Life in Moo Town
Alligator Lounge & Etc...
I went down to Brooklyn for an NYU friend's birthday last night. Oh but something mildly amusing happened first. I met my new roomate yesterday and helped him move his furniture in when I got back from the Hungarian Pastry Shop. He seemed nice. His dad's a thorassic surgeon. But I digress. After helping him move in I started reading A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and somehow I dozed off in the late afternoon still holding the book. I awoke a couple hours later to the sound of my phone ringing and while I wasn't groggy, I had no idea where I was. I mean I was lying on my bed in my room but I had no memory of how I got there and it took me a minute to recognize where I was. Well I thought it was funny anyway. Alright, back to Brooklyn. So I left for Williamsburg at 10:15 and brought good ol' Samuel Clemens with me 'cause I knew I'd be stuck in the tubes for hours. Sure enough the L wasn't running so I had to wait forever and then walk like a mile through a deserted brooklyn street in the dark. Safe. Riiiiight. The party was at the Alligator Lounge, well worth the trip actually. With every drink you get a free pizza. Not just a slice. A whole 12" woodfired pizza. This is the first place to beat out Koronets in my book for value. The pizza wasn't wonderful, but it was still good, and $5 for a Guinness and all the pizza I was willing to scarf was great. After a while we migrated to another bar that was set up sort of like a beach shack and had a floor made of sand like a beach. The mojitos there weren't so cheap but we had a good time and I found out one of the other guests was a philosophy major up at Buffalo whose main interest was existentialism. Of course we totally hit it off and it was very refreshing to discuss all the old issues with a new friend. A few of us were still there at last call and when the bars closed we went to some pizza joint (yes, I was still up for more pizza, I never tire of my saucy little comapnion ;-)). A vegeterian girl and I wanted to split a slice of the eggplant pizza but it was sort of a challenge. There was no line at the counter, just a churning mass of drunken college types freshly expelled from all the closed bars. The employees spoke poor english, were rude, and impossible to flag down. But it smelled really good so we were persistant. We finally got our slice after like a 20 minute struggle, but in the process of cutting it in half for us the pizza guy dropped it on the floor and we had to start over again :-( When we finally got it, it was actually worth the wait. Great pizza, fresh mozarella and everything. Too bad I don't know the name of the place...it was somewhere in North Williamsburg. Finally got home at a quarter to 6. Saw the sunrise starting as I walked across campus. Fun night.
Peaceful Afternoon
Last night was a mess. The subways were shut down in at least two places and we were an hour late to the game as a result. I picked up chinese take out on the way, but the restaurant forgot to give me a fork. None of the stands at Yankee stadium seemed to have utensils either. I finally got a spoon from an ice cream shack. I knew I should have brought a sandwich instead. The Yankees lost to the Angels, 1-3. Not that I care, I'm not a fan of either team particularly. The stadium was nearly packed with over 54,000 people in attendance. Interesting to see a different slice of American society and culture. Interesting but not enjoyable. Baseball games have never been my thing. I woke up early this morning in spite of myself. Puttered around cleaning and making breakfast for a while then went to the New York Public Library and finally got myself a library card. On the way I saw an old man collapse in the street on the opposite side of Amsterdam Ave. There were some street performers on the same corner as he and they came to his aid, as did a man who ran up on a cell phone. A hospital was right across the street and a woman fetched a doctor. I felt oddly powerless to help as the traffic prevented me from crossing. I suppose there is little I could have added anyway. I thought he was having a heart attack but he had actually managed to trip on his own shoe. He appeared to be all right and I continued on. The weather was very pleasant as I meandered home with a new stack of books. My next stop was the Hungarian Pastry Shop. I brought a book of existential philosophy along and proceeded to idle away the next few hours reading essays by Kafka and Sartre while sipping orange spice tea, which grew cold long before I finished it. I wasn't in the mood for pastries.
