plant propagation

i spent a couple hours this afternoon repotting a few plants, and using the cutting method to propagate one of our snake plants. kevin had a little fun with his new canon g7x and here are the results.

best: spaghetti with parmigiano reggiano and parma prosciutto and linguine with uni are my unequivocal favorites at basta pasta. tonight we shared them with simon, one of kevin's best friends from college. and followed up with momofuku milk bar's cereal milk soft serve with cereal crunch. a delicious way to end the day!

worst: sunny blue skies and and earlier sunrises will mean setting my alarm earlier on the weekends to get our runs in. i think in july/august last summer, we were starting our runs/rides around 4:30am to avoid the harsh and sweltering rays of the sun.

smile: we met kevin's mother's sister's husband's brother (<-- hahaha), wife, and son, for brunch this morning at the midtown landmarc. they are total foodies and love exploring cafes ~ oodles of energy and so much fun. difficult to believe they're our parents' generation!

harper lee & factoids

i learned today that the state of alabama started an investigation last month to the complaints of potential elderly abuse with regards to harper lee, 88, and her unexpected endorsement of her new book "go set a watchman." 

maybe i wanted to believe that people have the ability to change their minds. and maybe i wanted to believe in the goodness of people - that her attorney and literary agent would find it impossible to take advantage of this accomplished, elderly individual. but after reading this article and giving it a bit more thought, i'm not too sure if i'm just delusional. 

i'm rethinking my pre-order of the prequel, which is slated to arrive on july 14, 2015, and eagerly awaiting the results of the investigation.

best: we finished the last two episodes, including the finale, of gilmore girls. it was great to see the series in completion over the frigid months of winter, and share my adoration for these quirky, loquacious, loving characters with kevin.

worst: learning about the authenticity debate around the falling soldier photograph, arguably robert capa's most riveting and famous photographs taken during the spanish civil war. capa was well-known for embellishing and at times even making up stories, as he did with with the adoption of his name and image when he was a penniless, unknown hobby-photographer.

smile: stumbled upon a steinway & sons at the corner of 45th and sixth ave on my way home after work drinks. apparently it is an interim location, in anticipation of the third flagship showroom in nyc which will open in late 2015 at the former icp museum, one block south. it was closed when i stopped by, but i can't wait to pay them another visit and slide my fingers across the ivories.

factoids: i learned that the first steinway & sons flagship showroom was next to our previous apartment building at 71-73 east 14th street, between university place and fifth avenue. i wonder if it was in the building which currently houses reebok, and formerly, diesel. what a rich history new york city has!

the second interesting factoid: robert capa's brother, cornell capa, was the founder of icp. 

it feels nice to connect the dots.

bryant park

my office is located in the seagreen glass metlife building at the southwest corner of 42nd street and sixth avenue. directly across the street is the gorgeous bryant park, which houses a number of tasty restaurants, food stands, and public seating, and hosts a variety of activities throughout the year, including and ice skating rink and holiday shops in the winter and yoga and movies on the great lawn in the summers. 

last summer, i actually took a week-long photography class at the international center of photography, located just a block north of the park, and we visited the park daily for our photo assignments. there are local new yorkers taking a coffee break, mothers pushing their young children in strollers, tourists looking for a place to rest, vendors peddling their handmade goods, and homeless people scattered throughout the public spaces at bryant park, all contributing to its life and colorful atmosphere.

i decided to do a little reading up on the park which i walk through almost on a daily basis. it turns out it's existed much longer and endured many more milestones than i could have imagined.

1686: the area known as bryant park was wilderness 

1823-40: designated a potter's field (a graveyard for the poor), after which the bodies were excavated and moved to ward's island

1847: renamed reservoir square, named after the neighboring 4-acre man-made croton distributing reservoir located at 42nd st and fifth avenue. the croton distribution reservoir was new york city's foremost watersource surrounded by 50 ft high and 25 ft wide granite walls which served as public promenades providing panoramic views of the city.

1878: construction of the sixth ave elevated railway began, casting a shadow over the park

1884: renamed bryant park to honor the new york evening post editor william cullen bryant

1899: reservoir structure was removed and construction of the new york public library building began

1930s: park suffered neglect and considered disreputable

1933-34: redesigned as a great depression public works project and the great lawn, hedges, and iron fence were added

1938-39: the sixth ave el was was closed on december 4, 1938 and razed in 1939

1969: 40,000 person rally held as part of the nationwide moratorium to end the war in vietnam

1970s: taken over by drug dealers, prostitutes, and homeless, and considered a "no-go zone" by ordinary citizens and visitors

1979-83: coordinated program of amenities, including book and flower markets, cafes, landscape improvements, and entertainment activities was initiated by the parks council

1988: bryant park restoration corp privately funded a redesign and restoration of the park

2000s: bprc added a custom-built carousel and revived the tradition of an open-air library, the reading room

and finally ..

josephine shaw lowell memorial fountain: the black granite memorial commemorates social worker, josephine shaw lowell, who founded the charity organization society. it is made of stony creek granite and bronze and was installed at the east side of bryant park in 1913. it was relocated to the west side of the park in 1936. in 2009, the fountain was winterized with the installation of an internal electric heating system, enabling it to be left on in subzero temperatures and gather icicles.

happy lunar new year!

magnum photos

we took the RER (suburban paris rail) to la vallee outlets this morning, and good thing we got there when the stores opened because within two hours, there were lines just to get into half the shops! in order to cover the most amount of relevant shops in the least amount of time, we split up at the outlets and met two hours later at starbucks. kevin had picked up a pair of loafers and i had a shirt and a scarf. score! :) while there were lots of european designer outlets, we've both been trying to be more careful to avoid compulsive shopping so we were pretty happy with our purchases!

headed back into the city and were seated relatively quickly at le comptoir du relais, a cute french bistro at the hotel relais st-german that came highly recommended by a number of friends. kevin had the nicoise salad and i had the joues de boeuf confites (red wine-braised beef cheeks). the salad was very good, and quite similar to the maison kayser one we get for lunch in the states actually. the beef cheeks were super tender and the flavor was robust, but not heavy. the service, however, was as i'd read on reviews online - our waiter could not muster up even a hint of a smile for us. oh well.

walked around rue de rivoli and stumbled upon building 59, a six floor building dedicated to (squatted by) local artists. pretty cool building and reminded me of the artist studios we visited in gowanus in october.

it was dark by the time we finally made our way to the hotel de ville for the magnum photos exhibit, and after a 60 minute wait, we finally made it in! i'd heard of robert capa and henri cartier-bresson, mostly from kevin, but this was my first time seeing a large collection of their works, and a very extensive collection it was, ranging from the 1930s to present day. it's a little sad that black and white film photography, and photojournalism, in general, will be another relic of the past with the development of color photography and video. 

what happened next? after the exhibit, we headed over to frenchie to learn that it was closed until january 12th. sad! fine, off to the next restaurant of choice, josephine chez ducomet in montparnasse. fully booked! shizer! tired of wandering around the city, we decided to go to les deux magots, a famous cafe by our flat with a rich history of writers frequenting the establishment. kevin had the veal and i had the duck breast. i thought mine was tastier :) but actually the highlight of the meal was not the entree or the wine or the pierre herme 2000 fuilles dessert, it was the amiable and attentive personality of our waiter, olivier. what a treat!