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August 30, 2006
how could a photo of a place called gow-anus look so beautiful? photo courtesy of Vince
Half Nelson is a great movie--it wasn't really uplifting, as most "teacher in the ghetto" dramas go.... it was actually pretty depressing, but in a very sensitive and emotionally resonant way. It had a great soundtrack (Broken Social Scene!), great acting, great script and it was all shot in Brooklyn near the great...
GOWANUS!
Speaking of my favorite canal, there's a very promising music/dance event happening there (or near there) Sunday sponsored by Nublu including people from Theivery Corporation, Brazilian Girls (not Brazilian) and Forro in the Dark (actually Brazilian)... Looking forward to that. This weekend R. and I are going to hunker down and study and write, respectively. And then we will get our dance on.
Everyone else seems to be jetting off for this holiday I keep hearing about...Labor Day is it? The Japanese don't believe in our Labor Day, even if I am American and it is my God given duty to take that day off...
Work is insane right now. I'm wrapping up the world's most complicated shoot taking place in Seoul, Tokyo, New York, DC, and LA. It's for an investigative report we've been working on for months now about these student extremists in Japan who in 1970 hijacked a commercial airplane and took it to North Korea (I won't bore you with details...but the passengers ended up eating each other*)
And I slept last night! A luxurious eight hours! It was a miracle! **
*That's a lie- it wasn't that exciting.
**The miracle of AdvilPM!
Posted by debbie at 11:47 AM | Comments (0)
August 29, 2006
Bamn...and damn, I'm tired...
I can't wait to go to this place! Little food items out of machines! To think I could still be living across the street! Oh St. Marks Place, with your tempting variety of of cute snacks...
In other news, I'm still an insomniac. I don't know what to do. Falling alseep at night seems impossible. Once while visting my dad in California, I was having similar sleep trouble and he suggested Hennessy and warm milk (together). He was convicned this was the solution and we drove to the liquor store where he bought me a big jug to take back with me to New York. That was nice of him, but, well, it didn't work. I'm not especially anxious or depressed, but I can't seem to snap out of this pattern. I'm exhausted at night but my mind is obsessed with the idea that I won't get enough sleep and then sure enough, I don't sleep at all. By "I don't sleep at all" I mean that literally. I don't know how I'm functioning on zero hours right now, but it's not pretty. I feel like today is just a continuation of yesterday, everything is bleeding into everything.....must rest....on desk....zzzzzzzzzz......
Posted by debbie at 11:36 AM | Comments (0)
August 28, 2006
Please Don't Wake Me
Today is one of those days that should have been spent in bed reading the rest of the New York Times. I never sleep so great on Sunday nights, but last night, a combination of my general insomnia, the newly opened McBerg Bed and Breakfast (please don't inquire about vacancies- we're fully booked till October) and then a certain somebody's severe case of the jimmy legs- well, I'm downright exhausted. The only thing keeping me awake is, I hate to admit it, Starbucks. I'm usually not one to partake in their bitter and overpriced brews- but their coffee is the only thing strong enough to keep my droopy lids propped open. It's magic. And cheaper than coke.
The weekend was one of Summer's last, and as per usual it revolved around food and drink in and around the 5 boroughs (ok, not the Bronx or Staten Island but 3 out of 5 ain't bad)...a visit to Lure Fishbar (see below), a dinner of vegan Chinese food (always scrumptious!) with the cousins, a trip to the Red Hook ball fields for tacos (sadly, no elote was to be had), a spontaneous jaunt to the beer garden in Astoria (finally, after years of thinking about it), a few Netflix (I recommend Duma, a beautifully shot film about a South African boy and his cheetah- it's better than it sounds, I swear), some Swedish pancakes (guess where we got the mix? IKEA!) and a dinner at Frankies....I also managed to squeeze in some writing, which is good, as this nonfiction writing workshop I signed up for is starting soon....extracurricular activity here I come!
You know that Beatles song, I'm Only Sleeping? I love that song, especially this part:
Please don't wake me
No don't shake me
Leave me where I am
I'm only sleeping
Everybody seems to think I'm lazy
I don't mind, I think they're crazy
Running everywhere at such a speed
Till they find there's no need
So true, so true.
