Thursday, April 27, 2006

How sweet it is

Marina & Marla's store, 3 Tarts, was written up by Daily Candy on Monday.

Drinking the Kool-Aid

The Tribeca Film Festival kicked off last night. Robyn and I went to the world premiere of Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple, a documentary about preacher Jim Jones and his formation of a congregation that ended with the mass "suicide" of 909 people in Guyana in 1978.

After the screening the director, editor, producer of the film answered questions, as did Jim Jones, Jr. This was a pretty powerful film. It contains some never-before-seen footage shot by an NBC news crew the night before and the day of the suicides. I was too young to remember/understand the event when it actually took place, and didn't know a CA congressman was also killed.

To write more about the film would ruin it for those who may see it. I don't think it will be released to theatres, but will be shown on PBS's American Experience next year.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Pahk the cah by Hahvahd

Flew to Boston on Saturday. Was damp and like 40 degrees. However, tourists were still on the swan boats in Boston Common and Newbury St. was packed with shoppers. Met Casey for coffee, and went shopping and had Thai dinner with Indu.

Sunday, went with Sarah and Mario to a BBQ for Greek Easter. Hosted by Angelo (and attended by fellow Greek countrymen Nick, Nick, Nick and Peter), the party featured:
  • a parade of meat (sausage, kielbasa, pork chops, lamb chops, steak tips, and hamburgers)
  • lots of sides - potato and pasta salads
  • too many mysterious shots to count
  • karaoke
  • good-natured spankings

All in all, a fun time. Definitely not your traditional, staid Easter gathering.

Our research started Monday. We went out with the Clients to Aquitaine for dinner. I had the duck ravioli with foie gras and white truffle oil sauce. Good, but so rich I couldn't finish it! Then drinks at Whiskey Park in the hotel.

Today, interviews started at 7 am. Not very glamorous.

It's been a nice trip to Boston, but I'm ready to nap on the shuttle back to NY (and sleep in my own bed).

Friday, April 21, 2006

Diversions

We've had more sunny, 70s weather in NYC this week. So it's seemed wrong to be indoors (or at home).

Tuesday, Rick kidnapped me, and we went to Bao 111 for drinks and Esperanto for dinner. I hadn't been to Esperanto in a long time & it's my loss. Tried a new drink: Coco Punch.

On Wed. I went to Barca 18 with Donna and Gail. Yummy tapas. We also went to Flatiron Lounge. They've updated the cocktails for spring; we had a flight of some fab gin-based drinks.

Hung out with Charles on Thursday. Went to the Sunburnt Cow and then to Satsko for dinner.

Clips that are funny (at least to me)

Charles just returned from his first trip to South Beach, and finally understands why I love it there. Charles shot footage of Will and the beach, and also of a drunk model by the Shore Club pool.

Curse away

The CA Supreme Court ruled yesterday that sometimes vulgarity is not just acceptable but necessary in the workplace. It's about fucking time.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Nightmare

Yesterday afternoon the trams that shuttle people from East Midtown to Roosevelt Island stopped working during rush hour. 69 people were trapped in the trams dangling over the East River for about 12 hours. They were rescued by leaving the tram (still suspended over the river) and stepping into another hanging gondola-type thing. So not cool. I've never taken the tram, which supposedly offers great views of the City. And believe me, I have no immediate plans to take a ride.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Pics from Cabo

Javier, the taco guy Posted by Picasa

The Arch Posted by Picasa

Waves on Divorce Beach Posted by Picasa

Sunset on Main Beach Posted by Picasa

Dancing at El Squid Roe Posted by Picasa

Monday, April 17, 2006

Action-packed Saturday

Saturday, the Queen Mary 2 woke me up by blowing its horns as it pulled in to dock in Red Hook. The ship is 23 stories high and 4 football fields long, i.e. a really big cruise ship with a really loud horn.

Despite the rude awakening, I was glad to be up early and enjoy the day (it was sunny and in the upper 70s!) I went to Brooklyn to see Michael and Shani. Bought a few pairs of earrings. Shani wanted to practice her camera work, so she videotaped me - and like 100 Hasidic Jews - walking across the Williamsburg Bridge. I shudder to think where this footage will wind up.

