It’s official! Our grapevine has…grapes!
In Astoria, that makes us too legit to quit.
Category: Why Astoria Is the Greatest Place on Earth
Pistilli: even worse than I thought
Because my long-ago ranting about the f-ing Pistilli development by the park (oooh, it’s called Riverview! Posh!) is still my most popular post ever, I feel obliged to pass on this hilarious tidbit:
Pictures of The Oddity that is Pistilli Riverview East Co-op at 19-19 24th Ave in Astoria (via Curbed)
The photos are pretty shocking. Back before all my old comments got wiped (boo, Yahoo), a few people were kind enough to post their impressions of the interiors. But even the most graphic descriptions don’t quite conjure the heinousness like a couple of random hallway snapshots do. I think Pistilli buys that curlicue font in bulk.
Meanwhile, Pistilli is installing green glass on the monster tower rising in front of my house. I bet that’ll look real classy, with that beige-y-gray brick they’re using. Novel, even.
Stunt Cooking
I am deeply suspicious of any kind of cooking that involves countdown clocks, secret ingredients, yelling men or arbitrary rules.
New CSA in Astoria
I know nothing more than what’s at the web page here, and that pickup will be at 30th Avenue and Crescent–good for all you mid-Astoria residents. Drop an email at the website to get on the list for info on the 2009 summer/fall season.
Back for 2009!
I'm back from the West Coast, via deluxe Amtrak sleeper most of the way. Old school. The one drawback of train travel is that the menu in the dining car gets a little repetitive by Day 3.
Brian Goes to Cookin’ School
Here's your chance to get in on the ground floor: Bookmark or subscribe to Brian Goes to Cookin' School and follow the adventures of one Brian Jones as he does the intensive weekends-only program at the Institute of Culinary Education...starting any day now.
“Black man!”
This post will get filed under Why Astoria Is the Greatest Place on Earth…but sometimes it’s not.
It’s not a big secret that even though Astoria is one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the city, there’s also a strong undercurrent of racism, specifically against African-Americans. The logic seems to be: Brown-skinned people are bearable, because they work hard. Black-skinned people are bad, because they probably come from not-far-away Queensbridge, and will rob you.
Sabra Followup
Ooh. Wait. Yikes. Porkchop Express visited the Fancy Food Show, and the Sabra people were there. Scroll down till you see the guy in the burgundy apron. I’m not sure I’m hungry for hummus at all anymore.
Sabra Hummus Fans, Unite!
Sabra hummus is the kind of chickpea goodness that might make you stay up for a week, gamble away your savings, have unsafe sex with strangers and maybe even lose all your teeth. It’s junkie-fying.
Great Neighbors!
There is a massive disturbance on my block. I had my windows closed, but I could still hear people yelling “FUCK that SHIT!” I thought there was some sort of domestic freakout.
I opened my windows, and it turns out the guy who’s swearing the loudest is trying to convince his neighbors to vote for Obama.
His argument to the McCain-voting woman repeatedly comes around to something along the lines of, “Come back and talk to me when you’re rich, my love–until then, you’re FUCKED!”
Excellent. Can we add that to the little talking-points list that MoveOn.org is circulating?
(Incidentally, I think this is why most New Yorkers are afraid of Queens. There are real, live Republicans here!)