mind over matter. fight on

my first ever hot toddy. courtesy of the perfect pint. (east 45th)

i'm not sick.

i'm not.

i've been good and healthy all season (apart from some wooziness on christmas day, attributed to the large bag of buttered popcorn that i gluttonized at the matinee showing of nine). i'm not about to start the decade on a sickbed.

but i was kissed awake this morning by a cold wind blowing through my bedroom.
i did not love it.

and the day progressed with me feeling out of sorts: a little congested, the merest itch in my throat, hot forehead, cold hands. worst of all, i couldn't get warm.

i planned a full-on assault with vitamin C and fluids and good food.
i made ginger tea and tom yum soup from scratch. no recipe--all the ingredients: lemongrass, lots of fresh lime, sriracha sauce (as a substitute for red chili pepper), a bit of fish sauce, sugar, and a full bunch of fragrant cilantro went into a big pot for about 20 minutes. it would seem a perfect remedy, no? a hot/spicy/sweet/salty broth?
and i chased it with some advil (just in case).

i ate something more substantial before my sister came over in the late afternoon, and was still feeling a little dodgy.
but--i still had to get to happy hour with my gals, t and z! i couldn't miss them...
(a good girl would have stayed home, but a clever girl knows that she can get a hot toddy at the bar.)

and this is where clever girl gets hers.

i went to the perfect pint on east 45th street, and ordered a hot toddy (nicely done!), and waited and waited...while my gals were enjoying a cold beer and conversation at the perfect pint on west 45th.

guess who screwed that pooch by not carefully reading her IMs this afternoon? ugh.
i'd blame it on being sick and all. but i'm not sick.

i'm not.

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.

LA: obsessions (part 1)

drinks
Originally uploaded by ata08

when i travel--whether it's for a couple of weeks or a few days, for work or pleasure--i tend come happily home with a few obsessions.

my recent stay in LA yielded:

1) watermelon juice.

our company put us up at the standard hotel, on sunset (roll eyes, insert guffaw here). i know what you're thinking. whose idea was that? i have no comment, except to say, not mine. though, i never did object. in the end, the curiosity didn't kill me, it just left me perplexed.

is there a scene there? i have serious doubts. whatever was happening there, or hoped to happen there, i wanted no part of, unless it was happening, or hoping to happen, in the kitchen.

our work schedule basically resulted in our eating our way up and down and around the 24/7 restaurant menu. overall, the offerings were pretty strong.

i loved the greek yogurt (i'd never liked or understood greek yogurt) with berries and granola, the grilled shrimp salad, as well as an altogether different and not so healthy shrimp salad with a dill-y dressing on toast; the fries, the beet salad with goat cheese and mache, the pancakes (with 7-up in the batter) , the sorbets (coconut, green apple and apricot flavors were bright, happy endings to my meals)..."the standard benedict" (poached eggs on roast beef with a horseradish sauce) was fine too , except for the ill-advised decision to serve it on baguette slices. (that's just wrong. you shouldn't have to work so hard to cut your breakfast into bite-sized pieces.) the coffee was nice and brave, and served in a white ceramic cup of perfect size and heft.

but the thing i left there obsessed with? freshly -squeezed watermelon juice. it has a wonderful matte sweetness. it doesn't offer the bold, sugar shock of a cranberry/cranapple juice, nor does it have the burst of sweet sunshine that you get in the best freshly squeezed orange juice. it's not cloying like mango juice, or flat like carrot. it's a watery puree, a touch sweet, and just a little bit grassy--there's a bit o' white rind in there.

it's different... it will probably take you a few seconds to decide if you really like it. i decided i did. i love the color too. i wish i could carry that color with me wherever i go.

2) indie radio.

i love the radio, but i don't love the radio in ny. i can't actually get it in my apartment. but i hear enough of it in the car. i love singing along to lite hits and occasional classic rock anthems or r & b classics and disco (oh, the disco!), and i've definitely gone through stages when top 40 didn't completely offend me (i am quite susceptible pop music. i like "hooks"). and those of you who know me, know that i am far from EDGY. but good god, even i know this town could do with a little local indie radio. and nothing you have to "tinker with the knob" (i have an old clock radio) to find. something prominently on the dial.

so i don't have much to judge "indie 103.1" against, but my mornings and evenings were spent with santogold, mgmt, death cab, spoon, a healthy dose of depeche mode, the cure, and early U2. AND we all celebrated morrissey's birthday (may 22, people!!!). all that, and surf reports to boot! fun times!! why must they end?!

actually they don't have to....listen live here...

3) jessica smith

i met jessica at the photo shoot-she's one of our models! she's got amazing energy, and she exudes a true sweetness. we became fast friends. i can't wait for the photos we took of her to hit the newsstands and for the video to be posted on the website. you'll see how lovely she is, and you'll admire her perfect form.

if you're lucky enough to live in southern california and are an equinox member (or if you're planning to visit), i highly recommend taking her class.

the lovely miss jessica invited me to take her cardio sculpt class. and all i can say is: ass-kicking! as in, it's a fun workout that kicks ass, but she/it also kicked my ass (i struggled to keep up and i was sore for 3 days). but it felt great. if i could only get her to move back to ny, this old ass o' mine would be kickin.

but she is the instructor/star of the abs diet for women DVD, which i own, and that will do, for now...

more la obsessions to follow...soon...