Month: July, 2007

My star turn

Monday, July 23rd, 2007 | All Things, Film

Walking home from the subway station this evening, I was approached by a young man with a headset and clipboard, who without much by way of introduction, asked if I’d be interested in appearing in a movie being filmed in my neighborhood that evening.

Hmm… this sounded like the set-up for a Lifetime Movie of the Week.  Probably sensing my suspicion, he quickly assured me that he had no prurient interests in mind, and showed me some production materials and a permit for a small independent film that appeared indeed to be shooting at The Church of the Blessed Sacrament on West 71st Street.

Well… why not?

For the next two and a half hours, I (and a couple dozen others) posed as wedding guests for what I understood to be scenes in a low-budget thriller to hit the festival circuit sometime later this year.

See Saw wedding

DVD screening party in 2008!

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Japanese grazing

Sunday, July 22nd, 2007 | All Things, Eats

After a weekend of fun and food, we were able to squeeze in one final eat outing. B’s stories from his recent trip to Japan had whet all our appetites for some authentic Japanese cuisine. And although a few restaurants in New York do serve fugu, the precious, highly toxic blowfish prized in Japan, we decided on Sunday night to hit the other end of the food spectrum: ramen and street food.

To the East Village, then: the ramen epicenter of the city. It must have been fate that we somehow managed to snag four of the fourteen counter seats at Rai Rai Ken. (Bonus: two more stamps on my frequent eater card!)

Rai Rai Ken

And then to Otafuku (#91 on New York magazine’s 2006 Cheap Eats list), a snack shack with essentially three items on the menu: takoyaki (octopus balls), okonomiyaki (Japanese savory pancakes) and… in a throwback to last summer’s trip to Hong Kong: shaved ice!

Otafuku

Otafuku Takoyaki

And to clarify: the balls are made of  octopus. 

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Morning coffee in Croton

Saturday, July 21st, 2007 | All Things, Friends

We took our steaming cups of coffee out to the garden this morning, to check in on the progress of the C family plantings.

Croton hammock

Croton apple

Croton pears

Croton plums

Then into the house where a sumptuous breakfast was spread before us, including MC’s homemade chive dumplings and JG’s outrageously delicious shrimp cheese grits.

JG shrimp grits

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