Digital Library

The Museum of the City of New York just put over 50,000 enthralling images of the city’s past online. Quite an undertaking and one that should be greatly appreciated by anyone curious and enchanted with the way things used to be in this vibrant, ever changing city.

Featuring the work of some of the most talented documentary photographers including Berenice Abbott and Jacob Riis, it’s fun to go through familiar neighborhoods and streets to see what they looked like over a hundred years ago. The museum is working to add even more images from their archive soon.

(images left and below: Jacob Riis, 1890, Berenice Abbott, 1935, Jacob Riis, 1890, Byron Company, 1899, Byron Company 1898)

Click here for the rest of The Museum of the City of New York Collections

See more: Web Sites Galleries/Museums I Love NY Photography

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Posted on December 29, 2010

Muppet Diva

As a kid, Miss Piggy was my favorite Muppet and I still love her. Well, why wouldn’t I? She’s a porcine Mae West meets Dolly Parton with Imelda Marcos type excessive style leanings and quite a bit of attitude. She’s still fashionable today – being dressed by Marc Jacobs.

One of the fun things about having a baby is that, in the future, you get to rewatch and rediscover things you loved as a kid and I can’t wait to introduce Van to the Muppets when he gets older. This does not pertain to Baby Muppets – one of the only cartoons Jim and I both agree was not even pleasant for small children.

Click here for the rest of Miss Piggy

See more: Style Icons: Female Fictional Characters Muses

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Posted on December 28, 2010

from Food and Wine

The photos of Zella’s Crab Stew were so unappetizing (bad light, camera phone, a whitish mushy stew), you’d never believe me when I told you it was spicy, crabby deliciousness.

So, please accept a hastily drawn interpretation of the dish that I served as a light but satisfying meal for Christmas afternoon.

See more: Recipes Seafood Soup

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Posted on December 26, 2010

directed by Nicolas Winding Refn (2010)

Most likely, anyone entering Valhalla Rising expecting and wanting a Hollywood action epic will come to the same conclusion: “Boring!” (You can read lots of these interpretations on the Amazon reviews). I however, am the opposite. I turned King Arthur off in the middle of what I am sure the makers assumed was the most exciting scene and nearly fell asleep with boredom five seconds into the latest Robin Hood trailer.

Action pics just aren’t interesting to me anymore, but this, this is no action pic despite some of the most brutal fight scenes I’ve seen in some time. No, this is more akin to Aguirre The Wrath of God than Clash of the Titans and in all it’s arty pretension, I found it fascinating and wonderful.

Mads Mikkelsen stars as One Eye, an enslaved Gladiator type warrior who claims to have come from hell who has no qualms about killing men with his teeth. After escaping his captors and earning a young boy as devoted follower and translator, he meets up with a band of violent Christian crusaders bound for Jerusalem. In a fog of mist however, they wander off course from Scotland to the New World and mistake it for Hell. Hallucinating ensues and death looms in slow motion.

Shot like a gorgeous heavy metal video through the eyes of Werner Herzog, this was one of the only times I’ve been frustrated with the quality of streaming video – epic high contrast landscapes just don’t hold up to compression very well. In hindsight, I’d have gone all out and rent the Bluray.

While this is probably not a film that will please everyone I recommend it to, one has to be happy that movies like this – that defy convention, and are not afraid of their silence and allegory are still being made. With Valhalla Rising, director Nicolas Winding Refn has become one of the most interesting filmmakers to watch.

His previous works include the drug dealing Pusher trilogy but I would love to see him tackle more of the D&D type stuff (because who else really is making seriously awesome movies set in 1000 AD about soothsaying warriors?) but am intrigued by the upcoming Only God Forgives, which is described as a Bangkok-set modern western.

Click here for the rest of Valhalla Rising

See more: Movies 2010s Action

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Posted on December 24, 2010

378 Metropolitan Ave, Williamsburg

If I had to describe my palette, I could pretty much just list of the ingredients in Saltie‘s sandwich menu. Beets. pickled eggs, sardines, capers, olives, pickles, oh my yes!!!

Most importantly, though the sandwiches equal more than the sum of their parts. The flavors are balanced and the pillowy bread is a perfect compliment – after all nothing is worse than a good sandwich with a bad bun.

I had to give the Captain’s Daughter a try as a huge fan of sardines but rarely ever finding them on menus. With a green salsa, pickled eggs, parsley and olive oil, it was spectacular. One of those meals that makes you kind of dance around with joy with the first bite.

Jim, whose palette is decidedly different than mine ordered the Scuttlebutt. Packed with beets, feta, olives, capers and more – it was excellent. Even Jim was a huge fan despite the powerful flavors that are usually not to his taste (he used to consider salt too spicy).

Daily specials looked amazing – on the day we were there: an egg bowl featuring roasted turnips and some of the most fluffy and appetizing looking scrambled eggs I have ever laid eyes on. They also have baked goods that I’ve not tried yet.

I had been meaning to go here for months and months and now only regeret I never made it sooner. I can’t wait to eat my way through the whole menu and then start again. There’s lots of hype from foodies about these sandwiches, but they live up to it.

See more: Restaurants Sandwiches Williamsburg

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Posted on December 23, 2010