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Crushing on Fort Greene

5 Feb

Yes, that’s right… I’m developing a total crush on our neighborhood.  It’s definitely helped that the weather has been beyond lovely. Also, my pregnancy butt pain has gotten a little less intense over the last couple days – enabling me to walk around a bit and enjoy the fresh air and this fine neighborhood.

Of course, I’ve been wanting to document the loveliness so that I can share it here, with all of you.  Normally, I would be walking for miles with my camera and a couple lenses and I would do it up right.  Unfortunately, with the extra pregnancy poundage and the sore butt/back – that’s been a little tough and the thought of schlepping around my camera bag has not been too appealing.  Luckily (glass half full), I dropped my Droid cell phone in the toilet a few weeks ago, forgetting it was in my back pocket (pregnancy brain), which was the perfect excuse for me to go out and get myself a long-awaited iPhone.  And I must say – the iPhone camera is far superior to my old Droid camera.

Thus begins photography fun with my iPhone…  lightweight, fits in my pocket… and the photos are not too shabby.

First – there is South Portland Street.  This is one of the most beautiful blocks I’ve seen – in Brooklyn, in Manhattan – pretty much anywhere.  It is lined with trees and gorgeous old brownstones.  It’s a special street.

When you stop and pay attention to the details, you notice the little things – like the railings and balusters decorating the front stoops and entryways to these beautiful brownstones.  Just on this one block alone, I spotted more than ten different styles.  Here are a few:

Then, within a manner of blocks, you experience this amazing variety of architecture:

A modern, renovated Brownstone:

Next to a beautiful renovated church (at least it looks like a church – I’m not sure):

Then down the street – buildings like these… which to me, make me feel like I’m not even in New York anymore:

And this is all within about six blocks of my apartment.  I can’t wait until the spring, when my pain (and extra weight) is hopefully completely gone, my little man is born and fits snuggly in his stroller and I can strap on my proper camera and go out on walking photography adventures to see and document everything this fascinating neighborhood has to offer.

Oh – and for those of you who are interested in learning more about Fort Greene and the surrounding Brooklyn neighborhoods, there has been a documentary airing on Showtime recently called Brooklyn Boheme (future airings listed here).  The film, made by Diane Paragus and Nelson George, chronicles the black arts movement that exploded in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill during the 1980′s and 90′s.  Filmmakers (Spike Lee), Musicians (Wynton and Branford Marsalis), Comedians (Chris Rock), Poets/Hip Hop Artists, Writers, Actors, Photographers… they were all part of a cultural renaissance and it all happened right here in this neighborhood.  Here is the trailer for Brooklyn Boheme:

To make matters more interesting, the apartment we now live in, housed Spike Lee’s production company 40 Acres and a Mule for over twenty years.  So a lot of this meeting and creating and magic happened right here… now that’s inspiring.  Here is an old photo (clipped from the doc) taken on what is now our staircase – featuring Spike Lee, Russell Simmons, Chris Rock and many other creative players from that time:

Photo from "Brooklyn Boheme"

Crazy.

Anyway – that’s all for today!  Looking forward to watching the game later and being the sole person in New York rooting for the Patriots!  GO PATS!

Happy Superbowl Sunday.

xoxo

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!

Some Blogs I’m Loving…

24 Jan

For someone who blogs, I’m really not so good at finding and following other blogs.  I don’t know why it is exactly.  Maybe it’s because I find it difficult searching through all that’s out there to find things I’m interested in.  Maybe it’s because if I’m going to be spending time on the computer, I’d rather be blogging myself, or checking out what my friends are up to on Facebook.  Maybe it’s because I am just old-fashioned and am still attached to reading magazines in print.  But because I love to blog and I know there are so many super talented bloggers out there, I’m making it a goal of mine to try to find and follow more blogs this year.

