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Posted on 04.23.08 by Emily
Dark chocolate sorbet blew my mind. The chai ice cream with crystallized ginger also won top marks. Other flavors to check out: mint chocolate cookie ice cream, spiced strawberry sorbet, Grounded house espresso ice cream, chocolate ice cream, mango cardamom sorbet and coconut creamsicle sorbet.
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Posted on 04.16.08 by Emily
 Mmm… Basil growing in my NYC rooftop garden, certified safe by Umbra. Who knew Seeds of Change (my organic seed source) was owned by M&M/Mars? Anna did.
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Posted on 04.05.08 by Emily
I was feeling low this morning over some romantic nonsense and preparing to schlep a giant duffel of old clothes down to Housing Works so they could start a new life. Heaving the bag to the corner, I spotted tangerine stilettos and followed them up saffron spandex-wrapped legs and persimmon leather purse, fur bomber jacket, and flaxen blonde hair with coarse black roots, just marveling. She turns around to look at me and says “Oh My God, Oh My God.” I wonder what has her so freaked out. “You are so beautiful,” she says. I laughed and thanked her, leaning my arm out for a cab. “No — you don’t understand. I was born a man. And I’ve been studying real women my whole life. And you are just so beautiful — for real.” A cab arrived, and Jasmine turned chivalrous, opening the door for me and making sure my bag got into the trunk, then asked for (and got) a big hug goodbye. We didn’t exchange numbers, so thanks for turning my day around, Jasmine.
Strolling back from depositing the dresses and trying to decide between eggs at Petite Abeille or something salady at Le Pain Quotidien, I see “The New French” written on the windows of the old Le Gamin at 522 Hudson St (btw W. 10th St and Charles St, New York, NY 10014) in Maira Kalman’s unmistakable handwriting. Peering through the windows I see a funny table of guys waving at me to enter. So I do. Adorable wall mural by Maira Kalman (detail above) and short but intriguing menu (also in Maira’s handwriting) of bistro dishes with a twist plus pho and vegetable curry.
My spinach/pepper/gruyere omelette accompanied by fresh baby greens and shaved yellow beets was so lovely and delicious it conjured up the plastic bag scene from “American Beauty“. Is dinner tonight too soon to go back? Inside the paper that accompanied me to brunch, OK Go’s Damian Kulash Jr. contributed a great op-ed “Beware the New New Thing” on Net neutrality in terms of the old rules of common carriage. Across the page, Adam Cohen editorially observed “The Already Big Thing on the Internet: Spying on Users,” explaining that the fourth amendment of the US Constitution’s bill of rights, which guarantees protection against illegal search and seizure, was originally concerned with protecting homes and bodies then extended to cover telephone communications. He concludes that work has to be done to grant Internet communications the same level of privacy protection. I agree, but are we even still protected by the 4th? Looks to me like we’re back to Bill of Rights basics and work has to be done to assure any privacy protection at all. I guess it’s a perfect time to dig into Jonathan Zittrain’s intriguing new book, The Future of the Internet — and How to Stop It. Song of the day: “Willie Deadwilder” by Cat Power (Specifically the one from Speaking For Trees, though they’re all good.) Related Posts:
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Posted on 03.31.08 by Emily
My photo of Yuno’s Farm’s salad mix with broccoli raab flowers above is featured in this week’s New York Magazine in an article called “Salad Days” on page 104. The article reveals that Nevia No, “co-owner of South Jersey’s Yuno’s Farm, exotic seed seeker andartful arranger of what might be the most beautiful produce stand in town,” returns to Union Square with “a bevy of tender greenhouse greens, plus overwintered broccoli rabe and spinach.” Yay! Spring’s arrived. Related posts:
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Posted on 02.10.08 by Emily
Sur les paves la ferme (Over the pavement, the farm), is the theme of Work Architecture’s winning proposal for P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center’s 2008 summer courtyard. Reflects the movement from industrialization to postindustrialization, from global to local, from free market to farmer’s market, and from sand to hay.
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Posted on 12.06.07 by Emily
Coming from a deep natural aquifer to the surface in Whakatane, New Zealand, Antipodes has real mouth appeal. It’s less aggressively carbonated than my usual brew, San Pellegrino, and it’s easy on the eyes too. Dressed in classic Mrs. Eaves, Antipodes complements any table without overpowering it. The oviform bottle echoes the round beads streaming up when opened. It’s a happy thing to hold. I know, I know… you have issues with bottled water. I do too. But a girl’s gotta have a vice, and until I can pour sparkling from the tap, I’ll order the bottle. (When out… technically I could make my own at home.) If it makes you feel any better, Antipodes is the first premium water to be certified carbon neutral in production and export, and they plan to be carbon neutral to any table, hotel room or home anywhere in the world by 2008. Antipodes is currently served only in hand-picked great restaurants around New Zealand, hence their restaurant list is a good guide to the restaurants I want to try. You can order Antipodes by the case for home delivery in the United States through New Zealand Natural Goods, but at $60 for 12, I’d have to consider it a design element to justify it. Oh, wonderful! Oprah already did.
