Gotham Gal

Paul Westerberg

I am a huge fan of Paul Westberg.  I've been a fan since the Replacements came onto the scene.  He just rocks. 

We were lucky that someone gave us 2 tickets and luckier that another friend got us the best seats in the house, literally. 

The picture isn't great because I used the phone camera but it captures how much fun he was having out there. 

He literally rocked for 2 hours.  His songs aren't long so he must have played over 30 songs.  He also covered a large range from new and old.  I loved that he played "If I Had A Hammer". 

The audience did not want to see him leave and neither did I.  He came out for 2 encores.  At the end of the last song, Alex Chilton, he through his guitar in the air (which was caught by his stage hands) and yelling "I love New York". 

It was awesome. 

Uglesich's

Sadly to say, we will not be attending the Jazz Festival in New Orleans this year.  We have gone every year for the past 5 years and this year was not in the cards. 

I will miss the music, I will miss the heat, I will miss the clubs at night, I will miss the food at the festival but most of all I will miss Uglesich's. 

Our tradition was to get off the plane, drop our bags at the hotel and continue onto Uglesich's.  We would stand in line and drink their heavenly bloody marys until we came to the counter where Anthony would take our order (cash only). 

Then we would find a table and wait until the food started coming out.  Uggi Shrimp, Voodoo Shrimp, Fried Oysters with blue cheese, Raw oysters with sauce,  fried soft shell Crabs and of course the barbecued Oysters.  Heavenly. 

My husband wrote about it today.  There is an article in the Dining section of the Times that he linked to today about Uglesich's closing.  They have had enough.  He had been talking about it for years.  His kids don't want to take it over.  So sad. 

I will be sorry to see Uglesich's go.  One of the most memorable meals ever, 5 years in a row. 

Moonlight and Magnolias

I recently found out from my mother that David Selznick, who produced Gone With the Wind, was her father's uncle or cousin.  Better late than never finding out who your long lost relatives are.   So seeing Moonlight and Magnolias, at the Manhattan Theater Club last night was fun. 

The premise of this play is how David Selznick jumped into producing Gone With the Wind without a screenplay.  Literally started filming.  He put the movie on hold while he wrote the screenplay with the help of a screenwriter, Ben Hecht and the new Director, Victor Fleming.  Both the director and Screenwriter are happy to help out but do not believe in the movie at all.  Selznick on the other hand thinks this will be the best movie ever. Oscars, the whole nine yards.  They hole down in his office with bananas and peanuts for 5 days and write the script.

They act out parts of the movie, which if you have seen the movie, it is pretty funny.  It is interesting to see the interaction between a producer, a screenwriter and a director.  What is their role in the film. 

The acting by Douglas Sills who plays David Selznick was fantastic.  His energy level was high.  He played the crazy producer, the characters in the film, the son-in-law of Louis Mayer, the exhausted financier switching from one to the other with ease.  David Rasche, who plays Victor Fleming, was also solid and funny.  Matthew Arkin who plays Ben Hecht was good too.

If you haven't seen Gone with the Wind, you wouldn't enjoy the play as much.  The play was not a must see by any stretch but it is an interesting insight to the creation of a movie and what went on behind one of the most famous movies of the 20th century. 

Personally, I am absolutely renting Gone with the Wind this weekend.  I am inspired to see it again. 

Cookie of the Day

Every week I make a batch of cookies for the groups of kids that come through our house.  I asked the kids, "what cookie do you guys want this week"?   The answer was unanimous.  Can you make the peanut butter cookies with the Hershey kiss in the middle?  Luckily, the kids traipsing through our house have no peanut allergies, so peanut butter cookies it is.

Here is the recipe.  It makes about 6 dozen.

• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 t. salt
• 1 t. baking soda
• 1 t. vanilla
• 2 large eggs
• 1 jar creamy peanut butter (18 ounces)
• 3 cups flour

Preheat the oven to 350.  Whip the butter in a large bowl until creamy.  Add both sugars and whip until completely combined.  Add the salt, baking soda and vanilla, beat again.  Add the eggs, one at a time, whipping in between to mix it up.  Add the peanut butter, mix again.  Add the flour, one cup at a time and mix well between each addition. 

Roll into 1 inch balls on a cookie sheet and bake for about 10-12 minutes or until brown.  If you aren't going to put the Hershey kisses in, dip the peanut butter batter balls into sugar and press down with a fork when you put them on the baking tray.  Otherwise, just leave the balls whole.