In the meantime, here are a few I thought I’d spotlight today:

Pregnant Chicken - Keeping Pregnancy Sunny Side Up

My friend John introduced me to this blog and I immediately loved it!  The author (Amy Morrison) has a great personality and she’s very blunt and honest about pregnancy and motherhood.  I appreciate that going in… although some things definitely scare me!  Here are a couple of my favorites:

“When I have kids I will never-  _____ “

“New Dad Survival Guide”

The Un-Lost

This is a blog I discovered when I was obsessed with finding my purpose and the career I wanted to pursue in life.  Now, I’m happily distracted with becoming a mother and that feels like purpose enough for the time being.  However, I still enjoy reading this blog and find the author Therese Shwenkler‘s point of view on the topic to be both candid and entertaining.  In catching up this morning with the Un-Lost, I’ve discovered that Therese is leaving her job and her home to do this blog thing full time – good luck to her!  I always get inspired when I hear of people making bold moves like this one.

Here are a couple of my favorites from Therese:

“Why I’m Getting Naked for 3,737 People”

“It’s Ridiculously Simple:  How to Find Your Life’s Freaking Purpose in One Minute or Less”

"The gastrognomes" - from the editors of Good Food Jobs

When I used to work in ad sales, I’d spent one or two nights a month volunteering at Murray’s Cheese Shop in their classroom.  I would help set up before the classes and clean up after the classes and then I’d be able to take the classes for free!  It was a great arrangement for a cheese-obsessed corporate girl like myself.  In the Murrays classroom is where I met the classroom director at that time… Taylor.  Taylor became one of my favorite parts of my evenings at Murray’s.  She was passionate about food and cheese.  She has a great energy and a “can do” attitude and I just felt happy being in her presence.  After a few years at Murray’s, Taylor told me she was leaving to start her own business – GoodFoodJobs.com with her friend Dorothy, their goal being to connect passionate foodies around the country with valuable work opportunities in the food world.  I thought it was brilliant!  And to this day (over a year later), it is a great success!

As part of Goodfoodjobs.com, Dorothy and Taylor started the gastrognomes blog, where they profile a different food professional each week.  I love reading about these food professionals and how they came to their current positions.  Many of them quit their unsatisfying corporate jobs just like myself.  Many of them have been in the food world since day one, but have navigated through less than stellar jobs until they found their happy place.  In any case… I always find it fascinating to learn about their journeys and I always leave inspired!  Enjoy.

And finally:

Bohemian Babies

My friend Amie just started this blog – like two weeks ago!  She is pregnant as well (five weeks behind me… which is so cool), so she is also navigating the world of baby stuff – bedding, furniture, nursery decor, strollers, blah blah blah.  Amie has a definite style and a total point of view when it comes to design.  In her search for baby stuff, she found the options at the big baby stores to be somewhat lackluster.  So, she began digging and digging to find unique, high-quality products and designs for her baby-to-be that more reflected her style.  Thus, Bohemian Babies was born.  She’s using this blog to highlight the coolest baby stuff she finds to make it easier for other mothers-to-be who don’t want to just buy everything from Babies R Us.  Check it out!

That’s all for now!  Happy Tuesday everyone – and please, if you have a favorite blog that you follow… share it with me!  Then I don’t have to do all that searching myself. :)

xoxo

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

The Baby Zone…

22 Dec

Yup – I’m deep in it.  I’ve been educating myself lately on all types of baby products – strollers, swings, bouncy seats, pack n’plays, crib mattresses, etc.  You name it – I’ve read about it recently.  It’s amazing how much information you can cram into your brain when you are set on learning something new.  Meanwhile, we’ve ordered a crib and a dresser and now a rocker/glider – all being delivered in mid-February.  I cannot wait.  In fact, the nesting stage has started to get more intense recently and I seriously just want to set up the entire baby area today.  Like right this second.  But – I’ll have to wait.  In the meantime, I’ve come across some other little baby things that have made me swoon.  These are my faves so far:

Stick-on Tree Wall Decal:

I’m debating between these two:

Tree #1:

Tree Stick-On Wall Decal

or Tree #2 (in different colors) – I love the blowing leaves:

I am definitely ordering one of these this week.  I can picture it being so sweet on our big white wall with the crib right below – and I just love trees.  Side note… I never was one to want a tattoo because I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to put on my skin permanently.  However, after seeing the artistry involved in Adam’s awesome tattoo, I started thinking about it a bit more openly.  And you know what I came up with?  A tree.  If I ever get a tattoo (which I still probably won’t), I could totally see getting a small, beautiful tree – with roots – on the back of my neck (so I can hide it).    There’s just something about trees that make me happy.  They’re earthy and grounded and natural and peaceful.  Ahhhh trees.  Anyway blah blah… pardon my rambles.

