Thursday, April 26, 2007

That Made Me Laugh

I had a private word with Carlo that he cannot just provide the date, time and location of an activity as his weekend report. I am making an example of him out here on the blog for all of you. This type of posting is INADEQUATE!! Although the Japanese cultural activities do sound like all day family fun....maybe I will click on that link...

Nicole

Carlo in NJ says...

We went to this:
Sunday, April 22> > Essex County "Bloomfest 2007"> > • 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.> > • Location: Visitors Center> > All-day family fun, including Japanese cultural activities / demonstrations,> > music, dance, arts and crafts.
http://branchbrookpark.org/event.htm

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

And mine, bien sur...

Friday I saw a client after I finished at my day job (yes, I have several jobs). Then I went home and started working on a tank top I am hand-sewing. If any of you remember, I started this blog bc I was stagnating in the winter and part of that was not working on my arts and crafts. Now I both have a blog and am sewing again! Reborn! I watched my favorite favorite favorite show, "Intervention," and flying in the face of what I predicted the outcome would be, Trent recovered in rehab from his heroin addiction and infection in his foot and abcesses in his mouth and Constance still talks to him in rehab every day. BTW y'all, this show is my obsession - I am going to have to be on Intervention due to my addiction to Intervention. If any of you like this show too, PLEASE COMMENT. The more people I know like it, the more I can talk about it over and over. (Hi Jon Friedman, my 'Vention buddy!) Later my friend tried to get me to come out the house that night and go dancing in Williamsburg, beginning at 1 am. I don't think she knows what its like to be born in the 70s. I don't go dancing in Williamsburg at this juncture, nor do I wind up my key at 1 am. By then its all wound down. But a girl always likes to be asked so thanks for the invite!
Saturday I went to a fella friend's apt to watch the Manchester United vs. Middlesborough Football/Soccer game. It was a tough game to watch and even tougher to watch my friend watch it. I believe he was agitated at Man U's inability to make another goal after the really early on one they scored, like within the first three minutes- and break the tie, and he kept pacing and moving around in the room from kitchen to dining area, there was cooking, it felt like he wasn't even able to look at the tv at some points...I could feel his frustration. He was able to work some of that off by switching to "The Search For The Next Pussycat Doll" during halftime. He served good cheese too. The game ended 1-1 and I peaced out to go meet my friend to help style her wardrobe for an upcoming 4 day wedding extravaganza. Gold stilletos were purchased. We then endured a painfully noisy lunch at Fanelli Cafe and then took it back to Brooklyn to hit a boutique there where she found her wedding frock on the first try. We then did what everyone else was doing, and found a picnic bench (at Gravy in Carroll Gardens) to eat Shrimp n' Grits and Pulled Pork, and get some beers down in there. We bumped into a friend and her crew passing by, so 2 became 5, and 5 became 7...number 6 is the guy who invented those NYC patented fold maps that have the subway stations overlaid on the streets, someone you know has one. Many other interesting peoples in the crew....internatonal travelers, urban explorers, PhDs....lots to learn from them! One of our girls piped up and declared she wanted to talk to some single boys so we rallied down the street...one of our fellas proceeded to enter each bar we had in mind and shout "Are there any single men in here?!!!!" I never went through the door of any of those bars, he wrecked it with that opener, it was hilarious! So we landed at my fave pick in that area- Brooklyn Social. One more Peroni and I bid adieu, to you and you and you...
Sunday I was up by Central Park...spied an ex randomly coming up the street with a new girl who looked just like me, but heavier...scuttled away so he wouldn't have to experience seeing me and knowing he was now dealing with substandard material...and so she wouldn't have to experience meeting me on the block and realizing she was just a mere attempt to recover the joy found with me, a second generation, poor quality copy....hahaha I am never like this, I am just kidding...whee!!! My dear friend picked me up in the Jeep Grand and we drove around and around the town and yakked and I got dropped off to clean up the house and cook quinoa and steam broccoli and watch the Sopranos and finish that tank top.

Gratitude

I want to send some special thanks to Andy and Juliana, new posters to the blog. I truly appreciate you joining us. And of course I send my deep deep love to other posters who have brought it again and again, or now and again. Keep the dream alive!!!

