Monthly Archives: September 2010

September 13, 2010 · 9:46 pm

Time to Cry Tuesday – Art Supplies

What soothes your soul? Where can you go to feel like the you that you have always been? A place where you walk through the door and suddenly everything feels right?

For me, it is an art supply store. I spend countless hours on a keyboard and although I am a technojunkie, I miss the materials. I can’t help it, there is something about the tactile part of creativity that has gotten lost in all the digital stuff I do and I crave a good old fashion art supply now and then.

There is something about walking down those aisles that feels so good. The smell of the colored pencils, the way the gold flake looks in those little packages, the decorative papers… oh G-d I simply love the decorative papers. And then all those solvents and brushes, the clays and… well you get what I mean.

For some reason when I walk through the doors of a real art supply store – not one of those chain craft stores – but a real old-fashioned art supply store, I feel so at peace. All of the sudden I am a high school art student with a list of supplies in my hand and a semester of stuff to make exploding out of my head.

Sadly these stores are becoming more and more scarce. The giant Pearl Paint that was the art store of my childhood closed recently, leaving me with no replacement near the zip code. Until last week when Blick Art Supply opened in Carle Place.

And there I was on Sunday, strolling the aisles and feeling like me all over again. What could be better than that?

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September 12, 2010 · 11:55 pm

Must you grab that thang

We were out for ice cream after dinner on Saturday night. Sitting at a table chatting I noticed a rather large man doing the ole crotch tug. Ok, I thought, he needed a little adjustment and forgot that he was in public.

Then he did it again.

So, of course I mentioned it to my husband and friends. And no sooner had I mentioned it then…

yep, one more tug for good luck.

Perhaps he had an infection. Or maybe some sort of a tick. Or maybe, just maybe, he did not give a crap whether anyone saw him, he simply liked to tug on his dick every few minutes. Hey, doesn’t make him a bad person, right?

Of course everyone had to watch him and sure enough he did it again. Quite a guy, perhaps his knickname was Tugger. For good reason.

Amused as I was, I forgot about him until I was driving through a neighboring town on Sunday and who should I see walking down the street? Of course, Mister Grab-a-lot. I am happy to report in the few minutes that I saw him on the street he had his hands free and clear of his dick.

Perhaps it is just a Saturday night sort of thang.

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September 10, 2010 · 7:40 pm

9/11: From Horror Comes Hope

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

This year instead of looking back on the horror that was, let’s look forward to the thriving neighborhood that will be. Don’t read that wrong. I am a firm believer in never forgetting. This is a solemn day that deserves respect and reverence. But I believe there is always a place for hope.

In case you missed this NYT article, here are the plans for what will be a completely new piece of New York. One that will both remember what we have lost and give hope for what we will gain.

In this time of insanity surrounding the protest of the building of religious institutions and the burning of sacred texts, is it not time for us to be the America we have worked so desperately to defend and preserve?

Enough hatred.

Please feel free to remember anyone you have lost or hope you may have for the future, but do not feel free to preach hatred in these comments.

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September 9, 2010 · 12:01 am

A Sweet New Year (and the funny thing about mashed potatoes)

There is an odd phenomenon surrounding the making of mashed potatoes. There is truly a fine line between the perfect amount of milk and…

well I would have to say:

wallpaper paste.

Yes, you guessed it. I was there. They were really perfect. But I could not leave well enough alone and had to add that one little drop more of milk. And the next think I knew I was preparing boxed rice pilaf (on a holiday, that’s simply a crime!) and dumping those potatoes before Gary got home to witness my failure.

But here’s the thing. It’s not about the mashed potatoes. Or the rice. Or the fact that you find yourself cooking chicken soup and brisket on labor day as if someone pulled the switch on your summer and sent you tumbling down the Days of Awe water slide.

It’s about stopping and taking a deep breath and remembering that even though it is 85 degrees out and you have a Chambers Stove from the 1930s that is causing your kitchen to feel like a sauna; traditions, community, family and friends are what the whole thing is about.

Like the friend that picks up your parents’ synagogue tickets for you because you were too harried to get there yourself. Or the one who wakes up to remember that she is out of flour but she always bakes you a challah and makes sure to get to the store early enough to make you one again this year AND have her son deliver it to you. Or it is sitting in Synagogue (yes in that state of post ruining the potatoes shame) and looking to your left and right to see not just both your parents, but both of your in-laws as well.

So to all the members of the Tribe that read this blog, L’Shana Tovah. May you have a good, sweet year.

And just a tip, go light on the milk in the mashed potatoes.

