Summer visitors and other items

Yesterday and today I found out when family will be visiting me here in New York. If you are thinking about coming up, do let me know as weekends are filling up fast at Casa BKLYN.

Not really. There are still plenty of weekends. Mom and Dad are visiting so we can also go to the US Open tennis tournament. Mom will arrive early as Dad is coming in from a work trip. I know we'll go to at least one night session and probably one day session.

David and Allison told me this morning that they are thinking about coming up at the end of July. Their schedules are somewhat liquid so we'll see if they actually can come up or not. Hope so as I know there are things we want to do such as Governor's Island, which is now open to the public.

Steve's birthday (and Dad's coincidentally) is at the beginning of August, and I invited his Boston friends Mike & Cindy to come down to celebrate his 30th. All four of us are going to go to the new Yankee Stadium to cheer on not the Yankees, but the Red Sox. Yes, there is a four-game Red Sox-Yankees series during Steve's birthday weekend. This made it very easy for me to figure out what present to get him. I already have the tickets for the game on Saturday. They cost twice the face value, but hey, it's his birthday.

The summer has been mild so far. We lucked out that June was one of the coolest Junes on record. However, we did order our air conditioners and we did it just in time. The past week has been warmer and more humid so having the cool air is nice. The cats like it.

I am also hoping to score some tickets to Shakespeare in the Park. The show running until July 12 is Twelfth Night. Anne Hathaway is playing Viola. It's getting good reviews and tickets are free. They have a virtual line that I can join every day there is a performance and hope that my name gets drawn as a winner. The catch is, if I get tickets, they are for the show that day which means scrambling to change dinner plans and convincing Steve he might like it. Twelfth Night is a comedy and for non-Shakespeare fans, his comedies are the most friendly.

In cat news, Cleo has been a bit under the weather. I took her to the vet yesterday. After two blood tests, subcutaneous fluids, and an exam, the vet couldn't find anything wrong with her. Sent me home with a paste-like mixture that contains active cultures - like the ones in yogurt - and B vitamins to reset her GI tract. Cleo seems to be doing better today and is eating more than she has been. She naps and then gets up to nibble. She seems a bit more herself today but still not back to normal. Kitty is fine, so whatever is wrong with her is not affecting him. Thank goodness. Two sick cats would be bad. He's been looking at her this morning with his big eyes and wonders why I won't let him have her food. (It's because I mixed the supposedly tasteless paste into her food.)

We were at the vet for two hours yesterday morning. Most of the time was waiting for the blood work - which they did there in the office - and with the doctor while she was examining Cleo. I liked the doctor a lot. On our way home, an old man stopped me and said that he hoped she was going home and that she was okay. I assured him she was going home and she will be okay. Sweet. Whenever we are out with the cats, people always look at them or actually talk to us about them. I was stopped once by a group of kids who wanted to see Cleo. People like cats.

This last full week of June

(NOTE 6/24: I just duplicated this post on Avec Sucre. Sorry for the duplicate material.)

Father's Day weekend here was a non-affair. As neither of us were able to travel to visit dad's, we took ourselves out for Father's Day brunch. We have a favorite coffee shop over on Court Street that makes quite excellent pancakes, with or without blueberries. It's called Cobble Hill Coffee Shop. That's kinda a no-brainer name, I know, but it suits it just fine.

The coffee shop decorates for the holidays and seasons. This past Sunday, they added blue banners hanging up on the walls proclaiming Happy Father's Day to all the dads who came in. The banners were up next to their spring "decor" of hanging paper/plastic flowers.

It's a real local joint. It's small and run, and I suspect owned, by two neighborhood guys named Frank and Nick. I have no idea which old guy is Frank and which is Nick, and I don't know their last names. The business card by the old fashioned, non-digital cash register simply has their first names. I think they are Greek as they and many of the older, life-time waiters have accents. Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens has been a traditionally Italian neighborhood, but I don't think these guys are Italian. The place is always busy and full of all kinds of people - oldsters, young families, singles at the counter, and everyone in between. So far, we've only been there for breakfast on the weekends. They have a machine that squeezes oranges for fresh squeezed oj, a tiny griddle area, hand written tickets, large menu, and freezing cold air conditioning.

It's not a fancy place by any means and it doesn't try to be something it's not. I like it because it's a real neighborhood coffee shop that makes good comfort food, has a friendly staff (they don't recognize us yet even though we have been there three Sundays in a row), and isn't too expensive. In fact, if you get there before 11AM, there are really good prices on breakfast specials which include coffee and a small juice. No mimosas here!

The man who greets customers I assume is Frank/Nick. We had to wait a few minutes for a table twice now, and he keeps track in his head who is next and how many people in the party. There is no room to wait inside, so everyone just stays outside on the sidewalk. Besides, Frank/Nick won't let you wait inside. He will bring out chairs so people can sit. People leave their expensive Bugaboo and Maclaren strollers outside, too. (Side note: you know how in LA BMWs and Mercedes are everywhere? Yeah, that's what Bugaboos and Maclarens are like in my neighborhood. I have yet to see another brand of stroller.) He pokes his head out to give updates on tables and to call people in to sit. It's a system that he's probably been doing for a long time.

So that's what we did Sunday morning. We left the diner and went straight to Trader Joe's because we've figured out that before noon on Sunday, it's actually pretty decent in there. The shelves are stocked and it's not busy yet with the check out line wrapping along the back of the store from dairy to produce. We did run into one snag - their meat case was out of order so there was no sausage, beef, or pork available. I asked the cashier what was going on and she said it wasn't keeping things cold at the proper temp so it was being fixed. The repair guys were there and we saw them doing repair guys things to the huge meat case.

After that, we did some produce shopping across the street at Pacific Green. Picked up fresh tarragon, apples for Steve, garlic, onions, strawberries, and Camembert for a recipe later this week.

Our new push cart was cock full of goodness, so we headed home. We killed our previous push cart trying to get a huge bag of potting soil home from Lowe's last month. The $25 cart I got at the grocery store back in October had had enough of heavy hauling of cat litter buckets from Target and heavy groceries. It's little wheels just caved in. I had to hail a cab so we could get home with the soil. We went out to Container Store and splurged (I'm not going to tell you the cost because it's ridiculous) on a new push cart made out of stronger and lighter aluminum. It also has a slighter higher handle, which means Steve doesn't have to bend over as far to push it. It has about the same capacity as our old one and the wheels spin like they are in butter. It's a good cart but I still can't get over the price we paid for it. Shocking.

Saturday was a washout for the most part. New York City has turned into the east coast Seattle this June. It has rained and rained and rained. Sunday was gray but at least it didn't rain. Mind you, I still like the rain as I don't have to go out in it every day for work, but I know the cats would love a little sun. They have been missing those sunbeams.

Last night, I made a pasta with goat cheese, asparagus, tarragon, and lemon. It was so easy, light, tasty, and easily adaptable. The night before, I made Moroccan chicken which had ingredients of green olives, lemons, paprika, cumin, cinnamon, ginger, caramelized onions, and garlic. I used just chicken breasts instead of butchering a whole chicken. Quite good, especially the bites with the olives. I wrote on the recipe to add more olives next time.

Besides shopping for food, cooking, and eating, we've been whiling away the time by playing the new Ghostbusters game on the Wii, doing some light cleaning, laundry, reading (me), and buying window unit air conditioners.

I'm still working and ALA is in just three weeks. Then I'm off to Chicago. I've also been interviewing for two full-time jobs in NY. Hope to hear something soon from them.

Another photo to make you smile

I think this is the best picture I've seen in the post-BEA wrap-ups. Olivia is going up the escalator.



For more BEA pictures, click here for Publishers Weekly Children's Bookshelf wrap-up.

Bunny with a pancake on its head

Saw this on author Kristin Cashore's blog and had to repost it. It just made me laugh laugh laugh .