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Sunday Eats at PeteZaaz!

31 Jan

One of the other blogs I follow from time to time is called Nona Brooklyn.  The other day, I checked out Nona and read a great post about this new pizza joint in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn called PeteZaaz.  Chef/Owner Peter Nentner comes from No. 7 – a delicious restaurant in my neighborhood of Fort Greene and the other Chef/Owner and “Dough Man”, Glen Hudson comes from Pulino’s – a popular Keith McNally pizza spot on the Lower East Side.

PeteZaaz was written about for their inventive and playful approach to pizza.  The featured pizza that totally grabbed my attention was the Chili Con Carne pie… described in Nona Brooklyn here:

PeteZAAZ Chili-Con-Carne Pizza - Photo from http://nonabrooklyn.com

It’s got an ancho-based sauce. We use dehydrated ancho chilis and we rehydrate them with Sprite. We add garlic, onions, some lime zest, and we puree all that to make a nice little chili sauce. We braise some pork shoulder in the sauce, then we incorporate the rest of the sauce with a tomato sauce for the base for the pizza. We top it with the chopped braised pork shoulder, and I make a cream cheese burrata to top it as well.

We make our own fresh mozzarella in-house, at least twice a day. To make the burrata, I stretch some of the mozz and heat up some cream cheese, then stuff the warm cream cheese into a balloon of stretched mozzarella, and seal it up like a burrata. It’s like a mozzarella and cream cheese water balloon. After cooking it on the pizza, the cream cheese just oozes out.

When we pull the pizza out, we sprinkle it with cold pickled corn kernels, to give you a little acidic burst. Have you ever had Gushers candy? When you bite into a Gusher the juice comes shooting out, and I like that effect. With the cold pickled corn kernels, when you take a bite of the slice you get this burst of acidic flavor.

For crunch on that one we do a Cheez-It gremolata. I love Cheez-Its. I’ve been eating them forever. I mix crumbled Cheez-Its with lime zest, garlic, cilantro, parsley and Thai basil, and sprinkle that over the top for a little crunch.

I like to have an acidic component, a crunchy component and a sweet component as a base for all the pizzas. That’s the rule of thumb when we’re coming up with a pie.

 ~ Excerpt from NonaBrooklyn.com
Chilis rehydrated with Sprite?  braised pork shoulder, a house-made mozzarella and cream cheese water balloon that oozes over the pie?  I was so there.  I immediately contacted some friends (Kelly & Val, who live around the block) and Amie and Rob and we made a date for this past Sunday.
Upon walking into PeteZaaz, we realized it wasn’t the best atmosphere for seating a table of six.  It’s a long narrow entrance, where you can watch them making pies and grinding their own house-made sausage, which is cool, but the back seating area is pretty tight.  We decided to order a bunch of pizzas (thankfully, we were six people, so we could order a lot and try most things on the menu!) and bring them home to Kelly & Val’s apartment.

Making Sausage

Meanwhile, I was a little heartbroken when I found out that the chili-con-carne pie was just a special and was not available.  BUMMER!  But we managed to do alright with the other menu choices.
Here are Adam, Kelly & Rob waiting out front for our food…
So here’s the breakdown of our order:
One Baked Potato Pie (please forgive… the photo does not do this pie justice):
Baked Potato Pie – purple potatoes, applewood smoked bacon lardons, white cheddar and green onion covered with heavenly creme fraiche.
This pizza seriously rocked our worlds.  It was definitely the favorite of all of us.  It was basically like the best potato skin you’ve ever had (with the most amazing ingredients) served on top of this fresh, slightly crispy, slightly chewy amazing dough.  It was to die for.  I’m still craving more.
One Pie – Half Brooklyn (Tomato, House-Made Mozzarella and Marjoram), Half topped with House-Made Sweet Sausage 
The house-made sausage on this baby was pretty amazing.  That was my second-favorite item we ordered (after that life-changing baked potato pizza).  Side note… I never ate sausage growing up.  Like never.  I thought it was gross.  Since moving to New York, I have found a total love for sausage.  It is now one of my favorite pizza toppings.  And this sausage was outstanding.
One Pie – Half Pepperoni, Half Cold-Fried Chicken
Cold-Fried Chicken Pie – Curried Yellow Squash, Fontina, Stewed Collard Greens, Pickled Thai Chilis
I enjoyed the pepperoni pizza – they sliced up their pepperoni in thin strands and scattered them pretty uniformly throughout, which I liked… you got a little bit of pep in each bite!  The cold-fried chicken pie was not my thing.  The collards were hard to bite through and I just wasn’t crazy about the overall flavor in this pizza.  But the rest were winners!
Valerie ordered a Kimchi Roll – House-made Mozzarella, Kimchi Bruschetta, Thai Basil Pesto and Fried Shallots
I’m not a huge kimchi fan, but I had a bite and thought this sandwich was pretty good.  The fresh mozzarella was milky and delicious and the fried shallots were super tasty.
And Rob (our poor lactose-intolerant friend) ordered The Reuben Stromboli – Minus the Mozz - Pastrami, Sauerkraut, Chinese Mustard
I also took a bite of this one (it’s for the blog… I need to sample EVERYTHING!!).  The pastrami was super yummy – of course, I would have liked it better with the cheese – I mean, look who you’re dealing with here.  But another yummy dish – full of flavor for sure!
So – that was our PeteZaaz experience.  I would definitely hit this place up again.  Kelly and Val are lucky to live so close.  And they deliver!!  Next time I would have to get the Baked Potato pie again – only because it’s just divinely delicious.  But I’m hoping they get rid of the Cold-Fried Chicken pie and add the Chili-Con-Carne pie instead as a regular menu item… there has been some rumor of that according to Nona Brooklyn.  Fingers crossed… I have to try that chili pie!!
Meanwhile, even Lola the pup was digging this pizza:
Thanks for a delicious Sunday afternoon meal PeteZaaz.  I will definitely be back for more!

