Paris

A couple weeks ago My Better Half and i went to Paris for a long weekend. MBH's boss hooked us up with his parents, Jacques and Liliane, who very graciously showed us some of Paris's sights and culinary delights.

Almost immediately we discovered where the French pirates hang out -- the Rue St. Placide, in the 6th ARRRondissement:
We didn't hit the Louvre, but we did get to the Centre Georges Pompidou for a couple hours (not nearly long enough). I spent a while in the room dedicated to Joan Miró and one of my favorite artists, Alexander Calder.Not only did we visit the Pompidou, we ate there too -- with Jacques and Liliane at Georges, featuring dramatic views of Paris and delicious food.

While in Paris, we of course had to hit some standard destinations, such as Notre Dame,
the Grand Palais with its striking glass ceiling,and Montmartre (where someone had recently splashed red paint on the basilica).

Now, you may not be aware of this, but no trip to Paris is complete without a visit to the Place Fernand Mourlot (dedicated to the master lithographer, Jacques's father, Eric's grandfather).

After the Place Mourlot we had some time to kill, so we decided we could fit in a visit to the Eiffel Tower. From the postcard photographs i had seen, i was expecting it to have something of an ephemeral feel to it, but its massive presence is actually quite impressive up close.And, it sparkles at night!

Beer Butt Chicken

Until our recent trip to Montana i had heard people rave about "beer butt chicken" (also called "beer bottom chicken" by the too-polite), but had not experienced it for myself. When we got to Havre, my dad let on that he had purchased a Contraption specifically designed to prepare the delicacy -- a metal stand, basically, to hold two beer cans inside two chickens. The Contraption addresses the only difficulty i can imagine in beer-butt chicken preparation, namely, keeping the chicken from falling over on the grill.

While i was lax in my responsibilities during the Havre Underground tour, i did document the more important occasion -- the Contraption's maiden voyage.

The verdict: delicious.

Havre

After our hike back from Avalanche Lake, My Better Half and i drove east (through a late-May snow storm) from the mountains down to the plains to spend a few days in Havre, where my father and grandfather live. My sister also drove west from Fargo (and brought along more eyeballs!), so it was a little family get-together.
For as long as i can remember my dad has painted and sculpted, and there are a lot of his pieces in the house and yard. Keith has become a fan of my dad's work, specifically small sculptures he's been making recently from Russian Olive wood; we brought some pieces back for him.
While in Havre we took an excursion (in Dad and Grandpa's fancy new pickup truck) down to the Bearpaw Mountains south of town. Grandpa used to have a cabin down there, and related a lot of fond memories during our trip.
The most interesting (to me) attraction in Havre -- besides family -- is the "Havre Underground", which i only became aware of a couple years ago. In the winter of 1904 a fire destroyed a large portion of downtown Havre; the locals responded by moving their businesses into the basements, connecting them with tunnels, and living partially "beneath the streets" until they could rebuild. MBH and i took my sister on the tour (it's the second time for the two of us), which is a fun mixture of random old-timey whatnot and local history. (I didn't get any photos, sorry.)

Glacier National Park

Last week, My Better Half and i spent some time in Montana. Our first two nights were in Whitefish, just west of Glacier National Park. If you haven't visited Glacier, you should: i consider it a strong candidate for Most Beautiful Place In The World. But then, i'm partial to the Rockies, and haven't yet seen Kashmir.

On our first full day, we slept late and puttered around Whitefish long enough that we only had time for a short walk near Lake McDonald in the late afternoon. It's a nice lake, but more of a lazing-away-summer-vacation-with-the-family kind of place than a holy-crap-these-mountains-are-amazing kind of place.

The next morning we went on a proper (though still not very difficult) five-mile hike starting through the Trail of the Cedars and then along Avalanche Creek to Avalanche Lake, which is somewhat more dramatic.

We also saw a couple deer on the trail, who took virtually no notice of us.

