Oh my god I love Cafetasia. I can't even write it wittily. My two coworkers (who keep me afloat and sometimes even alive during the week) and I have been unable to tear ourselves away from weekly lunches there. Sometimes we have to go more than weekly just to feed the Cafetasia craving. O, Cafetasia, how are you so consistently good? You seat us promptly, your every dish we order is tasty, tasty, tasty, your lunch special comes with delicious appetizers. Your drink menu is so tempting.
I talk a lot about trying Cafetasia for dinner, since lunch doesn't seem like the right time to sample those fruity cocktails, even though I talk a lot about that, too - how I'm going to just go for it one day and have a two-mai-thai lunch. There are other, beckoning reasons to dine there for dinner - the extensive and enticing full menu, the candlelight. Then again, would I ever be able to tear myself away from those favorites from the lunch special? The green curry, the teriyaki, the petite cheese and crab rangoon? The Great and Holy Basil Udon (so good it inspired a mix CD)?
A downside is that it's pretty loud there - like, say, a cafeteria - which doesn't bother me much over lunch but might over dinner, though sometimes I wonder if it's the noise that's hampering my hearing or just my complete focus on my food. But mostly the problem is that I rarely want to stay in my work neighborhood longer than I have to. Maybe now that I no longer work in Midtown I'll finally start trying some of the fine eateries up there...then again, considering my financial situation, I'm probably better off sucking down basil udon until my belly is taut with happiness.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Department of My Vanity
I had to go to the DMV yesterday. Rather, I didn't actually have to go yesterday. It would not have been my choice to celebrate St. Paddy's at the DMV, but I had already unthinkingly scheduled some other things and put in for a personal day, so it seemed like I might as well time to hit up the DMV and get it over with. I had been meaning get a New York license for a while - had been trying to beam at bouncers in the city who carded me that I have actually lived here for quite some time - but the old one was due to expire in June and if I didn't replace it by then I would have to take a road test to get a new one. Considering that I failed my first three road tests on the quiet Midwestern streets where I grew up, my motivation was strong.
I know that the tribulations of dealing with governmental agencies has been widely documented, but here is the part I find most baffling about the DMV: In order to exchange my out-of-state license for a NY one, I had to take to the DMV my current license, my passport, and my social security card. In short, I WAS EXPECTED TO CARRY, ON MY PERSON, MY ENTIRE IDENTITY, including the part (SS card) that you're not ever supposed to carry, per the government's warnings, on your person. I have never been more fearful of getting mugged. Also, if you want to dress all scruffy to indicate that you have nothing to steal - careful. You're also getting your license picture taken.
That is why I had spent more time than almost ever getting gussied up for my close-up, strategically placing my documents in my undergarments, and cleverly hiding my natural glamor with a nothing-to-see-here jacket, then stripping the jacket off at the last minute to stand in front of the picture wall, that looked like all the other walls. Imagine my disappointment when the picture-taking lady didn't say smile, didn't tell me when she was taking the picture, and - worst! - didn't offer to let me see the result in case I wanted a re-do. I knew it was too much to hope for; this, more than the license exchange, is the real right of passage, the real evidence I'm not in Minnesota anymore.
I live in dread of getting a bad license picture in the mail and will be biting my nails until then.
I know that the tribulations of dealing with governmental agencies has been widely documented, but here is the part I find most baffling about the DMV: In order to exchange my out-of-state license for a NY one, I had to take to the DMV my current license, my passport, and my social security card. In short, I WAS EXPECTED TO CARRY, ON MY PERSON, MY ENTIRE IDENTITY, including the part (SS card) that you're not ever supposed to carry, per the government's warnings, on your person. I have never been more fearful of getting mugged. Also, if you want to dress all scruffy to indicate that you have nothing to steal - careful. You're also getting your license picture taken.
