Things are finally getting back to normal for me in my humble New York abode. On Thursday night, the last of my string of Autumn visitors left to return to Germany, leaving me with an odd-feeling empty apartment. Without having to entertain anyone and finally having ample floor space again, I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself, so I hunkered down on my futon and thumbed through my weekly Time Out New York magazine that I get. It's a great magazine, it tells you what's going on in town and where it's happening, as well as random articles on fashion, style, art, culture, dining, partying, etc. As I was going through the pages and pages of events, I realized that I'd never really focused on the events, mostly because I rarely have time to hunker down and read the mag before the next issue arrives. With nothing on my weekend agenda, I started making a list of things that I could do to keep myself entertained.
One of the gems that I found hidden in the magazine was right up my alley: New Czech Films being presented at the BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) as part of the Czech Independance Day festivities. Many of you know that I have a weird obsession with Eastern Europe, especially with the Czech Republic. Maybe it's the beautiful women, maybe it's the magical architecture, or maybe it's the interesting history, but regardless, I am obsessed with that region of the world. When I relocate to Europe someday in the future, that area is definetely on my shortlist of locations. But I digress....so Saturday night Sean and I headed over to Brooklyn, checked out the hip restaurants on Smith St. (two thumbs up!! I'll be going back there; We ate Thai food at Tuk Tuk) and then walked to the BAM to see this random Czech film with subtitles called "Bored in Brno". After some of the movies, they have a Q&A session with the directors, but unfortunately, our's wasn't one of them. BUT, the movie was excellent. It was totally low-budget, but the actors did a great job and it was a hilarious movie. Let's just say that it's about a couple (both of whom have a few screws loose upstairs) who are going to spend their first night together, and everyone is giving them advice. It was really great....
While I'm on the subject of Eastern European obsession - and Brooklyn -, I spent most of Saturday in Brooklyn at Fort Greene park with some people from New York Cares, my volunteer organization. We performed some reconstructive surgery on an area of the park that, interestingly enough, I had performed some reconstructive surgery on back in May for Spring Cleanup Day. We also planted a ton of bulbs in preparation for the winter, so next spring it should be looking good. I was talking to one of the other volunteers (who, coincidently, I had met about a month back at a completely different event in Manhattan) about how I was going to be going to BAM to see a Czech film that night and I declared that I had a strange obsession with Eastern Europe. It turns out that she's studying Eastern European history at Columbia and just got back from spending a summer in Berlin, because she's learning German as well. Unfortunately, she took off before I had a chance to say goodbye and invite her to that evening's festivities, but I'm sure I'll see her next weekend at my monthly kid's event in Hell's Kitchen...
Also of note, I ate at Angelica's Kitchen in the East Village on Friday night. It's one of those vegan organic restaurants that are all over the place here in the city. It was quite good, though, and had something called a "community table" for people who are eating by themselves or in small groups. I ended up sitting next to an 85 year-old lady who eats at the restaurant almost daily. She was born and raised in New York City and now is an artist after raising her family on the 20th floor of a building overlooking the East River and downtown.
Sunday I shopped for winter clothing. I was somewhat successful at limiting the spending and still picking up some vital items like cashmere-lined gloves, beanies, scarfs, and socks. Gotta love discount shopping at Century 21!
And, finally, the last event of the weekend was signing up for a health-and-fitness cooking class sponsored by Whole Foods Market for next Friday. I have no doubt that this will inspire a yogan outlook on in-home dining in the near future!
J. Riley
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