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Month in Review: A Pictorial Essay

May 12, 2008

This week marks 5 since we arrived back home in April. In some ways it feels like we never left. In others, it’s like we’re still here on vacation, time ticking toward the day we head back to Denver. I’m not sure when it’s going to finally hit us that we’ve traded in all that space and comfortable cost of living and sunshine and distance from family drama to come back, but when it does, I think I’ll be ready.

*Gulp*

In the mean time, enjoy a few photo highlights from our month in New York so far…

It’s Spring! Speaking of getting sprung… I hate seeing flowers locked up like this. So unnatural.

View outside of Seaside Johnny’s in Rye, where we tried to eat but had to move inside ten minutes into it because it was like 40 degrees and windy. Kind of like it is right now. Anyway, it’s the first time I’ve seen the ocean since a trip to Acadia in 2003, so it was cool. Like the beach, ‘cept different.

Cherry blossoms on West 4th Street after downing a few margaritas outside in the Village. It was 70 degrees that day. Unlike today. But anyway.

Speaking of cherry blossoms and happy times, I got to meet a few fellow YA authors from the 2009 Debs group at Candle 79 this weekend. Writing is such a lonely, crazy pursuit—it’s nice to take a break and hook up with people who are equally lonely and crazy. I mean, in the writing sense. Not that they’re crazy. Just—oh, never mind. It was a great time! Thanks, Neesha, for the pic.

*Waves to Debs!*

Fun with my brother, Pook, at the Museum of the City of New York (don’t blink, or you’ll miss it) and a stroll through Central Park, followed by too many drinks and therapy at Wicker Park. Fortunately there’s no photographic evidence of that. Really, this isn’t a theme with me, it’s just been a month of celebrating our triumphant return!

*Hiccup*

A little pigeon PDA right outside my window. Some people don’t like these birds, but I do. They make cool sounds. I’m trying to develop a way to communicate with them, but unlike my multi-talented husband, I can’t get the warble quite right and I usually scare them away.

Speaking of love… Mother’s Day post-brunch at the Chocolate Room in Park Slope. I’m going to stalk the building every day until the tenants in the apartment above give up, and let me move in, so I will never be more than 10 steps away from this decadent dessert den.

Finally, me and Mom at the old Irish pub Alex and I used to frequent when we lived in Woodside. This picture was taken the day after we moved back, but since I didn’t get to see Mom for Ma’s Day, she can look at this and pretend that we had brunch together on Sunday. But really I was at the Chocolate Room, as you know. Which was way better. But anyway.

Happy Spring, Happy Mother’s Day, Happy *insert favorite thing here* Day!

6 Comments | eats, friends and family, grab bag, home, memories, new york city, publishing | Tagged: Central Park, Mother's Day, Spring, Upper East Side | Permalink
Posted by Sarah Ockler

Randomness Report From NYC

April 15, 2008

I’m not dead!

Hi!

*Waves!*

I know, I’m like the worst blogger/friend/daughter ever, leaving on a crazy cross-country move and then not writing for more than 3 weeks. For all you know, I could be stuck in a roadside diner-slash-gift shop in rural Iowa (yes, we visited a few) or hiding out in the Nebraska cornfields with Malachi and the children of Gatlin. But I’m not. Here I am! I truly appreciate all the emails and calls and I’m so sorry for triggering the abandonment issues some of you expressed. I’m back! I’m okay! I’m… yay!

After 34 hours on the road at the end of March, we made it to Buffalo, only to head out a day later to NYC. Some of us got sick for days after, while others did all the unpacking and sorting and settling in while simultaneously purchasing cough drops for aforementioned sickypoos and arranging them in their very own little jar for easy access (the cough drops, not the sickypoos). Not naming names, but, I may have been the… *cough*

I swear I didn’t plan it!

Anyway, maybe I’ll do a more complete essay on the road trip another time, including top ten quotes and memorable moments¹, but for now, a few random tidbits on our new life in New York to let all you loyal readers know that yes, I’m still alive, and yes, we’re settling in just fine!

I’ve been a vewy bad vegetawian. After 6 whole years without ingesting anything that has a face, I…

Ate.
A.
Tuna.
Sandwich!

3 of them, if we’re being honest. Horrible! Sea creatures everywhere, beware, because the worst part of it is… I really really liked them! Tuna melts at the diner, ahhh… No, I don’t want to talk about it. I disappoint myself. Poor little fishies.
But a good writer! After weeks of focusing on nothing but packing and moving across the country, I’m finally getting back into the writing groove. The city is a good place for it—very alive, easy to tap into the constant stream of energy. I was trying to explain to Alex today why it’s easier for me to write in a crowded coffee shop² than it is at home with my mom-in-law chatting and the television spewing out the latest horrible news via 24/7 CNN (because in a crowd, I can’t focus on any one conversation, especially when said conversations are happening in Asian languages which I do not speak, so the noise fades into a general comforting din, allowing me to focus on my writing and not the word “bitter”). He didn’t believe me (truth be told I think he just misses me when I’m away), but I had a really productive day today—the first in a while.
Sweet, sweet korma. OMG, best Indian restaurant ever, right around the corner. Seriously. I’ve been there like 8 times already, and I always get the same thing (navartan korma and veggie samosa³) and for like 47 cents, they hand me a bucketful of amazing food and unsolicited political commentary (“All of these candidates are bad. Worse fighting than in my third-world country at home.”). Yes, but are they bitter enough?
Memory lane is still… memorable. Alex and I took the 7 train to Woodside, our old hood, the other day. We had lunch and strawberry smoothies in this little Cuban place we used to frequent, walked past our old apartments, and stopped in to say hello to our old favorite pizza guy (who in our absence, expanded his little pizza place to take up the entire corner and add an outside patio). Last weekend, when my mom was still in NY with us, we met my brother, aunt, and uncle for brunch at our old fave Irish brunch place in the same neighborhood. The food was just as we remembered, as were the old Irish guys hanging out at the bar. Is it possible that they haven’t moved in 5 years?

