So this category does not belong to the embarrassing theme of the week, though you should always get just drunk enough to act slightly silly, and I think the trend of only attending the reception and not the wedding (a trend I only just found about) should be considered embarrassing and totally wrong.

I just want to take the time to congratulate my friends Laura and Chris on the beginning of their life together as husband and wife. The wedding and reception were beautiful and we had a great time!

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Posted on March 31, 2008

Village Voice food critic Robert Sietsema is known for seeking out under the tracks kind of restaurants: cheap, ethnic spots from not just the city, but the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn. So many of the vendors at last week's Choice Eats event, which Sietsema hosted, were not the ones usually invited to soiree foodie fests at places like the Puck Building. There were less off the beaten path places also in attendance, like Mercadito, Fette Sau, Kuma Inn (the first restaurant I ever recommended on Brix Picks) and Xunta.

The food offered is, on the whole, not light and you spend most the time with both hands full of beer, pork, rice, beer, water, pork… it is a whirlwind of flavors, fullness, and fun. It made it difficult to manage some photos, but other less piggy and double fisting bloggers took some here and here.

We didn't manage to try everything (though it is all free – including booze), not because of the lines, but because our stomachs told us not to. The best selections we did try were: jerk pork from Bajan Cafe – the best thing of the night; chicken rice and yogurt sauce from Rawal Ravail Restaurant; pulled pork and grits from Smoke Joint; lamb heavy Greek goodies from Philoxenia; cut up roti from Nirvana Cafe, mashed potatoes and tuna salad from El Anzuelo Fino and Nepalese fried chicken from Yeti of Hieizan.

The Puck Building, while spacious was crowded with foodies (some were out of luck vegetarians) and the line of ticket holders to get in wrapped around the block, I can't imagine many non ticket holders had a chance. Inside, though, lines were never too bad, it was bustling but we didn't wait more than a minute or two for food. I assume this could change next year when word gets out that this is a food event not to be missed.

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Posted on March 17, 2008

Macbeth is the classic Shakespearean tale of ambition, murder and madness we all read in Junior High, it's be adapted numerous times but when shiny headed space hunk Patrick Stewart became attached to this Rupert Goold directed production, suddenly the play is attracting buzz again.

This sold-out show in the lovely (but inconveniently located) BAM Harvey Theater is exciting, bloody, and dark and loud. The setting and costumes are updated to resemble a vaguely Soviet 1950s, but the dialog, which references locations and titles specific to Scotland and England, is unchanged to fit the set. In another modern overhaul, the three sisters are now menacing nurses who almost rap their incantations (sounds worse than it is, I promise), rear projection videos help to enliven the sparse scenery and the play ends with the brandishing of a blood-drenched decapitated head.

It has proven so popular (completely sold out right away) that it?moves on to Broadway soon. The actors, including Stewart but also a radiantly evil Kate Fleetwood as Lady Macbeth, are part of the reason for the success. The language can be hard to follow, particularly if it's been a while since you've heard Shakespeare, but with good acting and staging it is accessible.

It's worth noting, though, that it does run three hours and some of the old ladies surrounding me were having very a hard time keeping their cool during the last third. One giant man behind us even feel asleep and was snoring. Though with all the clamor, thrills and drama of this production, I can't see how he managed.

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Posted on March 3, 2008

It was a bright but brisk day when we headed to the East Marina, in Point Lookout, Long Island. The winds would eventually, once we were out on the water, send us indoors to the cabin for some hot chocolate, but not before we saw lots of seal lazing about the cold waters. We were told to look out for big bowling ball-like shapes by the rugged captain Bob, the less rugged conservationist Other Bob, and the animated guide who clearly spent her whole life as a theatrical girl who wanted to work with animals when she grew up.

Kudos to her, because she more than just works for animals, she ended up working for the Riverhead Foundation, a noble organization and the only one certified to rescue seals, turtles, dolphins, and whales found in the New York area. If you ever see an abandoned sea creature, these are the guys to call and by purchasing a ticket aboard their cruise you are giving money to their cause. It's only twenty dollars a ticket too!

The other shipmates consisted of very old ladies with their husbands (if they were still alive), but most were alone. The other half was made up of heavy smokers in weird jackets with girlfriends that so didn't want to be there. We all clambered around the boat braving the winds to catch a glimpse through our (awesome) binocs of the shiny harbor seals. They rarely got too close to the boat and it would be considered harassment if we went too close to them (not becoming of a conservation organization) but even at a distance seeing their whiskery, playful faces floating above the water was quite thrilling.

The whole trip takes about an hour and a half and we saw about twenty five individual seals on our outing. It's a great winter activity, particularly during a mild winter afternoon. Reservations are required and the last cruise is scheduled for April 27, 2008.

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Posted on February 18, 2008

I hosted my chart reading with a dollar store virgin Mary red candle in one hand and nervous sweat in the other. I was really super excited to have Laura read my chart, but there's always a dark side–all the things you need to watch out for, and those were getting me a bit anxious.

She uses a book aptly titled The Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need, a massive paperback tome with prose peppered with awkwardly colloquial asides intended, I assume, to make you feel like you're actually talking to a fringe scarf-draped woman (perhaps like author Joanna Martine Woolfolk herself) who likes to wink and say things like “Wouldn't they like to know”.

My reading was, I have to admit, startlingly accurate. The good and the bad. I am stubborn ( I was described as happily ignoring people's suggestions if I don't agree with them), sometimes vain, seemingly aloof, impatient, and I am a loyal friend until I am hurt or slighted and then I can be acid tongued and vicious.

It also said, and I am not joking, that I should never run because I will fall and hurt myself. My ankles, apparently, are my weak spot. Oh, and this hurting myself will probably happen while I am traveling and I will possibly spend my last days afar and alone.

On the bright side, it also said I have that little thing we that have it like to call “star power”, that I am creative and an idea person who would possibly have several different careers, reaching the top in one (only to possibly fall again). It said I make people laugh and I will be a good mother.

Even the physical characteristics were right on. A pleasant oval face, thin ankles, appearing smaller and more frail than I am, and most accurately, it said I would possibly have gray hair early in life. I have had a large grey spot since I was a kid and am all salt and pepper now.

Even Jim, who is a skeptic of such cat lady things had to admit it was bang on. It was really fun, and I don't know if it's the whole turning 30 thing or what, but it also made me acutely and newly aware of how much more is to come my way in life and that I have no idea what it will be.

One awesome thing that's come of it, since it continually suggested a career in writing is that I have started to do just that.

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Posted on February 4, 2008