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September 6, 2010 · 10:23 pm

Time to Cry Tuesday – Valentino’s on the Green

This week Time to Cry Tuesday takes a different twist. Having safely deposited both of my kids at college halfway across the country, I will focus this week on the joy of work.

Yes, you read that correctly. As a good friend from art school so wisely posted on facebook recently, ‘find something you love and then find someone to bill for it’. Every so often my career takes a turn back towards doing what I truly love; getting involved in a business and helping them to realize their vision for how they should look and feel.

One such client is a fabulous new restaurant and catering venue in the NY area called Valentino’s on the Green. I was hired to create their menus and associated materials. It just so happens that not only did I have the honor of working with this new venue, but one of the partners happens to be one of my dearest friends from High School, Chef Don Pintabona of Tribeca Grill fame. (we did not call him Chef, back then).

To add to the excitement, Don is planning to build a solar-and-biodiesel-powered vertical farm on the property, where he hopes to grow about 80 percent of his raw materials, from mushrooms and potatoes to farmed fish. He also envisions a teaching lab for local schools. How cool is that?

The restaurant is housed in Rudolph Valentino‘s summer home in Bayside Queens (hey, don’t laugh, in the 20s Bayside was like the Hamptons). The renovation is spectacular, the staff is award winning and stellar, the food is to die for. And Sunday night I had the joy of dining there during the Friends and Family opening.

I cannot tell you the thrill of entering that building I have watched turn from a construction site into an elegant restaurant over the past few months and see it filled with people. People who were actually holding my menus! But the most wonderful part of all was to see my dear friend Don – beaming as he walked through the place – at home in a way I have not seen in a very long time. There is nothing better than seeing a dear friend realize a vision and being able to take part in it.

Sometimes work feels like pushing a boulder up the hill. But if you are lucky, other times work is about doing what you love – with people you love – and finding someone to bill for it. It was an honor to work with a team of passionate professionals who truly cared about every single detail that led up to the opening of this restaurant. Don, Giorgio and Deanna, working with you has been a dream! Jimmy, Michael, Antonio, Don C., Lauren, Erin, and the entire staff, thanks for the great night last night, you were all on the top of your game.

So plug, plug, plug, full client/friend disclosure and all that transparency nonsense, you will surely thank me for turning you onto this place. Let’s help them find ‘many some ones to bill for it’. Join me in making this venue the great success I know it will become. Check it out here, or call and make a reservation at 718.352.2300 and tell them that Amy sent you. Do it now before this article hits and they are all booked up. (Oh and if you are looking to throw a party, their upstairs catering room is magnificent!)

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September 2, 2010 · 7:05 pm

What Flavoured Soup Mix?

I just could not put the name of this soup in my post title for fear of what Google would drive here. Although it is tempting – being a blog whore and all – to get some cheap stats by using the word ‘cock’ in a post title. But I have enough weirdos googling things like ‘castrated men’, ‘me with bulges’ and a big fave this week, ‘orange peel penis’, which in case you missed  it was an actual blog post you can read here.

So yes, my friends, for those of you who savor the flavor, so to speak, you can go home and cook yourself a big bowl of Cock Flavoured Soup tonight. Who knows what will cum of it (sorry, cheap shot). I particularly like that this is made by a company called Grace. And just because I think it takes a lot of balls (again, sorry, cheap shot 2) to make a soup by this name I will give the dear people at Grace a little link love and let you know where you can buy this stuff. It would surely make a great gag gift (ok, I am taking this a bit too far, so sue me!)

A big thanks to Paula P for sending this one in. Truthfully, who had better friends than me?

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September 1, 2010 · 11:20 pm

Foursquare Check-in for STD Testing – too ‘social’?

In a nutshell, MTV is teaming up with foursquare to encourage STD testing. That is a good thing, right? I mean, anything that encourages people to get tested is OK in my book. But a badge that shouts to your network that you’ve been tested? Is this TMI? Will my friends be more likely to get tested because I have and bragged about it? Ok, maybe my friends are not the demographic, but you get what I mean.

Is this simply an overshare?

What next? Will EPT be the next to partner with foursquare giving out the ‘INPIWOAS’ (I’m Not Pregnant, It Was Only A Scare) badge. Or maybe what my friend Jessica Smith suggested when I posted this on facebook, perhaps FiberCon could come up with  the IFMAD (I Finally Made a Doody) badge. Ok, she just inferred the badge name by suggesting FiberCon. I don’t want to put words in her mouth, she is very sophisticated.

What do you think? Is this a good share or an overshare?

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