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Saturday, March 27, 2010

Fairy Queen and Brooklyn Flea and 2 kinds of Gruner






So first there was the Met's HD Hamlet(3 hours and 40 min) followed by the Fairy Queen at BAM(3 hours and 45 minutes] . In between there was a brief stop at the grand old Williamsburg Bank building at One Hanson Place near the LIRR where the Bklyn Flea was full of stuff and food...in the old safe in the basement. Vendors included lobster roll mongers and tamales wrappers(famous red hook ball field vendors). We ate at Thomas Beisel and tried two Gruners by the class which the chef owner says is his Proustian Madelaine's
(to recall) Austria. The Fairy Queen ends with song and shiny confetti.

Arturos Nyu annex



Someone in our seminar mentioned pizza and so we went. They might have meant take out but i took us out instead to Arturo's on Houston for coal oven crust. Not as good as Frank and i had when we ate the pie at the table we were suppose to be bringing home or the time on marathon week end that i ran into my Colgate roommate Dr Tom Albright who was and is a runner. But we discussed foundation proposal writing with the great American song book in the background and some truly fine students who like me enjoyed the gestalt.

Sammys Roumanian with the Incongruous 5








Still there on Delancey and Chrystie. Though now the tumler(the fast cracking waiter/mc) is a Syracuse grad who might be headed to Goldman Sachs. The crew included one Sephardic Sri Lankan and some Irish guys and the foods that made me fat.
Weird fun. And the musician who is waiting to be parodied in a Saturday Night live skit. For me it was like a night at home trading barbs with my brother Lane and eating leftovers. Not a bad night.Oh and They give you alka seltzer after they give you egg creams.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Fess Parker...In Memoriam






There were a million Davy Crocketts arguing with each other about whose coonskin cap was more real(mine had eyes and Michael's had a leatherette top). We sang the song{Born on a mountain top in Tennessee....is that why I married Jeanne who lived on a Chatanooga mountain top?). I read books about Crockett and was a little sad to see he wasn't as tall as Fess Parker.
I liked Fess. Under the acting there was a likeable man...a little like Mr Chapman ,my math teacher...Guy Chapman. So I was pleased when my son,Corey and my daughter-in-law Allison met him at his Santa Barbara inn. And then my daughter Kim and and son-in law Patrick bought coon skin caps at Disneyland. I have been grateful for some time to Corey for being thoughtful enough to get me a signed photo autographed to ME....not eddie or roger or michael whose faux hat alone disqualified him from such a treat. I was also glad to hear from Corey that Fess came over as a warm and kind man. (Corey I think was doing a bit when he said Fess in his 80s was a little confused about whether he played someone at the Alamo or was actually there).
I keep my Fess stuff near my photo(thanks ,jeanne ) signed to me from Sid Caesar...next to some Howdy Doody puppets and lights. So you can call it Baby Boomer nostalgia...but really it all comes from a more personal time when a little boy had imaginary friends (the Benson brothers} and identified with stangers on tv and thought about who they were really.So no food link here ...
though food is love,and this is about a tribute to a man I loved who died and the love of my family who keep my childhood fantasies alive as they fill my life with the very genuine consideration and love that folks like Fess Parker held a place for. Thanks
Family ; I love you. Thanks,Fess and as Dale and Roy would say,"Happy trails."

Indian Food from Tamba with a Chilean Twist





Since the Chile post an earthquake shook that beautiful country. So there was something slightly reassuring when our waiter
at Tamba (lex and 27st) spoke about his years in Chile and his children who are volunteering to help the people of Concepcion.
And jeanne and I liked the transitional moment. Charlene, who joined us to talk about karma, and we enjoyed fantastic Indian cooking in a warm. setting. They were out of the Chilean Sauvignon Blanc but the California chardonay was good. Having just taken the Indian cooking class held by the Center for Family Life in Sunset Park with Tim, I had a newly found appreciation for the skill and work behind making saag paneer(spinach,cheese curds,tomatoes and herbs). The saffron prawns were superb and Jeanne's pistachio kulfi was luscious...especially when presented as shown here with my shmutz- stain disquise art( I call it "paranoid boy,tree,house" with kulfi). We ate the masala dosa too fast to photograph the gigantic potato and lentil and onion filled crepe in the shape of a purim pastry.