Nicole

ps- Summer is coming...I know you people will be out there doing it! I do believe some of your weekends are going to get really good! Faith!

$20 Per

I have never known Matt to be the strip-club type. He must've went for it full-on at this rare opportunity. How many lap dances did you buy, Matt?

Nicole

Matt on the Upper East Side says...

Friday: Worked until 9:30pm and then went out for commiseration beers at Baker Street, my local watering hole.

Saturday: Worked until 5, then went out for commiseration bachelor party (not sure who was commiserating with who). One of my best and oldest friends is getting married, and "Part One" of his bachelor party was in NYC on Saturday. "Part Two" will be in Austin in two weeks (where his brother, the best man, lives).

The BP, attended by 20 fine young fellows, started out at Churrascaria Plataforma, the Brazilian meat emporium on 49th and 8th. Many, many different animals gave their lives for us that night, but it was a celebration, so they did not die in vain. After 2 or so hours at Plataforma, we cabbed our way to a meat emporium of a different kind - the kind where the produce perform lap dances at $20 per. Finally, when it was time to move on, we retreated to the familiar confines of Paddy McGuire's, a comfortable old Irish bar with pool tables and a good jukebox. And that's Saturday.

Sunday: The second-to-last acting class, where we readied ourselves for next week's performance of Waiting for Godot. Or rather, scenes from Godot. Either way, it's pretty boring stuff, and I have chosen not to subject my friends and family to the performance. They can observe my work in a few years, when I'll be performing on screen at a multiplex near you. Just wait.

Finally, that night was my sister's belated birthday dinner, postponed from the Sunday prior due to mass flooding and related hysteria. Dinner was at South Street Seaport which, as expected, provided us with stellar views and sub-par food and service. 1 outta 3 ain't bad, I guess.

And that's the weekend.

Handmaiden

Caitlin, I would like to apply for the job as your maid...whatever it takes so I can live there with you and eat your dinner scraps out of the garbage, and smell the red wine sauce as I scrape your pans at the sink, perhaps separate some out of the dish grease with a strainer and drink it...maybe you would think of me, your dirty-faced maid in rags sweeping out the chimney, and bring one grain of risotto to me from the market... callously tossing it to me as you drain the bottle of German wine...I will accept it...your weekends are amazing...

Nicole

Caitlin in France says...

On Friday I had a friend and her boyfriend over for dinner and was in a real cooking mood, so I made a feast! We had several cheeses, fresh fig breads, and prosciutto and melon with a white wine my friend's aunt sent from germany. Then we had some fresh pasta I made with pesto and pine nuts, followed by filet of beef with shallots and red wine sauce. It was fabulous-- and complimented by 3 bottles of wine....Saturday, while hungover, my boyfriend and I went to a fantastic market in Carouge, which is the greatest small village connected to Geneva. I bought an old-school 1970s French racing back from this Scottish guy, then we had some FREE risotto and wine. Typically Swiss, they were giving out really incredible free food at the market. After, we hung out in the sun lakeside, read a bit, then at night met a friend from NY who just moved to Geneva for dinner. We went to see a drum and bass concert next (back in Carouge at this place called the Chat Noir) until 4am, then spent Sunday at home recovering (with a 2 hour escape to yoga class)...One of my fave weekends recently....Hope you had a great weekend!! xo Caitlin

My Brain Is Buzzing!

Juliana! So much input! Poetry! Theater! Film reviews! Podcasts! Cock and balls! Infanticide!I'm so mentally stimulated by your posting! You did so much on the weekend, and have offered so much food for thought and recommendations! Brilliant! I also must point out a few things. One, readers, Juliana looks exactly like the gorgeous and sultry Elizabeth Pena (of my favorite film of all time -oddly-"Jacob's Ladder," and "Transamerica") and she doesn't even know who she is. Two, my friend Yasmine JUST told me about Story Corps and said literally the same thing about these tales- how such an emotional response can be evoked from the story of an average person and stranger to you. Then, Yasmine next went on to watch The Departed- AND, she only watched 2/3 of it in one sitting too. You two need to meet your new BFF!

Nicole

Juliana says...

