Klosekraft: Weekend update

I had a great weekend, just the ideal mix of time alone and seeing friends, new places, old favorites, much-needed stuff done, great food. If I had sat down beforehand to design my ideal weekend, it wouldn't have been far off from this.

Some highlights:

Cultural:

A free concert at Bargemusic, a boat-turned-performance-space that's moored under the Brooklyn Bridge, with Becky and her friend Courtney, who was visiting from Philadelphia. They don't announce the programs for their free shows beforehand and it turned out to be a classical pianist with the most, um, expressive face I've ever seen on a musician. There were points when I thought he was going to start crying, he was so moved by his own playing. It was more than a little ridiculous, honestly. But the music was lovely and you could look past him and watch boats going by.

The Obsessive Consumption show on its last day at the Jen Bekman Gallery. It was mainly works on paper with a couple of textile pieces. I had thought it was the other way around, but still liked it. She chronicles her relationship with consumerism by drawing everything she buys.

Food:

Saturday morning, I took myself to breakfast at Eisenberg's, a New York institution I had never been to. While I ate my egg and cheese on a roll (breakfast of champions!) and drank my coffee, the guy behind the counter told me about his back problems and we talked about the Breeder's Cup. It was a nice way to spend 20 minutes or so, especially since it came on the heels of the one kind of bummer note all weekend — I went to my favorite early yoga class and learned that the teacher I really liked isn't teaching anymore and that her replacement is the sit-around-and-visualize-our-chakras type, while I like the kind of yoga where you sweat a lot and it hurts to raise your arms for three days afterward.

Tae and I had a fantastic dinner at Five Points and I meant to take pictures of the food, but completely forgot about it (beet salad and housemade ricotta cavatelli with butternut squash and mushrooms). She brought me flowers and when I referred to them as my 'break-up flowers,' corrected me to say that they were for no reason other than I'm lovely. Aw.

Last night, Erin and her mom and I went to Di Fara's, frequently hailed as the best pizza in the five boroughs. I've been meaning to get out there for a couple of years at least and can't believe it took me so long. There is no ambiance to speak of (fluorescent lights, sticky laminate tables) and the air is so thick with greasy, sooty smoke from the ovens that our clothes and hair and skin reeked of it afterward, but there's a real sense that you're having An Experience, that you're watching a supremely gifted man at work. And the pizza... I was ready to be disappointed by the pizza. I figured it would be good, but didn't honestly believe that anything could live up to the hype. It does though. It really, really does. It's the best pizza I've ever had. Any of the write-ups I linked to will give plenty of information about the man behind the pizza and so much more descriptive descriptions than I seem able to pull together now. I should add though, since I don't think any of them mention it, that the sauce is so good, I would happily eat it with a spoon. Or out of my scooped bare hands, if there wasn't a spoon handy.

Dom DeMarco stretching some dough:

In motion (love the cash register and that fantastic green on the walls):

And the pie itself [drool]:

Embellished doors:

Etc.:

I gave blood, sort of spontaneously. I had a little time to kill and walked by a blood drive. I've been meaning to get back to donating regularly, so this was a good start.

At Purl, I bought the most amazing yarn ever. I mean, the yarn itself is just brushed mohair (Promise in fuchsia), but the color is like nothing I've ever seen. I nearly yanked it out of Becky's hands after she unearthed it in the 40% off bin. I think I actually pulled a random skein out of the bin and offered it to her, saying something like, "Wouldn't you rather have this green one?" (She ended up buying a cream and peach skein, the polar opposite of this one, so I don't feel bad about getting all puppy-dog-eyes on her.) My god, I love this yarn. I can't take a decent photo of it, it's so intense and saturated. It seems to generate its own light. This color is to pink what scotch bonnet peppers are to ketchup.