When the cookies come out of the oven hot, immediately stick an unwrapped Hershey kiss in the middle of the cookie.  This will flatten the cookie out too.  Then cool.  I generally put the cookies in the refrigerator for about 1/2 an hour after cooled to harden up the chocolate a bit.  They kiss gets a little soft when it sits in the cookie. 

Enjoy..

Lever House

Instead of a book club, me and my three girlfriends started a once a month lunch.  It is sex and the city for married girls over 40.  It is great.  Our next lunch will be a dinner.  I can hardly wait. 

Today we went to Lever House.  We're sitting down and I notice a guy standing in the front of the restaurant.  I told everyone that he takes yoga with me all the time.  How funny.  I went up to him and said hello, introduced myself since he recognized me too. How funny to see him here.  It turns out, he owns the place.  I swear, for a big town, it is a very small village.  One degree of separation. 

The place was packed with mostly business types.  We opened the lunch and closed the place down.  We split a delicious bottle of wine.  The wine menu is white on one side, red on the other.  Then broken down into tastings such as rich, crisp, etc.  Red is generally the choice for this crew..big and full-bodied.

Architecturally the Lever House is very modern.  In truth is looks a bit like an airport terminal but it could have easily been built 40 years ago or last week which I did like.  You walk down a ramp coming in and enter the room.  There are large round fixtures across the ceiling for light.  The walls are bare, no pictures but covered with a taupe fabric.  There is a room in the back for private parties that over looks the entire restaurant.  The bar is round with tons of bottles on glass shelves in the front when you walk in.  It truly reminded me of the old TWA terminal.  The chairs are very comfortable and the tables are close enough together to create warmth but not too close to hear everyone's conversations.  The feeling is very upscale, very uptown.

The food is good.  Some things better than others.  I did two appetizers.  The first being grilled shrimp on a pureed chick peas with cherry tomatoes.  Simple and light and good, not omigod.  I also had the crab gratin over green apples.  Interesting concept but not that good.  The cheese and crab thing just didn't work.  One person had the lobster salad which had large pieces of lobster in a simple salad.  Nothing fancy but light.  The tuna was beautifully presented.  4 pieces of charred rare tuna over greens with a sauce in the middle.  The raw dish was chopped white tuna with a creme fraiche.  The prices are high.  The food is good not great.  Although, the dessert was quite good.  A chocolate bombe.  Rich chocolate covering a thin crispy cake and a coffee cream with cinnamon cappuccino ice cream on the side.  Delicious!

I am not sure I'd run back but I can hardly wait to have lunch with my friends again.  Our next stop, Esca.

Go Project

Behind every successful non-profit organization there is a strong Board and a driven Chairperson.  You can always have a solid Executive Director but without the Board to help raise money and awareness,  the success rate is not as high.  The Go Project certainly proved that last night. 

My friend, who has energy and brains and a variety of other assets, got behind this organzation and her efforts have paid off.  Two years ago, their fundraiser was 25 people in a church basement.  Last night, over 250 people showed up to show their support.  There was quite a bit of one degree of separation last night so schmoozing was certainly the activity of the night.  Key to a successful event. 

The Go Project was founded on the need to help kids in the first through fourth grade who were struggling.  They identified downtown kids at risk and gave them tutoring, motivation and guidance.  Not only do they work with the kids, they integrate the family into the process with social workers.  Their success has been apparent with the number of graduates who have come back to help with the program.  Basically confirming that every student has the potential if they are given the tools to reach their goals.  The Go Project, this year, has worked with LREI using their facilities to keep the program rolling. 

Major kudos to the Board of the GO Project.  Last nights event shows each of your commitment to making this organization work.  Your success is going to make a direct impact on someones life and that, afterall,  is what it is all about. 

Macaroons

Passover is here and so are macaroons. I make them every year at this time. I have tried different recipes over the years. This year was the best. Unfortunately I cheated and used flour so if you are strict about the realities of Passover (no flour) then these are not for you, at least during this week. You might be able to substitute Matzah meal but I have not tried it.

1 cup egg whites (it is about 8 or so eggs)
2 1/2 cups sugar
2 Tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups unsweetened coconut
1 1/4 cups cake flour, sifted
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate

Whisk together the egg whites, sugar, honey and vanilla in a large stainless steel bowl. Put the bowl over a pot of simmering water. Whisk occassionally until the mixture becomes tepid (warm bathwater).

