February 04, 2008

Recitals

Another weekend has come and gone yet so has another Monday. We had a nice Friday which began with homemade Korean (my first attempt at Korean, ever) which was ultimately pretty good but a bit too salty because I didn't use Low-Sodium Soy Sauce as recommended (Key Food's range is only so diverse). Then Saturday morning we woke up pretty early and headed to 82nd Street to pay our rent, swinging by Tal Bagels at 86th Street on our way back home. Tal Bagels is hailed as one of the best bagels in New York City, a claim that is pretty serious to stake no matter how many votes get tallied, so we thought we'd give it a shot. The place is clean - immaculately scrubbed from top to bottom, and it's huge (there are more than just the one Tal Bagels in town so it survives on local chain status) but to be perfectly honest, Bagel Express closer to home far and away has Tal Bagels beat, and by a long shot, if I must be honest. The Everything Bagel is our Bagel of Choice anywhere we go, but Bagel Express has the right recipe. And they don't overbake their bagels to attempt that crusty golden exterior, which ultimately makes a bagel inedible to me. Sure, its presentation is nice, but give me Bagel Express' perfectly baked yet still doughy bagel any day of the week over any other bagel I've had in the City so far.*Saturday afternoon we went to Lynn's dance recital. Lynn is the talented wife of my friend Eric from IU. She's got a dance company with a friend of hers from college and they perform a few times a year in and around the area. So Craig sweetly and willingly accompanied me to their performance, a piece called Dig which is based on the Exodus story and was set to excerpts of Handel's Israel in Egypt and was really quite good. Note: I don't speak dance speak well. It is by all means its own language, which I'd call body language but that's downright dumb. It's its own language in a sense that it speaks through motion and fluidity set to sound, but aside from that, I am a bumbling idiot when I try to speak about dance, specifically modern dance, so afterward I gushed stupidly to Eric and Lynn both and felt like a royal ass for what I couldn't put into words. But it was good! And Craig enjoyed himself, as well.*Following the recital, we headed to a wine bar for drinks, and Amanda met us for a while (she was ushering at the recital) and we had a nice time with her, eating amazing appetizers such as prosciutto-wrapped asparagus grilled and doused in fresh shredded parmesan and white truffle oil (mmm) and following that, Craig and I headed to Brooklyn to cash in a gift card he received for a dinner at Giando on the Water overlooking Manhattan. I'm not going to describe our dinner because I'm a nice girl who doesn't say mean things (normally) but let's just say, for the record, we won't be recommending or heading back to Giando on the Water. Their claim that their view is "better than from a boat" is false. But, as Craig and I are very good at doing, we had a blast anyway. Then we returned to Manhattan to check out the weekend scene at the Grape and Grain/Against the Grain in the East Village. Love that place! Oh, we love that place. We ordered some peculiar Italian beer (which in my other blog I call Belgian but who cares/knows the difference??) and the place was packed (Against the Grain is the bar adjacent to Grape and Grain - owned by same ownership) and after that, we cruised to Satsko for a sake bomb (as seen on Three Sheets NYC World Pub Crawl). And then, back home to crash, of course. Sunday we headed to Alison and Scott's for their Super Bowl party. Giants - Patriots...what does one who isn't into East Coast football do? Well, considering the Pats were attempting an unblemished record for the season, part of me wanted to root in their favor, yet New York is my town, through and through, so why not also feel particularly spirited for them?? In the end, the Giants scored a weird final touchdown for a victory. Go New York! Alison and Scott threw a lovely party - Scott made killer wings, I helped Alison with some things, and we all made dents in the beer in the fridge. And today was Monday.*I have had a lot of revelations since I last posted (as usual) but it's late, and after heavily garlicked dinner of stuffed shells, asparagus and garlic bread, I need to find my pillow and gear up for a week of work blended with a Knicks game Wednesday and Lauren's first 2008 concert Thursday. Saturday is Kristi Day (!!!) which will find me with a stack of chick flicks, all access to the 50" tellie to watch said chick flicks, and Craig performing perfunctory duties that I perform on a daily basis, including but not limited to cooking, cleaning, catering to his favorite person (me!) and overall sweet to the fact that I nurture his every need/whim day in and out. Kristi Day will be so relaxing for Kristi. Oh, I can't wait!*

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