HOME-MADE SUSHI.
I made sushi at home with my friend Jin K. I took a sushi-making class with Manny F. a couple weeks ago, and I’ve been making it a lot, lately, but this was my first time with another person. She’d made sushi before, too. It was delicious, nutritious, and fun. It’s amazing how much cheaper it is to make yourself. Marginally, a California roll costs me less than 50 cents for the whole roll. That’s less than 10 cents per piece! Sashimi grade raw fish, though, is surprisingly expensive. A spicy tuna roll or smoked salmon roll costs about $2, which isn’t a huge savings, considering how much effort it is. I guess the real reason to make it yourself is so you can experiment. I need to make a peanut butter and jelly and banana roll or a ham and cheese roll, or something crazy like that.
SIXTH STREET.
One of the coolest spots in Manhattan is “Curry Row”: 6th Street from 1st Avenue to 2nd Avenue. On this one street, and wrapping around a little onto the avenues to the south, are more than a dozen Indian restaurants. For the most part, they are also incredibly cheap. During the week, many have dinner specials for $6 or $7, including soup, an appetizer, almost any main course on the menu, and dessert. On the weekends, the price “jumps” to $7 or $8. And the food is always great. I don’t know how they make money, and I don’t know why more people don’t seem to know about it. But I see very few tourists there, and practically all the other New Yorkers I know who know about it, learned about it from me, and I just happened to stumble on it by chance. I had dinner there last night, with Andy M. Yum!
THE DEFINITION OF “PSYCHOLOGY”.
I heard a funny thing yesterday. To paraphrase: Psychology is the study of the mental processes of laboratory rats and university freshmen.
It was in an essay in a book called “The Next 50 Years“, which I’m in the middle of. But I won’t even hint at a review until I’m done with it. That’s my strict policy regarding book recommendations, in general.
GOING TO THE GYM.
I recently joined a gym. Yesterday was my two month “lunaversary”. Today, for the first time, I blew off a social invitation in order to work out. I’d had a very busy afternoon, so I hadn’t been to the gym yet by about 7:00, and Manny F. invited me to a party, and I told him I wouldn’t skip a day at the gym. I go to the gym at least 6 days a week, every week, for 9 weeks now. Do I have a problem? They say exercise is addictive. For me, it makes me feel good more when I look into the mirror than when I’m at the gym, but I also do get a rush after working out.
I started out normally enough, riding a stationary bicycle for about half an hour, and doing 3 weight-lifting exercises consisting of 3 sets of 10 reps for the same body part, which part changes each day. According to the bicycle computer, I’d burn about 300 calories, and indeed, that was my goal. I thought under 300 was a little low, and over 300 was a little high.
I haven’t changed the weight-lifting part of the routine. But I switched from the bike to the elliptical machine, which burns calories a lot faster for seemingly the same effort, and works out both the upper and lower body at the same time. Now, I do that for at least an hour a day. At first, my goal was 900 calories on the machine’s computer, then 1000, and in just the past few days, I’ve been shooting for 1100 calories, per day, at least 6 times a week.
Now, every time I describe my workout to someone, I get the same reaction: the person always says “that’s crazy.” Is it? I’ve heard that professional body-builders burn more than 2000 calories in their daily workouts. I feel better, I look better, and I think I’m doing the right thing. I mean, if somebody convinced me I was hurting myself by exercising too much, I’d quit and watch TV and eat chocolate cake all day, no problem. I’m not hooked the way people get hooked on drugs or danger or bulimia. I’m just doing it, because I honestly think it’s the right thing to do. But then again, that’s what people with eating disorders think. Speaking of which, I’ve also been dieting lately, eating about 1,500 calories a day, and watching my fat intake. So, I thought everything was cool, although I also thought I was doing a lot, but choosing to work-out instead of going to a party with my friend is taking one of those steps, I think, that people say to look out for when they talk about addiction. But if I’m addicted, I think I’m addicted to the health benefits of exercising, like in the way that stoners say that you’re addicted to breathing and to food, to justify their addictions to drugs. Of course, there’s a big difference between food or breathing and, say, heroine. But not so much between food or breathing and exercise.
