Bagel therapy

Sometimes on a rainy day when you've been kept awake into the middle of the night by the neighbors, when melancholy won't leave you alone, and even Fran Lebowitz can't make you laugh, you've got to head on over to Ess-a-Bagel and nosh your blues away.

The other best Joe ever

Haven't slept in thirty hours minus a thirty minute nap. The best food for sleep deprivation is a Belgian waffle with bacon from Joe Jr.'s in the East Village.

I walked to the train through the thick falling snowflakes and realized that this is the only acceptable weather for bagpipes. But not too much bagpipery, just a few notes while I dash away.

My emotions are fragile and frantic. I almost started crying on the train ride home as I admired all the beautiful New Yorkers going about their lives. Oh, home!

Here's to sleeping all day.

Reflections on getting through a big day

Today was a big day.
I am getting closer to who I am and what I'm about.
In order to accomplish what I set out to do, I need to step up the self-care.

That means:
Starting my day with jumping jacks
Listening to Everything That Happens Will Happen Today by Brian Eno and David Byrne
Treating myself to a pumpernickel bagel with scallion cream cheese from Ess-a-bagel
Drinking milk-tea
Decompressing with my homeboy

(Getting through a big day sometimes requires a big bagel.)

present day history

Last night I arrived back in the city for a long weekend before school begins. Joseph and I visited Yogurt Station, the new self-serve yogurt cafe on St. Marks.


Joseph and I added a column to our yogurt chart. Yogurt Station is giving its two competitors a run for their money. The biggest downside of the new restaurant is its horrible location on the heavily trafficked street with drunk NYU students, stumbling off the sidewalk. On the plus side, Yogurt Station only charges 35 cents an ounce, which is the cheapest of the three shops.


Remember Kaleidoscope? Well, Joe and I visited my old block in the East Village and it seems that the restaurant has finally declared itself a failure, morphing into another aesthetic nightmare, this one called Iron Sushi, a local chain. I've never eaten at Kaleidoscope and there is little chance I'm going to try Iron Sushi. We sat on the steps on my old building, eating yogurt, observing the new eyesore, and talking to Rob. Good old Rob.

It was a night mixed with nostalgia and change.

Glorious Food

New weekend activity for Joe and me: traveling to different neighborhoods and visiting their grocery stores. These pictures are from a market on Kings Highway, which was our second stop.



Our first stop was the amazing buffet and grocery store in Brighton Beach (pictured above).


Mom and I partook in Butter Lane cupcakes: a banana cupcake with American chocolate icing and a chocolate cupcake with peanut butter icing. Since I'm protesting Sweet Revenge, Butter Lane is now my first choice in cupcakes in New York.


I know it's a chain, but California Pizza Kitchen is my guilty pleasure. Joe and I finally ate at the one in Kipps Bay last night. The menu has a special addendum called the "Menu Adventure Guarantee." "Be adventurous—try something new! If it doesn't thrill you, we'll replace it with one of your usual favorites." That's exactly what made us feel we could branch out from the Tostada Pizza and try the Pear and Gorgonzola Pizza. We liked it enough to not send it back, but next time I'm ordering my favorite.


Joe and I stopped at the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck where he treated me to vanilla ice cream with ginger sauce and curry powder. A food adventure to try and in which I have fallen in love!

Today's food adventure:
Clinton Street Baking Company with my parents.

Important non-foodie announcement:
Tragically, David's Shoe Repair is going out of business on September 20, so hurry in for a pair of sexy, German orthopedic sandals before it's too late!

Here they are, saving the day.

Not to brag, but my parents are amazing. And they're back in New York for the week, a perfectly timed vacation. We had lunch at Cafe Orlin in the East Village and caught up about all of my Turkey (mis)adventures.

At one point, my parents told me that they had looked up the hotel where we stayed in Istanbul, and my mom was brought to tears from laughing so hard (see above) by how disgusting the hotel looked on their website. It's true, the place was kind of raunchy. I suspect that it may have been one of the many places in Istanbul that was a rent-by-the-hour hotel used by prostitutes and escorts until very recently. Judging by the noises I heard at night while staying at Hotel Devran, it may still be a rent-by-the-hour hotel.

It's all in the past now. Nothing but an anecdote.

Packing it in

Weekend Chaos:

Friday-
Homophobic movie screening of the year, Bruno with Matt B. and Joe.
Commiserating about the movie over drinks at the Old Town Bar.

Saturday-
Scrub apartment with Joe for four hours to prepare for subletter's viewing.
Show apartment.
Go to the Whitney Museum to see Dan Graham and Sadie Benning.
Dinner at Odessa.
Screening of Lake Tahoe.
Stay for Q&A with Writer/Director of Lake Tahoe and one of my favorite films, Duck Season, Fernando Eimbecke.

Sunday-
Joe and I meet up with Kasey, Amy, and Sara for brunch at Cheryl's Global Soul.
After brunch, we all roll over to the Brooklyn Museum to view Yinka Shonibare and the New Feminist Video shows.
Joe and I go back to Brooklyn where we spend the evening making an instructional video for work.
We fall asleep, fried from the weekend, watching a cheesy gay movie from the early eighties, Parting Glances.

new things, familiar things

Mom and Dad are back in New York, staying at my apartment, which was my birthday gift to Mom. Before their first play of their trip, Joe and I met up with them for dinner at Westville in the East Village. Not that it's a competition, but I'm sure I won best dinner with my wasabi-glazed mahi-mahi. Then again, we all won with the shared fruit cobbler and vanilla ice cream.

We played around a little with the new camera. I'm trying to be patient and to pace myself while I get to know my new toy.

Just in time for summer, I'm sporting a new haircut thanks to a visit to the fabulous Veronica's apartment. Now if only summer would come and stay for a while.

All my love and congratulations go to Riva, who has just graduated from Graduate School in American Studies. You are truly a master!

sugar, sugar

While strolling through the East Village, Riva and I tried out, Butter Lane cupcakes this afternoon.


Though the server was unfriendly, the smell, taste, and ambiance were delicious.


Butter Lane offers two cupcakes: vanilla or chocolate. Then you get to choose frostings from a list of eighteen.


Best friends/cupcakes forever.


We tried chocolate with coffee frosting,


and vanilla with cream cheese frosting.


Both were light, fulfilling, and in the top five of the New York cupcake choices.


Later on, we ran into Babycakes, the vegan bakery in the Lower East Side.


We figured why not make it two for two? We both tried the spelt-flour carrot cupcakes with vanilla frosting.


Pretty yummy for vegan.










It's not obvious from this picture, but Riva was overjoyed to learn that Babycakes serves Stumptown Coffee, a Portland bean, which she cherished back in her West Coast days. She broke her two-month break from coffee to revisit this treasure.

Enter cast of characters

Friday night, I met up with Abbey and her gang for pizza and sangria at Three of Cups.


Riva and Joe joined us, too.


The lighting isn't great for taking pictures, but that didn't stop me from trying. Here are Mike and Heather.


The ghosts of Erica, Nick, and Mike.










After dinner, Joe suggested a sweet stop at 16 Handles. It was almost warm enough to sit outside.