Meanwhile, I just think these stick-on wall decals are a brilliant idea!  While researching, I found another site called Blik, which sells a bunch of really cool decals.  I think this one is awesome (maybe for the next phase) – I love how the doodles make their way all over the walls and even onto the floor.  So fun!

Baby Bot Doodles Wall Decal

Next obsession…

Zutano Fleece Stuff:

Ok – so the first thing I saw were this booties/mittens/hat combo which I totally melted over:

And then this one literally turned me into mush:

Elf Onesie

I mean for real??  A little baby elf wrapped in fleece?  I can’t deal.

Then yesterday I ran into this onesie at a great little natural products store in Fort Greene called Green in Bklyn (great store… you should check it out if you’re ever in the hood).

Brooklyn Onesie by Maptote

Cute right?  Our little Brooklyn baby to be.  This onesie is made by a company in Brooklyn called Maptote.

Anyway, forgive me – I’ll try to get myself under control… but this stuff is just ridiculous.  Now I can see how parents go completely nuts with baby stuff.  Everything’s just too cute.  Oh – and by the way… I haven’t really been having many weird cravings throughout my pregnancy, but the other night I was in rare form and had an intense craving for Chinese Food, sour patch kids and milkshakes all at once!  I refrained.  But wow.

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.

 

Car Trip Nostalgia

15 Dec

Last weekend my parents picked us up in Brooklyn and drove us to our annual Brooklyn Boys holiday party in NJ.  My sister and her husband couldn’t make it, so my parents brought my niece (Monique) and nephew (Zach) along all the way from NH.  So it was all six of us – packed in the car for the hour and a half car ride to NJ.  Adam was in the way back next to Zach and I was in the middle seat next to Monique – my parents in the front.  Of course – as is typical in cars that drive around small children, the seat was filled with activities… books, markers, games, etc.  As I sorted through the pile I noticed two books from my own childhood – A Light In the Attic and Where The Sidewalk Ends by  Shel Silverstein.  I picked up Where The Sidewalk Ends and instantly found my old favorite poems… remember these?

"Lazy Jane" - by Shel Silverstein - Image Source: imgspark.com

"Sick" by Shel Silverstein - Image Source: luckyeahshelsilverstein@tumblr.com

We spent the entire car ride reading Shel Silverstein poems aloud.  It was so much fun!  I remember going on long car trips with my family when I was little (before there were TV’s and iPhones to distract).  We used to take eight hour drives to Buffalo to visit my grandparents and we would play games like “I’m going on a picnic” (do you know that game?) and we would read poems and try to memorize them.  Those are such happy memories for me.  I feel like that time spent in the car turned me into the lover of driving I am today.  I LOVE road trips!  It also made me think about car trips with my future little family.  I know iphones are great and all for distracting the kids when you need some quiet… but I’ll always cherish that family time we spent together in the car and I want to try to re-create that with my own family.

Oh and a shout out to Shel Silverstein.  He rules.  His poems and illustrations are so simple, clever and whimsical.  Have I mentioned that one item on my list of things I’d like to accomplish in my life is writing a children’s book?  I think I’ll wait for inspiration from this little dude in my belly.  But in the meantime, Shel’s pretty good inspiration as well.  Taking this little trip back in time with these books made me want to go re-discover more of my old favorite childhood books.   Here are some I remember best:

What are some of your favorite children’s books?  I need to start up a collection of quality stuff!