A Baby Shower to Remember…

19 Jan

This past Sunday my mom and sister threw me a beautiful baby shower.  Sometimes events like this make me a bit nervous, and I feel a little awkward being the center of attention.  However this shower was so thoughtful and I was surrounded by such wonderful people, delicious food and an all around fun and festive vibe.  I couldn’t have asked for a more lovely day.  True to form… I was totally emotional (typical me + pregnancy hormones = a lot of crying!!).

Me crying...

The shower was held at an awesome restaurant in the Columbia Waterfront District of Brooklyn called Alma.  Anthony, one of the owners of Alma, was a complete pleasure to work with and made sure the day was perfect!  I highly recommend this spot for a delicious bite to eat or to host a celebration.  They totally rocked it!

My friend Andrea Reese - fellow photographer (turning pro… she’s an inspiration) worked her butt of snapping shots of the day from beginning to end.  So, thanks to Andrea, I can share this day with the rest of you here on nellsdish.  All photos on this post were taken by Andrea of AndreaReesePhotography.com!!

It’s all in the details:

I am not one of those women who is typically into all the little details of party planning (no Martha Stewart here – though I did get rather into it while planning our wedding!).  I tend to be low maintenance, I shy away from party games and I never want to spend money needlessly.  That being said, my mom and sis came up with some adorable details and activities that really made the day extra special.  I’m so glad they didn’t listen to me and did things their way!

Here is the beautiful cake made by Betty Bakery on Atlantic Ave in Brooklyn.  It was a red velvet cake (my favorite), with vanilla buttercream frosting and layers of chocolate inside.  To die for.  Really.  I’m still eating leftovers and loving every minute.  The bakery also perfectly recreated the cute Mama duck image from my shower invitation (I used Paperless Post – check it out!  Great way to send adorable invites via email) and thus – duckies became the theme of the shower!

Baby Shower Cake by Betty Bakery

My mom bought all these adorable little rubber duckies and wrote numbers on the bottom of each one.  Each guest got a rubber ducky with their slice of cake and the guest with the winning number (17 – my due date!!), won a prize.

Slice of Cake with Rubber Ducky

Valerie was the winner!

For centerpieces, there were bunches of yellow and white daisies – they matched the duck color scheme and provided a bright and cheery atmosphere at brunch!

Table Centerpieces

For favors, they gave our these adorable little mint tins personalized with the date of the shower!  What a cute surprise.

Favors - Little Mint Tins

Shower Activites:

So even though I said “no games”, my mom and sister thought they should organize a little something to provide entertainment for the shower.  I absolutely LOVED what they did.

They put together a multiple choice quiz about me and all the shenanegans I pulled growing up.  It was fun sharing these details about my life with my friends.  I think they learned a lot about me that they never knew before!  Here are a couple of Nell facts from the quiz:

  • At a young age, Nell shocked her Papa Arnold by eating an entire… (d. king-sized prime rib)
  • Nell and her friend, Jess, once devoured a whole bottle of… (a. Flintstone vitamins)
  • Nell’s first career goal was to be… (d. both a waitress and a cheerleader)
  • One of the few times Nell was grounded it was because she had… (c. driven our car without a license)
  • Nell’s anthem should be… (b. “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”)

My mom sharing the answers to the "Nell" quiz

Another really sweet activity they organized was to have each guest fill out an advice card for me as I enter motherhood.  I read all the advice cards when I got home and was so touched by the thoughtful advice my friends shared with me.  What a special keepsake from the shower… of course, I cried while reading through all these as well!

