Fresh Air Quote

I think as a life, most of us we do right and wrong fifteen times per day in the same day. What I mean is that I believe in contradiction, I believe that the world is not black and white: Javier Bardem

comfort food sunday

If you are at all interested in food a/o restaurants that I might recommend, yesterday was a highly satisfactory day in terms of the grub I consumed. I also shared it with some rad folks but surely to those readers who may happen upon this blog post, food is probably a bit more interesting.

So, this is how my Sunday went. Meal #1 was brunch as a joint called Chavella's, which is a great mexican joint not far from my apartment. It has also been rated one of the best Mexican restaurants in the city. I didn't grow up in California or anywhere that had a high population of Mexicans, so I will admit I am no expert on the subject, but the food was damn good. We were a group of 4, which I think is sort of average but if you try to go here with a larger group, it might be pretty difficult. You would have more luck with take out and bringing it to a friend's place.  Despite the odd seating arrangement, it did not impair the meal to the slightest. Everyone was thrilled with the overall experience. 

First, we had guacamole that was served with homemade tortilla chips. No complaints there. I had something listed as "new" but forgot the name and its not listed on their site. Eggless Platter? I dont know, but recommended highly. In the middle was a stack of small tortillas surrounded by a bunch of sides like potatoes, veggies, guac, tortilla covered in spicy green sauce... I cant remember what else, not by any fault of Chavellas. It looked like food enough for two but I ate it all. The only downside was that  it was hard to get a refill on coffee and when we had to ask for hot sauce, it took a while mostly because the place was so packed and it took a minute to get someone's attention. 
Overall, seriously good stuff!

Meal # 2 consisted of a staple in my diet these days and one of the best things about living in Bed.Stuy. I stopped and grabbed some doubles from a place called Melanie’s right around the corner from me. Doubles are pictured above and are both amazingly delicious and amazingly cheap. They are definitely not on the healthier end of spectrum in terms of food but they sure make my taste buds happy.

Meal # 3 was by chance and mostly because of cold and not hunger. After walking at least a mile in freezing cold (my own fault, of course) to a friend’s shindig in Greenpoint and only two short blocks before reaching our destination, we spot Brooklyn Mac and decide to go in. By that point, we were both practically numb and the idea of eating hot, gooey mac’n cheese was irresistible. We split a  small”King’s County” which is the most basic mac n cheese they serve, vegan style . It was not only inexpensive but INCREDIBLE. I dont think I’ve eaten mac n cheese anywhere nearly as good as this ever, including my non-vegan days. Seriously. GO! They also have a plethora of toppings that you an add too. 

natalie dee love

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accidental chili

this might be the first real meal i’ve cooked since ive moved to verona place. sad, i know… but its absolutely delicious. and probably too hot for anyone but me to eat, not to toot my own horn. i need to practice making smaller portions of food.

yes, i use my wok for just about everything… even chili apparently, although this is a first. it was meant to be more of a stir fry but alas we lose control in the kitchen sometimes. this is the result and i am most satisfied with the result. if i can control myself slightly, i will document how i do what i do. some ingredients included are tempeh, roasted peppers, corn, onions, pinto beans, quinoa, almonds, tomatoes and currants.

 

yum!

2011, here we go.

these are things that i currently bring me joy.

 

Two Years

What to do on a snow day?

• Make soup (eg: Curried Sweet Potato Lentil Soup. Num num num!)

• Organize something (eg: knitting patterns)

• Knit a little (eg: Remoy’s Valentine sweater)

• Listen to podcasts (eg: This American Life and Fresh Air)

• Upload a bundle of new yarns to our website (like Classic Elite and new Noro yarns, Sekku and Aya ).

• Watch the snow come down endlessly.

• Play scrabble with Remoy.

• Have a snowball fight with the rad new mitts my mom made. She’s so awesome that she knit us each a pair.

nys sheep and wool 2009

Now I dont post too frequently, in fact one of the first posts i did last year was about the sheep and wool. To keep with the tradition, I decided to post the post I started months ago which doesn’t entail much except taking a few minutes to upload pics. I’m far from being super tech savvy and if I could figure out how to upload this amazing video I took with my camera of a particularly incredible alpaca, you’d all be in for a real treat. But, alas, I am not. Maybe I’ll figure it out at a later date..<br>

without further ado, i welcome 2010

We all know I tend to run a bit late with just about everything. Nothing better than waiting a full 31 days to address the new decade, but better now than never. I haven’t posted in 4 months and thats mostly because at times I couldn’t remember my password and also because I didn’t end up deciding to publish any of my posts…. there are many-a-drafts saved which are now irrelevant. So, what have I been doing for the last 4 months or so? Let us forget 2009 and I can deal with the last month a lot easier. Better yet, lets just deal with today and today is short since it isn’t even time for me to get ready for work. This morning I woke up and baked banana bread. Here is the recipe.

How’s that?  I wont get overwhelmed writing to imaginary readers and clam up if I take on too much. By the way, that banana bread makes a lotta banana bread. Far more than what two normal people can eat in a sane period of time. which is great because when Lost Season 6 starts tonight, Remoy and I are going to a shindig to watch and celebrate. No, I still do not own a TV. Ah, ha! That is what I’ve been doing for the last 4 months- watching  a shit ton of Lost! That was a serious bit of catching up. We sometimes watched up to 4 episodes in a row. DAMN. I CANT WAIT.

Addictions

These are some of my addictions. I acknowledge them and will work on moderating:

Six of these things are edible: Coffee, Kombucha, Ginger Chews, Peanut Butter Pretzels, Stogo Ice Cream, Sea Salt Soy Crisps. Two of these are expensive: Kombucha and Stogo. Two are not even addictions: Ginger Chews and Soy Crisps. The worst one is probably coffee.

I do not plan on moderating my addiction to knitting. I just wanted 9 things to list and liked this painting. However, I need to limit how many projects I START.

I do not need more yarn. I plan on only getting supplies for Christmas knitting. Thats it. I recently started knitting too many shop samples and feel like Im not making progress on anything. (Eg: Sweater, baby hat, cashmere hat, shawl and mittens… all for the shop)

As for personal knitting, I started two recently after a summer long yarn diet.  I tried to knit up a lot of the stuff I have had sitting around for a while.  I of course didnt finish any of them but got a lot of yarn knit up anyway.  At least the yarn is in progress. Its a step in the right direction, eh.  Two Christmas projects are underway: one for Emu and one for Remoy. Both sweaters. Both for Christmas.

Ask me if I finished the one from last year for Em. 

Birks: I just want  to wear em everyday. I bought my first pair of Birks this season; all others were stolen from my mom’s closet.

So, this also does not really count.

Stay tuned for the uber stimulating posts, folks. They just can only get better.