Meals i didn't write about when i had them

I can't remember everything... basically Brand and I spent some time apart and I drank a lot and didn't write anymore. Then I worked at La Sirene every night for like two months and didn't eat at all. NOW i am working all over the place and not eating out as much (unless you count my fire escape or M & M deli...). But I am spending the majority of my week behind a computer at a desk currently so I can start writing again, because I know you've all missed it so much... There are a lot of things that I probably should've written about and didn't, but I don't know that I should rehash them now... Also, I ate a lot, but didn't gain any weight... oh New York, you magical city!

SOoooo some really good meals I've had:
12 Course Chef's Tasting with Wine Pairings at WD-50
-This was one of the best meals I've ever had, and certainly among the most memorable. Stand-out dishes included WD's riff on Eggs Benedict, which I love anyway, something dubbed "knot foie" that I don't remember how to explain, and a coconut cake dessert. Basically, I only disliked one of the twelve courses, which is a pretty big achievement. The one I hated was a weird beer and white chocolate flavored dessert which really was disgusting... but whatever, the pairings were good, ELEVEN courses were excellent and perfectly portioned, and the service was great even though we didn't start our tasting until like 10 pm.

Soup dumplings! This was a random sunday with Ian and he introduced me to something called soup dumplings which are pretty amazing. They're cute doughey dumplings filled with pork and broth and sometimes crab meat... and you have to eat them with both a little ladle spoon and chopsticks... and you get like 12 of them for something like 6 or 7 bucks... and they're super hot and when you bite in soup like, sprays out at you if you're not careful. I don't even know the name of the restaurant in china town where we ate them but I think I could find it again... so good.

Another Chinatown experience: Dim Sum A Go Go... such a random name. Very good, very inexpensive dim sum. Shark's fin and duck confit were stand-outs. Apparently it's owned by like, an French food writing ex-pat and a dim sum chef or something. Anyway, it's delicious.

LES Lunch- Inoteca! Have been there several times, always had great servers who knew the menu and wine list well, and love love the meatballs and the octopus is incredible.

Peasant- AMAAAAZING meal. The menu is confusing because it's totally in Italian, and they're not serving like, Olive Garden meals, so the waitress had to decode every item one by one, but it seemed like everyone was having their menus deciphered so we didn't feel that stupid. the meal was amazing, i think i had lamb chops maybe? i don't really remember it was so long ago but basically, it was delicious... we actually went there because we couldn't get a seat at prune. thank god. (read under meals I hated)

Tailor- I took my parents there one rainy weekend when they were visiting and it was amazing, as always. Everyone that works there is SO nice and they always take amazing care of me. My parents were really, really, really impressed. We were treated to Champagne (or Cava?) and a tasting of saki, which I normally don't love, but when I tried the unfiltered kind I really liked it. Also grapefruit sorbet, which is perfect. After dinner we visited the kitchen and my parents got to meet Sam and everyone which was a treat for them I think. Anyway, I know it was a meal unlike any they normally have in DC and I was really happy they loved it there as much as I do.
I also took Michael Gottlieb here the other night and we had bar snacks and a couple apps and he really liked it too. He was obsessed with the pork belly, like everyone, and also love the snails which are my absolute favorite.
This saturday we're going in a big group for Vicky's birthday, and I look forward to yet another amazing meal and lots of great drinks in my favorite New York restaurant/bar which luckily is also basically my neighbor!

I also had a few really terrible meals in the last few months, and that sucks, because nothing in this city comes cheap (except for chinatown), and a few of these restaurants I was really really looking forward to so I've been really dissapointed each time.

Elletaria- Very dissapointing. Great drinks, amazing decor, not so impressive food. I had something I liked, an appetizer, but basically everything was either so-so or very bland and not terribly memorable. Brandon had a good duck dish I believe... but my Saag Paneer was whatever. I had heard it was good but I really wasn't impressed, and it was cold... and the waitresses were wearing elf outfits. But it's pretty in there, I would consider drinking at the bar... I don't know though, something felt off. All the chefs in the open kitchen looked really really unhappy. That's never a good sign.

Craftbar- Good food, HORRIBLE SERVICE. Unbeleivably bad.

Raoul's- It's definitely a scene, not so much about the food. Ok steak tartare, and I think maybe there was somethign else we liked, but mostly it was very overpriced, and not that special. And they were out of just about everything.

Prune- I hate that I'm putting Prune on this list because I wanted to love Prune. I really did! But it was a MAJOR dissapointment. The food was dreadful, almost all of it, and didn't even look pretty... it looked like nobody cared and just threw some stuff on a plate... but every plate looked like that. We had the most terrible octopus dish... waaay overcooked to the point that it was like, spongey and shrunken... again, the plate looked like nobody cared about it... and the flavor was just not great. very dissapointing! The sweetbreads were fine, nothing amazing, but they were enjoyable. The bone marrow, which is supposed to be a highlight at Prune, was not good. And way undercooked! I actually had one bone where almost all my marrow was like, bloody. Very unappetizing. My drinks, both minty cocktails with a lot of citrus, were good. Our waitress was fabulous. But the food and the ambience not so much. Very rude, snobby women were seated next to me and brand and although we were quietly enjoying the end of our meal, the women asked to be relocated away from "the young people"... Don't eat in a tiny restaurant if you have to be seated away from other people. And basically, don't be bitches. We didn't even try dessert, even though I kind of wanted to try the ice cream sandwiches, because the rest of the meal was so dissapointing. I don't think I'll be back unless I think of trying brunch or something, but I'm not sure it's worth the line.

Ummmm I'm sure there were others, but those really stand out...

Looking forward to Tailor this weekend and maybe brunch somewhere? Will def. beat the ramen and macaroni I've been dining on recently!

5 and a half months later...

um so i got out of the habit of posting but now i'm back in the office and ready to blog all the goddamn time so get excited! i think i have to remind people to read it all over again.
basically, i've had a lot of good and bad meals over the summer. and i worked a lot. and brandon came back and then left and then came back kind of. nobody knows what's goign on there. oh, and vicky and i went to la for the mtv movie awards.
sooooo in the coming days maybe i'll reflect on some of the things i ate, some of the places i went, some of the people i've met... or maybe i'll just start fresh, i don't know, we'll see! i know, all 3 of you are excited.
right now i'm as the receptionist/office manager of an architectural firm at 5th and 18th... everyones nice, the offices are nice, and i spend a lot of time online.
ummm i am not in the mood for this right now because vicky and i are having important gmail discussions, but seriously, sit tight! this week the blogging begins agani!

ahhhh i've been so lax...

but breaking up is hard to do...

meals i still have to write about:
gigantic 12 course tasting at WD-50
Worst service ever but good meal at CraftBar
aaaand Delicious free meal at Community Food and Juice... before brandon got himself fired

i think that covers it...
where will it be this week??? tuesday i'm having dinner with kari somewhere, and possibly vicky if she isn't sick and isn't being boring and dieting.

hoping for ellateria?
oh also having dinner at la sirene thursday with ian... as if i don't spend enough time there already...

choo chooooooo

i feel like i was hit by a train. my heart hurts. i'm miserable.

how could one person so calculatedly hurt another person like this? how can someone say i love you every fucking day to someone else who clearly loves them in return... and that first person just not mean it? just be saying it for the hell of it?

i sort of wish i could just sleep until this wouldn't hurt so much anymore.

momofuku ssam

better than momofuku noodle bar, but still not as great as the first time... isn't it supposed to get better as you do it more? welll.... that rule doesn't apply to momofuku so far. not gonna lie, i'm still trying to get reservations to ko!
my first noodlebar experience was incredible, the next few, terrible... so we decided not to go there anymore... but brand and i were hungry when i got back from dc at like 10:30 tuesday night and so we decided to try late night spot momofuku ssam bar... we had fuji apple kimchee, which didn't involve enough pork and was way overpriced considering how inexpensive fuji apples are and how that was basically the entire dish.... we also had the pork buns which are obviously always delicious, thank god. aaaaand we had the grilled sweetbreads with lime and salt and maybe a miso sauce? i don't remember but these were delicious and i wanted more... the plate was good sized but since brand and i were sharing... we shouldve just each ordered our own! very good. anyway, after those three dishes we were still wanting more so we ordered the crispy pigs head torchon. it was greasy and salty and there wasn't enough spicy mustard to fix it... we weren't that impressed... i don't know what it is, there is SO much hype around everything that is momofuku and i want to like it so badly! but we just keep being dissapointed and i don't understand! that said, this meal wasn't as horrible as the last two at noodle bar... but it wasn't amazing enough to make us forget those. i hope to try ko eventually and i hope that blows me away, as i've read it will... but right now, i basically just wish they delivered cause it's not that worth going all the way to the east village (not that far) just for delicious pork buns.

