First of all, I love the adjective “sprightly” so I would have been drawn to this Sprightly Sauteed Scallops recipe even if it didn't have the rich flavors of sundried tomatoes and shiitake mushrooms. This is another winner from Fresh Direct and the Cold Weather Cooking cookbook.
Recipes »Sprightly Scallops
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Drinks »Frangelico and Coke
Face it, you've always wanted to drink a snickers bar even if you've never thought of it before. My friend Marcus who is always the most reliable experimenter in cocktails at parties (sorry Mike) introduced us all to the magic of Frangelico and coke – or as I have come to call it Frangelicoke. It's also, at least online referred to as a Monk on Coke, not for the neurotic detective audiences fell in and out of love with on USA, but for the monk shape of the Frangelico bottle that more closely resembles Mrs Butterworth.
As I mentioned, the beverage is a nice sweet concoction that will definitely have you thinking of candy bars, but perhaps the greatest thing about it is that you now have an easy recipe for a great drink that can use up that huge bottle of Frangelico that's been collecting dust on your shelf.
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Posted on March 9, 2009
Style Icons: Male »Chris Benz
Chris Benz really stood out in the sea of blacks and grays this season in New York with a bright, fun-time collection that caught my eye and made my heart pitter-patter. The water color print is fantastic; really, the stuff of dream outfits and the unusual combination with a maxi bronze glitter skirt is genius. Sure, not each and every piece is as stunning and perfect, but the yellow and green make me smile and the ruffles are actually flattering.
Plus, the dude's a babe (bonus Hunk of the week!… and what's the deal this decade with fine men making fine clothes – not that I would ever complain about such a phenomenon? who hails from Seattle and used to look totally cool in elementary school. He told Teen Vogue, “My signature outfit was an OP top knotted with baggy neon–striped bicycle shorts. The look was kind of Saved by the Bell!”
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Posted on March 9, 2009
Laughs »The REAL to all the williamsburg girls – m4w – 28 (Williamsburg)
Soo in the time I've been away, there's been the awesome David After the Dentist and Kittens Inspired by Kittens, but you've all seen those by now, so let's have a chuckle over this inspired love letter to Williamsburg girls?that was recently on craigslist (no longer). Finally another someone who is not at all in the least bit pissed about hipness. Hoorah.
I love you. I can't believe that other guy posted all that noise. The other day, I was on the L train thinking, “Damn, I should post a Missed Connection to every woman on this damn train (I have a limited vocabulary in my internal monologues): 'Women of the L Train. Thank you for making my day. Every day.' (see?)” Sometimes I walk around here and I think, “Is this real? Am I actually living in a place packed with so many attractive, cool girls?” If anything, its kind of intimidating.
Here's an example: the other day, I walked into a crappy restaurant that will remain nameless at like four o'clock pm. There was a girl done up to the nines like she was ready to go out, like she'd listened to Sussudio in her apartment at least three times in a row while getting ready. She's half-sitting, half-dancing on one of the stools. She's all “table for one?” and I was like “wtf, you are at *work*?” The restaurant was pretty slow, so she proceeded to have her dance party for one the entire time I was eating, even though some of the tunes were honestly not that choice, but when you are wearing mirrored aviators at work on sunday afternoon you have to bring it, even if some old lame violent femmes tune is on. Now the whole time this was going on, that girl was _at work_. At a lame hostessing gig at a lame restaurant. That's awesome. The bad attitude to this is that this is some kind of posturing thing, some kind of posing thing, or something bad, but…fuck that. This girl was taking a pretty bunk situation and trying to make it fun, she's basically turnin' frowns upside down FOR FREE! I don't get why people on craigslist are so pissed about all these weird “williamsburg” markers? Did I walk into your film shoot at night on the roof? Sorry, I just wanted to smoke outside, I'll be quiet. I think its awesome you are doing that. What's that? You design and make your own clothes and then sell them with your friends in some kind of crazy coop? That rules. Oh, you are busy tonight at your bizarre secret dining society? I'm happy for you. Dude, the idea that secret dining societies exist is _awesome_. Sure, its easy to be all bloggish and just say everything sucks, but what doesn't rule about inviting a bunch of people over to your house and cooking them an awesome meal while your friend makes really good drinks? I don't know, I even love all your crazy ass clothes, why do people get so pissed about this? I love walking down Bedford or around in freakin McCarren when its nice out. Its OUT OF CONTROL! It's like being in a video or a cool magazine from the future. I mean sure, I've met a surprising number of girls around here who are really into astrology. I've learned more about astrology from bartending girls in the last couple of years than I thought there was to know about astrology. Now, astrology is, well..lets be honest, it's pretty dumb, but I still like hearing you explain it, its like Pokemon or old dudes who are really into wine: “You see the bordeaux 1976 is a water pokemon that was born under the waning pisces, so you can taste a certain duplicitousness on the soft palette.” SHINE ON YOU CRAZY DIAMONDS!