Posted by debbie at 2:04 PM | Comments (0)
August 25, 2006
The Most Luxurious Happy Hour in the World
You know what makes me happy? This place makes me happy, and especially between the hours 5 and 7. After discovering it last week, Laura T. and I are making it a weekly, if not daily, event. I highly recommend it, especially if you are a seafood lover (admit it). They have a mouthwatering menu of cocktails and seafood bar snacks. And for a normally very fancy and pricey restaurant, everything is such a bargain. They have the crispiest calamari, the slurpiest oyster shooters, and...the shrimp cocktail! Oh the shrimp are so fresh, it's as if the chef had just cast his fishing net into the sea and then reeled them in, and then laid them down ever so gently on a bed of ice. And the drinks! The watermelon martini is not cloying like your usual neon hued fruity martini but rather a perfect balance of fresh puree and vodka. The only downside is that it starts so early, which means that I will have to fake an illness to get out of here, and then flip flop my way downtown, rain be damned, to get there in time.
Posted by debbie at 1:29 PM | Comments (2)
August 24, 2006
Last night was one of those strange only-in-New York kind of nights. We met up with Renu and Jon for dinner at the Fairway Cafe which is located on the second floor of the supermarket.
Finding the cafe was a bit difficult. We were wandering around the meat department confused on how to get upstairs (a secret door behind the pork loins?) until we found an innocuous looking supply elevator in the chips and dips isle. A box boy came by and whispered "press the button behind the shelf to go to the cafe" and so we pressed the button and off we went for some intensely juicy burgers in a surprisingly elegant atmosphere, though Renu's burger was a little, er, rare, inside. Thanks to my reading comprehension skills, I was able to impress everyone with various unappetizing facts about the beef industry.
The show was great though- how could you go wrong with a lineup of Jon Stewart, Sufjan Stevens, and David Byrne? And the Beacon is very grand- it was like being at the Oscars, except everyone in the audience was a smart young hipster.
Later, on the walk home from the subway, we smelled a potent burning rubber smell and the street was hazey with smoke .There was a fire in Carroll Park! Well, a trash can was on fire and it looked potentially dangerous! No one else was really around so we called 911, and it was exciting to talk to the fire department. At that point, it was getting late and I wanted to go to bed, but Rafe wanted to wait, so he did and watched as not one but three fire trucks came sirens whirling and speeding down to the park just a minute after we had called. It was reported to me later that the blaze was successfully put out. They used a fire hydrant and everything. I wouldn't go so far as to say we were heroes, but next time you walk by Carroll Park, thank your lucky stars that it's still there.
Anyhow, as I was walking home, I spotted a cat that looked exactly like my old dead cat, the one and only Troy Goldberg. The resemblance was incredible: he was gray with white paws and a white belly and walked with that same saucy saunter. Yeah, yeah, all cats are basically the same, blah blah. But this cat was definitely making eye contact, as if to say "remember me?" Could it have been Troy? Could he have not died by the hand of a speeding car (we never did know for sure what happened) but instead escaped from Berkeley to try and find me? It's possible. It has been a few years since my dad broke the news that he "disappeared" and I imagine it would have taken that long for him to make the 3000 mile journey to Brooklyn. I thought about trying to kidnap the cat (a catnap), but he looked especially frisky and would have probably put up a fight, and I was tired. And also I am not a crazy cat lady. Yet.
Posted by debbie at 3:09 PM | Comments (3)
Debbie Debbie bo bebbie banana fanna fo febbie- Part II
Thanks to my reader(s), I've been alerted to a few other famous Debbies. How could I have forgotten about these greats?
Debbie Downer
Nanny Deb (from Nanny 911)
Posted by debbie at 12:45 PM | Comments (0)
August 23, 2006
Debbie Debbie bo bebbie banana fanna fo febbie
Because this blog is written by me, I have free reign to be as narcissistic as I want, right? isn't that why people have blogs in the first place?
So here I present...
Famous Debbies in Recent History
Debbie Harry (of Blondie)
Debbie Gibson
Debbie Alan (from Fame)
Debbie Does Dallas
Little Debbie
While I'm honored to be associated with all of these noble and heroic Debbies, I am most honored by the most famous recent Debbie... Tropical Storm Debbie!
In all sincerity though, Debbie Harry is no one to be poking fun at. I was named after the iconic new wave rocker (ah to be named by a nine year old boy in 1981!) and not, as it has been assumed, after the snack cake brand. And I guess tropical storms are nothing to make fun of either...
Posted by debbie at 1:37 PM | Comments (3)
August 22, 2006
Probably unrelated to my previous post but....
Last night, after rereading Fast Food Nation and falling asleep with the book on my face, I had a very vivid dream in which I was the head manager at a McDonalds that had just opened up on Smith Street. The thing was, in my dream, I LOVED my job- I got paid really well, the food at this particular McDonalds was upscale bistro fare (which, given BoCoCa's bistro per capita figure, makes perfect sense) and my team members were the familiar-faced baristas from our local coffee house.
