summer thing 14: perfect summer days

what follows is the cliche, yet obligatory urban-dweller post about awesome food. consider yourself warned.

yesterday my nonsexual soulmate (who shall be called NSS in all future posts) and i trekked to Chinatown for a real, genuine $7 day. in which we would spend no more than $7 for the day. we purchased all of the edible goodness that you see here at the dumpling house on eldridge st in chinatown for $3 a piece. i had to give my vegetarianness a rest (again) in exchange for cheap and tasty pork buns and a peking duck pancake.

we followed up our filling $3 meal with a trip to the chinatown ice cream factory (goodbye veganism), where i savored my "zen butter" ice cream, which cost $3.75 (yep, more than my whole lunch). zen butter tasted a lot like sesame, peanut butter and something else indescribably rich and tasty. yum.

as if the day wasn't awesome enough, the weather was a non-humid 75 or so degrees and sunny. i felt like i was back in my overprivileged college days, when i took the sunshine, palm trees and abundance of tanned, attractive swimmers for granted.

the afternoon ended at the strand, where we broke our $7 rule to buy $1 bargain books for our classrooms. so that didn't really count anyway. exciting purchases for ms. f? The Bluest Eye and Beloved, by Toni Morrison, neither of which I've ever read. I'm accruing quite a reading list for the following year. more to follow on that soon.

equally fabulous? the dinner party i attended in the evening. great wine (complete with an exciting stick on the bottle), food, and conversation dominated the evening. not to give myself airs or anything, but i think i was only slightly socially awkward. it was such a great night that the train ride from brooklyn to the upper east side at midnight didn't seem so bad. i even rewarded myself for such a pleasant day with a 1 am hot chocolate (which i suppose brought my spending total to $9 all in all). perfect ending to a fabulously leisurely day.

fyi--i imagine my posts next week won't have this happy go lucky feel, as tomorrow is my last summer vacation day. savor the upbeat blog while you can people, because it won't last much longer.

ms f's summer thing #5!

what is it?

well...it's summer!

i know, you're asking, "can 'summer' really be counted as a 'new summer thing' as it happens every year between the months of june and august?" yes. why? because i say so.

i know you non teachers are probably grumbling at me right now about how i get 8 precious weeks off from the end of june to the end of august. well, you know what? i need every single minute of this vacation. from september to june i am: teacher/tutor/role model/surrogate parent/disciplinarian/
counselor/college advice giver/cheesy joke teller to 100 emotionally unstable, hormonally-driven teenagers to whom i have no biological ties. it's exhausting. so i'm going to describe in detail why today i was frequently reminded of the awesomeness of summer.

9 am: i woke up. nearly 4 hours after my typical school year wake up call. i woke up when my body wanted to, thank you very much. and it was luxurious. i peered at the alarm clock around 8am and thought "no thanks" and slept some more until i was fully ready to face my relaxing day.

11:45 am: i went to the gym. during the summer, i don't have to have a post-work workout like the rest of the city. i got to do my work out today alongside spandex clad ladies who lunch, t-shirt clad retired ladies, and the ever so unfortunately wife-beater clad muscle men whose jobs apparently require them to spend hours on end getting sweaty, smelly and pumped at the gym. it's a whole different feel than the tense "i just left the office for 45 minutes to work out my massive stress before i have to get back to my extremely busy and important work life" vibe of the 6:30-8pm crowd.

2pm: lunch at the shake shack with a couple friends. i've been hearing about this place for ages but never tried before. do you live in nyc? can you stand for a good 25-30 minutes in line for lunch? then i recommend this place. good for the soul, probably bad for the rest of you.

confession: remember how i said i was giving up bad foods? my goal: give up meat and dairy. well, i had a moment of introspection as i examined the menu at shake shack while waiting in line. after that very brief moment, i decided that it's really impractical to follow through on the no meat/no dairy when eating out with friends (particularly at a burger joint). and anyway, one lunch won't ruin my healthy living forever. (just for 4 years until the grease clears from my arteries). so, i decided to go to (still vegetarian) town. i had a deep-fried, muenster and cheddar filled portabello mushroom on a bun. with fries. and possibly the most amazing vanilla milkshake on the planet. it honestly tasted like it was made with homemade ice cream. and love.

i sat there with my food, wondering what on earth possessed me to fathom not eating cheese.

4:30pm: i think i ate too much. so i decided to walk the 50 or so blocks home from union square because a) it was a gorgeous day and b) i was so full i wasn't sure i could actually sit down on the subway.

5:30pm: after a leisurely hour of walking and stopping into bookstores, my feet were beginning to blister because of my poor choice of walking shoes. time to catch the bus.

this is why summer is awesome. from 9-5 i did exactly what i wanted and it was amazing.

also, if you got married this summer and i attended your wedding and did not mention it on here, don't be offended. your wedding rocked. you had a mean playlist (Gene Simmons at a wedding? bold move. but it paid off), cozy ceremony, and a generally fabulous day. and personalized m&ms ( i definitely took extras that were left on the table, fyi). just ask my roommate/parents/other friends--to whom i wouldn't stop talking about how lovely your wedding was (they were all like "okay. that's enough. you're being embarrassing. go get your own wedding already if you liked theirs so much!"). ok. was that awkward? sorry.

i'm done now.

ms f's new summer thing #3

i went to the dentist today. i was pretty anxious, as i hadn't been to a dentist in nearly 5 years...i was envisioning a nightmare visit that would culminate in a judgy lecture about flossing (which i do every day) and multiple fillings (which i've never had). pleasant surprise: the dentist was really friendly and the visit was speedy. i have NO cavities and "beautiful teeth." thank you 4 years of braces and a short stint in 5th grade with headgear. way to pay off years down the line.