Heat Wave and Journal Selection
It was brutally hot most of this week so I didn't go out much with the exception of an excursion to the Jewish Museum to see the permanent collection on the 3rd and 4th floors. It was very moving and I spent 3 hours there after work Thurs when the heat wave wore off. I didn't get a chance to enjoy the cafe or the live jazz so I guess I'll have to go back sometime. Today at work we had a sort of going away party for one of the interns who is leaving for cape cod next week. We went wandering around Bedford Ave looking for a good restaurant and finally settled on Planet Thai. They had a great lunch special and a wonderful imported beer selection. I had a jamaican beer called Dragon Stout along with my green curry. Very chocolatey with a cherry finish. A couple other people got Allagash White, a very tasty light fruity beer. I would highly recommend both to the beer afficionados in the crowd. Anyway, drinking with lunch still couldn't take my mind off the tough decision of which journal to pick. I thought I had laid the matter to rest last week when I went crazy trying to pick between Business Law and Transnational. I conditionally accepted transnational assuming that was that. Then I heard back from the journal of law and social problems and of course I put off making a decision until the last minute. It was a very tough choice again just like last week. I don't know why, but I had just assumed I probably wouldn't be accepted to all the journals I applied to so I didn't really think to hard up front about which I wanted the most. In the end I went with Soc Probs this time. I think it was the right choice since I want to have some time to focus on my note. I've done enough cite checking already. Tonight I'm going to go to my first NY baseball game at Yankee Stadium to unwind. I'm not a big fan or anything but it's just one more thing I ought to try while I'm in the city. And I need to decompress. Yelling at a sporting event ought to do the trick.
Boston (7/22-7/24)
I left work at 11AM to get to Chinatown in time for my bus. Felt guilty about spending less than a single full day in the office all week. Such is life though. Playing hookie is too fun to resist right now. The subway was running in both directions on one track due to construction so things were kind of a mess and it was good I left early. On the other hand, the bus was running late so I had time to pick up lunch afterall. By the way, Lucky Star was late both directions, I recommend taking a different line. I picked up some beef chow fun at a rather sketchy restaurant and it was greasy, flavorless, and generally terrible. I could only eat half and then I just pitched it. Gross. The bus ride was long and not particularly comfortable.
I had a friend from highschool to stay with in Boston and she gave me good directions to BU housing so it was a relatively smooth trip through the T (the Boston version of the subway). I really liked Boston and hope to go back soon, though I think Chicago was better. We went to Boston Harbor and saw the USS Constitution and its museum, took a ferry to George's Island and explored the fort there (this involved a bit of spelunking in complete pitch blackness which has always been a favorite passtime of mine), saw the 3D IMAX show on sharks at the Boston Aquarium (the show kinda sucked, as most 3D shows do in my experience), we ate at Legal Sea Food (not so good and overpriced), ate at the Paramount (it was reeeaally good, I had chilled melon and champaign soup followed by lamb and they had a great Napa Cabernet...), had a glass of delicious muscat on the 54th floor of the Paramount building during a lightning storm and got to see the amazing light show that resulted, saw Boston Common and the public park, saw beacon hill, saw the bunker hill memorial, perused some bakeries, had lunch with another friend I hadn't seen since graduating highschool at an Indian restaurant, and went to Cambridge to see Harvard too. The campus was pretty much as I imagined it would be. Spent most of the afternoon there at the Fogg museum of art. Some nice pieces from the masters there. The Rodin's weren't as good as at the Met though. Sat next to a woman from Madrid on the bus ride back to NY (which was running very late) and had a nice conversation. Fun weekend.
1 Day in NY (July 21st)
We got back to NY and had a man with a van take us home. I met with the Dean of Career Services in the morning to discuss firm bids and my resume and which journal to pick. It was all fairly high stress but in the end I just picked 30 firms and conditionally accepted an offer from the journal of transnational law. I ranked Cravath number 1 so as to get an interview but later thought the better of it. I only wanted the offer to wave it around anyway, I'm not actually interested in working at a sweatshop if I can avoid it and bidding on Cravath would jeopardize my chances at MoFo, my real dream firm. Went to the office at around 3 in the afternoon. Not much happening on so little sleep anyway. Got packed again for Boston that evening.
Chicago!
Haven't had a chance to write in a while, life's been too crazy. July 17-20th I was in Chicago for a Domestic Violence Conference put on by the ABA. I got to stay in the Palmer Court Hilton, which was amazing. The lobby was beautiful and always had classical music playing. Very soothing and refreshing. The hotel also had a nice pool and jacuzi and I had a room all to myself!
