World Travel Sans the Passport

So one of the perks to NYC is the diversity. There are certain neighborhoods that make you forget that you are in the USA. My friend Heidi's boyfriend David had his first solo show this week in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Greenpoint. The event was fun and David's paintings are incredible. Esther went with me and we decided to walk through Greenpoint and pick up the subway further down since neither of us had explored that neighborhood before. It ended up being a very Polish neighborhood. Esther and I split a pastry and had coffee in this cute little bakery where the menu was in Polish and the owner's cat tried to jump in my handbag and sneak home with us.

Later this week I went to Midwood which is also in Brooklyn. Midwood is a predominately Orthodox Jewish neighborhood. There is this amazing Ukrainian take out place that sells fish and knishes. There are lots of bakeries, jewelry stores, and even a women's store that caters to Orthodox ladies by having a wide variety of hats, wigs, and scarves.

In other news I went to a great lecture at the 92nd Street Y on the Upper East Side. The poetry series had an event with Paul Simon and Billy Collins. Billy interviewed Paul about being a lyricist. Occasionally Paul would pick up his guitar and sing. It was wonderful and as most of you know I LOVE Paul Simon (and Billy Collins).

Last weekend I went on a field trip with my class to the Mikva on the Upper West Side. It was really beautiful, it looks like a spa. Afterwards I met Esther, Michael, Sandy, and Terry at Barney Greengrass's. This is a very livly fish market and restaurant. It was so crowded that we got everything to go and feasted on lox, whitefish spread, and rugelah back at Esther and Mikie's place. Later that night I made Chicken Paprika (my great grandmother's recipe) and a lavender vinaigrette cucumber salad for Sandy, Terry, and myself.

Tonight was tragic. I was going to the Fusion Fashion Show which is a competition between FIT and Parsons. Austin Scarlett from project runway was one of the judges. I was so excited but then there was this huge down poor out of nowhere. Every one's umbrellas turned inside out and people were running to the nearest shelter they could find, which for me was an Ann Taylor Loft. I had really scary hair and raccoon eyes. I thought if I can buy a hat perhaps I can fix myself. But alas not very many women wear hats so Ann Taylor had none. I called my friend Josie who was at the show (we had planned to get there early to get good seats for us and Josie's family) but she said it was packed even when she got there. So I decided I couldn't possibly attend my first New York fashion show with scary hair and bad seats. Instead I went back home and enjoyed watching How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying on TCM...do I know how to have a rocking good Saturday night or what?

The lesson to be learned girls is...if you have wavy hair that will frizz when encountering unexpected downpours wear a hat (and Ann Taylor should sell some) and wear waterproof mascara.