This ice cream sandwich cookie was delicious.
It seems like whatever out of the way place you go to, there's always an Israeli-run, hippyish place there. Zula was no exception. I had a pineapple smoothie and we shared some hummus but it was gone before I could take a photo. My dad used to love a pineapple sherbet shake from Friendly's, it was a special. We'd drive over and check to see if they had them but we were often disappointed. I think that's why I got this.
Susan Vicki and I met Murray at his son's restaurant, Mary's in Malpais, Costa Rica. It's just a short ATV ride down the dirt road from where we are staying, La Hacienda. Ben was the fill in chef for tonight and he did a great job. We started with the ceviche. I had local tuna (I didn't feel too bad for eating it) that was marinated in soy, ginger and garlic. We shared four ice creams that were made in the restaurant: Nicaraguan vanilla bean, rum raisin, banana and coffee.
My family doesn't have very many traditions but this is one that we've been doing since the 70's. Our Christmas Eve dinner (even though we are Jewish) is a family round of fondue. We start with onion soup and French bread with melted cheese and a Caesar salad. We make various sauces to dip the meat in, mostly pouring them from the bottle.
I got to help put Oona and Arthur to bed before Andrea made us her interpretation of Zuni Cafe's chicken and bread salad. The chicken was raised and slaughtered by cool, young farmers that she knows. Andrea and I exchanged gifts and extraordinarily gave each other the same gift, a clam ram.
I went to Somewhere, and loved it. Before that I had the prix fixe lunch at Bar Boulud. It was fun, I sat next to a French guy and read the paper. We both had the pate and roasted chicken. He skipped dessert (had a third glass of wine instead). The pot de creme was weird and good, ice cream, foam, crumbly stuff and a crunchy slice of candied orange, a lot of textures.
I switched to a new tongue scraper. The very nice and helpful man at Butala Emporium on 28th Street recommended this because copper is supposed to be good for you. It was $2.99.
Maybe I'm just in a good mood today. I went to two places that normally I would hate but today I loved. Freeman's Sporting Club has a barbershop in the back. The store in front sells manly wool pants and plaid shirts. In the back they've styled the place to look like a place your dad would have gone (maybe). It's got an old TV set, tiled floors, old barber chairs, old photos of guys fishing, electric shaving cream dispensers... all things that would normally drive me crazy. But today, Sarah cut my hair, we chatted, and the place, even though I knew it was all designed to make me feel this way, felt very comfortable and good.
Within an hour of landing in Miami we were eating lunch at Fifi's. I love this place. We tried the famous stone crab along with the hog snapper, which this time was served with the fish's skeleton.
Kim and I stopped at Tacombi, a new taco place that opened in NoLiTa. In a big space, they've parked an old VW bus where you pick up your tacos. First you buy tokens for drinks ($3) and tacos ($4) from this guy.
Georgia served up saffron cheese and wild boar salami, we shared an Ak-mak cracker.
We watched the Knicks lose a heart breaker. 
I met Robin at The Stoned Crow. We shared the sliders. It was sort of bittersweet because this place has been my neighborhood bar for a long time but it's going out of business at the end of the year. The landlords are raising the rent. I like meeting friends here for burgers. One time I ran into Phillip Seymour Hoffman who was getting burgers to go. He used to live in my building and he sort of recognized me so he was forced to stand and talk to me and a friend while waiting for his order. It was awkward for him but fun for us.
I made this up. There was some leftover green chard (I loved the way Spalding Grey said "chard" when describing his father's garden... I'm pretty sure that's why I bought it) that I cooked in a little butter and one piece of garlic. When the spaghetti was done, I dropped it in with the chard and then added two eggs, like you would for spaghetti carbonara, tossed it around. I topped it with some scallions and parmesan cheese. From watching lots of Mario Batali's show Molto Mario I learned that pasta tastes good when you add it to your "sauce" and that you can pretty much make anything and call it "sauce".
I saw two movies recently about real New York characters: Public Speaking, Martin Scorsese's documentary about Fran Lebowitz and And Everything is Going Fine, Steven Soderbergh's movie about Spalding Gray. It got me thinking that we don't really have these great types of New Yorkers anymore. These two artists are mostly known for their personalities and their take on life. They are particularly New York-y in a way that I love.
Inspired by the General Tso's Tofu Sandwich at No. 7 Sub, and at the risk of developing man boobs, I attempted this last night. I fried some tofu in batter then poured over a sauce with garlic, ginger and hot peppers. It didn't turn out that great even though it looks pretty good in this picture.
Before heading out to Hoboken for the final night of Yo La Tengo's Eight Nights of Hanukkah I had dinner with Susan at Il Buco. Cod Croquettes, pappardelle with brussels sprouts and lamp chops. One of the highlights of the evening was the hilarious Marc Maron who was last night's guest comedian.
