Tonight is the West Village Chorale’s annual Messiah Sing, and I’m going for the second year in a row. This year my Grandma is coming down to the City and we are going together. My grandmother is my favorite person ever, and I am so excited! If you come, be sure to find us at intermission and say hello!

The details:

487 Hudson Street in Manhattan
It starts at 7:30 and you should arrive before 7:15.
Admission is $12, and $10 for seniors and students – no sales in advance.
You don’t have to sing (but it’s more fun if you do!)

The Brooklyn Flea is hosting a holiday gift fair in Manhattan every Wednesday – Sunday on December 2-6 and then 9-13. After that, they’ll be there every day from December 16-24. Hours are Noon – 7 except Wednesday when they are 6 – 9.

They’re even serving beer crafted by the brilliant Brooklyn Brew Shop (look for them in an upcoming episode of Hey Brooklyn, they sell DIY brew kits that aren’t cheesy). Even Stacy London came by to have a cupcake!

You should check it out if you’re around. More info by clicking the postcard.

From Time Out New York:

Bowery Mission, which just celebrated its 130th anniversary last month, serves Thanksgiving meals from Monday 23 to November 27. Volunteer slots for Thanksgiving (7am–7pm) are filling up, but operations director Matt Krivich urges walk-ins to drop by anyway. If you really want to lend a hand, he says, bring fresh-baked pies, of which “there are never enough.” Ain’t that the truth. 227 Bowery between Rivington and Stanton Streets, Manhattan (bowery.org, 212-674-3456)

I perked up when I read this. I love baking for Thanksgiving but we celebrate at Rob’s parent’s house, and they keep kosher, so stuff from my not-as-strict kosher kitchen can’t contribute to the table. I’ve been bummed for a while that my pie baking prowess never gets to shine, so now I plan to spend Tuesday and Wednesday baking up a storm. If you want to bake a pie, too, go for it! Spread the love.

Yeah, that’s right! Two list items in one weekend!

Saturday night me, Dana, Wesley and Rob headed to the 86th floor of the Empire State Building. There are touristy things to do in New York City that are way overrated, but going to the top of the Empire State Building is not one of them, especially at night when all the lights on the ground are twinkling and you can see three states worth of view. The observation deck is open until 2 am and the last elevator up is at 1:15. We walked through the lobby doors at 1 and sailed through the empty maze of velvet ropes that usually are jammed with tourists. From lobby to observation deck was about 5 minutes.

At the top, I got good and kissed.

All I’ve been dreaming of is a special, swanky dinner at a local place called Al Di La!  It’s not super-super fancy, but it definitely pricier than I’m used to.  Clearly, though, I am not aiming high enough.

This receipt supposedly belongs to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.  The whole thing is crazy, but what really kills me is the $12 water.

Also, I’d expect a nicer receipt from such a ritzy place, you know?  Gold-leaf, fancy font, letterpressed… SOMEthing.  Aside from all the zeros, this looks like it could be from a crummy Burritoville.  Nellos, what gives?

via Buzzfeed

all gone!

Last night was the Fifth Annual Casserole Crazy Party hosted by Emily Farris, author of the book Casserole Crazy: Hot Stuff for Your Oven!. Rob and I cooked up a mac and cheese creation that didn’t place in the competition but received an even higher honor – several people came to us and said that ours, more than anyone’s, captured the spirit of a casserole: comforting, cheesy, and just a little bit trashy.

We wanted to make a “man food” casserole and ended up calling it a Sooper Bowl Casserole (Because Super Bowl is trademarked!). I was envisioning a potato and cheese something, but last minute scrapped the potato idea entirely and wrote a new recipe. Late in the afternoon I had the inspiration to infuse it with beer, and last second Rob said, “Bacon would be awesome in this”. Since we keep kosher up in here he ran out and grabbed some Bacos (which are vegan) and we sprinkled them in.

Casseroles aren’t a usual part of my repertoire, but I think they should be. They’re a great mix of cooking and baking and a fantastic way to get rid of leftovers or disguise veggies for picky eaters – everything rocks when it’s smothered in cheese. I’m converted, and I’m going to be making more in the future. Friends, you have been warned.

Here is Emily’s recap on the competition and there are more photos over here at MetroMix New York, which is where I pulled the above photo of me holding up my empty casserole dish.

The recipe is below. I suggest you half it if you aren’t feeding a ton of people – this filled two 13×9″ dishes.

