Restaurants »M Shanghai Bistro & Garden

292 Grand St, Brooklyn, NY

Cold days and lazy bones make for delivery Chinese cravings. Unfortunately most of the time, when you’re ordering Chinese, you’re in for a digestive trip with the usual greasy stuff that’s given the cuisine a bad name in the states for decades.

So, I was happy to find an option that still keeps the essence of what we’ve all come to know and guiltily love but is much better.

All the years I’ve lived here I’ve never tried M Shanghai Bistro and Garden, but after reading many yelp reviews, we gave it a shot. We figured it couldn’t be much worse than any other.

We were pleasantly surprised with chewy thick lo mein, a “tic tac toe” chicken that, while looking like nothing to speak of, was actually richly, flavored with an excellent garlicky sauce, and plump juicy steamed dumplings, that, while not as good as Joe’s Shanghai soup dumplings, were notable.

The only wrong note was the scallion pancakes (ironically, the best part of the “other” Chinese place’s menu). They were dry and way too crispy for my taste.

I wouldn’t necessarily end up here for a nice night out, but for those rare occasions when nothing but aluminum plated Americanized noodles and stir fries will do, there’s no better place to call in the Williamsburg/Greenpoint area.

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Posted on February 9, 2011

Songs »Empire State of Mind Part II

by Alicia Keys (2009)

One good thing about winter isolation is that I rarely have to inadvertently listen to the radio playing in stores, that plus an ability to fast forward commercials? I’ve heard nary a Sugar Ray or an American Idol winner song in months and months.

The down side is that once and a while an uplifting gem slips through my radar, like Alicia Keys’ Empire State of Mind Part 2.

I am not sure if it makes me lame to the broader world that I didn’t know this song (when I asked the manicurist who sang it, she was polite enough to not give me an “are you serious?” look, yet I could tell that something had been decided for her about me right then and there). It was, as I’ve since learned, all the rage almost two years ago.

But then again, among the I-only-listen-to-radio-for-NPR crowd, it might make me just as lame to be so in love with such a popular hit – after all, it played right after the Gin Blossoms’ “Hey Jealousy”.

But lame or not – this sounds like modern day Donna Summer and there’s not a thing wrong with that. It makes one feel all alive with excitement, teaming with the hope of Diana Ross’ Mahogany stepping out to make her dreams come true in a huge shawl and a maxi skirt.

It reminds me of the initial thrill of coming to New York, when it felt as exciting in it’s vast energy as it was intimidating. And while I don’t walk down a street in Soho with the same dreamy eyes I had back in those days, the city can still amaze: when you drive back home during dusk and the skyline welcomes you, when snow first starts falling in the night time street lights, when… see look at me. I am super sentimental and it’s all because of this song.

But not the original Jay-Z version, I get less emotional to raps about Robert DeNiro.

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Posted on February 8, 2011

Recipes »30-Minute Turkey Chili

from the Food Network Kitchens

In a rare moment of culinary inspiration, Jim decided to whip up a pot of 30-Minute Turkey Chili. He must have been subconsciously influenced by the super bowl that was playing in most households other than our own.

While the idea of the recipe might lead you to imagine it is bland either because it uses turkey or takes so little time to make, hence possibly not allowing the flavors to “blend” like they usually would with chili, do not fret. I don’t know how, but this is exceptional.

We’re hoping it’s a bit better for us too, since we are craving it again already.

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Posted on February 8, 2011

Desserts,Recipes »Peat Scotch Truffles

To Die For

My friends are awesome and always bring great goodies to dinner parties, but Astrid really outdid herself with these Peat Scotch Truffles.

She used this earl grey recipe as a basis but used the Peat Scotch in place of tea.

It’s a very sophisticated taste, that is at once chocolatey and boldly smokey (the signature flavor of Peat Scotch). It’s almost jarring at first taste, then quickly becomes addictive.

Having a packet of these in the fridge is proving to be dangerous. Dangerously delicious.

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Posted on February 7, 2011

Style Icons: Female »Tura Satana

One Tough Pussycat

Tura Satana was not just a woman, but a force. While she was a burlesque dancer and actress in several films, she is almost exclusively associated with her dynamic, you-have-to-see-it-to-believe-it role as Varla in Russ Meyer’s Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

She had a life that could have been a movie in itself, with tragedy, revenge, and drama, but it all sadly ended this weekend when she passed away from heart failure.

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Posted on February 7, 2011

Movies »Casablanca

directed by Michael Curitz (1942)

As I continue my resolution to finally watch movies I’ve always meant to, I rented the stunning bluray of Casablanca. Yes,I had yet to see it til now to my embarrassment.

Even knowing most of the iconic lines, most of the plot, and the ending, I found this stands up as a masterpiece. I am left, though with very little to say that hasn’t already been said about this classic romance.

I mean, you’ve probably seen it, right? It’s great. Bogart is tough Nazi Killer with a heart of gold and the courage of a lion, Bergman is gorgeous, brave and well dressed, and who isn’t moved by As Time Goes By?

However, I really wish there had been more Peter Lorre. I love that guy and when his character was killed I even asked Jim, like a seven year old watching Bambi “He’s not really dead, right – He comes back?”

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Posted on February 6, 2011

Style Icons: Male »Ernie K-Doe

Emperor of the World

After a successful stint as an R&B king, most notably as the performer of the hit “Mother in Law“, Ernie K-Doe hit a rough patch he dubbed an “alcohol haze” that lasted a couple decades.

Rather than giving up, though he came back, with better hair than ever, a flamboyant enthusiasm for himself and New Orleans, a new self proclaimed nick name: “The Emperor of the World”, a hopping music venue called The Mother In Law Lounge, and a posthumous faux run for Mayor headed by his loving wife.

A true original and eccentric, his cape wearing, entertaining antics made him a symbol of New Orleans. When his lounge was severely damaged after Katrina, the Hands on Network came in to help it reopen in 2008.

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Posted on February 6, 2011

Hunks »Daniel Clowes

Brilliant Graphic Novelist

It seems almost cosmically unfair that Daniel Clowes should not only be prolifically genius as the author and illustrator of such mind blowing, earth shaking, genre bending masterworks as Ghost World, David Boring and Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron (we’ll forgive the recent dud, Wilson) but also be a gauntly handsome man with eyes to pierce the indie comic reading girl’s soul.

Somewhere there is a poor schmuck without talent or good looks to fill the void. Ironically, he’s probably a huge Clowes fan.

I met him briefly at a book signing in Austin (hello early 2000’s!) and he seemed to be a very nice fellow too. We asked if he understood Crispin Glover’s intro to Pussey! He did not.

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Posted on February 6, 2011

Songs »Pimps Don’t Cry

by Jon Brion, Cee-lo and Eva Mendes (2010)

It used to be I didn’t know this Jon Brion, then I saw him perform and I loved him, now I am ready to take it to what ever the next step is, because his Pimps Don’t Cry, performed by Cee-lo and Eva Mendes is fabulous.

Is it weird that some of my favorite songs are “parody songs” (see One Track Lover and other Matt Berry, see Reggae Man, see the Nashville soundtrack, see Higher and Higher)?

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Posted on February 5, 2011

Laughs »Dong Dong Swallower

Classmates.com

First of all, is it such a rare occassion for Classmates.com to get a new member that they send out announcements every time? (And if so, the possibilites of this joke are endless) – and second of all, does any one from my high school remember Dong Dong?

I think he may have been in Senora Wells’ Spanish class but I can’t remember. So, I guess I would have to describe him as “soft-spoken”?

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Posted on February 5, 2011