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July 29, 2005

Pineapple Daisies and Strawberry Roses

I got a call a few minutes ago from the front desk at work saying I had received a package. Had no idea what it could be, but when I got there I found this. It's a flower bouquet assembled entirely of fruit, with pineapples cut to resemble flowers and and strawberries doubling as roses. A company called Edible Arrangements makes them. One arrived in Mom's office recently and she thought it was so funny she sent one to me just for fun. Thanks Mom! At the moment a crowd of curious, camera-phone wielding (and possible hungry) coworkers is crowding around it. Of the various baby, birthday, and sport-themed flower bouquets I've seen, this takes the cake. It's edible!

Posted by csageday at 01:31 PM | Comments (1)

July 27, 2005

Awwwwwww

First, I found what I thought looked like mouse droppings in one of our moving boxes. Derek convinced me they were black sesame seeds (I'm gullible; he's optimistic to a fault). Then, when I was getting a glass of water late one night, I caught a very cute, very small little mouse scurrying behind the sink and down one of the burner holes in the stove. My first thought was, "Awwww!" My second thought was, "damn, I need to clean those crumbs up from under the toaster," which I did. Since we have a whole colony of mice living in our house upstate, I wasn't fazed by one single mouse, although I should known better (where there's one, there are many, D reminded me).

We vowed to be better about cleaning things up, but we're lazy about dishes -- at least I am. Apparently the mouse is familiar with this tendency because he's been getting a bit more bold. I was on the phone last night in the kitchen when I caught him running from behind the microwave to the stove at a somewhat less-than-scared pace. It was more of an okay-I'm-done-now pace, actually. I wished for a minute that he'd stick around so I could get a picture, but then reminded myself that a rodent infestation, on top of the ant infestation we already have, is NOT a good thing, for many, many reasons.

Tonight, both Derek and I were in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner when Mr. Mouse (could be a she, but I'm not going through the whole "he or she" routine in this text) poked his head out from under a dishtowel and then disappeared again. We both stopped what we were doing and tried to figure out exactly where the little bastard was. I slowly picked up the dishtowel and shook it. Nothing. We gingerly moved a water bottle. I was convinced he was underneath the toaster. Derek thought he was behind the jar of flour. Slowly and a bit timidly (I'm not exactly sure what we were afraid of, ahem) we moved things around looking for him. No mouse. I was impressed. He's a devious, tricky little animal. Finally, I figured he'd snuck behind the microwave when we weren't looking and I started moving the cookbooks leaning up against it. He shot out from behind it for a second, we both jumped, and then he disappeared again.

I was about to give up and let him hide so we could finish cleaning up. My strategy was something like: "Do the dishes and pretend this never happened and there isn't actually a mouse somewhere on the countertop." Derek wasn't giving up, though -- he started moving each cookbook back and forth and rattling the microwave again. Suddenly, he drew back his hand quickly and said something like "Ah!" I looked where he was looking and screamed. This is what we saw.

I wasn't scared, just sort of freaked out by the mouse making a bold appearance and clearly looking right at us. It was almost as if he got fed up and came out to see what we were up to. He stayed that way long enough for me to run and get my camera and take a picture. Maybe he knows I have a blog. It was a pretty good plan of his, too. We stopped moving stuff around, took a picture, and then went back to cleaning the kitchen when he snuck behind the cookbooks again. He clearly knows how to handle people. I'm thinking of giving him a name and considering him a member of the family. Bartholemew? Grayer? Tiny Tim? I'm open to suggestions.

Posted by csageday at 11:40 PM | Comments (2)

July 26, 2005

Google Gushing

Okay, Google maps was cool, I'm a gmail convert, and Google Earth is just fucking amazing, but they just keep coming up with more stuff. I use the Google personalized homepage regularly -- I check headlines, stock quotes, and my email there because it's centralized and it loads quickly. This morning, though, I clicked on "Add Content", which I'd used before but not recently. The page gracefully transformed itself to display a column on the left with news feeds to add, plus a field where I could add an RSS feed URL of my choice. Since I also read Gothamist I added that. Then, because I have a rather outsized ego, I added Blue Sage for kicks (and noticed I really need to post more). Screenshot:

And finally, there's a place to store all your bookmarks. Since I switch off between computers (mac, pc, home, work) all the time, I've been looking for a better place to store links (using my outdated blogroll wasn't ideal). I love Google.

