The Lull

I find this time of the year to be one of the most interesting times of the year: the lull that inevitably ensues between Christmas and New Years. Most folks I know are off, or had some time off, around and after Christmas. The office is mostly dead, and it's actually quite nice here today.

Welcome to the lull.

Ours started last Wednesday, when I left work around lunchtime to do some last minute gift and seafood shopping (nice combo!). Most folks I knew were either leaving town that day or had already left. And thus it began! Christmas morning was very pleasant, almost quaint in that it was noticeably quieter than normal. Relaxing! Friday was a little bit busier with all the sales, but the lull was back by Saturday. Sunday showed us some nicer weather - got to even get out and run the nearly 3.5 mile loop at Prospect Park. But something about it, something in the air, suggested that yes, we are in the lull. So don't expect much to happen.

And I for one welcomed the lull. As busy as this city gets, and as great as it is to get away sometimes, the quietness of the city has been greatly appreciated. I assume that's all about to change come tomorrow, but hey, I can say I enjoyed it while it was here.

Christmas Eve Dinner

Ah, yes, Christmas has come and gone. This year was a nice relaxing time at our apartment, just the two of us. And since it was just us, the question on the table was what do we do for dinner?

My own family had the long tradition of having seafood on Christmas Eve. This was something I wanted to carry on as well - why not? So Wednesday afternoon, after our cat-sitting trip, we set out to Chinatown to pick up a fresh salmon fillet, and as well as some other fresh veggies: shiitake mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, and lotus root (great recipes here!).

We prepped the salmon by marinading it in sake, lemon juice, salt and pepper. This was later placed in a large pan and cooked up with garlic, and garnished with pan-fried lotus root. Our mushroom medley side dish included both mushrooms and the lotus root as well, carrying over the variety of textures each ingredient offered. Reiko also whipped up a side of chicken flavored Rice-a-roni - most excellent! - and salads to beat.

Also making its prized appearance was a bottle of good ol' McSorley's black and tan. Highly recommended!

Super Carrots

Fat carrots have more flavor. At least, the ones they sell at our market!

Last night we made dinner at our place for the first time since last Wednesday. With constant visits from friends in and out of the house, home has turned more into a home base of sorts in between expeditions around town. Great for touring! Not so great for the vegetables. Those poor, poor ever-lonely vegetables. So we decided to cook 'em up.

Now I'm not the one to really complain about the flavor of carrots. I kinda like 'em! Reiko on the other hand, not so much. And I'm tellin' ya, these carrots were strong. The soup, a light cabbage and daikon soup suddenly became a carrot soup. The veggie stir fry became carrot's delight.

The believed culprit, though, was the size of carrot: a damn big ultraflavorenriched beta carotene bomb.

Massage Taxi

Been some crazy weather the past week here. Monday, we saw a record high 67 here, very nice. Tuesday, we got an inch of snow! Then things warmed up a little bit again, the snow melted, and then Friday - BAM! Another 2-inches plus of snow followed by sleet. Made for quite a slick Friday night to take our friends around town! The question was: could we actually catch a taxi?

Fortunately, we could indeed get a taxi. And not just a regular taxi: this one had a very relaxing vibe to it. The good mood music that could only be found in the massage taxi!

The cabbie had an interesting yet simple setup: a laptop with WiFi capabilities piped into the stereo. Here's the charm: the tunes of choice were audio clips of massage videos found on YouTube. Something like the the following: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8IxqhiyhsM (yes, it's perhaps a bit erotic!) The video was not shown on our screen or anything, but I could see it on the laptop.

What can I say other than most interesting, but I liked it.

Free NY Parties are Sweet

Last night, my coworker sent me an invite for the annual DUMBO Holiday Party. Free to join! It sounded like a good thing - the only thing they were asking for was a toy donation for a Christmas gift drive. Easy enough, seeing that we had some unwanted lying around the house that would work for this. So we packed our toys and made are way to the event.

And what a place! Located at St. Ann's Wearhouse right next to Manhattan Bridge, the event had a lot more in store than I originally envisioned. We first walked in to open area for dancing, complete with a 5-piece band known as The Lone Sharks in the back jammin' Texas-style rhythm 'n twang Christmas tunes. People were really getting down to it! In between sets, a DJ kept the mood going with some good "schoolhouse" type music. Well played!

A separate back area to the left held two gigantic tables lined with holiday foods, from exotic veggie dishes to chips and dips to fully-carved Turkeys. The back had the ultimate dessert offerings: two chocolate fountains (white and milk), and guests could select goodies like fruits and cookies to dip under the waterfall.

To the right of the stage was the bar: free beer and wine, and lots of it. All we had to do was walk up and take it, help youself, have fun! The bar came complete with large bowls of spicy almonds and festive matchbooks.

