first barbie of the year...

a few burgers, some corn and some... deviled eggs?

always a good day when you're bbq'ing on your tiny little patio in nyc.

panic on the streets of, er, west philly?

earlier this month, rach and i were helping rebuild a dilapidated house in west philly as part a wharton community outreach program (a la habitat for humanity). it's been an interesting experience. on one hand it's been great to finally, after 41 years, get my hands dirty and use some tools (uh, has anyone ever heard of a circular saw? j/k). but on the other hand, it's a bit weird because the family we're helping just sits around doing nothing as all the volunteers do all the work around them.

at one point a volunteer named willy (the cousin of wally, another volunteer) and I were installing a new floor in the kitchen, and one of the family's teenage boys walked into the kitchen, turned on the gas stove, lit his cigarette, and then walked back out to the porch to hang out with his 'hood friends. willy and I looked at each other, shook our heads, and continued on with the floor. wtf?

anyway, rach just send me a news alert about a murder in west philly... yep, on the exact same block where our little dilapidated house is located.

needless to say, we shan't be going back there again.

the king's speech...

great movie. here's the actual speech VI gave... you can definitely hear the stammer.

good friday? great friday...

just spent the entire week trying to convince my dim-witted (but important) client to increase our inbound volume for his programs. and he just did! nice!

in other news, i flew in to columbus last night for easter weekend to hang with rach's fam. always fun to visit the carpenters. unfortunately it's supposed to rain tomorrow so i guess we won't be heading to the golf course in the morning. oh well, maybe we'll hit up the jack nicklaus museum instead. then easter baskets and church on sunday... and then back to nyc on sunday night.

gazelle munchin'...

good god, this story about persian gazelle hunters is the coolest thing i've read in a while...

unfortunately for the gazelle population, many were perhaps not even eaten. i wonder what the persians in this region ate once they destroyed the population.

dinner party at JC's on wednesday...

lots of good details coming out about this dinner party, that we've never known before. frankly, i think the last supper would make for a very interesting movie o' the week on the food network...

but who would they cast as JC? maybe adam richman wearing flowing robes, sandals and a fake beard?

why starbucks is better than ogilvy...

seems like the average barista gets better training than the average ad flunkie (and a fraction of the pay). after spending well over a decade in the ad world, i'm not at all surprised to learn this.

this barista vid proves my point (doesn't it?). none of my old ogilvy colleagues could do this stuff:

tomato payments...

i've asked all my clients to henceforth submit all payments to us in the form of tomatoes...

this is the best business idea we've had in a while, unfortunately.

the mahatma lost his specs...

apparently someone has absconded with mahatma gandhi's goggles. a college prank? a near-sighted homeless man? we'll never know...

il mulino...

was good on saturday night. i'll keep this one short as it's uninteresting to talk about food right now. i had the sea scallops -- strange as i've been repulsed by scallops until just recently -- and a big dish of pasta with lamb ragu. 'twas good, but the pasta was a tad over-cooked, and it had a bit too much ragu on it.

the mozzarella appy was great, though.

rach had a big dish of pasta with lobster. i liked hers better than mine.

overall zenkichi was the big winner this week.

now i shall go into a month-long health kick with more running as the weather turns nicer.

shitsurei itashimasu!

rach took me to a really good japanese restaurant called zenkichi on thurs night. we had the eight course tasting menu and a bottle of sake. my favs were the saikyo miso cod and the washyu beef tataki.

we had our own little private room, separated by long bamboo blinds. the waitress would pull up the blinds each time she came to deliver one of the courses, and then let it down after she left. before entering, the waitress would say "shitsurei itashimasu!" it's apparently a polite way of saying "i'm entering your space now." i've been saying it non-stop for the last couple days.

to continue the ridiculously gluttonous week, we're off to il mulino tonight!

la palapa para mi cumpleanos...

ate some strange fish tacos at la palapa last night. i like tilapia but these tasted like chicken and were orange. wtf?

anyway, the whole group went out last night and was pretty good fun. we had a few tiny pitchers of sangria (each pitcher would pour about three glasses). the gang sang 'happy b'day' and they brought out a cake for the table. it was pretty good. coincidentally, it was the bartender's b'day as well, and everyone at the bar was singing to him. dueling b'day parties...

afterwards steve, michel and i went out for a night cap and found a new place called cienfuegos in the east village. the waiter raved about the rum punch so i got one. it was terrible.

three nights in a row going out for dinner/drinks. a bit tired this morning. however, i'm very much looking forward to round 4 tonight with rach. she's taking me out for a surprise dindin in the 'hood!

street... bond street...

went out with the entire EP gang last night to bond street, a japanese place in nolita. i'd been to the bar/lounge several times before, but had never eaten there. it was great, especially the big eye tuna tarts. we also had hundreds of rolls, sushi and sashimi. the meal certainly beat my typical lonely dinner in front of the tv consisting of these yummy items.

we also had a few lychee martinis, even though, according to felipe, they were gay. he ended up having three of them.

this thursday, for my b'day, rach is taking me out to a surprise place. can't wait!

steak frites with bro' joe...

thanks to my big brother joe for a great pre-birthday dinner out at the always-reliable pastis. i had the steak frite and joe had some really tasty sea scallops, which i usually don't like, but these were great.

now back home watching the ncaa champ, which is entirely un-fun since 'cuse isn't in it. oh well, maybe next year.

list of things that ache in my 41 year old body...

i'm turning 41 in two days. over the last few years i've noticed little aches and pains that i never noticed before. here's the current list:

- right hamstring (this one's pretty new, and it's slowing me down a bit when i run)
- left shoulder (it's from the vermont snowboarding trip... from two months ago)
- right shoulder (this one is pretty much gone now, it's from my near fatal attempt at body surfing last july in montauk. two massive waves hit me and kept me underwater for several seconds. i landed awkwardly underwater.)
- left and right knees (they crack all the time, but no severe pain)
- left wrist (a new little thingy that seems to occur when i use the shake weight in the office)
- neck (this one has been around for a decade and is related to the three bulging discs i have in my neck. directly related to years of running. has recently shifted from the left side of neck to the right side. less frequent spasms recently, though.)

congrats donny baseball!

my favorite ball player of all time, don mattingly, won his first game as a big league manager last night. way to go donny!