spoiled rotten

Last night I was treated to the most magnificent birthday dinner, ever. Here is what I had- at least, what I remember of it. A ten-course food extravaganza!!!

Ko menu, 4/20/10:

Octopus salad, xo sauce (amuse)

Seared diver scallop, meyer lemon curd, fennel (amuse)

pepper biscuit and chicharrones

Carpaccio, __cheese,

Brioche w/ marrow, lemon confit, sorrel in gruyere and comte broth

Soft boiled egg, caviar, potato chips, onion confit

Hand torn pasta, chicken and snail sausage

Almond crusted skate wing

Lychee, riesling gelee, peanut brittle, SHAVED FOIE

Duck breast, mustard greens, honey braised turnips, pumpernickel

Spiced wine sorbet, asian pear

Pretzel flan, mustard gummies, root beer sorbet, caraway

I'm on my way out the door to have dinner at Blue Hill. Il Buco on Saturday, Ko on Tuesday, and Blue Hill on Wednesday? My stomach is never going to be the same again.

ko tonight!

I am going to Ko tonight. Will tell you all about it tomorrow; if I talk any more about it today I will spontaenoulsy combust with anticipation.

Thanks, DC, for the best bday dinner invite EVER!

(excuse the ghetto graphic. it's the only image of ko that i could find/steal)

Kogi article

WSJ joins the Kogi craze, profiles the West Coast David Chang, calculates earnings of $2mil with a $90,000 take-home salary, and reports of a rice bowl restaurant for the masses.

Pizza and beer pairing

No, not papa john's and bud light. Pshaw, you think I would even dare post such a thing?

This Saturday, Jim Lahey (of Sullivan Street and no-knead bread fame) is hosting a pizza and beer pairing at his beloved restaurant, Co. Prounounced, "Company". I love pairings, food and drink especially, plus it usually indulges my preference of tasting a little bit of everything. And really there's something so magical about two people, each so knowledgeable about their own specific craft, coming together and creating beautiful yummiful harmony. Cue Hallelujah music.

Do I sound like a food freak yet?

The beer part of the pairing is brought to you by the lovely people over at Six Point Ales. Six Point, for all you Westcoasters, is a local Brooklyn brewery (woot woot Red Hook) that was born not to long ago, in 2004. They make some pretty kick ass local brews that can be found throughout the city, and you all know how I'm a fan of all things local. Not to mention, their website is stellar.

I have a prior engagement (DC's birthday! hooray!) but you can bet that if it weren't her, I would be in Chelsea on Saturday.

It's $35, pretty phenomenal for an afternoon of pizza and beer. Location, time, and RSVP info here.

Arepas

There's a few places that I rotate in my arsenal of 'places to grub when friends come into town'. Caracas Arepas Bar is, in my opinion, tops. It's vying for the number one spot with Cafe Habana.

Arepas, you ask, what are they?! An arepa is a disc of a corn patty fried, then sliced open and stuffed with meaty, cheesy, salsa-y heaven. The Venezuelan brother of the pupusa, if you know what that is.

Anyway, Caracas Arepas Bar is the bomb. The arepas there come stuffed with a combination of things like friend plantains, pulled pork, guayanes cheese, chimi curri sauce, black beans, chorizo....and they have this sauce that's, I swear, laced with crack.

If you haven't try it, then you're missing out. There's one around the corner from my house...and it takes all my willpower not to have one everyday.

Thursday morning tidbits

So many things this morning.

First of all, yoga in the morning is the bomb.

Next, can we please give a woot to this amazing website? I am a sucker for typography.

Then, let's talk about THIS. (Or, for a better picture but the same thing, THIS) I will be visiting my friend MC, who lives around the corner, much more often.

Finally, can everyone look at my new shoes? The Bensimon is the Parisian's answer to the Converse. They're comfortable and will make you look cooler, I swear. At least, that's what I tell myself when I'm struttin' the streets of W'burg. And psst! Here's a secret: On uber-sale for $9.99 at Urban!

