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I hate tomatoes, even if they are fresh off the vine and covered in extra-virgin olive oil, basil, and salt. So, naturally I also hate tomato juice. This causes me great unrest during brunch, because tomato juice is the corner stone of the ultimate breakfast drink, the Bloody Mary. Well, vodka is the cornerstone, but the tomato juice is the backbone, with the Woostershire sauce giving the panache.

I love carrots, the baby ones or the big ones, sliced or grated, raw or steamed. Carrot juice is surprisingly sweet and creamy, and tastes like the opposite of a cigarette. Because I love carrot juice and the idea of the Bloody Mary, I came up with an idea for a new drink, the Bugs Bunny. It would just be a Bloody Mary, made with carrot juice. I planned to promote it via the web so much that one day, brunch would be served with a complimentary mimosa, bloody mary, or a Bugs Bunny. To get around Warner Bros. licensing issues, major restaurants would call it the Orange Bunny. All I had to do was make the drink. We decided to also include a taste test between Clamato and regular tomato juice V8. Clamato, a popular ingredient for bloodies, has CLAM JUICE! Doesn't something that has clam juice, horseradish, Worcestershire Sauce, and Tabasco seem like it would instantly kill you? Our brunch drinks on the deck, enjoying a beautiful Saturday morning. Garnished with a scallion, the Bugs Bunny looks as appetizing as its more grusome cousin. We made the drinks side by side, same ingredients to the end, except for the juice. All I can say, is I have put many disgusting things in my mouth (including the "Vodka Marshie"), but nothing has ever tasted as bad as the Bugs Bunny. It was a catastrophic failure like New Coke and "Encore! Encore!" I'm going to have to go back to the drawing board. The regular bloodies we made came out alright, though, even with the Clamato. Being wrong tastes like fetid ogre blood.

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Site of the Day: Read about The Bowery, and the roll towards gentrification, something I watched everyday on my walks to work during the past fouryears. or Hassidic Hip-hop Reggae, from Yvette.

Submerged on the corner of Soho’s Prince and Mercer lies Lure, a self-billed fishbar. Fish and more fish dominate the menu, with just a nod of a steak at the lower corner for those not liking seafood. For the main course various raw fish concoctions, sashimi, five types of oysters, or eight cooked fish selections are the viable options. The side of beets was also divine.

The decorator recreated a posh yacht stateroom complete with polished teak and round portholes. Blue blazer and sailor’s caps are optional as the clientele is mostly recuperating shoppers from the high fashion stores nearby.

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The above meal was on my dear brother Jerry’s expense account. I love it when he visits, not just for the free food, but because he gets me up early enough to make coffee and watch the news. It’s very nice to enjoy the morning one in awhile.

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Site of the Day: 3 Words on Awesome: Star Wars Transformers

I can’t explain why, because I don’t need it and I wouldn’t use it, but I really, really want a new Sony PSP. It’s the sexiness of new gadgets. Irresistable as a tennis skirt.
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Sites of the Day:
– The emotional ending of Seven redone by stuffed animals.
– EBay, your source for opium.
– Jonthan Safran Froer’s new house
– An encore SOTD, because I love it so, Cockeyed.com
– And in case you haven’t noticed, Spederline is getting a reality show, the Chinese delivery guy was found, and Star Wars fans are obstinate and nuts.

While my parents were in town this weekend, I subjected them to a real New York adventure. It didn’t involve sneaking into a club or trying to determine if a prostitute is really a transvestite. No, I forced my folks to into one of the most grueling tasks, acquiring furniture.

As a total impulse, I talked them into-slash-they agreed to buy me a free standing book shelf at the Crate & Barrel. The store is just a few blocks from my house and the shelf was only 20 inches by 10. How heavy could it be?

After we paid, we went an avenue block (the long ones) further around to the back of the store to the loading dock where with a heave a grunting worker deposited an enormous box in front of us. I figured all guests enjoy physical labor, so we started off. Just a few hundred feet into the walk, my arms were giving out and we paused to rest.

