my love list

i love this blog. http://www.operationnice.com/

on days when i feel down or feel like the world is going to crap, i log on and read some pretty amazing stories from some very kind people. it is a huge pick me up and i highly recommend it. quite frankly, i could read this blog anytime. i love and applaud the idea. there just isn't enough recognition of people's kindness.

on occasion , the author will give out a "nice assignment" and a few of those assignments have involved what she calls "love lists." this is right up my alley. i adore making lists (a trait i most definitely inherited from my father). there are varying reasons for my love of list-making but the top reason is the sense of accomplishment i feel by making one. so when she posted the following assignment, i jumped at the chance:

"Today's Assignment: Make a Love List about Places
What places do you love? Where would you rather be right this instant? Are there some spots you've visited in your past that will always hold a special place in your heart? Go ahead! Make your list! It can be about one place or one hundred places. Post it on your blog or post it here in the comments. Or do both! Either way, really focus on places you love and I guarantee you'll feel happier afterwards."

my love list of places:

under the red blanket; the niche; sitting on a particular bench on 6th avenue; eating at katz's deli; the new york public library; hudson river park in the spring; c and d's house in vientene; the armor exhibit at the philadelphia museum of art; the orange couch in my grandparent's house; the swings at my elementary school; the hammock in my parent's backyard; OG restaurant; the bronx zoo; behind the lens of a camera; on my couch watching spin city repeats in law school; the baths in budapest; the foot massage parlor in laos; eating lunch in bryant park; chelsea market; jane street on the engagement picture day; behind the wheel of my mini cooper; the italian market in south philly; kossar's bialys; my old office on wooster street; my first new york apartment; economy candy; pnc art center on the day of my law school graduation; kd's bbq in midland, texas; the aging rooms at debragga; greek easter in east hanover; the jersey shore (spring lake and lbi); the montville diner.

oddities from the weekend

1. s and i both separately got lost in the same exact way trying to find our friend g and m's apartment for dinner on friday night.

2. wandering down streets in chinatown i didn't even know existed on our way to one of the best chinese food dinners i have ever eaten.

3. playing buck hunter (and shooting nothing) at drinks after the chinese food dinner.

4. the guy who wandered up to s to shake his hand and let him know how he impressed he was that s had washed his hands after using the bathroom.

5. the triumphant feeling i had after properly using mail merge for the wedding invites.

What we will do for brunch

on monday morning (luckily a day off thanks to abe lincoln) s and i decide to venture down to the lower east side for breakfast. not just any old breakfast, but world famous, heart stopping pancakes from a restaurant called clinton street baking company. or so we had heard. this restaurant is so popular, on any given weekend you can expect at least an hour wait. for pancakes.

so, s and i, schemers that we are, decide to get up really early and get down there when it opens. according to the website, the restaurant opens at 8:00am. just for clarity, we would need to wake up at 7:00am (on our day off) so we can make it there by 8:00 for breakfast. s really loves pancakes and i must really love him.

after much negotiation, the alarm was set and we actually wake up at that scary hour. second note for clarity, i don't even wake up this early for work. anyhow, we arrive at the restaurant around 8:15 and are greeted by bars on the windows and not a soul in sight. there is some tense discussion until s presses his face against the door only to be told that they don't open until 10:00am.

this presents a number of issues. first, very little is open on a monday in the lower east side at 8:15am. second, it is freezing outside and the wind is not letting up. we regroup and end up going to a bakery around the corner for coffee and to taste their cupcakes for the wedding. (total home run, by the way, sugar sweet sunshine bakery on rivington may have my new favorite cupcake - pumpkin spice). s then has a great idea that we should pick up bialys from kossars since we don't often make it to the lower east side when they are open. bialys are only second to pumpkin cupcakes. at this point we have managed to kill enough time so that we can get back to the restaurant around 9:50.

congratulating ourselves for being such geniuses, we skip down clinton street, hungry and excited. our skip slows to a defeated walk when we get there only to realize the line is around the corner. my first question is, aren't people working? followed quickly by, can anything possibly be worth this wait?

