of note:

this is what a real pretzel looks like:

and if you happen to find yourself on the lower east side of manhattan, and not in germany, this is where you can eat one (or three):

i tell you when i stumbled upon cafe katja on saturday amidst gallery-hopping i nearly died of joy. i didn't realize the potential wonder that pretzels could contain until visiting their birthplace last summer, and since returning to the US have been woefully missing the real prussian goodness. but of course, since you can find anything in this blessed city, i would naturally stumble across a hole-in-the-wall austrian bar nestled between little italy and chinatown to indulge in an authentic pretzel experience :)

so everyone come visit me and we'll take a little international tour of cozy little restaurants, galleries, and parks just like this. i mean how can you resist?

me + german pretzels + new york = :)

well there's not much to see actually we're inside a chinese dragon.

my awesome bro lincoln made this video for my awesome mom, in honor of our childhood, in which "what's up doc" played a critical role. thank you mom for raising us right :) and lincoln!!! you're amazing!!!!

america's best invention.

it's true. to much controversy the new york yankees have a new stadium this season. i tell you it's hot news on these city streets - i can't tell you how many conversations in subways i've heard, men complaining of the suuuuper-over-priced tickets or recounting sentimental tales of childhood visits to the original yankee stadium... i love how important baseball is in this city!

and i say hey, it may be a new stadium, but it's still baseball, and so it's still awesome. and so me and a certain german already have tickets for a nationals game in june. because on one's first visit to america, one must go to a baseball game, yes? :)

but p.s. as historic as the yankees are... whatev' - i wish we could go to the angels instead :(

april 18, 1969

mom and dad on their first date :) this wondrous occasion has been celebrated every year as parker day, and today is it's 40th anniversary! so happiest of parker days to all! really, how happy are we all that mom and dad met in mr. brunt's history class at villa park high school? :) love you guys so much.

the local train to etsy

it's true, my official uniform for many years has been a vintage dress with a vintage slip underneath. i promise it's the most comfortable thing to wear ever. SO... to inaugurate the 72 degree weather (!!!), i thought it was time to shop for a few new spring vintage dresses. but. vintage in new york city = WAY overpriced. even brooklyn. i mean seriously - $50 for a dress? i miss LA shops... so instead, i resorted to etsy. huzzah! what do you think?


and i have no face in these pictures because a) my hair is super long and is taking over my head, and b) i'm super shy and awkward when having my photo taken - thanks carlynne, you're the best roommate/photographer! :)

more lunch-break blogging.

i think this is really wonderful. my friend ashmae is quite brilliant, and also a beautiful artist. one of her pieces was lovingly given to me and hung on my otherwise naked wall in oxford. it brought me such joy!

but please take a moment to join her effort! it is just what american women need, truly. huzzah for [non-maoist] cultural revolutions!!!

summer nights

it was a full glorious 63 degrees today in new york!!! a warmness which extended into this blessed night... it seems like my bones have been frigid for the last 5 months straight, and so i took full advantage of the balmy evening, taking an extended walk home through the late-night still city streets after a DELISH deeeeep soul food supper at sylvia's in east harlem. [this place is so good even obama paid them a visit :)]

i find harlem to be oh so beautiful. the victorian architecture is scuffed up and lived in, and nothing beats st. nicholas' park with the dramatic gothic architecure of the city college. walking home past these brownstone row houses, with people laughing and playing out on their stoops, past the endless number of baptist churches and their neon crosses, past groups of old men still playing chess - the rigorous tap-tap of their timers punctuating the otherwise low hum of their concentration - past the chicken and waffle and fish and chips stands glowing in the dark... it was so perfectly warm and home-y and inviting, i was so thrilled to feel summer rolling into the little cluster of islands we call new york city! winter = overrated.

wherever you read this post, i hope had a calm night of simple pleasures as well :)


p.s. just to assure mom and dad: i was accompanied on this walk through harlem by a male-friend, who had also accompanied me to the finger-lickin' good soul food delights - and in any case, i promise harlem is not what it used to be. God bless guiliani! :)

baby sdella!