Let the Pregginess Begin

14 Dec

Yes that’s right…  I’m officially looking and feeling like a pregnant woman now.  My belly is quite large (though I’m still finding it rather cute thus far) and I’m starting to get some pain in my lower back and butt so I’ve definitely got a little pregnant waddle going on. Oye.  I still have three months to go!  That’s a little bit scary.  The subway routine is definitely getting a bit tougher these days.  I surprised myself while huffing and puffing up the stairs at the 2nd Avenue stop yesterday. Lately, in fact, I’ve grown fond of skipping the stairs altogether and opting for the elevators (at those stations that are blessed with elevators).  Here is a photo of me from this past weekend – there’s no mistaking it now… this girl is PREGO!

Meanwhile, this little guy is kicking up a storm, which I really love.  I love lying on the couch with my hands on my belly and feeling him move around.  It’s such a trip.  Though he’s funny… he’s just like me.  He doesn’t like to perform on demand.  Every time my mom is around for a visit and tries to feel him kick, he stops and stays really still.  Stubborn little guy.  Also when I go for ultrasounds and they try to get a good photo of him, he hardly ever cooperates.  It’s ok though.  Between Adam and his filmmaking and me and my photography – he is going to be the most documented kid ever… a camera in his face at all times!  I’m happy to give him some space while he’s still in the womb.

As for me, I’ve been keeping busy with several projects.  This past Friday I did a photo shoot with my friend Yvonne.  She’s moving to LA (sniffle sniffle) and looking for a new job and wanted some portraits for her online portfolio.  We played around with some natural light indoors and outdoors as well as some shots in front of a seamless white backdrop paper I bought from Adorama.  She got her makeup done ahead of time and brought a few outfit changes and we had a blast!  She was a great model – and I definitely feel like I’m getting more confident shooting people, which is good.  I will post a selection of my favorites next week after I spend this weekend going through the hundreds of photos we took!

Then Monday I did some shooting with my friend Amie.  We fashioned a little makeshift studio in my apartment with some lights and the seamless white backdrop.   Amie’s friend  recently launched this awesome men’s sock and accessories line called hook + Albert so we were doing some product shots for him – testing out our skills in that department.  It was fun to experiment with a new type of photography and I do think the photos came out pretty good.  Here are a few examples.

The biggest challenge in this exercise was perfecting white balance/color temperature (easy intro to white balance here if interested).  Because we are advertising a fashion product, I thought it was quite important to get the colors as true to real as possible.  You know when you buy something online and then when you see it in person it’s a totally different color from what was advertised?  I was trying to avoid that.  So, while shooting, I spent a lot of time customizing the color temperature and playing with the degrees Kelvin (more info on color temperature) in the camera settings until it looked perfect.   After uploading the images to Lightroom on my computer, the color looked totally different from how I saw it on the camera monitor.   And now, the color looks different once again after uploading the images from Lightroom to WordPress!  I’m not sure if this can be totally perfected as I believe different monitors will often have different settings – and you can only control the settings on your own monitor.  But I’m going to do a little more research into this area to see if there is anything else I should be doing to improve my results.  More on that to come.

So, I’ve been busy busy – but alas – I feel like my body (which has been tremendously cooperative throughout this pregnancy so far) is starting to tell me to slow down a bit and chill the hell out.  I am approaching the third trimester (Saturday is the official start for me).  I have this tendency to push myself and run around all the time but I’m picking up on the signals lately and I’m thinking… I better rest while I still can!  Right?  So my new goal is to start taking it a little easier and get my body feeling as good as it can in preparation for what’s to come.   Hopefully I’m capable of slowing down – it might take a little self-control. :)  I’m looking forward to a nice quiet holiday week this year, which will help.  We’re keeping it low key – just hanging out at home, enjoying the last of our vacation time with just the two of us.  I’m thinking some good food, some good movies some Rummy 500 and LOTS of relaxation (plus, maybe a massage).  Sounds good right?