Posted by csageday at 10:00 AM | Comments (0)

Grillin

Urban apartment-dwellers that we are, Derek and I are not experts with a grill. We know the basics and we've done our fair share of holding a spatula and getting smoke in our eyes while we watch over someone else's grill, but we've never actually grilled anything on our own in Brooklyn. Derek kept a bag of charcoal in the trunk all last summer in the hope that we would get something together in Prospect Park, but I was always wary of the particular park etiquette and reserving technique that seems required. One weekend morning last summer, I got up early to head to Sebago and saw determined people (with large coolers) staking out grills and picnic tables around 8 a.m. -- I figured we didn't stand a chance if stuff like that was going on. Besides, I wouldn't have known what to do with one of the Prospect Park grills if I got one. I barely understand how charcoal works, much less how to use a chimney starter.

God bless roof access. First, it's cool and breezy on the roof when it's steamy inside; second, it's got a beautiful (albeit somewhat obstructed) view of the city and the moon on a clear night; and finally, there are about three communal charcoal grills up there (and a smoker!) for us to use. We had a very impromptu get-together last night and tried out some grilled kielbasa (first time I've ever bought meat at the Coop -- it's always hard to stick to the vegetarianism in grilling season -- but it's kielbasa, okay? I love that stuff.) and veggies and corn. Derek valiantly eschewed lighter fluid or matchlight of any kind and used paper to get the coals going (a degree in thermodynamic somethingorother may or may not have helped). We had planned to try out the grill on our own so we could experiment without humiliating ourselves, but last minute plans were made and having people over made it even better. The veggies were great -- we used zucchini squash, portobello mushrooms, and red onions marinated in balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. Derek sliced open the kielbasa, which helped it cook a little faster. The corn, unfortunately, didn't cook as well as it should have because the coals were dying down, but we can plan better for that next time. With a little wine and homemade iced tea and tziziki, it made for a respectable Brooklyn rooftop cookout. Plus, we finally got to use all of the grill accessories that we've been moving from place to place but have never used -- and the fireplace tools came in handy, too (I've been refusing to put them in storage even though we no longer have a fireplace).

Posted by csageday at 12:14 AM | Comments (0)

July 20, 2005

Good Lord It Is Hot

It is stinky, steamy, soupy hot. My hair is sticking to my head. Every cold drink I take out of the fridge develops a lake of condensation at its base within minutes. I feel bad about opening the fridge because all the cold air escapes and it has to run for five hours to bring the temperature down again. I just got an ice pop out of the freezer and it melted by the time I found the scissors to open it.

It's so hot I really don't feel like blogging or maintaining my Flickr obsession (that is saying something). And I can't bear the thought of eating anything hot. We went to Sette on 7th Avenue tonight (totally unplanned, impulsive, irresponsible, expensive extravagance) and although the fritto misto and pasta dishes were good, warm food on a night like tonight -- no matter how good -- just doesn't seem right. I hadn't really felt like dinner, but I've been very stressed out lately and the idea of a snack with some wine sounded like a good idea. Once inside, Derek realized he was famished, so we got a regular dinner. I could barely walk home after we finished.

For wine, we ordered a "quarto" (little mini carafe) of rosetto (rosé) to get something cold on the table. Either the waitstaff was confused or the host decided to choose a wine for us, because a quarto of white arrived. Whatever, it was cold, so we drank it and got it on the house to boot (they said it was free because we had changed tables earlier to make room for a group). The rosé, when it finally arrived, was fantastic. I have no idea what kind of rosé it was -- meant to write it down but forgot. Regardless, rosé is a good summer evening wine. As for food, the gnocchi was good (not quite up to par with Al di La), and the tagliatelle was wonderfully thin, but I kept feeling like I would rather have been in a pool. A pool with some ice in it. For dessert (I know, why????) we ordered the custard with fresh fruit and got the ricotta cake delivered to us instead. We tried out the ricotta cake while we were trying to flag down the waiter (just in case, you know, it was actually the custard is some strange form) and it wasn't that good. The custard was very nice, though.