Michigan, Redux

I'm not sure what "Night Lunch" is, but i like it already.

Michigan

Last weekend My Better Half had a short vacation in Ann Arbor with her sister Julie and Julie's husband Jesse. We wanted to see them at home before they move to Pennsylvania (planned for this fall or winter), and also take an opportunity to get out of the city for a few days. It was nice and relaxing.

We visited Greenfield Village, an outdoor hodgepodge of American history with old farmhouses and working farms, glass blowers and blacksmiths, textile weaving and the like -- including Edison's laboratory buildings from Menlo Park, an old courthouse in which Abraham Lincoln practiced law, and some Wright Brothers originalia. The whole thing is part of "The Henry Ford", a kind of history Disneyland started by everyone's favorite anti-semitic industrialist. (I didn't make a single Nazi joke the entire time we were on the premises.)

Our visit coincided with an appearance by Thomas the Tank Engine (sorry for the crap photo):

Danielson Famblie

To be simultaneously awful and boring sounds like no mean feat, but it's accomplished by the overwhelming majority of the "Christian" pop music i've ever encountered. Aside from the insipid quality of the music and lyrics, there's often a belittling or threatening attitude toward non-Christians.

Not so Daniel Smith, whose various musical incarnations (most notably Danielson Famile) take the exhortation to create a joyful noise farther than most. The music is decidedly joyful, even ecstatic -- and to many ears it certainly qualifies as "noise". What really sets Danielson apart, though, is attitude: everyone is welcome. Daniel Smith makes invitations, and doesn't sneer at those who don't accept.

Friday evening, My Better Half and i enjoyed the documentary "Danielson: A Family Movie", which chronicles the musical life of Daniel smith and his family and friends from 1995 up to a year or two ago. One thing neither of us had known was that Sufjan Stevens was part of the band for a while, before storming the indie-folkie scene on his own.

OK, so there's a cute little blog entry; right on, 15.

But then, Saturday afternoon MBH and i are wandering around the Slope, she's power-shopping, i'm mainly bored. We stop by Bonnie's for a late-lunch burger (mmm) and on our way out, who should be walking in? Sufjan Stevens! Normally i wouldn't have recognized him, but having just seen the movie the night before, i did.

OK OK OK, i know, nobody cares. But i thought it was funny.

Who Watches The Watchmakers?

I got back from a bidness trip to Boston to find one of these crouching over our neighborhood. (Thanks to neighborhood blog across the park for the pic and some info.) This is pretty disconcerting; our little part of Flatbush Ave is by no means a festival of peace & love, but it's not exactly a war zone, either.

(These pictures are great because they make the thing look like a mech, which it doesn't so much in person.)

"Youngsters: Observation Changes Everything"

The opening for Keith's new show "Youngsters: Observation Changes Everything" is this Friday at Posey Baker, 7 to 9 pm. Everyone who is not there will be considered square.

Los Angeles

We went to Los Angeles!

(Actually, we got back a week ago; i've just been procrastinating putting up an entry. I s'pose when this happens one should reexamine one's blogging motivations and practices. Think i'll procrastinate that one, too.)

They sure have got the nice weather out there, at least in March. While we were there i was still healing a blister i got shoveling snow on the mean streets of Brooklyn.

What did we do?

Eating! As many of you know, i am a champ-een eater and still have my eye on the Fattest Man in the World prize, if i can just find the time to train. Korean fast food in a shopping mall food court, fourteen times nicer than any food court i'd ever seen! All-you-can-eat sushi! Danish pastries! (Really? Yes!) Ivan's world-famous snack-mix! Pinkberry! PINKBERRY! You can't beat Cocoa Crispies and banana at Pinkberry.

Visiting! Friends Ivan and Sarah and their pug Twiggy are back in action in Sunny CA, and you'd never know they had left. You would definitely know that Ivan's not from there, though. He's Ipswitch through and through.