Advice cards

Here are some more pictures from the day:

My lovely niece Monique and me

Pee Pee Teepees... I'm sure I'll get a lot of use out of these!

my girl Amie and me - we're pregnant together... what's better?!

Cool mirror shot

Someone's having fun!

Brette and me

Me and my mom

And finally…

Me, my mom and my sister

Thank you so much much mom and Erika – for planning and creating such a memorable baby shower for me.  And to all my friends who helped me celebrate, I love you so much and I feel so grateful to have you all in my life!  This little baby boy is entering the world into a major love-fest.  What a lucky little dude.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Birthday Lunch at Jean Georges… Utter Deliciousness.

5 Jan

Happy 2012 everyone!  I’ve got to say the year is off to a wonderful start!  It’s only January 5th and I’ve already had a sublime birthday, involving one of my top five best meals of all time (I’ll go into food detail in a moment) and our dear friends Brette and Ben got engaged!  SO EXCITED for them!  Meanwhile, I’ve been working on my list of thirty-three things I want to do while I’m thirty-three.  I’m not going to share the entire list here – but I’ll give you some highlights:

  • Get my Brooklyn Library card and get into the library system (in NY, you can apparently “hold” books online and then have them sent to your nearest library branch) – I’ve just been buying a lot of books and I need to really rediscover the library – especially with the arrival of the little one!
  • Make my own baby food – my friend Amie just got me this awesome book called Baby Gourmet by Jenny Carenco.
  • Work on a baby-themed photo project – I already have one in mind and am excited to get started!
  • Take amazing pictures from our baby’s early days and actually make albums/photo books out of them (instead of leaving them forever in my computer library!!)
  • Buy a new camera lens – probably a Canon 24-70mm f/2.8
  • Start an Etsy shop for my photography and link it to nellsdish
  • Blog at least three times a week
  • Get a big cushy area rug for our apartment (preferably ivory/natural color and SHAG!) – I’ve been obsessing over this purchase for about a month now.
  • Read Eat to Live - my dad read this book and it has completely transformed him.  He has adopted amazingly healthy eating habits and feels fantastic.  It is inspiring to watch.  My only issue is that he told me that the book says cheese is pretty much the absolute worst food for you.  I don’t know if I can get behind that.  But at least I can read it! :)
  • Take a trip to St. John 
  • Get both Adam’s and my skin checked by a dermatologist (just an annual check-up of sorts – to be safe)

So that is a taste of my goals for thirty-three.  I’m not actually done with my list yet – but just mulling this stuff over and putting it in writing feels like a meaningful exercise and I’m sure it’ll help me focus on the things that are important to me in the year ahead.

Now onto the really good stuff… FOOD!

So – on my birthday, Adam surprised me with a lunch at Jean Georges – a restaurant on Central Park West owned and operated by world-famous chef and restauranteur Jean Georges Vongerichten and one of only seven three-Michelin Star restaurants in all of NYC (I’ve been to three of the seven… I think that is another goal to add to the list!).   As you can imagine… this was the perfect gift for me. Way to go hubby.

Now – I didn’t bring my camera along (with my extra pregnancy weight I’ve been less inclined to carry around my camera bag lately) – but we did take photos with Adam’s iPhone in order to share the dining experience with you.

Here is an interior shot of the dining room:

Jean Georges Interior

The lunch started with an amuse-bouche:

Amuse-bouche – Similar to but not to be confused with hors d’oeuvre. This is a tidbit, often tiny, served as a free extra to keep you happy while you are waiting for your first course to come. It gives you an idea of the chef’s approach to cooking and the restaurant’s attention to your appetite.

[From French, literally, "mouth amuser", from amuser (to amuse) + bouche (mouth).

In this case - we got three little amuse-bouches and they definitely did amuse our palates and get us excited for the meal to come:

A bite of Lightly Smoked Raw Salmon Wrapped Around Cucumber with a delightful Creme-Fraiche Topping, a Spring Roll filled with Truffled Goat Cheese and topped with Honey and a shot of Sweet Potato Soup with tart little Apple bits and Pumpernickel Croutons.  YUM.

Amuse Bouche

Then came the soup – one of the highlights for me (though everything was pretty much a highlight):

Parsnip Soup with Coconut, Lime and Mint

Parsnip Soup with Coconut, Lime and Mint

I love the way they served this soup.  The bowl came with just the Coconut froth and the the lime foam and then they poured the parsnip soup on top.  I tasted each element individually – the coconut froth was amazingly creamy and milky – I could have eaten it for dessert.  And the lime foam was super tart and sour – but when you blended the three together – total magic happened.  The smooth, creamy and silky texture of this divinely flavored soup completely rocked my world.  It was a food revelation.