Why is everyone so pissy? Haven't you seen Ghostbusters II? In these troubled times, keeping up this bad attitude will make an evil painting come to life and shoot out pink slime that eats Ripley from Alien's baby, the only way out is to ROCK OUT WITH THE STATUE OF LIBERTY AND LISTEN TO JACKIE WILSON! Or you could listen to Move On Up by Curtis Mayfield (I tried to embed a video of this but CL doesn't let you).
Let's try not to let it get to that point. To wit:
This is from the last anti-dudes post:
“You study advertising without thinking of who is making that oh so important arm chair. You want to be a photographer but loathe getting out of bed before 2. Poor you. Enjoy your bands, the “books” that I doubt you've ever read, your cute outfits, and the never ending search for your meaning.”
This is from the last anti-ladies post:
“But why do I want to waste my saturday night talking to some uninteresting person? Someone who is amassing wealth so that they can raise their children in the same manner that their parents did? I'm not interested in your job. I'm not interested in how long you've lived here or what you think of Brooklyn. I know what you're really after, and I'm not interested. I would say “good luck,” but I know one of these days you will find your future husband — the one who appreciates your boring little quirks, your for-appearances-sake interest in foreign films, your intent to appear “cultured” above all else”
Why don't you guys just freakin' move? There's no jobs here, the rent is insane, and basically, you can throw a dart at a US map and end up in a cheaper town where no one wants to be a photographer, no one really cares too much about any particular bands or books, no one wears cute outfits [ed: how could this possibly be annoying?], no cute girl in a bar will talk to you about what you think of brooklyn or their boring job, and no one even gives a crap about movies or being or appearing “cultured”. I mean, you must know that, right? That's probably what the place you moved from was like.
In conclusion, girls of williamsburg, I love you. I love you because you are beautiful and stylish and always seem to be doing *something* and usually just the fact that you are excited about it is pretty awesome. Don't let those jerks get you down. Hang out with me! Post a missed connections about me (I'm embarassed to admit how compulsively I check it)!
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Posted on March 9, 2009
TV Shows »Heroes
This is a very tepid recommendation for Heroes and it's only fair to tell you, before you devote your time, that about three quarters in, the enjoyment seeps out and you might be left thinking that the doomsday scenario in the plot isn't such a bad thing so long as it banishes some of these characters forever (Mohinder in particular and the terribly annoying shape shifter).
But on the plus side, it really is an exciting and fun ride for awhile. I was pleasantly surprised by it until the writers felt that each and every plot had to mesh and come to a single conclusion. I won't dive too much into plot, I'd hate to take away the reveals and surprises, but would it have killed them to make the story more open ended, more expansive and less ultimately boring?
Imagine if Buffy based an entire season with absolutely no subplot (and no humor) around the master. Don't get me wrong he was an excellent villain and end of the world plots are grand, but it gets boring when nothing else is going on outside your main story arch.
And really, for every person that begins to grate on your nerves, there are character actors doing a splendid job with the material. I've always found Ali Larter appealing in a slutty actress way and she is formidable as the schizoid mother, Jessica/Niki. Zachary Quinto as Sylar too is impressive in a villain role that could be very hard to pull off with a lesser, more hammy actor. Of course Masi Oka as Hiro Nakamura brings a world of charm (which is why people were justifiably upset when, in season two they decided to thrown him into feudal Japan with a white samurai teacher who manages to bleed all the enjoyable charm right out of him). Hayden Panettiere is also a far more agreeable young Hollywood presence than most.
So, proceed with caution and feel free to turn off (as most of the initial viewers have) once it gets tedious – I promise I will tell you what happens if you must know.
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Posted on March 9, 2009
Web Sites »Google Analytics
I guess I just feel sorry for Google and its cutbacks. I mean how would you like surviving without afternoon tea on Tuesday?? Barbaric! Actually, I don't mean to sound so sour grapes. It is really sad to see perks fade away in New York offices and since they, like most companies have had to lay off people which in a bigger picture sort of way makes this slippery slope of doom all the more scary. If even Google, a huge company that's fast growing is effected, everyone is vulnerable.
So I'd like to offer a ray of sunshine in the form of praise for the company's excellent analytics system. If you have a blog you need to use this – it's as addicting (especially the map overlay feature where you can see on a world map exactly where your viewers are from) as it is fascinating.
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Posted on March 9, 2009
Places to Visit »Sheepshead Bay
There are far edges of this large borough that most people I know have never traveled to. We just spent the afternoon in one of them: Sheepshead Bay, a tight community and coastal area that feels old fashioned and has a few special spots to visit.
First, we headed to the Imax at UA Sheepshead Bay Stadium, a place where we could see Watchmen (I'll tell you more about that next week) in loud, huge, high definition in a totally un-sold out theater. Sure, the place suffers from the same defects as any other, namely: the public can be annoying (and stupid – Note: do NOT bring your very young children to see Watchmen – they will see penises and arms being sawed off!) and the prices are mind numbing, but if you're willing to make the drive or the trek via subway, you're guaranteed a good seat even on opening weekend.
Other enticements include Jordan's Lobster Dock across the street, where we partook in some fresh steamers and butter after the show to discuss the movie. It's a shack of a place that smells like brine and is crowded with kids in basketball shorts. There's nothing fancy to it but I love the idea of ending a movie with a dozen clams. They also have a retail shop where you can pick up, among other things, live lobster to take home for dinner. Which we would have done if there weren't other stops to see before we left the area.
