DIRTY PROJECTORS-TERMINAL 5

This was a pretty great day in New York. The weather was perfect. I had the prix fixe lunch at Momofuku Noodle Bar. Oyster Bun (above) Smoked Chicken and corn ramen (below).
I saw the Dirty Projectors play at Terminal 5. Amber Coffman's performance of "Stillness is the Move" was fun to see. She really belted out the song plus she's a cute and sexy dancer. I apologize for the poor picture quality (Zoe)

NORTHEAST KINGDOM

It felt a little weird driving a Lexus Hybrid SUV to Bushwick and pulling up right in front of Northern Kingdom. But I was glad not to have to take the subway. We waited downstairs in the "den" for a table and snacked on tater tots and pickles. I felt old and out of place.

We shared spinach and ricotta spread with lavash (like a matzoh).

Wedge salad with "moody" blue cheese

Hummus with homemade pretzel

Chicken Pot Pie

Fish Sticks
Chess Pie

HAPPY NEW YEAR

PEEL'S

Peel's* is a new place that recently opened, run by the same people as Freeman's. I met a friend there for breakfast. On the menu there is a section called build your own biscuit: I had country ham and egg. This place is pretty much perfect, I hope it doesn't get ruined by being too crowded all the time.

* I went to high school with a guy who had this last name (different spelling). We both worked at McDonald's. He hated when our friends would come in and tease us. So, to drive him even more crazy and make the teasing even worse my friend Greg would come in and call him Puskweedleplums as a nickname. So now when I see this place called Peel's all I can think of is that, it cracks me up.

DINNER BELL

Sara, Jules and I joined a group of a dozen assorted Brooklyn hipsters who had signed up for Julia's once a month Dinner Bell dinner. She turns her house into a private restaurant for the night. We ate at a big table in her back garden. It was a windy night so our hosts provided us with assorted sweaters to wear. Julia's boyfriend was her sous chef and her beautiful sister was our server. I've always wanted to try something like this in my studio apartment. It was so much fun I think I'm going to try.

Cornbread Panzanella

Chorizo Cappelletti

Halibut

Peach Galette

DINNER WITH KIM

Kim came over for dinner, she likes pork. It was fun making up this meal: Pork meatballs with ginger, garlic, lemon and basil. Sauteed chicory.

FREEDOM

Right after 9/11 I was reading The Corrections. For all sorts of obvious (and not so obvious) reasons, I like, many others wandered the streets of New York with tears in our eyes. I loved that book, it made a deep impression on me during a raw period. I've been looking forward to a new book by Jonathan Franzen for a while. Freedom came out recently and I couldn't put it down. It's about Freedom--which I have a lot of (maybe too much).