The Drawing Center; Molly's "Birthday" at the Chat n Chew

For my drawing class (which I'm beginning to absolutely adore, thanks to my awesome professor) I had to go to the gallery "The Drawing Center" in SoHo to see the show on Iannis Xenakis. The man is crazy. Crazy awesome. His processes of composing were basically mathematical drawings, and his architecture then followed suit and imitate the shapes in his drawings. The show is going on until mid-April, and unfortunately I couldn't snag a photo, but I did sneakily take one from the outside of the other building across the street that had a smaller collection of drawings, which were also incredible.


After that excursion, I went with Molly to the Chat n Chew (my ole favorite) because she had never been. We previously had made a list of things we wanted to do, and visiting the Chat n Chew was one of them, so we went. Thinking we'd get free dessert out of it, I told our waitress it was Molly's birthday, though they didn't give us any free dessert, all they did was stick a candle in the one we ordered. But boy was it delicious!



Aaaaaaand...thanks to this little guy that I drew on my plate with ketchup:

I have an idea of what I want to do for my final project in drawing class! Yay!

Vena Cava talk; Shopdropping

A few days ago I saw the girls of Vena Cava talk at the Parsons building on 40th and 7th ave. One of the many perks of going to Parsons (I guess the New School in general) is that you get to attend talks and events like this with famous alumni. Plus they're so cool! The yesterday we had "Crashlab" instead of our usual lab classes. Much like lab, this day was mostly some spontaneous happening with little point, but it was pretty fun anyway. The whole idea of shopdropping is that you make art and put it into a store (grocery store, book store, not necessarily just clothing store) to make some kind of statement. I made some macaroni box sleeves with inspirational messages. These are a few: Then you slyly place them into the store somewhere where they will eventually be noticed. I went with Ian (who made a cereal box) to Whole Foods where we dropped our stuff off. Here's a video of Ian and I IN ACTION!

Megadupersandwich of the day

don't tell me you've never put bananas AND cornflakes on your peanutbutter and jelly sandwich...


there's nothing like a new jar of raspberry jam just waiting to be nommed

Ugh.

Please good gawd let this week end...

MMMM cake!

We finally cut it!




(and ate it) Special thanks to Paula Deen and Kat Koo.

Our Third Weekendly Cooking/Baking Party!

It's starting to become a tradition! This one mostly started because Molly's neighbor had a birthday yesterday, so we were gonna bake. But neither of us had dinner yet, so we made our own burgers (turkey for me, chicken fiesta for her) and fries. Also we used that free bread that I acquired on my last trip to Brooklyn for burger buns, even though it was really crumbly on the inside and crusty on the outside.


My glorious burger:

Molly can take all credit for the delish fries


I tried to make a ketchup smiley, but this accidental face is much better, and more appropriate

We then started our baking, but first had to go to Associated Grocery for some ingredients. We only needed an 8oz can of crushed pineapple, but got a 20oz because we forgot. Pinapple fail.

Molly helped us out by drawing and overseeing

While Sam mixed in all the ingredients and I took photos



Sadly, we ended up finishing the cake (frosted and all) at about 1 am, so we didn't actually get to eat it, and now it's sitting in the fridge. Maybe we'll eat it tonight?

A "Tight, Resolved Piece" and Some Valenstime Lovin'

I didn't exactly know how this was going to fare in today's critique, but my drawing teacher ended up really liking it.






MY PARENTS ARE SO CUTE. They also sent me a valentine that they originally gave me in 8th grade. I've been kind of regifted by my own parents. Even though it is a Snoopy card, so I didn't mind...

The L Magazine

I went to the Utrecht on 4th Ave because I had to pick up a 9x12" bristol pad, and every time I'm there, they always have a stack of by the door.
Usually I just take it to cut up for collages, but this one looks pretty good!

In addition to fun free things, I just found out the annual public NYC pillow fight is on April 3rd! And the same people who organize that are also having a blanket fort party on the 27th, but that's $15 and I dunno if I wanna spend that to go to a party in a giant blanket fort, though that does sound pretty cool. Anyone wanna go?

