ahhh . . wallsé!

morgana and i have been wanting to treat ourselves to a meal at our local neighborhood fancy restaurant, wallsé. it was opened by austrian chef kurt gutenbrunner in 2000. it's quite expensive! we both said we would deserve to go if we quit our bad habits. mine was playing with the ends of my hair, which i had been doing ever since i was five when i stopped sucking my thumb (i just switched habits). her's was to stop running her tongue between her teeth when concentrating on ballet steps in dance class. these may seem like silly habits to focus on, but they were extremely annoying and . . . bad! they were good things to stop! and it wasn't easy. wallsé was a good reward!!! we had a wonderful time. the food was delicious and the service was impeccable. morgana has passed by in recent days and she says the hostess remembers her and has said hello.

i remember reading somewhere that kurt named wallsé after his hometown on the danube. you can read a little bit about him in this new york times article here. he's also an art collector, i believe. he has several restaurants. i'm always amazed how people can run so many places at once (like erik kayser with all his bakeries). he must have good managers.

salzberger nockerl . . (huckleberries and meringue and cream and powdered sugar)

apple strudel with raspberry syrup and vanilla ice cream

there's actually scaffolding over the restaurant these days. but they've decorated it with festive lights.

we stopped to check out the new citibikes that finally arrived today. i think they're a bit pricey for a family of five ($100 a year per person), but they're nice if you're single and don't have all the expenses a family brings. i wish the city had put in more bike racks for the people (like us) that have their own bikes . . just another battle to keep up with in this capitalist place . . 

greg says he will try it one day. maybe we'll get one subscription that each of us can share . . then chanda can walk up the block and pick a bike to ride to her ballet class . . and greg can still ride to work if he wants.

they are nice bikes, with a rack and bungee cords for a bag on the handlebars.