two great tastes that taste great together

this past sunday adri and i were riding the G, finishing up our car-train-subway ride home from upstate. at the greenpoint ave stop this guy steps on pulling a cart full of soft coolers, like the ones you get free at baseball games. on top of the coolers is an almost empty crate box with two pint containers visible. of course adri and i perk up immediately trying to determine the contents through the fogged plastic covering. the guy instantly asks, "do you guys like wine?". "yes!" adrianne replies eagerly. "do you like sorbet?", he asks. "of course." i say. "are you close to home?" "we're the next stop." finally, he reaches into the box and pulls out a pint of sangria sorbet and hands it to us telling us all about this new dessert. it's wine, that's a sorbet! it tastes just like wine, only cold, ice cold. it's very refreshing! look for it and try some.

winecellarsorbets.com

rock, rock, rockaway beach

saturday morning adrianne, harrison, iliana and i hitched a ride with andy down to rockaway beach. it took a little while to wind our way through queens but we got there and quickly set up our spot on the beach. we brought along plenty to entertain ourselves with. while the girls read, harrison and i threw a football, imitated pitchers, juggled, played one-man badminton and watched crazy drunk girls run around the beach; all the things one hopes to do on the beach. andy, in the meantime, was on a conference call. eventually andy joined us with enough time for some touch football.

it was a lot of fun. was it better than long beach? hard to say, but i was glad to get out there, if only for the new york experience and as an excuse to endlessly listen to the ramones' song.

sun's out, time to do stuff

now that the clouds have parted and the sun is streaming down, it's safe (not bone chilling) to venture out and see the city. starting on thursday night adrianne and i joined the rest of the pasquarelli pack for a night at the opera to see "la traviata". before entering we enjoyed the first outdoor meal of the season at a small cafe across the street from lincoln center. as we made our way in the sunset was reflecting into the lobby (the picture above). as we were seated i was able to snap a picture of the stage before the usher advised me against it. the performace was very enjoyable. with verdi productions there is always one noticeable tune and the singing was phenomenal.

the following day adri and i were joined by harrison and mary for the mets-braves match-up at shea stadium. the seats were high but we had a great view of the field as well as the jets flying out of laguardia. unfortunately the mets put up a listless effort. after hotdogs and beers and several braves runs, we left in the eighth inning. a special thanks to ed pasquarelli for trading a pint of his blood for the tickets.

the weekend itself was filled with outdoor escapades including walking through the city, whiffleball and frisbee in central park, working on and riding bikes and drinking milkshakes in greenpoint. sorry, no pics. we were too busy having fun, finally.

meet the mets (field)

last week, adrianne achieved the unthinkable. she secured an assignment no other reporter at her paper had ever secured. she ventured out to shea stadium for an interview with the head groundskeeper for the new york mets. this has been her greatest triumph to date in writing her column on cool new york city jobs - "gotham gigs". as some of you may recall her past subjects include the light operator at the empire state building, puppet doctor for "the lion king" and head research librarian at the new york public library. while at shea she was able to charm her way onto the field where she took the above photograph, for you, my loyal readers (all one of you, dad).

ed. note: written with generous contributions from adrianne

greetings from...

adrianne and i took advantage of the long weekend by making it extra long (we took friday off, suckas) and setting off for lake placid. we didn't have too much planned except relaxing, getting room service and bobsledding.

the first went off without a hitch. we had a cozy room at hotel saranac with a king-sized bed and quiet neighbors. (there was a christian retreat at the hotel.) we also enjoyed the feeling of space provided by long views over frozen lakes.

our second objective was less fulfilling. neither of us had gotten room service before so we were excited to have breakfast delivered to our room saturday morning. our excitement quickly faded after receiving our meal. the plates arrived on a tray covered in plastic bowls instead of on the cart under silver covers we imagined from watching too many movies. unfortunately the food was even worse than the presentation and the bad food ended up being a theme of the trip.

