Playdate

Something New

So, it's sad to say but the Philosophy stuff I was raving about a few months ago isn't working on my skin anymore.  Remember how happy I was?  Remember? 

Ah, it's hard to let go of something that isn't working any more...

But hey, I'm a big girl.  I can do it.

I went to Sephora yesterday and got talked into this line of acne products:  DDF.  And I got some samples of some Peter Thomas Roth stuff.

Honestly, I can't tell you how much time I've spent online researching sulfur.  And benzoyl peroxide (BP, apparently, to those in the know).  And glycolic acid.  And salicylic acid.  And... And...

And, there's this guy.  I can't quite figure him out.

So.  I'll let you know how it goes.  And as one of my friends said when I told her this story, "Those people at Sephora must LOVE to see you walk in the store."  I'm an easy mark, apparently. 

Sigh.

Brooklyn Brewery

Recently, we had the amazing opportunity to go on a private tour of the Brooklyn Brewery in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn.  Rob and I took a few college friends to walk through the brewery with the Brewmaster, (that's gotta be an awesome way to introduce yourself..."Yes, I'm the Brewmaster") Garrett Oliver.  He described the brewing process, let us peek inside the drums and gave us a condensed history of beer, all of which is outlined in his book, "The Brewmaster's Table".  Below is a picture of a few hops used for their beers. 

Along the way, we got to sample some of their fine selection of beers; the first was "Pennant", then.... uuuhhhh...who am I kidding.  I got way too drunk to remember any of the beer names.  BUT what I DO recall is "Local 1".  Honestly, I'm not sure why I went on a beer tour because I really don't like beer, BUT this Local 1 is THE BEST BEER I'VE EVER HAD.  It's in a champagne bottle...or as I learned that night, champagne stole the bottle shape and cork from beer!  A bit of history was revealed.  Anyway, I need to get my hands on this beer.  It's incredible.  And, that's not the alcohol talking, it is REALLY amazing.  If I can't get the local stores to stock it, I will have to drive to Williamsburg and get a few cases.  It's THAT fucking good.

As the night progressed, I got red in the face (many of you know what that means) and we were all having a great time.  Here's some of what I retained from the tour...

The Brewmaster described how beer paired with cheeses is better than wine.  It's just that most American beers are so bad, you wouldn't THINK of having it with a a fine dinner.  He is part of a movement to bring GOOD beer back to America and introduce Americans to the idea of savoring beer, like wine.  Did you know that Brooklyn Brewery's beer is the best selling American beer in Europe?  Mr. Oliver does classes on pairing beers with different dishes and recently held one at Murray's Cheeses.  On our tour, we got to sample six different beers, light to dark, each with a distinctive taste.  The last and darkest beer was described to us as "almost an espresso", and indeed it was rich like coffee and could be paired with desserts.  Fascinating!

The brewery tour ended with (1) the rest of our party arriving late and (2) happy hour starting.  The brewery opens its doors at 6:00 for happy hour!  As we continued to get sloppy drunk on this fantastic beer, we noticed the 20-somethings chowing down some gourmet pizza (and that we were the only 30-somethings).  The pizzarias deliver TO THE PUB!  This might have been one of the best nights of my life!  I don't even remember what the toppings were...there was definitely some cured ham on one of them...but it was fantastic.  And that's not the alcohol talking either. 

Before he left, Garrett Oliver was nice enough to sign a few copies of his book (that a friend bought for me) and give us the beer glasses as souviniers.  Sadly, in my drunken stuper, I decided I no longer wanted to carry my glass.  It was getting too heavy for my drunken fingers.  It may still be in shards along the brick wall I threw it against.  And as Karma would have it, my friend lost the books on New Jersey Transit.  Someone will turn signed books to the Lost and Found, right?  Uuuhhhh, now that's definitely the alochol talking.

Take Me Back

Lately I have been really longing for a good dinner in a nice restaurant.  Way back when, in my other lifetime when I was childless and worked in New York, my friend Carolyn and I would, on a random Thursday, just pick a new place (usually based on a description in Zagat's) and go.  We never had any real expectations, just curiousity and hope.  And the fact that we'd be drinking didn't hurt - I mean, after a few, how bad could it be?

