read a good poem: the way though

before the storm...same time, last year.

my friends have started to complain about all the june rain.

i don't think i'll ever tire of it. i love the before, during, and after a summer storm. fast moving clouds, swirly winds, people scurrying for shelter. me, in my duck boots.


***

the way through (1954)

let the rain plunge radiant
through sulky thunder
rage on rooftops

let it scissor and bounce its denials
on concrete slabs and black
roadways. flood the streets. it's much

but not enough, not yet: persist,
rain, real rain, sensuous,
swift, released from

vague skies, the tedium

up there.

under scared bucking trees

the beach road washed out -

trying to get by on the verge
is no good, earth crumbles into the
brown waterfall, but he backs up

the old car again and CHARGES.

the water flies in the halfwit's eyes

who didn't move fast enough

"who do you think i am, a horse?"

but we made it--

drown us, lose us

rain, let us loose, so,
to lose ourselves, to career
up the plunge of the hill.

--denise levertov
from the new american poetry, 1945-1960

***

favorite line:
trying to get by on the verge
is no good

my lament: brooklyn designs

art by palo samko. IMG_5297 by ata08.

art by palo samko. IMG_5290 by ata08.

art by palo samko. IMG_5291 by ata08.

art by palo samko. IMG_5294 by ata08.

art by palo samko. IMG_5299 by ata08.

i had so much fun at brooklyn designs last year (see photos!) and i've been looking forward to attending the 2009 show...but unless something changes at the last minute, i'm going to miss it.

those who are able to make it will surely enjoy seeing the work of UM (oh how i love colgate searle and other cool geniuses at UM) and palo samko. at least i was able to see palo samko's exhibit at the ad home design show in march...

the photos above are "just some art pieces" palo created, which are not part of his official collection. but the spray painted zeppelin is striking. i love the bike theme--and i wasn't the only one. he said he received enough inquiries about his art pieces during the ad show that he may considering creating more, for sale.

anyway, UM will be at the icff at the javits center next week...otherwise, there is always the option for a field trip to their studio in dumbo...

if you are lucky enough to make it to bk designs, send news please...

looking over...clover

clover delicatessen, 621 second avenue, @ 34th street, nyc. after 8pm. may 6, 2009.

‎

originally uploaded by ata08

beyond the regular: artichoke pizza

the spinach and artichoke slice...

from artichoke basille's pizza, 14th street, nyc. may 2, 2009

there are many moods and occasions when a mere slice or two of pizza will do:
when you've been out all night carousing.
when you need a quick lunch, on the cheap.
or any good morning, cold, right out of the fridge.

but there are times, when pizza is more than a mere slice. it's the whole magilla: it's rhyme and reason, and some great reward.

i went to artichoke pizza for the first time today, and ordered the spinach and artichoke slice. it is a fat and juicy-looking affair, and i was slightly intimidated. but to paraphrase jonathan richman, ate it with gusto, damn! you bet.

it is an untraditional slice. and it an evocative experience--you may forget for a moment or two that it's pizza you're enjoying. buttery, creamy sauce, coyly hiding under a blanket of chewy mozzarella, on a crust that is hearty but light, and with a proper crunch: you can imagine you're picnicking on the left bank, enjoying oozy brie on french bread (but without the brie funk)...
or you're dining in a courtyard in italy, un-shyly taking whatever slices are left in the bread basket to sop up a creamy white sauce...
or you're in new england, tearing a roll into bite-size pieces and soaking it in your clam chowder...

but then you realize you're on a bench, under the trees in union square park, on sunny and cool may day, with a big slice from the little pizza shop down the block...

that's a damn fine place to be.

***
artichoke pizza
328 e 14th st
new york, ny 10003
212.228.2004

iced coffee and tequila

vietnamese iced coffee. april 23, 2009.

i have a couple of friends who are yearning for "iced coffee" weather. and while i, too, am wondering where the hell spring is (but steadfastly refusing to pull out my winter coat again), i almost never drink iced coffee, certainly not in the morning. oh, i like it fine enough, but it's too easy to drink. and really, it has to be consumed pretty quickly lest it get depressingly watered down, like a yoo-hoo.

but vietnamese iced coffee stands apart from this phenomenon. the first few sips are shocking--it is so wonderfully, toxically thick with sweet condensed milk and that too-roasted coffee bean flavor--try to drink it too quickly, and it will send you reeling. at the very least, it could ruin your interest the meal that awaits you. you have to sip it throughout the meal, let the ice mellow it out. it seems never to get too sadly diluted.

and it knows no season. yesterday, my friend/boss for a freelance project took us out for a sort of celebratory lunch, and even though i was under-dressed for the weather (cold, cold hands!) and (probably) over-caffeinated, i ordered a vietnamese iced coffee without a second thought. i knew every leisurely sip would hit the spot.

