other end

weekend jaunt

Plans for this weekend were up and down, back and forth, resulting in where I sit right now- on the Amtrak hugging the Hudson River, somewhere south of Poughkeepsie, on my way to Brooklyn. Meeting D&P for the flurry of activity that is the borough of Kings. Oh, and Queens. Today we'll see Rachael perform with her band Mesiko at the People's Garden in Bushwick. Coincidentally the same community garden that was near my first Brooklyn apartment. Then on Sunday another of D's friends is having a giant yard sale in Astoria, not too far from my first apartment in nyc. Should be fun. Btw, this is my first mobile blog post! update: had to give a few formatting tweaks to the mobile post.

knotted thing

last summer I started working on these knotted hanging pieces, using natural elements found in my back yard and at the beach. I made two mobiles for two baby boys who were born. how the remaining pieces survived the flood, I do not know. two larger pieces were shuffled around countless times during the move, never making it to a box, and constantly getting caught on things. I associated them with being damp for so long that it wouldn't register that they would dry out at some point. now they are snug inside our apartment, and I've decided to do a little more work on them. I started thinking of neon colors and found this vinyl cord in pink and green. the rest of the piece is made from cotton cord, copper and brass wire, and a piece of drift wood from jacob riis park. jacob riis, part of a national seashore area comprised of former military bases, became a city dump for all of the refuse of the hurricane. the beach before the storm was sort of wild, compared to the combed ones run by the city further east towards civilization, like rockaway. scattered along it were sculptures and sculptural furniture, crafted out of driftwood and beach refuse. I always came back from jacob riis inspired, with a couple of natural relics in my bag, and that refreshed feeling that only being by the ocean can provide. it was one of those places in new york city that seemed like it shouldn't have been there.

central park

at old hollywood

double wing necklace.
vintage trifari brooch transformed into a pendant. brass chain, copper wire, waxed cotton cord.



op art necklace.
hand made enamel pendant, multiple copper and brass chains, sterling silver clasp.



blue lake necklace.
someone's art project, (ceramic) antiqued copper chain, copper wire.



jaw braker necklace.
glossy vintage japanese faceted plastic beads, copper wire, brass chain.

old hollywood.

imagining brooklyn

I was checking the weather forecast when I noticed how simply brooklyn is shown in this google map on the national weather service website. if you've never been here, it can be hard to imagine what it looks like in comparison to manhattan or the rest of new york. Brooklyn is the southwestern-most point on long island, bordered on the north and east by queens.

The large land mass on the SW corner of the map is Staten Island, with New Jersey and Manhattan above it on the other side of the NY harbor. The tail coming out below Brooklyn from the SE is the area known as the Rockaways. The area above it with the little islands is Jamaica bay- the solid rectangle is JFK airport. There is a train that runs through the middle of Jamaica Bay, which you can see on the map.

sneaky peeky

today

I had an appointment to get my hair cut in Williamsburg (Hair Metal- it's the best. go there! get your hair cut!) so b came along and we made a day out of it. In fact hair metal is so good that I waited a full 14 months to get my hair cut after my last one. before I found the place, I was going from salon to salon, always slightly unhappy with both the results and the vibe (being rushed is not fun when it's your hair and your money) so sheesh- I'm so glad i found this place. this time I had the owner Ed, since the sweet woman who cut my hair last has since moved out of state. Ed is awesome. I always feel slightly uncomfortable in hair salons- he's the first stylist i've had who didn't give me that uneasy feeling. plus i love the whole *metal* concept- the place plays nothing but (at a comfortable volume) and has the walls painted in tattoo- inspired murals. I'm no metal head, but the salon somehow works for me.

after my cut we walked over to saint's alp for a snack. we had a few hours to kill until the next event, so I suggested we get b some new glasses. boy, does he need them! we wandered north into greenpoint and found the most awesome polish eyeglass place, right on the corner of manhattan ave. and meserole ave. the sort of generic name optical warehouse outlet doesn't do the place justice- b and I just remembered it being there since it's a few doors down from old hollywood. geared at the polish community in greenpoint, they have an amazing selection of frames and a very knowledgeable and helpful staff.