The conference was in the John Marshal Law School a few blocks away. I worked checking people in to the conference Sunday afternoon but the rest of the time I had free to do as I pleased. I learned a little here and there in the seminars but overall I think the weekend served to solidify my decision not to pursue family law after this summer. The conference perks were pretty good though...nice ABA bags with lots of pockets and plenty of free food. I dunno why I love bags so much. I guess there are worse things to collect though.
Of course I spent most of the trip exploring Chicago. The city is great! I had no idea the midwest would be so fun! I highly recommend it for a weekend getaway. I went up to the bar on the 96th floor of the John HancockBuilding to see the view of the lake and city, swam in lake Michigan (the water wasn't as cold as I had been told, it was really quite pleasant and some of the beaches had very fine smooth sand that felt amazing on my over-worked feet), enjoyed several jazz and blues clubs (including The Green Mill where I ran into an old acquaintance from a teen trip[amazing decor and atmosphere but the band playing that night wasn't terrific] and The House of Blues [amazing all around], ate some incredible deep dish pizza at Giordano's (they fold cheese into the bottom crust and the sauce goes on top), saw the stained glass museum on Navy Pier, saw the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art (it was crappy minimalist stuff though), went out on the town with an old friend I met on an Israel trip in '99 and hadn't seen in a couple years, played in the fountains at Millenium Park (there are faces that appear on two obelisks with water running down the sides and the faces wink and spit water at the children playing between them), visited some extended family (including a 98 year old lady whose relation to me is unclear but whose housekeeper makes a great briscuit), had cheese and carmel popcorn (it's better than it sounds) at Garrett's, watched the music and light show at Buckingham Fontain by the beach, and got caught in an authentic midwestern thunderstorm (it started out with a few large drops as I was shopping at Brooks Brothers [window shopping really, I can't afford that stuff] but when I went out to frolic in the rain it started coming down in buckets so I had to run, soaking wet, back to the conference).
So Chicago was fun. Unfortunately I missed my plane on the way out and got stuck in O'Hare Airport due to lightning on the runway. Instead of the 7:50 flight I was supposed to be on I ended up flying out at around midnight. Fortunately the attorney I went with was stranded with me so we kept each other company and played on the massage chairs at Brookstone until the shop closed (they cost like $3000 but for a second I was seriously considering buying one...).
Friday Night at Jake’s Dilemma
Spent the morning in Brooklyn housing court watching proceedings. Went to some salad bar for lunch (not very good) and took care of some work back at the office. Was too tired after work to go to services even though I had planned on going to Or Zarua on the East side. Another day I suppose. One of my NYU friends had a birthday party at Jake’s Dilemma at 10PM and even though I didn’t feel like going out I had promised so I went down. Had a few beers and did the whole social thing. On the up side I found someone to go to an off-broadway show with me that I had an extra ticket to. Went home early (just after midnight).
I love NY?
Saturday made me wonder if I might be able to get used to NYC after all. I did my laundry and went to the gym in the morning and then did the most metrosexual thing thus far. I made a salon appointment. Yeah I know. WTF? Well, I can explain. I’m sick and tired of going to Supercuts or the other joints in my neighborhood and getting a really crappy haircut for more than it’s worth. $15 isn’t much of a deal when you walk out unhappy with your hair. So yeah, maybe I’m just trying to justify the splurge in my own head, but it was AWESOME. I did my homework and found a highly rated salon on the East side, Simoni Salon. I got lucky on the way over too, it started raining just as I was getting on the bus and it stopped just as I got off. Beautiful day after that. But I digress. The salon was on the second floor over some diner and it had a pretty blue roof, kind of a Mediterranean look. Inside all the art and furniture was very tasteful and everyone was laid back, friendly, and calm. I think pretty much everyone there was gay too. Not the scene I’m used to around NY but somewhat evocative of certain neighborhoods in SF. Everyone kept calling each other “babe” and kissing on the cheeks. What ever floats there boats I guess. I just wanted a good haircut. MY appointment was for 3:30 but they were running behind so I had to wait almost an hour before they got started. I read the books lying around on Greek and Cuban architecture in the meantime. Not terribly enlightening. They started out by washing my hair (never had that done in a barbershop before) and I was a