hardly art, hardly garbage

curses. it's impossible to find a square frame, or even matboard with a square cut-out for that matter. my most recent tiny showcase print is 5x5. we live in a 4x6 or 5x7 world. normally i like to get these simple black frames with the pop out glass but it seems like they only make rectangles. today i just gave up the search and purchased a simple 5x7 clip frame from national wholesale liquidators figuring the empty space wouldn't look to bad without a black border around it. i get home, very excited to frame and also protect the print (the apartment's been a bit messy of late) only the frame is too small. i forgot about the 1" border that goes all around. boo to me! in due time it will join the other tiny showcase print. i still lament the one that got away though.

another recent purchase was a letterpress print by LA based artist saelee oh through her lemonade maid gift shoppe. i often wonder if her name is pronounced sally or seh-lee. i chose the brown and orange version of "slow to sleep" and it looks great hanging up on our bedroom wall along with an original pen and ink drawing by sbritt; an acrylic homage to burgertime the video game by paquette the younger, a yum-cha militia panoramic print by kozydan, a photo of bellingham, wa, by jason curtis and this framed postcard of a weinerdog i got in japan. we're running out of space on all our walls, but i think that's a good thing.

btw, the title i chose for this entry is not to be taken as if i'm saying the art i'm taking about is garbage. it's just a line from a song by the thermals that i thought sorta, kinda fits.

the mets kill me every time + what i have been eating lately in brooklyn and beyond: park slope gastronome #11 (this might be long)

just finished watching the mets game. my heart was beating nearly as fast as when i run down the block in attempts to catch the B63 bus that is only one light away. petey took a no-no into the 8th inning. but then gave up a one-out triple to some schmo, that really looked catchable (get well soon, carlos) and then another schmo, jason werth, hit a homer to give the dodgers a 2-1 lead. the mets had a runner on 3rd with one out, only the runner broke with the hit, which was a little nubber to the second baseman and of course he was thrown out at the plate since he barely used any forced in colliding with him. as dan asked a little while ago, "what happened to running into the catcher?" i want to see body slams and biting. matsui (the sucky one) came up with a runner on 1st and 2 outs and i don't even know why the game bothered to go on and why he bothered to get into the box cause you knew the game was over. now i'm depressed.

dan just put on the jamie lidell cd. i wasn't really liking the first five songs, but song six just came on and like the kids used to say, it's got a good beat . it sounded like if sam cooke made a dance record. so in just four more days, we embark on the baseball trip 2005 and i figure there will be lots to write about eating wise. but considering i haven't written about food in a while, i thought this list of recent eatings would have to do, otherwise, timeline wise, things would just get too screwed up.

• so husband and i celebrated our one year of matrimony with a dinner at stone park cafe which is the new fancy place at the corner of our block. we'vee had brunch plenty o' times, but dinner is pricier so we never took the plunge until the other week. it was freezing cold in the restaurant and i should have brought my hoodie.

we shared blue crab ravioli with pea puree and a baked goat cheese and arugula salad to begin. listmaker dan informed me that an artichoke was "like a mushroom" and i wasn't sure if i want to cry or scream more. i was tempted by the sea bass special that was topped by a razor clam, but instead opted for the BEEF which i ordered medium but received pretty damn rare. i should have returned it, but for some reason became shy and just ate my bloddy meat. the whipped potatoes were smooth and creamy but where was the watercress? dan got fish with a tasty bacon, fava bean and corn succotash and parmesan hush puppies. the meal was tasty but a bit of a let down considering how we had saved it for a special occasion.

• in wiscasset maine, we ate lobster rolls at red's. they were overflowing with a pound of meat as you can tell from the picture. i really could have eaten another one right there on the spot.

• i'd be remiss if i didn't mention a recent newcomer to the neighborhood, sakura cafe. or is it cafe sakura? my experience with them started off with ordering their chicken curry to go while dan was out of town. i loved the little plastic container of oshinko it came with. once i got a bonus piece of kimchi to go along with the pickled cucumbers, radishes, ginger and eggplant. recently we dined al fresco in their charming backyard and enjoyed some of the best sushi we've tasted in brooklyn. the service is super nice and the place is decorated in warm japanese fashion. i hope they make it through the tough first couple years of running a restaurant.

• another newcomer is tempo presto! i think i've gotten takeaway from there 3 times this week. it's a offshoot of its mother restaurant next door, called tempo. they serve sandwiches and gelato. they also make these amazing homemade sandwich cookies which are lightyears better than any nutter butter or oreo you've ever had. so far i've tried the buffalo chicken with bleu cheese, the porchetta, the grilled chicken with basil dressing and the thanksgiving (well, for the latter, i i had a couple bites of dan's). today i had the broccoli rabe with pequillo peppers, mozz, shaved pecorino and a lemon garlic spread. for lunch they offer a box special, where you can get one of these aforementioned cookies and a side for another $3. today i chose the chipotle-bacon potato salad. the potatos are perfectly cooked red bliss slices, boiled long enough that they're not crunch, but firm enough that they don't lose their shape. the chipotle adds a nice fiery touch, as do the crunchy scallion rings. the place is around the corner from adam so i asked if he had been there and he said he hadn't because when they were doing construction on it, he saw some uninvited guests! just get over it and give it a chance!

lastly, look for my sufjan piece in the latest issue of bust. as someone who suffered through too many years of vacation bible camp (where i learned to love chipped beef incidentally) and sunday school, i wanted to discuss religion with him but he succintly replied with an i'd rather not. oh well.

The Dog Days of Summer

I can not believe I'm going to be out of town while this is going down. Fahq!!!

roberto hernandez is old

and it's starting to show

wow, this team is pretty pathetic.