Onto the next.

I ordered the Comte Risotto with Marinated Pear and Matsutake Mushrooms: 

Comte Risotto with Marinated Pear and Matsutake Mushrooms

Another completely rich, creamy and delectable dish… though I might have overdone it on the rich and creamy factor with this dish following that soup.  But I can’t imagine risotto being better than this.  EVER.

Adam ordered the Scallop Sashimi with Chipotle Mayo of Crispy Rice: 

Scallop Sashimi with Chipotle Mayo over Crispy Rice

Then came our mains… I’m sorry to report, we were so excited we forgot to take photos before we dove into these – so you’ll have to use your imagination on the visuals here.

I ordered the Red Snapper Crusted with Nuts and Seeds Served in a Sweet and Sour Jus.  This dish also blew my mind.  The fish was tender and luscious and the jus was mouthwateringly buttery and was filled with sour yellow and red grape tomatoes and chunks of potato.  I could have eaten that broth as a soup.  It was heavenly.

Adam ordered the Parmesan Crusted Confit Leg of Chicken with Artichoke, Basil and Lemon Butter.  He LOVED this… though I thought my fish dish was way yummier.

Then came dessert.  We ordered one dessert for the two of us to share – of course, it had two elements, so it was pretty much two desserts – A Cranberry Parfait with Walnut Nougatine Covered in Soft Vanilla Meringue and a Sweet Potato Souffle with Cranberries and Medjol Dates: 

Cranberry Parfait and Sweet Potato Souffle

Both of these were excellent… though the savory elements of the meal definitely out-shined the desserts in my mind.

Then they came out with a special birthday chocolate cake for me!  Oye vey.  We were totally busting at the seams full by this point… but I had to have a few bites!  It was so beautiful… the little gold leaf pieces were pretty much dancing and they looked so beautiful in the candlelight…  way to finish.

My birthday chocolate cake

The meal finished off with a server coming around and snipping off four homemade marshmallows (from one long marshmallow chain), which he pulled from a large glass jar and then four homemade chocolates (including a mind-blowing peanut butter and jelly-filled chocolate) and two mini macarons.  Too much.  But in the best of ways.

Here is us at the end of the meal:

Then we left, and I promptly fell asleep on the subway ride home – in my food-induced bliss/coma.

Best birthday EVER.

Oh – and just a note.  We’ve been to a few of these super high-end restaurants – but always for dinner.  This was our first lunch experience and I have to say… that is TOTALLY the way to go!  It was daylight when we left and we had hours to digest our food before bed.  It was also SO much cheaper than it would have been had we gone for dinner.  So we got to have this amazing food experience without the guilt involved in spending way too much money.  I’m definitely going to see if those other Michelin star restaurants serve lunch.  Thank you Amy Basset for the suggestion!

Now – I’m off to my OB for a checkup!  Saturday will be thirty weeks!  CRAZY!

Love to you all and may this year bring much happiness, inspiration and all things good.

xo

Holy Chicken Wings of Awesomeness

18 Dec

Some of you might remember my culinary ravings from our trip to Portland, OR back in April.  Two meals stuck out most for me from that trip – one of them being the four-course brunch menu served at Beast (one of the best meals of my life) and the other being the Spicy Vietnamese Fish Sauce Wings from a place called Pok Pok that were just off the hook crazy delicious.  (For extensive photos and writings of these meals, check my blog post from the trip).  Meanwhile, it has come to my attention that Pok Pok is officially opening two locations right here baby…  a restaurant in Brooklyn on Columbia Street (a newly burgeoning foodie scene) and a smaller wings spot on the Lower East side come early 2012.  The deal was official as of the end of October and my mouth is watering just thinking about those fish sauce wings.  Who wants to join me opening week?!

Meanwhile, speaking of culinary amazingness… is anyone else watching The Next Iron Chef on Food Network?  Because it is currently my favorite show (keep in mind, we still don’t have cable and our TV has been rather limited – but still…) and this season, pitting culinary superstars against each other for the Iron Chef title, has been totally awesome!  I believe the finale is airing TONIGHT!  Now I want to go visit the restaurants of all these chefs… especially Chef Chiarello’s restaurant Bottega in Napa Valley.  Maybe I’ll add that to my list of things I want to do as a thirty-three year old.  Baby’s first trip?  Anyone know a good sitter in Napa?  Hmmmm.

