Author: F C

Recap of the extended weekend:
Saturday – dental cleaning followed by a visit to the storied pizzeria that is Di Fara in Midwood. P, her brother and I were waiting in the Duncan Donuts down the block because it was really cold, but there were 5 true believers waiting outside the door. It opened 20 minutes late, at 10 to 12, but it didn’t matter – it’s definately slow food – there’s no way you get out of Di Fara’s in under 45 minutes. After a false start with everyone’s glasses fogged up, we managed to order a special pie, and 2 square slices. The squares were magnificant – light yet voluminous, a tangy sauce fortified with cheese and prosciutto (I am told), topped with fresh basil cut directly above the slices, then drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. Bold and delicate at the same time, it was an amazing treat.

Then the special pie came out after 40 minutes. The crust is micro thin (less than 2 mm thick) yet still durable enough to support the cornucopia of cow’s milk mozzarella, buffalo milk mozzarella, sausage, peppers, more basil, and grated cheese. Not quite foldable, but still delectable. Recommended if you have a spare afternoon.

Tonight I’m coming down with a cold. I’m going to try to brave it out.

Has anyone noticed things are getting a little bit pricier? My hair cut was a dollar more, my breakfast egg on a roll is a nickel more, my rent is up 5%. Thank heavens I booked my plane ticket to DC for my next March trip before they started the fare war today, which would have tacked another $5. With the MTA budget overruns, I’ll bet that train fare will hit 2.50, and then there goes the slice of pizza. Will this be the tipping point?

Dentist cleaning tomorrow morning – yay! I have the 9 AM appointment, and I just found out my Corporations professor has the 8:30 AM appointment.

Weekend eating:
Friday at Becco: grilled veggie antipasti very nice. Three-way all-you-can-eat pasta hit-or-miss: taglitale with fresh tomato sauce not bad, linguine with white clam sauce – pasta on the very al dente side, pumpkin ravioli was the best.

Saturday: grazing through Chinatown: the unnamed dumpling place on Mosco Street around the corner from Transfiguration Church, random stuff from the Thai grocery on Mosco, Tasty Dumpling, 54 Mulberry Pl. Veggie shopping. A bakery that I forgot what it was called that had tasty but fugly dan tat.

Sunday: dim sum at Grand Harmony: above average – just staples ha gow and su mai were both a-wol. Then a side trip to Kings Plaza, where P wanted to try out the crepe place that I talked about last year, which turned out to have closed and been replaced with a Jackson Hewitt tax place. A number of other major stores were also decimated by this past Christmas season, including my childhood Waldenbooks (sigh), Banana Republic, and American Greetings, which has a 90% off sale until they close this week.

P- insisted that I blog about this one: we were in Macy’s and she was looking at watches. She pointed out one, saying “This is the travel watch, so you can see with time it is in different worlds“. I had to be a wise guy, and say “Oh, so you can tell the time in World of Warcraft, or find out when it is in Second Life”.

Reality show of the week: “Grease – the One that I Want” is a much nicer version of American Idol. All of the contestants have real talent – they get to sing non-60’s songs to show off their talents. I joined the stage crew when my high school did Grease, and boy I remember the songs and the fun times.

Parareality show of the week: Medium had a rocking episode Wednesday with “Better Off Dead”. It’s amazing how they manage to come up with new twists that keep this series fresh. I’m really looking forward to next week’s episode, where they turn everyone into dolls in a dollhouse.

I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts lately. ChinesePod’s Saturday Show had a segment about the use of the word “Oriental” vs “Asian“, the former acceptable in the UK, while rarely acceptable in the US, while the latter is preferred in the US, and in the UK only refers to South Asian Indians.

On the Daily Breakfast, Fr. Roderick describes his childhood taunting from other Dutch schoolchildren because his grandmother was Shanghainese, and his hair is black, not blonde. Now he wants to learn Chinese – possibly through Michigan State University’s Zon – think Berlitz meets Second Life, except in this massively multiuser game, you have to talk to everyone in Chinese just to get out of the virtual Beijing airport. My father has relatives in Suriname, which used to be called Dutch Guyana, and I think I have some distant cousins in the Netherlands (you need a scorecard to keep track of the extended relatives).

