 4+ years of idiocy and anti-intellectualism and a continued restriction on our human rights? That’s what this guy is clearly advocating…so I’ll gladly take the Mormon or the adulterer.

New Year's Eve 2007 - Montreal Baby, yeah!

2007-12-31T00:27:00.004-05:00

After my birthday, we spent the days exploring the outer parts of Montreal, snowboarding in Mont Tremblant (overrated?) and going to the Biosphere before heading to the Old City for New Years...

On the "chairs" in the subway...so creative

In Laurier neighborhood...very French. Beautiful staircases, but maybe a little impractical for the snow?

Visited the "neighborhood-y" part of Montreal, off Laurier St. More classic, more beautiful than I ever gave Monty credit for! Went to Toaster with Alex and proceeded to gobble this entire tomato and broccoli crepe...

And for New Year's 2007? We went to a huge event space in the Old City - the Marche Bonsecours complex, and met up with our concierge, Clodie, who was exceedingly generous with the bottle service.

Proud brothers...?

With the body painted ladies...wa wa we wa wa

Until next year...

My Birthday & NYE 2007...Montreal!

2007-12-27T15:00:00.001-05:00

I hope you get that I like to travel by now, yes? So I decided that now that I've graduated and officially have limited to nil responsibilities, I can use my salary to go on trips (and rent..., but that's no fun). I decided on Montreal for my birthday and New Year's! I'm going to rein in my 22nd birthday with the style and grace only a freezing cold capital city could provide me with. I made the trip with my mom and Alex, with Alex's two brothers (hopefully) meeting up with us later...

The view from our hotel room onto downtown Montreal's shopping district. Every looks pretty and snow-drenched...but it's not so nice if you want to walk around.

Birthday dinner at Bronte with my Mom...(and Alex, but he's taking the picture)

Getting caught in a freak (?) snowstorm in downtown Montreal after a comedy show...and wearing boots with heels? The boys would be giggly if they weren't so cold!

Don't Be A Scrooge

2007-12-18T13:15:00.000-05:00

Instead, donate rice and learn at the same time. I’ve donated 280 grains of rice today through FreeRice, an online charity. The site challenges you with vocab words and for each definition you are are smart enough to know, they’ll donate 20 grains of rice to the United Nations. No word on who’s actually counting my 280 grains yet…

Another way to be super-noncomformist and do something good for man…er, dog kind is through Tripods. Vet bills ain’t cheap, especially when dealing with serious ailments like cancer and glaucoma. The creator of Tripods Charity Wear is Sonia, the “mama” of Lulu. This little pup had bone cancer in his hind leg and after it was amputated, Sonia had credit card bills of over $10,000. Yikes! After settling her own debts, the clothes and tote bags kept selling and now Tripods wants to help other owners to save their animals by affording these and similar treatments. I’ll woof to that!

Don’t like rice or amputations? Try DonorsChoose.org . Here you can purchase gift certificates to fund educational projects at local public schools (mostly low-income). Those noisy neighborhood kids need an education too! Plus you get sweet thank you notes, and who doesn’t love those.

Whirlwinding...

2007-12-17T23:23:00.001-05:00

Lots has been going on in Catie Land. Writing two new movie reviews for “No Country for Old Men” and “Juno” (which I’m going to see again on Tuesday) so those will be updated soonish.

Had a fab weekend…went up the block to Laura Brooke’s for a shindig which quietly turned into an amazing DDR dance to the death match until 3AM,

And Saturday was spent catching up with an old high-school friend, shopping, obviously…until we got to Spring Street and started the drinking.