but on to other things...

new summer thing 3: healthy food.

this is horrible (and possibly counter to my new love of the food network). in college i contemplated marketing the "cookie dough diet" as a sustainable way of life. in grad school i spent an entire month living off of chocolate chip ice cream (think 1 gallon every other day) and chocolate chip bagels. at the pizza place on my corner, the owner knows me by sight, and will start getting my 2 enormous cheese and mushroom slices in the oven before i've even ordered. and let's be honest--if dessert were a man, i'd marry it. cheesecake? apple pie? you know i'm single and waiting.

so why the change? i think it would feel better if i ate better. let's face it--i was a tired, caffeine dependent robot this past year AND i spent too much money on takeout. if i eat better, i'll be less likely to go out to eat, because...there's nothing healthy on the menu? maybe it's not that bad, but i'll be more inclined to cook, which will help affirm my position in the world as an actual grown up--not just a kid pretending she's an adult because she has her mom's old, high quality, hand me down pots and pans. i'll let you know how it goes. but--as evidence of my new habits (for those of you who've been around me anytime in the past 5 years)--i've gone 2 weeks without coffee OR diet pepsi. or soda in general. AMAAAAZING. i also baked vegan brownies the other day. from scratch. they called for tofu. sounded weird, tasted awesome. in fact, i made more tonight. and ate 4 of them (some things will probably never change).

ms f's new summer thing #2

yesterday i introduced you to my new thing #1 of the summer: bikram yoga. i did another class today, possibly getting sweatier than the first class. i'm sore in places i didn't think could get sore. and i finally found a place where i am not the stretchiest person in the room. i sorta felt inadequate. but i think it love it a little.

and before i get to thing #2 of the summer, can i just say that i just received a catalog in the mail called "Oriental Trading Co. Weddings." your one stop catalog shop for all things bridal. that should come in handy when i get married. in 30 years. but that's neither here nor there.
onward:


new summer thing 2: the food network

i used to have a thing for the food network--back when "Iron Chef America" was just getting started, and i thought "Ace of Cakes" was kinda neat, and back before america was on rachel ray overload. but then things cooled between us for a bit and i dabbled in my "OC" phase, had a brief fling with "Prison Break" and returned to my first love, "What Not to Wear."

but you know what? food network's winning me back, baby. how did they do it? blame that watchable bobby flay, what with his "Next Food Network Star" (did you know Lisa had an 11 year old son? WHAT?! i thought she was like 27!) and "Boy Meets Grill," i've started to check and see what's on food network FIRST, rather than as a last resort. perhaps this is part of the growing up process? i'd continue on here, but i actually really do want to go see what's on my new fave network.

watch for thing #3 (and possibly a blog about visiting the dentist) tomorrow...

ms. f and the west village

despite living in what many tout as the "most exciting" city in the US, i am incredibly lazy in my time off. example: yesterday, i woke up after 11am and didn't get out of my pajamas until after 6pm. and that was only because i needed to run an errand. when i returned home, i promptly climbed back into my pjs and onto the couch and enjoyed the food network, hgtv and some quality syndicated television. because i am 80 years old. oh yeah, i also spent a good 3-4 hours lusting after the new iphone. i played out the whole "it's worth it/it's not worth it" debate in my mind for a solid hour. i really want the stupid thing. but i'm not going to get it (but i want it. it is cool).

i know. i'm lame. it's my summer vacation and i should be out enjoying 1)my freedom 2)the city.

so today i met up with a couple fabulous people and headed down the orange line to the west village. i like the village. i rarely go there, and i always forget how many cute places to eat, shop and watch people cooler than myself exist down below the neatly organized grid streets.

anyway.

we had reduced price cookies at rockefeller center to help sustain us on the 10 minute ride downtown. yum. the sweets helped subdue the annoyance i felt toward all of the aimless wandering tourists that were slowing down my pace (i hate it when people walk down the middle of a sidewalk REALLY slowly gazing up at the buildings, while their fanny packs and camera cases prevent you from passing on either side of them. honestly. step aside).

we then wandered around downtown for quite a while until we hit Grey Dog where, ironically, a huge grey dog and his owner were chillin outside. inside, we had sandwiches and sat at a table with a painted map of oregon. random. sadly, seal rock was nowhere to be found (they'll be getting a letter from me soon).

dessert #1 was gelato at Grom . i felt all adventurous ordering the tiramisu flavor which was AMAZING because it had chunks of this graham cracker crust goodness in it. the prices were a bit on the high end, but apparently Grom's gelato uses fruit grown entirely on their own organic farm (called Mura Mura, which i learned today also means "cheap" in tagalog. unclear if these two things are related).

dessert #2 came at Rocco's. amazing. i was practically salivating as we made our way to the back of the very long line of eager dessert-eaters. sadly i was too full to enjoy any of the incredible tasty offerings. perhaps i'll go back tomorrow. i can almost hear the chocolate dipped cannolis calling my name.

as we hit up 3 eateries in less than 2 hours i felt very "food network special." it was awesome. and i managed to refrain from turning to the imaginary camera to pose with my food, or comment on my impressive ability to eat a lot for a little in such a big city. that would've been awkward.

did i mention that last week i decided i want to give up meat and dairy and see if it helps my energy level and general overall health? based on today my willpower to change my ways needs a little encouragement.