little awkward. Felt nice though. I left the towel on the chair, which was apparently a faux paux. I was supposed to keep it draped on my shoulders during the cut I guess. Oh well. My stylist was Tito, a short, gay, Peruvian man who was all smiles and compliments. In spite of the mild allergic reaction I was having to the two small furballs (I guess they were dogs) that were running around the salon (with bows in their hair of course, rather cute) I couldn’t help but smile as he cut my hair. He really was very good. He used some sort of styling wax and by the time he was done he said, “Ooh, you look just like a model!” I must say I was grinning ear to ear and it was believable. He gave me a sort of tousled look and the wax gave me a shine I’d never previously achieved. So yeah. It was 55 bucks. But worth every penny! Perhaps happiness can be bought after all :-P I walked out of there like I was on cloud 9. When I got back I had a rushed dinner at Café Swish with a friend from Oklahoma whose birthday I had missed while she was out of town. Then I had to speed down to Bleecker St. for the show. I was supposed to meet up at 7:30 but I had to switch trains 4 times because they kept being discontinued. Grr. I made it at 2 minutes to 8. Just in the nick of time since the show was supposed to start at 8. I had reserved tickets in advance and they were amazing seats so at least we weren’t put in the back for being on the late side. We were 3rd row, dead center :-D The show was called Border Clashes and it’s the story of a half black, half Chinese, Jamaican lesbian, told by her through a mix of dramatic monologue and poetry. It was a one woman show and it was INCREDIBLE! Truly amazing. Lots of humor and laughter but also a much deeper message about tolerance and rebellion. I recommend it to anyone. In fact I think I’m going to see if my journal wants to go en masse. Perhaps I’ll propose it at the Bastille Day party we have coming up Thursday. After the show we went to a bar in the area called Gattesby’s. Very red. The furniture was red, the lighting was red, the walls were red. Nice enough place. A couple of my friends from the nursing program met up with us and after we had a few drinks we moseyed on to Rays for a slice, then McSorley’s for a few beers, then the nurses left us and we went to a party at a hookah bar way back up on 110th and Broadway. Neither of us smokes so it was just more booze. Then we went to 1020 and played some pool. Wandered around a bit, realized all the bars (even West End) were closed and called it a night. It was after 3AM anyway. Perhaps a tad more drinking than was necessary, but I really had a very good time all day. So now I have a hair stylist, a secret clothing store, and some trendy hangouts. I just need a therapist now and I’ll be a NYer :-P Maybe I am starting to <3 NY…
Highlights: 4th of July & Jewish Museum
For the 4th of July I went to the American Museum of Natural History (yes, again, I can't get enough of that place!). I saw the space stuff this time, watched a short light and video show on the creation of the universe (it was beautiful), saw an IMAX film on the oceans of the world with an emphasis on preservation of biodiversity, and ended with a quick romp through the dinosaur exibit. I went with some old friends and made some new friends too. We had pizza at Famous Original Ray's when the museum closed and it was pretty good. Very rich, buttery crust. From there we made another dent in the bottle of red wine I have open at my place (a decent shiraz from Israel) and then headed down to the 30s on the East River for the largest fireworks display in the country. There were 4 boats in the river for the Macy's show (as well as fireboats shooting water in the sky) and between them they set off 35,000 rounds. Yeah. That's a lot of fireworks. We had a front row view on the upperdeck of the FDR highway and the view of brooklyn, queens, two lit up bridges, and the fireworks display was incredibly beautiful. The skyscrapers were lit up and reflected the bursts of color from the explosions and the echoes of the blasts reverberated through downtown. It was great. The only downside was that there was no music accompanying the show. That was unusual to me. Great display though. Went to a Chinese restaurant to cure the munchies and went home.
Tuesday I switched gears from Family Law (which was becoming tedious) and helped another attorney in the office with some research for HIV/AIDS cases. Mostly housing and welfare stuff.
Wednesday I had a seminar on the recent Nicholson decision in the morning at the Manhattan Family Court, then went to a kosher deli in Brooklyn for lunch (terrible pastrami unfortunately, but great soup and good kugel), then had a seminar on the history of legal services back in LSNY next to the Manhattan courts. The seminar was followed by a cocktail party and on the way home I stopped at AISH for a sushi/cocktail event for even more free drinks. The speaker at AISH was the CEO of Janus (or something like that). Didn't really get much work done with all the meetings.
