at balthazar

morgan and i met ellen this morning (here we're waiting outside her apartment), for coffee and pastry at balthazar restaurant. morgan had never been and it's one of ellen's favorite places to go as the interior is like that of an old french brasserie from the late 1800's or early 1900's. their food is also very good. (we purposely went today as ellen had heard hurricane ida would probably be raining on our area tomorrow and thursday).

do you see the empire state building (a faint grey shadow) in the distance?

we passed a franciscan friar from the st. anthony parish on our way.

we all had a mocha coffee in a bowl, even though it wasn't listed on the menu. it was nice that they made it up special for us.

i managed to get a photo of our pastries before they were all gone . . we shared a cinnamon brioche, a cinnamon bun, a butter scone and an oat scone. 

here are a few photos of the women's lounge downstairs . . !

and the main floor upstairs . . we stopped at the bakery next door for bread and a savory scone for chanda.

we said good-bye to ellen and then walked up to houston street and west broadway, where morgan went off to meet a friend, but before going we noticed a long line of people waiting to get inside a shop. in answer to morgan's question about what everyone could be waiting for, i said that it was probably a pop-up shop (clothing brands rent out space for a short time to sell seasonal ware at discount prices). as i continued on my way i figured i'd run into chanda on the line as she and emily like visiting these kinds of things . . and, sure enough, there she was. she said it was a sample sale. she ended up getting something . . . i think it was a black t-shirt with a special design on the front.

the end of the line . .

first day of school

pluto was in the midst of all the action this morning as chanda got ready for her first day of college at the new school, our local university.

 

off to her 8:00 class . . i think the two classes she had today were quantitative reasoning and chemistry of the environment. tuesday and thursday mornings she has a class called anthropocene humanities.

sunday poem and sunday meals

little things

little drops of water,

little grains of sand,

make the mighty ocean

and the pleasant land.

thus the little minutes,

humble though they be,

make the mighty ages

of eternity.

by julia abigail fletcher carney (1823 - 1908)

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breakfast with sour cream coffee cake, fried egg and poetry book (and cappuccino and first unitarian of brooklyn zoom meeting).

in the evening everyone returned from their excursions (morgan from visiting a friend uptown, greg from a walk, chanda from the gym and me from a short babysitting date) to have dinner together. morgan was the chef this evening and managed to whip up a delicious dinner in a very short time. it was all very innovative and delicious.

mozzarella with basil, olive oil and tomatoes, soppressata and provolone, hot green peppers with cilantro and lemon juice, cracked green sicilian olives, roasted green beans and peppers and italian semolina bread . . 

and spaghetti with shitake mushrooms in a cream sauce . .

and two hands of may i . . 

a change in the weather

after the green market we visited little island today with kendall and aurélien, and, yes, there was a huge change in the weather. a cold front came in during the night and we are now 15 degrees cooler than yesterday.

coffee and tea at the cafe . . 

 

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and we played three rounds of may i tonight (after which morgana and i watched the cat resurers).

 

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korrina and the migrant kitchen had an event at rooftop reds on flushing avenue near the brooklyn navy yard this evening.

good thing they had an umbrella.

another hot summer day

morgana made buttermilk pancakes with raspberry compote for breakfast . . 

and then we visited the dawoud bey exhibit at the whitney museum . . 

 

(i've also listened to a whitney onnline zoom lecture about this exhibit.)

 

(yes, it was very hot outside!)

and had special treats at pastis afterwards (including the most amazing baba rum i've ever had) . . 

 

pluto enjoyed taking a siesta with morgan in the hot afternoon while i went to the italian deli for dinner items.

 

penne with tomato sauce and zucchini sautéed with garlic . .

an evening walk on the high line . . 

(large metronome by artist naama tsabar for the high line's current art exhibit titled the musical brain.)

there was a party happening on top of the standard hotel . . 

it was another warm, but beautiful, august summer night.

family dinner

chanda was out early in the morning to help open the cafe . . 

morgana and i decided to have breakfast there and shared a fig and ricotta cheese sandwich on sour dough bread (merriweather really has very good food). 

we also had a cappuccino and the cafe's special detox (apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, cayenne pepper, fresh ginger and a cinnamon stick and honey).

 

we then walked around the neighborhood and visited the renovated bed, bath and beyond and t. j. maxx (it's known in great britain as t. k. maxx) and also stopped in trader joe's . . the weather is so hot and humid again that every time i get back home i hop in a cold shower to rinse off.

korrina joined us for dinner . .

i made three different salads to go with burgers and hot dogs - cole slaw, dilly brown rice, and cucumber with onions.

 

it's always special being all together . .