Best Sunday Afternoon Reunion

Sunday I got the sort of text that makes you jump up and run over to the Met.  A text from my old roommate Nate saying he was in town for the afternoon and would be at the Met.  I beat him there and took advantage of the opportunity to take pictures of strangers.

I developed these all as high contrast black and white because, I don't know, I just felt like it.

Sitting by the fountain I just put my camera on my knee, pre-focused, and snapped at people walking by. 

I'm more interested in your laughing buddies than I am with you, Mr. Sunglasses.

Here's the deal: If I'm going to be in your background, you're going to be in mine.

This is my last from the knee shot.

And then Bam! Before I knew it there was Nate and he had Janelle with him.  We dashed into the museum and saw what we could see.

A big draw this Summer: the Prada exhibit.  The guards in there must get so tired to telling people not to take any pictures.

Here's a couple of the heroes from Battleship (in a day or two I'll tell you how much I loved that movie) in town for Fleet Week.  Thanks for saving the earth, you guys.

I took my homies to see my favorite statue.

See! It became their favorite, too.

It's called Ugolino and His Sons and it's about the worst Fathers and Sons campout ever.

Look!  It's stone but the thumbs are going into it like flesh.  Man.

And then, before I knew it, they had a plane to catch.  Hard to believe it'd been a year since Nate left.  I can report that he's still keepin it totally real and is the most fresh dude there is.

If you want to see something interesting at the Met right now that we didn't even know about on Sunday, check out this post by Carol.

Best Wait, I Think See What You're Up To

Ma Peche, the midtown Momofuku, has ditched their Beef 7 Ways for two new large format dinner options--a chicken feast or a lamb shoulder feast or a combination of the two feasts.  Both feasts feature the following accompaniments:


eggplant – egg, sour cream, olive oil
chickpea – tahini, lemon, falafel
iceberg – ranch, chicken skin, scallion
wheat berry – cucumber, red onion, parsley
yellow rice
pita
pickles
tomato chutney
white sauce
red sauce

Or in other words, what the restaurant is offering is the world's first (I believe) gourmet street meat dinner.

The white sauce and red sauce are what give it away.

Best Non-violent Rescue Mission

Saw Moonrise Kingdom Friday night, was caught completely off guard by how awfully good it was.  Best Wes Anderson movie yet?  For the time being I think so.  What I really liked was how original it was, while true to Wes's style, it didn't seem like a rehash or retreading.  I think Fantastic Mr. Fox deserves some credit for this.

That said, several scenes (shots, really) reminded me instantly of shots from earlier Anderson films:

There were a couple more.  One was rather spoilery.  And only so many scenes were available to grab from the Moonrise trailer.

Best Life Imitating Art

Wednesday night, a party for Sam at Sam and Alpha's.  Something about the setting seems familiar.

Oh yes, that's right.

Best Real Dinner In Ages

You know what I am allowed to eat these days*?  Fish!  Especially if it's fish with friends, as seen here, where I (not pictured) am about to share this fish** with Ryan.  Who is Ryan?  Get out of here.  Ryan is a homie from when I studied in London.  A homie I hadn't seen in a few years, but the law brought him to town, yes, the law brought us back together and it was good.

*As opposed to rabbit or horse food.
And why do I eat so differently these days?  Because there is a rock in my guts, and good tasting food makes it very, very mad.
**And what sort of fish might it be?  The whole boneless porgy at the Momofuku Ssam Bar.  Come on, where else do you think I was going to take an honored guest?

Best What an End of the Year We'll Have

Well, if you're anything like me, then you took the news today of GI Joe: Retaliation being delayed until next March (to be turned 3D?!?!) pretty hard . . . no, honestly, I was looking forward to that one.  But at least three trailers appeared online this week for three of the Fall/Winter's most anticipation-worthy releases.  Baz Luhrman's Great Gatsby, Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master, and Skyfall, the latest James Bond. (You've probably seen all of these already, and you'd be better off watching them in Hi Def at Apple or something.  But here's the YouTubes if you should want them or need them).



A lot of that looks cool, a lot of it makes me wonder.  I do not care for the U2 song.  The Gatsby movie in my mind looks more realistic than this.



I'm sorry.  I expected Jouaqin to sound like Daniel Plainview.



THIS looks FRESH.  The stone-coldest James Bond appears to be at his stone-coldest.

Best I Could Do (And It Wasn't So Bad)

This is not the beginnings of a compost heap.  It is a salad.

This is how I live right now, on arugula and radishes and sometimes snap peas.  But don't feel too sorry for me, this simple thing is actually based on a recipe for radishes with maldon salt, parmesan, basil and arugula dressed with lemon juice and olive oil from A Girl and Her Pig.  Only difference: I went super easy on the parmesan cheese and didn't have fresh basil (which the recipe says is absolutely necessary to the salad . . . oh well) and shook some on instead.  End result: Not so bad.  Good, in fact.  Probably great with the right amount of cheese and fresh basil.  I'm going to do this one again, someday.

Best Here's How Saturday Ended (Bonus: I Also Tell You About Sunday)

Okay.  Saturday.  After the Block Party?  I got a hair cut.  And I took a rested my feet.  And then I changed my shirt and walked out into my neighborhood.

And past this.

And past him.

To this building.

And I went up to the roof.  And saw so many friends.  Like Claire and Evan.

And this guy.

And Alisa and Andrea 

I think we were supposed to be partying for no reason, but a birthday celebration broke out.

Andrea took this picture of Evan and Molly and it's just about the best picture I've ever seen.

Karli and Stephanie.

Jesse and Me.

Courtnie.

It got later, it got darker. 

I walked home.

Then Sunday evening Carol hosted a gathering on her roof.

I was kind of pictured-out at that point, but there are a few important things I need to tell you:

#1: Casey is in town for a visit.  At last.

#2: Steve brought six macarons from Bouchon Bakery.

#3. These sandals matched those toenails.

#4.  And do not forget, Sunday was Mothers Day.