THANK YOU FRANK BRUNI!

holy hell La Sirene got reviewed in the NY Times!!!! and holy hell they used a picture i'm in! haha

http://events.nytimes.com/2008/03/19/dining/reviews/19rest.html?ref=dining

please examine! so exciting!

bruni at la sirene?

so i'm at la sirene right now... working and waiting for a photographer for the NY Times dining section to come take pictures for a review! sooooo exciting that we're getting in the times. we don't sell any alcohol and we seriously seat 25 people... and that's at our most crowded. so to be in the times is pretty huge i think. fingers crossed for at least a start! and a decent picture of our tiny bistro! seriously though, if we get a good review, i think we'll be super busy all the time. fabulous!

in other news, i didn't work today at CAA because i was so sick... i rested up all day to be able to work at the restaurant tonight. so i don't look that great for a picture, I will need to hide... but where? there's no hiding in a restaurant half the size of my apartment!

i got a membership on the resy website for momofuku ko late last night. v. exciting news! one step closer to a reservation... now i just have to try for one at 10 am every day when the new day opens up. out of control, seriously. after two not so great experiences at momo' noodle bar, i don't know why i'm so keen to try ko... but it only seats TWELVE and has been raved about so far... so i think it's worth a try maybe. plus, there aren't servers, from what i understand... the chefs take care of you and you sit around the kitchen at a counter, like the back half of noodle bar. so i guess we'll see when i finally get there!

also: i really wish i was in savannah for st. patty's day. v. upset to be here, for once.

also: paris in june for leo and brian's wedding? yeah? i think i'm gonna buy tickets...

ok perhaps i should pretend to actually be a waitress...

i know it's been forever. i have the flu and have been working hundreds of hours a week and have also become addicted to scrabulous.com.
we're working through it.
i swear tomorrow when i go back to work at CAA i will update. cheers.

all the important american designers are from long island

ohmygod i just got back from dinner at aquagrill. SO DELICIOUS. apparantly there doesn't have to be a lot of hype... there are older, established, non blogged about restaurants in this city that are EXCELLENT. aquagrill is a prime example. i'm obsessed. seriously, one of the best meals i've had since i've moved here, and i've been eating a lot of really great meals. vicky and i met up for an 8:30 reservation tonight and I was so excited to finally try the restaurant... first of all, i walk by it several times a day... it's on the corner of 6th and spring... like 2 blocks from my apartment. secondly, the manager there, christina diangelo, is a regular on mondays at la sirene and i LOVE her and she's been trying to get me come in for a while now to eat... well it was fantastic. the second she saw us she chided me for not asking for her when i made my reservation so she could get us a better table! but our table was fine (it was warm, which was what we cared about most) and we dove right in ordering cocktails from our FABULOUS waiter. imediately, we were brought amuse's of salmon tartare on like, a crispy homemade potato chip. then we ordered fresh oysters, of which they had TONS of choices... we ordered two types that he said were on the briny side- blue point and something else and two that were "creamier", a description i never would have thought of for oysters but that described them perfectly. our fabulous waiter didn't rush us in any way, and we got to enjoy our oysters (vicky liked the creamy better, i preferred the briny...) before he came to get our entree orders. He had a lot of good information to help us in ordering. Vicky ended up ordering a grouper special and I ordered a John Dory special served with gnocchi after a lot of internal conflict (the scallops also sounded AMAZING... but they're always on the menu). A few minutes after we ordered, he returned to tell me they had run out of John Dory... but knowing that I ordered it primarily for the accompaniements and sauce, suggested I take the same set-up but with grouper. while we waited for our food, christina had the kitchen send out a second amuse for us... toro tartare with truffle oil. SO GOOD i SERIOUSLY wanted to lick the plate... however I allowed the amazing backwaiter to take it away before i embarrased myself. at this point, the annoying date couple next to us was looking jealous and having an annoying conversation and vicky and i were having a ball. So, soon after that entrees come and oh. my. god. It was heaven. I don't remember what the sauce was on my plate, but it was creamy and buttery and delicious. And the gnochi! heaven. it was fluffy and green... i don't remember what kind of gnocchi it was... i should write this stuff down... but anyway it was amazing. along with the perfectly cooked flaky grouper and tender asparagus and whatever else was there... incredible. vicky's grouper was equally good, but prepared totally differently... both suited us perfectly. we were cutting our fish into tiny peices to make it last longer! by the time i finished the fish, i was seriously just scraping the sauce off the plate and licking my fork. really really amazing. i was really pleased! we were just going to order more drinks instead of dessert, but when they brought the menu it all sounded so extraordinary that we had to... we decided just to split a tasting of chocolate desserts... white chocolate mousse, warm chocolate cake, and homemade milk chocolate icecream. vick ordered another glass of wine, i ordered cappucino with kahlua, and although we were very full, we awaited our dessert... suddenly the waiter brings out two huge plates... christina also sent us the dessert special, a peanut butter bread pudding with grape icecream... like a dessert-y p,b & j! so good. so much food! of course, stevens and i are champs and we dug in and it was all amazing. theeeeeen they brought out a little plate of like, cookie and biscotti things... then we really felt like we were gonna die... i couldn't even sit up straight and my little highwaisted skirt was very very very tight on my stomach! i seriously think i gained like, 5 lbs during this meal! i'm gonna have to walk to work tomorrow! really, vicky and i were very satisfied. we spent a lot in the end, esp since we each had 3 drinks, but it was SO worth it. i really can't wait to go back. the service was friendly but so knowledgeable, the food was extraordinary without being too fussy... and christina, of course, is amazing! everybody should try aquagrill!
ummm in other news... i love project runway. i think jillian is really annoying. i love christian... and i haven't found out whether chris or rami is going! i will write more about that tomorrow since my job is devastatingly boring. ahhh heidi's outfit tonight on the show is awesome. (i'm watching it on tivo right now...)
now i seriously have to get this computer off my stomach before i explode. so. full.

ahhhh

i'm temping this week at a corporate communications firm... doing reception... it's boring. all i've done for the past few days is work at la sirene and run errands in the rain...
nothing to write about. didier is crazy (la sirene) as usual... vick and i are getting dinner at aquagrill tonight... brooksie is getting ready to move into her new apt on the upper east... and i'm getting ready to have a living room... but i'll miss her!
ummmm nothing else is new or remotely interesting.

weekend update

actually more than a weekend update. i'm so freaking far behind! ummmm ok let's see...
thursday vicky and i went to the first screening of Mike Myers upcoming summer comedy The Love Guru at the Tribeca Cinema at an invitation from her friend Collin who works for Mike Myers- check it out here: title/tt0811138/
Mike Myer's introduced it and informed us it was unfinished and stuff and seemed really anxious as he's been working on this character for years apparantly and this is the first time anyone in the public has seen the film...
It was really really funny. It's basically about this like, Guru character who wants to be better than Deepak Chopra and get on Oprah... so he agrees to help this canadian (and black) hockey player who has been losing since his wife left him... the character is pretty funny and even though the film isn't finished, it was close, and it was a good time. My fave part, and something I'm sure everyone will be saying if this movie is a big hit, was his guru catch phrase was mariska hargitay (instead of like, namaste or something...)... and she even appeared for a few minutes... I thought that was really funny. I wish I could remember what else was really funny... I should have posted that night. why don't I ever learn?