Ok, here goes:

Friday night after work I went to my friend Hadara Bar-Nadav’s poetry reading @ the Falls Café in Carroll Gardens & she rocked rocked rocked rocked rocked (as usual). Hers is heady, magical & wildly imaginative stuff that’s also edgy, sexual & dark… Stuff that one could see experiencing if you were tripping on ‘shrooms (not that I ever have). Anyway, she just published her new book of poetry A Glass of Milk to Kiss Goodnight (come on, I had to plug my girl’s book!) so I bought a copy & she signed it (“To the Julimama…” I’m never going to live down that damn name…). Anyway, I really enjoyed it -- she’s seriously a great performer of her art & really brings the stuff to life. And this is coming from someone who’s never really been that into poetry (gve me a short story anytime instead) Have to say, I kind of felt bad for the girl who went on before her because she seemed like such an amateur compared to H. Afterwards, we all ended up at some bar a few blocks for a couple of drinks – can’t say much about the place except that they charged me $28 for three drinks!! This is Brooklyn for chrissakes! Granted one had 4 different alcohols in it, but still...

On Saturday after dropping off laundry & doing errands, I spent 4 hours at the dog run on Riverside with Billie – Artie’s sweet little yorkie poodle for whom I was doggie-sitting. I listened to my podcasts on my iPod (I’m just getting into them – yes, I’m a slow learner) & got teary-eyed in public over the Story Corps series– some of those stories just break your heart. (BTW, I’m happy to report that I did not kill, maim or lose Billie – I didn’t think I would, but I guess it must’ve been a real possibility in Artie’s eyes because he threatened me with death if any of it occurred…) Anyway, she is the cutest thing & the bitch knows it. Girl ran me ragged! Happily though, we both came home tired & chill so she finally slowed down a bit in my tiny apartment allowing me to watch 2/3 of The Departed on DVD in peace. LOVED it! Although I didn’t realize until this movie how similar Matt Damon & Leonardo DiCaprio looked – kept confusing them throughout (maybe it’s just a white boy thing…) On a side comment: I had to pause at the scene where Jack Nicholson whips out his dick to discern if it was really his or not – I’m guessing not since it looked black & you can actually see balls out of his pants – so I guess he was holding a dildo. But I have to say though that, in slow mo, Matt Damon’s face is PRICELESS when Nicholson whips it out. I think I read somewhere that Nicholson ad-libbed that scene…

Anyhoo, Saturday night I went to see CORAM BOY with my man… overall, I liked – although I’m not really into chorale music. It was surprisingly dark. Actually it was like a darker Charles Dickens story with underage sex, infanticide, child prostitution, rape, murder & a hanging thrown in for good measure… you know, your usual Broadway fare if Broadway was in Russia. Afterwards, we went to a Cuban restaurant (of course I forget the name…) in Hell’s Kitchen where the appetizers rocked – the mussels were awesome (my seafood casserole entrée was just so-so…). Their mojitos were good though (I love it when they use real sugar-cane.)

Sunday we slept in & then I trekked to NJ via Port Authority to visit the parental unit. Had a 3 hour lunch with them, hung out & ended up taking a nap… They drove me back into the city & met Billie briefly. They too agree she is the cutest thing, and they’re really not into dogs. Watched the end of The Departed with Billie (jeez, could they shoot one more person in the head?!?) & just chilled as it was our last night together.

*End scene.*

TOTAL ROCKSTAR

Who wants Alanna's phone number? I've got it....

Nicole

Alanna says...

Last weekend I arrived in Las Vegas, where the sun was warm and the beer was cold. That's so cheesy! But it's true. After morning cocktails, mid-day cocktails, and afternoon cocktails, I assembled a few pals for evening cocktails at one of the poshest restaurants in one of the seediest cities in the USA. Small-plate delectables and evening cocktails led to late-night cocktails, which culminated in myself and a couple of daring pals stripper-pole-dancing at some overpriced club playing remixed 80s music set to a modern beat. Now, I ask you: was I totally lame? Or for a brief Sunday, perchance, a rock star? Hmmmm.

