sopwith59

09:25 pm: a few handmade postcards
A sampling of my doodles (each on a 4" x 6" card) from the past several years, unearthed from my mom's vast collection. (She's kept every card and letter I've ever sent.)

07:46 pm: itsy bitsy watercolors

I painted these, each on a 2.5" square sheet, using a "Kids' Krafts mini painting kit" ($1.00 at Sav-A-Thon) with a tiny palette of 8 colors and a toothpick-sized brush... while visiting my mother in Florida a couple of weeks ago.

12:29 pm: 1990 photo

Me in a sweater my mom knitted, and a brown felt hat (barely visible) someone talked me into buying in Soho...

12:54 pm: fickle fate

I was about nine years old, I think, when "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" aired for the first time. My fourth grade class was immediately wowed. In no time we were all proclaiming  "Sock it to me!" or "Here come da judge!" We argued about the meaning of "bippy."

I especially remember the Flying Fickle Finger of Fate Award. Oh yes, I knew what fickle meant. One day you have a best friend, the next she's a stranger, criticizing your outfit in front of everybody in the playground.
 

I also remember learning about the wheel of fortune later, as a college freshman. The kind in medieval literature, not the game show.

What am I blathering about? The unpredictable nature of events. 

My main "takeaway" from all life's lessons is YOU NEVER KNOW. 

I will now tell an illustrative tale.

On Tuesday night, in the drizzle, my friend Leigh and I waited on line outside the Delacorte Theater but just missed getting tickets. There were only five or six people ahead of us when the announcement came: "Sorry, folks. We're all out."

Leigh immediately strode off and I scampered after him. We climbed up the nearby hill and gazed out over the water, and could see some of the theater seats through the trees. We could certainly hear the audience well enough, laughing uproariously at the wit of "Twelfth Night." But of course we couldn't see the action or hear the play itself.

Humbug.






Then I turned and the twinkle of cellophane and ribbon caught my eye. Behind us, a few people were clustered at a stone wall, busily involved with piles of boxes and paper bags. Caterers, it turned out. They were packing up after some sort of fancy event. One man addressed us as we strolled past, offering, "Would you like some food? We have plenty left over. It's all wrapped. Take some water, too..."

Under  a big green ribbon, nestled in a pretty green-and-white paper tray, lay my incredible manna-from-heaven dinner.  Cold salmon cooked to perfection, with a side dish of  buckwheat noodles and fava beans and avocado, and a heaping of sesame-oiled seaweed salad. I also found an appetizer of light-as-air spring rolls with dipping sauce, and a long wedge of fresh pineapple. Inside the small white shopping bags we had also been handed were bottles of Poland Spring water and wrapped packages of cookies: each with two macarons (lemon poppy seed) and two round scallop-edge cake-like cookies.

I spread two big garbage bags I'd brought from home across a bench in the Ramble, where we sat down. The air was muggy and  mosquito-laden, and fat raccoons waddled nearby.  As we feasted, it was quiet but for the occasional vroom! of a Central Park Conservancy jeep and weird atonal music issuing from afar (maybe from SummerStage, midpark). We also saw a cardinal. "What's it doing here? I think the music woke it up," said Leigh.

I saved the cookies and appetizer to bring home.  Today I ate two cookies. O ethereal macaron! You were perfect.  In the other cookie, I detected almond paste and honey in the dough encircling a dried sour cherry. (I wonder what this delightful morsel is called.)

I now rest my que sera case.





One last thing: the caterer is called Neuman's. I glanced at their website:
caterernyc.com

10:38 pm: frolicking in Target
Jonathan pretending to fill a coffee pot with beer:

 


Posing for surveillance cameras:

10:08 pm: bread and chocolate

 


I made a no-knead bread yesterday for the umpteenth time and this morning, chocolate sorbet, and tonight, chocolate wafer cookies.

The cornerstones of a healthy diet, ahem.