after the movie we went to la sirene, where we had already dropped off a few bottles of wine. Vick and I started with apps and then collin joined us and we had a whole meal... It was really nice. Kristina took good care of us and I got to eat all the things i've been serving people and craaaaaving... and collin was entertaining and a good time was had by one and all. (ha)

friiiiiiiday..... i'm pretty sure nothing notable happened friday. actually, so little happened that friday might as well not even exist. thursday night it snowed allllllll night and it was BEAUTIFUL but friday it was really cold and slippery so i basically stayed in the house alllll day long and all night. i worked on my resumes a little bit trying to get everything up to date... and watched a lot of bad television... late late late, like 2 am, brandon got off work at his new restaurant, Candela, and buzzed me to come down. I was in my nightgown, but he was persistant, so I put on shoes and pulled on a coat and grabbed stella so i could kill two birds with one stone... when i got down he was giggling and threw a snowball at me... he was really really excited about the snow. it was kinda cute... but only kinda, since i wasn't wearing any pants and it was freezing. it's nice to see him happy though and for us to play... i'm so so so scared we'll fall back into how things were before and won't have any fun together and i'll just get depressed and he'll do something bad... i don't know i should stop worrying... but then we come to saturday night... he didn't come home at all. apparantly he fell asleep at work in the break room and didn't wake up until the next day... yeah. i, meanwhile, sat at home, awake allllll night, worrying and not being able to do anything to figure out what was going on. i called the restaurant around 3 am and was informed that he had left to go home... so i was naturally completely scared when he didn't ever show. things like that are what make me crazy and worried and tense! it isn't fair after everything else for thigns like that to happen...

before that.... sat i slept in and ran errands and hung around the house until vicky got off work. i met her at peep, this random thai place that kinda looks like a nightclub... lots of neon pink lights and clear tables and bar... anyway, they have super good cocktails and the foods not very expensive... so we shared appetizers and had some drinks and then of course vicky decided she wanted dessert and i actually did too... somehow we thought it was a good idea at that point to go to midtown... soooo we hopped on the e and went to 34th, and got off right at tgi fridays! what luck, right?! (ha ha) but that one had a 45 minute wait- ridiculous. soooo we walked to 42nd street where it suddenly looked like daytime because of all the gigantic neon lights... and went to the giant multi level tgi fridays there. (i know, why all this work for a gross chain restaurant? nobody knows!) we got a seat at the bar and ordered some chocolate disaster and i had a mochatini... and vicky of course ordered something gross and sent it back for what i was drinking... shocker! anyway, we actually had a really good time. shocking, i know. after we finished we tried to get one more drink back downtown at tailor but they had a private party in their bar so we called it a night and went home.

sooooo i waited up for brand all night, then finally fell asleep around 6:30 am. he called from work around 9:30 am to tell me where he had been and he apologized and sounded sincere... then i just went back to bed and napped until early afternoon. He came home from work around 1 or 2 and was exhausted.... which was weird if he had such a good night's sleep... i went to work and tivo'd the oscars so i could watch when i got off! i left work around 10 and brand was still asleep and in a horrible mood and said he was sick.... it's just all so similar to every other time he's stayed out all night doing one thing or another and then come home to have me take care of him cause he's ill... i want to believe that everything is how he says it is but am i being stupid? i mean, him falling asleep at work is possible. he was working ridiculous hours. and he didn't have any money to go out and he doesn't have a phone... so i guess it's conceivable, but still...i guess time will tell.

work was good last night. my fave customer, lou, came in with a group of friends... lou promised me a few months ago he'd get me in to see his agent, and even brought his agent to the restaurant to introduce me... but then i didn't hear anything for like, two months... so last night he once again promised that within the next few weeks he will indeed take me to see his agent! sooooo fingers crossed.

oh, so the oscars.... i NEVER miss them but this year i had to work and so i watched them delayed on dvr... i hadn't seen any of the movies really so it was sort of weird, i wasn't pulling for anyone in particular except for cate blanchett of course cause i always want her to win! all foreign actors won the acting awards... marion cotillard who played edith piaf won best actress and her speech or lack of speech brought me to tears... she was seriously the most excited person i've ever seen. it was really touching. and i liked her dress better than anyone else's... so double win for her. oh, and when they announced her they showed all the other women nominated and cate blanchett started cheering for marion as if she had won... it was like she didn't even think she should've won but was pulling for marion all along... it was really sweet. i want an oscar.

today i've once again done very little but i go to work in an hour... didier told me yesterday that he wants me to start working weekends with kristina, which is great. weekends are really good money and that's less pressure to temp, thank god. anywayyyyyy i guess i should play with stella for a bit and jump in the shower before another butter scented night downstairs!

i feel like all i've been doing is eating

despite the fact that the highlight of my days for the last week has been one meal or another, i have managed to lose a lot of weight lately and bought new jeans yesterday in a happy smaller size. maybe that's because to get to each meal we have to walk ten miles in the cold... except for when we're eating at tailor...
ANYWAYYYYYYYYYYY um sunday i wandered around soho for a while, then went to work at la sirene... we were super busy... and by the time i got off i was super hungry. i met brand over at smith's and we went with javier to the corner bistro, this great bar in the west village i'd never been to before. they have AMAZING burgers that are really cheap... and super cheap beer too... 3.50 hoegardens? that's better than savannah! isupposedly it's mario batali's fave place to get burgers... whatever. it was fun though and if i can figure out where it even was i'll definitely return.
monday was 60 degrees out. ridiculous. soooo i wandered around in the nice weather and considered buying sandals before going to work at the restaurant. another busy-ish night... during which i drank like 9 espressos. by the time i got off i was ridiculously wired and brand was already off waiting for me... we went over to toad hall for a drink and made friends with the bartender who reminded me of matt from cha bella. one glass of wine to calm my espresso nerves turned into like, 3 or 4, and we stumbled out into the cold both happy and starving. when we got back home, brand sort of cooked steak for us... or at least rolled raw meat in a pan of hot butter for a few seconds... and we devoured the bloody mess. kind of gross, kind of delicious.
tuesdayyy i wasn't working so brand and i rand to the broadway panhandler in the morning before his interview with the owner of candela and ciao (which we confused with chow... big difference actually...). I went to the bank to cancel my debit card after realizing it had been stolen... and used to get a lot of things altered at the village tailor apparently. i also found my new jeans and a belt to go with them... wide leg this time, so over the skinny jeans situation. i finally made my way home and cleaned up some of the butter and raw meat juice from the night before (gross, i know) then brand surprisingly got home (he was supposed to be interviewing all day). Best news ever- he got an amazing offer to be Executive Chef of Candela where he will have a great salary, and a great budget to like, totally revamp the restaurant. I am soooo excited for him! He should have good hours to work and a good staff and hopefully it will really be the chance he needs... I really hope he takes advantage of it and I think he will...
We decided to celebrate by going to yet another kitchen supply store (oh boy) then drinks at barfry and dinner at tailor! I have been trying to convince Brandon to go to Tailor with me for a long time and he's always refused but he finally gave in and really enjoyed it. After eating amuses of fried oysters, caviar, and coconut puree sent out because Brand is a chef(!), we had The peekytoe crab with pineapple foam and serrano and the octopus with coffee soil and a million other components to start with, then the sweetbreads with white beer foam which are amazing, then we shared the incredible pork belly with miso butterscotch sauce and the rootbeer braised shortribs with... whatever it was with. and shocker of the world, brand really enjoyed it all... poor tailor has gotten so much criticism and they've changed their menu accordingly i think... but i have always had good experiences there. oh, and the drinks! i let brand start with the waylon, my cocktail of choice there, and I started with the crumble... something made with rum and brown butter... very good, actually. next i had the south central, which was rum, creme de cacao, and mole...very strong. brand had the agua verde consisting of tequila, habanero, tomatillo, and cilantro. i guess i would have liked his better if it was like... on tortilla chips. i don't think i could have drank it. we actually didn't do dessert but enjoyed the little red pepper jelly candies they sent out with the check. We wandered downstairs to the bar for one last fancy cocktail... this time we let the bartender get creative and enjoyed a mix of bourbon, elderflower, and a house bitters... delicious. By then I was a little drunk and brand was tired of the scene so we walked the long half a block home and went to bed early.
today i'm doing nothing. hopefully cleaning my room and the kitchen and running a few errands... but other than that i need to not spend any money and i need to take a nap.
and maybe i need to eat something normal at a normal hour!

