Blue Ribbon Brooklyn
I know that this is not the first blog about Blue Ribbon nor will it be the last, but DAMN! Blue Ribbon is good.
Me, Mr. BF (my boyfriend), and another friend walked in at 11:15 pm last night (after just missing the Philharmonic AND the fireworks at Prospect Park) and were seated immediately. The room is great-- wood, dark, red, everything you want late night. Super hip and comfortable. After one of the most awkward special-ings I have ever witnessed, we started drooling over the large menu. Big bummer: no sauteed calamari. And no whole fish. But the menu is large and we finally agreed on what to get.
Side note: The BF and I are both kind of dorky about food and wine. I have an unfortunately tiny appetite. We tend to collaborate on the order. We share until I nearly pop and then he gets the rest. This way I get as much as I want of two apps and two entrees. It is a system that works.
The final order goes a little like this: Bone Marrow with Oxtail Jelly, Grilled Sardines, and friend-o got a nice Caesar salad (that he graciously shared even though he isn't privvy to the usual stylings of our dinners out) to start. I got Sweet and Spicy Catfish with mashed potatoes and collared greens and BF got the special-- Flank Steak marinated in something spicy and tequila with corn fritters and some kind of cole slaw. BF ordered a bottle of red (after some serious wine dork conversation about the pros and cons of white vs. red with the entrees). A Rhone. Cotes du.... something or another. French and since I didn't look at the list I have no recollection of anything past Cotes du... Delicious.
If you haven't had Blue Ribbon's bone marrow... go. NOW! I was transported to another place with the first bite. The world stopped existing outside of my mouth. You scoop the fatty goo out of the giant bone with a wooden stick. BR gives you some sea salt to season the marrow. The most perfect bite that I experienced was the toast point topped with a smear of the oxtail jelly with a giant glob of marrow sprinkled generously with sea salt. Sweet, meaty, fatty, so salty... my mouth is watering thinking about it. Everything was good, but the marrow truly overshadowed the entire meal.
P.S. The profiteroles were uninteresting, but, in fairness, we were the last table to order dessert and I'm sure the kitchen hated us more than they hate kitten killers. No love was put into the profiteroles.
The unused blog changes form...
I am changing the system (or lack of system) that I previously had in place for this blog.
Ugh... no one would be happy reading that sentence.
The point is I am going to start keeping this blog as a food and wine note system for myself. I plan to post about bottles of wine, meals, and other things that I (or you... if you exist) can reference. The goal will be to include a combination of my impressions and factual info... typical characteristics of California chardonnay, the restaurant owners side projects or training, etc.
Education for myself. Hopefully some of it will be educational for others (or at the very least entertaining).
So... there it is... The Goal. Once again... away we go...
Lobotomies and Stuff
So I have become mildly obsessed with a radio piece I heard on NPR, Howard Dully's My Lobotomy. If you haven't heard it...http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5014080maybe you can get it there. I don't think that is a link-- that seems like it would require some kind of real knowledge of computer stuff. Maybe I will ask or look it up....
Anyway, it has made me start thinking about putting together a piece. But I'm not sure what the "deal" would be. I have some ideas. I don't want it to be a one-person historical thing. I need to do some more reading to see what starts to emerge for me as the important element. Just listening to the piece (and one interview on NPR) a lot of ideas jump. Our need to be normal, or right, and the lengths we will go to to achieve "normalcy." Or the hideous practices allowed under the title "medicine." It also kind of leads into a thought that has been tickling me lately about how we can maim someone just by loving them. That if "love trumps all" (thank you Charles L. Mee) why does it sometimes create monsters, or just damaged people.
I have no form, no anything really except this tickle, this itch. Something is there and even with my lack of diligence it continues. I need to work on it.
FIRST
POSTED GOAL:
I WILL listen to
My Lobotomy at least 3 times over my time at "home."
I WILL find a book to read on lobotomies and/or the mad doctor.
I WILL start to get ideas on paper.
So, brief side note on this not-so-big big moment... I often make goals, I not-so-often meet them. So there.
Christmas Rant
Long time no post. I guess you aren't really attempting to blog unless you actually blog. So...
I have just spent the last hour trying to put into my words a Christmas Wish. The goal was create a really clear, nonjudgemental, nonemotional request of my family to reconcile. It has been over a year since my brother spoke to my parents and almost as much since my sister last spoke to them. I won't get into the gory details-- of which I can't even really trace. I just know that the thought of two separate Christmas's-- one with sis, sis, (hopefully) bro, and my truly adorable nephew; and one with mom, dad, sis, and granny-- makes me want to either throw up or throw things.
I have a nearly obsessive need to fix this situation. I am an obsessive fixer of relationships-- sometimes when they aren't even broken. This one is broken however. And I can't do anything. I guess the fact is that it isn't my responsiblity-- even if I could pick all of them and put them in a room, I couldn't make them speak. And even if I did have cattle prods, I couldn't bring about a real reconciliation. So why do I continue to try? Why? Why? Why? And even more embarassingly... why do I only try when I am going to visit "home"?
Kay Phelps
The desire to start a blog has been growing since getting the internet a few weeks ago. Today I got the news that sparked the need to get this started.Yesterday, October 16th, 2005, a wonderful, amazing human being left this world. Kay Phelps wasn't just a great lady. She was a wonder. Here are things that I can say about Kay:- she had magical hands
- she would be the first to grab the costume shop "Cursing Cap" on stressful days
- she always wanted to quit smoking (and finally did, I think)
- she would give you the shirt off of her back or kick you in the pants-- whichever you needed more
- she would laugh until she cried when you got her going
- she worked hard
- she could costume 50 people with no budget
- she loved cats
- she loved people
- she had faith in nontraditional everything (medicine, people, friendships, etc)
- she deserved better than what she was given-- in so many ways
- she will be deeply, deeply missed
I was lucky enough to have four years as her student and even luckier to get to see her before she became extremely unwell. If you didn't know Kay, you missed out on an amazing experience.
