Blue

In honor of the beautiful Spring sky, I am painting my finger nails blue.

Spring

I chilled out and got some rest last night, so I'm feeling much better than anxiety-ridden yesterday. Nick and I watched "Shakespeare In Love," which, while it was entertaining and a cute little story, did not deserve to win Best Picture over films like "Elizabeth" and "Life is Beautiful." It was contrived, corny, and completely ridiculous. Sure it had great costumes, but I simply can't believe Gwyneth Paltrow won Best Actress over Cate Blanchett or Meryl Streep. Ludicrous.

On a good note, I'm going to Hoboken for the St. Paddy's Day festivities today! I have a little bottle of Bailey's to pour in some delicious iced coffee, because it's 40 degrees out and it's practically spring, so that clearly calls for ICE in my coffee. YES.

I think my shower has finally heated up (damn you, post war apartment building), so I'm going to go get ready.

Happy Almost Spring!

Ugh

I really don't feel like posting. So here are 10 boring updates on my life.

1. I feel like crap today.
2. I had a really delicious dinner last night.
3. I have a new friend named Hannah.
4. I am in the end stages of a big work project.
5. I painted my nails today.
6. I am going to Minetta Tavern tomorrow.
7. I want a bagel very badly.
8. I am not religious.
9. I am wearing an $8 sweater.
10. I want it to be Spring.

Goodbye.

More Local Eats...

Last night I went with a friend to our neighborhood's newest addition, The Castello Plan, a hip little wine bar. We went in expecting to get "small plates," but didn't realize just how small they'd be. That's acceptable, though, since the food was rather impressive... Here's what the Village Voice has to say.

We had melt-in-your-mouth mussels in white wine sauce, deliciously seasoned "sprats" (sardines) with a spiced mayo-covered quail egg, some incredibly delicious mushrooms stewed with sour cream and dill, and a really great charcuterie of boar sausage, lamb prosciutto, and some other incredibly fatty and delicious meat. And to top it off, we had a chocolate truffle (sliced like potatoe chips that keep falling apart) that you could sprinkle with either paprika salt, anise seed, or crushed almonds. Plus the last round of wine was on the house... Amazing!

We'll be back very soon to try the raw oysters, although I'm amused that they made a mistake on the menu. They refer to them as "Belle Soleil" but that's not right, as I thought last night but wasn't sure... It's Beausoleil, or Beau Soleil. Silly foodies, you don't know your seafood.

Anyway, when spring finally comes it will be extra special nice to sit out in their little side garden and down countless bottles of delectable wine. I can't say that I know anything about wine, but I know what I like and I think that's enough. Of course, we're bound to run into foodie hipster wino assholes at some point, but I can deal.

It's kind of frightening how hip Cortelyou Road has become, but I certainly don't mind. It's nice to have options when I want to go out to eat, which is more often than not, and to enjoy fine dining in an intimate setting without the Manhattan pretention. I'm not "local" enough in the neighborhood to be able to complain about gentrification... I AM gentrification, and I don't care. I like to eat good food, dammit, and if I only have to walk 5 blocks to get it, well then, I'm satisfied.

Here's what Serious Eats has to say about the evolution of Cortelyou Road.

Working Hard

I'm stuck at work... doing work... I don't really have anything to blog about, but I do have "Ave Maria" stuck in my head because I got distracted for a moment and was gazing at the sweet little shrine to the Virgin Mary I have up on my wall next to my computer monitor. Lots of pretty little prayer cards. I don't pray and I'm not even Christian, but I love Mary. She's just beautiful.

So here for your viewing pleasure is a link to "Ave Maria" as shown in Disney's Fantasia. This might potentially be my favorite part of any movie of all time. It just gives me hope...which is what I need right now. You might need it, too.

Watch Fantasia's Ave Maria

Goodnight Moon

I just got home to Brooklyn. I took a surprisingly relaxing, uncrowded, late afternoon train, during which I started and read almost half of "Slouching Towards Bethlehem" by Joan Didion -- this book is destined to become one of my favorites, I can already tell. As soon as I got to the city I cabbed it over to Cask for a Book Club meeting, where we somehow got very tipsy on only 2 drinks each. Hmm... Anyway, the next book we're reading is "The Elegance of the Hedgehog," which promises to be just lovely.

Speaking of books, I started to reorganize my bookshelf at my parents' house this morning, and I've vowed to reorganize the one in my apartment as well. I love organizing books... Nonfiction by subject, fiction by author... Beautiful. I also found my old copy of "Goodnight Moon," which will probably always be my favorite book in the whole wide world. Now I'm tired and must go to bed... So...

Goodnight, dish. Goodnight, spoon. Goodnight, cow jumping over the moon.