smith's! (with pictures)

last night i had a late dinner at smith's with the lovely kari and a very cracked out vicky, who hadn't slept in like three days. SO GOOD. we had an amazing table that the chef, Pablo, reserved for us with a big booth in the back of the restaurant. Brand came out to say hi, as did Javier, the sous. We ordered a bottle of reisling when we sat and then got down to business. I had charred baby squid to start which was DELICIOUS. it was not rubbery at all, and the lemon confit and pancetta with it complimented it really well. I think I'm going to start craving it like I do the pork buns at Momofuku! It was really really good. One of the chefs told me that Bruni had the squid every time he came in before he reviewed Smith's for the nytimes but then never wrote about it in the article! Definitely a mistake. For my entree, I had the lamb, which was also really really good. I had a glass of tempranillo with it which definitely fit better than the reisling. The lamb was served with a Parmesan puree on the plate and a tomato ragout... It was cooked really well (medium rare, of course...apparantly it was my second lamb, Javier later told me he overcooked my first... haha) and I loved the creamy parm puree with it. Kari had the scallops, which were apparantly a new dish, and they were fabulous. Scallops are almost always overcooked I feel like, and shouldn't be chewy or difficult to cut... these were seriously cooked perfectly and they were really good. The kitchen also sent us an order of the sardines with this really delicious tomato confit and an order of the beets. We all really liked the sardines a lot and the beets were good but none of us love beets so I ate as many as I could until i ran out of the horseradish they were served with and couldn't eat anymore! For dessert vicky devoured something apple that she said was good and kari and i split the meyer lemon tart. It was also good, but needed something to cut all the citrus. Between the meyer lemon and the grapefruit and the creme freche it was just a lot of sour... but good for a few bites! I definitely can't wait to eat at Smith's again.

After we ate, the girls called it a night and I went with Brand and the other boys from the kitchen to the Rabbit bar again. I was pretty good with alcohol after all the wine, but I had a Rodenbach sour and an Apple Lambic... we all just sat and talked and sang along with the misfits and then suddenly it was 4 oclock and time to go home! on the way home we grabbed falafel which i didn't need because i was still full from dinner and hurried home in the cold!

it was a really, really fun night... i'm happy brandon works at a restaurant that is so good but still in my budget! and that the people he works with are so cool. i don't feel like an outcast when i go out with them... javier told brand i'm like "one of the boys" which i love. it's nice knowing that when brand goes out after work, he's with people that i trust and like and that I'm welcome to come too! Javier is such a gentleman, i think he could be a really really good influence on brando!

anywayyyyy today i've done nothing so far. and i probably won't achieve anything the rest of the day either. i'm considering going to the met but it's so far away!!! next week a new exhibit opens at the guggenheim so I'm excited about checking that out soon! maybe mansion tonight? we shall see!

'vette, valentine's, vintage... and make your own sushi

ok so the alliteration ran out. whatever.

where to start? wednesday, after nine months of hiding from hair salons, i got my hair cut by corvette at mudhoney. pretty much the best hair experience i've ever had. the salon is dark and i think they hired the same decorator as the jinx ( http://mudhoneyhairsalon.com/sullivan/index.html ), but i seriously got the best haircut of my life... for less than a hundred bucks, which is phenomenal for new york. my stylist, corvette, was a former drag queen and wig stylist for patricia feild and he seriously made my disastrous curly mary kate hair mess into a pretty, easy, wavy, kinda funky style that i really love and it was exactly what i was hoping for and couldn't put into words. i'm posting a picture but it's taken by myself with my blackberry and seriously doesn't do the haircut justice... corvette better not go anywhere.

later that day i ran errands in the rain... bought hangers and stuff at the container store and bed bath and beyond and cleaned my room finally... i also did like 50 lbs of laundry. out of control. i wish i had a laundry room in my building!!! but whatever, at least it's done.

ummmmm ok so then brandon got off work at like 1 am and since it was technically valentines day and we both knew thursday night would be crazy busy for us at our respective restaurant jobs we went to blue ribbon sushi for a late night date. SO FUN. we ordered their temaki honnin platter, which let us make our own rolls... it was so fun. we had yellow tale, salmon, tuna, and crabstick... and something else i don't remember... and it came with like, the sticky rice and the seaweed and it was so cool. we didn't really know what we were doing but whatever, we had sapporo, it was 1 in the morning, and who cares if the waiters at blue ribbon got to laugh in the waitstation about how silly our sushi looked! this was definitely a great date!

valentines day (yesterday) i went to la sirene in the morning to call everyone that had a reservation and confirm... good times. then didier had me take the phone up to my apartment so i could answer and tell everyone that called that we did not, indeed, have any reservations at 7 pm on valentines day. eventually i ditched the phone at the restaurant and ran around town for a while. I went to the Barney's Warehouse sale which was a disaster. ohmygod! probably the most horrible place I've ever been. They had some good stuff, including some fabulous Marc booties for like 225, but there were women and girls fighting over last seasons prada and shit eeeeeverywhere and it was really cramped and uncomfortable and not worth the trouble, in my opinion. afterwards i walked to the village to grocery shop at which point didier called to find out why i hadn't come back to get the phone. i hurried home and got the phone then made cupcakes to take with me to work. it didn't occur to me that in only purchasing a mini cupcake tin it would take like fifty batches to use up all the cake batter..... so after two batches, i quickly iced them and now i have a huge bowl of cake batter in my fridge that i need to use sometime soon!!! any takers?

we were sooooooo busy at the restaurant last night. it was seriously chaos for a while. but by the third seating kristina and i finally knew what was going on and the kitchen had a good flow and i think things went relatively well. people were tipping really shitty though... valentine's is seriously amateur night... lots of idiot couples that never go to restaurants normally go out and don't know what to do with themselves or their escargot tongs. whatever. even with shitty tippers, we each made like 400 bucks... not too shabby for a restaurant that only has 12 tables!

brand came over late late late after he got off work. they were really busy at smith's last night i guess... but it was sort of dissapointing cause i thought maybe he'd bring me a card or something... i mean, i know he's been working really hard and hasn't gotten paid yet and is broke and stuff... but he could've written me a post it note and i would've been happy... i think that sometimes boys don't get that little things can be so big. and yeah, it's just valentines day, and it's stupid, and not a big deal whatever... but when you don't make an effort every day valentines is a good way to pick up the slack. and i bought him spoons! and made him a home-made valentine! so he could've written me a note, right? i guess i should quit dwelling on it. maybe he'll still do something. working in restaurants we never celebrate holidays on time, anyway...

today we ran around tribeca and grabbed burgers at ken's broome st. bar where they're stellar and are served in pita bread which suits me perfectly since i normall tear apart the bun anyway. later, i wandered over to chelsea girl, this great vintage shop on thompson that is normally really really over priced. welllll they're planning to renovate and so everything is 50% off or more... i got great long sunshine yellow gloves, and a really fun 70's belted tan coat, aaaaaand best of all, this aamaaaaaazing blue lace dress from the 50's that seriously fits me like it was made for me and has a big blue taffeta bow on the back. i think i'm gonna pair the dress with black tights and chunky shoes to dress it down a little and wear it to dinner at smith's with the girls tonight!

after much discussion and distress, we ended up with 10:45 reservations at smith's tonight with the help of brand and his boss over there... i'm really excited to try it though! the menu and stuff look great and while it might not be the best intimate date restaurant (the seating is basically really large booths) i think it's perfect for us girls. they're bar is nice too and it's in the village so not too far from where I live. brand really respects the chef over there and the people he works with so I'm looking forward to the experience... and i feel like i haven't seen kari in a hundred years! sooooo now i have to go take a shower and get dressed and figure out how to zip up my new dress without any help... should be interesting.