the third item on our itinerary was a major success, bobsledding was awesome. when we got up to the starting point we were quickly given helmets and placed in a sled. before we knew it we were gently gliding down the course. two turns later and we were whipping through the curves. left, right, left, right, done. it was over. when i looked back adrianne had a dizzied look in her eyes, but she pulled herself together for the victory photo.


the snow that greeted us when we awoke on sunday made for a lovely, if sometimes tense, drive through the hills back to the interstate. it was a great trip and i'll try to add some more photos later.

update: we set a course record!
adrianne on the medal stand
me on the medal stand

party crash!

adrianne scored two tickets to cablevision's "holiday rock & roll bash 6" last night. this was the cablevision company holiday party and they go all out for their party. and adrianne and i were glad to take advantage of james dolan's largesse.

upon entering the b.b. king blues club in times square we checked our coats and immediately hit the open bar for beers and glenlivet. hell yeah free glenlivet! we then walked over to get our picture taken with a couple of rockettes (above), awesome. we got in line for the dinner buffet and piled our plates with mac and cheese, salmon, and fillet. after finishing dinner a group of 14 rockettes walked out and performed a short routine with high kicks and all. rad!

we then started through the crowd in front of the stage when i saw isiah thomas! i got a picture of him and me that will be uploaded later. we continued through the party, hit the bar again, got a second picture with the rockettes, ran into james dolan and got a picture with him and his wife. then it was off to the dessert buffet where we helped ourselves to a variety of treats.

after deciding it was time to go we headed off to the coat check where we were given gift bags that included a shoulder bag and insulated coffee cup. hell yeah swag! what a great night. thanks, adri.

Update: here's that photo of me and isiah.

twins?

thanks to sara*'s latest web adventure, adrianne and i decided to match our visages against the online celebrity database at my heritage. strangely, the program determined that both adrianne and i resemble grace kelly, as you can see from the image above.

they say that if you spend enough time together you start to look like one another. if that's true, then i guess this is my future.

blue man group

why don't we just all wear blue?

i swear this was an accident.

time for typing

let's go to the fair!

the dutchess county fair! it's the biggest fair in the state!

since the beach was a bust, adrianne and i were stuck inside. that is, until harrison called saying he, andy and jon were going to the dutchess county fair. adrianne, who is from dutchess county, and i burst into action and were out the door headed to brooklyn to catch a ride upstate. we made it into the fair in a flash, thanks to andy's driving, and we were on to the midway. there was food, livestock, and, of course, rides. i convinced adrianne to join me on the cliff hanger. look at us. we're flying!

after gorging on a smorgasbord of fair food, including corndogs, french fries, roasted corn dipped in a vat of butter, caramel apples, hot roast beef sandwiches, and apple crisp sundaes, we made our way to the shopping tents. there, andy bought a sharp brown vest and the rest of the boys tried on cowboy hats. "hey there, buck-a-roo."

after the fair, we all visited the pasquarelli compound where we enjoyed some rousing games of scrabble and scategories. the next morning, adrianne's dad made some delicious eggs for breakfast and we were out the door headed back to the city.

we're going to the beach, beach, beach...

adrianne and i are going to long beach on saturday. who's in?

update: it was cold and rainy on saturday so instead of going to the beach we went to the dutchess county fair with andy, harrison, and jon. see next post for details.

next stop...

overheard in grand central:
(15 minutes before departure)
adrianne: we'd better go. i want to make sure i get a good seat.
jordan: it's 8:30 and you're going to poughkeepsie.
adrianne: it's a popular destination.
jordan: you're a destination.
adrianne: ...on the love train.

eeennd scene!

movie night at bryant park

a panarama and extreme close-up of the scene at bryant park last night. the park was showing a shot in the dark, the first inspector clouseau film.

ps. this is before the "dooshbag" spanish family of four squeezed into the two feet of space behind us with 2 newly purchased hugo boss cashmere blankets.

Sunday: I have a hungover girlfriend!

as you can see, she's not happy. we went to a birthday bash last night and she had, emmm, "many" drinks. i suppose these things happen when you team her up with these party girls.

