Insanely Thankful

I recently found this essay that I wrote exactly 5 years ago. For my personal essay class, we had to write exactly 2 pages about anything that described ourselves in a nutshell. After an IC photo show the night before the due date, and a few too many free Apricot Wheats, I decided to write about Thanksgiving. Billie had come home with me that year, so maybe this will jog his memory. Happy Thanksgiving !

Insanely Thankful

I’m sitting here, staring at this odd medley of people gathered at the dinner table, wondering, how on earth did I get here with these people? The smoke alarm is going off, much louder than it usually does. “Are the fire trucks going to come?” my mom asks with a worried look on her face. She is Clarissa Dalloway, the perfect hostess, and this was not in her plans. The dripping grease from the turkey caught fire in the oven somehow and a burst of flame leapt at my mom as she went to baste the turkey one last time. It is Thanksgiving Day, and like every other year, there is never a dull moment. This is pure chaos, as always, and this is how my family operates. We couldn’t have it any other way.

The fire extinguished quickly but the horrified look on my mother’s face did not. My dad asks her if her eyebrows and hair are still intact and my mom, still stunned, widens her eyes as the smoke detector starts beeping frantically. The noise permeates throughout the house, amplifying the stress that already exists. My sister and I laugh from the living room as we watch the scenario unfold between my parents. We are “staying out of the wyay.” The 92-year-old woman from my parents’ church is waving a decrepit dish towel at the smoke detector, attempting to thwart its piercing shrieks. Knowing my dad, and from the look on his face, I’m sure that he would have preferred to smash the plastic perpetrator with a hammer. My dog, sensing the commotion, feels left out. She begins barking shrilly in rhythm to the consistent chirping, wagging her tail to the beat.

The smoke detector finally shuts up and thankfully the fire trucks never appear. We are sitting at the dining room table, formally decorated by my perfectionist mother. Any mischievous, turkey-spying cat has been locked in my bedroom. The table is perfect. My mom has even written out little white cards with everyone’s names on them, dictating where each person will sit. Guided by twisted social graces, she wants everyone to sit next to someone they wouldn’t normally sit next to. Because of this new tradition, my mom and sister glare at each other from across the table. For once in my life, I agree with my sister. I don’t want to sit next to Pastor Dave, I think, why can’t I sit next to Billie? Billie is my roommate, and if he had known what he was getting himself into, I’m not sure he would have chosen to come.

For some reason, Pastor Dave has brought his extremely irritating cocker spaniel, who insists on jumping onto his lap during dinner. My mom, usually a woman with fairly normal common sense and knowledge of what’s appropriate has politely ignored the fact that this “adorable,” oversized lap dog has already peed on her living room carpet, twice. Dave has recently moved here from California, recently being almost 2 years ago, and my mom insists that the dog is his only family right now. “He’s never going to get a girlfriend if he keeps bringing that damn dog everywhere,” my dad not so quietly whispers, winking at me.

I clench my teeth and smile at my sister as Mona, another 90-something-year-old woman from my parents’ church, says what she is thankful for. She is thankful that, 50 years ago, her husband didn’t get crushed by an errant bag of rice tumbling out of an airplane in Bangladesh. He has been dead for 20 years.

This is my family. We have brought in every stray that otherwise would have been alone for Thanksgiving. It is hectic, it is chaos. But this is my family and I love them for it. I couldn’t have it any other way.

Happy Birthday Quinlan

Steve has been on my case since 2005 to become an organ donor. I can't explain entirely why I've hesitated for so long, I imagine it has something to do with being extremely squeamish and believing that my organs aren't particularly enviable. So Steve, for your 26th, I've signed my license, making an "anatomical gift." Here's some proof.

Before:
After:
Happy Birthday!

Marathon '09

The marathon is my favorite NYC event every year. Make fun of me if you will, but without fail, it makes me cry every year. This year it was a runner giving a spectator a high five that opened the (small) floodgates. Here are some highlights:

If you look in the background, you can see triumphant Rose making her way over to her biggest fans! I'd like to think she was doing the fist pumps through the entire race.

