TracyFood

What I’m up to: awesome weekends. 26 February 2010 11:30 pm

Posted by Tracy in : consumerism,eating,events,fangirl,friends,fun,movies,not even vegetarian,nyc,photos,pictures,pizza,random,restaurants,reviews,school , trackback

So this weekend Peter’s out of town for macho male bonding stuff which I sincerely hope does not involve getting buried by the snowicane or whatever I’m supposed to call this mess of wet and cold slushing everything up all over the place for the snowiest NYC February on record, wow (shouts out to Ansley for that fun fact, and also a pretext for delicious, delicious lunch at Veselka this afternoon, nom nom nom). But seriously, just look at the poor planters at our building’s entrance, for monkeys’ sake:

I think the super’s whole family has been worked keeping that path clear these past 36-odd hours.

Anyway. I have two excellent reasons to brave the frozen wilds of New York City this weekend, and I am going to tell you all about them, starting… now.

The Foodprint Project

To be perfectly honest, I’m not 100% sure what The Foodprint Project is, but there are so many awesome people involved that I cannot wait to be a part of it any way I can. And oh darn, hearing awesome people talk about the art and culture and politics of urban food systems and more? Geez, it’s like exactly what I came to grad school for, only free and I get to design my own homework! So that’s tomorrow, Saturday, February 27, from 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., at Studio-X, 180 Varick St., Suite 1610, New York, NY 10014.

Just Food’s CSA in NYC conference!

Ok, I do know what this event is about, which means the conference should be pretty freaking awesome. Community Supported Agriculture is the answer, doncha know, and I am eager to learn more about how it works in NYC and how I can help, because: awesome.

So that’s my plans for this weekend, but last weekend was pretty excellent, too, so this end of February adds up to lots of out-going for little ol’ homebody me. On Friday night Peter and I ventured out to Brooklyn where my grad schoolmate Carrie was making pizza (nom nom nom). We contributed duck prosciutto from the Columbia Greenmarket, and sheep’s milk feta from Trader Joe’s, and much deliciousness was enjoyed by all. (Speaking of Trader Joe’s, that’s where Carrie got her pizza dough, and while I am a big snob about making my own, it’s hard to argue with 99¢ even as I wonder how it’s even possible for the stuff to be that cheap. TJ’s prices are like that a lot for me.)

On Saturday evening, Peter and I finally checked out Veselka in the East Village, where the borscht—fricken borscht, people, I know, what the heck?—was a revelation. So. Freaking. Tasty. (And I say this as one who used “borscht” as a cuss word for years after working a dinner party where I had to serve the stuff and do its dishes while wearing a white shirt… yeah, that didn’t go too cleanly.) Also delicious: pierogis and stuffed cabbage. (I know! Stuffed cabbage! But I swear it was delicious!) Anyway. Vegetarian combination plate for the win, oh yes. And Ukrainian poppyseed cake is very tasty, too.

After that delicious dinner, we headed over to the Village East Cinemas to see Fantastic Mr. Fox (big shout-outs are in order here to Grist‘s Tom Philpot, whose impassioned blog posts on behalf of said film played a not-insignificant role in our choosing to see it in a movie theater instead of at home, projector-style—which is not to say that I don’t expect to enjoy it in the latter, more intimate, setting; in fact, I think its cozy charm will fit there quite well.) Anyway, I’m going to echo Mr. Philpot’s endorsement. If you enjoy clever animation, anthropomorphized animals, nonconformists monkeywrenching agribusiness, and/or the vocal stylings of Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Mario Batali (!), and/or George Clooney, to name a few of the wonderful cast, you really might want to check out this movie, because it is big fun.

Then on Sunday we went down to Chinatown to catch some of the celebrations for the Year of the Tiger. Peter bought poppers:

Boom! I especially like the reaction on the guy coming up the street towards us.

and we had hecka cheap dumplings and non-disgusting bubble tea, then wandered happily through the city, ending with coffees and chocolate croissants before making our happy way home. Yay! (Oh, and before I forget to mention that this weekend started off right, too: last night, Thursday, we braved the slush for Dinosaur BBQ because it is February and I must kill. Nom! Here’s wishing you share in the delicious and awesome this weekend, reader.

Yes, this was kind of a boring “what I had for lunch” post but y’know what? The little hater didn’t win today. Woo!