***
do we think it wise to agree to have one's hair cut by a woman named tequila?

i'm about to find out.

enjoy the afternoon.

white flower: refined

flower, vase, and black wall at bddw display.

2009 architectural digest home design show. pier 94, nyc.

white flower: everything is a blur

the simplest presentations are my favorite.

white flower, glass vase, black wall, via bddw.

2009 architectural digest home design show. pier 94, nyc.

midtown lunch: toloache

i haven't had much reason of late to be on the west side of manhattan in the 50s, but my friend, meg, introduced me to a good one today.

this was a flawless, special lunch: a sweet and juicy margarita; "rojo" guacamole (spicy, with smoky chipolte. queso fresco adds a creamy, brightness); light, fresh lobster tacos; and crisp, airy churros (who knew that was possible?). the cajeta sauce will run down the thin channels of the fried dough, so take quick bites. expect to have sugar and cinnamon down to your wrists and all over your chin. what's more fun than that? especially when paired with a spiked mexican coffee?

the toloache margarita: frida kahlo blanco tequila, hibiscus, muddled blueberries, and lime.

"langosta" tacos: spicy lobster, morita salsa, avocado

churros: dusted with sugar and mexican cinnamon, with cajeta and chocolate dipping sauces.

TOLOACHE. 251 west 50th street, between eighth avenue and broadway. 212.581.1818.

"vines are your friends"

the green walls of musée du quai branly, paris. january 2008.

i love the lush, mossy green walls of the musée du quai branly--wouldn't it be great to see them all over nyc? there's one on the upper east side--pure yoga--and i've heard rumors of one at a restaurant in chinatown or on the lower east side. are there others? i attended a panel discussion last night in the hopes of finding out a bit more on the state of things here, green wall-wise.

while taking a few snapshots of the lovely interior green wall on site (below, and here), i had the luck to be standing next to the contractor who put together the beautiful array, cody lacroix of new york city green roof and landscape, and he was kind enough to chat with me about the installation, what he thought what worked or didn't about this one (needs more watering, deeper, better planters and maybe a different irrigation system), and offer insight into the cost and viability of green walls. the simple story is (and another panelist concurred), green walls have a glorious upside-- beauty, energy savings from the insulation, and cleaner air. and they're terrific for (and most successful when) promoting native plants (think local!). but "green walls" still require a lot more research, especially in terms of irrigation systems and modular systems. each execution is labor intensive, requiring a good bit of experimentation and tinkering...so, the downside is not surprising: it's cost prohibitive (roughly $150/square foot), whether indoor or out. even in a thriving economy, it's a big ask.

simpler systems, like green screens (think trellises), where vines can proliferate are more affordable--"they are not new or exotic" but have a greater chance of being "successful."

cody lacroix's calming, green wall. nyu center for architecture. 536 laguardia place, nyc. on view through april 11, 2009.

right now, "green walls" seem to be more an idea than a movement, but here's hoping that especially (and at least) commercially it...well...grows. bad pun, but judging from the "standing room only" attendance at last night's event, it's also a well shared sentiment.

fun house

east 55th street, nyc. noonish. march 24, 2009.

oh my (melody)

my melody (and hello kitty).

the bronze collection, by tom sachs. at the lever house plaza, nyc.

march 24, 2009. just before noon.

natural beauties

pretty eggs. lauded for their lusciousness by bill buford. pricey, too, at $10/dozen.

from the the lovingly tended araucana/americana hens of david graves, of berkshire berries.

union square greenmarket. march 21, 2009.

pure junk

the compost cookie™.

thanks to the inventive mind and high-fructose palate of christina tosi,

the pastry chef at momofuku bakery and milk bar.

nyc. march 21, 2009.

my new favorite cookie is a perfectly crazy union of sweet/salty, chewy/crunchy, "blondie"and "brownie". it's rich and altogether cloying. it's not for the timid.

i brought some home and asked my dad what he thought.

i barely started wowing him with the list of ingredients (potato chips! pretzels!) before he declared, good!