"a really lovely tuesday night at the bistro"

ok so it snowed tons today. and now it's disgusting out... it's like, sleeting now and the snow is turning to gross gray mush instead of pretty white dust and ew tomorrow is going to be GROSS. except i'm getting my hair cut for the first time in 8 or 9 months and i am SO EXCITED.

anyway, back to today... i didn't work all day for the first time in weeks... no temping, not styling, no la sirene... it was good. i ran errands in the snow and tried to make valentine's and slept... it was nice. my room is freeeeezing so it was really hard to get out of bed... but when i got out and about the snow really wasn't a problem, it was really pretty actually. i got some things for valentines... i bought brandon spoons... and stuff for darren as well... and supplies to make cupcakes on valentine's day. i usually start making my cards a lot earlier, but i procrastinated this year and when i went to get my cigar box full of supplies that i've used since HIGHSCHOOL i discovered it didn't make it to the city. so that sucks. i'm def. very far behind.

tonight i met vick at bistro les amis on spring st. for dinner and a drink. food was ok but it was fun and there were these ridiculous drunk people at the bar with great quotes like "you know when you love someone so much you just want to fight them?"... and our waiter was equally ridiculous... so it was definitely entertaining. i've been craving mussels lately cause i serve them so much at work, and didier's always smell and look amazing... the mussels at the bistro were dissapointing. but i didn't want to go eat at la sirene cause it's just weird eating there now that i work there so much and i don't want to take advantage of didier or anything... and it's good to leave broome st. sometimes!

anywayyyyy haircut at noon tomorrow at mudhoney from a man named corvette. should be an interesting experience.

snow!!!

ohmygod we're having a blizzard.

rabbits and grease

so friday night i ended up meeting brandon at smith's when he got off and we went with some of his new coworkers to a bar called The Rabbit Bar... very cool. it was in like, a cellar, and had no sign and served tons and tons of great beers from all over the world. i forget the alcohol content of foreign beers is so much better than like... bud light... and was relatively drunk when we left.

saturday i slept in and then ran errands before going to work at la sirene at 5. i was really excited to have a saturday night to work after last week was sooooo slow for me. i didn't get off until 1:30, we were so busy, but i made really really good money soooo rent is covered. whew! the only thing that sucks is that without a hood system, that restaurant gets SO GREASY and i feel so disgusting when i get off... i miss summer time when we could leave the door open!

after work we ordered pizza, also extremely greasy, and watched a documentary about air bands. very amusing. apparantly there are like, air band competitions all over the world and the finals are in finland and it's serious. i want to go next time they compete in ny!

oh, can we talk about the spring collections popping up in all the stores right now? it's february! not spring! but lots of beautiful things. maybe by the time spring actually rolls around i'll be able to afford some of it... haha maybe next spring? whatever, miracles happen.

today brandon is supposed to make me brunch and i'm probably just going to spend the day laying around the apt before work tonight at 4... we had a lot of reservations for tonight when i left last night, so it's been a great weekend for la sirene thank god! oh, and even though last week didier took valentine's away from me... last night he decided i was so capable that i could indeed work v-day so that will be really great!!!

i wish i had more exciting news but i don't....

oh, and bret left today and i'm a horrible friend and didn't even get to say goodbye!!!! so best of luck choreographing in va, bret monster! i love you and can't wait till you get back! lucky bitch, you get to skip the rest of winter... if there even is any.

friday nights are not for blogging

but i'm really broke after all the festivities and restaurant eating and tattoos and bad tips in the past week... so i don't think i'm going out.
this week was also relatively uneventful.
brandon and i spent time together... he helped me grocery shop and carried my heavy tote bags home from trader joe's at union square... made me steak... walked stella around the village... it's been good, actually.

we had ridiculous weather. wednesday was 60 degrees. i didn't even wear a coat. we sat outside a pub and had a beer with little stella it was so warm. really really ridiculous.

thursday night we went to cowgirls for some drinks and garlic... apparantly other than their margaritas, their drinks are priced like... amazing. like savannah prices. who knew that it was a total waste of calories and money drinking prickly pear margaritas. plus, they're like, magenta colored, so i look like a complete tool drinking them. so shots of jack and yeungling from now on!

the last few days i temped at chloe (the designer)... staring at beautiful handbags and clothes alllllll day long while doing boring data entry. i go back and forth about whether i really want to work in fashion. there were girls there drinking some bizarre juice mixture consisting of spinach, ginger, celery, parsley, lemon, lime, and god knows what else multiple meals a day instead of eating actual food. spinach juice? seriously? that's so disgusting. can i eat real food and work in fashion???

speaking of fashion, there's been some great things in store at fashion week! somehow when fall fashion week happened spring didn't feel that far away but thinking about wearing these clothes next winter... that seems really far away. also, having a place to wear all the beautiful gowns i've seen also seems extremely remote.

ummmmm i'm really bored. i really need hangers because i've run out and there are clothes all over my floor. aaaand i want to go dance with the girls.

must....not....spend....any....money.

my rent check is gonna bounce if i do.

i'm working at la sirene tomorrow night, thank god. last week was a bust with superbowl sunday and god knows what else keeping people at home. i'll be glad to finally get to work on a saturday night again!

so i think i'm gonna spend this weekend eating mac and cheese out of the pan on the stove and catching up on tivo... possibly drinking trader joe's wine... ohhhh man i need to win the lottery so i don't have anymore boring weekends!!!

bird tattoo

ok i haven't posted in a hundred years this week has been craziness... i don't know where to start! also, all the pictures suck because my digital camera is broken so i took them with my blackberry. cheers.

i was temping at the worlds worst office this week... i might have mentioned that. i hated it. i don't ever want to return even though the temp agency seems to think i'd be a great fit there as a permanent receptionist. are they trying to get rid of me or something?

ummmm i helped kyle with a shoot on thursday and it went really really well! i should have written about it that night... we used clothes from apc, lucien pellat-finet, yohji, tom ford, prada, chanel... and others. we had a lot of great menswear, i wasn't that obsessed with any of the women's wear but we had some good peices... and we mixed the designer items with stuff the models were already wearing. Oh, and the models were like, people we went to school with or friends of kyle's friends that have recently moved tot he city. it was really fun and i think we worked well together and the photographer was great... a picture of the polaroids from the shoot is above...

friday i had to return a lot of the clothes that we had used to the designer's showroom... definitely a lot of leg work in the freezing rain. luckily, brando helped me out and we got it done in pretty good time. afterwards we went to momofuku but it was sort of dissapointing. i've been talking it up so much because it was so good when vick and i went the last time... well, the pork buns were still incredible, but the sweetbreads were sort of gross this time and the noodle bowl with pork neck was cold and the pork neck waaaaaay overcooked. next time i'll just go and eat like 50 pork buns. and several orions. yum.

friday night was dinner with the girls at lure, after i threw a completely unneccesary temper tantrum. god knows what my problem was, i was just like, having an anxiety attack and something set me off and i went ballistic. thank god my friends are so patient and nice and that i realized i was being retarded and went to dinner (i threatened to stay home and order take out) because lure was amazing. great martinis, really fun atmosphere, and delicious food. we all had the raw bar platters for appetizer which was 4 oysters, two each of two varieties, and two huge shrimp with various dips and fixings. for entree vicky and kari got the sushi dishes that looked really really nice... really fresh lovely fishes! I got the tuna, mercury and all, and it was wonderful. really really quality tuna cooked perfectly. for dessert i had a lemon tart with vanilla icecream and caramel sauce... delicious. the girls had chocolate cakes that were also really good. definitely a fantastic restaurant week experience. sorry again, girls for being a crazy bitch momentarily!!!

saturday was a really fun day actually. i went to brunch with brandon, we grocery shopped for ingredients to make bruschetta for brooksie's cocktail party, then got tattooed! i've been talking about getting bird tattoos for a long time now... well i finally got one! on my right arm! and i want one on my left now!!! i really really love it. the girl who did it, virginia, was really really nice and did exactly what i wanted... and it hurt but i was so excited that it wasn't a big deal... i think brandon is tired of hearing about how much i like it. he got a fork and knife tattooed on his neck... ouch. it looks really good though! for a fork and knife on someone's neck! (haha)

after we left the tattoo place (New York Adorned), we rushed home and got ready for Brooksie's cocktail party at Alisa's apartment on the upper east side. I couldn't figure out what to wear to a cocktail party in the cold... but i finally managed and brandon packed up the bruschetta ingredients, and we made it up there... At first we felt really really out of place... I didn't really know anyone very well and brandon didn't know anyone... but by the end we made friends and drank a lot of wine and had a really good time. and the bruschetta was a huge hit... way to achieve, brandon.

today is gonna be a lazy day i think. stella is being really bad so i feel like maybe i should spend some time with her or soemthing. she really is being a little bitch. i work tonight, but since it's the super bowl, i think we're gonna be totally dead and I'll probably get sent home.

