Month: May 2009

First Saturday; Exit the King

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So I’m in the middle of my first Saturday here.  Santosh and I didn’t emerge from his apartment until eleven.  He had a few errands to run and then we met his friend Riaz  at Cafe Orlin for brunch (I felt very authentic) where I had something called a malawach which involved some fried Yemenese dough, eggs, and tomato sauce.  Delicious and awesome and I was starving so even better.

I parted ways with Santosh and Riaz and took the subway to Times Square for my matinee of Exit the King.  The show, written by the absurdist playwright Eugene Ionesco, had its premiere in 1962 and its Broadway premiere in 1968.  The show consists of two hours of waiting for King Berenger I, the monarch of a crumbling and decaying kingdom, to die.  While the audience waits, the King, played in this production by the astounding prancey and rubber-faced Geoffrey Rush, does everything in his power to avoid dying.  He throws tantrums.  He protests.  He marches and dances and, yes, prances.  In the meantime his first wife, Queen Marguerite (Susan Sarandon), is urging him rather enthusiastically to die already while his second wife, Queen Marie (Lauren Ambrose aka Claire from Six Feet Under I LOVE HER) is weepingly proclaiming her love for the king and beseeching him to maintain his grasp on the mortal coil.  An overworked maid (the only servant in the castle), a guard, and a doctor also throw their opinions of life and death at the king.  Being an absurdist (read: Existentialist, and vaguely reminiscent of this work I read my freshman year of college that involved the death throes of a cockroach–if anyone can tell me the title of this play I will love you forever) play there were a few overly ponderous monologues about life and death and joy and sparks etc., but the director played up the gallows humor and Geoffrey Rush’s manic performance kept things moving.  I especially liked the use of a tapestry portraying scenes of the fall of Berenger’s kingdom as a backdrop, though it got me thinking about the potential of artist/theatre collaborations and how those don’t seem to happen anymore–like Andy Warhol designing for Merce Cunningham and Picasso desgining for the Ballets Russes.  Many artists today could’ve had a curious interpretation of Berenger’s court–especially considering the parallels between Berenger’s kingdom and the previous administration.

Right now I am in Santosh’s apartment.  I am listening to the whirring of the small floor fan I just bought him and his roommate for a house-warming present.  The room in which I am staying has no air conditioning and no windows, and while this makes for a very dark and very quiet space it also makes for a very stuffy space.  Fan to the rescue.  Tonight I am meeting my dear dear dear dear friend Phil Chernyak for dinner and then probably partaking in some festivities with Santosh and his friends, who are currently off in Brooklyn painting someone’s apartment.  I’m foreseeing a watching of the Magic/Cavs game.  I’m not really a watcher of the NBA, but for my father the Cleveland Sports Fan’s sake, I hope the Cavs win.

Time to go back outside–the weather couldn’t be more perfect!

Arrived!

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I’m here, happily situated in Santosh’s apartment.

The journey was a little rocky: the flight was delayed around two hours, I got the cart with the broken wheel at JFK, the luggage took a half an hour to arrive, and the cab line was obscene–another twenty minutes of waiting.  But now I am here, tired, but ready to commence.

Apologies in advance for the brief posts as of late and for potential brief posts over the next few days.  I won’t be established in my permanent location until Wednesday, so I might have to be more Social Lindsay, less Blog Lindsay.

Leaving tonight.

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Flight’s at 6:50.  Currently tying up lose ends in the apartment, cleaning the fridge, dusting, making sure everything is ready to go.

I’ll post again once I am in the city.  For now, fare thee well Chapel Hill.

Cooking and Shoes

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Recently I’ve started cooking more.  This is a result of not having any work to do and of having someone for whom to cook.  I figure, I enjoy food, I enjoy reading about food, and eating out is expensive: might as well hone my kitchen skills.

Last night I made some recipes I found on SmittenKitchen, one of my new favorite food blogs (tons of fun recipes, with photographs to aid potential success):

Spanish tortilla with artichokes, potatoes, and red peppers.

Julienned (is that a word?) zucchini with toasted almonds.

Both dishes were supremely delicious, very easy to make, and helped use up the food I am trying to dispose of before I leave for two months.  We topped the zucchini with some crumbled parmeggiano regiano, which gave it a nice saltiness.  Even flipping the tortilla wasn’t disastrous, though I had some help.  I’d like to try to keep cooking in New York so that I can bring more than peanut butter sandwiches with me to work for lunch (Orangette, another one of my fun new food blog obsessions, has some nice brown bag options).  This will be a test of will, clearly.

Mm, leftover tortilla. Looked really nice last night, but still tastes fine today!
Mm, leftover tortilla. Looked really nice last night, but still tastes fine today!

So the other activity I have been participating in frequently, save for tearing through A Clash of Kings, the second 1,000 page book in George R. R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire series (soon to be on HBO with Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister!), is packing.  And rearranging.  And then re-packing.  Right now I am at one large suitcase and two smaller suitcases.  I will be living out of one of the smaller suitcases during an interim period before I can move into my sublet.  The other smaller suitcase, which will also be a carry one, is primarily filled with shoes.  And belts.  And jewelry.  But mostly shoes.

I’m mildly embarassed to be devoting a whole suitcase to shoes.  However, I will be in the city for the entire summer and will need shoes for work and play.  Also, shoes are heavy, and giving them their own home helps avoid the risk of having an overweight suitcase (I hate it when that happens).   Still, having three rolly suitcases makes me feel a little princessy, which is a title I try to avoid.

A suitcase to live out of, although the Ice Bats seem to have conquered.
A suitcase to live out of, although the Ice Bats seem to have conquered.
Guess which suitcase has the shoes?
Guess which suitcase has the shoes?

Anyhow, that’s what I have been doing.  I leave tomorrow evening!  Very excited!

P.S.: What show should I see first?  I plan on hitting TKTS as soon as possible.

P.P.S.: Thanks in advance to Pine View friend Santosh and his roommate for housing my princessy self and the princess’ three suitcases for the interim period before my sublease starts!