Weather: 25 degrees going up to 37, snow/sleet hitting the ground not sticking. I didn’t want to go out today for lunch, but Golden Crust has $1 Jamaican beef patties until the end of January, so we didn’t want to miss out.

Cellphones: I pay too much for phone service that I don’t use all of. Even with my mom on as a family plan, I have like a gizillion rollover minutes on Cingular. On the other hand my SMS plan gets occasionally maxed out and the occasional long distance call is killer. My plan is over in April; while the iPhone looks fantastic, I have to think that the Samsung BlackJack, the Cingular 8525 or something Windows Mobile will be more practical.

Incredibly painful 2 days of American Idol. Maybe it was the editing, but it seemed that most of the contestants thought it was a costume contest, not a talent show. The montage of 27 different butcherings of the Pussycat Dolls’ Don’t Cha was crazy.

Been watching more of the cable channel G4 especially because of their tech coverage (miss CNET TechTV), and seeing lots of the old and new video games. Some of the best music actually ended up in video games. I’m re-discovering Japanese singer Utada Hikaru. She has more talent in her pinkie than two cities full of Idol wanabes. She composes, sings, and is awesome on the piano. Why aren’t they signing her up? And yes, she’s a New Yorker and an alumnae of SSW’s school. There’s a touring concert series called “Video Games Live” that performs video game themes. Will have to find them when they get to this neck of the woods.

Kingdom Hearts PS2 finale (song composed by Utada)

Unplugged version

Video Games Live orchestra version

Video Games Live tribute to 8-bit games

Brooklyn Museum: The lines were 1.5 hours to get into the Annie Leibovitz (show your Metrocard for 2 for 1 admission until 1/21). I really liked the photos that had the subjects either in action or in their environment. Did she have a good eye, or did just her notoriety attract the beautiful and the elite? I think she had her own doubts, because she would self-assign projects such as going to Sarajevo in the middle of the Balkan War or shoot landscapes in the American Midwest. She was the most sure of herself when photographing family. Check it out before it closes next week. At least they have an enclosed foyer filled with Rodin castings to wait in.

Franny’s – After enduring the crowds, we went to one of the upstart Brooklyn pizza contenders, Frannie’s. For those that know me, you can figure out the obvious attraction. Features: organic locally sourced ingredients, meats cured and made into sausage on premises, wood-burning brick oven, ultra thin crust. We ordered the Tomato and Buffalo Mozzarella with Anchovies and Chilies, and Tomato and Mozzarella with House-Made Sausage pizzas, which are individual dinner-plate sized (about equal to 2-3 regular slices). The desserts were not appealing (everything was too creamy), so we ordered the “Satsumas and Cara Caras with Hot Pepper and Bitetto Olive Salsa”, which our waitress had said that a number of people had ordered instead as a fruit plate. All very good, although you do pay for the organic ingredients – it’s about the same price as Grimaldi’s for a slightly smaller pie and twice as expensive as your neighborhood pizza. For straight-up quality though, I have to give a slight edge to Franny’s over Grimaldi’s. Tje crust is the best part – it has that perfect softness/crispiness that is so hard to achieve. The toppings, while seemingly skimpy, are rich and blend perfectly, and don’t end up all over your lap. Recommended.

In a world record for me, I’ve actually satisfied the first half of my new year’s resolution in only 12 days by joining up with the YMCA with P- today. The local YMCA facility is brand new. The second half is to start swim classes.

In other purchases, bought a fine mesh conical strainer. It will come in handy the next time I’m making a gravy from roast beef. Bailed on buying an OXO water kettle. Tasty treats from Sahadi’s and the store next door, Damascus Bakery. They have really good, not too sweet Halvah, a sesame desert made from a secret receipe.

Momofuku Ando, the inventor of instant noodles, passes away at age 96. Obviously the stuff, or maybe his determination, preserved him.

I remember living off of a case of Cup Noodle during a pretty lean month. Yes, it is only a part of a balanced diet – it’s best to add stuff to boost its nutritional value. Thanks for making something hot and tasty only 3 minutes away.