Another Field of Expertise

Just like Matt seems to be the go-to guy in this blog for where to eat in NYC, Kinkle is making a name for herself (besides how to still have fun once you've reproduced) as a style selector/fashion adviser. We do indeed appreciate her commentary on what's in and what should get the hell out! Grazie Mille!

Nicole

Kinkle in Williamsburg says...

After not doing too much of anything the last couple of weekends due to a cold and/or shitty weather I once again stayed in on Friday with my husband watching a marathon of "The Riches" on Tivo... I was supposed to go to a friend's birthday dinner but after 40 hours of work plus waking up with the baby every day I was wiped. The show is surprisingly clever and Eddie Izzard is awesome. I still managed to drink too much wine so I had a bit of a hangover the next day. Someone I work with told me there was shipment of Vivienne Westwood at Century 21 so I went there for the second time in my life to check it out. Not the ideal place to be when you're feeling a tad headachy and lightheaded--people seem determined to stand in your way at all times. But I soldiered on and bought a cool skirt and top I probably shouldn't have spent the $$ on. It was discounted at least and so cool.. she's like the math rock of designer clothing. Then we went to Chinatown and ate Vietnamese food and the baby refused to try anything that wasn't white (white rice, white noodles and those weird white shrimpy chip thingies). He seemed to suffer no ill effects from the MSG and crashed in the car on the way home where we sat around and watched more Riches. (Seriously, it's really that good!)
The next day I went to Pilates and wandered around looking at all the high priced clothing in the newest round of Williamsburg boutiques. Orthopedic-looking shoes from Germany with beige-y plastic wedge heels seem to be a real coming trend. Yuk! Then I met up with the hubby and baby to go to some kite festival in the park which apparently isn't happening until next weekend. I met up with one friend I rarely see and ran into another while the baby went crazy running around and digging in the dirt then the hubby and I left and walked to Greenpoint to some indie bookstore and for beers at the Pencil Factory until the kid had a meltdown. We walked back home and ordered a gourmet pizza and watched the Sopranos & Entourage then I went to bed. Whoo-hoo!

Andy says...

On Saturday a friend came over. We watched Aguirre, the Wrath of God by Werner Herzog. It was timely because we've been into Apocalypse Now of late, and the two films have a lot in common. Later, I had another friend in from my hometown, and we gamed like princely geeks until late into the night, and he crashed on my couch. Sunday I tromped around Brooklyn looking at real estate, concluding that Park Slope is beyond my means, but Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and Prospect Park are the place for moi. I failed to meet up with ***3*** friends, all of whom I had tentative plans to get together with in Brooklyn before, during or after my real estate extravaganza.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Amber-Lea in BK says...

Fri: Painted bathroom "Polar Sky". Worried paint fumes were corroding tender membranes in nose and throat. Forgot only walls were to be "Polar Sky;" subsequently splotched light blue paint all over ceiling. Touched up ceiling. Bought "Goof-off" paint/adhesive/tar/etc. remover (probably acid). Excited.
Sat: Trekked to Trenton area to visit old friends. Bought Entertainment Weekly, despite fecking American Idol crap. Bought American Scientist MIND, since Psychology Today nowhere to be found. Enjoyed self; ate marvelous salad with world's most deliciousest salad dressing: lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper.
Sun: No sun. Rained in. Cancelled party. Bought doormat. Cranky with boyfriend; boyfriend cranky with me. Suffered cabin fever all day. Watched '50's TV Flash Gordon episode and Classic Warner Bros. cartoons on DVD. Drank a beer. More cranky. Ate cheese. Went for walk in 'hood with b/f in slight rain; had nice tea at Tea Lounge; had long, meaningful talk with b/f about crankiness that made all crankiness go away. ("Krank" is the German word for "sick." I think that's interesting.)
Refreshing.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

That Precious Little Detail

I am totally charmed by the fact that Tobias' girlfriend took the time to enter negative feedback on the web for that pizza place. She's not going to sit there and take it! She shakes her little fist at the Man!!

Nicole

Tobias B. Says...