I'm trying to figure out what exactly is stressing me out so much lately -- enough to feel a need for wine, or coffee, or anything that might change my mood. I wonder if this is seasonal or related to the various stress-inducing pressures -- my work situation, the move, uncertainty about summer plans, a very long to-do list, etc. Whatever it is, the heat is exasperating it (incidentally, if you're reading the new Harry Potter, could this be the effect of countless dementors breeding in our midst?). We have air conditioning in our bedroom, but for some reason any air conditioning, if it's actively blowing in my direction, drives me crazy when I'm trying to get to sleep. So maybe lack of sleep is making me crabby. Which means I should probably get to bed.

On the unpacking front, there is great progress. Somehow, over the weekend, I managed to get rid of all of my boxes. Derek has also found some used (and nice, Cindy-approved) bookshelves to buy so he'll be box-free, soon, too. The kitchen looks fantastic -- the counters are clear, the cookbooks have a home, and I'm loving the multitudes of cabinets and drawers. The living room doesn't quite feel right, yet, but it's too hot to spend any time in there anyway so I'm not worried. My bookshelf, which is made of unfinished wood, got a rub down with orange oil and looks very happy about that. It found a home in the little room with my desk and is full of books.

In general, it's coming together, but I occasionally feel detached from the whole process and from the new place. Our stuff is here, and we're here, but it doesn't feel like home yet. It's a nice place and the extra space is great, but it all feels a bit surreal. It's like one of those dreams where things are almost normal but not quite -- last night I dreamt we had a new cat (I'm not a cat person) and I knew I had to get kitty litter and do something but the whole thing was off. Familiar details, like our old bathroom, were in the dream, but we lived on a different street and I felt like an impostor. I'm feeling a little of that displacement, like it's not permanent or real. Wish I could explain it a little better.

In less depressing news, we saw the Brooklyn Philharmonic perform at the Prospect Park bandshell on Saturday with some friends. It was a nice night (no rain), and the program included Tchaikovsky, Dvoräk, Offenbach, and Gershwin. The Gershwin piece was "An American in Paris" -- a great, uplifting piece of music for a warm summer night. On Sunday, we went to Applewood for brunch with the family, but I think we must have waited a full hour to get seated (understandable for a party of 5 at a great, small, place but ARGH). Each time the wait was extended we considered something else but decided against it simply because of the applewood smoked bacon. And the biscuits. And the grits and coffee. All fantastic at Applewood (next to Rosewater, our favorite brunch place). The brioche french toast was good but not phenomenal. Comments from the lobster-omlette eaters were that each ingredient was superb but that the whole package didn't really come together well. Dad says the bloody mary was bloody good. THE BEST. He could have been swayed by finally getting one after an hour of forced 7th Ave shopping (while we were waiting), but it looked pretty good to me. (Note: We hear that the best bloody marys are at Superfine in Dumbo so we'll have to go try those before giving out any prizes.)

Posted by csageday at 01:00 AM | Comments (0)

July 15, 2005

London

Some belated links on the attacks in London: Angry Marxist Hippy has some good quotes. In an NYT Op-Ed piece, Thomas Friedman reminds us that "To this day - to this day - no major Muslim cleric or religious body has ever issued a fatwa condemning Osama bin Laden." Some clerics in Spain issued a fatwa after the bombings there, but the fact that this is a major exception underscores the previous point. The BBC also addresses the abundance of madrassas (Islamic schools) in Pakistan that teach the Koran and little else and seem to support an extremist view -- one of the bombers supposedly attended one.

Posted by csageday at 12:11 AM | Comments (0)

Plastic Bags and the One Tonne Challenge

I was psyched to read about a possible tax on plastic bags in the city, and even more happy to read the most of the people commenting also support it. I have been waging my own "I don't need a bag" campaign against delis and other stores for years. Even for larger stuff, I usually have a canvas bag on hand to use instead. Despite these efforts (and even despite doing all my grocery shopping at the Coop sans plastic bags), I still have a large stash of used bags at home that I can't seem to get rid of. It's amazing how wasteful we are with these things.