Now that we’re relatively settled, I’ll try to post more often. And eat less tu—hey, I said I didn’t want to talk about it! Bad, bad!

1. More likely I’ll just say I’m going to write about it but I won’t actually write about it, so don’t get your hopes up. Hey, that’s how I roll!

2. Crowded Starbucks is very different here than in, say, Panera at Aspen Grove in Littleton, Colorado. This particular SB had two floors for seating, and I got one of the only open tables. This was at 4 PM, before the evening rush. At one point, three tables of girls simultaneously broke out in song, singing a Jack Johnson song in its entirety along with the piped in SB music. Moments earlier, they were enjoying their frappucinos and conversing separately in Chinese, so the whole thing was kind of cool and surreal.

3. Lucky for our sea-dwelling little friends, tuna samosa is not on the menu.

7 Comments | adventures and trips, eats, home, memories, new york city, writing | Permalink
Posted by Sarah Ockler

The Brownies of Disappointment

March 12, 2008

Last night, around 1 AM, I looked at my husband across our makeshift couch (2 beat-up old camping chairs and a blanket)¹, and said, “Remember that time like a few months ago when I said, ‘I think I want brownies,’ and then I rummaged through the pantry and made a whole bunch from scratch, and they were, like, the best effing brownies ever?” And then he looked at me across aforementioned makeshift couch, raised a single eyebrow (Shrek-style), and said, “Hmm. Now I smell brownies. We must find a way.”

*Waves to super-supportive husband!*

Since it was after midnight, we decided we could wait one more day. So tonight was set. The big night. The big date. The big brownie bake-off. I knew it would be a challenge, considering 87%² of our cooking utensils are packed, but I was up for it. Especially when Alex dropped the “can we get vanilla Haagen-Das, too?” card. He like, soooo gets me.

*Waves to super-supportive husband!*

This evening, palates appropriately cleansed from a superb Indian meal, we headed over to our friendly neighborhood grocer where I picked some random organic mix which included the words “double,” “fudge,” and “chocolate chips,” and got right to work. I even added in some additional dark chocolate chips not formerly included in the mix. Now, these things had to bake for 40 minutes, so I’m like, oh man these are going to be good! The smell wafting through the house (they even used the word “wafting” on the box)! The clever marketing messages! The organic-ness! Oh, the anticipation!

*Drools! Drools! Drools!*
*Waits instructed 40 minutes*
*Removes from oven; cools for 10 minutes*
*Drools! Drools! Drools!*

Then… finally! Cut, serve, and pile high with vanilla ice cream. And then… and then… and THEN…

Well, you read the title. You know what’s up.

Soooo disappointing. But the sad part? Do you want to know the really sad, sad, sad, pathetic part? I ate them anyway. It’s chocolate, right? Not great. Not mind-blowing. Just—ehh. So I probably wasted about 800 calories on brownies that were just ehh, and that got me thinking about other things like:

Books that suck from page 1 but I always read to the end in vain hope that they’ll have some surprise redeeming quality, like a detached but lovable protagonist underdog, but they never do, and I know it going into it but still…
Certain ex-boyfriends that suck from page 1 but I always kept them around in vain hope that they’d have some surprise redeeming quality, like remembering my birthday, or my name, but they never did, and I knew it going into it but still…
Overcooked pasta.

Sigh. Well, I guess I should eat another brownie. We have to finish the pan tonight to avoid this stressful reminder tomorrow.

¹Sold former couch in preparation for move.
²Estimate only.

6 Comments | eats | Tagged: brownies | Permalink
Posted by Sarah Ockler

Red Bull Controversy

March 10, 2008

Apparently I fell victim to some PETA propaganda or something back in the day in my eagerness to be a good vegetarian. All this time, I truly believed that the taurine in Red Bull was derived from an animal source (specifically, from some kind of enzyme or hormone found in bull parts). My cousin Tim, who works for Red Bull, corrected me in my last post. I confirmed his assertions by visiting the official Red Bull Web site and, sure enough, Tim’s right! Here’s what Red Bull has to say on the matter:

IS TAURINE MADE FROM BULLS’ TESTICLES? IS TAURINE A DERIVATIVE OF BULLS’ TESTICLES OR SEMEN?