06:21 pm: Central Park boat pond

06:01 pm: melon cake

A couple of weeks ago, my brother Henry and his friend Danny and I were exploring Chinatown together.

Danny led us to 83 Mulberry Street. The Lung Moon Bakery belongs to cousins of his.

Thanks to his advice, I bought shrimp chips, chocolate rum balls, and almond cookies.

Danny said his favorite of their offerings is the melon cake, so I tried that too.

A package contains 4 cakes. He was right: they're flaky and flavorful and not too sweet.






 

I searched the web for any mention of these cakes, and found the following discussion:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/200031

Apparently they're a variety of pastry some call Hopia.

The post on Chowhound, from 2003:

Hi Frank,

I read your piece with interest. Since you seem to know something about Chinese pastries, I'm hoping you might be able to help me. I'm looking for a Chinese (Taiwanese?) pastry that is white, circular, VERY flaky (not spongy at all), with a mildly sweet pasty filling, and usually stamped with a red dot in the center. I live overseas and would love to find a place that would be willing to ship some to me. If not, simply a name for these fabulous delights would be great. Thanks! --Deb

 Deb Apr 16, 2003 02:04AM 
re: Deb 

I've definitely had them at one of the bakeries on Grand St. or my favorite bakery on the corner of Elisabeth and Hester. I'm not sure if they always have a red dot on when I've seen them but they are very flakey. Are they filled with red bean paste or lotus seed paste. I'll keep an eye out when I go tomorrow.

 Iron Frank Apr 17, 2003 12:35AM 
re: Deb 

Based on my research(i.e. walking around chinatown and eating way too much) I believe I've found what you're looking for. They're called Hopia. Traditionally that's a Phillipino term but that's what all of these Chinese bakeries were calling them. They come wrapped in a thick white tissue paper lined up four across.

On Mulberry St. you can get them at:
Lung Moon Bakery
83 Mulberry St. NY 10013
212-349-4945

Here they have three varieties called simply Melon Cake, Red Bean Cake, and Lotus Cake. A package of 4 is $2.

On Mott St. they sell them at Fung Wong bakery, 41 Mott St. NY 10013
212-267-4037

They have a sign outside proudly proclaiming they have the best Hopia around.

I didn't try the hopia at Kwong Wah Cake Co. at 210 Grand Street but I know it's a good bakery based on the moon pies I've had there. They definitely sell what you're looking for as well.

Enjoy!
Frank

05:11 pm: mad hat

Tried this crazy hat on today at E.A.T. Gifts, a toy store on Madison Avenue. Bruce snapped the picture.

Lord only knows the price--since no tag was attached and I felt disinclined to ask, especially after learning that they charge $6.25 for a sheet of stickers!  That's right.

I'm afraid I look here just a little like the Wicked Witch of the West. I mean, the formidable Margaret Hamilton. Oh, say it isn't so... my little pretty!

06:25 pm: noodling around

Homemade pasta! My first attempt! Excitement and suspense built with each step of the process.

Last night I made the dough, from semolina flour, salt, water, olive oil and two eggs (using the recipe on the back of the bag of Bob's Red Mill semolina flour). I refrigerated the ball of dough overnight and tonight carefully rolled it out as thin as I could, and cut it into strips as narrow as I could manage, using a pizza-wheel cutter.














Tomato basil sauce, parmesan cheese and pine nuts atop this fresh pasta made for a delicious dinner.




I felt proud.

And also, inevitably, a bit stuffed.



I call this a success. It will definitely not be my last time at the noodle game!

11:58 am: a balloon with a mind of its own

On Wednesday afternoon, June 3rd, I ran down the subway stairs but just missed the 1 train at Broadway and 103rd Street. 

The platform was empty but for a single pink balloon.

It drifted toward me at about the height of my shoulders, coming very close before reversing course and moving away, down the platform, at a seemingly purposeful pace.

I followed, never quite fast enough to catch it.

