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/

Passive Aggressiveness in the Office Kitchen

Looking for change

For as far back as I can remember, I've been collecting loose change in various containers (vases, glass apple juice jars, coffee mugs, etc). It feels like a small accomplishment every time I empty my pockets or purses and drop several clinks into the current container. After I've amassed what appears to be an acceptable amount of change, I go to the Coinstar machine (yes I know they charge you 8 or 9 cents per dollar) and cash in. Then I've usually taken whichever beau I've had at the time out to a nice dinner. Well, beaus come and go, clearly, but my friends don't. So I've changed my tactics. Meghan has jumped on board with the idea, and since we live together now, the loose change has doubled.

The container these days is a large glass vase, and the goal is lobster. Our "Lobstah fund" is growing every day. As soon as we have enough, we'll be heading to Ed's Lobster bar in Soho and stuffing our faces with expensive seafoods that we wouldn't be able to splurge on otherwise.

The fund:

The goal (+Meghan):

Falaflog

This past weekend I found out that Justin has a falafel blog, and I have to admit I was a little jealous because I'm on a huge falafel kick right now. The best I've had so far is at this place called Azuri Cafe. Apparently the guy who owns and runs the place was the inspiration for Seinfeld's Soup Nazi. As I was waiting for Meghan outside the place, I heard a girl on her way out say, "well at least he didn't yell at me this time." So, I was nervous... but Meghan had been there before and knew how to order inoffensively. I was kind of afraid to take a picture, so it came out a little blurry:
This pita was jam packed with flavor and even came with pickles on the side. It had hummus, broccoli, tahini, and other unrecognizable but delicious ingredients. We had the Spinach Burackas appetizer, which was also a hit. I had heard about the place from the NYC Food Guy blog, he does a better job at giving this place its due: http://nycfoodguy.com/2009/02/05/nyc-best-falafel-azuri-cafe-beats-taim-as-nycs-best-falafel/

Soup Nazi side note: Back in high school, I met the actor who played the soup nazi on Seinfeld. There was a soup drive at the sketchy local mall, and a can of soup landed you with a signed photograph of the guy. Mine reads "Katie, no soup for you!" Signed, whatever his name was. I still have it in a shoebox somewhere.

Almost forgot:

Azuri Cafe:
465 West 51st
New York, NY 10019
212-262-2920

Bridge to somewhere

I've been meaning to walk over the Pulaski Bridge for some time, but after 2 of my 187 Green housemates recently completed this feat, I had a resurgence of interest in doing so. With the 60 degree weather and a break from all this windiness, today was the day. It took only 12 minutes to cross boroughs and at the end I was treated to the smell of Italian food coming from the restaurant on the corner by the 7 train. It seemed a bit early to be cooking, but what do I know. I snapped these photos and felt like a tourist in my own neighborhood.

Approaching bridge:

Mid bridge: