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Spent Saturday afternoon stalking my friend’s dog, Yeti, around a barbecue at Bat Haus Coworking, a soon-to-open artist coworking space in Bushwick, Brooklyn. I want to adopt a dog so much! Maybe after Chris and I move to a new apartment in October or when I hit my next career milestone… whichever comes first.

Spent Saturday afternoon stalking my friend’s dog, Yeti, around a barbecue at Bat Haus Coworking, a soon-to-open artist coworking space in Bushwick, Brooklyn. I want to adopt a dog so much! Maybe after Chris and I move to a new apartment in October or when I hit my next career milestone… whichever comes first.

instant gratification Every once in a while I get intensely nostalgic for the year I spent in London. While I probably won’t make it outside Brooklyn today, I’ll have a hard time thinking of anything else until I get my passport stamped again. Don’t forget: “Adventure is out there!” Go after it.

instant gratification

Every once in a while I get intensely nostalgic for the year I spent in London. While I probably won’t make it outside Brooklyn today, I’ll have a hard time thinking of anything else until I get my passport stamped again.

Don’t forget: “Adventure is out there!” Go after it.

homemade ricotta & honey on toast I believe they call this a stupidly simple snack… …simple except for the homemade ricotta part, which requires bringing milk to a boil and adding fresh lemon juice and straining through cheese cloth, which is not usually a strategy I’m capable of dreaming up and executing myself. photo taken with instagram @ home

homemade ricotta & honey on toast

I believe they call this a stupidly simple snack…

…simple except for the homemade ricotta part, which requires bringing milk to a boil and adding fresh lemon juice and straining through cheese cloth, which is not usually a strategy I’m capable of dreaming up and executing myself.

photo taken with instagram @ home

monkey love Meet Monkey, the third love of my life. He is Chris’s cat, weighs 18 pounds, has luxurious black fur and is hard as hell to photograph. iPhone cameras are not yet able to distinguish Monkey’s handsome face from his rotund body so, in pictures, he usually looks like a poofy black blob. (Or, as six-year-old once put it, like “a pillow with a head.”) Monkey’s favorite pastimes include cuddling, basking in the sun and sleeping at the foot of the bed so your legs have nowhere to go except off the edge. His best friend is Mittens.

monkey love

Meet Monkey, the third love of my life. He is Chris’s cat, weighs 18 pounds, has luxurious black fur and is hard as hell to photograph. iPhone cameras are not yet able to distinguish Monkey’s handsome face from his rotund body so, in pictures, he usually looks like a poofy black blob. (Or, as six-year-old once put it, like “a pillow with a head.”) Monkey’s favorite pastimes include cuddling, basking in the sun and sleeping at the foot of the bed so your legs have nowhere to go except off the edge. His best friend is Mittens.

“Dear Mr. Sendak,” read one, from an 8-year-old boy. “How much does it cost to get to where the wild things are? If it is not expensive, my sister and I would like to spend the summer there.” - From this morning’s New York Times Book section: Maurice Sendak, Author of Splendid Nightmares, Dies at 83 Just finished reading about Mr. Sendak’s half century-long career as an illustrator and writer while nursing a cup of lukewarm coffee. Being reminded that death takes indiscriminately always leaves me feeling bleak. Today’s gloomy grey weather seems appropriate. P.S. I love this anecdote, too… “Once a little boy sent me a charming card with a little drawing on it. I loved it. I answer all my children’s letters — sometimes very hastily — but this one I lingered over. I sent him a card and I drew a picture of a Wild Thing on it. I wrote, “Dear Jim: I loved your card.” Then I got a letter back from his mother and she said, “Jim loved your card so much he ate it.” That to me was one of the highest compliments I’ve ever received. He didn’t care that it was an original Maurice Sendak drawing or anything. He saw it, he loved it, he ate it.” - Maurice Sendak image via.

“Dear Mr. Sendak,” read one, from an 8-year-old boy. “How much does it cost to get to where the wild things are? If it is not expensive, my sister and I would like to spend the summer there.”

- From this morning’s New York Times Book section: Maurice Sendak, Author of Splendid Nightmares, Dies at 83

Just finished reading about Mr. Sendak’s half century-long career as an illustrator and writer while nursing a cup of lukewarm coffee. Being reminded that death takes indiscriminately always leaves me feeling bleak. Today’s gloomy grey weather seems appropriate.