Friday night, I was talked into meeting one of my girlfriends, girlfriends at this spot called The Vault. It was a nicely laid out place, the only problem was that the crowd was superdy duper wack!!!!!!! We had a few drinks, chatted up my girl's homegirl from back in the day and then we broke up town to meet my boy at Snitch on 21st St. First off, we paid $25 for the both of us to get in, I found my boy in like 2 mins, and we broke out. $25 wasted, was a little upset about that, so I made him buy us drinks at the next place.
We stayed for 1 drink, then broke uptown to head home. Overall was a fun evening.
Saturday, we had to wake up super early again, because wifey had dance rehearsal. Since I was already up, and had almost a gram of the white lady from the night before, I figured what the.........
Blasted that while playing records Saturday morning. Then had to run downtown to meet my lady after dance rehearsal for lunch.
The 2 glasses of Sangria really helped to bring me back to down to earth. After that I was all about a walk for about 15 blocks to the train. From there we went home. I was totally crashing so we watched some programs we had TIVO'd and I ended up passing out.
Sunday, we slept til about 2 pm. It was much needed. The weather was a monsoon, so we stayed in the house. We tried to order a pizza, but they didn't deliver b/c of the weather. That's bullshit!!! We live 8 blocks from the pizza joint. So I hung up, after I cursed the guy out. My wifey ended up leaving a negative customer feedback on their website. We settled for Chinese. A little bit after dinner is when my life took a turn for the worse....
My girlfriend and I got into an argument that resulted in her not speaking to me for the next day and a half. She went so far as going back to the middle school era, and asking me questions through written messages. I was irate!!!!!
I actually dumped her the following day, but I think my actions prompted her to re-evaluate the situation, and she came to her senses. We are back to being in love paradise. Who knows how long that will last.............Probably until I do my next bonehead action that causes her to want to act like she is moving out. But I know she isn't, I kicked her out Monday night and she was all, "we need to talk about this" and, "It's just going to end like this?"
After a long talk, we resolved our issues, I'm just bothered about the actions of women towards men, if the men come home late from a night of hangin' with their boys.
Anywho, I just spotted the mouse that has been shitting all over our second bedroom, I must go and try to kill that little fucker!!!
Until next week, this is Tobias signing off. May you have a runny nose, and full glass!!!!!

Monday, April 16, 2007

Superstar DJ

Ok- some of you may have noticed a lack of weekend reports from me. For those of you who pointed it out, why, I didn't know you cared. Ok, this is a two-way street.

Friday night I went with some sisterwives to the birthday party of the keyboard player of the Black Crowes. What is his name? I don't know either. He looks like Jocelyn Wildenstein, this Crowe. Good food, good location, best red velvet cake I've tasted...pretty mellow for a rock n roller's party. Thanks to Sherese for being a gracious hostess.
After posing for pictures in front of a custom painting of Run DMC, we jumped into a friend of my friend's Range Rover and headed off to the club Home to witness the freaky occurrence of a guest DJ set by Gary Coleman. That's what I said, Gary Coleman. When I texted my friend Jon about the event to suss out his interest level, he wrote back, "Is this a dream?" DJ Diff'rent Strokes admitted straight away that he cannot particularly DJ, but that he had selected some tunes for his co-DJ to play on his behalf. It turns out that he and I share certain old school tastes. He chose "Pump Up The Jam" by Technotronic, for example. Also he favored house music from around 1989. Love it, love it. I always felt me n Gary Coleman were soulbrothers. We took a thousand pictures of Gary to show the grandkids, found out that he has a 22 year old, "white trash" girlfriend, had a word with Kenny Kenny at the door, and bounced. Then we went over to the Maritime Hotel for nourishment. Aperol, Prosecco, Carciofi, Moretti, my my. Why was noone in there on Friday night? Who cares. Expect to find me there much more this summer, knowing that the hoi polloi do not seem to gather at this place, at least during the middle hours that I was present.
Friday night's outfit provided by Betsey Johnson. Thanks Yasmine.
Saturday? Got a bangs trim from my dear friend/stylist Meg, had a salad and three kinds of baklava at Casablanca Tea Room which you New Yorkers are sleeping on if you don't know about it, shopped with a fella friend at John Varvatos and Levi's, saw a nice sunset and kept it homebound on Sat. night.
Sunday was a lovely brunch in the Noreaster accented with delicious banana bread, and then I stayed in again and accomplished stuff at home which I would not dream of boring you with.
OK I did it. I posted my own weekend. However, readers, I know what I did last weekend, WHAT DID YOU DO?