Solvanging! Sarah had to work, but Ivan tagged along with My Better Half and myself to visit Solvang, the quaint Dutch Danish town in CA wine country that apparently was featured in "Sideways" (which i have yet to see). Anyway, it was fun. We ate at a Dutch Danish smorgaasbord, which was quite enjoyable but drove home the point that the Dutch Danish aren't known for their cuisine, so much as their pastries. And speaking of pastries -- we had some. They were yummy.

Trespassing! Well not really, we had permission; but i like to jazz it up by pretending. We four (plus pug) spent a day at someone else's rented house in Malibu while they weren't around, which was just like you imagine only the hot tub didn't work.

Museuming! This time around we hit up LACMA. Unfortunately, their modern/contemporary building was closed, apparently out of spite. (Also their outdoor Calder is teh lame.) But, we had a good time.

Scrabbling! 2007 is looking to be a good year for Yours Truly in the Me-vs-Ivan Scrabblympithon. He crushed me at Scattergories though, the impudent... guy. Ivan and i teamed up and trounced the ladies in Trivial Pursuit and Taboo, to keep up appearances.

Movieing! I looove going to the movies, but for whatever reason (laziness? poor planning skills?) it's not the twice-weekly event i would like it to be. On this trip, though, we convinced Ivan and Sarah to go see The Host, which we all enjoyed immensely. It was ironic, too, since Sarah is Korean. (Well, maybe not ironic ironic, but at least Alanis Morissette ironic. That is to say, unremarkably coincidental.)

Shopping! MBH is a champ-een shopper, and i am not. We went to the unholy outlet-shopping town of Camarillo, and she shopped until i thought i would lose my mind. I had to get out of the shopping complex, so i took a walk, enjoyed a cup of coffee, and took a picture of some dirt; still had time for a good nap before it was time to go.

Californery

Tomorrow morning My Better Half and i will be flying to Los Angeles to spend a few vacation days hanging out with friends Ivan and Sarah and Twiggy. Yay! MBH probably is looking forward to driving. Me, i'm looking forward to doing nothing... at... all...

Another Busy Weekend

The Ides of March was My Better Half's birthday, which we celebrated with friends Keith and Beth, Brian and Lindsay, Karin and Alex, and Abby and Josh; the fun started at Kasadela, and then we moved the party to Ben & Jerry's to sample Stephen Colbert's new ice cream, "Americone Dream". MBH brought in a good haul this year, but the winner (in my opinion) was this gigantic, crocheted eyeball made by my sister:

Friday was a quiet dinner at home.

Saturday i made MBH a birthday breakfast, featuring Eggs in the Basket (which a nearby brunch spot calls "Toad in the Hole" -- wikipedia disagrees), accompanied by one of MBH's favorite brunchy cocktails, Bellinis! Proper Bellinis, too, not some stank mix with peach schnapps.

MBH's parents came to town Saturday afternoon (with a birthday poundcake), and we went back to the little island (which i like to call Lisland) for the evening. Dinner was at Steak Frites, which was OK. (You'd think a place that called itself "Steak Frites" would build its menu around a streak frites to wow a schlub from North Dakota, but as Sharmila says, you'd waste a thought. The tuna tartare was very good, though.) Then we traipsed across Union Square to see "Be by Mayumana", a percussive/musical dance/acrobatic performance along the lines of Stomp and Blue Man Group (or so i've been told; i haven't seen either of the latter). We all had a good time and were quite impressed with the crazy stuff those dancing kids can do onstage.

Sunday afternoon we all took a short tour through the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (just around the corner from our house), then MBH and i saw her folks off and went back to Manhattan to meet friends Jess and Mike. We had a nice dinner at Palacinka (a pressed sammich with merguez, goat cheese, tomato, and olive tapenade -- mmm!), then MBH and i had a drink and listened to some music at Toad Hall before heading home. We both wish Toad Hall was closer to home, but you couldn't pay us to live in Soho.