ANYWAYYYYY i think that about covers it. pictures will go up soon, i can't figure out how to make them not horrible quality... from my blackberry. god why is my camera broken!?!?

linkage

"Advocates also claimed that using the alpacas' fleece for knitted and woven items would energize the textile industry and eliminate the nation's dependence on foreign- produced ponchos."

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/congress_to_raise_alpacas_to_aid

"is it the greatest achievement of mankind thus far or..."

http://eater.com/archives/2008/01/great_moments_i_1.php

I think I suddenly understand statistics.

http://www.aclevercookie.com/rap-lyrics-explained-with-charts-and-graphs/

it's been daaaaaaaaaaaaaaays!

ok so i haven't posted in a hundred years. I'VE BEEN BUSY, PEOPLE! But here's a recap.

Ummmm last night I saw Roundabout's production of Sunday in the Park with George... with Bret, at Studio 54. I know that's sort of confusing since I was neither in the park or with george... but regardless, it was AMAZING. I seriously started crying somewhere near the end of the first act, took a break during intermission, which wasn't excessively emotional, and then started crying again at the v. beginning of act two and pretty much didn't stop until I got on the subway to go home. It was really really really fantastic. I'm not even a Sondheim buff or anything. Bret informed me that the two main actors, who were fucking amazing, both one Olivier's for their roles in the London Production and I would be surprised if the Tony awards didn't follow suit this year. It was just really really amazing.

In other news, I have the world's most boring job this week. I'm receptioning at a place where the offices are like, pretend, and the phone never rings, and the computer I'm typing on this very second has a problem where internet explorer just randomly opens itself times 12,000 windows and it's a big mess. Yesterday, porn wouldn't stop popping up. I was freaking out. I got back from lunch and there were 72 porno windows open. Not exactly the impression I was trying to make, not that I really want to work here ever again. During our torrential downpour this morning, rain was falling on my head through the ghetto skylight above my head. Kari said it best in one of our many email conversations from the past two days... "you might as well be standing out on the street pretending there is a phone you ahve to pick up. thats what it sounds like where you are!!!" Genius, Miss Kari! THe stupidest part is my temp agency like, desperately wants me to go permanent here. I think they've had like a million temps hate it here. But they've totally never pushed me to go permanent anywhere, so it's super bizarre that they want me to do it at the worst offices in the history of the world. No thank you!

Ummmm lets seeeee... oh, in other news, BRANDON IS MAKING HIMSELF USEFUL!
he deposited a sizable portion of money in my account yesterday... and apologized to people he's fucked with in my life. Out of control, what will happen next? Oh... a flying pig just came through the ghetto skylight!

Tonight is Kendall's birthday so we're all going to Dos Caminos to celebrate... hooray! Should be fun, so excited about margaritas!

Tomorrow I'm helping Kyle out on a shoot for /... definitely really excited about that!

My camera is malfunctioning, I'm looking for a new one... until then maybe I'll take blackberry pictures... I'll try to get one of this retarded office that I will hopefully never return to. Thank god for emails from kari and brooksie and my dad! That's the only thing keeping me sane... well, sort of sane.

"I'm not trying to be creepy, but..."

OHMYGOD I MET MATTHEW BARNEY.

If you don't know who he is, google him... or goodle Drawing Restraint. Or the Cremaster Cycle...
I saw the entire Guggenheim taken over by Mr. Barney when I visited NYC for the very first time, with my father. I had never known art like that existed before, and I was fascinated. I also kind of hated it. But At least I felt something... which I think it really important in art. ANyway, after reading tons of literature related to the cremaster cycle, sitting down for all 5 long films, and writing papers on it, I really really love matthew barney and the whole project. He's one of the top five people I would like to meet in my life... aaaaand I did!!!!

Kyle and I went to the New Museum on the Bowery... I'll elaborate more on that disaster later... but as we were walking through the galleries he pointed out a man with his little girl and said "There's matthew barney." Since he stars in his films, I recognized him immediately and was starstruck. It was definitely a bigger deal to me than if it had been Tom Cruise or something. His little girl, daughter of he and partner/muse Bjork, was adorable and he was just wandering around looking at the artwork and she was running around being cute. We ended up getting on the elevator at the same time and i totally froze, I couldn't say anything... so we followed them around the galleries for a while before I could finally get up the courage to say something to him... I knew I'd totally regret it if I didn't... so i just walked up and blurted out "I'm really not trying to be creepy, I just wanted to let you know that the Cremaster Cycle changed everything about the way I think about art... I saw it in the Guggenheim when I was like, 16, and I just wanted to thank you... ok bye" And I was SHAKING so much and he said "thanks, amazing" and I walked away and was like "OK Kyle we have to go!!!!" Basically it was really exciting.

Now... the New Museum? the architecture is really really cool, the galleries themselves could be so amazing... if the art in them didn't suck. At the end our freshman year when we lived in the dorms, everybody through out their shitty art projects from the year... from all of our core classes- 2D, Color Theory, 3D... so all the trash cans were overflowing with bad art projects made of pasta or string or like, garbage... and spraypaint and collage... just like, horrible artwork that we all knew was bad and had no place in an apt much less in a gallery. Well, it appeared that someone collected all this shitty garbage art work and put it in this great space. It was really dissapointing because it had been hyped so much, soooo many articles about the opening of this museum and stuff... I'm hoping that it will improve because this isn't someplace I would want to return again and again like MOMA or the Met... I'll post a picture I wasn't supposed to take later.

Kyle and I went from there to Chelsea to visit the Gladstone Gallery (Barney's representation), Gagosian, and others... nothing very good going on really, but it was nice to spend the afternoon looking.

Last night I worked at La Sirene then just came home... relatively tame weekend. Tonight it's La Sirene again, or maybe hanging out with Brandon... we shall see how that goes. Hopefully both will be lucrative? haha... yeah.

lots of quotation marks

thursday night at tailor was good... i tried the "solid" cocktails... super fun. i love how creative the boys at tailor are, it's great to see people having so much fun with their restaurant but still being professional... in my history, most of the people having fun with their restaurants were sleeping with a lot of hostesses and doing a lot of illegal things... i loooove the cocktail the "waylon" which is pretty simple compared to a lot of their designer drinks- "smoked" coke and bourbon... really good. vicky ordered "something fruity involving champagne" and the bartender made her a really good... really girly martini... but way better than most because the fruit flavoring tasted so fresh and real. the guys from the kitchen (incl. sam mason) sat near us at the bar drinking pbr... i wish i wasn't an idiot and had the courage to be like "hey, i really like what you're doing here..."... which doesn't seem like that difficult of a thing to say... but I think I've worked in enough restaurants where I was annoyed with the girls at the bar hitting on the owners/ chefs where I don't want to be/appear to be "that girl". Whatever. I'm a regular, sort of, and I don't mean to be a groupie, so it shouldn't be such a big deal.
After Tailor vicky and I went to Kiosk, the worst bar I've ever been to. It was like, everyone who's ever subscribed to Nylon magazine got together with a lot of stretchy sequined tube tops and decided to have an annoying photoshoot. Vicky and I danced ridiculously for like 10 minutes and then literally ran out of the bar.

I saw Brand today, the first time in over a week... always interesting. He ended up spending the day here, and I haven't processed the whole thing yet. I'm really worried about him, even after everything. I don't want him to be sick or to be really depressed or anything... it's weird really caring about someone but knowing there probably isn't anything you can do for them... and knowing that for my own good I shouldn't even try anymore... Things will probably never be ok for us... but somehow we still aren't out of each other's lives. It's actually a really messy situation... and i don't know the solution to it really...