This guy was from Japan and running barefoot...


Wonder what country this guy is from:

And this guy was juggling while running. Here's a video. I'm feeling a bit untalented after watching this. I especially like Billie yelling "JUGGLE" from Matthew's fire escape.

stencil me in

These stencils have been popping up on the Pulaski Bridge lately. I'm guessing they're commissioned because I've seen the guy spray painting them in the middle of the day surrounded by traffic cones. I just tried to look up who is behind them, but all I found was an angry blogger calling them "yuppie graffiti." Call me a yuppie, but I don't mind them so much:

Animal post!

I was going to post stuff about Meghan and I finally cashing in on our lobster fund, but I got too hungry looking at the pictures, so this will have to do for now. These pups were on the Metro North train to Tarrytown, where we went to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday a couple weekends ago. I changed my seat so I could stare at them for most of the trip. Unlike a particular raging pittbull, these dogs were super sweet.

And here is Gracie, she is doing fine. Just a few stitches in her ear. Right now she is wagging her tail in her sleep.


And last but not least, chubs makes a new, and probably tasty, friend:



That's it for animals for a while (probably not).

Alpine Dance 2: The Soundtrack

Molly came over last night for dinner and we put our heads together (almost literally!) to play around with iMovie and Garageband, and this is what we came up with. It became a little blurry once I compressed it to Quicktime, but what can ya do?

Schynige Platte dance party

If anyone can figure out how to loop this snazzy little 4 second Alpine dance, I will be forever indebted. This is Billie dancing to the tune of some Katy Perry(?) song on the top of Schynige Platte in the Alps in Switzerland.

Schynige Platte is where we hiked up (after taking a train from Interlaken) to get a view of Jungfrau, which is the third highest mountain in the Bernese Alps.

Research

Well, here is the answer to that last post:

Queens College lizards

Leapin' Lizards!

I was sitting on the Queens College campus yesterday, eating my very grown up lunch of peanut butter and jelly, when this little beast and 2 of his friends came scampering right up to me, mouths agape. What?!?!! Is this real life? Seriously though, can someone explain why there are lizards in Queens? I guess I will have to google it.

I think this should be my last blog digression before I finally start blogging about Europe again.

Topical

Contrary to what people might think, my dad loves to tell his 9/11 story. Seriously, my family will lose him in the grocery story and find him 5 minutes later talking to some new stranger about it. It's almost borderline creepy how many people have heard his story, whether they've wanted to or not. His hands still visibly burned, a lot of people still ask him what happened.

So for him today, I was able to dig up these newspaper articles to share his story with the ears (or eyes) that haven't heard or seen it yet. Both articles shift focus to a stranger taking my dad out of harm's way, so hopefully they (though kind of poorly written) will at least be mildly uplifting!

Newsday 9.29.01

New York Times 10.14.01

"You bring the Röstis, I'll bring the Toasties"

I have a whole lot of Europe blogging to catch up on, but, important things first: the Rösti. Before our trip, Billie showed me a picture of one, and both me and my bottomless pit of a stomach knew that eating one had to be one of our (ahem,main) goals on the trip. The Rösti is considered to be the national dish of Switzerland, as potatoes are the country's main crop.

Here is a photo of the one I had in Bern, Switzerland. I ordered one with cheese, and they weren't kidding about the cheese:


We only managed to eat one of these on the trip, and my inclination toward food fixations dictated that I must figure out how to make these as soon as we got back home. Lucky for me, Justin sent me a YouTube link that is a "how to" guide for making Röstis, sponsored by a Swiss news and information website. Here is the site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh0VQGhCdeM While I pronounce it "Roastie" as Americanly as possible, when the Swiss guy says it, it almost sounds like Salman Rushdie's last name.

While delicious, the Rösti was pretty simple to make. Some improvements for next time are to brown the potatoes a little longer, use a smaller frying pan, and to add salt during the process instead of after. Otherwise, these guys kept Meghan and me full for most of the day, but based on the amount of butter used, this may be a "once in a while" kind of breakfast.