Have a good day y'all.

twits

So as most of you know or have figured out I have a twitter account. For those of you who had no idea, there it is, now you know. For those of you who won't be my friend now that I've revealed this, I don't want to be your friend either.

I've only twittered (tweeted, whatever) maybe once or twice, and probably log in three times a week at most. I'm not that much a fan of the site, and though it can be slightly intriguing it is pretty darned pointless. Plus, I hate the fact that all links are scrambled and you can never get an idea of what you'll be linking to. Dangerous, I tell you! But I'm certainly not going to hate on people who tweet like there's no tomorrow. Not only is that unfair, but I know that Twitter has become a relevant Thing (like, it's a Thing with a capital T, something culturally significant, maybe more of a fad than anything lasting in our world but not just a plain ol' thing.) and plus it allows me to stalk, ahem, find out about people and kill some free time. I know, me, free time, crazy right?

Today, however, I found that Twitter can indeed be a really useful, stimulating and even educational tool.

Okay, yes, I think this way because it will tell me things like the location of the Kogi truck and what flavors ice cream the General Greene is serving on any given day. Nay, any given MINUTE. But that's not why I'm blogging about twittering (like whoa, so 2009 of me). See, I've been racking my brain to find ways that I can stay in tune with the art world. When I was in college, (Ready, time warp machine?) my very right brained self was relatively sharp in making art world criticisms, comparisons, and assessments of works and of artists. By the time I graduated I had trained myself to talk art lingo, to see things in art that did not exist, and to familiarize myself with not only older art history figures, but current and emerging artists as well.

Then a funny thing happened - I forgot everything. It was like my brain was wiped clean by alien mutants! (weird comparison, sorry.)

I went from knowing how to talk about art, to knowing how to talk about a signle roster of 25 artists. I suppose this happens in many fields, and frankly I'd love for my neurosurgeon to be focused on exclusively my brain and the synapses that are firing...not my brain a little, and my toes a little, and oh, a little bit of my gall bladder as well. But art is not a science (duh) and is informed so SO much by its history and by it's relevance, you gotta be in it to win it.

Now, of course I can do my own reading and research. But I'm not disciplined enough to do this, aside from the fact that I'm so far removed it's hard to figure out where to jump in, or even how to retain any information that I do manage to collect.

This is where twitter comes in. I knew that everyone was on twitter. But I had no idea that EVERYONE IS I ON Twitter. Artnet, The MoMA, Art Fag City, the list goes on, all these amazing institutions and publications and super knowledgeable art sources, they are all there talking art and art world gossip. What I like about art news in twitter feed is the more approachable and digestible format for which art news is presented. I love ArtForum just as much as anyone else, but sometimes the articles and reviews are so scholarly and so word-centric that I get lost in the writing and can't even begin to analyze what the art is about. All I need is a 140 word round-up about what's going on, who thinks what, which artist is featured in which museum this month. Twitter, I've discovered, allows me to pick up names and bits of information much like I would gain in any normal discussion.

140 words or less. That's how I'm going to get back into the art world.

Sabado Gigante

I've been meaning to write about Saturday for the entire week, but just kept putting it off. I just meant to brag about what a deliciously funtastic day I had.

After brunch with Tanya and her family, I strolled around the West Village for hours, listening to an Etta James station programmed into my Pandora Mobile. It was the first time I've let myself wander, get lost, and end up walking around in circles, since I first arrived in New York. I bought my first peach of the season at the Abingdon Sq. farmers market (and oh what a fine peach it was), walked by the cheesy 14th St. street fair, stepped into the WVil Branch of the NY Public Library and read some books on calligraphy (nerdalert), checked out the public pool, and walked by Little Owl no less than five times (I don't think I'm exaggerating).

Finally I was able to cajole a friend into hanging out with me, and we decided to go for 3pm Saturday afternoon drinks at Cabrito. For anyone who is thinking of getting drinks on a fine weekend afternoon, I highly recommend it. The place was empty, the bartenders were friendly (from California, so duh), it was temperate (VERY important in NY summers), and the drinks were tasty. I would also recommend with going with a cool friend like I did, but that's up to you.

