Wills

It's already November. So much has happened this year and there's so much left to go. It's amazing. Last week we got back into the swing of the diet thing and I made some pretty decent dinners. Update: the unwanted tenants have disappeared, thankfully. I attempted an Asian peanut sauce with dark sesame oil, rice vinegar, hoisin sauce, light peanut butter, crushed red pepper, chicken broth, ginger and garlic. The sauce was tossed with red pepper strips and chicken strips. The mixture was then ladled over Japanese chucka sobu noodles. I'm tempted next time to use angel hair spaghetti instead. The Japanese noodles are like ramen. I'm not a fan much of ramen. Thursday we were supposed to go on a cruise around Manhattan with our joint venture partners (their entire New York region company) but at last minute we decided to bail. We went last year, and it was really nice, but the problem is that the boat shoves off at 4.30 and doesn't return to dock until 9. That's a long, long time to be on a boat, especially after the work day. So, anyway, not a big deal that we decided to skip. Friday could not have come sooner. Craig and I decided to go on a date. First, we walked to Choux Factory on 1st Avenue for coffee around 6.45. Then we headed down a couple of blocks to the independent single screen theater to see The Darjeeling Limited. The theater is really very nice. We were both very entertained by the film, too. (Warning: possible spoilers to follow.) It opens with a "short film" (referred to as Part I. and also titled "Hotel Chevalier") which stars Natalie Portman as the ex-girlfriend of Jack, one of the three brothers starring in the feature film. The content of the short film returns at the end of the feature, primarily to connect the two, I suspect, but also because we get a better picture of the motivation for Jack's moodiness in the feature. The feature film was filled with artful scenes, colorful gaudy effects of the setting as well as the ranges of emotions expressed on Owen Wilson's, Adrien Brody's and Jason Schwartzman's faces throughout. I suppose I won't give too much of it away, but it was an excellent Wes Anderson film. It felt somewhat like a rough draft at times, like there were extra episodes that could have been cut in places, and I felt that the encounter between the mother and her 3 sons near the end was basically gratuitous. But there were awesome moments, funny ones, like the time Owen Wilson admits that their "spiritual journey" is actually part of his ruse to get his brothers to their mother, who is a Catholic nun in the Himilayas (Owen has been following an "agenda" created and laminated daily by his assistant Brendan) and regarding the event of seeing their mother, he says, "That I actually have listed on the agenda as 'TBD.'" Throughout the movie, there are little shreds of interesting humanity that seem unreal yet so humorously honest. I realize the movie has gotten mixed reviews, and much of the hype over it relates to Owen Wilson's real-life attempted suicide prior to the premiere of the film (his character attempted suicide shortly after the death of their father) but regardless, the soundtrack is harmonious with the content of the film, the visual stimulation is ruddy in quality, raw, beautiful (Adrien Brody's character says, near the end, "I like how this country smells. It smells spicy...") and the dialogue never left me wondering, as I read from one reviewer, how the brothers were related. It's clear and confirmed in the flashback to New York City, to the day of their father's funeral, that the three brothers were raised under the same influences nevertheless reacted so uniquely to events of their lives, and that's essentially what family is in the end.*So, following the film, we had a beer at Ryan's Daughter around the corner. It was around 9.30 at this time and we were hungry, so we finished a beer and headed in the direction of Pio, Pio, a restaurant on 1st. Like last time we wandered past Pio, Pio, there was a line outside waiting, so we shrugged that off and went to Taco Taco on 2nd instead. I need to research this Pio, Pio place and figure out what is all the rage over it. Dinner was nice. We talked more about the movie but we were getting tired, especially after guac prepared tableside by the waiter and plates of bistek, tomatoes and lime, so we decided to have one last drink at Biddy's and then head home. We tried to watch a recorded show from the week but didn't last through. We went to bed early, and I didn't sleep very well