For more Rösti food porn: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%B6sti

Cat lady

Chubs is finally coming to terms not only with his weight, but also with technology. What better way to incorporate both than Wii Fit? He just doesn't realize that simply lying on the balance board isn't going to get him anywhere. I'll give him some credit though, I caught him in the kitchen yesterday munching on a spinach leaf.

Mac/Iphone friendly. Lots of emails to check and Maru videos to watch.

Subs-titute

Hmmm....this looks familiar. This new sub place just replaced a Subway. Come on guys...be a little more creative? I'd try not to knock it before I try it, but I hate Subway to begin with, so I'll leave that up to someone else to decide.

Tunnel vision

Molly had the great idea of reserving spots for the Atlantic Avenue tunnel tour yesterday, and most of you came to this, so I don't really need to explain too much. If you didn't go, the tour is of a rediscovered subway/LIRR tunnel under Atlantic Avenue, and is well worth the $15 and the risk of getting completely soaked and muddied when climbing back up the manhole in the pouring rain.

I'm really bummed that I forgot my camera, but I managed to get a couple pictures with my crappy phone.

Tunnel entrance:

Little passageway between the entrance and the actual tunnel...Dan looks a bit like he was photoshopped into this pic:

It looks like the next tour is August 16th. Check out the website for better information: http://www.brooklynrail.net/proj_aatunnel.html

I think my dad would be really into this, so I might just have to go on another tour!

Car seat

Jer noticed this on Huron Street in Greenpoint and asked me to submit this picture to: http://thereifixedit.com/ Maybe they'll post it!

Wombat-ty

Last night, I went with my friend Tim to an Australian themed restaurant called Wombat. It's near the Lorimer stop on Grand Street, and I had no idea it was there. From Mondays through Wednesdays, they have various specials, and last night (Tuesdays) was lobster night! $13 whole lobsters, and your choice between: boiled Maine style with butter and lemon, roasted Aussie style with Australian spices, or South Pacific style: stir fried with garlic and chili. We both got the roasted Aussie style one, so I didn't have much to compare, but it was just ok. The spices were dull, the lobster was small, and there were these red chunks throughtout that I couldn't differentiate between a fancy spice or gross brain matter. That's a lot of negativity there, but overall, the $13 lobster was ok by me. I'd definitely go back again to try one of the other 2. The menu also has a lot of my favorites on there, but you can check it out for yourself: http://www.thewombatbar.com/

Afterwards, we went to Bushwick Country Club, another first for me. I really thought this bar was in Bushwick. Also, the "Country Club" name brought back memories of yuppie summer day camp, where all we did was make bracelets and tie dye shirts, so I guess I always had a bad, and completely wrong, impression of the place. It's a good bar. Divey, with funky seating options. I think we sat on some seats taken out of a car. It was raining, so I didn't go outside, but I hear it's nice in the back.

There were some people promoting Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum, so we got some free drinks in exchange for our souls (or, contact information). I realized at 5am that the rum/coke was the culprit for my insomnia. Always a price to pay for free booze.

http://www.bushwickcountryclub.com/

Crif Dogs

What...is...that? Let me tell you. It is the most delicious impending heart attack you will ever experience or taste. This is a hot dog from Crif Dogs, a place in the east village that i trekked over to on my lunch break last week. On my friend Katie's suggestion, we both got the Chihuahua, which is a bacon wrapped hot dog with avocado and sour cream. I took off most of the mayonnaise resembling sour cream, but it was still really good.

I didn't know much about the place, but it apparently has a speakeasy type bar attached to it, that you get secret reservations for, and have to use a telephone and a dummy door to get into. Whatever it is, I'm fine with just going there for hot dogs, although it's probably a "once in a while" kind of place. Maybe once a year. I still feel kind of gross.

Take a look at this menu!: http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/crif-dogs/

Bleh!

Highline/Skyline Byline

Billie and I checked out the highline on Sunday, after our first attempt was thwarted by July 4th fireworks preparation.



