what's been going on

hey, this has been a busy month!

2 food festivals, a wedding, and atlantic antic. there's been a lot going on.

and did i mention i moved? i'm finally doing the domestic partnership thing and it sure is nice. i got a cute boy to live with and a cat out of the deal, so i win!

earlier in september i attended the farm city fair which was an all day food fest conveniently located in my neighborhood. there were lots of yummy freebies, including a slow poached egg prepared and served by master chef wylie dufresne!

another highlight was a "geographically inspired new ice cream flavor based on bergen street and the festival" created by food artist, miwa koizumi. this was so cool...she created a flavor called bread & cheese which was inspired by the fromageries that used to line bergen st. back in the day (still looking for info on this) miwa has created a project called ny flavors which she creates new flavors inspired by local neighborhoods flavors and histories. she describes her work as an installation "mapping the tastes and smells from nyc's different tribes into a comestible frozen liquid." other flavors include a lox and bagel ice cream for the lower east side and kimchi sorbet for korea town in the the east 30's. i was skeptical at first, but her ice cream was delicious--i don't know if tasted like bread or cheese necessarily, but it was yummy and amazingly creative. check out some of her other flavors here. 

inside the festival, which was held at the invisible dog center there were these amazing grass sculptures of human bodies. the sculptures were constructed out of soil and exhibited after grass seeds had begun to grow.

the artist, mathilde roussel giraudy, says the sculptures demonstrates how what we consume affects our bodies on a level beyond just taste, i.e we are what we eat. although i believe it to have been unintentional, the sculptures were eerily reminiscent to me of some of the very disturbing preserved bodies i saw when i visited pompeii a few years ago. those were casts that had been created of the petrified exteriors of humans who had perished in the volcanic explosion of mt. vesuvius in 79ad. the positions of the grass sculptures were similar to those of some of the casts, and i assumed it was an interesting commentary on humans who has perished in ash vs. humans growing and generating out of earth. i liked the dichotomous idea of dying in soil and being reborn into earth, but i think my theory may have been a bit farfetched.

recently i was lucky enough to attend just food's let us eat local event, which made me feel like i had graduated to being a real foodie, at least for one night. i've been volunteering with just food, which is one of the coolest organizations ever. they help communities get access to local food and support the farmers who provide it. they also do free workshops about community supported agriculture groups and provide education and support to schools and neighborhoods throughout nyc. they generally rock and i was pretty psyched to be at their benefit, which featured the best restaurants in new york and the local ingredients used in their menus. basically i spent the whole night being fed from chefs from abc kitchen, dovetail, gramercy tavern, etc...and i got to drink beer sponsored by nyc craft beer week. yep, it was a very good night. here are some pics of the food at the event that i got off the metromix website.

beets and watermelon salad from gramercy tavern

cucumber vichyssoise from dovetail

smoked tomato soup from almond.

speaking of food and festivals, last week was one of my favorite events, brooklyn's atlantic antic. it only happens once a year, so i've made a point to go the past three years. it's an all day festival of food, music, art, and general fun. the spirit is infectious, and i got some pics that i think really captured the energy of the day.

and yes, we did make it to a wedding in boston and had a great time catching up with good friends, hanging out with babies, and seeing some of the city. congrats again to brett & lindsay, who threw a pretty great party and esp. to lindsay for her choice of stylish and comfortable footwear on her wedding day.

oh yeah, i'm obsessed with this snake ring from st. kilda in park slope. it's only $13,200. let me know if you have the extra money laying around. i'll pay you back...not.