The October issue of Domino Magazine features design guru Kelly Wearstler, one of the judges of Bravo’s “Top Design” (”Runway”-esque reality show), on the cover. In addition to all the usual fabulousness, inside is a guide to hosting a weeknight dinner party, a three-course menu that I gave a try this weekend (sans dessert).
It was truly amazing! And very simple, even for someone who until recently has been rather averse to culinary adventures.
The salad (with oven-roasted tomatoes), potato-leek mini gratins and pesto-crusted lamb chops were all colorful, flavorful and perfect for fall. We finished off the meal with some homemade ice cream topped with chocolate pirouette cookies and plenty of red wine. Mmmmmmm. Eager to try more of their recipes.
Friday night New York Magazine, my favorite weekly, celebrated their 40th anniversary at Hammerstein Ballroom with performances by comedy group STELLA and Brooklyn-based music acts Grizzly Bear and The National. Smart idea on NY Mag’s part — everyone who bought a ticket automatically became a subscriber.
I’m gonna try and forget the “comedy” ever happened. It was awkward. Same with Grizzly Bear. I like their music, but it wasn’t much of a performance. I couldn’t detect any emotion or theatrics, things that make concerts fun to watch. Better to just listen to them sitting at home on the couch with a mug of hot chocolate.
The National was the bright spot of the night and there were some super fans in the house. More than a few people in my near vicinity knew every word to every song. I had my fingers crossed all night, hoping they’d play “About Today.” Never happened. Here’s a live version from YouTube. Artsy video, beautiful song.
I like to see movies on Friday, when I’m off of work, and ever since I watched a trailer for “Happy-Go-Lucky,” a British comedy from director Mike Leigh about a month ago, I’ve been excitedly waiting for it to hit theaters.
So, when last week I hoofed it down to the Sunshine Cinema for the noon show, first of the day, I was ready to emerge onto the street two hours later bubbly and elated and jubilant and all the other happy words, too. But I didn’t.
Don’t be fooled by the trailer, below. I found the comedy insipid and the main character, Poppy, completely crazy. Take for instance the scene where she walks into a deserted park at night and then follows a homeless man around, trying to engage him in a conversation when he clearly can’t understand her and isn’t making any sense. Why would someone, especially a rather petite woman, put herself in danger like that?
Maybe I’m missing something, because movie critics, from Newsday to The New York Times, all unanimously disagree with me. Oh well.
Intelligent, powerful women seem to think so. At least they said as much at Newsweek’s Women & Leadership conference last week, which I got to attend as a Columbia J-School alum (more video).
Celeb activist Rosario Dawson was featured as were Dee Dee Myers, Tina Brown and Anna Quindlen, who interviewed Cynthia Nixon on-stage and wowed me with her assured, measured style of asking questions. Nixon’s sound byte of the hour, given when discussing career choice: “Imagine who you would be if there was no one else in the world.”
Last Saturday the Stone Barns Center in Pocantico Hills hosted its fifth annual Harvest Fest. It was a way for us city folk to hitch a hayride and get up close and personal with chickens, pigs, cows and sheep and to see how a working farm operates.
I found out about the Harvest Fest while reading up on Fleisher’s Organic Meats for another story I’m working on (more on that soon). Turns out Fleisher’s provides their grass-fed meat to a bunch of my favorite restaurants, including Marlow & Sons, egg and Freemans, among others. Seems that the organic, slow food moment is interconnected in my world.
Blue Hill at Stone Barns, the on-premise restaurant, brings food from 80 acre property directly to the table. Can’t wait for a special occasion to make a trip back up there, hike the lovely trails and try the 5 course tasting, $95 per person for a seasonal, farm fresh chef’s choice feast.
“Don’t worry. Powerful women always interpret hostility as unrequited love.”
– Excerpt from an interview with Brown on “The Daily Beast,” her recently launched online news aggregator. The question? “Why are reporters so mean to powerful women?” While I’m far from powerful, I happen to wholeheartedly agree with her answer.
One of my gigs at Newsday is acting as on-camera host of ExploreTV, a weekly Web video series about stuff to do on Long Island. I’ve flown in a stunt plane, learned to trapeze, gotten wet (and scared) in a shark tank…
A few weeks ago my co-host, Mark, and I thought it might be fun to hit some costume shops on the Island and try-on the latest looks. Here’s what we came up with:
I'm a professional journalist working
at Newsday in New York. You can
call my specialty multimedia or new
media or digital or interactive.
Generally speaking, I do Web stuff.
This blog is an active resume of sorts.
I write about the events I attend, the
places I explore, the concerts I see,
the work I produce...
The October issue of Domino Magazine features design guru Kelly Wearstler, one of the judges of Bravo’s “Top Design” (”Runway”-esque reality show), on the cover. In addition to all the usual fabulousness, inside is a guide to hosting a weeknight dinner party, a three-course menu that I gave a try this weekend (sans dessert). 
