Still Burning on the Bowery in Magical Realism

Last Wednesday - I had my beet/cabbage/broccoli raw veggie bowl with baked chicken for lunch. Went to the uptown gym after work, by myself, because the timing there worked well to do a yoga and circuit class back to back. The order doesn't matter much, but after trial and error this is a good combo for me and also minimizes laundry/showering. Power vinyasa first, with the instructor I really like. Then the battle ropes HIIT circuit class. Showered at gym and took the subway home. A was teaching class uptown so I just had some more of the raw veggie mix for dinner, this time with tuna. After dinner I baked coconut macaroons, sipped limoncello and curled up with my book while they were baking. A came home around 9pm and I greeted him with a "Hello, Professor" and we hung out the rest of the night.

Thursday was a red lipstick and black dress day - if I don't sleep enough I try to distract. Worked through the day, then hit a Tabata protocol class after work. Showered quickly, met A at home, and we headed over to John Varvatos' Bowery store to see Jesse Malin play a show. We first saw Jesse Malin in 2003 as part of a free concert on the 4th of July in Battery Park with Ryan Adams and since then have seen him live a few times, including an amazing New Year's Eve show at dearly departed Don Hill's in 2006. He is an amazing storyteller and charismatic performer. John Varvatos is an upscale menswear designer, with a rock and roll vibe. His flagship store location, 315 Bowery is of course the former home of CBGB's - the famous longtime rock/punk concert space, now immortalized on hipster teeshirts and baby onesies. It closed down in 2006 (almost 10 years ago, gosh) and the store opened up two years later. Obviously the whole thing was sordid and sad and I am sure many people have strong opinions on the new LES, especially the Bowery, as the change has really been astonishing over the past 10 years. Things change though, you can't hold back the tide.

Anyway...John Varvatos is what's there now and they still host at least a monthly concert there. We got there fifteen minutes before the doors opened and were close to first on line. I hadn't been inside for twenty years (A claims we went in 2005 when we lived on Bowery, but I am not remembering that and still, that was ten years ago too.) At any rate, I went several times in high school and weirdly it looked pretty much the same (I think the bar is now on the other side...why does a clothing store even have a bar? I shouldn't question it because I love it.) They cleared everything out for the show and kept the graffiti and many posters on the wall. It's a good set up. There is now a huge chandelier in the middle of the room. I love a good chandelier and this was a great one is fab...pictures don't do justice.

Grabbed vodka sodas (open bar vodka was from Moldova - random but solid) and found a good spot by the left wall. (I like to be close but not too close, and ideally near the wall so as not to block smaller humans from seeing.) Hung out, had a few more drinks...the opening band, The Johnny's started pretty promptly, and were pretty good! Two cute girl singers, one looked like a cross between Dakota Fanning and Chloe Sevigny. Then Jesse Malin came on and just rocked the place down.

It was a ton of fun. He played mostly his new album with a few old favorites thrown in. Jesse Malin has a special history with the space - he first played CBGB's when he was only 12 years old! His grandfather sold liquor on the Bowery back in the bad old days, and now he owns several bars/clubs in the area, including Niagara and Bowery Electric. As his last song he played Burning the Bowery - really great. Towards the end he started talking about this place as a sacred place for rock history, which it is. He had everyone get down and touch a piece of the floor. It was crowded but we all did it...then he came into the middle of the room with candles all around and sang to us. Such an epic moment. After the show we hurried out because the room was steaming and we were ravenous. Grabbed sushi at some little spot in the East Village, couldn't even tell you the name. A beer at Big Bar, just for old time's sake and because I am SO HAPPY it's still around. Then another beer and pizza at Crocodile Lounge because PIZZA. Took the bus crosstown and went to sleep.

Friday was a long day at work, crammed with meetings. Did vinyasa yoga after work which calmed me down a bit. Showers were cold so I just rinsed off quickly and headed home. Met A at home and we headed to the High Line Hotel's champagne garden for a drink and to see the Veuve Cliquot Mail Truck. The trucks are airstreams or mail trucks painted in the Veuve orange, plus photo booths, bikes, and little Veuve branded tchotchkes. We had a class of champs each and a cheese plate with red and yellow cherry tomatoes and burrata...was supposed to be paired with charred bread but was sad little pieces of toast instead. Waah. It was kind of lame, but pretty:

I could have used this bike during ironman training:

After that we had a picnic at a park on the West Side and watched the sun set over the water. Very beautiful. The moon was out too and it was very peaceful. I love summer weekends in NYC.

The next morning, Saturday, I woke up early and started doing laundry. I brought A a bagel and iced coffee, and made eggs for myself. I fell back asleep and A finished the laundry and did some errands for me, he is the best. Went out to yoga in the late afternoon, my fave teacher was subbing at my local gym so that was really nice. After that we headed over to the East Village, I got my nails done, and we picked up some wine. A had made scallop ceviche with some REAL charred bread so we went up to the roof and had that with a bottle of cava. A lot of people were out on their roofdecks and it was fun to see everyone enjoying the summer night.

Sunday we woke up late and headed out to a few open houses. I am so over this it's not even funny. After slogging around town we showered up and got ready for a Bastille Day celebration at a local spot. Invite requested red/white/blue attire so I basically just threw on everything red I had.

Party was in the back garden which was set up really nicely. They greeted us with chartreuse snow-cones which were yummy and refreshing. There was a canoe filled with ice and two people shucking oysters...nice start to the day. We watched World Cup and drank way too much rose. Such a boring game, but they had a nice set up with a projection screen, and lots of food. After the game there was more food, more drink, and then performances with mimes and can-can girls. Ate too little, drank too much, slept too little and so Monday I was completely useless, worked from home and ate only pizza.

Yesterday, Tuesday I worked downtown, ate only M&Ms and iced coffee all day. NOT a good idea. Went to the rowing circuit class and rocked it, although I felt kind of ill from the candy at several times during the class. Power yoga afterwards - went really well, I go back and forth but finally can do a rock-steady Crow and am making progress on some of the more advanced poses. Did not shower at gym, stopped at drugstore, went home. I took a shower and A made a salad with some stuff we had in fridge. Baby kale, tofu chunks, red and green cherry tomatoes left over from the ceviche. We also ate some babybels and sweet potato crisps - surprisingly tasty together. After dinner I baked chicken in leftover red wine, baked sweet potatoes, and made a salad for next day's lunch with everything still remaining in the fridge.

• Baby kale
• Sweet corn
• Baby carrots (chopped)
• Baked sweet potato chunks
• 1 leftover egg baked in ramekin
• Purple chicken (the red wine somehow made the chicken purple, still tastes good though so I don't really care. Actually the purple looks kind of neat with the green leaves, yellow corn (and egg), orange carrots and yams, and white of the egg. I like it!)

It's just about noon so I am going to go attack that colorful purple chicken salad.

*Okay on request, here is my lurid purple chicken. Please do not re-post this on any gross food pictures or "who the heck would eat that?" sites. Pretty please!