Cabrito

Mexican fare

50 Carmine Street

NY NY 10014

Image via Eater

Good News in the 'hood

From NY Mag:

Adding to the excitement that Prime Meats has started serving burgers and steaks, Williamsburg all-American spot Walter Foods quietly started serving lunch last week, and where better to enjoy it than the new back patio you see before you. Owners Dylan Dodd and Danny Minch tell us they’re carrying items over from the dinner menu at the same price (the short-rib burger, the lobster club, the French dip, etc.) and adding a few under-$10 options such as a daily omelette and a bagel sandwich of scrambled eggs, bacon, and cheese. Tomorrow they’ll add a pastrami sandwich, and you can also expect a half-sandwich-and-soup special. Maybe best of all, the full raw bar is available during lunch, and (starting now) also at the bar during the break between lunch and dinner. Tuesday through Friday, lunch is from 11:30 a.m. till 4 p.m; dinner is from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. On the weekends, brunch is from 11:30 a.m. till 4:30 p.m. and dinner is from 6 p.m. till 2 a.m. — these are also the hours when the 50-seat back patio is available for your alfresco pleasure. Drinking-lunch recommendation: a John Daly (an Arnold Palmer spiked with vodka).

Lazy Sundaes

David Lebovitz's CANDIED BACON ICE CREAM

Grrrr I did it again. I've had trouble sleeping lately, and have been falling asleep at annoyingly late hours (3am, 4am) and as a result waking up much later than I ever intend to, not to mention with bags under my eyes. This is something I really wanted to avoid whilst unemployed- just because I don't have a job doesn't mean I don't have (or shouldn't have) things to do! Today I woke up so late that I am embarrassed to tell you exactly what time my clock read when I finally awoke from the restless state that was my slumber. I had huge plans for the day and they were squandered (yes, I really had huge plans), so I shamefully I ended up hanging out at home doing a lot of stuff around the house.

While doing things around the house my mind wandered to ice cream. I've been thinking of ice cream a lot lately. I was never a huge fan of it when I was little, but it's been growing on me through the years. I still prefer a solid vanilla or coffee ice cream over any of those chubby hubby funky monkey ice cream flavors, though. Clean and simple, that's how I like my ice cream.

But recently, I've taken notice to chefs starting to play with their ice creams and using really great ingredients to create what are truly artisanal ice creams and ice cream flavours (I am using the English way of spelling as it seems more delectable and artisinal to me). Nick Morgenstern, chef of the General Greene (and my big fat General Crush) has created an ice cream stand outside of his restaurant with five special daily flavors, flavors like Salted Caramel, Bourbon Raisin, Burnt-Honey Vanilla, and even Bacon! The Van Leeuwan Brothers have made a killing, not only with their truck which silently brings the freshest, most pure and simple flavor all around downtown Manhattan, but now with their packaged cartons selling at Whole Foods stores as well. Sweet Melissa just opened up a creamery, with a nice sit-down parlor-esque restaurant in the back, serving up crazy sundaes and old fashioned delights like Egg Creams (chocolate syrup, heavy cream/mill, and seltzer, hm...).

Since today was the first truly humid day of the year, I was reminded why ice cream fares so well out here in NYC. While in LA I was talking ice cream with Gillian, a very normal foodie conversation. We were thinking of how to re-invent flavors into ice creams, how to make them at their best. S'more Ice Cream! Peanut Butter and Jelly Ice Cream! I think this is why ice cream is so fun and can be so delectable- it's like that part in willy wonka where little Violet Beauregard pops that piece of Wonka Gum in her mouth, which simulated a full course meal- you can recreate the flavors of a whole, solid pumpkin pie, of into a spoonful of creamy, icy goodness! David Lebovitz, true ice cream conisseur, is constantly exploring & writing about such creations and where he finds his flavors and inspirations. He's even written a book on ice cream which I am just dying to get my hands on.