Thursday there was a staff meeting that took up my afternoon and after work I went to the Jewish Museum. They have an exibit currently on Maurice Sendak who wrote "Where the Wild Things Are", my favorite book as a child. I spent 3 hours on the Sendak floor and failed to see any of the rest of the museum. Ran into a couple friends there too unexpectedly. As a kid I loved Sendak's art and stories, but didn't realize he makes tons of references to NYC. I just thought it was a fantasy world. Now I can recognize references to the Empire State Building, neighborhoods in Brooklyn, and the Manhattan skyline in his art. The holocaust references and Jewish twists in his work also escaped me as a child (as children we tend to think everyone is just like us so I didn't realize how Jewish a lot of his stuff was). It was wonderful to rediscover all my childhood favorites with a new perspective. Of course I couldn't leave without buying a copy of "Where the Wild Things Are" :-)
Carlbach and Restaurant Week
For restaurant week I went to Django, The River Cafe, and Tavern on the Green. Analysis:
Django had a very nice candlelit bar downstairs, very loungy. The decor of the restaurant was interesting, sort of middle eastern meets art deco. The food was very good. See previous post.
The River Cafe, which was supposed to be one of New York's top restaurants and possibly the best in Brooklyn failed to impress me. Perhaps I've reached new levels of culinary snobbery (or maybe it's just overrated). I went with another intern an an administrator from my office for lunch. The restaurant was right on the waterfront of the East River, scratch that, half the restaurant is actually sort of floating in the river so when large boats pass you feel the waves at your table. There was a very pretty garden outside but one of the trees kept dropping pollen on my blazer, which was rather irritating. The chicken salad appetizer I ordered tasted like lettuce and mayonaise...not good. To be fair, I wanted the meatballs but they had pork in them so I had to pass. My entree was the duck, which was served in a sort of straberry puree sauce. It was interesting and cooked very well, but it was sort of a gristly piece of duck and that ruined it. Strike two. The salmon looked better but it had fennel, which I'm not a big fan of. For dessert I was hoping they would be serving Brooklyn Bridges made of chocolate (it's their specialty) but instead it was a sampler with some berries and cream (which were very good, but anyone can make berries and cream), a coffee flavored pasty/cake (which was ok), and a very tiny mocha and banana smoothie (I've made much better). Oh, and the $12 glass of Bordeaux that I ordered sucked. So it was a nice place and the food was ok but I'm not really planning on going back there anytime soon.
The last restaurant I tried was Tavern on the Green. They are famous for two things. 1) Being located in Central Park, and 2) Having an incredible wine list. Bottles range from $30 to $6000. Yes with 3 zeros. I went with 2 friends from Barnard and 1 from NYU. The restaurant was gorgeous but utterly tacky. Every inch was decorated. The head waiters wore name tags that said Captain _(name)___ and the guy calling cabs was dressed like a leprechaun practically. Anyway, the food was actually very good. I had the Caesar Salad appetizer, it was tasty though not at all what I would have expected at a formal place. It came with cheesy toast stuff (I mean it looked fancy but still). Oh, and I got a glass of Chardonnay. It was pretty good but sort of over chilled. When they brought it it was almost too cold to drink and the flavor didn't come out until it had warmed a little. It was good but I could have gotten an equally tasty bottle for the price of a glass at Tavern. Anywayz. I had the salmon. It was excellent. I tried some of my friend's chicken and it too was outstanding. Dessert was a choice of cheesecake or chocolate cake. The waiter screwed up so I got both. The cheesecake was better but both were fine. Not as great as the entrees though. The portions were surprisingly large so the two desserts sort of put me over the edge. Kinda felt a bit overly sugared as I headed back to work.
Tonight I went to the Carlbach Shul for services. Had dinner at my place with a friend first. The service started at 8:13. I was expecting a huge hall but it was actually fairly small. Lot of people for the space though. Maybe 100 people crammed in there. Probly not quite that many but close. There was a lot of dancing and clapping and lai lai lai ing (on separate sides of the mehitza of course, it's orthodox). I didn't find it all that special though. Everyone else uses the Carlbach tunes now anyway and the other shuls typically finish in half the time. On the way home we stopped in at Rancheros for frozen margaritas. They were so sweet I think they counted as dessert.