since he's a man of few words, i didn't think i'd get much more than that (and maybe an approving nod) out of him. he's decidedly no nonsense about food (as he is with everything, really). and while he's definitely of the "you can eat everything in moderation" school, he's not at all a fan of "junk food." i had been curious to know what he'd make of this debaucherous little experiment.

after a few more quick bites, he asked me to recite the ingredients again:
coffee grounds.
potato chips.

pretzels.
chocolate chips.
butterscotch chips...

i watched his brows start to wrinkle and i thought, uh-oh, he gonna balk...

then he laughed, "puro junk, eh (it's all junk)! that's why it's so good!"

he tossed back the last bite, and clapped the crumbs from his hands.

yes.

a game changer, and the over/under(rated)

the game changer: the 8oz kobe beef foot long hot dog,

with schaller & weber sauerkraut (braised in beer). and fries.

at five napkin burger. nyc. march 18, 2009.

five or so years ago, when everyone was whispering hot about kobe beef and kitchens were converting the stuff into burgers, i succumbed to the hype--i ordered it a few times at different fancy-pants midtown restaurants, in part because the burger "format" was likely the only way "kobe" was going to fit into my freelancer's budget. i didn't much care if it was real kobe beef (not likely) or kobe grade or kobe style, i just wanted a little taste.

those ventures were enough to kill my interest altogether. prepared on the rare side, "so as not to lose the kobe tenderness," it was consistently an unremarkable mess. (but at least i learned a couple of solid tips: even the best quality meat deserves a touch of seasoning to enliven it; and, if meat can't bind itself together, best not to sandwich it. serve it as tartare.)

anyway, i've been passing it over on menus ever since. until last night.

i was at five napkin burger, and since i've already tried their nice, oozy signature burger, i opted for the "kobe beef" foot long hot dog. (my friend allison and i had seen someone order it "5 N" style: with mustard, cheddar, relish, onions, tomatoes, and jalapenos, and we stared shamelessly at the thing once it hit the table.) i decided to keep it simple, and have it with "just" sauerkraut.

i don't know what exactly was "kobe" about it, but the hot dog was perfectly prepared: grilled, not boiled, it had a nice, crisp snap to it. there was "tenderness." it was --what's another fun word for juicy? and the deeply tasty sauerkraut was so generously portioned, i thought they'd read my mind ("the more sauerkraut the better"). i sat there, working my way though it with my steak knife and fork, thinking this was the stuff of my dreams...

now, less than a half day later, i've decided that meal changed everything, and not in a good way. oh, i still think the hot dog itself is the tops. but i haven't experienced this sort of gastronomic remorse in years. was that dog only 8 oz? it eats like 16. and i shared it! (btw, i am no lightweight--i've eaten two foot long hot dogs at a knicks game--as my friend's husband kindly pointed out, that's about half my height in hot dog. so...) it may have actually ruined me for baseball season and the us open! it was just too much. a kobe beef hot dog itself may not be overrated, but the wisdom and allure of eating one, foot-long and buried under an avalanche of beer-braised kraut that is too unwieldy to be picked up with two hands, surely is.

***

on the other hand, i'm starting to wonder if roasted, salted peanuts aren't the most underrated dessert topping.

a couple of months ago, i dined at joe's stone crab in miami--their key lime pie is stunningly good. i raved and spoke about having one shipped to my mom for mother's day, prompting liam, my server that night, to ask what my favorite dessert in nyc was. i couldn't think of one. he left me to attend to other tables, returned, and i still didn't have an answer for him. kind of embarrassing! maybe i was just slow that night? or maybe i don't love dessert the way i should, or the way others do. i've had some great desserts here, but i told him my preference is for simple things: ice cream or cookies, more than any sort of mousse-y affair.

but i may have found a favorite dessert in ny. true to what i told him, i love its simplicity: it's five napkin burger's brownie sundae (vanilla ice cream, an espresso brownie, caramel, and salted peanuts). but i think what really makes it stand out are the peanuts.

i like walnuts, but unless they are candied, they can be soft and waxy and fade into their surroundings. i love hazelnuts--but everyone is doing hazelnuts. and almonds--also a nice touch, but sometimes too sweet.

what does a roasted salted peanut give you? solid crunch, an assertive nutty-ness, and salt--the perfect counterpoint to cold, sweet ice cream, deep chocolate, and feather-light whipped topping.