due to extreme vivid dreams and the fact that we're in sleep with the bedroom window open mode, which always leaves me sniffling, so I was up and down between 4 and 8.30. I did manage to cram in a couple of additional hours of sleep somewhere in that time, but it was scarce. This morning we went to Jeff's old haunt, The Bagel Mill, on 1st (we have spent some serious time hugging 1st Ave this weekend) but I was underimpressed compared to our usual Bagel Express on 2nd and 93rd. Following breakfast, because of the overcast nature of the day, we opted against our walk to Central Park and decided instead to scope out C-town (photo depicted above.) Understand, I do all of the grocery shopping. All of it. Every last ounce of it, unless there is the exceptional day where we're out of this or that, or he's out of cereal (he's a cereal nut) or maybe we need 2 things, and in that case, he might go to Key Food at 92nd and 2nd, if things are just absolutely dire. But more often than not, I am the sole shopper of grocery items. So, today, we just randomly (a year and some months after having moved to this neighborhood, mind you) fell into C-town to see if it compared to Key Food at all or to see if it sucked. Well, if it isn't evident from the photo above (given that the photo above seems to represent any grocery anywhere, not a New York City 2'-wide isle grocery which is the norm) C-town is really, really really nice. It's so nice. It's like heaven on earth as groceries go in New York City without having to be Food Emporium or D'Agastino's. Midway through our walk, Craig declared, "You will never shop at Key Food again. You will come here." I raised my brow quite high because I already had made my judgements against C-town for various reasons (like, imagine if you had a purse that was a knock-off that was just as good as a Prada one and you suddenly had to defend it because maybe the tacky adhered "Prada" label on your knock-off was crooked or maybe mispelled but that didn't take away the functionality of the purse itself, and it cost nine hundred dollars less...) so needless to say, having Craig instruct me where to shop took me back a bit. But before I could fully react, he followed up with a, "Well, I guess you do all the shopping without me so it doesn't really matter where you go." Haa! How funny. So, while yes, C-town is sort of a little slice of Upper East Side Heaven as Groceries Go, I've never had a real problem with my Key Food (or, none that I would now admit to in the face of this controversial fancy status of C-town as a nearby competitor!) As I told Craig as we ordered deli meat for today's lunch at an immaculately clean and shimmering deli counter at C-town, "I know my way around Key Food. It would take me forever to learn my way around here." (Note: Probably in a few weeks I will grow irritated with Key Food's dysfunctionality and cleanliness problem and take my business elsewhere to C-town.) (I'm able to admit my weaknesses!)*Today, after our adventure at New York's Upper East Side's 3rd Fanciest Grocery Store, we came home and caused total upheaval in our bedroom closets. We have storage overhead in the bedroom, roughly 5 Rubbermaid bins filled with things we don't ever access, so we went through each one, deleting items right and left, and went through our respective closets plus the shared closet (there are 3 closets in our bedroom) and now, life as organization in the clothing sphere as we know it, is good. We've got two mountains of clothing ready to haul to Good Will tomorrow. I can't wait to be rid of so much unwanted stuff. Additionally, tonight we're off to Long Island City to see the Jeff and Lauren pad. We're going to stop at Barnes and Noble for a book on Cabos (another story for another time regarding Craig's unreadiness to just sit by a lazy pool for 6 days straight when we go to Mexico this Christmas) and we're dining with Jeff and Lauren at their new apartment, then heading to a wine bar nearby that they evidently love. Then, back to their place for games or drinks or both or what have you. I miss those two dearly. Meanwhile, it's drawing near naptime. Craig is already there and I want to join in considering the rotten night I had and the lack of sleep. Tomorrow we're back to 1st Ave to watch Marathon runners run by. We're going to have a few beers at some 1st Ave bars and make an afternoon of it. Tomorrow also will consist of poetry and groceries (AT KEY FOOD) and miscellaneous laziness as needed. I love weekends. Why can't they be more frequent?