Some of you may have heard of this little tennis event called the US Open. It's where a couple of people get together several times for a little relaxed tennis. Oh wait, maybe not.
Here are photos from the excursion out to Arthur Ashe Stadium at the Billie Jean Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, Queens. We watched the men's doubles finals and both women's semi-final matches, the match of consequence being Venus Williams versus Justine Henin. Good times. And of course some requisite shots of food at Pio Pio, a Peruvian restaurant in Queens. Apologies on the quality of the shots, I reduced them to shorten loading times.
Shot from center court at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Women's semi-final match between Svetlana Kuznetsova and Anna Chakvatadze
Brian, Amy, Angela, Eric on the Loge level at Arthur Ashe
A completely empty Grandstand Court
Our seats (not exactly what you'd call courtside, but a great view)
Amy, Angela, Brian and me taking in some rays and posing for a shot during the men's doubles finals.
Pio Pio
Taking a seat, looking at the menu and drooling.
A lot of food and one lonely water. Hands reaching without qualm for the nearest comestible. Delicious.
Bradley's a finalist. NO surprise there, BUT he is in need of your votes and comments. Click on the video to watch his 2 minute finalist entry and make sure to leave a shout out and vote.
Consider this a request!
UPDATE: Bradley has ~8,300 votes as of this afternoon (Sept. 5th, 2007). Keep 'em coming!
Watkins Glen is one of those places you wonder how you ever missed. It's gorgeous, as you ascend through 200 foot cliffs passing 19 waterfalls. Here's a shot I took from one of the hundreds of small cascades.
If you haven't seen Bradley's post below, make sure you read it and vote for him on his endeavor to co-host a show sponsored by Holiday Inn where he travels across the country doing daily videos and a chance to meet HBO executives.
Trust me, this guy needs to be on TV. He's a natural. Oh, plus when he wins I can say that "I know that guy" as I point to the screen and sit there in awkward silence as I realize no one's around to hear me. Anyway, click, watch, comment and vote.
How beautiful is this timepiece? Italian, vintage-inspired, handcrafted manual timepiece. Nothing else to really ask for. Panerai is the best brand you've probably never heard of.
Pearl's Oyster Bar on Cornelia Street in West Village is one of those places you wish more people knew about for the simple fact that it's delicious but wish less people knew about it because you selfishly want it to be one of those places only 'you' know about it.
Clam Chowser, Fried Oysters and a Lobster Roll were the victuals at this particular visit. I do have to thank Angela, the super-foodie, for introducing me to it.
A couple of Saturday's ago we had a little shindig on my friend Mickey's rootop. Impromptu at best... but that makes it all the better in my opinion. Glad they called to wake me up from my nap, otherwise I might've missed out.
I am sorry I have been a bit out of it for a while and have been stingy on my posts but I have one that you can now participate in and help a brutha' out.
I am submitting for a Holiday Inn hosting position that would allow me to co-host over a 2-month time frame while traveling around the country and doing daily videos (something I pretty much already did about a year ago on my own...this time I'd get paid AND the chance to meet HBO executives in the comedy department which is massive!)
Click on this link NOW b/c all submissions have to be rated and voted for and all that in a few days. Vote from this link
You'll figure it out. OH and even if you think my audition video is la la la lame, fake it for me...come on. AND you can pass this one to your friends and get them to vote too b/c half of the criteria is to see who can create a following too.
Loosely translated it means mixed greens with bacon but I prefer the way our Franco brothers and sisters say it.
Anyway, I was sent this article clipping out of the New York times of 101 Simple Meals and thought I'd take a shot at this particular recipe. It looked relatively painless and I already had some of the primary ingredients in my fridge from the weekend.
Here's how it went down:
Layed out the ingredients: good bacon, large eggs, frisée salad and sherry vinegar.
Then I boiled the eggs. The recipe called on me to poach, but I had neither the energy or knowledge to do this simple task. I made a call to a friend to ask, but getting a voicemail greeting reminded me that I should just go ahead hard cook the damn eggs. I did such. As I did that, I cooked the Vermont maple cured bacon in a skillet.