Remove the bowl from the heat and fold in the flour and coconut. Make sure you sift the flour. Also, I had originally used only 2 cups of coconut and it just didn't look thick enough for me, so I mixed in another 2 cups. It began to get thick which how you want it. So, perhaps it had to do with the way the eggs worked with the sugar but you can start with 2 cups and continue to add in more until you feel it is thick enough.

Here is the key. Put this in the refrigerator over night to get really cold. If the batter isn't really cold, the macaroons just melt in the oven.

Mold the macaroons into small balls and bake at 300 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Key here too is 300 degrees, otherwise they get flat.

Once they are cooled, you can coat the bottoms with chocolate. Break up the chocolate into pieces and melt in a small pot over a low heat. If you don't have a pastry knife, use a dinner knife to spread the chocolate on the bottom of the macaroons. Put them in the refrigerator for about an hour to chill.

Voila.

The Dead 60's

Last night was the Dead 60's first performance in the US and they rocked. 

When they walked on stage and started up the first thing that came to my mind was "wow, they are so young".  Maybe I am just getting older but I swear these guys look like they are 16.  I think they are 20. 

My guess is we will be hearing more and more from the Dead 60's over the next decade.  4 young guys, beyond talented.  The lead singer, Matt McManamon know how to sing, rock and use a guitar.  His command of the audience got better after each song.  His side kicks, Charlie Turner on bass hangs to his left and sings too, Ben Gordon on the left going back and forth between guitar and the keys, and in back on drums is Brian Johnson. 

They almost sound like the Clash of this generation.  You can hear the influences.  Electronica is subtle but there.  There was a guitar and keyboard solos that showed how talented these guys were.  They were so into the music and their command of their instruments was impressive. 

All and all a great performance.  I'm really looking to forward to watching these guys grow. 

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

When we were in London a few years ago, someone recommended that I take the girls to go see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.  So, I did.  They also recommended that I try and get first row on the Mezzanine because the car flies and the scenery is high up.  So, I did.  We loved it.  The performance was great.  The scenery was fantastic.  I knew all the songs, etc.  I promised Josh that when and if it comes to NYC, we will go again and he can see it too (he didn't go on the London trip).

We saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at Sunday's matinee.  Josh loved it, Fred (my husband) liked it.  The 3 of us girls thought the London performance was better.  London had been in production for a few years. 

All and all, it is a great family event.  It is a tad long but the movie is too.  The acting is very mixed.  The young girl who plays Jemima has a much stronger stage presence than the boy who plays Jeremy.  Erin Dilly, who plays Trudy is ok but perhaps will get better in time.  Raul Esparaza who plays Potts is just ok too but again perhaps he will get better in time.  The toymaker is horrible.  Philip Bosco who plays the Grandfather is good but not great.  The best performances are from Marc Kudisch and Jan Maxwell who play the Baron and Baroness.  They have their roles down and so do the nasty Bulgarians who try to find the car and get it back to Bulgaria. 

I'm glad we saw it because it is a fun event but I hope that the cast gels.  I just felt some of the sparkle was missing that we saw in London.  Maybe because we were seeing it a second time and my memories are so fond, I don't now.  Even the stage seems sparser than the London stage.  Maybe the stage is just larger.  I am not sure but there is something amiss.  This is a production that has the potential to play for many many years on Broadway, something Broadway needs, especially for families.  I hope that they tie it all up before opening day. 

New Ideas, Same Time

New ideas flow through our house often.  A few years back, I was hanging out with my husband, my sister and our son having dinner at a beautiful spot on the East End of Long Island.  We were discussing a "great" idea.  We would open a store in the West Village, call it Cookies and Milk and only serve cookies and milk (maybe brownies too).  We could have soy milk, skim milk, chocolate milk etc. and a variety of cookies all different sizes.  We'd also have delivery services and eventually small carts around the city.  We'd have a back area where we could have cooking classes and bday cooking classes for kids.  Great idea..right? 

Josh, our son, said that we always have a great ideas but we never do them.  He's right.  There is always a million reasons why not to do it but a certain type of person who actually executes. 

My husband who sees great ideas daily, generally ends up seeing the same idea at the same time from a group of different people.  Why?  Even if you look at history, discoveries were being made at the same time on different continents when the communication levels were nill.  It is how it is.

Today on Daily Candy, I read about a store that just opened on Commerce and 7th Avenue (the West Village) called Cookies and Milk.  My mouth dropped.  There concept is a bit different.  They have the dough available, you pick the mix-ins and wait for about 8 minutes for the cookies to be made.  My hats off to Cookies and Milk.  Great idea.  I'm looking forward to my first visit.