Happy Birthday to Rafa!!

last time jk was in town i was insanely sick. this was sad for a few reasons:

1. being sick sucks.
2. i miss jk and was upset i couldn't party with him.
3. i couldn't hang out with his niece because i was a petri dish of germs and snot.

but not this time:



oh. my. god. you guysssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss. look at how cute this baby is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

look at the pictures of her on jk's blog for more delicious photos of her.

jk was in town for her 1st b-day and randomly a few of us got to have dinner with rafa on her actual b-day so we got her b-day key lime pie:



and when i say we i mean jk because he was so excited that it was his niece's b-day that he treated us all to dinner!! now that's classy.



look how happy the jk is. after dinner we dropped rafa and her mom off at home and i discovered this picture:



emo jk. . .look at the hair. . .i don't even know what to say. amazing.

after dropping the ladies off we made our way to the subway which ms. n and jk turned into a broadway dance party:



when we finally got to the subway:



jk and i had a impromptu photo shoot:



we couldn't be any cuter if we tried.

ms. n showed us her butt:



the train came and we got on and headed into the city. i don't have pictures of the impromptu roof party we went to but it doesn't matter -- because it lives on in my heart. . .

we love you jk!!!!!!!!

summer in the city

this morning was the first morning where the streets of new york city smelled like garbage. and i mean actual garbage.

summer is going to be awesome. . .

on the 6

something i forgot that i love about spring in nyc, beyond all of the amazing flowers exploding into full bloom and people smiling, is when the mta turns the air conditioners on in the trains.

i know, air conditioning is single handedly ruining our environment and we should all just buck up to the heat and deal but shut it because there is something quite lovely about traipsing around the city, getting a bit sweaty, standing on a stuffy subway platform and then boarding a cool train -- especially if there's a seat.

children will listen. . .just not at 8 a.m.

i take the f train into manhattan every day -- i live far enough into brooklyn (read: when i tell people the neighborhood i live in i'm generally met with either blank stares, a look of pity, or "i think i know someone who lives there" kinds of comments -- whatever -- i love my neighborhood) that i can usually get a seat on the train.

2 stops into my commute the train has usually filled up and people start huffing and puffing and squeezing their way in and the doors need to open and close a few times and then we are off again. . .and usually the conducter says something like "stand clear of the doors please" in an understandably annoyed tone.

but today, ah today, the conducter was really annoyed that the doors had to open and shut repeatedly at each stop and this is what he said:

*Come on people! We go through this every day! Get your coats and bags out of the door, move to the center of the car and get out of the way of the doors!*


he's right -- we do go over this every day -- hilarious.

monday, monday

when rogray and i made our triumphant return home to nyc and he started on his whatcha got cookin' project kugs and ms. n would come be guinea pigs and taste testers with me. and somehow these nights kept falling on a monday. so now kugs, ms. n and i try to have dinner every monday together -- and i've taken to calling it supper club. sometimes ms. n's boyfriend is there and sometimes rogray is there and if the hulk can make it he eats with us too -- but the real intention is for kugs, ms. n and i to hang out and eat food together.

this past monday ms. n and i went to kugs' for some pear, pecan, gorgonzola salad with steak on top. . .ooo la la. . .

this is kugs working her chopping, slicing, dicing magic:



this is me "helping" her:



i wish i was still wearing ms. n's hat because it is veryveryvery cold here today.

here is ms. n pleasantly surprised we are having steak:


but now she is so so sooooo veeeeeeery hot:


thank goodness she could cool off with this glass of sparkling water:


since kugs is getting hitched this july she has a bunch of stuff to do -- like making origami boxes for chocolate treats at the party. so we decided to help her. since she is a teacher she was very clear in her instructions:



this is how they were supposed to look:



while kugs and i folded our hearts out ms. n made us brazilian french toast (it's brazilian because it has rum in it!)


so we ate dessert and folded paper:


notice how she is thinking "i'm kugs. i'm cute. and my folding is perfect."

and that's monday night supper club. don't you wish you had a supper club of your own?

saturday night fever

saturday was a very good day. the chef invited us to her place in poughkeepsie for a scrumptious dinner made with her own 2 hands. she live in poughkeepsie because she's working at the culinary institute of america (her alma mater) and if you had to live in poughkeepsie wouldn't you invite your friends up for dinner?

so in the afternoon i got behind the wheel of our little 1991 mazda and rogray got in the passenger set with directions and the atlas:


and then 3 lovely ladies (lil d, the artista and ms. mo) squished themselves into the back seat:



and then we were off on our merry way to meet up with the reverend k at the chef's place.

for some reason we took the single worst way to the thruway -- it involved driving through a tunnel into manhattan, over various bridges, into a cave lit by gold and gaurded by fairy monkeys, being forced to go on a mythical journey to find an emerald chalice that would not only cure cancer but help you lose weight. all in bumper to bumper traffic. but we triumphed! and when we got to the chef's gorgeous apartment we were greeted with this table:



close-ups:





stuffed chicken breast with potatoes and stuff, an orzo salad with feta, a spicy chickpea salad, a mixed green salad with pita, and i didn't even get a picture of the artichoke stuffed bread. unfortunately i don't have details of the food she served because i immediately started drinking wine and i promptly forgot what she said was in the food as she said it. what i do know is that everything we ate was outstanding and also, dates are really yummy.

this is what it looked like while we ate:



http://www.ciachef.edu/restaurants/apbc/ the chef was a pastry student at the c.i.a. and now is the teacher's assistant at this cafe on campus. so dessert was from there:



due to the decorations i am assuming this had some vanilla, anise and cinnamon in it but again, all i remember is it tasting good. . .really really good. . .



the chef loves dessert.

things got silly quickly. . .and i think this moment probably had something to do with it:


as did the discovery of these chopsticks which were a gift from the reverend k to the chef:




i had to stop rogray when he tried to eat this:



i just didn't think he's like that much fiber all at once.

but then the reverend k wanted to play:


he's eating the cork!


can he get it out?


hooray!


notice how in the back of the corkscrew picture ms. mo and the chef could care less that the reverend k has a cork stuck in his mouth? heartless.

rogray and reverend k weren't done. first, rogray lost his hand:


but then he found it:


reverend k nursed his wounds by drinking some vino:


while i just told them to settle down:


meanwhile, ms. mo and lil d were so absorbed in conversation they missed rogray almost eating a roll of paper towels, reverend k eating a cork, and rogray punching reverend k out:


the focus turned briefly to the chef's adopted son, paolo:


but then we did more of this:


which led to this:


and this:


and finally this:


which ms. mo had this to say about:


reverend k had to leave early to catch a train back to the big bad city so we bid farewell to his little ipod and big earphones:


and were very sad. but only for a little bit because rogray stunned us with one of his dork superpowers!! he can recite every single presidential election (he has to say the year and who ran) in under 2 minutes.

ms. mo timed while rogray got to it and we all looked on:



he did it!!! at first i tried to pretend to be all embarrassed but then i got nervous he wouldn't ne able to do it and then he did it!!!! with 2 seconds to spare!!

he's a dork superhero!

after that high the only thing we could do was leave and head back to the city (thanks rogray for be the designated driver!).

i'll end on our group photos. it's the first time i used the 10 second timer on my camera.





we took a much more sensible, albeit darker and windier, route back home.

this was an amazing night -- one of those times where you forget about everything and just enjoy being with people you love and who love you. i hadn't really been able to hang out with the reverend k or the artista since i've moved back and i'd never really hung out with lil d so it was nice to do both.

thanks chef -- you are a treat. . .