Sooper Bowl Casserole

1 small white onion
2 lbs. medium shell pasta, al dente
2 sticks butter + some for onion
12 tbs. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. paprika
3 cups milk
12 oz. lager, sipped once or twice
6 cups shredded cheese
1/4 cup Bacos
potato chips

Cook and drain pasta. Chop onion into bits and then simmer in butter until caramelized. Preheat oven to 350 F. In large sauce pan, melt butter on low heat. Whisk in flour, salt and paprika. Cook until smooth and bubbling. Add milk, incorporate, and add beer. Cook for 10 minutes on medium heat, whisking slowly, occasionally. Add onions and cheese, cook to melting. Remove from heat, stir in Bacos. Mix with pasta and pour into greased dish. Top with crushed potato chips. Bake 25 minutes covered in foil, bake 5 minutes uncovered, until crushed potato chips are golden.

Beer – Brooklyn Brewery lager Cheeses – sharp cheddar, goat and gouda.

The first time we walked by this house (which is a few blocks away from our apartment), Rob said, “Someone REALLY loves their daughter.”

I don’t know why this brownstone is painted bubblegum pink, but a lost bet seems likely. (the photo doesn’t do it justice – it’s REALLY PINK) It’s kinda cute, in a quirky eyesore kind of way.

You can view the listing, which fails to mention the shocking exterior for God-knows-what reason, here. I think I’ll sit on the stoop for the open house and watch people’s faces upon seeing the pink for the first time.

photo from Brownstoner

This morning Rob and I left the house early to attend a counter-protest of the Westboro Baptist Church (you know them better as the “God Hates Fags” people, led by Fred Phelps). They were protesting at the Jewish temple a few blocks away, and we joined the throngs of Park Slopers just as disgusted with their message as we were. They were there to protest the Bar Mitzvahing of Jewish children, I think, but then there was something else about eating babies with a sign that said “bitch burger”…? (that video was shot at this morning’s protest) I couldn’t tell. Basically they take various lines from the Christian Bible that promote hatred and use it to protest everyone that isn’t them.

The rabbi came out with his shofar under his arm, which made me really happy. He blew that a few times, led everyone in a “nana nana boo boo” finger waving, ala Groucho Marx, and then everyone sang Oseh Shalom, followed by Hava Nagilla. If there is a hora, I WILL BE THERE and Fucked in Park Slope managed to snap a photo of me and Rob dancing with everyone. Woo!

I’d never seen them up close before, so I was pretty intrigued. As a completely non-religious person, watching people get lathered up about what deities think or don’t think is pretty amusing, but I did go to stand in solidarity with our Jewish neighbors. I didn’t bother yelling back at them, either. There was no point; it felt effective to just stand around meeting neighbors and being one of many to outnumber them. In this case, the best defense was just showing up. And dancing.

photo used via CC license, from flickr user Aviloud

A drunk girl in a Yankees jersey was standing in front of the entrance to the B, Q, and 4 trains (both uptown and down).  She pointed at the platform beyond the terminal and asked, “Where does this go?”

How do you even start to answer that?

Every morning in Prospect Park there are off-leash hours until 9 am. The chances of me actually seeing the world before 9 am are generally slim to none, but yesterday morning at five am I was staring at the ceiling wide awake and completely miserable. So I got up. I made myself coffee and quietly snuck Matty and Leeloo, their leashes and some poop bags out of the apartment.

Tino was sleeping, and I really didn’t want to deal with him, either. He’s horribly leash aggressive, and we aren’t sure what to do at this point about it. When he sees another dog he starts growling and barking and choking himself at the end of his leash, and it sounds horrible and scary. I know all he wants to do is play, but it’s hard to explain that to someone who has a tiny puppy on the end of their leash that’s cowering and piddling itself in fear. It’s something we’ve been working on, but we haven’t seen a lot of improvement in. If you have ideas for me, let me know.

Anyway, Matty and Leeloo, the dream team, headed out on their walk, and they were pretty jazzed just getting out there, seeing the sights and smelling the smells. I got to the meadow area of the park and unsnapped their leashes, and it was a few seconds before they both realized they were unteathered. Leeloo kind of jumped up and down a few times, and then looked at me like, “Really?!” and then she was off, gone, sprinting down the field, running for the pure joy of running. I never see her so happy as when she’s barreling at full speed. We’ll definitely have to go again.