I liked how the flowers and plants weren't incredibly landscaped, and looked more natural than intentional, growing through the old railroad tracks and whatnot.

Then, as I was looking at the nearby apartment buildings, I was thinking about how easy it would be for someone to do exactly this:

Yikes! Right after, his girlfriend joined him. There was a crowd of people down below laughing at them. At least this city has a good sense of humor. But(t) what do I know.

Re-cycle

I have so much work to do today, and this week, since Thursday is my last day at work (yes!), so I'm not sure why I'm picking today to catch up with my blog. Deal with it, suckas. Your corporate AmEx application can wait.

On Saturday, I made my third trip to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, this time via bicycle. 2 very recent bike trips made it easier to keep up with Billie and Molly than I thought. Or maybe it's the Wii Fit! Probably not. Virtual hoola hooping might not facilitate bike riding too much.

I saw a lot of the same stuff from past trips, but this was my favorite:

It's called Aeonium Balsamiferum, stonecrop family: crassulaceae lanzarote, from Cape Verde Island, which is off the Western coast of Africa. I just tried to Wikipedia this plant, but only got results in German. Hmmm. From what I could tell, they were grouped with Cacti plants, so these are akin to roses that don't die easily, and don't need too much tending. Much more romantic, gentlemen, than the kinds of roses that wilt faster than your affection. I suggest you take off for Africa as soon as possible.

On the way home,we stopped at the Fort Greene "Brooklyn Flea." Billie and I shared a lot of germs, and the best popsicle I've ever had. It was from a vendor called "people's pops," and we got the sour cherry and rhubarb popsicle. Get to it! I think I will be going back there.

Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park

Now that is a mouthful of a park. Here is a mouthful (ewwww!) of a park goer:

Baracklyn Cyclones

A few of my pals and I went to a Brooklyn Cyclones game the other night, temporarily renamed the "Baracklyn Cyclones," as there was a special on tickets sold on Inauguration day. The first 2,500 people in got Obama bobbleheads, but we were too busy boozing it up on Beer Island. This bar, with an outside area in the sand, is actually called "Beer Island," and after drinking two 10% ABV Coney Island Blockhead beers, I felt like I would never make it off the island. The beachy style of the bar reminded me of that Long Island City beach bar, where they charge you $5 for cups of PBR, an insane price to pay for a crappy beer and a view of the skyline that I can see on my morning commute. Beer Island had all the beach-ish perks of the LIC bar, but with reasonably priced craft beers and an angry employee who will turn the porta-potty over on you if he thinks you are not a paying customer. Watch out. Here it is below, check out that sky:

Keyspan Park (I originally wrote "Keystone Park, that is where my brain is right now):

By the way, the Cyclones won. I think. The color of both teams' uniforms were too close for me to be able to tell the difference. Oh well, it was fun.

Icahn has talented friends?

In an attempt to challenge Billie's current position of "Kate Ghezzi's biggest fan," I bring you: a link to Kate Ghezzi's website. Billie, do you have a blog? Did you blog about Kate's website? I didn't think so.

Kate draws pictures, ones that include, but are not limited to, representations of inside jokes with our friends, experimentations with cool fonts, and letters and drawings interlaced with or overlapped by super sweet Victorian patterns.

Check out Kate's drawings on her website here: http://blauereisenhut.wordpress.com/2009/06/22/an-rss-feed-for-the-store/

As a bonus, you can purchase these fine drawings and wear them around for all eternity with your very own t-shirt or bag. Go here: http://skreened.com/kghezzi

Billie: Counterpoint?

Chi-blog-o (title by Molly)

I've been a bad blogger. I know this because both Molly and Steve M. have told me so. What can ya do? Here's a long post to make up for it...

Meghan and I took a girls' weekend to Chicago 2 weekends ago, fun times. Let's see, what did we do... one additional weekend of alcohol consumption has already fogged my memory, so I'm going to have to look through my camera to refresh.