Rebuttal

Whatever Caitlin. I would have done all that same stuff except we had a Noreaster.

Nicole

Caitlin in France says...

A rundown of my weekend in Barcelona:

Arrived late friday night, were welcomed to the gorgeous apartment we were staying in with a friend of a friend of a friend from Berlin who rents out HUGE and trendy apartments in Barcelona. He greeted us with some Cava--spanish champagne-- and we quickly drank the bottle. It was high time for another bottle and some food to absorb the alcohol, so we headed to El Salon, a great little restaurant in the barrio gotic-- the medival quarter in Barcelona. 2 am managed to wander home.
Saturday morning were awoken with a breakfast of coffees, croissants, and eggs, then off to shopping until 4pm! We hit up diesel, zara, h&m, and the usual suspects as well as some barcelona favs like camper....ended the day with a short trip to the history museum, back to the apartment for a nap, then off to dinner! We ate with a really cool fusion resto in the trendy el borne distric-- Barcelona's answer to NY's SoHo....Next day, a jaunt up to the Getty-esque Joan Miro Foundation, then an AMAZING lunch in this small Venetian restaurant. The rest of the day? A walk through the Gaudi park, Parc Guell and then a trek across town to the Sagrada Familia. Night was ended in El Borne again with a bottle of red spanish wine, foie gras, and onion tarts. Delicious.

Thursday, April 5, 2007

Sexy & Hot

Oh LT- maybe I should make an exception for you and let you post "what you did last week?" Because your weekend reports are coming in sick and inert. I know you can hang during the week...think about giving us some of that gushy stuff. Or else manage yourself better on the week-ends and give me something to blog about!!! xo

Nicole

LT says...

Sick
I was in the really sexy position of hugging my toilet bowl.
Taking 8000mg of iron...
the only brightside was not going to work on Monday.
HOT

Oh Yeah? We Are Getting Taxis W/ Flowers On Them!

One of Carlo's vacation photos shows him posing next to an R2D2 mailbox.

Nicole

Carlo in NJ says...

My wife and I took a trip to Miami Beach last week. Great restaurants, beaches and scenery, and we luckily just missed the knuckle-headed shenanigans of spring break and their music conference, so things were pretty good all around.

Monday, April 2, 2007

Ageless

Kids, Kinkle is in your lives to show you that you can be married with child and still carry on til the breaka breaka, plus instead of electing to do so in the latest divey dump, you class it all up with stuffed herbed chicken and pate plates and deluxe tequila and Auslanders and please share some of the rock n roll gossip. Let this weekend report be a lesson to you! When I reproduce I wanna be just like Kinkle! She's a soldier!

Nicole

Kinkle in Williamsburg says...

This weekend some of my favorite people ever, a friend of mine from England and his girlfriend, were in town. I met up with them and another friend of theirs who is a tour manager for some very big bands and this guy's girlfriend at Sapa in the 20s which is kind of Vietnamese fusion I think. I'm not entirely sure because we just ordered a bunch of stuff for the table and I was more into drinking. Then we went to La Esquina and had a round of margaritas that made my stomach hurt and I got some good rock and roll gossip. Then we went to Baraza and some short pumped up gentleman grabbed me & started trying to salsa me around which was disconcerting because I am A. married and B. don't particularly like to salsa around. It was way too loud so we left and went to Rue B and drank more until they kicked us out around 5. I made it home and wasn't as drunk as I could have been which was saying something. The next day I laid around in bed while my hubby took the baby to see his cousins on Long Island for some under-4-year-old fun. I was hoping he would get back in time to go to an art opening I had my eye on, but he didn't and it was fine. Sunday I went to Pilates class and we overhauled our messy apartment so that my friends could come over for dinner. We had a big cheese/salami/chorizo/pate plate then roasted chicken stuffed with herbs and root vegetables. We had an EXTRA special dessert and sat around drinking five bottles of wine, one of champagne and some deluxe Mexican tequila until they left at around 2:30 am. I stayed up another hour and a half or so with my hubby talking 'cause we just roll like that and took Monday off. Whee!