Thursday: I have a slurpee!

it was hot on thursday. adrianne and i were walking down to madison square park to attend a reading of breakfast at tiffany's. when we passed the only 7-11 i know of in the city, i wanted to "cool off!" i walked straight to the back where i saw they had eight flavors of slurpees. i think the most spouts i've ever seen in a 7-11 are four with only two ever working. of course i had cherry and of course i put the top on my cup and filled it all the way up. i haven't had a slurpee in forever. this was so good. i seem to recall always finishing the flavor before the ice but that didn't happen this time. i was able to savor the sweet cherry goodness all the way through the shoe-shopping tangent and the entire reading. (it was only about 20 minutes.)

oh, if you want a slurpee now, the 7-11 is on 23rd and park.

ill-adelphia

i went to philly last weekend...this happened. that's about all i can piece together.

best weekend ever, man

really quickly, i just want to get this out there between all the shit i have to do tonight. (laundry and eating a burrito) this past weekend was raa-had. friday i met a friend of mine for drinks in st. mark's. found out s.gary was in union square so the two of us met him and his friend, saran. evidently saran is loaded (money, not booze, although come to think of it at the time i met him he was both) so he continued to by rounds for everyone. sara* made an appearance, but only briefly. she came from seeing "rent" and looked like she had been hit by a bus. so take that as a warning. stay away from the movie. after the * left, the four us took the train down to the village for a party at a new asian, ultra-modern bar. we said hello to the guest of honor, slugged his scotch and ordered another round. we left when we finished the beers. i found out later we didn't pay anybody for them. yes! after that it's a blur, but i think tater-tots at trash happened. maybe a PBR to wash those down, either way great way to start the weekend.

saturday dawns and there are plans to be set in motion. i can't devulge too much, people are reading this. let's just say dudes were being dudes, with dudes using digital sensors to capture all the shenanigans. i know that sounds gay, but it was. except nobody touched brown. after we broke down the set, s. gary and i cruised back to his place. sara* looked a million times better than the previous night and was ready to go out. s.gary had an engagement in midtown so i had the pleasure of squiring sara* about town. we tried to go to 7B but it was packed. so we picked the next best thing, 7A. alphabet city bars are lazy. they all have the street letter in their name. we had a few drinks, even more yawns and headed back to the 'burg rather early. besides we had a brunch in the morning.

now sunday. starts off with a marathon mom brunch. both em and a.chef brought their moms to brunch, but not at the same time. we were there for 3 hours, no joke. i had two black eye chai lattes and em and tm had at least 3 cups of coffee. we were wired. finally around 2 i got the call from miss anna that she was ready to go down to red hook. we planned a trip down to a bar called "sonny's" that right on the water for a book reading. book readings are boring. you can't order a beer while people are reading and they use lame jokes to fill out tired extended metaphors. but one the reading stopped it was a great place. the bar was packed during the reading and totally empty once the final book closed. it was me and three of my friends, and the 3 people working there plus the owner. so we talked with him about his place and all the great stuff on the wall. he returned our quizitiveness with free wild turkey. we finally decided it was too late for another whisky, and we came back to williamsburg for a delicious sunday dinner at union picnic.

whew! i am worn out. what an awesome weekend.

philadelphia story

partydude took his show on the road this past weekend with his travel to philadelphia. while i was no c.k. dexter haven, i performed in a manner that would make mr. grant proud. i defended two ladies' honor by confronting a bum who was harassing them. i dipped and twirled women on the dance floor. and all of this was conducted with a drink in my hand. while that may be more characteristic of william powell, i think of cary grant as a man who never saw a cocktail he didn't like.
unlike cary grant, however, i didn't get the lady at the end of the night.

i had the pleasure of partying with the cutest girl in the room. we talked about movies, danced on ottomans and watched a fight break out. and the best part was she lives in manhattan. i might have a chance of seeing her again, which, as my readers know, is in contrast to my recent romantic escapades. all of this began to feel a little suspect. and i was right. she has a "boyfriend." what a disappointment.

there have been other grant impersonators in the past and they too got the girl before the lights came up. so maybe this isn't the end of the film, but simply the intermission.