Not long after we arrived, the event organizers started calling out numbers for the raffle. Reiko and I each received tickets for our toy donations. There were quite a few items - maybe about 20 in all - and each was no small gift: $100 gift cards, custom lamps, VIP access to polo matches in Long Island, etc. We came damn close to winning a couple of times, but alas didn't win anything. Next time!

The best part, was that it was all free. Completely sponsored event! I guess I've never been to anything quite like this, where it was just show up, eat what you want, drink what you want, and - shit! - go nuts at someone-else-you'll-likely-never-know's expense. Finally, the higher price of living in New York had shown its face.

Need to start attending more of these kind of events!

Oh, and for the record: DUMBO stands for: Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. It's one of the highly-gentrified, high-society areas of Brooklyn that prides itself on its close proximity and impressive views of Manhattan.

Horrid Tar Smell

Truth be told, our apartment has some indescribably awful smell coming from the vents. When we first moved in, it was predominantly cat urine with a bit of dust. Pretty bad! We promptly sealed the two vents, and though it still had a lingering, it wasn't nearly bad as before.

Now its wintertime and its pretty much given that the heater's going to be on. And there's something new now: it's a like a thick tar smell. Very sticky, heavy, almost Vick's vapor rub. Woke me and the wife up last night it was so bad. Is there a crack or meth lab going on below me? Or is that the way furnaces smell around here? The investigation begins.

Our landlord is not the most together person, and would not surprise me in the least.

The Imbalance

Funny how sometimes good news and bad news seem to trickle out at the same time. Something bad comes out and yet something else comes along to offset it. Funny how that works. The sad part I think is that most of it is self-indulgence, replaced better items that apply to my family.

Over the weekend, I missed out on a really cool gallery that I had know idea of: the Giz Gallery. Gizmodo had a sweet setup going with all kinds of snappy new devices. The king to top it all off was 103-inch plasma that had gaming and movies alike. All weekend long! Bummer! Yet: this was offset by the much better news was that hopefully this week, my sister's twin were finally leaving the hospital to go home. Way better news! Obviously, much bigger and better news to replace the bumming.

Then another today: I read the melancholy post of Trent Reznor regarding the lack of a live DVD for the current tour. Really, really wanted to see this tour, as it was billed as this year's must-see show: everything was totally interactive, with huge displays, live video rendering, and more. Further to that, Trent went on to say this may the last NIN as it exists for a long time (ie this could be the unofficial hiatus announcement). Though I'm sure Trent will continue to write and perform, and that we'll see NIN in some form again, I do regret not being able to see them, at their peak prime right now. (Could have made the trip up to Cleveland back in August, but in an effort to save for the move here, held off. After that, we were in opposite cities of where the tour landed.)

The good news to today? Reiko got her permanent residency card! The real deal! It's even got a cool looking holographic picture of her on the back. So once again, the greater good of having her fully registered clearly outways my own wants to see a band live.

On Location: Ugly Betty Shoot

Friday night, and it was getting cold, damn cold outside. Reiko had already made it clear that she didn't want to head out, so what to do? Why not go out and buy that Xbox 360 I've been wanting for some time? So I did! Walked down to the neighborhood Gamestop and picked up a new Pro model (with Lego Indiana Jones / Kung-fu Panda) and a used copy of Burnout Revenge. Nothing too extraordinary, except that the surrounding blocks of Gamestop were lined with unmarked white semi trailers, and there was a huge flood light that lit the entire President St. block. Impossible to describe how bright this light was, other than it would have sucked to live on that street that night without some damn good shutters and blinds.

Of course I was curious, and went over to take a look. That's when I ran into a friend of a friend, who caught word it was an on-location filming for the show Ugly Betty. I guess they were just getting set up at that time, as there were crew hoarding all kinds of equipment and stands and who knows what around. Quite a few folks, too - I asked one of the light checkers (his job is to take light readings and relay them back to the camera folks) and his estimate was around 75 people, maybe 100 with all the actors.

Unfortunately I didn't get to see much action on the production side, though I'm pretty sure I could hear America Ferrara getting chatty at one point. Can't forget that voice, no sir.

But anyway, it made for an interesting New York experience none-the-less!

Christmas Chimes

So, it's finally Christmas season. Translation = BUY NOW! SANTA'S COMING! TIS THE SEASON! TREELIGHTING! Wow, it's pretty rad and all, but can be a bit overwhelming! So far though, the city version's not much different from anywhere else.

There are a few exceptions though. One is the local street musicians' styles adaptations. Not only the songs, but instruments have changed. Was greeted the other day by a fellow playing Let It Snow pretty damn well on a harmonica. Rhythm and lead at the same time, kind of a poly-beat approach that was pretty slick. Then there was a Jingle Bell Rocker of the steel drums last night in the subway, also decent. Hadn't seen these instruments so much until now, and found it interesting how they surfaced with the season.

Then today, I saw Santa! You know what? He was totally picking his nose and then advertising cell phones. That's what he's been reduced to at least in the world I live in. Kinda sad!