Anyway, have a great Wednesday everyone!  Thanks for visiting.

xo

And we’re back…

7 Dec

Greetings on this rainy, gray Tuesday.  I’m feeling very sleepy today – I am writing this while sitting at my computer cloaked in my zebra snuggie.  Oh how I love my snuggies.  Later this afternoon I’m going to head over to Buy Buy Baby to do some research on baby products.  I spent the entire flight there and back from The Bahamas reading the book Baby Bargains, which helped me narrow down the things I think we need for the little guy’s arrival.  Now it’s time to go check out this stuff in real life.  There is really so much to learn about!  Craziness.

But before I go, I’ll fill you in on the rest of our trip to the Bahamas for the 2011 Bahamas International Film Festival.  There were many positives and negatives about this trip.  I’ll start with the positives:

  • I managed to get a little (really… only a little) sun and the weather was pretty nice (high 70′s to low 80′s most days with some wind and clouds)
  • We met a lot of great contacts in the film world and talented people in general – many of whom live in Brooklyn!  And I’m sure we’ll keep in touch and get to know these people even better in the future.
  • We met Zoe Kravitz and enjoyed her interview while she was being honored as the “BIFF 2011 Rising Star”.  She was super poised, adorable and lovely and now I’m going to keep a look out for her work in the future.
  • We reunited with friends we met at the festival last year – one of whom is a local Bahamian and got us off the resort one afternoon and showed us a bit of the local flavor.  Here are a couple photos from our outing:

    A Statue in Downtown Nassau

    A ruined old building in downtown Nassau

  • Adam was a juror for the “First Look” competition, which included both short films and features made by Bahamian filmmakers.  This was a highlight for me – as I learned a lot about Bahamian culture and about the true essence of the Bahamas.  My favorite feature film in this category was called Amos Ferguson – Match Me If You Can and told the story of one of the Bahamas’ best known local artists.  Amos Ferguson seemed like a special soul and was a talented and passionate painter and I am glad to have learned about his story.  I found this film to be really touching and enlightening.  Here is a NY Times article about Amos if you’re interested in learning more.  And here are a few of his paintings:

 

Now… the negatives.  Although we were grateful to get away for a few days – this was really primarily a work trip vs. a vacation.  It didn’t exactly have that “baby-moon” vibe I was looking for.  And now – forgive me while I rant for a few minutes about the Atlantis Resort.

A view of the Coral Towers at the Atlantis Resort

Here is where The Atlantis falls way short in my book:

  • The resort is monstrous and has the vibe of Vegas, Disney World and a Cruise Ship mixed into one…  not exactly my cup of tea.
  • The food is TERRIBLE.  Yes… they have some nice dining options like Nobu and Mesa Grill – but dining here costs a fortune and the quality is not nearly as good as it is in their NYC counterparts.  For less expensive dining options, you basically have lots of fried, processed, gross food – that still costs way too much (we’re talking $40 for BREAKFAST!).  And then – everything closes at weird hours, so we often found ourselves with no available options except for the overly priced and totally disgusting room service (or mini bar, which we frequented due to a lack of better options.  I ate granola bars for dinner more than once).  To give you an idea about how terrible the food was – our favorite thing to eat during the entire trip was the movie theater pizza, which was supposedly from Domino’s, re-boxed and sitting under a heat lamp.  Yes – it was a sad state of affairs in the food department.  Hell… I was on vacation and lost two pounds.  That’s never a good sign for me.
  • There is NO relaxed vibe in this entire resort.  Although there are at least ten different pool areas – every single one of them comes with a DJ, who pumps bass-heavy music all day long.  I went in search of maybe one adult-only, quiet pool (I know – I’m getting old) and nope… there aren’t any.  So I sat as far away from the pool as possible next to a waterfall, which helped to drown out the sound of the music and the DJ so I could fit in a little reading.  Actually – I even called the front desk and complained on Saturday morning as we were awakened at eight-thirty am by bumping beats coming from the pool area closest to us.  Eight-thirty am?  Really?  We had been enjoying sleeping with our door open up until that point – listening to the waves and the palm trees blowing in the breeze but that joy died on Saturday morning.

