Irna Phillips once said, “None of us is different, except in degree. None of us is a stranger to success and failure, life and death, the need to be loved, the struggle to communicate.” The Paulinator is no different. Last Wednesday, after ten years living with Alzheimer’s, my grandfather passed away. He was 86 years young and was married to my Nana for sixty of those years. His passing, just a few weeks after I saw him at Christmas, brought me back home where I could be around family and mourn a man that truly set an example of how to love another.
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Tags:
alzheimers,
The Paulinator
Hi All, Sorry to have been out of touch lately. The new year brought me a new home and all that goes with it. Change of address, activating electric bill, stealing someone’s wireless until I get a hold of an ISP…
Oops. Turns out my neighbors are all super-responsible, so I was unable to pirate anyone’s connection and had to wait until Time Warner found time in their busy schedule for me. So, we are up and running in our new neighborhood. I am happy to say that I am still in Brooklyn, and I am even happier to say that I am now in Clinton Hill.
Clinton Hill is an awesome neighborhood. People say hi to you on the street. Really. And I attended my first neighborhood meeting last Wednesday, which was great. According to outside.in, Clinton Hill is the “bloggiest” neighborhood in the US. Looks like I have found a home. Now, on to some free and enriching events:
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Tags:
Bee Thrifty,
Brooklyn,
clinton hill,
dj disco wiz,
housing works,
powerhouse arena,
Scout Tufankjian,
yes we can
Perhaps I should have skipped work. Yesterday I was stacking a cart with books as I caught on the radio the last words President Obama (Yes, we can officially call him so) delivered during his inauguration speech. A handful of us at the stockroom gathered around the boombox to stay in touch with the world as they watched, or listened, to the man speak. Two of us actually kept working. One of whom, was me.
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Tags:
a tripod quest,
inauguration,
obama,
photo
Yerba Buena had been on my list for quite some time and Friday night, I finally made it over. The space is rather small, a bar is on your immediate left when you enter with the seating area extending back. Sunday through Wednesday, they take reservations, otherwise it’s luck of the draw. The wait was not too bad when we arrived at around 7:30pm, but we also learned that they had no heat. Hmmmm. We decided to stay and I have to say upfront we did notice this had an effect on the warmth of the food. I still was able to get a feel for what they had to offer.
Spinach and Manchego Empanada, Yerba Buena
The menu has a lot of small plates meant to be shared as well as a variety of main courses. It’s not really a “tapas bar”, but we all were more intrigued by their small plates, or botanas, so we sort of made it a tapas experience. We skipped the cold options (seeing as we had plenty of that). The empanadas were one of my favorites. Made with spinach, manchego cheese, a fig salad, and a chichada morada vinaigrette. The bite of the spinach and manchego were so different and made this one, no need for meat to add flavor here. The calamari was an interesting take on fried calamari. The calamari were lightly dusted with blue cornmeal and had sweet plantains, a tomato salad, and a tamarind vinaigrette (if you’ve never had tamarind anything, you should definitely try this!).
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Tags:
Avenue A,
Cocktails,
Dish Buzz,
East Village,
Lara,
latin,
reservations,
restaurant,
Yerba Buena
As an avid music fan you learn to appreciate artists that are seemingly one of a kind. Dallas Green is one of those musicians that leave you wanting more. Now I’ve been a fan of his since he was the lead singer of Canadian hardcore band Alexisonfire and I continue to become more fascinated.
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Tags:
bowery,
bowery ballroom,
city and colour,
dallas green,
nyc,
sweet beat,
william whitmore elliot
Tango Benefit
El Taller Latino Americano, or The Latin American Workshop is a non-profit 501(c)3 cultural arts center on Manhattan’s Upper West Side – a space alive with color, sound, movement, and creativity – music, art and language converge to educate and entertain and they are sponsoring an event called, “Last Tango on Broadway”
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Tags:
Events,
Last Tango on Broadway,
New York City,
Non-Profit
Hollow Log by Lawrence Dial is billed as a Comedic Thriller, but I think that’s just economy of words. It’s not so much a comedic thriller as it is a drama, which then becomes a comedy, then moves on to a thriller, then becomes dramatic again then swerves over to tragedy just before ending on a happy note. Sitting through
Hollow Log is a bit like renting a whole season of a TV series from
Netflix and watching several episodes back to back. As in: the characters are consistent in each episode (read “scene”), but the tone from one episode to the next can change dramatically. Still, after you’ve seen it all together, it’s a pretty satisfying 2 hours, though you’re not sure it all should have been seen one right after the other like that.
Tags:
Andrew Kaempfer,
Erin Roberts,
Hollow Log,
Joachim Boyle,
Matt Yeager,
Roy Arias Studios,
theatre,
Theatre Buzz
As tasty and colorful a breast as you'll find on Melrose. (With sides. Minus "enhancement.")
To focus on one ingredient and one New York purveyor of said ingredient in each posting was what I intended for this blog. Well, three postings in and I’m already going to renege on that promise. Instead, I’m writing about how to make a meal to please the health-obsessed but not totally palate-challenged, in this case my dad and stepmom.
My excuse for this bit of divergence is that for the past week I was back where I grew up in Los Angeles, California. Yes, while you were here in New York suffering through the coldest weather in two years, I was out in a record high 87 degrees under a sunny sky, perusing farmer’s markets (in contradiction of my earlier advice, but hey- I was on vacay!) filled with some of the best citrus I’ve ever had (mandarin oranges, blood oranges, Satsuma tangerines, Oro Blanco grapefruit, pink navel oranges, to name a few). Now, if you’re me, faced with superlative perfect fruit, you don’t do anything with these. You enjoy them as unadorned as possible.
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Tags:
Chicken,
Health,
Hive Cooking,
Recipe
It’s a life-changing week for all of us Americans. A breath of fresh air will wash over our land – and entice us to party our asses off in the upcoming days. With my entire network up in arms about where to ring in the new Presidential term, I find myself equally torn. So to help narrow down the huge decision, I have created you a whats-where & why you need to be-there list of D.C and N.Y.C. events. I know – I Ba-rock. There won’t be the usual breakdown, but I will break it down as usual.
I would love it if you know of a spot I haven’t mentioned. In fact, I beg of you to put it in the comments for all to see. Why be stricken with a wondrous case of wanderlust, when you can find yourself safely tucked away in the city’s (either one!) flyest party?! Well, inaugurate this kids…
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Tags:
Barack Obama,
concierge,
Concierge Corner,
d.c,
Events,
inauguration,
inaugurational parties,
Marissa,
nyc,
obama,
parties,
washington