We found some really fun places - there was this little Italian place in one of the villages (east, west, who can keep track?) where they made you sit outside until someone else finished.  It was that small.  They gave us wine and as we sat and viewed all the denizens of the area we both came to the same conclusion: "We are not now, nor were we ever, nor will we EVER be, cool".  It was actually a good thing.  Saved a lot of therapy and bad wardrobe choices.

I enjoyed my dinner immensely and then we went to a bar that was an old-style hair salon, where you sat in hair-dryer seats (with the big units above) and drank your whatever-tini.  We were so out of place, in our wool suits and pumps and briefcases, but man, we didn't care.  And the thing about really cool people...they don't make you feel NOT cool.  Or maybe we were drunk.   Or...were THEY?  Whatev.

While I love my diners and other kid-friendly places, I've been missing those days.  It's more difficult in the suburbs.  First of all, you've got the kids.  Second of all, well, see "First of all".    There are many fine establishments in this area that I love but hardly ever get to - Basilico, Voro, Martini's - and those I've wanted to try, but, ya know, I'm busy - Highlawn Pavilion comes to mind, as does Antonella's.  And of course, if you're getting a babysitter, you might as well hop the train to the city.  But, what would I wear?  My hair's been in a ponytail all day.  Do we have a train schedule?  And...hey, is Law & Order on?   Nevermind...

So tonight Sandra actually had big plans to go into the city and, as her spouse is out of town, I was going to babysit.  These logistics (get in car, arrange ass on couch, point remote, CABLE!!!) I can handle.  However, her plans fell through so instead we decided to take the kids out to eat together. 

I really was in the mood to try something new so I was not going to settle for Village Coffee Shop or St. James Gate, though I love them both.  I threw out the newest addition to Springfield Avenue, Indigo Smoke, but Sandra was skeptical.   Then I remembered the little place whose divine smell I smell every time I park in the Yale Street lot on my way to Cafe Meow.  Churrasco!  It advertises itself as Portugese BBQ. I don't know what that is.  But, there's a little liquor store right next door - Wine Cellar?  Wine Something?  I dunno - they had wine, and so did we. 

Oh, MAN!  Just what I've been missing!  It was really divine.  It was a real restaurant, cloth napkins, nice tables, artwork on the walls, beautiful decor.  We were the only ones there for the first part of our meal - later other patrons showed up and I hope that our rambunctious children didn't ruin their awesome meals.  My chicken marsala was perfectly breaded, with succulent mushrooms atop two juicy pieces of chicken breast, accompanied by some amazing spanish rice, crisp vegetables in butter, and home-made potato chips.  OMG.  I ate EVERYTHING on my plate, and I'm not kidding.  I would have licked it if I wasn't in a public place.  It was that good.  I'm amazed that such a gem has escaped my radar and I hope you all try it (they do take-out). 

They were EXTREMELY family friendly - to the point of telling me "one juice is enough for two kids" and then bringing me two separate sippy cups for the one price.  Also doing the same with the kids' meals.  And not getting annoyed with us when the kids were too loud and Sandra and I were too involved in our conversation to care.  I mean, how often do you get out? 

I will definitely be back, with or without kids.  It was so fun to discover a new place to eat, and it reminded me of all the great experiences I had many moons ago in the city.

P.S. at one point in our conversation, Will and Connor both had to use the bathroom.  We let them go by themselves, to the MEN'S ROOM, though I had an eagle eye on the doorway the whole time.  They were SO psyched when they came back to the table.  This was a milestone for our independent guys.  Sandra gave them high fives!  (To check if they had washed their hands (clever!); also to congratulate!)

P.P.S.  At the end of the meal, ALL kids had to go potty.  The boys went back to the mensroom b/c they love it so.  Sandra had to take Emma to the ladies' room.  I'm out front with Libby and Milo, and Will comes back:  "Mommy, we are going to need your help.  We both are going to make a poop and we need you to wipe our bums."  AAAAAAnd....we're back.