so then onto the L train and clear across to the west side of manhattan, for a visit to one of my favorite places on earth, the high line. the greenery is really growing in since it was planted last year, looking all full and lush. from 20th street we could see through the fence to phase ii, which is coming along and will add another 10 blocks to the park. heading down the stairs to exit, we were deposited in front of 7Eleven Gallery, which always has something fun going on. the current exhibition, make yourself at home, features installations of various rooms in a house, plus freestanding pieces, all made with funkified combinations of junk and found materials.

from there we walked along the hudson river park which itself has seen a huge transformation in the past year. so much beautiful landscaping has been added, along with improved walkways and grassy areas. near the chelsea piers we stopped by the new skate park, which was filled with (mostly) kids and some older folks on both skate boards and roller blades. too much fun!

then finally down to chinatown for ecoSalon shops! -sort of a covert, back-alley affair, only accessible by a human-operated freight elevator. I found out about it through feral childe's mailing list, but realized that ecoSalon was the same blog that had done a post on me months back, comparing my name to nancy drew! it was a really fun event, presenting eco-minded clothing and jewelry designers; purveyors of chocolate, vodka and tea; (all providing samples of course) and my personal favorite buddha nose, from whom I bought both their booster spray and heart spray. just the thing to freshen you up during the sticky summer!

and finally, finally, we grabbed a bite at our favorite chinatown vietnamese restaurant, nha trang.

salami heads

b and I were walking through little italy last week when we saw the weirdest thing in a shop window- heads made of salami and bread. I started snapping photos when the owner came out to lock up. she told us that the now-faded meat heads were busts of the Giants' top draft picks, as documented by the Daily News article in the window. she also threw in the fact that the Giants didn't get their picks. Although DiPalo's window is refrigerated, the salami is now fading, giving the dudes an eerie washed-out appearance. "guess it's time to throw them away!" she said. the busts were created by the shop owner's friend, who loves to make food sculpture, and occasionally drops his work off at the store.

for a rainy tuesday

Snoozer Loser Spring/Summer 2010, video by Johnny Woods.

our dark and cave-like bedroom, together with the soft rain falling on the roof, made me want to sleep all day. here's a dreamy video that made getting out of bed not so terrible.

old hollywood opens at limelight friday

whoa, I almost forgot to announce this. anyone remember the limelight disco from the 80's/90's? the famed nightclub was housed in a former gothic-style episcopal church on 6th ave. at 20th. (as was the trend of running discos in churches) but had been closed down for some time. I have a regular appointment right around the corner from there and had only peeked in the building during one of their frequent basement sample sales. (and had no clue it was the former limelight) well lo and behold, one of my fave brooklyn shop owners is opening a manhattan outpost in the soon-to-open limelight marketplace. old hollywood will be throwing its opening party at limelight tomorrow night, 7-10 p.m.

this is a great opportunity to see tiffany porter's talent for creating her vintage-nostalgic magic in its full glory. she's been spending countless hours getting the shop ready, so come on down if you have a chance.

limelight marketplace
47 w. 20th st. @ 6th ave.


(photos- ny times)

lazy days

so the coat came today. I was really excited at first, but upon closer examination I realized it had some flaws. b asked me if I was being *mollieish* as my mood fell. yeah, maybe a bit, but that didn't stop me from calling Alpha and letting them know that the quality of the women's coat isn't quite what the men's is. You see those cord button hole loops? mine arrived all frayed. the same cord is used as a drawstring on the hood and waist- also frayed. so I'm sending it back in exchange for a better one. (I hope) it's not shiny silver either. the woman at Alpha said it was the reflection made by the camera flash (they must get this question all the time) that made the jacket appear shiny. I don't believe her. b's is shiny olive green. mine is a matte silver.

the door buzzer rang at 10am, b and I both fast asleep. b bolted up in bed, looking all confused. the door, I said. will you get the door? it's probably my coat. ups. glancing up at the clock, I quickly realized it was felecia here for work, not ups. I got felecia started with her projects, then jumped in the shower. we had gone to bed early too. (for us anyway) could be my body detoxing from four days without coffee. for me *new years resolutions* are more of a subtle thing- maybe a resolve to look at things differently. or maybe this year is just different. I seem to be settling into better habits almost without effort. last year was a year to go all astray.