Anyway during my little day dream session I decided that I want to create Caramel Apple ice cream. It's not that I am obsessed with Caramel Apples, or that I love apple products (because I don't, I actually quite despise apple sauce and apple juice and even apple pie), but rather I think that this ice cream would have a really cool flavor profile. Anyway, I will update you if this seemingly genius idea really is genius. Because I have a feeling it'll either be that or a huge disaster. We'll see!

Day 1

Quote of the day:

"Let's start a book club, where all we do is watch movies"

I tossed and turned last night, a mixture of anticipation and anxiety keeping me up. That, and the 90-degree days NY has been experiencing have left me with a close to 80-degree room for me to sleep in.

Today was day one of unemployment. Unbeknownst to me, it's now commonly referred to as "Funemployment". Hm. We'll see if it lives up to that. Since I don't want to fall into the deep dark depths of white-trash unemployment (read: drink until wee hours of the morning, sleep in 'til the afternoon, watch Price is Right/Days of Our Lives/Maury, eat jenny craig TV dinners) I am trying to create a schedule for myself, filled with many fun activities. Factivities? Anyway, these activities, so far, are comprised mostly of having lunch with friends who are either unemployed or have odd-hour jobs, and trying to do yoga/go to the gym. Fun.

I celebrated Day One by meeting up with my funemployed mentor Laura. No really, she is my inspiration in layoff life, talk about milking unemployment for all it's worth... I also think she was the only person, when I told her I was getting laid off, that actually physically jumped for joy and told me what great news it was. And no, she doesn't hate me. I think...

Back to lunch. We ate at Egg- I kept hearing about this place, but since I don't eat eggs, there wasn't much desire for me to go there. duh. But after perusing through their menu upon Laura's suggestion (and this amazing drool-inducing article in Edible Brooklyn) ohhhh meohmy there was SO much desire to go there! For all you breakfast aficionados, they serve breakfast until 3pm every day. And for all you penny-pinching aficionados, all their main breakfast/lunch plates hover around $7-$8. Their menu was simple but so elegant and rich, how could I say no? And looking back, it is everything I look for in a solid neighborhood joint. A great, open atmosphere, good music, super quirky waiter who gets things done with a smile on his face, great hearty fare imported from artisanal farms, and the strongest iced coffee I've had in awhile. AND the two of us had a perfect filling lunch for $20. Yum, on account of stomach and my wallet.

We also had great lunch conversation, which is where that quirky quote of the day came from. Laura did nothing short of coach me through what will be a rough week one of unemployment. Rough, only because it's so foreign and so mind-alteringly different. I mean, I am not gonna lie- I've been ridden with anxiety this entire weekend. So many what-ifs, so many things up in the air. What if I don't want to work right away, what if I pass up job opportunities now and they don't come back, what if I become straight up lazy, what if I slowly drift away from my friends at work, what if WHAT IF WHAT IF. So many of them. Laura managed to assuage my minor freak out and bring me back down to funemployment land. She told me about all the people she's met and networked with since she was laid off, the opportunities that have been presented to her, the trips that she has taken, and the lovely projects she has been able to work on, the super cool program she is volunteering with (http://feastinbklyn.org), and how the new thing to do is to barter services for goods.

It's a novel idea- this new concept on bartering goods. In a time where so many people are unemployed, it's really a great tool, both for your own benefit and to others, not to mention to build community character and comraderie as well. I'm totally into it.

From our lunch we took a short walk around Wburg into Spoonbill and Sugartown, my favorite independent bookstore in NY. I got two books, and the reason I share this with you is because this is one of them:

Excuse the shitty picture, but you get the idea. I mean, I like Tom Robbins and all, but really, the main reason I purchased this book was for its cover. (And the $2 price tag)

I came home, and after spending about an hour looking at craft blogs, my mind was spinning and I could barely keep my eyes open. So I took a nap.

No one told me unemployment was so exhausting.