Fashionista? Moi?

As a teenager I loved clothes. Not necessarily expensive stuff, or even what everyone else was wearing - but I did care about what I wore. I loved Elle Magazine. I took some classes at FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology) the summer I was 15...

I still like clothes but 6 years of wearing suits (I HATE WEARING SUITS) 3 pregnancies and my practical side (hello, baby spit-up - that stuff leaves a mark) have influenced me so much that I sometimes think I don't know what I like anymore.

That's starting to change - but I'm still a bit tentative. I love Anthropologie but where do I start? Can I wear those flowy, romantic tops if I'm not pouting by myself in Parisian apartment? Because if I were to find myself alone in a Parisian apartment I wouldn't be pouting. And even if I do find a look I can live with how do I justify the price? My current job pays little and has no dress code.

I bought this top recently . I adore it. It's the prettiest top nobody ever needed. Just like my favorite handbag (the prettiest purse nobody ever needed) from the prettiest store, Perch Home. But $168 for a shirt? I think I have to return it - but then again I've already paid the MC bill...

Good news, though. I descovered this store over the summer. I finally ordered a few tops (this one, this and that one) and they arrived today. Emma likes this but not that. She's so opinionated. I like both. Yippee! Cute, current stuff - and only about $30 each. Warning - a lot of the stuff is kind of ugly (IMO). So be prepared to browse.

And let me talk for a moment about H&M. Just the other day I got the cutest jacket nobody ever needed - It's wool, has a funky collar. The perfect thing for lonely walks in the Latin Quarter. Only $59! I would paste a link to it but the website SUCKS. One has to be a bit brave to shop here at first - we might not be it's target demo. Some stuff is down-right slutty. But keep looking because it usually pays off.

Anyway, I suppose I should be trying to pass this stuff off as expensive and hard to find. Oh well, too late!

Drink this!

We were at my sis-in-law's birthday party today and they had Mike-arita.  Woaw, that's good stuff.  Not sure how well the links will work...you have to enter your birthday.  Yes, they CARD YOU at the websites.  As if you couldn't make up a date...like I did...to make myself younger. 

Anyway, it takes me back to the days in High School when I drank Bartles and Jaymes Wine Coolers.  Remember those?

I can't wait to try some of Mike's other offerings!

Little Children

The other night I watched Little Children.  A couple of my friends had been recommending it to me, and I'd had it from Netflix for, oh, about 2 months, but I just couldn't devote 2.5 hours to it at the end of the day.  It turns out it was pretty good.  It's a bunch of intertwined stories about suburban moms and one stay at home dad, who embarks on an affair with one of the moms.

 

Reasons you should see it:

The other moms are hilarious.  One of them has everything scheduled, down to the minute.  Snacks for the kids (10:30 am), sex with her husband (Tuesdays at 9).  Everything is clearly defined black and white for her.  The other moms, aside from Sarah, all follow her in everything because (I think) they're scared of her.  She made me laugh every single time she came on screen, she was so over the top. 

More seriously, Sarah (Kate Winslet) is totally struggling with being a stay-at-home mom.  She clearly doesn't know how to parent and at times she resents it  (and her daughter, who is adorable).  She's in this bad marriage and she doesn't understand her child, and she's really lonely.  She doesn't mesh with the other stay-at-home moms, so she really has no-one.

I don't know, I just think they nailed the whole craziness that is the suburbs.  You can tell me if you agree.

Also, the cinematography is really great.

One reason not to see it:

I can't imagine anywhere else where they would make part of the plotline how much better looking Jennifer Connelly is than Kate Winslet.  What?  Seriously?  Even trying to make her dowdy-ish, come on.  It's still Kate Winslet (see picture above -- that's her being "dowdy").  No diss on Jenn, but still. 

Another reason not to see it:

If you're a guy.  Then only if your (female) significant other makes you.  It's a chick flick, through and through.

In case you're squeamish about such things, one of the stories is about a newly-released child molester who has come back home to stay with his mom.  His mom still harbors this idea of him being a "good boy" and sets him up on a blind date with a young woman with problems of her own.  The end of that date is unbelievably heartbreaking.   Wow.