 

Me and Cheese… A Love Affair

10 Nov

You all know by now about my love affair with cheese.  Well, whenever we’re traveling – if there is any destination having to do with cheese (cheese maker, farmer’s market, cheese shop, cheese plate, etc) – you know it makes my itinerary.  So, while visiting Banff during our trip to the Canadian Rockies last month, I read about the Grapes Wine Bar at the Fairmont Banff Springs hotel.  It was highlighted as an excellent place to enjoy a delicious cheese fondue.   So of course… it became a priority.

Now – while a good cheese plate always makes me “ooh and ahh” with delight, a well-made cheese fondue takes that delight to a whole new level.  It’s the melty factor.  A piping hot pot of bubbling melted cheese set in front of me?  I mean – is there anything better in the world?  I’m salivating thinking about it.

Anyway, my dear husband gets a kick out of watching me eat delicious yummy things (especially cheese).  I guess I am rather expressive when I am in food ecstasy.  During our fondue adventure in Banff, Adam took a little movie of me, which I will now share with you.  I hope it puts a smile on your face.

A New Cheese In Town…

30 Jun

Yes, that’s right.  New York City is the proud home of a brand new cheese palace called Beecher’s Handmade Cheese.  Beecher’s comes to our city from Seattle’s Pike Place Market, where it opened in 2003, becoming the first artisanal cheese maker in Seattle!  Now we’re lucky to have their second retail store in the Flatiron district of Manhattan.  The shop opened on Monday so of course I HAD to go check it out this week!

Beecher's Handmade Cheese on 20th and Broadway

As I walked in the door I was greeted with a sample of delicious fresh cheese curds made in house that day.  Cheese curds are super yummy – with a simple, mild cheesy flavor and a springy/rubbery texture.  They sort of squeak when you bite them!  I read that in the midwest, it is common to find fried cheese curds at carnivals and local food joints.  That sounds divine – like mini mozzarella sticks (yes, mozzarella sticks are my weakness from back in the day.  I was always a cheese lover – even before I had access to all these fancy cheese shops!).

Cheese curds made fresh in house!

Anyway, cheese curds only stay fresh for a matter of hours, which brings us to the coolest part of Beecher’s… they have a cheese-making facility right inside the store where they will be making their Flagship cheeses (but with fresh milk from Albany).  It’s awesome that cheese is now being made right in NYC!

The cheese-making facility inside the shop

Here’s a peek at the cheese-making room.  They weren’t making anything when I was there so I’ll have to go back for another visit soon.  In fact, they have little stools set up so you can grab a sandwich (or some cheese and crackers), plop down on an old milk container and watch them make cheese through the glass.  Sounds like an excellent way to spend an afternoon!

Pull up a milk container and watch the pros make cheese!

PS… I kind of want milk container stools in our new apartment.  Aren’t they cool?

Here are a couple more pictures of the very well designed retail space:

Cheese cases

Sweet chandelier

The Cellar - cheese lounge downstairs

Even more amazing… they have a little cheese lounge called “The Cellar” downstairs, where they serve a full menu along with wines and spirits.  They also use the “Cellar” to age their Flagship cheeses made upstairs in the cheese kitchen!  Awesome.

Ok – so I did my browsing… it was time to head over to the cheese counter and make a selection.

Nice little cheese bounty

Right away I told the cheese monger that I’m obsessed with Cabot Clothbound Cheddar (which they sell at Beecher’s along with a variety of cheeses produced all over the United States) – and I wanted to try Beecher’s Flagship cheddar to compare.  My monger, Emily, was a delight!  She put together a little Beecher’s tasting for me to allow me to taste the subtle differences between a few of their specialties.  I tasted:

  • Beecher’s Flagship – a semi-hard cow’s milk cheddar aged eighteen months with a delicious nutty flavor
  • Beecher’s Four-Year Aged Flagship – the same as the original – just aged longer – developing a richer, flavor with more depth
  • Beecher’s Flagship Reserve – made with the very best of the milk and wrapped in cloth to age, which results in the cheese losing about eighteen percent of it’s moisture and the flavor being even more concentrated!
  • Beecher’s Flagsheep - made in similar fashion as the Flagship but with the addition of sheep’s milk and then clothbound and aged to nutty, sweet perfection!
All of the cheeses were DELICIOUS … and all very different in flavor than the Cabot Clothbound.  I think I’ll just have to alternate. In the meantime, I brought home two cheeses:  The Four Year Aged Flagship and the Flagsheep.

