An observation:
Nearly every morning when walking Bisou, I pass a koi pond in a neighbor’s front yard. There are some vertical boxes/cylinders of sort that must give the fish something to swim into or around, but I have noticed that when it is hot and those fish swim into the boxes in search of whatever they are looking for, they can get trapped as the water evaporates and the water level lowers. I have seen them stuck in these vertical boxes for days. I have also noticed that even after heavy rains, when the water rises, for some reason, those fish will remain in the vertical box despite being easily able to swim out.
Akiva Listman—Artist
A new york based artist who finds beauty in everyday things, a crunched-up coffee cup on the sidewalk, a lock on a gate, the seats on the subway, and then takes them and glorifies them with colors and unique artistry. His prints are high quality and surprisingly affordable compared to many other artists in New York.
Analog — Promo Commercial
Last Tuesday, Sabrina and I met up with her mom’s-boyfriend ’s-mom ’s-best-friend ’s-granddaughter for coffee. We got connected with her after speaking to her grandmother at a funeral, where we learned her granddaughter was “also in Brooklyn.” Brooklyn is a gigantic place, so we didn’t have high hopes we would ever connect, but when we came back, Sabrina sent her a message, and it turned out she lives about a 15 minute walk from us in PLG. I only stayed for coffee briefly, but after their stroll around Prospect Park, Sabrina let me know that we had been invited to a speakeasy opening for the bar she worked at in the West Village.
Thursday came around, and we got ready to head out. Ashley let us know that they were shooting a promo for a new speakeasy they were opening and that we might be in the background of the shots, but we would get free drinks (a nice plus). We arrived, sat down with Ashley, and saw the scale of the operation. Gary, the owner, introduced us and thanked us for coming, there was a small film crew and some props, and it was kinda popping off, I was excited to be in the background and sort of chill.
After doing a couple shoots Ashley let us know we were going to head to the back where they would begin shooting more detailed shots in the speakeasy, but it turned out that we were not really in the background, but essentially the main 2 people in the shoot, not that we were doing any complex acting or anything but being recorded while sipping cocktails and trying to have candid conversation to look natural was a little jarring at first, but as the second probono cocktail kicked in it started to feel more natural and fun. Gary the owner, is a great guy. Evelyn the bartender who gave herself CTE by hitting the back of her head on the bar, mixed up several incredible drinks. Sabrina took the brunt of the cocktails during different shot angles and takes (see video above for evidence), starting with an espresso martini, moving to a whiskey sour, and ending with a martini—I myself got the Lost at Dusk, essentially a sparkling penicillin, on repeat.
Glad we said yes to this.
Salt & Stone
I’ve woven in and out of loving fragrance for quite a long time, whether it was smelling like my mom’s hairspray or my dads aftershave as a child, the middle school axe body spray phase, or Hollister/Abercrombie cologne in high school, I didn’t necessarily have a specific taste, nor do I now, but I consciously take note of scents as I go about my day and I feel like many stages of my life have been marked by particular scents.
My college bedroom smelled like cheap walmart candles, the living room smelled like beer soaked wood floors and petrichor from windows open all night. The Debevoise elevator in 2020 smelled like YSL Black Opium… just recently a day at Prospect Park smelled like LeLabo Santal 33 as we sat behind an Australian-American lady who sprayed it in her hair prior to coming to the park (enthralled by the strange familiarity by the scent, but being unable to place it, I recruited Sabrina to ask the lady what she had on). Walking into Huckberry for an afternoon shift smelled like Brown Sugar Bourbon by Sydney Hale. While recently living with my parents during falls/winter/springs my clothes have been soaked in a smokey scent from filling the wood burner which heats the house.
The last several Christmases have smelled like DS&Durga Burning Barbershop. The first few months in New York have smelled like Salt & Stone Bergmot & Hinoki, and more recently Salt & Stone Santal & Vetiver. Use the link for $10 off your first purchase of Salt & Stone, you will not regret it.
This weekend I spent 20 minutes speaking to Corry (that’s the Americanized version of his Parisian name) in the Dior store in SoHo, as he walked me through a range of scents and the vibes he preferred. I didn’t purchase anything, but if he really wanted to he probably could have sold me. Fragrance, can be expensive, but for something that can resurrect a memory in as a little as a sniff, and for something that lasts for years, I think it is okay to splurge.
I believe we are in the midst of a fragrance resurrection, not that it was ever gone, but if you look around there are signs scents of the resurgence, you just have to be conscious enough to sniff.
Places We Took Sophia
Sabrina’s sister Sophia was in town this week, so we showed her some spots, but also we followed her lead when it comes to places she wanted to go. Mostly hanging around Midtown, but hitting a couple of other spots in the process.
MISC
Earlier this week, we ventured back to Franklin, the nearest street with a great selection of restaurants, for a bite from MISC, an asian-fusion spot, and they did not disappoint. Between Curry, See-ew, and Ramen, we crushed. We sat in the backroom which was probably 82 degrees, but despite being tacky sweaty for most of the meal I still left in a great mood because the noodles and fried tofu were so dang fire. Before leaving I asked our waitress who also seemed to potentially be in a management position what type of noodles they had and where they got them from—they get them brought in daily from a secret location in chinatown and they are called flat noodles. If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend stopping in to MISC.
Bagel Pub
I got pastrami lox, capers, dill, and red onion, on an egg everything bagel and it did not disapoint… we intended on going to apollo, but there was a line around the block so we hit the pub and honestly it was worth it, much more affordable, bagel pub is like pre stock-split chipotle (banging quality and affordable) while apollo is like carbone, bouji, overpriced, but pretty appropriately hyped. Sabrina got some sort of vegan cream cheese bagel (Sabrina note: it was a toasted sesame bagel with tofu scallion cream cheese. SO banging.), and Sophia got a pizza bagel which was deceivingly good.
Im Donut ?
We hit Im donut ? for a few donuts while hitting the anime, Korean, and comic stores in mid-town, this was so fucking good… I never thought donuts had a scale… basically all donuts are good to me, but these were unreal, you must try them.
Cinnaholic
We also took a trip to Cinnaholic this week where we indulged in a cookie dough cinnamon roll and a chocolate peanut-butter, banana and pretzel cinnamon roll, another nutty place, close to im donut, so if you are into spiking your blood sugar to ungodly levels I would recommend this.
Ample Hill — not photographed
I got double dough and oatmeal… a legendary combo… the double dough ice cream flavor is cookie dough and it has cookie dough in it (instead of the classic vanilla) which makes it nutty bangin fire.
Thanks for reading! Come thru
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Post script content:
vibes from the met
also, if you made it this far I just wanted to let you know that I walked passed the koi pond today and realized that the fish can swim in and out of those cylinders just by swimming down, so I am not sure what that says about me… maybe I am overly observant, dominated by anxiety, an over-thinker… probably… it is what it is
Love watching and reading your content ♥️ great perspective of your experiences
The video of Sabrina 😭 I wanna see those pics!