Then, God began to water the Earth like he was pissed at Noah’s neighbors. We were on Broadway and throngsof weekend Soho shoppers swarmed around us.

I left my Dad in doorway (where he was harrassed by the doorman) and took my Mom home and got a luggage cart. Once we got the box on wheels, our progress was much improved, despite the hurricane-like winds. We made it my apartment intact, but soaking wet. Out only remaining task was to carry the box to the sixth floor.

Some time later, my father, all in one piece, was able to change into dry clothes and relax. He actually then started putting the shelf together while I went to fetch my cell phone (another story). We got it up in no time and completed the New York adventure in the standard way by getting drunk to celebrate surviving just the mundane tasks.

Thanks, Dad!
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I want to write about Mark and Pip Decker’s wonderful movie night, but that will be another post.

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Site of the Day: Find a coffee shop that is not overpriced for overroasted beans.

The frames I have been working on are finally on the wall. I can update the pictures often using the HP Inkjet, but for the first run I used my own versions of Jesus and Mary. Do you think in the year 2525, the people will think Jesus and Mary were a mighty king and queen that ruled over the land with light sabers? I’m starting that rumor now.
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I promise that if you send me pictures of you with a mustache, that I would display it. Here’s my pal Andy wearing an unironic stache back in the seventies. Badass.

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Site of the Day: Because I live in NYC, I was actually smart to choose renting over buying as the average price of an apartment just topped 1.2 million. Sheesh.

I started my evening with Erik and Ben at Bar 288, better known as the Tom & Jerry bar. A Tom & Jerry is an alcholic type of egg nog that was very popular in the fifites. Bar 288 has shelves full of Tom & Jerry bowls, thus the bar’s nickname. The mouse and cat cartoon duo came after the drink, making their names all the funnier. The bar has a duo of cats that wander around soaking up the infinite attention.

Luckily, Ben and Erik turned into Jos and Mihaela, my old book club chums. Book Club never dies. Ever.
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Site of the Day: Here’s ten bars to avoid because of annoying Ivy League shits.

I’ve got nothing for you all today, but I am working very hard to clear the decks and get my life in order so that I may once again try and produce interesting tidbits for you to peruse whilst you sip your java. While you wait, why not see what Pat Sajak says?

For my closer-to-deathday, Ildi told me we were going to the Strip House. I was taken aback by her sudden open-mindedness, but eagerly looked forward to her feeding me ones to use to lure the strippers. Turns out the “strip” in the name refers to huge slabs of beef and the Strip House is a new steak joint in the Village.

The place has a bordello feel with red velvet walls and padded leather booths. Along with very good steaks (I had a prime rib as big as my head), the Strip House delivers succulent gourmet sides. The baked corn with pancetta and bread crumbs was a particular standout. We finished with a piece of cheesecake the size of Ildi. Damn fine meal.
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Site of the Day: From TMN, test your browser’s security. Mine (IE 6 SP 2) passed. Yay.

I succumbed to the latest trend and ordered Fresh Direct, a service which many of my friends have been addicted to for over a year. Fresh Direct is a grocery delivery service where you order your items online, similar to the ones that went belly up during the dotcom crash like WebVan, but without the outrageous venture capital spending.

The convenience and food quality are excellent. The prices are the same or less than my corner grocer, except for fruit. I also enjoyed having someone else carry my things up five flights of steps. Today’s picture is the first real meal I cooked in my place and the first prepared with ingredients from Fresh Direct: baked, glazed chicken breast over cous-cous and steamed green beans. I give the Fresh Direct experience an B+. If they had more items in smaller sizes and Miracle Whip Light, they would get an A.
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Site of the Day:

I wrote before that if you are brave enough to rock the ‘stache, I’ll post it. Matt and Brad did. And I started it with the scariest STC.com photo ever. Ben is very brave. And unemployed.
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Site of the Day: Andy Christie satires evolution persecution today. I may need to join the Charles Darwin posse to protect my agnostic rights.