scallops and a birthday lunch

 

today was my nephew's birthday and kendall's birthday. i mailed adam's card last week, and today kendall and i went to eat at a local restaurant on waverly, a seafood place. we shared a fish stew and lobster roll, and kendall was surprised to find that she knew the owner/chef whose child goes to school with aurélien. i wrapped up an episode of sparrows by rumer godden which i had purchased in london and enjoyed reading. i think she'll like it too.

we also shared a key lime pie and a treat sent by her friend: a chocolate pudding with whipped cream and caramel sauce.

chanda volunteered at the hatchery her cousin works at and helped haul growing baby scallops to the bay where they're submerged in flats in the water. scallops can hop around in the water through opening and closing their shells with their muscles - which are the "lumps" that many people like to eat.

the bay scallops have beautiful blue eyes that help them to see different small objects. i was reading in an immense world, by ed yong, that these are actually quite complex and each one sits at the end of a mobile tentacle and each has a little pupil:

"light passes through the pupil and hits the back of the scallop's eye, where it is reflected by a curved mirror. the mirror is a precisely tiled array of square crystals that collectively focus light onto the scallop's retinas. that's retinas, plural. there are two per eye, and they are about as different as two animal retinas could be. between them they have thousands of photoreceptors, which gives them enough spatial resolution to detect small objects."

from page 65 in an immense world, by ed yong

so amazing, and they're kind of cute hopping around in the bucket. 

a surprise visit

i was in the midst of updating photos on the computer and getting ready to do some italian homework when marisa called to say she was in town. she and tsering were here for a dental appointment and apartment decluttering. she also had a bag of apples for us from her tree! of course i invited her over for tea, and then (of course) we had to go out for a walk as it was such a nice day.

i'll post more tomorrow, as it's late right now and i still need to get my duolingo exercises in.

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we walked to the muji clothing store on 19th street as she wanted to check on a few items of clothing for herself and deychen. i ended up picking out a few things for christmas for some of my folks (can't say who). afterwards, we walked around the block so i could show her the levain bakery and then we walked back to sixth avenue and the container store which is now combined with bed, bath and beyond (which i'm happy about as the super large b, b and b store across the street had closed). marisa bought two containers to hold the clutter she is attempting to declutter.

we walked through the west elm store which i always like to do as it goes between 18th and 17th street (a lot of people probably do this, especially in the winter). we ended up admiring all the furniture and taking pictures of ourselves sitting in my favorite chairs and couch.

a nice salesperson (shawana) mentioned that we should check out the two discount rooms in the store. i was glad she showed them to us as i never knew they were there, and several items were decently priced. she also mentioned that there's an outlet store in brooklyn by industry city. i used to always find well priced gift items at the pottery barn outlet store which used to be on 10th avenue near 23rd street in the late 80's, so i look forward to visiting elm's outlet store one day. (my sister still has a set of mugs from there that i gave her for christmas one year.)

we walked home together and i left her at her apartment building and then called kendall to find out where i should meet she and janine for her birthday celebration . . 

. . it ended up being the commerce inn. 

milly, morgan and dinner out

time for a walk . . 

 

into soho . . 

morgan sent a video of a canyoning expedition in wales.

it's also very hot in london right now.

i met kendall and janine at a new restaurant (zimmi's) we've been wanting to try . . 

the food was very good.

they treated me to a delicious pre-birthday dinner.

it was a fun evening out together.

may twenty first!

happy birthday to morgan today! 
and it's cold out again - at least 30 degrees cooler than yesterday (about 61). it was chilly last night when going to sleep and since i had already taken the wool blanket off the bed (and packed it away in its little storage bag) i bundled up with socks and long sleeves.

today was also rainy.

morgan and harley celebrated by meeting at franco manca for dinner . . i forget which location they mentioned they ate at now . . but their pizza looked delicious. they also had an affogato (espresso with vanilla ice cream, one of my favorite desserts).

here we're waiting to sing happy birthday to morgan on the phone . . there were many birthday wishers calling across the pond at the same time (6 pm east coast and 11 pm london)

afterwards, we had dinner at misoya . . (morgan received the package i sent in time . . i think it arrived monday or tuesday and harley put it away until this evening).

greg had ramen and chanda and i had hijiki salad (chanda) and kale salad (me), pork gyoza (dumplings) and veggie spring rolls.

aurèlien participated in a dance marathon supporting a school in guatamala. the kindergarteners moved through twenty line dances and it looks like they had a fun time.

early this morning i had an appointment with an opthalmologist who updated my eyeglass prescription.

and at noon i was at the library for my italian class. i've really been enjoying this and everyone is dedicated.

our teacher is stefania who is a lot of fun. she's constantly asking us questions and is patient while we try to anwer in italian. but she does get annoyed if she feels we haven't reviewed or practiced properly during the week. it makes such a difference (and is so important) to speak the language with someone.

a birthday celebration

we celebrated janine's birthday at bar tizio with chicory salad, asparagus salad, olives, pizza, chicken and a black and white cheese cake. we had never been to this restaurant before and it was quiet with delicious food and a very nice server (he said his name was alexander). 

greg's birthday

 

leica gallery had an opening for their latest exhibit of photographs which we attended . . 

an exhibit of ballet photography from three different photographers, two of whom were ballet dancers, and one of whom had documented misty copland's final performance with american ballet theatre. pre-registration for tickets was required and i was fortunate to have seen the advertisement for it in time.

korrina met us there and we walked home to celebrate greg's birthday.

i was going to make fettucini alfredo, but korrina had brought delicious food from work so i didn't need to: foccacia, arancini and cauliflower salad.

discussing japanese kanji characters . . 

while whipping up cream for the chocolate mousse dessert . . 

i used a recipe from my new york times cooking app. it called for six egg whites, four egg yolks, twelve ounces of bittersweet chocolate, and a teaspoon of vanilla. i made sure the eggs were at room temperature and i added the sugar very slowly. also, chanda helped me fold in the whites. it turned out so good! i made mousse for his birthday once before . . years ago . . but i'm not sure what recipe it was. (actually, i just found the blog post about it here. i was so much more motivated to make dinner in those days!)

tuesday, may 6th

i saw this man taking a photo of his dog on my way home from helping ellen today. she's busy preparing the children for a presentation for their parents next week. they have little one minute solo dances to do along with a one minute group piece. they've been having fun. morgana called to say hello while i was walking home as today was my mom's birthday. (greg met me and we picked up a take out dinner at moustache.)

here's a photo celebrating nana from 2008 (with deychen visiting too). i miss feeling spring arrive with my mom. she always loved having everything beginning to bloom for her big day.

river walk

 

janet and i had tacos today at las mariscos and then walked along the river. we caught up on each other's news and i enjoyed seeing photos of her adventures in jordan, saudi arabia and oman. actually, i haven't seen the petra photos yet . . i'm looking forward to that. swimming at wadi shab was the main topic of conversation . . such an amazing place.

the days have been warm and sunny . . 

a guest in the house

 

jason came in last night for an allman brothers concert at the garden where korrina joined him. tonight he and greg are there. i'm watching via online streaming and it's wonderful. they are really jamming and it's taking me back to the very different time period of when i was a teen.

this afternoon jason went for a walk along the river with me and milly. the sun did not shine, it was windy and it felt very cold! afterwards, we had lunch at las mariscos and then visited the whitney museum (specifically for the amy sherald exhibit and christine sun kim).

in the evening we had chili for dinner  . . 

and celebrated his birthday which was april 5th (he picked out a nice t-shirt at the show with the cash gift enclosed in the card).

as you can see the cats sat on my lap while i watched the concert (zuzu was curled up on my right).