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Whitman at the Grocery

January 10, 2016 in City Matters, Food Matters

I sing a song of Red Hook Fairway. I sing of all the makings of meat ragu and matzo brie; of fennel; of wild rice and farro; of smoked fish and capers and everything bagels still warm from the oven. I sing of meyer lemons and blood oranges and two kinds of kale and chili lime dried mango and seltzer. O! Seltzer gets its own stanza in my song. So does Mz. Liberty, to whom I sing rain or shine–always while munching an egg sandwich made by someone besides me. Coda! I sing of water rushing all about me; of people I love whom I don’t really know: of fish mongers and handsome butchers and checkout sweeties and produce guys with dastardly senses of humor. I sing of mauve skies and salty spray. I sing of fetching the fuel my body needs to sing. I sing.

Stone Soup at Your Service

January 7, 2016 in Astro Matters, City Matters, Food Matters

I have a powerful urge to start this post by rumbling, “Now is the season of our discontent.” But since I’ve decided this is going to be a great year, all Richard III references are null and void even if 2016 has been off to a rocky start. The good news is I don’t really think a new year begins until your birthday, and mine isn’t for another few weeks. I’m in what astrologers call the “balsamic” phase, which means this slow start is not really a start so much as the wrapping up of last year’s business. Hence the mother of a flu I’ve had: a total detoxing of all of 2015’s bugs.

A few days ago I forewent a fancy-schmancy event to get acupunked–it seemed unwise to traipse around in black-tie finery in subfreezing temperatures while hacking great gobs of phlegm–and was rewarded yesterday by feeling well enough to go on one of my long walks. And lo! what a walk it was. I wandered back to Brooklyn from the Flatiron District, stopping off to greet various friends and neighborhoods and to wolf an enormous burger and fries at Diner. Continue Reading →

Not Just Another Day on the IRT

January 4, 2016 in Astro Matters, City Matters, Spirit Matters

Mercury retrograde begins tomorrow and will last through January 25. This round, it’s taking place in know-it-all Capricorn and big-ideas Aquarius, which means that it’ll be a better time for making plans than executing them–and a generally terrible time for clear, direct communication. Back up your electronics, make contingency plans, slow down (make even get a reading), and above all, don’t blame everything–especially your transgressions–on Mercury Retrograde, which gets an unnecessarily bad rap. I find these periods an excellent time to hole up with a book, a fireplace, a brand-new notebook, and our personal connection to the divine intelligence of, well, everything.

"All, everything I understand, I understand only because I love."
― Leo Tolstoy