Tonight Ian and I had dinner at Artisanal for restaurant week. We had a great temperanillo, and the hanger steak was good... as was the dessert cheese plate. I think I'd like to go back and just eat cheese and drink wine next time. It's definitely a cool place... reminded me a lot of Paris! I'm still up in the air about how I feel about restaurant week though. It was good to have a mellow night though, and to get dressed up a little bit! It's always fun to see Ian, too, because it's so comfortable! I don't have to pretend to be anyone else or try to impress him cause he's known me for so freaking long!

On the train ride home I met these boys who asked me to meet them at Joe's Pizza at 2:30 am because I "looked like a cool chick." One of the boys informed me that he had been at his father's show tonight, and that his dad is Black Sheep who does that song "it's like this... it's like that...". I'm not sure that was true. Needless to say, I'm not going to Joe's Pizza to meet them although the last time I went out with strangers I met on the subway (like 3 days ago), I had a really good time. I'm not quite sure what Joe's pizza is and I have brunch plans at 11 and would like to be alert!

Tomorrow I'm having brunch with Kyle then going to the New Museum... I'm pretty excited cause I haven't seen Kyle in a while and I've reallllllly been wanting to go check out this museum. Kyle asked me to help out with the styling on a shoot for / on thursday and I'm really excited, actually. Can't wait to hear about what he's been up to! I think Kyle is one of the most successful, impressive people I went to scad with and I know he's really going to do amazing things... but I feel like he was already on that path pre-scad! His magazine / is really really great and he's been publishing it on his own forever... ya'll should all check it out.

Ok, I think it's bedtime... or Joe's Pizza time... but I'm pretty sure bed.

obsessed

http://www.aclevercookie.com/rap-lyrics-explained-with-charts-and-graphs/

and

white russian breakfast cereal.

oh the night and i, what a pair!!!

it's been a week... i feel guilty for not posting it all cause i think i'm starting to lose some of it! where to start...
i think it was two nights ago... i was devastatingly bored and went all the way uptown to 110th and amsterdam (!!!) to meet ian at 1020 which was fun...even though he kept saying the wrong thing like that I'll never play anything but the best friend and that I'll have to break "rules" to date a hot man... or something to that effect... whatever that even means. I think it was the beer? Hopefully? Anyway, it doesn't matter... but they were also showing "Stranger than Fiction" which makes me cry... not a good choice for bar movie, but a really really good movie. We headed out around 12 and i got on the subway and got my book out to read on the longish ride home.

Halfway there this group of Australians called me over and I guess I was tipsy enough at the time to think it was a great idea to take them up on their invitation to come out with them in Chelsea! So I went with Sam, Dave, and friends (I had a little bit to drink, give me a break for not remembering all the names! to Cielo... I have no clue where that is located. These people were actually really really fun. They had all met eachother in a Hostel here in the city and so were virtually strangers as well... except they were all from Australia... except for the one random guy who was from somewhere in S. America (I think)... We were all dancing at Cielo when I met a German boy, Johann and I guess I danced with him for a while before we started making out... I did manage to learn that he's from Hamburg... and is a photographer... but it was loud and we were drinking and making out seemed to be the right thing to do at the moment.

Surprisingly enough, everyone facebooked me the next day, so that's fun... I am super glad I decided to go out with all of them because they really were a good time... but I got home super late...

The next day I met up with Kate, the stylist for Paper City, and we picked out jewelry and hats for wednesday's shoot. We got a lot of pretty things, and I even got to look at the Fendi collection and help pick out a few dresses, one of which we actually used... so moving up... slightly!

Yesterday was the actual photo shoot... and I was a disaster the entire time. I definitely didn't get enough sleep the night before so I completely overslept, was almost 3 hours late to the studio... and was just totally out of it all day which sucks, because I like doing these shoots so much. The clothes were really great though, and I know kate had to work super hard to get it all because the day before she had told me we had like 5 looks... we ended up with a ton of great stuff... great fendi dresses, beautiful Vera Wang pieces, an amazing cover gown by Carolina Herrera... really fun, artsy looking dresses for the art issue. But early in the day we decided against a Michael kors dress and belt combo and i had the messenger pick them up and return them to the Kors office... welllll it turns out the belt was armani and at about 7 at night, we really really needed it. And we couldn't get it back. So I totally fucked up and sent the belt back to the wrong designer before we could shoot it with the terrible Armani outfit we absolutely HAD to shoot. Such a mess. I'm such an idiot! I really did feel like the stupidest person in the world because I know that belt would have made the shoot a lot better and I didn't want Kate to get any shit from her boss because the outfit was horrible... I mean, it was an honest mistake but I should have been more conscientious. And the outfit would have been also horrible with the belt, it was bloomers for the love of God, but the belt definitely would've helped... Sooooo I hope the picture still looked ok and that Kate will use me again next month... but it didn't help that I was 3 hours late and sent this important piece back!!!

Anywayyyyy we finished the shoot and I headed home to find out that our electricity had been turned off cause seriously, I'm such an idiot lately... so I stayed at Vicky and Kari's, and Brooksie stayed at a friend's apartment too... and I stayed up waiting on hold all night with Con Edison to pay the bill... but when I got back home this morning the electricity was back on, thank god... and I don't think I'll ever make that mistake again... whatever mistake I made... because last months bill was definitely paid and so I don't think they were supposed to turn it off when I'm just a few days late on this bill! But whatever... they did, I paid, it's taken care of...

I ran last minute errands for Paper City today and went to Trader Joes... apparently they don't have a line at 10 am! And I cleaned the apartment some and did 35 lbs of laundry... It's been a pretty productive day, actually. I don't have work for tomorrow so I think I'll try to finish the cleaning and maybe sleep in a little... because it's been a few days since I've been able to do that... at least since I was able to do it on purpose!

Tonight I think I'm gonna meet up with Vicky at Tailor if she ever gets done with dinner... Brandon tried to get me to come to Vintage and taste the menu he's created but I feel weird going in there a.) knowing he says a lot of shit about me to his coworkers and b.) by myself... I would like to try his new menu. There are a couple reviews written by customers online and there aren't a lot of people that seem very happy. It isn't really the food exactly people are complaining about... maybe it's the manager's fault? Not really sure what the deal is... I guess it's not really my problem. I do really hope things go well for brandon, in the end. I mean, karma is gonna be a bitch but I don't want to hear that he's homeless or hurt or anything like that... but I can't do anything else to help at this point...

Sooooo fingers crossed vicky hurries up so we can get a drink at Tailor... this is what they're up to right now: http://nymag.com/daily/food/2008/01/eben_freeman_turns_his_cocktai_1.html
Always something really creative happening at Tailor, and it's only a block away! So convenient.

This weekend should be good... dinner at Artisanal with Ian for restaurant week tomorrow, then probably out to Le Royale to dance... Saturday I'm going to the New Museum and brunch with Kyle, then working at La Sirene at night... Hopefully tomorrow night will yield something good to write about. Maybe we should meet people at hostels...

apparently con edison likes to be paid on time

i'm an idiot and didn't pay my electric bill even though i've said "I need to pay the electric bill" to brooksie every day for the past 2 weeks... so today they turned off my electricity. OHMYGOD I am so stupid! So I'm spending the night at Vicky and Kari's because my apt is very very dark. It'll be back on in the morning, thank god, and I will post a loooong update of the past two messy days. And I will get my life together and make sure this year is as good as it is supposed to be and that I don't just waste it getting wasted. I'm too old and have been living on my own for way too long to let stupid things like this happen!

"i spent two years on food network, if that didn't turn my head to mush i don't know what would"

The new season of Anthony Bourdain's show No Reservations on Travel Channel is so funny. I totally want to travel with Mr. Bourdain. Actually lately I really want to travel in general. I fucking love New York City. Obviously. I basically want to live here forever. And while I hate to leave manhattan, I don't think it's so bad on a plane... I saw an ad for 159 dollar flight to London on a banner today and almost bought a ticket right there... But then I realized that was kinda retarded.
Anyway, i just went off subject. I don't know why I'm watching so many cooking shows lately! Maybe because I have reasons to cook again... and i won't feel so judged like when Brandon was around critiquing every fucking move I made in the kitchen. I just typed a whole paragraph elaborating on how messed up it was that he would be such an asshole about me cooking... and deleted it cause nobody wants to read that. You're welcome!