Beecher's Flagsheep and Beecher's Flagship reserve cheddar aged four years

Mmmmmm.  I’m sitting here tasting bites as I write.  Here’s what comes to mind when I smell and taste each:
Four Year Aged Flagship – smelling it, I am brought back to the toasted cheese sandwiches they used to serve for school lunches… the best part, was when the cheese melted down the side of the bread and got extra toasty and sort of caramelized.  This smells like that.  Yum.  When I pop a piece in my mouth, I am overwhelmed with flavor.  The texture is firm but creamy with the little crunchies that I love.  It’s salty and tangy and nutty and rich.  Wicked tasty.
Flagsheep - this one has a milder, nutty, sheepy smell (not barnyard sheepy – but that lanolin kind of sheepy).  Tasting this one – it’s a little more subtle than the four-year Flagship.  I can taste the sheep’s milk – it’s still nutty and tangy (but less tangy) and the finish in my mouth is sweet – like the sweet taste in your mouth after you drink a glass of fresh milk.  Mmmmm.
Wow.  So excited to go back and try more!  And I can’t wait to go to the Cellar for dinner.  They have a super appealing menu with six varieties of mac & cheese, a whole mess of artisanal cheeses, charcuterie, veggies, salads, soups and main courses.  Anyone want to join me next week?
Finally – on a non-cheese note, Amie and I are doing the pillow shoot tomorrow, so I have no pictures to share today.  I got hired for another photography gig – shooting photos of an apartment for the broker who found us our place!  I did it today and had a lot of fun!  It was stress-free, I was able to get great results from the equipment I have and I love getting a sneak peek into new apartments!  Maybe I can turn this into a little side gig.  As for this fourth of July weekend… we are in pack/organize/purge mode! So enjoy the weekend and the fireworks everyone!  And goodbye June – hello July!

 

 

Recuperating from Bachelorette Madness

27 Jun

As I sit here blogging, a woman from Flat Rate moving company is sitting on our couch making a list of all our belongings that will be accompanying us to Brooklyn next month so she can give us a cost estimate.  Ahh… moving.  I can feel the anxiety begin to bubble inside.   There’s so much to do… sort, purge, pack, change our address, get cable and phone hooked up in the new place, buy some new furniture, measure, blah blah blah.  I did a search online today for a “moving checklist” thinking I’d be all organized and start crossing things off early.  Well according to Real Simple, I should have started this all two months ago!  Oops. Oh well – just like every other big task, it’ll all get done and before I know it, we’ll be settled in our new apartment.  I can’t wait!

As for the bachelorette bonanza this past weekend… I had a great time!  It was full-on Sex & The City-style NYC action starting with dinner in Chelsea Friday night at a new Spanish/tapas restaurant called Selenas.  There we ordered one of my favorite new (to me) bar snacks… Shishito peppers with sea salt.  Have you ever had them?  They’re mini sweet/hot green peppers from Japan – not too spicy, but every once in a while you’ll pop a hot one in your mouth!  They’re super delish.

Here are a couple pics from Friday night:

Pam (Bachelorette in red) and her bridal party minus me.

The metal grate behind the girls was the inspiration for my color scheme in this photo… I wanted to give it a music video/grungy/urban vibe.  It’s fun to mess around in Lightroom.

 

And here is Steph (bridesmaid), Pam (bride) and me – being a goofball… trying to do a sexy face… but definitely more goofball than sexy. :)

The party continued Saturday night with a ridiculous hotel suite at the Bryant Park Hotel, where we pre-partied and then slept over. Dinner followed at a crazy scene of a restaurant called Beauty and Essex and at midnight, we left the restaurant to go dancing at the hot, sweaty alphabet city spot No Malice Palace, where we proceeded to shake our butts for three hours.  I have to say… I’m pretty much over the whole hot, sweaty bar/club scene (wine over dinner out is more my speed these days), but I do love myself some hip hop and it was fun getting my groove on.  Plus, I got to show off my rapping skills.  Really – in this little head of mine I’ve managed to store every word to hundreds of hip hop songs from high school and college and for a white girl from Massachusetts, I’ve got some serious flow.  Anyway, we got back to the hotel suite at four in the morning.   A crazy night for sure.  It’s nice to know I still have it in me every once in a while!

Meanwhile, I must have left my contact lenses in for too long and not slept enough because today my eyes are all watery and sore.  And you know how when your eyes tear, your nose starts to run too?  Like when you’re crying?  Well I’m a total mess today.  It’s not pretty.  I’m all stuffy and I’m in my glasses and I’m afraid to go outside because it’s super bright out.  So I think I’m going to continue to hibernate for the rest of the day.  A girl’s gotta rest after a weekend like that right?

Later this week Amie and I are planning another photo shoot with her beautiful Guatemalan pillows.  This time we’re going for an organic, overgrown natural look and we’re setting up shop in a little garden on our block.  I’ll report in on Thursday and hopefully I’ll have some shots to share with you then. Bye for now!

Photo of the day… “Clementine”

8 Jun

 

It’s 92 degrees outside today.  Wow.  No wonder I don’t feel like moving.  Oh yeah… I also did a killer yoga class yesterday and my entire body is hurting… but that’s a good thing.  Yoga makes me feel strong.