Friday night we went to a favorite local hang out called the Billy Goat Tavern. There's some SNL connection to this bar that I don't know about, but the word "Cheezborger" was written on a bunch of signs. If you're an Ithacan reading this, the bar was kind of like the Chanticleer. Mostly creepy locals, the occasional young people (us), and some weirdos in suits. Nobody had an eye patch though. Later we met my friend Katie who was also in Chicago for the weekend, visiting this guy who I went to preschool with. One of the only things he really remembered about me was that I didn't like the yellow pieces in fruit snack packs. I thought it was the green ones... We met them in a bar near Wrigley field, which was the closest we got to seeing the Cubs.

Saturday we braved the rain and went on an architectural boat cruise up and down the Chicago River. We saw the Sears Tower, the Hancock Center, the Chicago Tribune building, and some wackily designed apartment buildings that had no 90 degree angles. We tried the "famous" Chicago pizza at Giordano's (I still like NY pizza the best) and then on Steve Q's advice, walked over to Navy Pier. Exactly as he described it, it's like a less tacky version of Coney Island. We indulged in only one carnival ride, this simulator spaceship ride thing, which was unimpressive but still left me feeling queasy. After that, a 30 minute boat ride on Lake Michigan to see fireworks. How romantic!

I think Sunday was my favorite day. We went on a bike tour which took us through various Chicago neighborhoods, with stopping points at places like the Chicago Art Institute, the first Playboy mansion, Oprah's apartment, Lincoln Park, St. Michael's church, a beach along Lake Michigan... my camera died somewhere along the ride, shit. But if you go to Chicago some time, I really recommend going on Bobby's Bike Hike. The staff is friendly, and it's a nice 6 mile ride through Chicago. The only annoying bit is that some people ring their bells incessantly, and others should probably still be using training wheels.

At night, we went to a show at The Second City improv/comedy theater called "America: All Better!" I'm pretty sure this was the funniest show I've ever seen. It was a lot of Obama making the world a better place humor, mixed in with a lot of racy humor spanning general life topics. I don't know how long this show is running for, so you should get your butt to Chicago and go see it, now!

After the show, this nearby street festival was ending, and selling large discounted cups of Bud-Lite for $2. $2? Drinking in the street? Sure. This night ended in a blur, with a lot of dancing at a dive bar, and then devouring leftover cold pizza in the hotel room.

On our last day, we had lunch with my second cousins at their friend's Italian restaurant called A Mano. I'll leave the food portion of this trip up to Meghan, but I will say that they serve a mean pistachio gelato.

I think that's it!

Queensboro bridge birthday

Not too long ago, I took a taxi over the Queensboro bridge on the way home from my sister's apartment and immediately declared it my favorite bridge in NY. The bridge itself is really pretty, but the view is better. You can see everything....the billboards, the skyline, the water towers in Brooklyn, the Roosevelt Island tram running parallel, the Pepsi billboard in Long Island City...the works. Coincidentally, I later read that the bridge was turning 100 today, and there was a big hullabaloo going on to celebrate. Meghan, Billie and I had a good view of the fireworks from our roof. It was worth the climb up the wobbly ladder. Here's a video in case you missed it!

Stealth

The Ethiopian Restaurant

I've never had Ethiopian food before, but my friend was visiting from CA this weekend, and the friends he was staying with knew a place nearby. It is uniquely called "The Ethiopian Restaurant," and it's on York Avenue between 83rd and 84th streets, conveniently located just 3 blocks from my sister's apartment, who we happened to run into on the way.

The Ethiopian beer tasted like Coors Light rebottled with Ethiopian labels, but the food was really good. Everyone orders, and then they plop everything in a circle on this big spongy pancake thing. Here's a photo to make up for my lack of eloquence:
I ordered the "Vegetarian Delight," not because I'm a veggie, but because I don't usually order meat when I eat out, unless it's monthly burger time. Since they do put everything on one dish, they will ask if you are vegetarian and want your dish to be separate.

Here's the link: http://www.theethiopianrestaurant.com/

Back to food...