Aside from obviously not absorbing the finer points of Fast Food Nation, the dream got me wondering...should I be looking for a new job?
Posted by debbie at 5:20 PM | Comments (0)
What I do
I've been at my job a year now. Some of you may wonder what it is really that I do everyday, aside from emailing you and blogging. Basically, I find people. This week, this is who I need to find and interview:
*A displaced blues musician from New Orleans, preferably black and very old.
*A professor of Korean studies in the LA area who can talk about the Korean CIA in 1970
*The man who was a Korean CIA operative in 1970 who now lives in the US. There is no English translation of his name and he is probably in hiding but he may go by any of the following:
Young Chun
Young Cheon
Young Sung
Young Seong
Young Sung Chun
Young Sung Cheon
Young Seong Chun
Young Seong Cheon
Yung Chun
Yung Cheon
Yung Sung
Yung Seong
Yung Sung Chun
Yung Sung Cheon
Yung Seong Chun
Yung Seong Cheon
Yeong Chun
Yeong Cheon
Yeong Sung
Yeong Seong
Yeong Sung Chun
Yeong Sung Cheon
Yeong Seong Chun
Yeong Seong Cheon
(Note: Chun/Cheon could also be spelled Chung and Yeong/Yung/Young might not be his first name at all. But he also could be going by an American name.)
*A former cat burglar who can demonstrate on camera how to break into a mansion.
*Also, someone with a mansion, preferably in Florida (even better if it's beachfront property) who wouldn't mind a cat burglar demonstrating how to break into their home.
*Oh, I also need someone in the Toronto area who can make a fake deer that looks like two boy scouts could have made it, assuming that they were both twelve years old and living in the 1890s.
Any leads would be appreciated.
Posted by debbie at 12:38 PM | Comments (0)
August 20, 2006
Jogging for Leisure
No, not me, but this is what I imagined I must have looked like...approximately.
I jogged today. Tis true. All the way to the Brooklyn promenade, which is so beautiful and the view so great that I almost forgot that I left my right lung there. I am pretty confidant none of my ancestors have ever jogged, unless you go way back to prehistoric times when maybe my great great great uncle's second cousin ran for his life in order to escape a ferocious wooly mammoth. But I think it's safe to say I'm the first Goldberg and/or Zuniga to have ever sprinted for leisure. R. promised he would sing "Eye of the Tiger" to me to mark the occasion, but apparently what I considered jogging was more "brisk walking" and he didn't think that warranted a celebratory song. Naturally, I felt my athleticism was being mocked at- I for one felt like a real warrior out there. I was wearing sneakers and I broke a sweat- and that, in my book, counts as jogging.
Later we "jogged" down to Moonshine** for a neighbor friends' BBQ (we're trying to be more neighborly these days), and then we had several very delicious pizzas with Vince and Tina. Beer + pizza + half hour of jogging= probably shouldn't have bothered with the jogging...
Cute, right? Very cute...unless you got twenty of them in a room together for the annual bulldog convention (coincidentally taking place today as well). Let's just say they got VERY excited. But hey, when a bucket of beer costs $7, you turn a blind eye to a little mysterious fluid on your shoe.
Posted by debbie at 10:15 PM | Comments (1)
August 15, 2006
I left my heart in Fleischmanns...or maybe i left it in the Ikea cafeteria
Friendly gnome in front of River Run
Coming back to New York after a long weekend in natural environs is always a tough adjustment. I felt my heart sink right as the Manhattan skyline became visible from the New Jersey turnpike. But we came away from our trip with more than a few good memories- we came away with a backseat brimming with goodies from Ikea. Believe it or not, the pit stop was not my suggestion. It was Rafe's. And was I going to deny him his wish? No.
Guess where we had dinner?
I forwent those meatballs in favor of the salmon in chive butter sauce- and honestly, it was poached to perfection. What better way to end the weekend than by buying some new toss pillows and then reminiscing over meatballs, salmon, and sweet lingonberry beverages?
But back to the trip. We hiked (also not my suggestion). We hiked up a very steep and thorny ravine until I thought my legs were going to buckle...but then, miraculously, we reached the top. We made it! And then Rafe accidentally trapped a large bug under his eyelid. And then we stumbled back down the ravine.
Champagne toast on the river bank- it was very classy
And oh yes! We went to an auction, my very first. I can now understand the thrill of the auction- even if, ultimately, I came away with nothing but a tale of woe.