Brennan and Carr was next on my tour and I found it as classically old Brooklyn as I expected from this Hungry Cabbie entry that first informed me of the famous roast beef restaurant years ago. You can order from the concise menu outside or you can take a seat in the cozy, fire-placed back room where local boys serve you in black bow ties and white waiter jackets. Your fellow patrons will mostly be locals who know the value of a simple juicy roast beef on a bun.
The last stop on my list was unfortunately closed when we drove by it. Kiev Bakery is a local pastry shop, but even though i wasn't able to try their sweets, just a glance in the window was well worth it. They specialize in doll cakes and I don't just mean a measly 12 inch doll. The ones in the window were those three foot tall ones, that can open their eyes and toddlers take for walks. Next to them sat huge over the top wedding cakes and I can only apologize for not getting my camera out fast enough to snap a photo.
Also closed, though permanently is Lundy's – a huge (it was once the largest restaurant in the country) famous seafood restaurant that was housed in a great looking building that will become a gourmet market in the near future.
In warmer weather the foot bridges along the water would be a nice place to walk off all the clams and beef.
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Posted on March 9, 2009
Spend a Couple Minutes »Bare Escentuals
I have never been in favor of foundation, the word alone congers up images of girls in high school with bad chin streak lines and older ladies I used to work in offices and stores who frightened me with masks of eerie faux skin. But, I always dreamed, if there really was a make up that didn't look like makeup, didn't feel like makeup and, dream of dreams, actually made your complexion clearer, I'd change my tune.
Well tunes have been changed and Bare Escentuals is to thank for it. Women in my office have been singing the brands praises for a long time, but I finally paid heed when I wanted to get a little something for myself for my birthday. It's not terribly cheap stuff, but it's worth every penny.
I got the basic powder plus the “Complexion Enhancers” which includes a nice set of three brushes, an eye enhancer, a faux tan powder, a radiance all over face powder, and a light mineral veil. Sounds like you'll get out of the bathroom looking like a tramp, but the truth is you'll just look better. They can be used individually or all together.
I know this sounds like hyperbole, but what can I say, I'm thrilled with it, not only for making me feel like I look better but for making me feel more girly in the mornings. I've never ever had any more of “beauty?routine” until now and it makes me feel less like the low maintenance shlub that I am.
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Posted on March 9, 2009
Spend a Couple Hours »Mitsuwa Marketplace Part 2
I usually refrain from repeating myself here, but each trip to Mitsuwa Marketplace offers such new exciting things, that I felt our latest venture was worth noting to anyone headed there.
Having already eaten, we skipped the incredible food court, but you can read about that here. This time we were focused on the market side, and I was most determined to purchase sliced octopus sashimi, but went home with much more.
To pair with my dinner of octopus, I got a few favorites from my last visit: fresh salmon roe and Ponzu sauce for dipping. Cured and slightly spicy and sweet anchovies were an obvious choice and a new taste experience for me.
We also grabbed Shoyu Ramen base pack with noodles and seasoning, a couple options of spicy cod roe sauce mix so I can attempt to replicate my favorite dish at Hiroko's Place at home, a frozen box of pork and vegetable steamed buns, and in what was likely the best purchase of all: Calpis Ice Bars that are worthy of their own entry, so read all about them in the desserts section.
We've yet to try it but we got a little daring with our sake purchase too. Instead of our favorite Wakatake brand we found a blue bottle of Kan-Chiku. Hope it's as good!
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Posted on March 9, 2009
Restaurants »Joe’s Shanghai
Even the phrase can conjure dreams of belly warming niceness: “soup dumplings” not dumplings floating in soup mind you, but dumplings hiding soup within it's pillowy casing. Crazily enough, I've known about this Joe's Shanghai delicacy for years, but only had the chance to try it the other week. It's the house specialty, the efficient waiters ask you how many before a menu is even distributed. We ordered two crab versions for each of us (though I could have eaten more).
According to the site:
Xiao Long Bao or “Little Dumplings from Basket” was originated from Nan Xiang, a suburb of Shanghai. Their perfectly symmetrical shape, resembles a pagoda.”
Here in the city there are several places to try the dish, but none are more popular than Joe's Shanghai, so expect a wait if you go during peak hours. Of course, who makes the best is a topic of great debate on Chowhound and the people are always ready to fall the king – but I was blown away and crave them right this second (particularly with that winter sleet blowing around outside).
And NY Mag answers one of the big questions :
“How do they get the soup inside those dumplings? Easy: They thicken it with gelatin and put it in solid. Then, when the dumplings are steamed, voila: soup!”
But the typically bright and stripped down restaurant deserves accolades for more than just their dumplings. I can't recall all the dishes we ordered everyone had their own pick) but I seem to recall Moo Shoo pork Shrimp and Chicken in Plum Sauce and one of the noodle dishes with beef.. even if the names escape me, I can say with certainly that they were all really good.
There are three Joe's locations, the one I ate at in Chinatown, one in midtown and one in Flushing.