dia:beacon

Back in January, I dragged myself out of bed to visit Dia:Beacon with Jendar.  It was her last day in NYC and I really wanted to see her before she left. 

The museum is right off the Metro-North train line and an easy walk from the station.  It's housed in a former Nabisco box printing facility and is only open during the day since natural lighting is the only lighting used.  You can see from the pictures how much the space still resembles a factory but now a factory filled with art.

Dan Flavin.  Not one of my favorite artists but I liked the look of this piece in the setting.

Lots of lovely Sol LeWitt which really reminded my of the art by my friend Jess.  Take a look and you'll know what I mean.  I hope she agrees with me.

Both pictures from different directions and you can see the change of lighting on both sides.  Works by Imi Knoebel.  I loved the vast spaces.

Michael Heizer's Long-term installations.  I would think so since they are large holes in the ground.  I was told by a friend that you can take a tour for a closer look but it happens early in the day and we were too late.  They were still impressive to look at from behind the barrier.

I wish I could remember the artist of this work and I don't know if you can tell what it is from the photo.  I turned the corner and thought I was looking in a mirror and I was at an angle where I would not have appeared in the mirror.  I walked much closer to realize they are lines from the ceiling to the floor and it created an optical illusion at least for me that they were mirrors. 

Louise Bourgeois.  I love her spider sculptures.  There was another one in front of the Guggenheim Bilbao.

Richard Serra.  He makes me so happy.  I love running into his works unexpectedly like the sculpture in the first two photos.  The last two photos are from a large room full of his works.

This was the best setting to say goodbye to Jendar for a little while at least.  I'm excited to visit her art space in Salt Lake City when it opens.

Running through Lincoln Center

I love going to the symphony (I used to have a wonderful connection at the Kennedy Center in DC and went a lot back in the day) and I decided it was time to finally see the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall.

The program included Beethoven's Violin Concerto, Stravinsky's Symphony in Three Movements and Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe Suite No. 2. 

I received an email and phone call reminding me that there was no late seating.  Sam and Alpha arrived on time.  I was late.  We ran to our seats.  It added to the romance of the event.  The theater is absolutely beautiful and I loved looking down on the musicians.

Sam and Alpha looking appropriately elegant for the night.

I loved the chandeliers/mobiles in the lobby of the theater.

Mer's Food Design

I had a small get together and Mer was there to put out the food.  Her work is always worth documenting.

My fruit box came with lots of avocados so I made guacamole but no cilantro.  I never choose to cook with cilantro. It's still delicious.

I bought the cheese from Lucy's Whey in Chelsea Market.  I bought a lovely chevre which I doused with honey, a manchego (but made in the US since that is the only kind of cheese sold at Lucy's), and a really nice sharp cheddar.  The cheese was served with dried figs and California almonds.

Bread bought from Amy's Bread and crackers from  Chelsea Market Basket.  You can always find some amazing food item or gift in this shop.

I also made this a lemon tart from a recipe found on Smitten Kitchen (one of my go to sites for recipes) but I forgot to take a picture of it before digging into it.  It was also delicious.  I received Meyer lemons in my box and I was so excited to bake with them.

Franny's in Brooklyn

I walked into Castor & Pollux in the West Village close to 3 years ago and met the very lovely owner.  On her recommendation, I went to Franny's in Brooklyn with Brigham and Hillary during the summer of 2009.  I remember eating outside and enjoying the lovely evening.  We finished off the night seeing a pseudo-Smiths band at the Bell House with Nick and Chateau.  It was a classic evening.

And I knew I needed to return to Franny's to taste the pizza again.  I met up with Suvi and Jess last Monday night and barely waited for a table.

Suvi and I split the wood-roasted pork sausage with sweet potatoes but the picture just did not look right enough to post.  The pizzas were as good as I remembered. My co-diners couldn't wait for the pictures to be taken before eating.

Suvi and I shared the tomato, mozzarella and sausage.

Jess ate the extra virgin olive oil and sea salt.

I won't compare it to Roberta's because they are different from one another but both are good in their own way.

WEEGEE

I've been fascinated by the photographer Weegee for years.  I was so happy to see his pictures of crime, death and spectators at the ICP this weekend. 

A.P.C + Anthropologie =

The perfect item on a cold winter night.  It's helped me through the flu and bronchitis.

Banana Walnut Pancakes That Made Trish Cry

Trish and I decided to grab food on Saturday.  It was later in the day and I mentioned the possibility of Clinton Street Baking Co. only because I thought the line would not be long. Typically it can be a 90 minute wait if you're lucky.  It was also snowing and sometimes New Yorkers like to stay inside on those kind of days. Trish had never been so we decided to meet there.  I hadn't been since Spring 2009 but it still a place I think about on a semi-regular basis. 

Trish arrived before me and put our name on the list.  She had the horrible experience of having to wait for me in a semi-empty restaurant while watching every table become occupied because I was late.  She was also hungry.  The restaurant also has this absurd practice of letting people put their names on the list but then letting them leave for an hour but getting the first table when they return.  We saw everyone and their baby get seated before us even though we were standing there for 45 minutes.

By the time we sat down we knew exactly what we wanted.  When the food came, we barely spoke.  We just enjoyed. 

Trish ate eggs benedict which is so much better than typical eggs benedict because of the buttermilk biscuits cradling the ham and eggs.

I had the buttermilk biscuit sandwich with eggs, cheddar cheese, homemade tomato jam (it's like salsa but better) and bacon.

And these are the banana walnut pancakes with warm maple syrup that tasted more like caramel sauce.  Trish cried when she had her first bite.  These pancakes are worth dreaming about.  We already have plans to return and they serve pancakes all day long.

And I asked for the raspberry jam.  This is jam that is the perfect combination between sugar and fruit.  I put it on everything.

We ended the outing by going to see Haywire.  The pancakes were so much better than the movie.