The movie definitely has sort of an identity crisis as to whether it's supposed to be a straight drama or a satire, but I can forgive that. 

Tom Perrotta wrote the book, and he also wrote the book that became Election, which is another great satire.  Little Children (the movie) is definitely more serious than Election (the movie).  I haven't read anything by him, but I think I will.

Side note: If you have a 40 inch HD TV like me, you may want to put the blinds down in the TV room about, oh, midway through the movie, cos the slightly graphic sex scenes made me squirm a little when I realized ALL MY SHADES were open.  Don't want to get the neighbors talking (any more than they do already, I mean).

And now, back to Freaks and Geeks...

Mmmm Mmmm Good!

My sister-in-law gave me this book for Christmas in 2001.  I read it back then and I brought it up to the cabin because it's some fun, light reading.  I had forgotten all about it until I picked it up again today and immediately I was laughing.  Basically, the author, James Lileks, critiques the cookbooks of yesteryear, but in a very, um, unique (and hilarious) fashion.  These are not the timeless, classic cookbooks that are passed down from generation to generation, but the marketing-driven, propaganda-like cookbooks in the manner of 101 Things to Do With Cream of Chicken Soup. 

This is the online version of the book.  Some of what's in the book isn't on the website and vice versa.  If you want to borrow my copy, let me know.

Lileks' website also has a number of other sections worth checking out.

I'd blog more, but I'm reading...

Dinnersmith

Figuring out what's for dinner is one of the dreaded tasks here at the Bessitano household lately.  The kids are starving by 5:30 and if we waited until 6:30 for dinner the breakdown level was red alert.  Everyday at 2:00 pm I'd get a little depressed knowing that the inevitable conversation was coming.

What do you want to do about dinner?
I don't know.  What do we have?
Pasta.
We had pasta last night.
What do you want?
I don't know.
Maybe we should meet at the Trattoria.

I know that I should prepare nice, nutritious meals the night before, but damn I'm tired by the time they go to bed.  So instead I watch Frank watch baseball and fall asleep by 9:00 PM.

Dinnersmith to the rescue!  Dinnersmith is a new food prep place located on Springfield Ave. in Maplewood.  The concept is that you assemble a bunch of meals at their kitchen while relaxing with other housefrau's who dread the dinner hour much like yourself.  The process is easy.  You go online several nights before, peruse that month's menu, select the dinners you want to prep, the number of meals you want and pay online.  I'm a jump in kind of girl, so I selected the maximum amount of meals (12) and paid. 

Two night's later we arrived at Dinnersmith, coolers in tow.  The studio is immaculate.  The owner's were super friendly.  They had us stow our stuff in lockers, gave us aprons, showed us where to wash up and then showed us around the "kitchen."  There are a series of stations around the perimeter of the room.  You have the  fixings for each meal all prepared at each station.  No need to chop, or do any of the tedious work of cooking.  It's more like mixing and stirring.  This was great!  After you complete a meal, it's placed in a tin with cooking directions on top.  The entire process was fun and easy.  We drank wine, ate some appetizers they provided, and had good time cooking for the month.

(Sandra showing off the lovely side dishes you get with your meals)

So here it is a about a month later. How was the food? It has been wonderful to not have the dreaded meal conversation so often.  Now it's like...what should we defrost?  The seafood dishes were really good.  I loved the horseradish salmon, thought the pecan encrusted tilapia was very good, and enjoyed both the shrimp and chicken kabobs.  The flank steak was a big hit with my husband, but the sauce was a little too intense for me.  The turkey burgers were great and moist but the stuffed beef burgers were a little dense and salty for me.  I think maybe I added too much of one ingredient.  The BBQ pork and Southwestern bake were the two disappointments in the bunch.   We're picky about our BBQ so it might just be a personal thing.  I think Shama liked it (Shama?  chime in!) however.  I think the trick is to find the meals you like and then repeat them.  It would be great if Dinnersmith had meal tastings so you could decide what you wanted ahead of time.