This auction was held in a converted barn next door to our bed and breakfast. It was THE (and only) thing to do on Saturday night in the town of Fleischmanns. Named after the famous yeast, Fleischmanns is a strange little place- populated by hillbillies, some Mexican farmhands, and a vibrant Hasidic community.
So the auction started at seven. Beforehand you could peruse the scene and decide what you wanted to bid on. We had yet to eat dinner but we thought, what the heck, we'll stay for a bit and then leave when we get hungry. While looking for things on which to bid, I spotted a very cool green bottle in the shape of a woman that was about three feet tall. It looked like it was from the 1930s and it was very interesting to the eye. To my eye. I had never seen anything like it. I had to have it.
Most of the seats were marked with the names of auction regulars, so we had to settle for seats near the back. We weren't sure how the auction was going to work- were they going to auction off every one of the thousand pieces of junk one by one until everything was gone? That would take all night!
That is indeed what they did. My green bottle was way in the back, mixed in with piles of miscellania. How badly did I want the bottle? Pretty badly
So we stayed. We stayed as innumerable creepy looking dolls, broken bicycles, and ugly needlepoints were bid on and won. By the third hour, we were beginning to get restless. It was time to take action into my own hands. I marched around in back and found one of the presenters hiding behind a entertainment unit chugging cans of Natty light, waiting for his turn to present something. I asked him if he could please present the green bottle over there, I had been waiting a long time, etc. and he shrugged and said it was no problem. So I sat back down and immediately the glass bottle was on display. The auctioneer started the bid at $10. Not bad, but I thought I could get him lower so I waited. He went down to $5. Still no takers, so I waited agin. And then he went to $2. I raised my little number sign. I couldn't believe my luck- this was to be the deal of the century. But then...another lady raised her sign. And then that's when trouble started. This lady was surely out of her mind, and the bid was getting higher and higher. I didn't want to quit, I really didn't, but at $40, I finally bowed out. I was defeated by a lady unironically wearing a sweater covered in a paw print pattern. She was smirking (or at least I thought she was) as we the naive city folk walked our walk of shame out of there.
By this time, it was around 11:30 and we were starving, having not have eaten anything since a greasy breakfast twelve hours before. We drove around dark country roads becoming increasingly agitated- nothing was open! Nothing! Where the hell were we, in the country? The night was becoming like a horror movie, one with endless roads to nowhere. Rafe swore he saw a sign for an Indian restaurant that announced it was just a few miles up the road...and at that point I thought he was hallucinating and had gone completely mad. Then I remembered that I had, by the grace of God, packed some Odwalla food bars in my bag back at the b & b. We tore into those tasteless food bars like rabid heyenas, and then we passed out. And so ends the story of a little girl who went to an auction and did not win, and then nearly starved to death, but otherwise had a lovely time. The end.
Posted by debbie at 12:22 PM | Comments (0)
August 11, 2006
Tia Debbie Dice "Ti Manchi!"
Laura and deliciously chubby Isabella. They're in Italy right now and I miss them....
Hi Laura!
Posted by debbie at 2:17 PM | Comments (0)
Mee grains
What a crappy day. I have to interview a family who lost a loved one in 9/11. This is difficult. I am not in the mood for this right now, and I am eating a miserably soggy sandwich from Bruno's Ravioli. This is the quite possibly the saddest sandwich I've ever eaten, and the free barbeque chips that came with it just add insult to injury. Maybe it's not the sandwich but the family that is making me sad. Regardless, I'm such a sucker for stupid logos. I picked it up on my lunchbreak after seeing a used Ikea couch at a strangers apartment near my office. Speaking of sad things, there is something undeniably sad about buying used Ikea furniture. It's just not right- the stuff is not meant to be recycled for it only is meant to last six months. It's like buying used H&M clothes at a thrift store. Or like a used Kia. Or like 50% off sushi (actually, that's different, but equally stupid).
So I sat on this couch in this stranger's strange apartment, figuring out if I truly wanted to buy something with somebody else's ass print on it. All of a sudden, I felt like I could barely keep my eyes open...I was so very, very fatigued. I wanted to ask the seller if I could perhaps take a little nap, to really test the couch out, but decided that would have been crossing the Craigslist Code of Conduct. And she could have plunged a knife into my chest as I snoozed. I mean, you never know what kind of freaks you'll meet off of Craigslist.
