Where is March?

I can barely account for my time, but the month is practically over! While Nien and I were fasting (a whopping three days before we caved) we filled our time with season 1 of "Lost" and just kept going from there. We've made it all the way to the current season and will be all caught up in a few days. A productive use of my time? Decidedly not, but it sure was a fun ride.

I think I prefer catching up on series in big chunks because it helps to keep the excitement factor. Everyone kept telling me I would notice a huge difference in the episodes in season 2, but while I did think some of them dragged out more and that the stories weren't as good as the first season, it wasn't as drastic as I thought it might be.

I went to "The Sopranos" premiere on Tuesday with a few friends and definitely had some fun celeb sightings: Tons of cast including James Gandolfini, Lorraine Bracco, Steve Buscemi and Drea de Mateo, Ray Stevenson, Peter Bogdanovich, a few of the guys from "The Wire" and James Lipton (is he really a celeb?). It ended up being a really late night and kind of threw me off my game for the rest of the week. Of course it was well worth it though. They screened the first two eps of the season and it looks like they are going out with guns blazing - can't wait to see the rest!

Emma has been barking like a mad dog and it is really getting to me. we've tried practically everything - obedience school, a citronella collar, taking her right back inside once she starts, but nothing seems to work. Because she is part beagle, her loud yapping morphs into a really loud howl and I am sure everyone in my neighborhood hates her. I've recently seen some suspicious chocolate bars on the street and would not be at all surprised if some asshole was trying to put an end to her (well maybe not her specifically, guess I am being a little paranoid). I really hoped she would cut it out as she got older, but it actually seems to be getting worse. I marvel at how quiet she was as a puppy!

Otherwise, I read "Never Let Me Go" for my book club and found that the spare language helped to make it so poignant and heartbreaking. The feeling has definitely stayed with me and I think about it a lot. I wanted something a little lighter, so I tried to start a travelogue, but I couldn't get into it. I put it down and picked up Nicole Krauss' "The History of Love" which got me from the first page. I'm only about 20 pages in but so far so good.

It should be a good weekend - Atiyah's birthday tomorrow (vegetarian food in Brooklyn) and book club on Sunday (brunch at Alice's tea Cup).

So much going on

So it has been a while since I've written because there is lots going on. Last week I went out practically every night, and Saturday was Nien's birthday. We met up with all his friends at D.B.A. downtown, had a few drinks and then headed over to Kush. We didn't like scene there, so we went to the good old LES stand-by, Max Fish. At this point, Nien was starting to look a little wobbly, so we only stayed a few minutes before making our way over to Katz's to try and replace some of the alcohol with food. Nien asked me to place his order and then sat down. I looked over and he waved energetically. Two minutes later, I looked back and his head was on the table. Next time, he was gone. Poor Nien was not well.

Needless to say, there was a lot of eating, drinking and general excess, so my body was screaming for a break. Nien wasn't feeling that great either, so we both decided to do the Master Cleanse - a maple syrup/lemon/cayenne pepper juice fast. I did it last year and found it definitely made me feel better, but I wasn't quite as excited to go without food for 10 days again so soon. I think I may only do 5 this time, but we'll see.

We celebrated Adrienne's birthday today (though it was Sunday - the office has been so busy these past few days, more so than I am used to because Jess is out) so I picked up scones with preserves and clotted cream from Alice's Tea Cup (in my UWS hood). They looked so good, but I am really far gone from food right now - just feeling generally nauseous. Today is day three, so hopefully I can at least make it to Friday. We will see.

I'm also so annoyed because I got Nien the coolest birthday gift, a tee with a working equalizer on it, and it is stuck at the post office, because apparently my doorman is useless. Hopefully we'll pick it up some time this week.

Since we aren't eating, Nien and I have been holed up in our apartment for the last couple of nights watching non-stop "Lost" season 1. So addictive. We are half way through and will need to get season 2 soon. Our only breaks are taken when we have to go to the grocery store for more lemon juice...which is every night.

Oh, I know all I ever talk about is TV, but I started watching "My Boys" from TBS online and I really enjoy it. The characters feel very real and it is funny.

Blog, Blog, Blog

So, I like this whole blog thing because it is forcing me to write, and I am somewhat of a lazy ass in that department. However, it seems like everyone has a blog nowadays, so getting someone to even read it is next to impossible. Oh well, not like what I had for lunch today is all that exciting. For anyone who cares, it was leftover rice and veggies cooked in maple syrup - I know that sounds weird, but it tastes so good. I put the maple syrup on a mix of vidalia onions, carrots and string beans, and it makes all the flavors pop really nicely.

It was a nice weekend, particularly Saturday, which was unseasonably warm and pleasant. I went to my first meeting of the book club that my old intern, Kyra belongs to. I like these girls a lot and it was such fun! Since we read Bill Buford's Heat (which is a bit of a Mario Batali history combined with the author's mid life crisis - he actually gets a thrill out of working his way up from the bottom in the Babbo kitchen, making no money and bearing the brunt of all kitchen discontent) they decided to have our discussion at Otto Enoteca, the extremely reasonably priced and yummy restaurant that Mario and his partner Joe Bastianich opened at the end of the book. I've been there a few times before, but it is always a treat. I think I am going to like this club. Afterwards, we went to B & N to get the next book (Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro) and even went shoe shopping. What a great day!

On Sundays, Nien and I are usually fully devoted to TV, but last night we cooked a big meal and our friend Justin came over, so TV took a back seat. We've had this bottle of sake in our fridge for a while now, so it was time to get 'er done. I came up with the brilliant, but somewhat misguided (for a Sunday night) idea of drinking sake bombs, and after a few, we were feeling pretty good. So in the spirit of fun, we decided to go to a 10:30 movie. we ended up seeing Zodiac, and it was good, but oh so long and I swear someone had cranked the heat in the movie theater to about 110. I was roasting and ready to fall asleep. By the time we made it home I pretty much nose-dived into bed.