I like food that tastes like fruit OR yes, that old woman had a mohawk
I'm not completely pleased with either title, so here are a few others... mix and match as you will:
Cooking for the president
I like food that tastes like fruit. But Sarah, fruit is food.
We have a new papa
What's Justin doing next year?
or
There really are trees in New York
That out of the way, you can begin to see my indecisiveness really creeping out. It is, afterall, that time again. Two years ago i set out on this crazy journey to New York (like anyone expected that) with the idea that it would give me time to re-group, think, and decide what i want to do. Whether i've done any of those things remains to be unseen. So, what am i doing next year? No idea really. Regardless, it's definitely stressing me out. I think the problem is always too many options.
In more exciting less stressful news:
We have a new Pope. I won't say much other than i'm willing to give him a chance, we'll see where it goes. I think he's very aware of the fact that he's following a tough act and i don't think he intends to stir things up too much. Better luck to Central America next time!
Sunday Dawn and i went to the botanical gardens, which was really nice and then we went walking around The Village. It was such a perfect day. The trees are all starting to bloom and the flowers are already coming up in full force. Of note, we saw the fascade of the Huxtable household from the Cosby Show. Interestingly enough, although the show takes place in Brooklyn Heights (one of the nicest neighborhoods i've been to) the house itself is located in the village. It was really neat to get to see so many new parts of the city that even i haven't really been to. The buildings are so neat in the village and the people are... well, you don't see too many 50 year old women with mohawks in most places.
Tuesday night the superior general of the Christian Brothers had dinner at our house (he's the equivalent of the president/headhancho (how do you spell that?). It was neat to get to meet him and talk with him. He's a really fantastic guy with a ton of good stories. He's from Costa Rica and has spent a good deal of his time in Central America. He's spent the last 11 years in Rome, first as the Vicar General (the VP) under Br. John Johnston (who's now in memphis, he's a good ol' memphis boy) and now as the Superior General. We were on thin ice as a community because JP was cooking and that can always be an adventure. Clare and i took bets before on what would go wrong. We did eat 25 minutes late as usual. The food, however, was not bad according to those who tried the ham and sweet potatoes (note that all of his meals must include potatoes, yams, etc of some kind). The salmon i had was okay, but not great. Dessert was bread pudding and was very good except for the very strong wiskey sauce he made to go on it that even he, the irishman, said was too strong. I stuck to the whipped cream instead (note all of his desserts must include whipcream).
Tonight i took a stroll across the street from school, where i've never been. I know this may sound odd, but it's a well known fact that most new yorkers don't stroll too far from their homes. Everything you need is right there (restaurants, stores, laundromats, you get the picture). Anyway, i've never crossed the street to the south of school. Let me tell you, it was truly awesome. There's a park that runs between two streets that goes for blocks on end. It's really cool because there's playgrounds, gardens, soccerfields, baseball fields, basketball courts, handball courts....... Anyway, it's really neat to see people out and in the park now that it's spring. The other cool thing is that the whole area is where yuppieville ends and it is bordered by projects and people from all over. The north end of the park is mostly hispanic, but as you venture down, it dips into Chinatown. It's quite amazing to watch how the nationalities change as you walk south. I can't imagine anywhere else in the world where you can be completely immersed in so many cultures in such a small area. It is really what makes new york what it is. If you ever come here to visit, you can go see all the touristy places, but please spend most of your time just walking the neighborhoods... that is NYC. It's a shame that most people never come south of 34th street unless they're on their way to the statue of liberty. There's so much more to see. In the next three months i'll only see a very small portion more of the city than i already have and i've still only driven through queens and never stepped foot on staten island, and what little bit i've seen of brooklyn is... well... a little bit.
so there's tons more to write about, but i'm sure most of you should really be doing something else. a few things in short:
- watched "Meet the Fockers" incredibly funny!!!!!
- got icecream at Haagen Dazs
- saw "The Real Kramer" last night (i'll try and talk about that more tomorrow)
- saw a weird man dancing, jogging, prentending to shoot a basketball while listening to headphones in the park (it was very very very strange, even for new york)
- ate at Chipotle (mmmmmmmmmmmmm... very tasty)
- went to the South Street Seaport (another new area for me) very nice, shops, nice view of the Brooklyn Bridge
- about fifteen other things i can't remember and...