Meghan made this recipe last night, and it was super awesome. And easy. Maybe easier for me because all I had to do was grate some cheese (with a microplane!! also awesome!) and chop some basil. Here's the recipe:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Orzo-with-Everything-5608

Someone in the comment section suggested adding some feta cheese, which was good. I think Meghan said something along the lines of "the more cheese the better." Or "the more cheese the feta" if you want to make a pun out of it. I do.

A few notes: Jer, I think you'd like this recipe. I don't really have a basis for that comment, but you should give it a shot since you seem to like fast, easy, and delicious recipes. Who doesn't?

Lastly, Meghan is a good cook. Here's the link to her blog, if you don't already have it. She reviews restaurants and cooks better than your mom: http://cookingdrinkingswearing.blogspot.com/

I guess that was only a couple notes. Oh well.

Charlie's diet: the first days

Agony:

Withdrawal:

Gradual acceptance:

Broccin' Rabin'

Though I always knew I would probably like broccoli rabe, I have typically avoided it, because on a lot of Italian menus, I've seen it written as "broccoli rape." Which doesn't sound particularly appetizing. I don't know much Italian beyond "Prego" and "Ciao," so maybe this was a common typo on the menus, or maybe it's one of the real spellings for it, I don't know. Anyway...

This weekend, KG created a lovely spin on Bittman's recipe for spaghetti with broccoli rabe, toasted garlic, and bread crumbs. Here's the article with the link to the original recipe:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/15/dining/15mini.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=broccoli%20rabe&st=cse

Kate used penne instead of spaghetti, buffalo parmesan instead of regular (found at the Garden, for all of you Greenpointing cookers), and I slivered the garlic the wrong way, but I think Bittman would have still been proud.

The fixin's, plus Ritz crackers and wine:

Toasting garlic:

Sauteeing the broccoli rabe:

Adding the pasta:

Pre-stuffing my face:

Some tips and observations: I find a lot of Bittman's recipes kind of plain or boring, but this one really hit the nail on the head by incorporating the toasted bread crumbs, so don't leave them out. The buffalo parmesan was a delicious touch, and this was a really good dish for anyone trying to carbo-load the night before a race. And from the chef comes the advice to be careful while putting the wet broccoli rabe into the pan with hot oil. Kate G says "I believe the recipe says exactly that and I did it anyway." Ouch. So please try not to sautee yourself, it's not Kosher.

Plug

Mark this on your calendar, friends (if you want). My dear friend and 2 year Ithaca College veteran Josh Verbanets will be journeying from Pittsburgh with his band to perform at Lit Lounge on Saturday, May 23rd, at 9pm. I can attest to the awesomeness of this band, so you should come and bring your friends. Here's the info:

Meeting of Important People
Saturday, May 23rd
9:00pm - 1:00am
93 2nd Avenue (between 5th and 6th streets)

Also, you can "become a fan" of them on the Facebook. I've refused to "fan" anything thus far, but I'll make an exception. Just this once:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Meeting-of-Important-People/76230978859?sid=bf23b8827c824548cf054dc83833ca96&ref=search#/pages/Meeting-of-Important-People/76230978859?v=info&viewas=13804048

Or, if you still have a Myspace:

http://www.myspace.com/meetingofimportantpeople

New York's finest

Pointed out by Billie and/or Meghan.

Luck of the Draw

I get over excited by some really trivial things, and one of those things is drawbridges going up. Stopped traffic, people cursing, horns sounding, the whole shebang. So the Pulaski drawbridge going up this morning was a welcome obstruction to my commute, even though I was 20 minutes late to work.

Habitual Birthdays

Our friendly neighborhood bar turned 1 this weekend. I'm not sure what my close friends and I would have done over the past year had we not this lovely watering hole to hop, skip, and jump to. And also trip, stumble, and fall home from. The Habitat's company logo is an owl, so Meghan and I made them owl cookies to help celebrate the occassion. Chocolate sugar cookies, which I've never had or made before, with m&m eyes, which makes any cookie 50% more delicious.

I'm not sure if anyone reading this blog has not been to The Habitat with me at some point, but here's the info anyway:

The Habitat
988 Manhattan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11222
http://www.thehabitatbrooklyn.com/