That is why I had spent more time than almost ever getting gussied up for my close-up, strategically placing my documents in my undergarments, and cleverly hiding my natural glamor with a nothing-to-see-here jacket, then stripping the jacket off at the last minute to stand in front of the picture wall, that looked like all the other walls. Imagine my disappointment when the picture-taking lady didn't say smile, didn't tell me when she was taking the picture, and - worst! - didn't offer to let me see the result in case I wanted a re-do. I knew it was too much to hope for; this, more than the license exchange, is the real right of passage, the real evidence I'm not in Minnesota anymore.
I live in dread of getting a bad license picture in the mail and will be biting my nails until then.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Cup of Ambition
That could very well be the name of this blog - or maybe it couldn't since I didn't check to see if that name was available and it seems, on second thought, very likely that a Dolly Parton lover/coffe drinker/9-5er has taken it. Because it is, of course, my favorite lyric (and I'm sure I'm not alone here) from the song Nine to Five, by Dolly Parton: peerless rant about the day-job machine, theme song to the movie of the same name, AND, NOW, a Broadway Musical.
I don't know why I'm so excited about this. My mom and I watched the movie when I was too young to get why it made her laugh so much and now I'm left with merely the lingering suspicion that if I were to see it now, it would seem a bit too timeless a commentary on the slew of 9-5 jobs I myself have somehow wandered into and subsequently hated. Plus, I've been solidly in the snotty "why can't they come up with an original Broadway musical anymore?" camp for some time now.
But I love Dolly. The woman's a natural. If you haven't seen the Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, you really owe it to yourself (it stars Burt Reynolds as the Sherrif). And I do work 9-5, still, and am starting to feel like I could use a full-fledged musical in my resentful little corner.
Here's the two things that really did it, though, and they're both right there on the discount flier that showed up in my mail last week:
1. Allison Janney. Allison Janney! This is almost enough said, but on the flier there is a picture of her doing some cabaret number in a white three-piece suit. Now enough said.
2. I'm ashamed to admit it, and I will say that at first I was insulted by the very concept, but if you order tickets with the discount my flier offers, you get a bonus discount on DINNER AT TGI FRIDAY'S. That's right. I'm going to look past the obvious conclusion that the target demographic for this show is Midwestern tourist so set in their ways that they will eat at national chain restaurants while visiting New York. Because, let's admit it, this is the target demographic for most Broadway shows and probably for the majority of New York's entire necessary-evil-tourist-industry. So instead I am giving the producers props for not only copping to it, but putting it right out there on their flier. It seems like the perfect evening to me, to couple a goofy country musical with a combo platter at Friday's. Their onion rings are great.
p.s. I've heard that the discount is also available on www.broadwaybox.com. Just saying.
I don't know why I'm so excited about this. My mom and I watched the movie when I was too young to get why it made her laugh so much and now I'm left with merely the lingering suspicion that if I were to see it now, it would seem a bit too timeless a commentary on the slew of 9-5 jobs I myself have somehow wandered into and subsequently hated. Plus, I've been solidly in the snotty "why can't they come up with an original Broadway musical anymore?" camp for some time now.
But I love Dolly. The woman's a natural. If you haven't seen the Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, you really owe it to yourself (it stars Burt Reynolds as the Sherrif). And I do work 9-5, still, and am starting to feel like I could use a full-fledged musical in my resentful little corner.
Here's the two things that really did it, though, and they're both right there on the discount flier that showed up in my mail last week:
1. Allison Janney. Allison Janney! This is almost enough said, but on the flier there is a picture of her doing some cabaret number in a white three-piece suit. Now enough said.
2. I'm ashamed to admit it, and I will say that at first I was insulted by the very concept, but if you order tickets with the discount my flier offers, you get a bonus discount on DINNER AT TGI FRIDAY'S. That's right. I'm going to look past the obvious conclusion that the target demographic for this show is Midwestern tourist so set in their ways that they will eat at national chain restaurants while visiting New York. Because, let's admit it, this is the target demographic for most Broadway shows and probably for the majority of New York's entire necessary-evil-tourist-industry. So instead I am giving the producers props for not only copping to it, but putting it right out there on their flier. It seems like the perfect evening to me, to couple a goofy country musical with a combo platter at Friday's. Their onion rings are great.
p.s. I've heard that the discount is also available on www.broadwaybox.com. Just saying.
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