With my limited counter space (8 inches thank you very much) I peeled the eggs, and degreased the bacon. I cleaned the tomatoes which wasn't part of the recipe, but I added them anyway. Finally, I deglazed the skillet with the wine vinegar and made some type of basic dressing. I cheated a little because there wasn't enough of it by adding some ExVeeOhSquared (extra virgin olive oil) to buff it up a bit. I dashed a little black pepper for the sake of dashing a little pepper. I think it was fun, I'm not sure.
With the eggs boiled, the bacon cooked I then prepared for the step I like to call the "human food processor." With the eggs still piping hot I coarsely chopped them up alongside the bacon and set them aside as I plated the greens.
I tossed the tomatoes, eggs and bacon haphazardly onto the pre-dressed frisée (read: store bought bag salad), poured myself a glass of wine, leaned on the counter and ate while I watched Entourage.
There you go, a 10 minute meal (+ 15 minutes of cleaning)...
The weekend. I figured it was going to be tough going into it but I suppose I'm partially to blame for that.
Friday - 8/3/2007 Large iced coffee - $.95 Lunch (Office buys lunch on Fridays) - $0 Dinner - Halal food from street vendor - $5 Ticket to Bourne Ultimatum - $11 Total = $16.95 | Total for week = $50.45 ($14.75 overbudget)
Saturday - 8/4/2007 No Breakfast (not on purpose) No Lunch (not on purpose) Snack - (it was brought over) Cherries & Wine $0 Dinner - Um... $38 Total = $38 | Total for week = $88.45 ($45.61 overbudget)
Sunday - 8/5/2007 Grocery Store - $34.34 Breakfast - $0 Afternoon snack (leftovers from dinner on Saturday) - $0 Dinner - Ramen noodles and egg - $0 Total = $34.34 | Total for week = $122.79 ($72.79 overbudget)
Ammendment to Wednesday: Dinner out - $41
Grand Total for week = $163.79 ($113.79 overbudget)
Ouch. Needless to say, I crashed and burned. There are obviously external reasons why some costs were on there. I'll honestly say that it was within my control but I'd be doing no one a service to sit here and explain why or how. I choose to live one of the most expensive cities in the world and it's by choice. Sticker shock is part of life here and frankly... it's worth the damn price of admission.
Everything I spent is listed including a hefty sum I left out from Wednesday. It's all on here in full, painful, disclosure.
Here's what I've learned:
$50 is a reasonable amount to spend if: You don't plan on eating out and have groceries ready. You are savvy in the kitchen. You prefer being a hermit. Your date doesn't mind paying. You live on a completely self-sustaining farm with free labor.
$50 is an unreasonable amount to spend if: You maintaining any type of social activity. You go on a date and plan to pay. You have no food in your refridgerator. You live anywhere, including New York. You are me.
Large iced coffee and hard boiled egg - $1.30 Lunch - Jambalaya from Hello Deli - $6.00 Dinner + Cab for meeting with consulting client - $0
Total = $7.30
Total for week = $33.50 ($4.96 overbudget)
Today I'm slated to see Bourne Ultimatum... let's see if I can finagle this. Tightwad meal de jour of ramen noodles are imminent. I wonder what the cost per packet is around here... surely not more than ¢50, right?
Tuesday - 7/31/2007 Large iced coffee - $1.50 Lunch (Italian Roll. Pictured @ right) - $4.00 Office Happy Hour - $0.00 (no drinks, budget unscathed) Movie Ticket - $0.00 (Arrived late to theater and ticket was already purchased. I know... weak, but not planned.) Cab ride - $5.00 Total = $10.50
Total for week = $19.00 ($4.72 overbudget)
Rachel Ray is a big fat liar. I have to make a correction, my friend Sam reminded me of a $5 cab ride I took yesterday. Crap.
I've decided to try a socio-economic experiment. Premise? Living on $50 a week. Now before you go scoffing at the premise remember that this is New York City where $5000 monthly rent paid by people who make $50 per minute. Neither of those are me, but that should make this experiment that much easier, right? Anyone? Hello??
Costs will be logged over the next week and barring any medical emergencies I will try and spend less than $50 over the course of seven days, starting with today. Basically it breaks down to $7.14 a day. I did some rough research on my expenditures and it's no a stretch for me to say that over the course of a week, I tallied up about $50-60 per day. That's just gross.