Also on the eco front, I'm envious of the One Tonne Challenge happening up north (Yarn Harlot mentioned it today). Canadians are working to reduce emissions in a big way to keep their Kyoto promise. There should be a coordinated stateside effort to do the same thing in spite of the current administration's Kyoto snub.

The suggestions in the little booklet are great -- some are obvious, some not. Try carpooling, turning off the lights when you're not using them, don't let the car idle. Choose the green energy alternative (ahem, Derek, ahem). Buy local produce -- it's fresh, it's in season, it did not burn jet fuel to get to your table. Collect rainwater to water the plants, etc. I'm familiar with many of the suggestions, but getting the word out to everyone else in this oil-greedy country might be nice. People often think they are saving energy one way or another -- maybe they buy organic food or use an incandescent bulb -- but usually the case is that the extra fridge or minivan they use is more than canceling out their effort.

The Canadian booklet has numbers and a method for keeping track, so it goes beyond creating awareness. There are tips about cleaning the refrigerator seal and using a different dryer setting -- all good reminders that actually make a difference. We recently had our car fixed up and the difference in fuel efficiency is significant.

At least we New Yorkers can look forward to hybrid taxis in the near future, given that the beaurocrats stop whining about legroom (oh please! -- don't beurocrats ride buses or airplanes or F trains? Give us the hybrids already!).

Posted by csageday at 12:09 AM | Comments (2)

July 14, 2005

Stew Leonard's

The drive up to the Cape last weekend was one of the longest drives in the history of long-weekend drives. It wasn't terrible driving, but it was raining and there was traffic and all told, a 4.5 hour drive turned into a 9 hour one. Each time we got going, traffic would appear on the horizon and then we'd see this for half an hour. Serves us right for not leaving the night before.

We stopped at Stew Leonard's in Norwalk, CT (Derek's old home), to alleviate the boredom a bit (we were getting a little loopy in the car). Stew's is a unique phenomenon in the food business -- it's like the Disneyword of grocery stores. There are huge displays and dancing mechanical fruit characters that sing songs at regular intervals. As you're picking out a tomato, a giant stalk of celery above you might start cheerfully bouncing and singing "We're Dole fresh vegetables, we're good for you! We're Dole fresh vegetables, we're good friends, too!" (can you tell that's gotten into my head a bit?).

The store is organized like a giant maze, so you follow one course from start to finish (there are no aisles). The displays are all farmer's market-style, with colorful signs and an abundance of food. Baked goods are made on site, and there are large windows between the store and the areas where the baking is done. As we were walking by the bread area we caught a glimpse of someone weighing out dough for loaves. Milk and other dairy is also processed on site.

As a huge fan of food, I was pretty excited the first time D took me to Stew Leonard's. It's like a farmer's market on steroids. The large majority of what they sell is fresh and they sell huge quantities of everything, so instead of seeing 5 balls of mozarella on a counter, you see about a hundred of them, with a mozarella-dedicated staffer restocking as you walk by. I usually want to buy everything and can't because we're far from home, but this time we could buy food for a weekend with friends so I went wild and got a peach-blueberry pie, blueberries, mozarella, tomatoes, basil, and a watermelon. We also stopped for a lobster roll at the outdoor snack bar.

Derek has been going to Stew Leonard's since he was born. I've even seen home movies of him (at age 6 or so) and his brother feeding the goats in the petting zoo out front. He also can't leave the place without getting an ice cream cone.

Posted by csageday at 07:30 PM | Comments (0)

Governor's Island

I like islands.

City Island is highly recommended, but I've never been. ForgottenNY has some good City Island photos.

I've wanted to go to Roosevelt Island forever simply because there's a tram ride involved, but we never seem to get around to it.

Governor's Island has the appeal of a ghost town, but it hasn't been open to the public until recently. This Saturday, an art show called "Set and Drift" is opening there. I love these photos of the abandoned spaces on the island, so maybe this is good excuse to get my ass out there. There's a ferry and everything (I also like boats).