Marina & Marla's gift shop/bakery, 3 Tarts, is now open. It's in Chelsea at 20th St. and 9th Ave. I stopped by Sat. afternoon to say hi (and have a lavender truffle and a bourbon pecan square).

There's another sake bar in my 'hood. So in the spirit of trying new things, Gail and I had dinner and spring sake at Kasadela. Everything was great... but then we felt guilty, so we went to Satsko to see Warren & Ricardo and ease our conscience.

'Tis the season

Inspired by all the Peeps in stores, I bought some and peeped the office of the guy who sits next to me at work. He has interpreted this act as a "throwing down of the gauntlet," so I'm bracing myself for a retribution prank.

After the peeping, I went to Maundy Thursday services at my old church. Since I was on the Upper East Side, I took the opportunity to visit my favorite wine store, Best Cellars, and also met Duck for dinner.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Strike!

Thankfully, I'm not referring to the MTA. Went bowling with Ab and some of his friends last night at Bowlmor. This was not old-school bowling; there's a little black light, a DJ, and screens over the lanes with trippy visuals. The place was quite crowded given that it was late on a Wed. (around midnight, security actually told us that we needed to stop playing because they wanted to close.) I got a couple of spares, but would say my bowling skill is best described as moderate sucking.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Smells like 20 year-old spirit

The Bradenton, FL band Broken Image made their NYC debut Tues. night at legendary punk venue CBGB. Tara's brother Travis is the lead singer, so we wanted to show support. Evening started with tapas and sangria at Sala on the Bowery, and then we walked over to the club. The band's sound kinda reminds me of Fall Out Boy. I must say there was something pure and all-American about seeing these guys play their heart out. Before the concerts sponsored by Budweiser and before the appearances on TRL, there's just 5 dudes having fun driving around the country in a van and playing a few shows a week. Props to Tara for letting them crash in her studio apt.!! The band will be making their way down the East Coast, and have 4 upcoming shows in GA as they pass through on their way home.

Monday, April 10, 2006

Spring, defined

Growing up in GA, I knew spring had arrived when I no longer need to wear a jacket, when I wanted to skip class to be in the sun, and when we could enjoy margaritas outside at Uptown Lounge.

Last Wed. it snowed here in the City. Sat. it was raining & 30 with wind chill.

But yesterday, it was sunny and in the 50s. Seemingly everyone in Manhattan was outside - hanging out in Tompkins Square Park, eating at sidewalk cafes. I used to make fun of all the NYers who start rejoicing over "spring" when I'm still walking around in my North Face and gloves. So even though temps aren't in the 70s here yet, I'm gaining a better appreciation for the small victories (no snow, no gale force winds).

Day for Night

Friday after work I went to the Whitney with Sherri to see the Biennial. The Whitney is my favorite art museum in NY, and the Biennial is typically its best exhibit. This year's collection was very dark and intense. However, it's all contemporary art... so I suppose it's challenging to be whimsical given the war in Iraq and everything else that's happening in the US. The tabla artist Suphala was performing downstairs.

Sat. night I went to an engagement party for my creative director at my boss's house in Westchester. Very fun party. Lychee martinis and champagne with pomegranate for cocktail hour(s) and then a buffet Thai dinner. Came back into the City for Jen's birthday party, which was at a relatively new Egyptian lounge, Moomia. This place was OK. Although there was a woman there trying to enforce a door policy/list, which was very silly for Chinatown bar.

Friday, April 07, 2006

Going public

As evidenced by this blog, NYers are not home-bodies. We go out. A lot. However, it's easy to get into a rut and go to the same places again & again when there are countless amazing restaurants in the City. So Robyn started a dinner club, with the point being to try a new restaurant once a month. Maiden voyage was Wed. night.