this week seemed to fly by. I missed paper recycling again last night. going for long walks seems to take more out of us when the weather is this cold. having regular appointments in the city is a nice excuse to get some lunch (kunjip!) visit the surly old jewelry supply store, spend some time in the main branch of the new york public library and take alternate routes heading downtown through murray hill and gramercy. b is endlessly amused by gramercy park, the one park in manhhatan we can't walk through. 30 blocks up the west side, 6 crosstown blocks east, and 37 blocks back downtown, we found ourselves at veselka in the east village. again, amazed I've never been to this place for the amount of time i've lived in this city. veselka's sidewalk seats are always packed in nice weather, sort of scaring me away. but man, I'm so glad we finally ate there. second avenue is lined with Ukrainian cultural institutions such as the Ukrainian American Youth Association, Uk. Nat'l Women's Association, Uk. Amer. Publishing House, Uk. Amer. Soccer Assocation, on and on. and yeah, there are several restaurants too, Veselka being the awesomest diner/ neighborhood hangout/ grab a quick bite kind of place. we shared some potato pancakes and chocolate peanut butter pie. possibly the best I've ever had in both categories.

tomorrow....friday. laundry...

minca, chelsea market, high line

today was tutu's last day of her visit, and we lucked out on the weather. cold but not unbearable. so after we got some work done, the three of us headed to manhattan in the late afternoon. first stop was minca ramen in the east village. b is a big fan of ramen being from south bay l.a. and he introduced me to it when we met. yum- big, steaming bowls of broth with noodles, various mushroom and sea vegetable products, half a 1000-year old egg, a couple of slices of roast pork, and chopped scallions. my standard order is the minca sio- velvety miso/chicken/pork broth with garlic, with the bean thread noodles. their kimchee is amazing as well as their daikon salad. b loves their gyoza and cold tofu appetizers.

from minca we walked north to 14th street and caught the L train west to 8th ave. in march I'll be a 6-year resident of nyc, yet it was my first visit to the chelsea market. that's how many things there are to do in this city at all times. it's housed in a former nabisco factory and the market has revived some of its food industry past, in that there are several working bakeries in the facility. our first stop was chelsea market baskets which sells not only customized gift food baskets but all the elements to make your own or buy the items a la carte. next for me was bowery kitchen supply, where I was drawn to their window lined with utilitarian glassware like a moth to a flame. inside, the store is filled with the kind of basic, no-frills cookware I love. I walked out with a beauteous new peugot pepper mill. (something I had put off buying for while but I'm sure will be worth the cost) next we meandered through several more shops before convening for snack time. I picked up a smooth cappuccino at 9th street espresso (one of the best in the city I've had) from the super cool people working the counter, and cookies from sarabeth's kitchen. b and tutu shared some l'arte del gelato. next into t salon for some loose asam, then finally a visit to posman books before leaving.

From the Chelsea Market website: To walk through the Chelsea Market is to stroll through a sort of postindustrial theme park, carefully festooned with the detritus of a lost industrial culture...The old factory floors weave and bob, and the central hall is a jumble of disused ducts, an artificial waterfall, the original train shed, old signboards and other elements.Right now the market is decorated with an eco-trash holiday decor including wreaths and a christmas tree made of bent and broken cd's. (that are really beautiful in the way they catch the reflect the light)

chelsea market is housed in one of the buildings the high line passes through. if you haven't been there yet go! go! go! a former elevated railroad trestle turned park, the first phase opened last summer, after ten years in the making. it has become one of my favorite places in the city- the photos above were taken in september on my cell phone camera. it was cool being there tonight, having the park all to ourselves and seeing all the plants dried and surrounded by patches of snow. it made me notice other things I hadn't seen before.