Post Two for Today: When I was Little I called it Valen'stime

Made for someone special, but also for all of my loyal fans (all two of you).

Post One for Today: CRAZINESS! (pt. II)

So in addition to my awesome cooking party with the pals, last night I ate at Flatbush Farm as a get-together with my brother and his friends in Brooklyn. It had been a while since I saw him and even longer since I saw most of his friends, so this was a good night. Plus Flatbush Farm is an amazing restaurant. I was too self conscious to snap a photo of the restaurant, and I forgot to take a photo of my food. But the environment was great, and my Gnocci were incredible. They were like pillows! I nabbed a little bit of everyone else's food too, and everything was equally as delicious (some bone marrow on toast from my brother's plate, some duck steak from his roommate's, some fries, which doesn't sound like anything fancy, but proved to be superior to even the homemade fries I've made...)

It's a shame I won't get to see this for a while:



Then on the way back, Simon and I ran into some cute girls who shoved a big bag 'o bread in my arms and said that some bakery was giving it away and they didn't want it. So I got some free bread!

My roommate had some for breakfast, and she's french, so I know it must be good bread.


And then in the subway, the train took FOREVER. But this lovely drag queen with a FABULOUS coat asked if the M went to 1st ave or where she could get an L train. Well as fate would have it I was going in exactly the same direction, so for about an hour and a half (maybe less) I had a great conversation with her! I already facebook friended her-apparently she's called Genifer Teal (Gen Teal, hehe). Turns out she was visiting a friend who lives in Stuyvesant Town which is really close to the dorm!

Post One for Today: CRAZINESS! (pt. I)

I wanted to do a special Valentine's Day post, but I also have to do a post for the last few days which have been JAM PACKED with stuff. Mainly: 1. Another cooking party with Sam, Molly, and her friend Rachel (did I spell this right?) and 2. Dinner with my brother and that whole night in Brooklyn (which was crazy).

So in keeping with the tradition that was sort of started last weekend, Molly and I had another cooking party, this time Sam was invited (even though he lives in a different dorm now) and Molly's friend Rachel (spelling?) is in town so she was partaking too.

Everyone helped in the making of our turkey meatballs and potato pancakes


MMMM! Yum! Those meatballs sure are versatile, we make them so much!

Sam helped by lookin cute (he did actually help with a lot of stuff, to be fair)

We also had artichokes with butter 'n garlic, and green veggies

The potato pancakes are a thing of BEAUTY! (except for my one fail flip...)


The whole spread was absolutely delish


We made cookies as well! They cookies themselves were almost as good as the cookie dough



and as always best with some milk!

Look for part two of this a little later, and post #2 a little after that!

Then and Now

Oh, how things have changed
(When I was 16)

When I went home for Thanksgiving break)

The Chat n' Chew

is an institution. I still remember the first time I went to this restaurant. It was the summer I stayed with my brother for two weeks for the Parsons summer program. I went more than once during that visit, the last being the day before I left because that crazy political/religious discussion with "Reason" broke out in Union Square and lasted until 10 pm or so. Apparently my brother still emails around with that group of people and they call themselves the Union Square Philosophers.
Anyway...


That neon sign is like a beacon to the hungry and stingey. When Trevor came to town with his dad I took them there and they loved it. His dad called it "a reminder of home" thanks to the old-diner decor. Just like some midwestern eatery roadtrip stop on the drive from Wisconsin to Minnesota or something.

You walk in and the feeling is nothing but warm.

And I don't even have to mention the food. It speaks for itself. Especially with cutesy names like the "Holy Cow," "Thanksgiving on a Roll," "Miss Patty's Chicken Sammy," and my favorite, "Teenie Weenie Mac n Cheese."



I've never had any room for a cake or pie, but I'm sure they're incredible. This restaurant is, as it says, truly "Real American Homestyle."
Plus, lucky for me it's on the same street as one of the New School buildings (the one where I always have art history) and only a few blocks away from the main Parsons building.

I'd go every day if I could.