We got things started at Vin Noir, a relatively new wine bar in Nolita (we know one of the owners/investors). Then dinner at Public. Had Duck and foie gras empanadas and cured wild boar to start. My main course was Tandoori prawn with ginger braised Napa cabbage, Asian pear and Punjabi cashew sauce. And we had sticky toffee pudding for dessert. Food was great. Really nice flavors and textures. And the restaurant itself is very well-designed.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Roofies happen

One afternoon in Cabo during happy hour, Brian and I were chatting with a couple from Louisiana and a man from Texas. The guy from Louisiana went up to the bar and bought another round (that we didn't ask for) and apparently spiked our drinks.

The people were asking me & Brian to go on their yacht. We said no, and they left. The husband came back for a 2nd effort, we still said no, and he actually left the bar. And a few minutes later Brian and I became seriously impaired. Miraculously, we made it back to the hotel, but were knocked out for several hours. So perhaps my monster tolerance saved me from real trouble by making me appear OK long enough for the creep to give up and go away.

The moral of this story is to be very wary of drinks given to you by strangers (and don't leave your drinks unattended either). Roofies are not something that happen to Freshman girls at their 1st frat party... they happened to me in a crowded, upscale beach bar in broad daylight. Consider yourselves warned!

Monday, April 03, 2006

Cabo San Loco

Just back from a week in Mexico! (pics will be posted soon)

Los Cabos is in the desert. So when your plane lands, all you see is mountains, cacti and dust - sort of like Arizona. But then you drive towards Cabo San Lucas, and you can look down and see the Pacific... so vast & beautiful.

There's a main beach in Cabo, Playa Medano, that has lots of stimuli: vendors, music, mad people-watching. We always went to the Mango Deck beach club.

However, my favorite activity was taking a boat out to see El Arco (the Arch) and then getting dropped off on a more secluded beach on the peninsula. The side that faces the Sea of Cortez is called Lover's Beach. It's fairly calm, and people can snorkel or kayak. The other side faces the Pacific and is called Divorce Beach because it has more rocks and the biggest waves I've ever seen. Some brave folks were bodysurfing (Brian) and skimboarding.

Best food was at Gordo's, a very small taco stand on a side street. The owner Javier likes to sing Beatles' songs. There's a bar hidden in the back of a T-shirt shop across the street where you can buy beer and margaritas.

"What happens in Cabo stays in Cabo." We were there during Spring Break, so there were some crazy college kids around. You expect people who are 20 years old to be a little wild. However, I was truly shocked at how the adults and married couples were acting. Very raunchy, amoral stuff. These were white people from conservative, small-town America - the same people who elected Bush to lead our country. Something is wrong with your life when you need to cut loose so much on vacation.

Anyway, it was a fun trip overall. Cabo definitely met our vacation requirements:
  1. Warm, sunny weather
  2. Beach
  3. Places where you can chill out
  4. Places where you can turn it up

I'm back in NYC where it's rainy, windy and in the 40s (after being greeted by the transgender taxi dispatcher at Newark Airport). There's no place like home.

Truth in panhandling

I'm all about honesty and directness; however, there are some limits. Walking home from dinner Sunday night, I got the standard line from a guy at St. Mark's & Avenue A: "Spare some change?" And then as I walked past him, he said, "I need to get a gun so I can make some real money." Yikes! Where's Guiliani?

Catching up... weekend before last

Saturday had dinner at the new Rosa Mexicano with Nicole and 3 of her friends from Bronxville, and then we went for drinks at the W Union Square. Afterwards I found Charles and Howard at Lil' Frankie's Pizza, and we went to Cafe Charbon. I stopped by Rue B on the way home because I hadn't been in to see Rob since Thanksgiving.

Sunday had brunch at Jen & Scott's apt. in Hoboken. And then had dinner with Ab & Rick at Yuca Bar.

Masterful

Bryan was in from LA and played at the Living Room March 23. His set was tight, and he played new material from his forthcoming 3rd album. I've known Bryan for about 6 years, and he raises the bar each time I see him perform: playing more instruments, writing better songs, and demonstrating greater vocal range. He is truly talented and very hard-working, so I hope he achieves what he wants musically.

Opening was Bryan's friend Don McCloskey, who's also a gifted singer/songwriter. Somehow he performs gangsta rap on acoustic guitar - Must be seen to be truly believed. He recently played shows in GA, so Atlanta peeps keep your eyes peeled.