I don’t know. Send feedback to david@danzig.comDELETETHISPART. And delete the part that says “DELETETHISPART”. That’s so spammers won’t automatically pick up my address.
RESTAURANT REVIEW: HUDSON HOTEL * * * 1/2 (3 and a half stars out of 4).
I just got taken out to lunch at the Hudson Hotel with Jessica D., by her friend Walid. That place is fantastic, enjoyable as much for the crazy-beautiful decor as for the food. It’s pricey, but they have a $22 lunch special, which includes an appetizer, main course, and dessert, so come hungry! Also, see if you can get into the bar for a look-see. It’s supposed to be for hotel guests only, but I managed to slip in a couple months ago with no problems. My friend knew how to get there exactly, which is probably important, since you don’t want to ask for directions. But I suppose you could say you’re meeting a hotel guest there, and get in that way. Don’t say “I’m meeting a hotel guest”. Say “I’m meeting my friend Robin; she’s staying here,” because, you know, that sounds more natural. Now, suppose the person says something like, “You can walk around and try to find her, but you can’t stay here without a hotel guest.” That’s fine, because what you really want to do is walk around and look at this amazing place; not spend $10 a drink to sit there. Make sure and check out the bathroom!
Hudson Hotel is on the south side of 58th Street, just east of 9th Avenue.
MY LOCAL BLOCKBUSTER STINKS.
I went to the Blockbuster on 51st Street and 8th Avenue to rent Dolores Claiborne. Now, normally, when I walk into any video store knowing exactly what I want, I expect my trip to take no more than a few minutes. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the title anywhere, in DVD or VHS. I wait on the (long) line to ask the counter person to help me. She insists that it’s there, in the Drama section. I tell her I’ve looked and I can’t find it. I check every section and it’s not there. Finally, I get one of the people who works there to help me find it. After he looks for about 15 minutes, it turns out to be in the Action section, and a few rows away from where it should be, alphabetically. I wait on the line again, and I pay. So, my five minute trip to Blockbuster turns into 40 minutes. So, that’s not such a big deal, and not even really worth mentioning, I think, even though it always seems to be like that when I go there. But here’s the thing: I get home, and after the Blockbuster is closed, I discover that they’ve left the theft-proofing thing on the plastic Blockbuster DVD box, so I can’t open it. So I had to pry it open with a steak knife, and tear the box open, to get the DVD out.
They better not try to charge me for the ruined plastic box, ’cause I ain’t paying!
UPDATE 8/3/02– They did not make me pay, and were very apologetic. I still think they stink.
LAST WEEKEND.
Last Friday, I saw my friend, professional stand-up comedian Jessica D., perform her stand-up comedy routine at Rose’s Turn in the West Village with my friend Bryan C.
On Saturday, I went on a date with a new friend I met at China Club the week before: we walked through Central Park and had dinner on the Upper West Side.
On Sunday, I sat for the last meal ever served at the Russian Tea Room. They let us keep the menus as souvenirs. My friend Manny F. made the reservation for his birthday. For his present, I got him everything he needs to make sushi, except the fillings (because they would have spoiled). We’d taken a sushi-making class together the week before, but he hadn’t gotten around to making any yet. The package included a bamboo rolling sheet, toasted seaweed sheets, sesame seeds, rice, seasoned vinegar, a rice cooker, ginger, wasabi, soy sauce, and some Japanese beer.
WELCOME TO MY BLOG!
I’ll intend this to be a journal of what I’ve done and what I’m doing and of random thoughts. I’m all excited now, but I have a feeling that in a few years, I’ll find even these modest intentions to have been ambitious.
–David
THEATER REVIEW: ANNA IN THE TROPICS.
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