Posted by csageday at 01:00 AM | Comments (3)

Duplicitous Real Estate Agents

I just dropped off the keys to our old apartment. Our landlord was nice, so I was looking forward to seeing her and getting some gossip about the buyers' impending luxury renovation flip, but no. Opening the door and grinning ear to ear was the Corcoran broker. I tried to be friendly. The landlord was there, too, so we chatted, but seeing the old place and the enabler-of-real-estate-madness dampened my mood.

To make it even worse, the broker casually mentioned (smiling nonchalantly all the while) that, oh, the place actually isn't being renovated. In fact, the buyer is probably going to put on a coat of paint and rent it.

I probably should have tried to get more information, but I was a little pissed (I mean, it's not like we're going to move AGAIN to get it back). I'm guessing there's more to the story. It probably sells a little better if you don't have to worry about accommodating an existing tenant, or something. Or the buyer just didn't want a tenant, even though we're "dream tenants" according to our old landlord. (The broker and landlord had said they'd tell buyers that we were good tenants and were interested in staying there.) Whatever. The whole move/uprooting thing has wreaked havoc in our lives, so the possibility that the move could have been avoided made me really mad. I left and walked down the street cursing silently, envisioning various violent episodes with real estate broker windows and baseball bats.

To get over it I called D and asked him to meet me at any place that had alcohol. We went to the newish Bar Minnow (spinoff of the very nice Minnow seafood restaurant around the corner). Cold muscadet and dinner eventually calmed me down. It was our first time there and I really liked the relaxed, bar/seafood shack feel -- it's a good summer place. It smells like seafood inside and there's a good selection of beer on tap (I liked Derek's unpronounceable wheat beer -- something with "heifer"?). Derek's lobster roll was a bit citrusy, and my seafood salad was decent (good calamari, iffy everything else). I think I'll stop by and sit at the bar for some wine and oysters or clams the next time I have a bad work day (or bad real estate experience) and need to unwind.

Posted by csageday at 12:11 AM | Comments (1)

July 13, 2005

Derek, Handyman Extraordinaire

The expert Russian furniture movers said it could not be done. They tried to move the desk in to the tiny little second bedroom without success. Enter Derek. Derek suggested last night that, if we do various things to the door and the desk with tools, we might fit the desk into the little room. I was very skeptical. I stuck to my more straightforward unpacking tasks and said things like, "If you break this desk, you have to find another one EXACTLY like it or [vague threat with raised eyebrows and threatening look]." The desk is the size of Montana and the doorway to the little room is tough to maneuver around, so I really didn't think there was much of a chance. Besides, by last night I was finally coming around the idea of the desk-as-cookbook-shelf-near-the-kitchen.

Turns out there are obvious things you can do when faced with this problem, like, say, taking a door off its hinges to gain an extra inch or so of room. These are the sorts of things you learn about when you have a house, I think, or move 10 times in the space of a decade. I knew about this, but the thought never really crossed my mind in connection with the desk problem.

Secondly, furniture is sometimes constructed with moving in mind. My desk is one of those old hulking library desks made of oak, so I really didn't think it would have any handy Ikea-like components, but it did. There are quaint looking (and rusted) screws holding the top of the desk to the bottom. I had seen the metal anchors holding the screws in place, but again -- I thought, "cool, old metal things" and didn't realize that they actually had a purpose.

So D hammered and unscrewed things and we barely managed to squeeze the thing through the door, and now I'm sitting in my own little office, working on the Mac on the desk. End of inspirational moving story.

On to other things of interest. With a working computer and internet connection, I finally managed to post the July 4th photos from up north. Since my photos of people are notoriously bad, I stuck to pictures of things that don't move or have a camera face.

We spent last weekend in Cape Cod -- should have a few photos of inanimate objects from that trip up soon as well, in addition to an account of our side-trip to Stew Leonard's, the Disneyworld of grocery stores.

Possible things to do this week: The Brooklyn Philharmonic will be at the Prospect Park Bandshell this Saturday, and Calexico is playing at Castle Clinton in Battery Park this Thursday.

Posted by csageday at 12:29 AM | Comments (0)

July 11, 2005

Regularly Scheduled Blogging Will Resume Shortly....

