I’m 30!

April 24, 2008 by karen

I turned 30 last weekend! Friday to be exact.

Despite turning what seems to be very old, I had an excellent weekend. We kicked off the festivities on Thursday evening with a last minute plan to go to the Yankee/Red Sox game at Yankee Stadium. Thanks, Mo! Dennis and Matt were up for the last minute plan and met up with us at Union Square. A squashed 20 minute subway ride uptown and we had arrived at the stadium just in time to catch the national anthem and $80 worth of beers.

Even though Yankee Stadium seemed to be out of everything by the fourth inning: cups! sausages! dogs! and the Yankees lost, it was a great night thanks to the weather, good company and ice cream from the future.

After the game we headed downtown and rang in the 18th at Scratcher. Dennis got a tattoo and I got some birthday notes.

Friday (my birthday!) couldn’t have been better. We had beautiful weather and my mom came in to see me and the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens.

It’s a great time of year to check out the gardens because the cherry blossoms are out in full force for the next several weeks. Go check it out if you haven’t already.

Up next, a nap! Because that’s what you do when your 30. Recognize.

My Mom headed home and I headed out to to meet Alex for happy hour drinks at Vol de Nuit and dinner at the insanely delicious Blue Hill. They have a beautiful farm upstate and recently opened up a restaurant in NYC under the same name. I definitely recommend you check it out if you haven’t already. However, don’t wear flip flops–even if they are your fancy flip flops… In a food coma after consuming too much sweet potato ravioli and apple crumble, Alex and I headed home and caught some sleep before Saturday’s big events.

Saturday was another amazing day in regards to the weather. We started off the morning at Prospect park with Sasha, headed back out later for a run, stopped by the farmers market and then spent the remainder of the afternoon cleaning up our garden for the summer bbq season. By the time the garden was cleared of our winter rubbish, it was time for some kimchi. We met up with my whole crew at Moim in Park Slope for some excellent Korean food. Dinner was followed with many delicious drinks at Flatbush Barn—particulalry the Mo’ Stormy (ginger juice, gingerale, dark rum, mint, lime). It was an excellent time and even better the next day when I managed to escape a birthday hangover! Yay! 30!

p.s. Thanks to Dennis for some of the photos. Sadly, I have no photos from Saturday because I was too busy with the Mo’ Stormys and friends.

Posted in Events, Food & Drink 4 Comments »

Lusting after a Ghetto Blaster in 2008

April 19, 2008 by alex

This morning Gabe sent me a link to this absolutely beautiful piece of audio gear - Lasonic’s iPod Ghetto Blaster. I cannot express to you how awesome I think this is and the fact that it got such a stellar review is even more exciting. The price is a reasonable $170 but sadly there’s not much specific info on when and where you can buy one. A quick hit from the review:

This isn’t the most technically advanced or well-built audio gadget around, but that’s not what this is about. The i931 gives a nod to the past with it’s head in the future, exuding charisma along the way. At $170, you get a that sounds good, and it doesn’t break the bank if you buy it just as a novelty item. Personally, this will be one of my favorite gadgets I ever play with.

Click here to read the full review and feast your eyes on all the awesome photos.

Posted in Reviews, Thoughts 1 Comment »

The Wackness trailer drops

April 15, 2008 by alex

Check out the trailer for my buddy Jon’s movie, The Wackness, due out in July. With some luck, Karen and I might be able to catch a screening prior to the official release, in which case we’ll report back and tell you all to go see it.

Read some more about it at I Watch Stuff.

Posted in Entertainment, Friends, New York, Thoughts No Comments »

Shepard Fairey nails it again

April 15, 2008 by alex

How excellent are his covers for 1984 and Animal Farm (2 of the most memorable books I read during my childhood)?

Posted in Thoughts No Comments »

TOADs

April 13, 2008 by karen

I have become so terrible about posting my TOAD photos that I now feel like I need to make an announcement every time they go up. I’ve been waist deep in freelance lately and finally got around to posting the last two weeks of TOADs today.

The above is a little teaser to get you excited about the rest of the set. It’s our team photo from bocce finals yesterday. We made it out of the first two rounds alive and are headed to the elite eight in two weeks.

Check out the rest of the TOADs here.

Posted in Projects No Comments »

Beautiful photos of Americans commuting

April 8, 2008 by alex

Really great set of photographs by Vincent Laforet called The Long Way There. The tilt shift lens is what gives them the odd “model” feel. Good stuff.

bonus trivia: he and I went to the same international grade school, The Lycee Francais de New York in NYC. (warning: be prepared to get your French on if you click that link)

Check out the whole set here . (courtesy of kottke)

Posted in Thoughts 1 Comment »

Virginia Chutney: building a chutney empire - one jar at a time.

April 6, 2008 by alex

Here’s a great piece about the Virginia Chutney Company (made of up of our friend Oliver Turner and his lovely parents) and how, whether you realize it or not, chutney is sweeping the nation. In fact,

…if you think you’ve never eaten chutney, you’re probably wrong. Ever had ketchup? Or McDonald’s sweet and sour sauce on chicken nuggets? Then you’ve had chutney, says Oliver Turner.

Chutney can take on many forms, but it’s basically some combination of fruit, vinegar and sugar, he says.

Don’t let the mention of McDonald’s steer you away. We’ve had a few of the Turners’ flavors and really enjoyed them. If you’re looking for a condiment alternative for your meats, sandwiches, etc. have a look at www.virginiachutney.com.

Read the rest of the piece here.

Posted in Food & Drink, Friends, Recommendation, Thoughts No Comments »

Waffles (wafels) and Dinges

April 5, 2008 by karen

Phew!

I just had a minor freak out when I saw my friend Donny’s flickr stream that he posted photos of his visit to the Wafels and Dinges truck in Brooklyn last week (note: not the first Saturday of the month as today is, as when I was anticipating that the waffles would be back in town). But not to worry waffle fans because it turns out the truck is now here EVERY Saturday at 7th and Carrol. Thank god. I’ve had this day marked on my calendar since last month.

If you haven’t already, do yourself a favor and go check it out.

p.s. Photo by Donny Tsang who is an excellent food photographer.

Posted in Food & Drink No Comments »

We Heart It

April 2, 2008 by karen

I finally ffffound a solution for not having a fffound.com account. weheartit.com seems to do exactly what I was looking for: bookmark images I like from graphic design to zen gardens so that I could create a library of inspiration images. It also allows you to bookmarks videos.

If you were having trouble tracking down a ffffound invite, check out weheartit.com. Though, if you have a ffffound invite, feel free to send it to me. I’m still curious to check it out despites the obvious elitist invite only attitude.

p.s. Interesting that both apps use hearts for a logo….

Posted in Recommendation 2 Comments »

To think we used to call him “Baby Ryan”

March 28, 2008 by karen

Finally caught up on posting my TOAD (take one a day) photos after ignoring it for nearly a month. Scurry over to Flickr and check it out.

Posted in Projects No Comments »