P.S. I love this anecdote, too…

“Once a little boy sent me a charming card with a little drawing on it. I loved it. I answer all my children’s letters — sometimes very hastily — but this one I lingered over. I sent him a card and I drew a picture of a Wild Thing on it. I wrote, “Dear Jim: I loved your card.” Then I got a letter back from his mother and she said, “Jim loved your card so much he ate it.” That to me was one of the highest compliments I’ve ever received. He didn’t care that it was an original Maurice Sendak drawing or anything. He saw it, he loved it, he ate it.” - Maurice Sendak

image via.

allswell that ends well I remember when food trucks first took to Twitter, using the real-time social media tool to broadcast their location, specials of the day and to shoot the shit with customers. The social media trend has taken hold of restaurants too, with many boasting Facebook links on their websites. Most of these Facebook pages usually do not show high levels of customer engagement, however. What’s worse, most feel like an afterthought. Who has the time to run a restaurant and update Facebook and Twitter, anyway? I always wonder which PR agency they’ve hired to ghost tweet or which overworked employee they have tasked with logging in to tap out 140 characters with overt cheerfulness. So what is it about Allswell’s online presence that I like? They don’t even have a real website. (Gah!) But where they lack a dedicated URL, they have a Tumblr which is updated daily with what’s on offer that night. I love that the colors of their logo changes, too, but not the logo. I admit it: I even like the font they use. They have to print out new menus each night anyway, why not post it online? And Tumblr makes it easy to do so. There are at least two more reasons why Allswell does it for me. The focus is still on the food, the daily-changing menu, but they’re smart enough to let people know about it. Also, their customers are the kind to like being reminded of what’s cooking. Allswell uses Twitter and Tumblr consistently and they’ve made it easy for themselves by linking these two accounts. Every Tumblr posts automatically sends to Twitter.  Using social media to share what’s good, like the chef’s recommendations, needn’t be hard. It just needs to have consistency in the frequency and voice. And if you change up the visuals, even something as simple as the color of a logo, then even better. In the end, a Twitter account with hundreds or thousands of followers will not keep a restaurant in business, but having a grown up version of a spicy McChicken sandwich (their peppery and tender ‘Crispy Chicken Sandwich’ is available during lunch and brunch) and reminding customers what they love about your restaurant even when they’re not inside just might. Allswell, 124 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn (347) 799-2743

allswell that ends well

I remember when food trucks first took to Twitter, using the real-time social media tool to broadcast their location, specials of the day and to shoot the shit with customers. The social media trend has taken hold of restaurants too, with many boasting Facebook links on their websites. Most of these Facebook pages usually do not show high levels of customer engagement, however. What’s worse, most feel like an afterthought. Who has the time to run a restaurant and update Facebook and Twitter, anyway? I always wonder which PR agency they’ve hired to ghost tweet or which overworked employee they have tasked with logging in to tap out 140 characters with overt cheerfulness.

So what is it about Allswell’s online presence that I like? They don’t even have a real website. (Gah!) But where they lack a dedicated URL, they have a Tumblr which is updated daily with what’s on offer that night. I love that the colors of their logo changes, too, but not the logo. I admit it: I even like the font they use. They have to print out new menus each night anyway, why not post it online? And Tumblr makes it easy to do so.

There are at least two more reasons why Allswell does it for me. The focus is still on the food, the daily-changing menu, but they’re smart enough to let people know about it. Also, their customers are the kind to like being reminded of what’s cooking. Allswell uses Twitter and Tumblr consistently and they’ve made it easy for themselves by linking these two accounts. Every Tumblr posts automatically sends to Twitter. 

Using social media to share what’s good, like the chef’s recommendations, needn’t be hard. It just needs to have consistency in the frequency and voice. And if you change up the visuals, even something as simple as the color of a logo, then even better. In the end, a Twitter account with hundreds or thousands of followers will not keep a restaurant in business, but having a grown up version of a spicy McChicken sandwich (their peppery and tender ‘Crispy Chicken Sandwich’ is available during lunch and brunch) and reminding customers what they love about your restaurant even when they’re not inside just might.

Allswell, 124 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn (347) 799-2743