It ventured out across the rails and lingered there, settling on the ground for a few seconds before picking itself up again and advancing to the other side of the platform. It played peek-a-boo behind a post. It slowly passed the lone man standing on that (uptown-bound) platform.

I finally realized this star turn called for video documentation--just as my train arrived. Goodbye, balloon, and good luck on your mysterious mission.

09:24 pm: strawberry lemon curd tart
Something happens to one's memory... or attention... as one ages. Or so it seemed yesterday, when over the course of the day Jonathan and I purchased two pints of strawberries, unintentionally. First we bought some at Whole Foods and then, later in the day, both of us having forgotten the earlier purchase, picked up another pint at the Associated on West 100th Street near Central Park.

Today I felt obliged to do something with this surfeit of fruit.

I used Dorie Greenspan's recipe for the tart crust, mixing it up in the food processor, and took a short cut by opening a jar of Meyer lemon curd, rather than making that from scratch.

Sumptuous berries, washed and ready:



My tart pan with a removable bottom, buttered and awaiting the crust:



The food processor, doing its stuff:



The page from BAKING by Dorie Greenspan, on "sweet tart dough":




The dough, pressed into the pan, to be placed in the freezer for an hour:



After a half-hour of baking, golden brown:






Two varieties of lemon curd. I settled on the Meyer lemon kind:



The tart in all its glory:



Me and my creation:

08:59 am: Views
From a high, mesh-enclosed bridge between buildings of Methodist Hospital in Park Slope, Brooklyn, on Wednesday. I liked how the wire squares made the background seem to ripple a bit...

09:22 am: Another independent bookstore about to close...
Last days of Morningside Books, sorry to report.

08:27 pm: Paean to princes of pizza
To reach Sal and Carmine
we needn't go far.
They're right across Broadway.
How lucky we are.

08:13 pm: On the mend...
Bruce called not long ago tonight, said the endoscopy had gone okay (some duodenal bleeding was found, and cauterized) and he'll be recuperating the next few days. He sounded much relieved. Me too...

10:52 pm: Worrisome news...
My beloved friend Bruce is sick. I spent today in the emergency room with him.

He became very weak and dehydrated over the past few days, and today at the hospital they said he has gastrointestinal bleeding. He'll be having various tests, and he'll be moved to the Intensive Care Unit where I plan to visit him again tomorrow.

I am hoping with all my might that the doctors figure out the problem and help him toward a speedy recovery.

And I hope he's sleeping well right now...





I saw this beautiful flower display this morning. Some friendships are as beautiful as this.

09:53 am: Paris video clips
A few highlights from my recent trip.

Horse race at Auteuil:



Dinner at La Coupole, interrupted by this celebration:



May Day morning, in front of Hôtel de Ville:



May Day demonstrators:

09:54 pm: One more collage...
Jonathan wanted to buy some gifts for his mother and sisters for Mother's Day tomorrow, so we stopped in at Mondel's this afternoon, a chocolate and candy store at 2913 Broadway, a small family-run business that's been around for many years. Their truffles are great. Katharine Hepburn had been a devoted customer, as they are proud to publicize (via a newspaper clipping, of which they provide photocopies).

The walls across from the counter bear shelves lined with... bears, as well as other plush animals, and decorative tins. (They know what matters in life!) Perfect for another collage.

07:59 pm: Pizza pizza pizza!
This afternoon we finally tried V&T Pizza (on Amsterdam Avenue near 110th Street). I liked the menu cover:




The pizza? Maybe not as good as the thin-crusted slices of heaven at Vezzo nor the unforgettable pies of Sal & Carmine's (Broadway near 102nd Street) but mighty good!

Below, some photos I took, after tinkering with the "collage" function of Picasa 3, Google's image software.



Oh, that makes me dizzy! But why stop? Here's another experiment, using photos I took of my recent thrift shop find...



But now the room is spinning. See you later...