- enjoyed spring!!!
Cooking for the president
I like food that tastes like fruit. But Sarah, fruit is food.
We have a new papa
What's Justin doing next year?
or
There really are trees in New York
That out of the way, you can begin to see my indecisiveness really creeping out. It is, afterall, that time again. Two years ago i set out on this crazy journey to New York (like anyone expected that) with the idea that it would give me time to re-group, think, and decide what i want to do. Whether i've done any of those things remains to be unseen. So, what am i doing next year? No idea really. Regardless, it's definitely stressing me out. I think the problem is always too many options.
In more exciting less stressful news:
We have a new Pope. I won't say much other than i'm willing to give him a chance, we'll see where it goes. I think he's very aware of the fact that he's following a tough act and i don't think he intends to stir things up too much. Better luck to Central America next time!
Sunday Dawn and i went to the botanical gardens, which was really nice and then we went walking around The Village. It was such a perfect day. The trees are all starting to bloom and the flowers are already coming up in full force. Of note, we saw the fascade of the Huxtable household from the Cosby Show. Interestingly enough, although the show takes place in Brooklyn Heights (one of the nicest neighborhoods i've been to) the house itself is located in the village. It was really neat to get to see so many new parts of the city that even i haven't really been to. The buildings are so neat in the village and the people are... well, you don't see too many 50 year old women with mohawks in most places.
Tuesday night the superior general of the Christian Brothers had dinner at our house (he's the equivalent of the president/headhancho (how do you spell that?). It was neat to get to meet him and talk with him. He's a really fantastic guy with a ton of good stories. He's from Costa Rica and has spent a good deal of his time in Central America. He's spent the last 11 years in Rome, first as the Vicar General (the VP) under Br. John Johnston (who's now in memphis, he's a good ol' memphis boy) and now as the Superior General. We were on thin ice as a community because JP was cooking and that can always be an adventure. Clare and i took bets before on what would go wrong. We did eat 25 minutes late as usual. The food, however, was not bad according to those who tried the ham and sweet potatoes (note that all of his meals must include potatoes, yams, etc of some kind). The salmon i had was okay, but not great. Dessert was bread pudding and was very good except for the very strong wiskey sauce he made to go on it that even he, the irishman, said was too strong. I stuck to the whipped cream instead (note all of his desserts must include whipcream).
Tonight i took a stroll across the street from school, where i've never been. I know this may sound odd, but it's a well known fact that most new yorkers don't stroll too far from their homes. Everything you need is right there (restaurants, stores, laundromats, you get the picture). Anyway, i've never crossed the street to the south of school. Let me tell you, it was truly awesome. There's a park that runs between two streets that goes for blocks on end. It's really cool because there's playgrounds, gardens, soccerfields, baseball fields, basketball courts, handball courts....... Anyway, it's really neat to see people out and in the park now that it's spring. The other cool thing is that the whole area is where yuppieville ends and it is bordered by projects and people from all over. The north end of the park is mostly hispanic, but as you venture down, it dips into Chinatown. It's quite amazing to watch how the nationalities change as you walk south. I can't imagine anywhere else in the world where you can be completely immersed in so many cultures in such a small area. It is really what makes new york what it is. If you ever come here to visit, you can go see all the touristy places, but please spend most of your time just walking the neighborhoods... that is NYC. It's a shame that most people never come south of 34th street unless they're on their way to the statue of liberty. There's so much more to see. In the next three months i'll only see a very small portion more of the city than i already have and i've still only driven through queens and never stepped foot on staten island, and what little bit i've seen of brooklyn is... well... a little bit.
so there's tons more to write about, but i'm sure most of you should really be doing something else. a few things in short:
- watched "Meet the Fockers" incredibly funny!!!!!
- got icecream at Haagen Dazs
- saw "The Real Kramer" last night (i'll try and talk about that more tomorrow)
- saw a weird man dancing, jogging, prentending to shoot a basketball while listening to headphones in the park (it was very very very strange, even for new york)
- ate at Chipotle (mmmmmmmmmmmmm... very tasty)
- went to the South Street Seaport (another new area for me) very nice, shops, nice view of the Brooklyn Bridge
- about fifteen other things i can't remember and...
- enjoyed spring!!!