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I love bubbly beverages: Champagne and sparkling water are always my drinks of choice. Among the sparklers, |
Posted on 12.06.07 by Emily
Overlooking Waitemata harbor’s expansive blue vista, the White Restaurant at the Hilton Auckland features a cool palette, warm service and delightful meals. Starting with our first favorite meal of the day, highlights of the breakfast buffet include poached pears with vanilla beans, blueberries with cinnamon sticks and apricots with cardamom pods. These are delicious over the bircher muesli, as are the fresh melon selections. The coffee is also excellent, but there are a couple of terms you need to know if you’re not from down under: Flat white is the local favorite, which has less milk than a latte, less foam than a cappuccino. Long black is a double shot of espresso with a little hot water, basically a stronger americano. Lunch favorites (click to see):
Arriving late afternoon at the Bellini Bar downstairs, we are pleased to note that nothing is wasted — the cocktail menu features the “poached pear and vanilla julep”, which is basically breakfast muddled with torn mint and bourbon. As a blueberry girl, I’m partial to “Russian spring punch”: fresh blackberries and blueberries shaken with 42below vodka, freshly squeezed lemon juice and a hint of sugar, topped with Cloudy Bay Pelorus. Of course, not everything is perfect. There’s wi-fi at the bar, but you have to pay an extortionate fee of NZ$14 per hour or $29 per day. To add insult to injury, if you’re staying at the hotel you have to pay again in the rooms (where wi-fi is not available) to connect via ethernet. Perhaps it’s for the best… otherwise you could end up drunk video iChatting your friends in Calcutta out loud from the bar. White Restaurant & Bellini Bar
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Posted on 10.30.07 by Emily
Reporting from New York Criminal Court, 100 Centre St, Jury Duty, Day 2. Wow, the wheels of justice move slowly. At least you can now enjoy wifi while you’re waiting to be called, so bring your laptop (Twitter, Facebook and Meebo blocked). But during voir dire, you are expected to pay attention even while you’re not being interviewed. Not continuous partial attention but laptops, iphones and sketchbooks away total attention. You may observe, meditate, be present, and check in with yourself. You can also suck on hard candies*. Lucky for you, Papabubble just opened a few blocks away [380 Broome St at Mulberry St, 212.966.2599]. This wondrous candy laboratory with outposts in Barcelona and Tokyo provides the ultimate in jury duty lozenges: fruit candies that look like Venetian millefiore glass, peppermint pebbles and addictive chocolate-filled coffee bites. They also handcraft giant lollies, gold-tipped finger rings and even anatomically correct hearts (which I would definitely not advise sucking on in the courtroom). If you’re feeling thrifty, note they also have bags of aesthetically inferior ’seconds’ that start at fifty cents. * Note you can, but you may not… I am not offering legal advice. Don’t follow me. At least be quiet about it.
Technorati Tags: candy, food, jury duty, nyc, restaurants, vegetarian
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Posted on 10.26.07 by Emily
 Mocha cream cake from Maira Kalman’s mother’s bakery on Johnson Avenue in Riverdale, NY (see p.246-247), served at a celebration for the release of The Principles of Uncertainty at the NYPL. Do you engage with pleasure, curiosity, fun and celebration (with time for naps) in the face of the tragedy of the day? Do you want to? This is the book for you. Maira Kalman’s delightful new release, The Principles of Uncertainty, turns out to be a heavy book. Mostly physically. Kalman says it’s because the book is extensively inked: “all the colors are in there.” Even if you’ve been following this year-long illustrated journal at the New York Times, the high-resolution images of her gouache paintings are undeniably gorgeous in print. (Even more so in person at the Julie Saul Gallery through November 24, 2007.) Aside from the inherent pleasures of the portable printed format, the book offers a few bonuses to those already familiar with the images:
Kalman celebrated the release of the book at the New York Public Library with a 37.5 minute conversation with Paul Holdengräber, followed with 3 songs composed by Nico Muhly, and cake instead of questions. Instead of questions from the audience, that is. All Maira’s works wrestle with the eternal existential dilemma: “We are here now, and we are not going to be here at a certain point, so what is that about?” and the natural corollary, “What would we do all day long, forever?” I don’t know what we’ll do forever, but I highly recommend checking out how Kalman observes the world, “making sense and then nonsense” out of it with grace, gratitude and joie de vivre, today.
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Posted on 09.02.07 by Emily
In Natural History, Pliny the Elder encouraged wearing purslane as an amulet that could expel all evil, but today most people in the US consider purslane a weed. Nevia No of Yuno’s Farm turned me on to it as a salad green last year, and I got hooked on its lemony succulence. Purslane has the most omega-3 fatty acids of any leafy green, and it also features lots of vitamin C, some Bs, carotenoids, calcium, magnesium, potassium and iron. Tossed with blueberries and hazelnuts, olive oil and lemon juice, it makes a perfect summer salad. (Thanks, Cookshop.) Purslane grows easily from seed (from Seeds of Change) in a container on a sunny NYC rooftop. Other recipes I’d like to try soon:
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