Anyway, I’m going to go brave the ridiculous heat and take a trip to Fort Greene and wander around the neighborhood with my camera for a bit before meeting some friends for dinner.  We’re going to eat at Habana Outpost – owned by the same people who own Cafe Habana in Soho (this is where I first tasted and fell madly in love with CHILAQUILES).  I’m quite excited to start sampling the Fort Greene restaurant scene.

Oh, and I’m doing a little research for a potential project so maybe you all can help me out.  Out of curiosity, what’s a subject you’d like to learn about or a craft you’d like to try out?  Like anything whatsoever – however random the topic?  Here are a few of my ideas:

  • Flower arranging
  • Improving my memory
  • Recipes for satisfying vegetarian meals
  • Perfume making and what scents work with my body chemistry
Thanks for ideas!
Stay cool!

 

Ashland Independent Film Festival Ends and Photo 365 of 365 Baby!!

13 Apr

AIFF 2011 Banner

I left you yesterday with our busy Saturday of screenings at AIFF, which ended late Saturday night with our second screening of Hello Lonesome.  Just twelve hours later, we headed over to the Varsity Theater for our third Hello Lonesome screening early Sunday morning, which left us basking in the glow of Ashland love.  I’m telling you, Sunday morning was probably our favorite festival screening yet.  The theater was packed, the audience showed HUGE support for both the film and for Adam as a filmmaker and it just felt so freaking good!

I was never involved in the film business until I met Adam and shared with him the experience of making Hello Lonesome. And I gotta tell you… being an independent filmmaker is HARD!  It is a never-ending uphill battle.  One minute you get crushed, the next minute you get celebrated and every step along the way you have to generate support, ask for favors and work your butt off as your own greatest cheerleader.  That is why I found this festival to be so inspiring.  Now that I am familiar with the extreme hard work and dedication that goes along with making a film – not to mention a really GOOD film, I have so much respect for all the filmmakers and supporters I met in Ashland and I can’t wait to have a bigger role in the next movie we make! Having screenings like the ones we had in Ashland makes it all feel really worthwhile.

So for my photo #365 (which I thought was #364 at the time), I’ve chosen a photo of the Varsity Theater – because every time I look at it, I will feel all warm and fuzzy – and that’s a good note to end on right?

Photo 365 out of 365 – “The Varsity Theater”

"The Varsity Theater" - Settings: ISO 500, f/2.5, 1/50 sec, 50mm lens

After our Sunday screening we said our goodbyes to all the folks at the festival.  Unfortunately we had to get back to NYC for Monday so we were going to miss the awards ceremony that was happening Sunday night.  We went back to our B&B to pack and then we met up with Christopf and Anna from Hood to Coast for one last quickie meal in Ashland at Agave – a super yummy taco spot.  I had a carnitas taco and a duck confit taco.  Both were delicious but the carnitas won – carnitas always wins in my book.

Then boo hoo… we drove off to the airport to catch our redeye back to NYC (via a two-hour layover in San Francisco).  I stopped to take pictures along the way.  This looks just like the drive to JFK!

Drive to airport

And then – goodbye Oregon.  We will miss you greatly.

Goodbye Oregon

The awards ceremony started at seven-thirty and we landed at SFO for our two-hour layover at around quarter to ten.  The second the plane landed, we checked our phones to see if there were any texts or messages about which films won awards.  And… NOTHING.  Not a peep.  We searched online to see if anything had been announced and nothing.  We figured that meant we didn’t win anything because we were sure we would have heard something by that point – so we shlepped to our gate at SFO and plopped down to wait for our flight to NYC.  And then at around eleven o’clock a barrage of texts and Facebook messages came flooding in to let us know that:

Hello Lonesome won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature!!!

Yee haw!  We were thrilled!!  I think Adam might have shed a little tear.  The audience award was what we were secretly hoping for.  Out of fourteen narrative feature films (all with sold-out screenings), the audience chose Hello Lonesome as their favorite.  Man that felt good.  Thank you Ashlandians!!!  It was the perfect sendoff and the perfect end to our amazing week in Oregon.  And then… a redeye. Yuck!!  But we tossed and turned with smiles on our faces. :)

And finally yes, that is the 365th photo of my 365 day photo project.  I can’t believe it’s finished!  It sort of blows my mind.   Just to drag things out a bit, I’ll post my 366th photo tomorrow (the one I intended to be #365).  I think I’ll make it the cover of my 365 photo book, which is a new project I’ll be starting now that this one’s over.  For everyone that has joined in to follow me along on this crazy adventure… thanks.  Having an audience to write and take pictures for certainly gave me that kick in the butt I needed and pushed me to rise up to this challenge!  I couldn’t have done it without you.

