cityrag

The Power of Compassion
like you, in the wake of the unbelievable devastation and death left behind by the tsunami, we’ve been overwhelmed with feelings of deep sadness alternated with intense helplessness. and we’ve been searching for ways to ease the confusion and pain that’s consuming our heart and thoughts (donating money, reading others thoughts, getting angry at Bush’s horrendous response.)

yesterday we caught the title of a book we’d been meaning to start by the bedside – The Power of Compassion (a lecture by The Dalai Lama) – and that line struck us with a moment of empowerment that we’ve found ourselves turning to over and over.

there’s no way to make sense of this incredible tragedy and the magnitude of what needs to be done right now. but the Power of Compassion lies within all of us and is a moving universal force that has the capacity to rise up and bring hope to this mess. and we find a small bit empowerment in knowing that we can be part of that force.

doctors without borders
action against hunger
unicef
americares
oxfam

dressing up the baby
superman. monkey. (check out how he takes on the character of the costume :-)

good n' cheap midtown eats: Celia's
after seeing a tip on Chowhound, we checked out Celia's latin restaurant on 9th Ave at 35th St. last week, and are happy to report - the place ROCKS. a huge list of daily lunch specials of yummy spanish food, and all are $5.25!!! we got the pernil (roast pork) and it was delicious, tender and nicely seasoned. with it came: yellow rice, saucy beans, a pile of fried plantains, a piece of buttered bread and 2 big chunks of lime. so much good food for 5 bucks. a great, authentic, midtown spot.

eye candy
some holiday candy for the eye and mind from the beautiful work of Baldomero Fernandez...

(photos copyright Baldomero Fernandez)

baby gets a cell phone
the baby's first Christmas (well actually he was around last year but only 4 weeks old.) we gave him a toy cell phone. it went like this... his eye's lit up "what is it?" - then he knew "it's a phone!" - and then he killed everyone in the room with brilliant impersonations of his mother on the phone... "yea" "yea yea yea" "yea yea".

Scared of Santa
"Nothing says Happy Holidays like a photo of sweet little toddlers screaming at Santa." this is the BEST xmas site we've seen all month! - Scared of Santa (via his Thighness)

wonder and magic
may your holidays be filled with with wonder, magic and love.
see you next week.

stuffin' stockin's
there's no better place in town to find fun treats for kids than Economy Candy (the old time candy store on Rivington and Essex in the LES). with our 2 nephews in town for the holiday, we took advantage of the chance to fill their stocking with some cool stuff...

giant candy canes, Wonka Bars, Pez dispensers of their favorite characters, Bertie Botts Beans, huge speckled jaw breakers, Gummi Lunch sets, little tin "suitcases" with Rudolph characters on the outside and holiday gumballs on the inside.

we also snagged foil covered milk chocolate soldiers, marzipan fruit, Almond Roca, jelly fruit slices, and a couple adult favorites... their lovely dark chocolate covered gram crackers and heavenly dried apricots from California (the kind with a real intense apricot flavor, no those flavorless Mediterranean ones.) a massize selection, and everything is so cheap! (and there's info on places to check out near-by in our LES Food Tour)

a stocking load of Christmas MP3's
our bud Spike has thrown up a new blog called Bedazzled and he's kickin' it off with a with a page of posts chock-full of crazy, unusual and funny Christmas MP3's...

Christmas In Vietnam
Black Christmas
Daddy's Drinking Up Our Christmas
Santa Doesn't Cop Out On Dope
Don't Believe In Christmas
Christmas Eve Can Kill You
I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday
Bigamy At Christmas

and tons more. grab some for your holiday party DJing!

counting the EV's blessings: Frank Prisinzano
the east village has been packed with Italian restaurants for decades. but it wasn't until the arrival of Frank Prisinzano a few years ago that we got the good stuff (delicious, real deal, Italian cuisine.) starting at 2nd Ave and heading east there's: Frank, Lil' Frankie's, and Supper. and we love them all.

each is little different, but they all serve wonderful, homey food based on Frank's grandmother's recipes. and all are in the inexpensive to moderate price range with over-the-top friendly atmosphere and service. the pasta sauces are heavenly and full of flavor, rosemary chicken is excellent, gnocchi has the perfect texture, salads are big and fresh, bread is always excellent (and the pizza at Lil Frankie's is great. )

a couple of our favorite dishes from Frank (shown above): homemade spinach and ricotta ravioli, their heavenly fennel parmigiana, and slow cooked ragu with sausage and meatballs (so tender), about $28 for the order (without tax and tip.) and Frank and Lil Frankie's deliver! menus, hours and directions for all of Frank's restaurants can be found on Menupages