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Food, art, books
Aug. 26th, 2009 09:25 pmMy personal library is a mess. Cannot find my copy of Arianna Franklin's Mistress of the Art of Death...didn't realize it wasn't where I thought it was until I went to get it to pack in my travel bag Friday morning. [Yes, I packed at 4:30am when I had to be out the door by 5:30am. Which is why I forgot pajamas and sunscreen.] I suppose I'll try to organize the shelves this weekend, unless better plans present themselves.
Dinner at The Bombay Club for Restaurant Week. The menu for RW was a sizable chunk of their regular menu. Drinks in the bar first (pinapple cinnamon mojito for me, and a drink of pineapple juice and Chambord for L). Then to dinner. Appetizers: mango fish tikka and Bombay sev puri. Entrees: mixed grill (salmon, chicken tikka, and a lamb/spice sausage with saffron rice) and taak lamb korma. Dessert: chocolate sticky toffee pudding. It was fabulous, and absolutely worth the RW price. I'd think about going back for a special occasion, but it was a little too spendy for regular dining on my budget. The service was excellent -- attentive without being cloying or pushy.
Hello Cupcake gave away 2,500 cupcakes to celebrate its birthday yesterday, including one to me. The line stretched out the door and up the block to Dupont Circle. I was entertained and horrified by the guy in front of us. Entertained as he tried to talk his five year old out of waiting in line for a cupcake by lecturing on the value of time vs. the amount saved by getting a free cupcake -- she wasn't buying that, she wanted the cupcake. Horrified because he left the five year old and the toddler in the stroller while he scoped out the length of the line around the corner. Left them unattended on a city street, they were completely out of his view. Anyone could've taken those kids and been long gone before he got back.
Bought a copy of Written On Your Skin and Greywalker at Half Price Books. And a third book, but I can't remember what the title was.
Saw the Terra Cotta Soldier exhibit at the Natural Science Museum in Houston. Have stuff to say about this, but it's not organized, other than to highly recommend seeing it if it comes anywhere near your town. Also checked out the gem vault. A bunch of the settings were designed by a Houston jeweler, and I'm interested in looking him up. The exhibit includes several items that belonged to the Russian Royal Family, which are on loan anonymously. Hmm, the reason for the anonymity intrigues me. I've made all sorts of stories up about why someone would lend pieces to an exhibit but not want one's name attached; there's probably a prosaic reason, but my imagination has run wild :D
At the Austin Museum of Art, there is a piece by Lance Letscher called Red Bar (2002), a collage made of small strips of colored cardboard, heavy paperstock like paperback covers, banded together in columns of color. (Enlargable image here.) I could distinguish a Silhouette Desire title among the reds, and an Intimate Moments among the purples, along with older cover art from Harlequin and the old harlequin emblem. I think the cardboard/paperboard stock was entirely made of old book covers, maybe layered over book pages and magazine pages. It was fascinating from far away and up close, being a contrast to the newly opened exhibit by Chuck Close (I think) of black and white portraiture, tapestries and daguerrotypes. And it especially caught my attention in light of the Harlequin vintage cover art, because it looks some vintage covers may have been sacrificed for the sake of art.
Last but not least: I loved Alex Beecroft's False Colors. So much that I just want to squee about it and make others read it. Maybe I'll give a copy away.
Yes, I think I will. Just have to decide the best way to do so.
Dinner at The Bombay Club for Restaurant Week. The menu for RW was a sizable chunk of their regular menu. Drinks in the bar first (pinapple cinnamon mojito for me, and a drink of pineapple juice and Chambord for L). Then to dinner. Appetizers: mango fish tikka and Bombay sev puri. Entrees: mixed grill (salmon, chicken tikka, and a lamb/spice sausage with saffron rice) and taak lamb korma. Dessert: chocolate sticky toffee pudding. It was fabulous, and absolutely worth the RW price. I'd think about going back for a special occasion, but it was a little too spendy for regular dining on my budget. The service was excellent -- attentive without being cloying or pushy.
Hello Cupcake gave away 2,500 cupcakes to celebrate its birthday yesterday, including one to me. The line stretched out the door and up the block to Dupont Circle. I was entertained and horrified by the guy in front of us. Entertained as he tried to talk his five year old out of waiting in line for a cupcake by lecturing on the value of time vs. the amount saved by getting a free cupcake -- she wasn't buying that, she wanted the cupcake. Horrified because he left the five year old and the toddler in the stroller while he scoped out the length of the line around the corner. Left them unattended on a city street, they were completely out of his view. Anyone could've taken those kids and been long gone before he got back.
Bought a copy of Written On Your Skin and Greywalker at Half Price Books. And a third book, but I can't remember what the title was.
Saw the Terra Cotta Soldier exhibit at the Natural Science Museum in Houston. Have stuff to say about this, but it's not organized, other than to highly recommend seeing it if it comes anywhere near your town. Also checked out the gem vault. A bunch of the settings were designed by a Houston jeweler, and I'm interested in looking him up. The exhibit includes several items that belonged to the Russian Royal Family, which are on loan anonymously. Hmm, the reason for the anonymity intrigues me. I've made all sorts of stories up about why someone would lend pieces to an exhibit but not want one's name attached; there's probably a prosaic reason, but my imagination has run wild :D
At the Austin Museum of Art, there is a piece by Lance Letscher called Red Bar (2002), a collage made of small strips of colored cardboard, heavy paperstock like paperback covers, banded together in columns of color. (Enlargable image here.) I could distinguish a Silhouette Desire title among the reds, and an Intimate Moments among the purples, along with older cover art from Harlequin and the old harlequin emblem. I think the cardboard/paperboard stock was entirely made of old book covers, maybe layered over book pages and magazine pages. It was fascinating from far away and up close, being a contrast to the newly opened exhibit by Chuck Close (I think) of black and white portraiture, tapestries and daguerrotypes. And it especially caught my attention in light of the Harlequin vintage cover art, because it looks some vintage covers may have been sacrificed for the sake of art.
Last but not least: I loved Alex Beecroft's False Colors. So much that I just want to squee about it and make others read it. Maybe I'll give a copy away.
Yes, I think I will. Just have to decide the best way to do so.