See you tomorrow!

The Ashland Independent Film Festival – Part 2

12 Apr

So… where did I leave off?  Oh yes, Friday.  Friday and Saturday we saw lots of movies!  We started out with a beautiful narrative feature called Stranger Things, made by Eleanor Burke and Ron Eyal.  Those two are NYC’ers also and we got to know them a bit at the Woodstock Film Festival back in October.  I thought the performances in their film were excellent – very restrained and honest.  I found it especially interesting to learn how the film was made.  Ron and Eleanor basically worked closely with the actors to develop the characters and their stories and then they only revealed the script to the actors piece by piece  as they were shooting, so the actors didn’t know what was going to happen.

After Stranger Things we shot over to another theater to catch the documentary film Hot Coffee, directed by a trial Lawyer from Ashland, OR named Susan Saladoff.  This movie really got me fired up and I think everyone should see it – just to become informed about our own rights in this country and how they’re being diminished.  It is an entertaining and rather disturbing film focused on the US justice system and how normal people like you and me rarely have the ability to get a fair trial in this country anymore.  Big corporations have pretty much taken over the justice system in the US (as well as everything else) – and some of the stories of how regular people have been affected were heartbreaking and infuriating.  I left the theater on a rampage (and needing a stiff drink).

After that film, we saw another documentary called The Big Uneasy, directed by Harry Shearer, which was about the flooding of New Orleans after Katrina, and how it wasn’t really a result of the force of the storm.  Instead, it was more about the faulty construction of the levies, politics and the ineptitude of the Army Corps of Engineers.   I wasn’t personally as crazy about this film. I was interested in the subject matter, but the way the story was told was not as compelling to me – especially after seeing Hot Coffee just before it, which had me completely engaged.

With all these movies – I didn’t have time to take many photos – but downtown Ashland is so beautiful, I was able to snatch a few in between screenings:

Photo 364 out of 365 – “Spring Has Sprung in Ashland”

"Spring Has Sprung in Ashland" - Settings: ISO 100, f/2.5, 1/6400 sec, 50mm lens

And here our view walking from the parking lot to the theater – not too shabby right?

Amazingly beautiful downtown Ashland, OR

We were supposed to see a fourth film that night but we were maxed out – so instead we just met up with the other filmmakers at the local hangout Black Sheep and had a couple drinks before turning in for the night.  Saturday was another day full of amazing screenings!

The Black Sheep - AIFF Hangout

On Saturday we we jumped right into screenings again after a most delicious breakfast (huevos rancheros!) at a local restaurant called Breadboard near our Bed & Breakfast.  Our first film of the day was another documentary called Hood to Coast.  This movie totally rocked!  And instead of a documentary that leaves me hating our country and feeling hopeless, this one was super inspiring and positive!  It’s about the largest relay race in the world called Hood to Coast, which takes place in Oregon.  Teams of twelve runners cover one hundred and ninety-seven miles from Mount Hood all the way to the Oregon Coast – overnight.  It’s insane and totally awesome!   We got quite friendly with the filmmakers (Christopf Baaden – Director and Anna Campbell – Producer) as well as one of the women featured in the film who completed the race – Rachel (she was completely hilarious).  In the film, she made one comment that totally stuck with me and made me love her.  The gist was… why not partake in a crazy event like that?  If it’s terrible, it’s only a weekend wasted… what really do you lose?  On the other hand – an experience like that has the potential to change your life – so why does it ever make sense to say no to experiences? I like that mode of thinking!

After Hood to Coast, we hit up ANOTHER documentary called Connected – An Autoblogography about Love, Death and Technology. Again, this movie really blew us away.  And again, this was an optimistic, inspiring film that left me feeling energized and uplifted instead of defeated and angry.  I like that type of documentary!  The movie is about shifting our thinking from looking at the world as full of independent things and people to looking at everything as interdependent.  Our environment, our resources, plants, animals, people – we are all connected in ways that we don’t realize – and we’ve been finding that out gradually as our actions turn out having negative effects that were initially unforeseen.  But the overall tone of this film was a faith in the human spirit and a belief that the technology, which now connects us all can be used to save our world and our species (yes, humans… scary stuff).

Whew… and now that I’ve written a book, I have to run out to a photography workshop!  So I’ll post this now and then return tomorrow with the outcome of the festival and…

drumroll please

the final photo of my 365 photo project!!

Actually, I sort of miscounted while I was away – so I have a photo 365 and then I have a photo 366 (for good luck), which I actually intended to be 365 until I realized my mistake!  Ha!

So come back tomorrow. :)

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