Best Little Book in a Long While

After strong and persistent recommendation from our friend Collin, I picked up a copy of Steinbeck's Cannery Row and found I liked it very much. It was the first book in ages that I (figuratively) could not put down. Set in Monterrey, California the book consists of mostly sad, usually funny, at times very charming interrelated and interconnected stories of eccentric misfits that could also stand on their own. Almost. Think of it as a kind of hobo Dandelion Wine. (But maybe there were hobos in Dandelion Wine?) I read the whole time wondering "Now what's going to happen with these characters next?" And sometimes I could guess, but often I couldn't. So may I suggest you take this book seriously and consider reading it yourself. You will have fun and want to find someone you can talk to about gophers and throwing parties.

Best This Was September

Here's pictures I took of things I did in September. And also just pictures from September.

One Saturday I met up with a small group of Brooklynites for a picnic on Governor's Island. It had been a bit since I'd been over there. There's a lot going on these days.

Leaving the island I ran into Aubrey and others arriving on the island.

Look how smart Aubrey always makes me look.

Boat ride back to the main island.

On Labor Day I went up to this place in the Bronx that's famous for its carnitas with Kim. The carnitas were, errr, very authentic. Lots of time spent picking out bones and cubes of fat. Listen, there are cubes of fat I can eat and cubes of fat I cannot and the line between them is not thin.

But still, great looking sope, right?

The glass arrived like this. I didn't do it.

Central Park stuff.

See that tall apartment building being built in the middle? Its penthouse is going for $140 million. You'll have the highest residence in the Western hemisphere if you buy it.

Chilaquiles breakfast in the East Village. They used Tostitos instead of tortillas.

This thing is coming along nicely.

There was this one week where I really had it in my head that I needed a navy blazer with shiny buttons. I ran all around making myself dizzy trying them on at all sorts of stores at all sorts of prices. I wound up getting the one I liked best. And paying $60 for it. How was that possible? Trust me, if you ask me, I'll tell you the story and make it real long.

Something I encountered on my search: First Christmas decorations going up at a mall in Jersey.

There was this Saturday where Jesse was back in town so we were all meeting up for brunch to celebrate her being here and some of us were earlier than others so to pass the time we ordered dessert.

"Chocolate cake for breakfast." (<--click p="" should="" that="" you="">

Then Chelsea tried on a refractive jacket.

And Jesse bought an elephant sheet/cloth/not-blanket out of a minivan.

September means to me: the Feast of San Gennaro happening outside my house. 

I organized a San Gennaro Instagram Scavenger Hunt. People seemed to like it.

Now here's just stuff.

Allison pinked her hair.

We ate at this fine newer place in Brooklyn called Wilma Jean's. Fried chicken basket and pimento double cheeseburger.

Then one Saturday night it was off to Jersey with Jeff and Karrie and Peter to see Singing in the Rain. Best place, good movie, best people.

Pre-show meal of hot dogs at Boulevard Drink next door.

Neighborhood things:

This school art says "Never Give Up" but the coloring makes it easy to thing it just says "Give Up"

Pretty great rabbit planter.

Cooked up my first Ma Po Tofu. Thinking about it a lot. Liked it, want it spicier and oilier, but I'm glad I wore myself out finding the right ingredients, especially the fermented black beans. Next time: a really spicy and oily Ma Po I'll make.