In The Key of Awesome (now with pictures)

Oook so last night I worked at La Sirene until like 10... we were super busy but they were a quick and early crowd so... basically, perfect. Except for the bitchy 20th birthday table that didn't know how to tip... she gave me 125 bucks on 117 dollar bill and said keep the change. I very nicely brought the change to her and acted like I hadn't heard her say to keep it and said "here is your change, it's 8 dollars. Have a really happy birthday!" at which point she counted the money, said something to her little friends, then left the restaurant. What the fuck? I definitely didn't do anything wrong. She was just a bitch.

After work, I headed over to Pianos on the Lower East Side to meet Vicky and Kari for Andrew WK. First of all, the easiest and quickest way to get there is in a cab. i couldve walked even but it was like, 12 degrees outside. Literally. Anyway, when i get there i had to wait in line for like 5 minutes ( i hate lines) and when I get to the doorman, he looks at my id and looks at me and then sends me to another guy to have my id scanned. The guy looks at my id and laughs. I was like "Uh.. what?" He informs me that my id is clearly fake. WHAT? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? My id is definitely not fake. I inform him of this. I am 23 years old. My fake id years are definitely over. He laughs, scans my id, it doesn't scan. Yeah, nobody knows why. He informs me that I am not getting into that bar, but luckily gives me my id back. At this point, I was obviously livid. I mean, it would be one thing if i was underage, and using a fake id. I'd be thrilled to get my id back and I'd just leave quietly. BUT I'M LEGAL AND MY ID IS REAL. So they get a manager, who agrees that my Georgia drivers license is obviously a fake. WHAT!? It was like a conspiracy. Finally I mention that I have a prepurchased ticket waiting for me inside and somehow that was like the magic password and they let me in. Seriously? It was totally ridiculous.

Sooooo I got in, I was still mad, I got a drink, and we went into the part of the bar where the music was... in like, a back room. It sort of smelled like the trashroom of a sushi bar and was a million degrees but we scored a good spot in the front and after the first band that consisted of a lot of guitar and grunting, we sat on the steps leading up to the stage for Andrew WK to perform. his performance was really short, but actualy really good... very different than the limited about of songs i'd heard by him before. He was like... devendra meets tori amos last night. Def. a weird combo... or maybe not. Afterwards we stayed so Vicky could meet him and give him her business card... portraits anyone? I'll upload pictures as soon as I get them from the girls.

After that we left Pianos and went to Libation, which I hated. I think maybe I just wasn't in a club mood. It was sunday, after all... whatever that means. So we downed our drinks there and went for nachos at... I don't know the name... and talked about other people for a long time as vicky dozed off... then we all hopped in a cab and went home... Soooo I made it home by 4 for once! This week should be a busy one. Tonight I'm working at La Sirene again, tomorrow and wednesday I'm assissting on a paper city shoot... and i don't know yet about thursday and friday. We'll see! Stay tuned for pictures.

Lent

i'm giving up mixers for lent. and i'm starting early. i don't remember when i decided i should add diet to my jack on the rocks but that has officially stopped.
tonight was absurd, i'll write about it tomorrow.
goodniiight.

Momofuku, Niagara, Botanica

Last night Vicky and I went to Momofuku Noodle Bar in the East Village and it was seriously one of the best meals I've had since I've lived here. We ordered waaaay too much food and spent too much money but it was a totally enjoyable dinner so whatever. We had Pork Dumplings... which were out of control delicious. They were like soft pillowy clouds from heaven. I can't even explain them. We also had shrimp and grits which were fine, esp with the thick cut bacon and the perfectly poached egg. The sweetbreads were fried really nicely... crisp and delicious and not greasy at all... and came with a really good sweet chilli sauce... That was enough food for the two of us but somehow the waitress convinced us we needed a noodle bowl that was MASSIVE but amazing... pork neck with nice thick noodles and a great broth. We drank huge Orions with our meal and sitting at the bar was fun cause we could check out the cute chefs... which we were probably ridiculously obvious about.

Later we went to Niagara which was nearby... it was whatever. Very crowded with a mix of annoying NYU students, v. drunk girls who apparantly thought vicky and i wanted to fight, and then more laid back east village boys mixed in randomly... We met a cool group of guys from Brooklyn though and hung out with them for a while at loud niagra before moving on with them to Botanica in Nolita... much better! Def. more low key and more amusing, with singular drunk girl dancing on the benches and random drunk men falling onto our table. And the world's most random DJ. We got in a cab to go home after last call sooooo basically it was another good night!

Today I've done... nothing so far. This is the most productive I've been so far... Vick and I talked about going to a Taschen book sale... but I have to work at La Sirene in like, 2 hours so we'll see about that.

We're supposed to go see Andrew WK tonight (haha) if I get off work in time but I think we might be busy (hopefully) cause tomorrow is a holiday for a lot of people here.Sooooo we'll see!

btw the real housewives of orange county are really fucking annoying.

people shouldn't be lying assholes

just a personal observation.
and if someone else's parents pay your rent you should probably find a way to pay them back.

Le Royale (part 1 I'm sure)

Last night at Le Royale (on LeRoy street... we just made the connection last night) was so amazing. It was like the olden days at the Jinx. But more expensive. And a way better DJ that nobody we know has slept with.... so the mystery is still there! As expected, Kari ran into someone she knew and screamed a lot, and we did shots of Southern Comfort. And Vicky and I found ourselves dancing like idiots on the stage for a while. And, also like the olden days, we were the last ones standing along with friendly intern Chris from vicky's work. ANYWAY the music was fantastic- seriously, their friday night Robot Rock party is so much fun. And unlike so many New York clubs, not pretentious! But unlike the Jinx... not dirty. Soooo it's like the perfect mix of everything.
However, we could not find 24 hour sushi to save our lives. Not even sushi open past the bars. Blue Ribbon is open until 4, like sushi zen, but bars close at 4 and we couldn't be expected to stop dancing early, right? Soooo we found ourselves at a diner on 6th ave in the village that I can't remember the name... eating calamari and eggs benedict at 4:30 in the morning. PERFECT.
Oh and you know what else is great? No stupid stamps on our hands!!! And the coat check girl is actually nice.
This was our third friday at Le Royale and I don't see any reason we won't be there most fridays from now on.

It turns out 23 is not old. That we can still dance and have fun and not be serious and worry all the goddamn time. It turns out things are really going to be ok. Better than ok even. There's really no reason life shouldn't be one big dance party.

Newest Obsession

Ohmygod way better than food network is this:
http://www.onnetworks.com/videos/dinner-with-the-band
It's Sam Mason (of my fave broome st. restaurant/bar/dessert situation Tailor) hosting a cooking show... with bands. And the food seems like stuff we'd all like (except i don't know about avacado margaritas, that sounds horrible) and like stuff I'd be capable of making without too much stress. Aaaaaaand if the olive cobbler is anything like his amazing clafouti at Tailor, then I'm attempting it asap.
and he's hot and funny and the bands are good.
why isn't this actually on tv? I think they could take one of Rachel Ray's disasters off the air for a season...

Adventures in Temping, pt. 1

OK, So today I'm working as a receptionist at a talent agency. I've worked here before, so at least I kind of know what I'm doing but they're super intense and sometimes the phone rings a whole lot and sometimes it doesn't ring at all and then I get super bored. But everything is always like, an issue here... some kind of drama. Like when people take their lunchbreak is equivilant to a matter of national security. It's interesting though... I can't wait until I come back here for representation, not for reception...
The stupid thing is that my gmail doesn't work. It's like, the only webpage that doesn't function... igoogle works, this works... but not gmail. Whatever.
This is not a very exciting temporary adventure, not that any of them really are... but some are more amusing than others. I am here till seven so maybe something will happen... fingers crossed.

hahaaaa

this is going to be dumb but i think it's high time... this will make it way easier to keep in touch and remember all the ridiculous stuff that's been happening to little me in the big bad city... and give me something to do when i'm temping! we joke all the time about how freaking unlucky i am but i sort of think it's the opposite... i mean, things could really be sooooo much worse!