Think On

Another reason to miss Brooklyn: Tanoreen

I see that Tanoreen has come up in the world. It used to be a tiny, tiny place. Now--marbled?! But of course the food was always the thing.

Restaurant Review - Tanoreen Restaurant in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn - NYTimes.com.

New York, New York--it's my kind of town

Check out why here.

February gets off to a good start

Two days into a new month. So far it's a sight better than January. Check out the new photo album. I've been baking, and today I took a really fun class from friend Loretta Marvel, over at Pomegranates and Paper. We made some very cool Victorian nosegays, out of ribbons and papers and stamps. Great fun, with a fascinating group of women, all accomplished artists. Some of their/our work in the photos! Here's a taste. . . .

Why I love New York in general, and Park Slope in particular

Over at Pomegranatesandpaper, my friend Loretta is running a fun series of lists for bloggers on Fridays. Today's is "reasons you love to live where you live." So here we go:

• I've got a great apartment, which, unlike many New York apartments, is larger than a breadbox, doesn't have a bathtub in the kitchen (though some have been known to complain--loudly--about the size of the bathroom that does exist), and actually has a kitchen, instead of a hot plate in the living room (I saw all of these variations when I was hunting for a place)
• Park Slope is a real neighborhood, where I have all my favorite local haunts,including a good butcher, excellent bakeries, and even a candlemaker (ok, well, they don't actually make the candles there, but they do carry my favorite tapers)
• We have three, THREE, independent bookshops, on the same street! And, for when I'm feeling in the mood to frequent a bastion of globalization, Barnes and Noble, on the said same street
• You can get a pastrami sandwich at 3 o'clock in the morning. I never have, but I sleep better knowing that it's possible. New York is the perfect spot for the restless, the ADHD-inclined . . .
• THE NEW YORK TIMES on the doorstep. EVERY MORNING. And on Saturdays, we get most of the Sunday paper. GLORIOUS.
• Cafes with free wi-fi, and not just that other bastion of globalization, Starbucks (which I happen to love). Tea Lounge, Chocolate Bar, Comfortzone (a Turkish cafe), and, wi-fi-less (I think?) but a favorite nonetheless, Cafe Regular. Oh so French.
• Park Slope is a little respite from the bustle of Manhattan. I breathe a little sigh of relief when I climb out of the train station. And we've got a huge park, just like Central Park, designed by the same guy
• The flea market in front of PS51. Where Lorraine sells brand-new books that have just been published for a pittance--her boss is in publishing or something. And there are lots of other great vendors.
• Every venue you can imagine, for everything you might ever want to see: foreign films, theatre of every description, Austrian art. MoMA, the Frick, the Morgan library (soon to reopen), the Guggenheim, weird galleries in Chelsea, Christie's showrooms!
• Friends in the neighborhood: they're the people, when not yet friends, who got me to move here.

Awfully glad to be a subway rider today

Two Roosevelt Island trams stalled Tuesday night, stranding 72 people high above New York City and shutting down the service that carries commuters over the East River.