The taurine in Red Bull® Energy Drink is a purely synthetic substance produced by pharmaceutical companies and is not derived from animals or animal materials. All ingredients for Red Bull® Energy Drink are synthetically produced by pharmaceutical companies. This guarantees the highest quality.

“All ingredients for Red Bull® Energy Drink are synthetically produced by pharmaceutical companies.” Well, I’m sure we can all rest a little easier now!

*Secretly thinks she’d rather take her chances with the bull stuff*

4 Comments | eats, health | Tagged: pharmaceutical beverages, Red Bull | Permalink
Posted by Sarah Ockler

Best of New York City

January 22, 2008

Dear Denver,

Thank you for rolling out the way-too-many-degrees-below-freezing welcome mat for my return last night. Since New York was also below freezing for the last day of my visit, I know you were only trying to prevent me from going into shock with a nice sunny day (even though you have nice sunny days every year, like 344 of them, according to the people who keep track of such things, but anyway).

I appreciate your efforts, but I’m afraid neither your balmy weather nor your restaurants that close at 8 PM can keep me in the Mile High City much longer. Not after my most recent trip to the homeland, featuring the following best of the best favorite things*, in order of appearance:

1. Brooklyn. Home to my brother-from-another-mother and the Total Wine Bar, my first ever book club from a way long time ago where I first read Jitterbug Perfume which became my favorite Tom Robbins book ever, my old friend Dennis, Firebrand Literary, and the people on my flight from Denver who made flying fun again with their clapping and whooping and declaration that, once they’re back in NY, they’ll never eat at another Chili’s again.

2. Pizza in a paper bag. I got to my BFFs on the UES well after 10PM, starving. Oh no! 10PM! Everything will be closed! Panic panic panic. But then… wait. It’s only 10. Nothing will be closed. And I can walk outside to hot, fresh, pizza in a paper bag in less than 10 steps. Foot steps – not, like, AA steps. I walked up to the glass counter. Picked out a beautiful slice with cheese and tomatoes. Watched the guy slide it into the giant oven, and then drop it on 2 paper plates, stuck backwards into a paper bag. Ohhhh. It wasn’t the best pizza I’ve ever had in New York. Just the best pizza I’ve had in a very long time.

3. Zen Palate. How can you make something that tastes just like BBQ ham out of tofu? I don’t know and I don’t care. I only care that they did it, even though we had to switch tables part way through because the waiter needed ours for a bigger party, and there were only like 5 tables in the whole place, and we had to bring our own wine. But still. Tofu? Ham? Yay!

4. Sephora on Lex & 57th and Nikki, skin care consultant to the stars. Hello, Bare Minerals! Gone are the days of makeup paint by number! Nikki, I… I love you.

5. Coffee. Really, I forget what it’s supposed to taste like. Mmmmm… good morning! It’s midnight! I’m awake now!

6. The view out Jensiah’s window. All those people walking to the train. For work. And I’m in my PJs (*snicker*), drinking aforementioned coffee, pondering whether to go with the neutral brown or the sparkly eye shadow from Nikki. Probably the sparkly, because it’s called Hottie, so how can you go wrong? And there was this really cute little girl outside in a purple coat racing her mom to the train, only her sleeves were too long and she had to keep stopping to push them up. Uh-dorable.

7. The subway. Upon which one can never run out of character ideas for new books, especially if one’s special talent happens to be writing creepy novels about people who don’t shower rubbing up against people who do while someone in the background reads quotes from the bible over the sound of the accordion player keeping time with his foot at the other end of the car. And also, what is that smell?

8. The offices of Little, Brown. Not only does visiting here remind me that I’m officially a writer (sometimes I forget), but they also provided a sticky name tag with my name and my picture (very legitimate-looking), writing and career advice, revision notes (thank you for not making me cry!), a copy of The Kayla Chronicles, a copy of The Mysterious Benedict Society, and my official Sara Zarr Sweethearts candy available for a limited time only. Remember Mel Brooks in History of the World when he’d grab everyone’s boobs and say “It’s good to be the king?” That’s kind of how it feels. Well, except for the whole boob-grabbing part.

9. Six-pound bagels. Wider than my fist, dripping with cream cheese and fresh, bright red tomatoes, toasted and sliced only through the top for easier hand-to-mouth maneuverability, wrapped in paper and foil so that when you sit on it to flatten it to a normal mouth-sized width, you don’t get cream cheese on your ass. God I love this town!

10. Palace Diner in Queens. And all diners, really, with their 17-page menus of cross-regional cuisine, full bars, and pickles the size of my foot. Oh, how I miss thee, great great diner.

11. MUMMIES! *Heart heart heart.* Saving the best of the best of the best for last. I braved the hurts-to-even-breath cold just to gaze upon the painted-on eyes of the sarcophagi for the second time in two months. Mummies, which amaze me. Mummies, which I heart. But look, I’m not the only one:

* Things, not people. I didn’t list any people (except for the mummies. Which I heart) because you’re all my favorite. You know that, right? Hey. Don’t be a mummy-hater, yo.

6 Comments | adventures and trips, eats, new york city | Tagged: Egyptian art, mummies, new york city | Permalink
Posted by Sarah Ockler