my thoughts and prayers go out to stella and the whole fam tonight - she had a sad fall down the stairs while steph was holding her and is now in a full-body cast :( poor little cutie, i love her so much!

here's all my wishes that stella will heal soon soon.

the plebes of new york

today it is a full 60 degrees fahrenheit outside - gorgeously warm! such days bring out the masses to public spaces, and today on lunch break at my gallery in brooklyn, i ate my yummy lentil chili in this great green park under the manhattan and brooklyn bridges and took in what was possibly the most perfect and stereotypical combination of new yorkers ever. enjoying the sunshine with me were:

a few couples of russian lovers
latino teenagers
a Hasidic jewish family (little 4 year old boy with full prayer-shawl and yammukah = adorable)
a group of hippie artists sketching
20-something disillusioned hipsters smoking with their vintage cruiser bikes
businessmen in suits sipping coffee on their cell phones
an east asian couple in full bridal-wear having their pictures taken*
and of course a celebrity: jason schwartzmann this time around. known most recently for playing louis XVI in sofia coppolla's marie antoinette, he is most endearing to me in wes anderson's darjeeling limited. check out the 'stache:

huzzah for the never-ending eclectisim of this city! :)

*why is it that it is only asian couples you see doing this? is it only asians getting married these days? or are they the only people who want their pictures taken outside in famous new york-spots? i swear, you see them ALL OVER the place.

**this picture of the manhattan bridge above i stole from my computer here at the gallery (i'm still on my lunch break - huzzah!), taken from an outdoor exhibition they did a few months ago - rad, yeah? isn't the view from this place just so dang stunning?

a lifelong relationship of love and devotion

as a teenager i used to ditch villa park high and hop the fence over to bagel me! in the ralph's shopping center. i did this so often that the workers would immediately give me my order without me having to say a word: yes, sundried tomato bagel toasted with onion and chive cream cheese on the side.

college: ali and i were seen breakfasting at einstein's on center street at least once a week. i still remember her order of potato bagels :) and they have the best orange juice. ever.

oxford was more difficult, since good bagels can really only be found in the jewish districts of european cities (le marais in paris has some FAB bagel selection - though they all need more salt). and yet despite the poor quality, i admit to having settled for the 39p variety at sainsbury's almost everyday.

so now, now i am in the absolute mecca of bagels. and after reading this AWESOME article today, i decided i must share my own bagel guide to nyc for anyone who is at all interested. (by the way, that article is miraculous, i love it - and further love to hear that bagels are actually related to pretzels, my other obsession - though after tasting the real goods in germany, i can't bring myself to eat the cardboard-variety pretzels here. sad.)

so, let me begin with the very-famous H & H bagels: OVERRATED. i don't know why these bagels have made their way to so many movies/tv shows about new york as "the" bagel in the city. honestly, you can find ones of similar quality at any grocery store. i think people like these because they're a manhattan brand, but as i have swiftly found, you gotta go to brooklyn to get the real deal: la bagel delight. oh yes, such a delight - and gratefully around the corner from the gallery i work at. their whole wheat everything is divine toasted with butter. so much flavor, and has the perfect crisp outer crust (which comes from ideal amount of boiling-time of the dough) to distinguish the bagel from plain bread. so many "bagels" unfortunately fall into this pathetic category: in fact, note, all the breakfast stands on the city streets have such bread-like bagels. don't be tempted! la bagel delight are absolutely the best i've had in the city so far, if not ever in my life, though i am told by multiple reliable sources that bergen bagels actually supply the best in the city. i have yet to try them (i know i know - only 2 locations, and in out-of-the-way parts of brooklyn i don't work near), but am aiming for a taste test this week.

also: fairway makes mini bagels which i stick in my freezer and pop in my toaster on late-night occasions when i am not near a fresh-bagel shop to indulge. and actually they're reeeeeally good.

so. was this blogpost totally boring and unnecessary? yes, perhaps - but i feel it's my duty now living in new york to pay tribute to one of the city's real treasures... also - i could have blogged about more "real" things - like the fact that i had a pretty important job interview today, but really sometimes i have nothing to say about actual real things in my life - so y'all get bagels instead :)