James Earl Jones has kindly informed us -- via a message on our answering machine -- that Verizon DSL has been enabled in our new apartment. And since we finally moved my humungous desk into an upright position last night and cleared a path between the boxes to get to it, we're one step closer to finding the computer and plugging it in and not posting pathetic little blog reports during our lunch hour at work.

Bored? Go look at these awesome photos of dogs.

Posted by csageday at 01:08 PM | Comments (0)

July 05, 2005

The 5-In-One Uber Blog Post (Since I Won't Get It Together Enough to Post Again This Week)

Apparently we've moved into a building that's half old-school/Latino Brooklyn and half Hipsterville. Tweens speaking Spanish hang out on the stoop, and young creative types with retro designer shoes have parties on the roof. Latin music plays in the cars going up the street; techno plays LOUDly nextdoor around midnight. Quite an adjustment from BugabooVille a couple of avenues up. In some ways, it's a welcome change, as long as I can manage to get to sleep with all the boom boom booming going on.

The place is nice but we can't move around much with all the boxes piled up everywhere. Our ficus tree is in the kitchen (no room anywhere else), which means we're not cooking anytime soon. My desk doesn't fit in the room meant to be an office, so our living room has a wall-to-wall furniture problem. Water glasses aren't unpacked so we're drinking water from wine glasses. The bathroom can't fit two people in it at the same time. I can see us trying to squeeze in there one morning and having one of us (probably me) fall in the tub. Oh, and even if I did have an internet connection at home, I was so wiped out from helping the (low budget) movers carry stuff up and down stairs I probably couldn't have found the energy to blog about all this. Much less the computer. From Friday to Monday I was without an internet connection. I experienced gmail withdrawl, blogging universe withdrawl, and Flickr withdrawl. I also had a headache for five days straight, possibly from all the dust from packing. I'm still not completely back to normal.

We spent the long weekend upstate getting all the stress out of our systems and having our annual extended family joint birthday party (D's was Friday, mine's next Friday). We swam, we vegged, we kayaked, we played tennis, and we barbequed like good patriots (of the liberal, environmentalist, non-righteous-flag-waving sort).

Somehow I completely blocked out Live 8. Very retro eighties. I had no idea it was going on until I caught up on my news today. And then, since someone gave us a Live Aid DVD last Christmas, I was like -- huh? It's been done and it didn't really work!? Has everyone gone mad? I'm still not exactly sure how I ignored the media long enough to miss the coverage. Or maybe everyone else ignored it, too?

Hmmm. Here's a design for the new Nets stadium thing. Looks like some building blocks shoved in crumpled paper. Or a shape sorter accident. Actually, could be a pile of garbage. Hey, let's build something that looks like what's in the recycling container! I'm not an expert, and I like some of the stuff Gehry's done, so I'll stop there. Just for the record, though, the whole put-a-stadium-near-my-neighborhood project isn't something I support. Development isn't always bad, but stadiums are not community-friendly. They don't make for nice residential neighborhoods. And I never liked the Nets. Can't we just bring the Dodgers back if we're building a stadium?

Was thinking of going to the David Sedaris 826 thing at Cooper tonight but decided I had too much to do. I went to Downtown 4 Democracy's reading back before the election at the same venue -- The Great Hall at Cooper Union -- and it was an English major's dream. Salmon Rushnie, Jonathan Franzen, Michael Chabon, Jonathan Safran Foer, Dave Eggers, Lou Reed, and others. Of course, I'm blogging instead and procrastinating. How productive.

Entirely unrelated: I got D Freakonomics and some CDs for his birthday -- not exactly thrilled with the New Porographers CD (Mass Romantic) or the Decemberists (Picaresque). LOVED They Might Be Giants' No!, though. D and I giggled at it all the way down from Albany, while my mother and brother were probably rolling their eyes in the backseat.

This will probably be it in the way of blogging this week, since I'm cooping tomorrow and we're going away for another long weekend this weekend (I know, we're spoiled). Hence the very disorganized and rambling post. I'll post some Flickr photos when I get everything set up at home, but till then go look at the Everyone's page -- the weirdest stuff shows up there.

Posted by csageday at 10:07 PM | Comments (3)