So here I embark on this experiment spawning from a random conversation over dinner ($56) after a game of golf ($38) where I lost five golf balls ($10). Can I do it? We'll see... I certainly wouldn't bet on myself.
Notes: this doesn't include my monthly expenses such as rent, car, bills, etc because there's just no way to take that out of the picture. This isn't to see if I can sustain life on $50 a week here in New York City... that's an ignorant notion. However, I will not use alternative means to supplement my stipend, it's just a countdown from 50 bucks. Oh, and what do I get for winning this bet? Nothing but bragging rights and what I predict to be some left over ramen noodle wrappers.
Monday - 7/30/2007 Large iced coffee from street vendor - $1.50 Subway $2.00 Lunch (got lucky here: delicious leftovers) - $0.00 Dinner at Halal food vendor - $5.00 Total = $8.50 ($1.31 overbudget)
There's this little rivalry between Mets and Yankee's fans. Just a little tiny itsy-bitsy one that not many people know of...
Ha.
Anyway, so Shea stadium (where the Mets play) is slated for replacement, by Citi Field, by opening game 2009. I figured it would be a good to try and get into a game here or there before then so was keen on taking up my friend's offering of a free ticket.
I've got more photos coming, but here's a shot from a few rows down from where were sitting. Yes, that was literally our perspective.
For those of you who haven't heard of the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee musical (check their site) I strongly suggest you get it on your list of broadway theater to see next time you're in New York (they've actually launched a nationwide tour now...).
It's quite possibly the funniest play/musical I've ever seen. Think American Pie meets musical meets improv. They had everything from a magical foot to a lesbian high school girl to a Korean overachiever to an Pan-Asian Jesus.The theater was practically rolling with laughter. The best part is that they take four pre-selected (by random) contestants to come up as part of the musical - forcing them to be a part of the actual production and spelling ridiculous words.
With some adroit timing and luck I was able to get my friend up there - squirming with delight as she suffered/laughed through 45 minutes of on-stage spelling. Of course no photography of any kind is allowed in a Broadway production, but you know me - no Kodak moment goes uncaptured.
Free concerts are one of summer's highlights in New York. At this point in our evening we had made it away from the actual concert (but still within listening distance) as Kim, Carol, Henry, Maria and myself kicked it back to some well performed classical pieces.
Rooftops seem to be a reoccurring theme for me this week as I found myself atop the Hotel Gansevoort at their rooftop bar. I suppose that's quintessential New York, but perhaps more so this week.
Anyway, definitely was some good times and great convo even if it did involve some wacky medical stories (two of them were residents at Mt. Sinai).
Oh, and I finally learned how to make a Michelada. Mmm... delish.
I recognized the building once I got there, but I forgot that I had actually been to a party at 2 Gold Street down in the Financial District.
This time I was quite pleased with myself for remembering to bring a camera because how often do you get to go to someone's rootop party and it be approximately 60 stories up with views of Manhattan like this.
Yesterday in my walk home from work I got that sense that something was wrong. There was an 'urgency' in the air, unlike the typical rush hour craze. As I crossed Park Avenue I noticed that everyone was staring into the air and South towards the Met Life building.
Then I noticed there were a lot of people running away from that building, Northward. Suddenly everyone was on the phone and then I knew things were awry. I heard someone say there was an explosion at Grand Central Station and the worst thoughts came to mind. Oh god, an attack.
As I walked down 53rd street towards my apartment I rounded Lexington Avenue and immediately saw everyone walking around in the streets staring downtown. Then I saw it, the plume - it was a bit like that scene from the movie 'Volcano' where the volcano erupts from the middle of Los Angeles. Yet, there was no Tommy Lee Jones and no power button to turn it off.
I pulled out my Treo and started jogging toward the plume (yes, not very smart on my part) snapping photos and videos as I walked until I came upon the epicenter of the blast. Man, it was messy, hot, smelly, and chaotic. I was entirely mesmerized.
This photo was from July 4th, but I thought it fitting to share since Patrick (the guy that's not me) was present for my single best game of golf this year. He's also the chap responsible for making me obsessed / addicted / in love with / hate. Thanks buddy...
The highlight (or low point depending on your perspective) were the four birdie opportunities in a row on the back nine. All of which I two putted and turned into pars but I couldn't have cared less. Of course, that might have been because I only slept four and a half hours the night before...