peanuts are an old standby, maybe we even take them for granted (do we enjoy them beyond the baseball stadium anymore? do we even enjoy them on planes anymore?), but they can be a real goodie...

see if you agree.

if you're ever at 5 napkin burger, try to make room for the sundae.

if you're in la, at pizzeria mozza, treat yourself to the caramel copetta.

and if you have suggestions--or contradictions--by all means, please send them my way.

on the avenue

fifth avenue. friday, march 6, 2009. 10:53 pm.

head on the floor

today's specials

egg. 135 n 5th st . noonish.

making the personal, political

shahar peer. grand central station, nyc, 2006.

when i picked up the sports page of yesterday's nytimes and saw harvey araton's column, with a photo of shahar peer, and this headline, "a political swing at one player sours a tournament for all" i thought, uh oh. this is big...

and it's getting bigger...

i've been trying to keep up with the news and the blogosphere during the day while formulating my own thoughts. here goes.

the situation room: shahar peer, an israeli player currently ranked 45th on the wta tour, was denied a visa to enter the united arab emirates, to compete in a tournament for which she had qualified (and in the eyes of some, based on her play coming into the event, had a decent opportunity to win). while wta officials long feared she might have trouble securing a visa, it seems they were offered some assurances that it would be granted...at the very last hour her visa was denied. officials have gone on record to say that the denial was due to "safety concerns." the atp and its players will also have to confront this issue as it appears that andy ram, a doubles specialist, may also be denied a visa for the upcoming atp tournament there.

the reaction (as of tuesday, feb 17) : while it considered cancelling the tournament, the women's tennis association, decided to proceed (to the dismay of many), issuing this statement. the tennis channel has dropped televised coverage of the event (earning praise from many). more to come from the atp, i'm sure...possibly (hopefully) the players...

the good word: tennis' top writers have weighed in on this, with tennis mag eic james martin, calling out not only wta chief larry scott, but the wta players for their unwillingness to pay more than lip service to the matter; my favorite writer acing one out wiiiide--noting that the atp players (especially federer, who lives and trains there in the off-season) should make their voices heard on this, too; and tom tebbutt asserting that after this year tennis in dubai is done. and how.

my take: many fans are loathe to mix politics and sports, i don't think the two can ever really be separated. sport is a part of our culture, and it reflects whatever dynamics loom large in the world. sometimes it reveals exquisite acts of sportsmanship, but it also exposes cheating, racism, discrimination, violence... and i think that athletes, especially the most high-profile ones, should take a stand, especially when their own sport is affected.

in the perfect world (inside my head), my favorite player would withdraw, offering some simple, but totally right-on, no-nonsense reason: "if it is not fair for one player the way he is treated, it is not right for everyone. it's simple, no?" and then call on everyone to boycott! but with nadal and federer both suffering from injuries, it's possible that both may escape making some kind of statement on the situation that the wta and atp are facing, at least for now...we'll see how things unfold.

i don't toss out the notion of a boycott easily. i took gymnastics for a spell when i was a kid, and was obsessed with the sport. in 1980, kurt thomas was poised to make history as the first american gymnast to finally break through the death grip that the soviets and eastern bloc nations had on the men's event, and win the gold medal...and then president carter ordered the boycott of the moscow games. dream over. as a fan, i was crushed. i don't know how the athletes managed. but when you're part of a team, especially a national team, you have no choice. and anyway, those were very different times. you couldn't try to escape the link between sport and politics...

these days, most athletes will try to dance around a political question (hell, athletes are so media trained, you're hard pressed to find anyone to answer a question about a game that's not rehearsed and repeated from day to day to day, let alone say something political. jordan, jeter, tiger woods are inoffensive to the point of being...uninspiring).

but in this case, absent a brave decision by the atp or wta, or the player's union, the individual players should have the option to boycott the event, without penalty. i don't need the players to tell me their views on middle east politics if they don't want to, but i would want them to simply think about it on a personal level: if you care (and i think you should) and if these players are your friends (as some say they are) and if you put yourself in his or her place, and then think about what it is you might really be losing by taking a stand--or not taking one...take all other considerations about money and points and ranking out of the mix (and this is where some might need a ruling by the sport's "governing bodies" to help them clear their mind?) and make the personal political, then we might start to see progress toward a solution where they all have a safe place to play--here, there, everywhere, from now on.

it's 'wichcraft

cream'wiches. 1 rockefeller plaza. nyc.