How Much For One Tuna Rib?

A weekend report to drool on/over, Matt!

It looks like Matt is going to be the go-to guy for NYC restaurant recommendations, and other culinary jaunts. Look out for his posts when you are trying to plan the eats and drinx for your upcoming weekend, or for your New York vacay. And remember, bathing suit season is near!! Wrap up half for later!

Matt from the UES says...

Another weekend of eating and drinking to excess, and loving every minute of it.
Friday evening started with impromptu 7pm post-work drinks with a friend at Carriage House, an east midtown watering hole.
At 9pm, I met up with friends at Kanoyama, f/k/a Iso, an East Village sushi restaurant which I've been to no less than 100 times over the past several years. Unfortunately, the secret about this place has gotten out, and we were not able to be seated until after 10pm. In the interim, my friends and I killed time at a nearby Spanish wine bar.
The sushi meal included a very interesting $25 appetizer (which we shared) mysteriously called "tuna rib." It was, in fact, a rack of ribs from a tuna fish. The ribs were connected by cartilage, and the interstitial spaces contained raw tuna which was scooped out with spoons. Then, after we picked the rack clean with our spoons, it was taken back to the kitchen to be marinated in yuzu sauce and grilled. The grilling melted away the cartilage, and we were presented with a pile of tuna bones that could be gnawed on, and had a flavor very similar to beef ribs. Call it Japanese barbecue.
The meal ended well after midnight, but the weekend of eating didn't end there. The next day I took my mom out for her birthday, first to a "chocolate tasting," and then for a lunch of tapas. The tasting was at Chocolat Michel Cluizel, a store located within ABC Carpet on 19th and Broadway. We sat with the manager of the store, who led us through a sampling of 7 different chocolate bars (small squares) that had varying levels of cocoa purity and came from varying countries. My favorite was the Papua New Guinea 67%, for what that's worth. The experience was very similar to a wine tasting but, well, with chocolate. $35 per person, if anyone reading this is curious.
We then walked around the Union Square Greenmarket for a while before ending up at Casa Mono for lunch. We shared three crazy tapas creations: one had potatoes, duck egg, and "tuna bacon"; one had clams, sea beans (whatever those are) and a type of short noodle; and the third was marinated duck breast. All were doused in olive oil and garlic, and all were delicious. We each had a glass of Spanish rose wine as an accompaniment.
And that only gets us to 3pm Saturday.
Saturday night, stuffed beyond reckoning, I relaxed and zoned out and didn't do much of anything (or eat much of anything).
Sunday a friend of mine who lives in NJ picked me up in her car and we zipped over to Park Slope, Brooklyn to have dinner at Al Di La, an Italian trattoria that I had heard a lot about. We had a glass of wine at Moutarde, across the street, while waiting for a table. The meal consisted of beef cheek risotto (which we shared as an appetizer), followed by whole grilled orata (a Mediterranean fish) for me and pasta with pork ragu and fresh ricotta for my friend. Everything was great, though the pear cake that we shared as a dessert was mysteriously lacking in pears.
And that's it. Not a bad way to kick off a Passover week of mild deprivation that begins tonight.

Really Impressive

Betty, you know how to do it. Esp. Sunday- you packed so many things in! I am motivated to visit soon....
What did you get at the farmers market to eat on the beach?

Nicole

Betty Hollywood says...

friday was a chill night for me as I came down with a bug and ended up kicking it with my new man. we rented the prestige (don't do it). saturday I did a make-up class at agape with rev. michael (recently seen on Oprah and in The Secret DVD- ed. note) and then went to a bbq at btown's house in eagle rock. we ate cupcakes and salmon and smoked rolled cigarettes and watched the sunset over cali. after the bbq me and S were wasted from the wine and port so we took a nap only to wake up at 1am famished. before heading home, we stopped by the 101 cafe for huevos rancheros. sunday was personally brilliant for me, as I went to agape for 9am service then went to the venice farmers market and to hang out on the beach. it was beautiful. this was followed by a mets game, new york times crossword puzzle and ratatouille prepared by S. yum.