but we had waited this long already and there was no way i was coming back, so we get in line and decide to see how long the wait is. the magical doors open, customers rush in and we finally get to see the tall bearded man who controls this establishment (in a benevolent way, of course). the tall man informs us that our wait will be 30 minutes. under normal circumstances, 30 minutes in a popular manhattan restaurant isn't atrocious. however, s and i have actually been waiting for close to two hours already. there is more tense discussion and we finally decide to stay.

the wait is actually amusing. well, it would have been more amusing had it not have been 30 degrees and windy. people are constantly coming in and out. they walk in with a hopeful look on their face and walk out defeated, muttering "one hour wait? two hour wait?" people are turned away for trying to bring dogs in the restaurant. people try to sneak in to wait inside. every 10 minutes the tall bearded man sweeps the restaurant and hungry people come rushing outside. the coffee shop across the street makes more money on the people waiting outside than it does on customers coming in to sit and eat.

we are seated in about 45 minutes. it was so cold outside that neither us removed our jackets during breakfast because we couldn't get warm. inside, the restaurant is cute, very small, and seemingly only decorated with framed articles extolling the virtues of the food. every magazine, newspaper and tour book has written about this place place. it certainly explains the crowds.

s and i decide to split two entrees, blueberry pancakes (which are supposed to be heaven on earth) and a southern breakfast (eggs, bacon, grits, fried green tomato). we also get a side of chorizo. the food is very good. i preferred the eggs, chorizo and grits and found the pancakes to be a bit too much like dessert. s really liked everything except the fried tomato, which was boring and not spiced well. sadly, the service wasn't that great. no one came to refill my coffee and the entire time i was eating, i felt rushed because there is a line of shivering people outside staring at you willing you to finish eating.

conclusion: i wouldn't go back and wait for the breakfast. if they expand, or the lines magically stop, it would be a nice meal. unfortunately there are too many great brunch places in new york to merit waiting that long for pancakes and eggs. but it was an adventure and s and i had fun so it was definitely worth it. once.

this truly speaks for itself

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedishrag/2009/01/kingsford-goes.html

this weekend

s and i went to visit our friends in new jersey to eat the steaks we bought from debragga - one of the last remaining meat packers in the meatpacking district (ironic, no?). this past fall the four of us took a tour of debragga's aging caves to see how they age meat and listened to a talk about the wonders of grass fed beef. to answer any questions, yes, it really does taste that good. and yes, you actually can taste a difference. then we all got drunk and watched a penn state football game.

but i digress. the steaks from debragga were excellent. we really didn't do anything to them, just seasoned the steaks with some salt and pepper and then cooked them quickly in the cast iron skillet. naturally, prior to dinner, there was a flurry of e-mails (instigated by s) discussing the appropriate way to cook the meat. experts, aka meat geniuses, were called in. a lively debate ensued and ultimately the men beat their chests until they decided that cast iron was the way to go. the meat genius clearly knew his stuff.

not only did we eat these lovely steaks but h and s found this insane recipe which includes some kind of cheese sauce, broccoli and wait for it ... cheetos (or any variation thereof). no further commentary needed. h also made sweet potato fries and garlic bread. we drank loads of wine (s and i finally opened one of our bottles from argentina) and ended up staying up until 1:30. none of us even knew it had gotten that late, the mark of a super fun night.

the next day, we came back to nyc and i danced my way to the post office to pick up our wedding invitations. my quest to use artists on www.etsy.com certainly paid off. nic and kirsten from evepaul designs exceeded all expectations. now i have to stuff them and label them... if only someone on etsy could that too! (for free of course)

the rest of the weekend naturally flew by in a blur of mexican food, drinks at dublin bar on hudson, brunch at hk and a visit to the sports museum downtown. now all i have to do is get to friday and i get a three day weekend!

fashion observed while walking to work

1) man in his late 30s walking down 9th avenue wearing white knee socks that looked like tights, brown loafer dress shoes, shorts, a navy pea coat and bright orange gloves. it is 19 degrees this morning.

2) man in his 30s or 40s wearing entire outfit of clashing multi-colored bright stripes.

3) 6'5" man weighing approximately 300 pounds wearing a blue fur coat.

in the elevator this morning someone told me that they were going to take a bite out of the day just to save it. this is my contribution. hooray for friday!