a night in sunnyside.

in an effort to prepare myself for the non move this week (we're {two of us} staying in the same apartment but playing musical chairs with rooms) i attempted to organize my room.

it now looks like either (a) i was robbed or (b) a bomb went off. i can't walk but for tripping over organizational containers. and suddenly my lenten resolution to keep a clean room is out the window and i am in a terrible mood. messy rooms, dirty sinks, and never-ending progression of grey skies will do that to a girl. but i digress.

last night i abandoned my messy room, my mile-high-pile of laundry and headed to sunnyside, queens. {for those who don't know new york city is comprised of five boroughs: manhattan, brooklyn, the bronx, queens, and (this is the strangest of them all) staten island. i live in manhattan. way, way up in manhattan. all the cool kids live in brooklyn. and a growing number of young people are moving to queens (where rent is cheep and space is abundant)}.

alisha (of doppelganger fame) and her boyfriend daniel hosted me for a lovely night of gourmet tomato soup and grilled cheese. 

as soon as i walked in the door i became that crazy person that can't even say hello before they marvel at the thing before them...the thing resembling an actual home. i opened every closet door, peered out every window, inspected every surface, sizing up square footage and inquiring about rent--this is what you do in new york when you've lived here long enough and reached a certain age. 

the night was perfect. good food. good discussion. a little baseball on the tele. and really good people. 

my manhattan: time in the kitchen, old friends, new friends, and colored tiles

the weather in new york this week was such that i threw open every window of the apartment as often and as quickly as possible. with an uncharacteristic amount of time on my hands i took to the kitchen (where, as it turns out, the cuisinart is changing my life). i made sweet potato pancakes, peanut butter from stratch, a vegan version of mac and cheese, and--the now tried and true--banana bread. i was also fortunate enough to visit with my absolutely stunning (and smart, to boot) friend, monica who this summer will tie the knot with her charming love of six (seven?) years. sigh. where did that time go? and the week rounded out with a dinner party in brooklyn where i met with some of the most intelligent and charming women i've had the pleasure to know in quite some time. when my father asked me what such forward-thinking ladies speak about when gathered together for an evening of good food and lots of wine, i replied: boys, of course. 

my manhattan: dark woods, intersecting lines, and sumptuous feasts.

the mac boys did a bang-up job and i'm deeply indebted to them for the return of the computer in all its glory. coffee be damned!

i'll be back next week with things to say and (even--i hope) a giveaway!



i just want to take this moment to send my prayers to japan and beyond. this natural disaster is another startling reminder of the earth's undeniable power and as one tweet said "that we're just guests on this planet." it then falls to us to treat the earth with respect and reverence--to preserve the tenuous balance that mother nature lords over--we can do this in what we choose to eat, how we harvest food and animals, consumption of all kinds and on and on. now is the time to say prayers, give thanks, and go about enacting change.

till monday...

getting to know manhattan.

new york was awash in tourists this holiday season. and when i say new york i really mean midtown--for it is midtown to which the tourists flock. to see the tree at rockefeller center. to see times square and its countless billboards. to see the lights and tall buildings. 

and i get it. i do, i get it.  and yet a part of me wants to shout out to them: no, this is not it. not here. this is not new york!

you know that scene in funny face where audrey hepburn sneaks off to an underground cafe? and it's dark and infused with smoke and she dances wildly to beatnik music surrounded by frenchmen wearing berets? well. take away the smoke. and transplant it here across the atlantic. and well, i suppose that's the new york i'm always in search of. 

(when in new york i want to eat at  restaurants i'll find nowhere else in the world. and see things that will never be replicated on some las vegas strip).

but i suppose that says more about me than the city. 

you know where i'd tell the tourists to go? where i'd suggest you might explore?  the parks. to riverside. and fort tryon. to central park, yes. and the conservatory gardens. and as of today, inwood hill.

my lovely friend kate and i headed to inwood (the northern-most part of manhattan) to wander around it's 196.4 acres (which they say looks not so different than when peter minuet bought the island from the dutch all those years ago). i've always wanted to go but been hard pressed to find a friend willing to make the trek. not kate. she was up to it--she's always up for a little adventure (and it certainly doesn't hurt that she's one of the funniest and most intelligent friends i have). 

the park was aglow with orange. snow still on the ground. and the hudson glimmering in the distance. and all city, you know? still new york. still manhattan. 

kate pointed out deer tracks and we talked as girls do who haven't seen each other in a year. and january got a little bit better. and manhattan gets cell service everywhere (even in the middle of a natural forest). 

wherever i go...my camera will follow...

one of a few new year's resolutions that i'm trying to get a jump start on.

i'm saving my money to buy a heavy duty camera with the hope of then taking one of nicole's classes (or at least getting the textbook). but i figure before i spend the big bucks on a nice camera i have to make a habit of taking photos wherever and whenever.

(did i ever tell you that it was a b in photography my junior year of high school that nocked me off the honor roll for the first time in my life?)

never too late to improve one's self, i say!