I am also suffering from a debilitating migraine right now which is clouding my usual Friday happy-go-lucky mood. I used to get migraines all the time at my old job, probably because that job involved the production of the world's longest and most boring PBS documentary. My boss also had migranes and which transformed her into horrible and out of control troll- which in itself was no fun to be around but she would take one look at me and ask in the most sarcastic tone, "what's the matter, do you have a mee-grain too?" and then, right in that very moment, just from the way she said the word, my synapses would spontaneously snap and my brain would erupt into a nightmare of a headache that would last hours until I was able to go home. I shudder just thinking of the way that word sounded in that fake British accent of hers. Meeeeegrayyynnnn.
I am looking forward to tonight though, Rafe's old friend Josh Ritter is playing a free show at South Street Seaport. And this weekend, we are going to this friendly-looking bed and breakfast in the Catskills. There is nothing I love more than a little r&r and a little b&b...Is Friday over yet?
UPDATE: The foosball table has been SOLD! Sorry, no more tournaments at the McBerg house, though I have been contemplating a purchase of a badminton set. Or horseshoes. Something vaguely sporty that could, in no way, in any context, qualify as actual exercise.
Posted by debbie at 1:44 PM | Comments (0)
August 9, 2006
More Pudding Please...
The photos on this site (gotta love the saturated colors) along with the author's comments totally cracked me up. Check it out:
Hilarious recipe cards from Weight Watchers in 1974
Ok, so I just realized this site is like three years old, but it's still funny...
Posted by debbie at 4:26 PM | Comments (1)
The End of an Era
Anybody want a foosball table? Guaranteed to take up space and gather dust except for that rare (though fun!) occasion when a guest challenges you to a game and then proceeds to kick your ass...all in the comfort of your own home!
$100 o.b.o.
Also available for a limited time only: one petite loveseat from the 1970s (?) in a charming brown and orange plaid weave. No photo, but if you walk down Union Street, look for a blue truck and it will be sitting in the back there. Don't be shy...
Posted by debbie at 11:01 AM | Comments (1)
August 7, 2006
Mid-to-late Summer Review
Summer is almost over. Much has happened. I have been to three weddings. I have been to Honduras and I have met my mother's side of the family. I have bicycled on the beach under a full moon and I have seen strange creatures in the rainforests of Costa Rica. I have bought a summer membership to the Y that I have used once (I had wanted to swim, but was intimidated by the ferocity and speed of the swimmers in the lap lanes). I have not learned how to drive yet, but I have put it near the top of my much neglected Master To Do List. And I have just eaten a sugar donut for breakfast.
But, on the plus side, Summer is still here and there is time to do things yet. Things I want to do before Fall:
- Picnic at night at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden
- Eat tacos and elote every weekend at the Red Hook soccer field
- Check out Govenor's Island while it is still open to the public (only Fridays and Saturdays until September people!)
- Ride a horse or pony in Prospect Park (yes, there's a stable there!)
- Spend time with friends I haven't seen in awhile
- Go swimming
- Write a lot
- Sell our foosball table (anybody?)
- Figure out career path/life plan
- Buy a new couch
Yesterday was a long, indulgent Sunday. Marie and I had a lovely brunch in the Lower East Side and it was great as it had been ages since I've been there during the day. Usually on the weekends, I can't pry myself from Brooklyn but my love for the LES has been renewed, thank you Marie! Discovered Economy Candy. How have I spent six years in New York without venturing into this place? Tons of retro candy from our childhood, and from childhoods we could have had if we grew up in the 50s. Old time favorites like Abba Zabba and salt water taffy and Turkish delight. Oh my! They even had a halvah
station where a nice lady will carve you some off a mattress-size block and plop it in a bag for you. If you've never sampled the rich flavor of that sesame treat, you are missing something!
Also stumbled into the greatest vintage jewelry store yesterday called Pippin- tons of well-priced goods, mostly costume stuff, from bygone eras. I could have spent all day in there, but managed to leave having only bought one necklace, a smoky quartz number that pleases me.
Later, Rafe and I entertained a married couple of friends and I felt like a grownup serving them cheese. An assortment of cheese. And they brought us a bottle of champagne. Tell me I am not a mature grownup now, ha! We had many mojitos and Cuban food and had a fine evening and now I am at work, tired with sore eyeballs, but energized for my blog again, so all is well.
Posted by debbie at 12:00 PM | Comments (0)
August 2, 2006
Random Photo #1: When it's 100 degrees outside, this photo takes me back to Winter, and to the dizzying array of food options at Kenka
Posted by debbie at 12:41 PM | Comments (0)