It continued at Maria’s house in Astoria where we got “basted” with turkey baster shots and vodka raz. Yum yum. I just love house parties. You wear whatever you want, hang with you friends and can actually talk over the music and you wake up not nervous that you liquidated your 401(k). Much nicer than the alternative. In any case, I’ll get back to work now and churn out these reviews…

The Modern Arrangement

2007-12-13T15:14:00.000-05:00

After seeing my boyfriend for little over a month, it became apparent we’d have to end it. I was finally done with undergrad and he was going to off to a yet-unnamed graduate school. It was horrible. We’d look at each other as if we were in a melodramatic telenovela-I would be crushed at his departure and he’d try to keep a stiff upper lip. These relationships of convenience, the summer flings or your camp boyfriend, all end eventually. You’re leaving! So long, farewell, ciao! If you’re hoping for a quick getaway or saving up the waterworks, these break-ups accomplish the feat without nary an emotion left scathed. Towards the end, the feeling of inevitability becomes inevitable. I was getting itchy.
Unlike the rest of my business school peers, I planned to listlessly wander Europe for a year or two before “settling down” to live the single life in a big city somewhere. But then I got a proposition.

“Catie, how do you feel about living in New York City?”

I’ve never been a fan. Too competitive, too angry, too wet, dreary, expensive, loud and unfriendly for my polished Southern upbringing. I had done the dreary weather thing in college. I stubbornly went bar hopping in heels and halter tops rather than displease the fashion gods and don scarves and hats. After four years of snowdrifts and UGG boots, I wanted the Malibu life. Surf, sand and tans, year round! So I replied,

“Yuck! Anywhere but there!”
“Well…that’s too bad since I got accepted to Columbia and all”.
“Oh. (pause) I could get a job in Manhattan.”

Previous boyfriends have dubbed me a “free spirit”, an “untamable wild child” and a commitmentphobe/serial monogamist. I’d have to say they were right. Instead of gleaning an eating disorder from the many women’s magazines printing today, I built up reserves of self-esteem and confidence by embracing their “you are a fearless, fabulous, amazing woman” message. Who’s got the time to wait around for a guy to call? That is so 1990.
In the weeks leading up to driving my U-haul from Maryland to the Big Apple, I struggled with the idea of reining in my independence. I just turned 21…isn’t this the part where dating gets good?

College dating is supposed to be preparation for post-college dating. With its inevitable breakups, apologies about making out with their frat brother over coffee the next morning, and “what does it all mean” conversations with your sorority sisters, you move on and start dating like a grownup. Except grown-ups don’t seem to be doing so well either.
The U.S. Census published new data recently explaining that not only are marriages dissolving at a 40-50% rate, the marriages that do last tend not to make it past the 25-year mark. Not willing to cut and run at the first sign of a possible flaw in my boyfriend, I am not satisfied with these results.

Bored with nature one weekend in the Adirondacks, I perused through a 1967 LIFE magazine at my boyfriend’s cabin. An old relic of an article documented an emerging trend; “The Arrangement” was a primer on living with, but not being married to, your significant other. The following issue was rife with letters to the editor denouncing the article as yet another example of our decaying moral values, etc. etc.

The decision to live together was a non-decision. Our modern arrangement was out of love but also economics. The sky-high cost of Manhattan living kept us from living the swanky downtown life even with the financial support of our parents. Like all good early adopters, we heard whispers of the up-and-coming areas up north and moved there. Way north, in fact. At 149th & Broadway, “Alto Manhattan” is uncharted territory to most New Yorkers; an uninspiring landscape where it was almost impossible to find “low fat”. Instead, there were chimichurri burgers at 3 AM, frequent $25 cab rides from below Houston Street and enough sounds and smells to keep my curiosity about Latin culture quipped for a good while.

It was understood by our families that we would be living together, without being married, in a strange city, having barely known each other for more than two months. His family, consisting of a Reform Jewish father and Catholic mother, made almost no commotion except an instruction to “try not to hurt our son”. My family, a spiritualistic bunch, bellowed a little but in the end grew supportive of the move. After dating Mr. Emotionally Draining, Mr. Not-Quite-Right and Mr. What-Were-You-Thinking, they chalked all this up to good karma for dealing with these disasters.