our favorite neighborhood spots

b and I were over in Long Island City yesterday, visiting PS1 and the surrounding galleries that were open on a Monday. we picked up a neighborhood map at PS1 that pointed out the neighborhood museums, galleries and restaurants. As we sat eating our lunch at the court square diner (best moussaka I've had yet!) b remarked, why doesn't our neighborhood have a guide like this! to which I replied, we could totally make our own. and so b did, forming a google map with our favorite bed-stuy neighborhood places. we just started it yesterday, so it will continue to grow. I need to put in the actual street addresses and links in case you're interested in visiting some of these places. so go on and check it out at ebmerc.com/our-town.

today

•malcom x farmer's market. bought 8 pounds of tomatoes for making sauce.
•appointment in chelsea
•picked up some garlic at the union square green market while passing through.
•L train to williamsburg to see don't become the things you hate, marial seasick maher's show at stand alone gallery on 6th street.
•Q54 bus to sizzler in forest hills. yes, you read that right.
•walked to trader joe's then another couple of miles along metropolitan, to the M train. found a stretch of dirt trail along the cemetery. yep, a couple of long blocks in queens with no sidewalk.
•home

nyc weekend

our weekend started on friday, as all summer weekends should. we started off exploring the easternmost end of bed-stuy, where the neighborhood tapers down to a point at broadway and fulton st. this area is known as broadway junction, where the L subway line crosses the A/C and the J lines. I had not seen this end of fulton before. I was surprised at how cleaned up this end is getting. there are a number of renovated buildings that have available store fronts, and parks all along the street. at 2037 fulton, in the triangle created by rockaway ave. and somers st. is an enormous community garden which is in the process of a major renovation. b said he saw people months back cleaning up the lot and preparing it. from the fence we could see tomatoes, cabbage, corn and other crops, as well as many varieties of flowers and bushes. birds and butterflies flew all around. from there we hopped on the A train and headed over to the west village. b had seen a post on worship worthy about sucre boutique on bleecker, and thought it might be a good shop for my jewelry. but before we did, lunch was in order. I wanted to eat at the Bus Stop diner, but we had a hard time finding it. after circling around and heading south on 8th ave. from 14th st., we ran into la bonbonniere, a place I've always wanted to stop at. so we did, and it was great, and cheap. as we headed further south on 8th, we passed the bus stop. now we know! then onto bleecker, to find sucre. wow, was it a beautiful little shop. some of the coolest jewelry I've seen in a while. while we were on bleecker, I figured we'd go by porto rico and pick up some freshly roasted and ground coffee. at $6.99 a pound, you can't beat it. when we had gotten off the train at west 4th, walking north on 6th ave. we passed the path train station. I asked b if he would like to take it over to jersey city. with a $1.75 metro card swipe, we were on our way across the hudson into jersey.

I had only been to jersey city once, and it was at night, to go drinking with my old roommate marshall, who lives there. b and I took the path to grove st., in the middle of j.c.'s gentrified old town. we walked by little bodegas and sidewalk cafes. b said it looked like new york lite. I told him it looked like new york clean. streets lined with row houses were amazingly well-maintained and quiet. I reminded b that several years back jersey city, like bedford-stuyvesant, was the place where you did not want to go. this is more obvious as you head east towards the waterfront. like downtown phoenix, arizona, it looks like the city was razed and replanted some time in the 1980's. citibank, bank of america and chase all have gigantuan office towers, alongside- what's this? a residential trump tower! but in between all this affluence are vacant lots, broken-down industrial buildings from the turn of the century, and oddly suburban-like big box stores. we walked along the waterfront and enjoyed seeing manhattan from this vantage point, then circled back to the old part of town. of course we were getting hungry again, and happened upon a vietnamese restaurant! by the time we finished dinner it had started raining and we walked our exhausted little butts back to the path station.

on saturday i was eager to visit bed-stuy's new farmer's market at malcom x and chauncey. although the market is tiny, union square power vendor migliorelli farms' booth has enough of a selection to fill your fridge for the week. we walked home with peaches, apricots, apples, lettuce, rapini, radishes and corn. on the way back, we noticed a new-looking store stocking natural health and beauty products and a few food items. so we stopped in to ecodermis to check it out. the owners (mother and son?) couldn't have been nicer, telling us to mention any products we'd like them to carry. b got an an acai juice and I got a burt's bees lip balm. malcom x is really coming up.