(Shama being forced to make one of my meals because I ordered so many)

All in all, I think Dinnersmith is well worth the time and money.  Some of the meals actually covered two
nights, and by not ordering out at the last minute we actually saved money for the month.  The owners were lovely and the business is a great addition to Maplewood.  I'm deciding August's menu now.  Crabcakes anyone?

What people will do for soft, shiny hair

I've been trying to find a nice shampoo recently, now that I've figured out all my skin care products.  I was looking up reviews of various stuff (too much to mention, please don't ask, it's kind of embarrassing at this point), and I came across this.

For those of you too lazy to click, it's a review of Trader Joe's Nourish Spa Shampoo.

And here's the important part, from bkkgirl (someone I don't know):

<snip>
I mixed some jojoba oil (also picked up at TJs) and honey in with the shampoo. I am not sure if I got the add-in ingredients correctly or not. I just remembered that Avalange said to add some honey, but I thought what the heck....jojoba oil should not hurt. So I washed my hair with this mixture. The shampoo smelled clean and had light fragrance. It really got my hair clean, too. I washed my hair twice, and applied the conditioner which I also added jojoba oil to it. Then I rinsed it out well. After that I rinsed my hair with a mixture of apple cider vinegar (KEY) and purified water through my own reverse osmosis system. I just soaked my hair in a bucket of this rinse for a couple of minutes, and I did not rinse it out with water after that (VERY IMPORTANT). (I forgot to add that I added baking soda in to the shampoo, not this one, just a few days ago, so I did not add any more this time as I was told it's not a good idea to do it a lot as it makes your hair porous.)

By now, my hair started to feel really really clean like I have never felt anything like it before in years. I proceeded to put on the coconut oil (also recommended by Avalange). I then combed my hair through with a wide-tooth comb to distribute the oil.
</snip>

So... totally unrelated, I just went to my local CVS drugstore in Millburn and bought some Redken instead.  It seems to be working fine.  Not great, but fine.

By the way, I also tried a couple of Aveda shampoos.  I ended up taking them all back.  The last kind I tried made my eyes burn like I was at the gates of hell.  And not just the day I washed my hair, I'm talking two days later. (Uh, yeah, I only wash my hair every few days.)  I told Kim at Fringe (my favorite hair stylist ever), "You know, maybe you guys should _consider_ testing on animals?"

Brick

I can't tell if I thought this movie was unbelievably brilliant or pretentious crap.  Can someone else watch it and let me know?

I'm leaning toward brilliant.  But.. I don't know.  I do know I had to put the English subtitles on because I couldn't understand a single (teenage, film noir, fast-talking) word anyone said. 

Yeah, I'm pretty cool, right?

The basic premise is that there's this high school outsider, Brendan, whose ex-girlfriend gets murdered and he tries to solve who did it, Philip Marlowe-style. 

That's Joseph Gordon-Levitt (remember him from 3rd Rock from the Sun?).  He's all grown up now and has been taking really interesting indie roles.  Also it had Eden from Heroes and Claire from Lost.  And Lukas Haas.  You know, the Amish kid in Witness.  He plays a drug dealer with a club foot.  Ah, how times change.

A couple examples of the insanely crazy dialogue (swiped directly from IMDB):

Brendan: Look, I can't trust you. You ought to be smart enough to know that. I didn't shake up the party to get your attention, and I'm not heeling you to hook you. Your connections could help me, but the bad baggage they bring could make it zero sum gain or even hurt me. Better coming at it clean.
<snip>

The Brain: Big time. See the Pin pipes it from the lowest scraper for Brad Bramish to sell, maybe. Ask any dope rat where their junk sprang and they'll say they scraped it from that, who scored it from this, who bought it off so, and after four or five connections the list always ends with The Pin. But I bet you, if you got every rat in town together and said "Show your hands" if any of them've actually seen The Pin, you'd get a crowd of full pockets.
<snip>

Brendan: The ape blows or I clam.

So, yeah, I put on the subtitles.  What of it?

Update: It's been a few days now.  Yeah, I think I liked it.  But someone else should see it and tell me what you think.  And while you're at it, can you watch 28 Days Later too?