So here’s what I’m thinking… If I never stay at the Atlantis resort again… that will be fine with me.  However – I am totally interested in experiencing the authentic essence and spirit of the Bahamas and I’d love to return for another visit – this time, departing from Nassau immediately and making my way to another island.  That being said – the festival was super generous and we were very honored to be asked to return this year.  And, as it was last year, the people we met and connections we made was truly the best part.

Now – I’m off to Buy Buy Baby!  Wish me luck.

I’m officially freaking out!!

29 Nov

Hi All -

I have wonderful news to share today.  Adam (the hubby) and his awesome first feature film (Hello Lonesome) just got nominated for an Independent Spirit Award!  He is one of five films nominated for the John Cassavetes award, which is awarded to a film that was made for under $500,000.  I’m seriously pretty much bouncing off the walls right now!  I’m just so happy for him.  He works so hard and has so much passion and GUTS!  I’m just thrilled he is getting a little extra recognition.  You inspire me darling (I know you’re reading).  I’m SOOO proud of you! 

Meanwhile, these awards are no joke.  They are held in LA and are televised nationally and the nominees are real deal… talented actors, directors, producers, etc.  Of course, they are held at the end of February and I will be nine months pregnant, so I’m going to have to watch on TV from my couch as Adam walks the red carpet!  Hopefully the excitement won’t send me into early labor!

So that’s that.  What a day it’s been.  I was shlepping around all day getting ready for a trip we’re taking tomorrow to The Bahamas.  Adam got invited back to the Bahamas International Film Festival – this year as a juror, so of course, I’m tagging along.  It’s a working “baby-moon” and probably our last before the little one comes along in March.  So for the next few days, we’ll be enjoying some sun, relaxation and LOTS of movies.  I’ll bring my computer along and will try to blog at least once from the festival.

Meanwhile, how was everyone’s Thanksgiving holiday?  We had a wonderful dinner at my sister and brother-in-law’s home in New Hampshire.  I actually think the food hit an all-time high this year.  Here’s Dan (the bro-in-law) w/our twenty-five pound super juicy turkey!  That’s one big bird.

Dan and his Turkey

In addition to the turkey Dan also made root veggies, stuffing and these totally ridiculous twice baked potatoes filled with sour cream, butter, cheese, bacon, and everything else yummy.  This was a Thanksgiving first:

Twice Baked Potatoes before they go into the oven for the second time around...

My mom helped out with a delicious butternut squash soup, cranberry sauce and last but definitely not least – the sweet potatoes with toasty marshmallows on top.  YUM.

I, of course, brought a cheese plate.  This year I went international with the following assortment:

  • La Tur – a soft and luscious mixed sheep’s, goat’s and cow’s milk cheese from Italy – total crowd pleaser and the favorite of most of the guests
  • Boucheron – a semi-aged goat’s milk cheese from the Loire Valley in France.  It comes in a log with a nice creamy layer just under the white bloomy rind.  I usually like this cheese very much – but I actually found this particular piece to be rather dried out and not at it’s prime.  That’s why it’s always best to have cheese cut fresh for you (if possible) or to go to a market where you know the turnover is high.
  • Manchego – a firm and buttery sheep’s milk cheese from the La Mancha region of Spain.  This one is fairly snacky and mild.  It was my dad’s least favorite of the four – but it was a few other peoples’ favorite.  Cheese love is an individual thing!
  • Uni Kaas Reserve Aged Gouda – this is one of those super caramelly, butterscotchy cheeses from Holland.  It is made with cow’s milk, has a darker orange color and has those little yummy crunchies.  I love this type of cheese – this tended to be the second favorite after the La Tur.

The cheeses were a hit (as always) – but every year we kick ourselves after because it’s impossible not to fill up a little on cheese beforehand (it’s just too yummy to refuse) and with a meal like this (including a twenty-five pound turkey) – you need all the room you can get.

Anyway – it was a lovely week with family and friends and it was Adam’s and my FIFTH Thanksgiving together.  I couldn’t believe it.  My how time flies.  Next year we’ll have an additional little family member joining us.  It sure is crazy to think about!

So – bye for now.  I’ll post in a couple days from the Bahamas!

xo

 

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