A couple of months later, the wrinkles seem to be smoothed out. The scent of the Christmas tree permeates the apartment and the menorah candles flicker while we take our usual places on our leather sectional. We’ve learned behaviors and have the similar peculiar comfort of other couples inhabiting the same space. For sure, we’re not a “mature” relationship; we keep our bills separate, have no children and haven’t accumulated anything but experiences. My last fling flipped my life upside down and transported me to worlds unknown. What would I have done in Europe anyway?

Flirting with Bartenders, Bad Service and other Spiteful Ways to Get Attention

2007-12-13T11:11:00.000-05:00

Dealing with the service industry is not one of my strengths.

My parents own a restaurant, I was once a decent waitress, and I understand what it takes to keep the customer happy, even if the customer isn’t pleasant to begin with. Sure, waiters need to know they aren’t entitled to tips but some customers think they are entitled to treat their waiters very badly. This is posturing I just can’t handle.

I’ve been living in New York (the state) for four loathsome years but have been chippered by the Big Apple for five glorious months. The culture’s great, people are nice, I love my work, all in all it seems a good mold for me. But let me give you a little backstory to the whole point of today’s post.

I’m a huge foodie. Cooking is my therapy. I do it every night when I get home, even if it takes 2 hours to get dinner for myself and my (thankful) beau. Some things (like orange chicken) get a sniff then tossed in the trash (yes, poor poor starving children) and some, like penne tossed with spinach and chicken sausage topped with goat cheese get scarfed down like oysters on the half shell. So these are two things, the cooking and the waitressing, the ultimate duality of the food service industry and appreciation for all the woes and $50 tips that come with them, that allows me to comment on BAD SERVICE.

To be blunt (my forte): with the number of rich people living in New York, why are bartenders pissy and genuinely aghast if you tip a dollar or two for a drink? They probably make more money than I do and I don’t see the point in tipping $5-10 for a $19 drink. Some people can afford that tip but sadly, not I. Am I completely wrong on this end? I hold the European perspective on this issue…maybe if Americans were more interested in paying living wages to bartenders and waiters, there wouldn’t be extremes in behavior. Either some are too eager to please or they’ll dump out your drink and replace it with water (true story). Like the New York Times article, I’m a little “over” waiters telling me to “enjoy” myself. Don’t be so presumptuous.

Interestingly enough, I’ve never had a bad restaurant experience in New York. I haven’t graced the City’s finer tables but for the most part it’s been very delicious…I’m still daydreaming about Periyali’s succulent lamb chops. Casa’s Cuscuz Paulista and Feijoada have me pining for a sweet Brasilero to whisk me into her kitchen and teach me how to make cornbread the way Oaxaca likes it! Pardon me while I step back into my reality; I’ll make a point to describe my cooking (including recipes for my domestically challenged friends…you know who you are!) and the restaurants I’m going to. I’ll include bars…but you know, only if the bartenders are attentive.

Speaking of bars and food, I went to see the new movie “Juno” last night with Laura Brooke and Shagun at the Lincoln Center theater on 66th and Broadway. In October, I had gone with Alex to see “Carmen” at the New York City Opera and that was the last time I was in the area. The movie was ridiculously funny, but I agree with Fresh Air’s David Edelstein about how it’s trying to be a “chick-flick Rushmore” and how director Jason Reitman (of the Reitmans) and writer Diablo Cody want teenagers to buy the soundtrack. I’m not that far removed from 16 (i tell myself) and maybe Edelstein is an old fart who has a bone to pick with feisty chicks and music, instead of plot, moving the narrative along…well I won’t give away my entire review.

After the film, the three of us were walking around Lincoln Center, freezing. Stepped into Fiorello’s for a drink at their cozy looking bar. The bar looks like a buffet-with yummy looking dishes like frittata and grilled zucchini. I wanted to recommend this place if you’re up at Lincoln Center and want tasty pre-opera pizza. We flirted a little with the bartender and we got cheese, tomatoes and olives to snack on as well as bread. After we paid the bill we were even treated with a little dessert wine! Menu seemed very Euro-American but I’ll give them many points for being completely accomodating. Overall, tres fabulous…when’s the next indie film coming out!?