Thought I'd take a second to post up a pic of the crew I worked with on the 72 hour film shootout.
From left to right: Francis, Angela, Amy, Edwin, Yuan-Kwan, Whitney, Chung and me up front. Missing: Bibs and Jorge
A couple of us might be entering a commercial into a Toyota Scion contest (basically the premise is you create a 60 second spot) so hopefully things will pan together for that. I'll keep you posted.
Friends are in town and for some reason I again find myself surrounded by people from California - not sure how that keeps happening. I aspire to one day run in a gubernatorial race there. I'll keep you posted on how things develop on that front... er....
Anyway, definitely good times were had - some venue highlights:
Dinner at Habana Cafe. Which, if you visit you must try the corn. It's grilled corn brushed with butter and chili powder and cojita cheese sprinked with lime. It's mind meltingly delicious.
Drinks at the Hudson Hotel lounge. I'll spare you the details of trying to explain this place, you should just go look at the site.
It's nice to look forward to a week alone. Oh wait, my best compadre Jon is here thru Thursday. Looking forward to some of our soon-to-be-patented IM rants and raves in person.
Our family knows pancakes. We should since my father owns a restaurant that only serves breakfast, the River Road Pancake House. They make delicious food there served incredibly fast (this sounds like a pitch).
I haven't had the chance at partaking in any good pancakes since moving to New York until recently when I was introduced to the pancakes at the Clinton St. Bakery on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
They were spectacular to say the least and I highly recommend you try them out if you're ever in town. Be prepared to wait though, we were there 10 minutes before they opened and still waited an hour.
That goes for my father's restaurant as well. Yummy.
Last week I did some photos of a friend and had a chance to take some photos of her dog / friend - Sir Winston Churchill. A charming fellow in all senses of the matter.
This portrait stood out as a favorite... thought I'd share.
Recently I was in the AAFilm Lab's 72 hour film shootout with 9 other Asians from New York City. At 8pm on Friday night, we were given a topic. "Elizabeth Ong is missing" and were tasked with filming a short less than 5 minutes.
There were strings attached: 1. Elizabeth Ong must be connected to the actors 2. Elizabeth Ong must play an important role in the film 3. Elizabeth Ong must not visually appear in the film.
Crap.
Well, 1 City, 54 hours, 5 locations, 8 precarious shots later, a film was born. Before you click play make sure you read the theme and rules again first: Elizabeth Ong is missing.
This shootout is a contest. There are 58 other teams in other cities. We'll see if it goes anywhere, fingers crossed. It was definitely a blast. Make sure you comment and rate it on YouTube.
Welcome Cana Grace Overby! Daughter to Kristina and Dusty as of 1:31 a.m., Tuesday, June 5th. At a healthy 9lbs, 2 ounces you would have been in a title' bout with me for the WHWBC's (world heavy weight baby championships).
There isn't a video for Obadiah Parker's cover for "Hey Ya" by Outkast. But in my ever ongoing quest to 'mix-it-up' I found this video of a designer who used freestyle animation to make a video for it... the song and video are well worth your two minutes:
If you're interested in winning a free copy of this CD, it might be worth 2.5 seconds of your time and popping over to Gear Patrol and entering the giveaway for an advanced copy of the CD. Advanced copy doesn't really matter so much now that the CD's actually out, but hey - a free CD is a free CD... is a free CD.
Oh, and the new CD is pretty damn good. It's a departure from their last one, but a good one.
Midweekpost.com
is a take on New York City thru the eyes (and camera) of an OCD, ADD, Scorpio written in the timeless, Thoreau inspired, form of blogging. Or as we like to refer to
it: ADD writing for ADD reading. It's authored by a most contradictive guy armed with a most applicable Univ. of Tennessee economics degree working in the media industry
as a producer (you're damn right that's cliche') of design (huh?) for a major broadcast company's digital initiative (say wha?) that has somehow managed to
find his Korean, yet not Korean looking self living in the city that Ambien & Cosmo induced coma never sleeps. All that said, I don't promise greatness and I won't promise awesome but I will
promise New York and a little dash o' me.
The weekend. I figured it was going to be tough going into it but I suppose I'm partially to blame for that.
Thursday - 8/2/2007
Wednesday - 8/1/2007
Tuesday - 7/31/2007