since the day was getting nice and hot, we decided to drop off the produce and head to the beach. if you make the decision after noon, the place to hit is brighton beach/ coney island, our best and closest city beach. we laid on the beach a while on the brighton side, amused by the people around us- russians in thongs and speedos, black market vendors selling beers out of coolers. after a while we headed over to brighton beach ave. to have some delicious russian food. we looked for our favorite spot but had a hard time finding it, as it seems most of the restaurants have remodeled. we would have felt weird sitting down to white linen in our beach attire. so we hit the diner-like oceanview cafe, where we had eaten once before. only problem was, they were filling a huge takeout order when we got there, and the service was incredibly slow. but fun nevertheless eavesdropping on the russian families and the adorable children running from table to table. when we finally did get the food it was really good. I always order for the both of us, since the cooking is similar to what I grew up with. we shared the mixed pickle salad of cabbage, watermelon wedges, sliced dill pickles and olives, brought out with a basket of rye and pumpernickel breads. then a chicken shish kabob served with a garlicy fruit chutney and mashed potatoes piped from a pastry bag; potato vareniki (dumplings) nice and peppery, topped with french fried onions; and delicious, slightly sweet cheese pancakes. b was admiring the dessert case, but we were there so long that we lost energy for dessert. in the bottom of the refrigerated case were glass tea cups filled with dark liquid and berries. most of the russians were drinking the tea, and I realized it must have been made with goji berries. next time!

after lunch we headed back to the boardwalk and walked down to the coney island end. we had seen ads for a new flea market down there and went to check it out. wow, was it lame. there was only one vendor selling anything antique-like. all the rest was counterfeit hello kitty crap, incense and plastic jewelry. the syren music festival was being held on two stages, one right by the flea market. despite this, there were three or four vendors with loud, amplified music, competing with the concert going on. as we rounded ocean ave., dodging through the crowds of people on the way back to the train, I vowed not to venture down to coney island again. bleh.

I should mention that in addition to the restaurants along brighton beach ave. there are a number of russian and israeli food markets and produce vendors that are worth visiting, where you can pick up home made pickles, teas, breads and caviar. several of the restaurants also sell a selection of piroshki, fried buns filled with potato, cheese or meat, out on the sidewalk. click here to read some very descriptive yelp reviews of brighton beach.

finally, today we headed out to dumbo to check out the brooklyn flea's newest location, the sunday market under the brooklyn bridge. after selling at the flea their opening weekend and a few after that and attending the market numerous times, including the indoor dumbo flea over the winter, I have to say this was the best flea yet. finally, there was an array of inexpensive goods that you could dig through. like a flea market! while I greatly appreciate the flea's intention to make the market more of a contemporary urban spot with hand made vendors, (such as myself) it had been greatly lacking in the affordability aspect. today we spent a few hours there! and I came home with some jewelry parts, (first time this was possible) a $3 italian brass incense burner shaped like a snail, and a lovely mexican silver ring for $10. the brooklyn waterfront is really coming along, with the new parklands being phased in and the addition of a farmer's market and other community events like yoga classes. can't wait until they complete the southern portion. there are few food vendors at the flea. I had some fish tacos while b had a margherita from the pizza moto guys. man, was it good. after the flea I decided it was time to go home. I was really exhausted, and after writing the story of our adventures this weekend, I understand why!

facebook has become my blog

honestly, it's so terribly easy to post links on facebook. no coding involved. so anyways, I was thinking, jeez. I should post some of the same content here. so here are some of the cool things I've come across recently.

design*sponge's richmond guide! in case you didn't know, I spent eight great years in richmond, including four years at vcu. most of my family lives there and I have fond thoughts for the little northernmost southern city. I was surprised (but not so surprised) to find out that grace bonney was born there. so go check out the guide. I haven't been down in so long, I might have to use it myself.

next up, MERCE FRIGGIN CUNNINGHAM company is performing FREE at the river to river festival in a few weeks. uh-huh. while visiting his site, check out the mondays with merce video series.