Free Peabut Nutter

Today was the last day to score a free jar of peanut butter at Peanut Butter & Co. I got a jar of The Heat Is On along with my PB&J sandwich and carrot sticks.

This wasn't the first time we tried to get our jars.

Success! on the second time around. Though it may seem that way, I was not being a biter at all. Really.

RIP Amanda

It's just so horribly sad.

Almost Zankel

I was supposed to attend a concert at Zankel Hall tonight. I won a pair of tickets at Culture Fest 2006 back in October by correctly identifying a photo of a very young Emanuel Ax at the Young Concert Artists booth. Manny was one of the artists who went through the program in its early days and I was looking forward to that night's performance by the Amedeo Modigliani Quartet. Unfortunately my recent stretch of poor health continued and I was barely able to hear (stuffed sinuses!) JL's voice when I called to tell her I couldn't attend the concert. But J was still free that night, so he went in my stead while I stayed under the covers at home.

I feel

so alone, right now. Of course my sinuses are stuffed up again, so no one could understand me if I tried talking to them. Plus it's some god-awful hour in the middle of the night, so there's no one to talk to anyway. The corticosteroids and pseudoephedrine haven't kicked in yet dammit. I'm never going to sleep at this rate. Maybe I'll do some writing, I always did my best writing in the dead of night.

Apron Birdy

A & J came by origami class today. We tried making ostriches, but couldn't get them to stand on their own. I don't enjoy making origami feet. Anyway them gals brought me their hand-made birthday present. We went to Wild Ginger (again) after class and ran into some more of U's buddies. It was a pretty darned exciting day!

Noodletown

Another new spot (for me) in Manhattan's Chinatown.
Thursday is now my favorite day of the week.

Talk Radio

Thanks for the tickets EB!

We really do love Liev and so did the NY Times.

Note the awesome comment. :)

Another Night in Washington Heights

JS and her roommates were throwing a party and who can say no to partying with beautiful women, not me, not me. I tried demonstrating excellence :), this time in origami fashion, since they weren't going to be much impressed by my dancing skills (since they're professional dancers). Blurry photos to follow...

Don't Stop Believing

Met up with a few friends to celebrate the passing of another year. I'd recently received some very bad news about my health, so I was eager for a distraction. We started at Stone Creek for some drinks (we won a VIP happy hour!) I wasn't expecting it, but I scored some awesome presents from everyone to deal with the aforementioned troubles -- guess they all want me to stick around for a while.

I'd like to keep learning things as I get older, you know, keep the noodle in good shape. And the one thing I learned that night - I'm the only drunk dialer in the bunch. No one else does it. I've never pulled a Pat O'Brien (these clips are insane by the way), but I was still surprised at being the only one out of the group. Since there was no one left for me to drunk dial (all likely recipients of said calls being present) we bundled up to make the Journey over to Bamiyan for dinner. I'd been there a few months ago and was eager to try more of their menu. It might have also been a way for me to finally close a chapter from my past life.

We got there right in the middle of the dinner rush so they stuck us in the empty back room, which definitely was a good thing. I tried to stick to my newly vegan diet, and it was a success for the most part. Our relative lack of neighbors allowed us to be a loud and happy party for most of the night; our conversation even ranged to topics that get books banned. Unfortunately the night had to end (too soon, mostly due to the crazed construction schedule on the 7 train!), so we said our farewells and made plans to meet again soon. Next year will definitely involve some karaoke action...

On the way home

It's the same every year

Happy Birthday, S.

New Chao Chow

Does my life revolve around food? Yes, and why shouldn't it. Better food than my lack of sleep or my blackened heart.

New York magazine had recently done a slew of articles about Chinatown just around Chinese New Year and their list of eateries was a source of inspiration for my weekly forays downtown. Thursday's adventure in Chinatown took us to New Chao Chow on Mott, a spot that "specializes in sub-regional Cantonese cooking called 'chiu chow.'" All that means to me is that it's cheap and tasty. Gotta love those noodle soups filled with wontons, mmm.

Westville

Dinner at Westville tonight. There was still snow on the ground as I stood waiting out in the cold. Got a phone call from a friend in distress. It tried to be sympathetic and not sound like I was freezing. I hope I did a good job. Anyway, my friend arrived and we had a pleasant meal, actually it was the best turkey burger I've ever had. It was the second day of my new diet regime, so I figured it was okay to have some of the bacon sprinkled mac & cheese. Dinner was over too soon for the next event on tap, so we walked over to the nearby CVS where we wandered the aisles and reminisced about days and people long gone.

JC and Eugene

Lunch at Little Lad's Basket (which seems down, but check out the rave reviews!) It's a (mostly vegan) cafeteria in the basement of a downtown office building run by Seventh Day Adventists (official site here). It's hard to get a better bargain than a full plate of food and a bowl of soup for only $2.99.

Tonight was the final installment of our subscription at the Met. I don't think either of us had seen Eugene Onegin (based on the Pushkin novel) before and we were pretty excited (Renée Fleming!) even though we had seats in the last row of the house. My inability to stay awake notwithstanding, I think this was best opera I'd seen at the Met this season, though I did have more fun at City Opera. The sets to Onegin were very spartan, it felt like we were watching a production of Shakespeare in the Park. The costumes on the other hand were fabulous and glamorous. Onegin follows the not atypical arc of doomed love, but is especially sad to me since the characters had a chance at love, but walked away of their own accord. I wasn't the only one with a broken heart at the end.

Lincoln's Birthday

I remember having this day off from elementary school back in the day. We also used to get a holiday for Brooklyn-Queens Day (aka Anniversary Day), but it seems that little tradition is over as well.

French Toast & Duck Soup

I get way too many mailing list emails, especially from arts/cultural spaces; one of them is from Symphony Space. A few weeks ago I noticed that SS would be screening Duck Soup, one of my friend's favorite movies. I'd never seen Duck Soup, so it seemed like the perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon or so I thought. There was a bit of a snafu in the online order and my receipt said the show would start at 1:30PM. I told V about an afternoon surprise waiting for her on the 11th and told her to wear something sporty (to throw her off the trail). I found out a few days before that the movie wouldn't start until 5:45PM on Sunday, but since I'd already told her to block out the entire afternoon and early evening I tried to keep the surprise intact and invited her over for brunch. It would be an opportunity to make use of my new 2-burner grill pan (which I got for Christmas, thanks V!).

V arrived and I started making brunch. It was a success and we caught up on some TV viewing while we chowed down. Of course, before V came over I stupidly told my brother the details of the surprise. And right when we were leaving he asked if our destination was on the east or west side. The jig was up. This was the only other clue our intrepid investigator needed to figure out we were going to go see a Marx Brothers film at the SS. Next time I'm not telling anybody anything.

My New Hat

I think it's called a chullo (a Christmas gift from my two friends up in the Andes).

Took these pictures at Sucelt. I will miss you Cuban sandwich.