shekere of good thoughts!

are you ready to dork out with me?

so the other day, i had a class on this silly looking instrument called the 

shekere 

{SHE-kuh-ray}

{{kinda rhymes with tanqueray}}

it originated from west africa, 

and it is essentially a dried gourd covered in a "skirt" of little beads.

and it's played like this:

{sorta. it's harder than it looks, people!}

teacher man, javier, explained that when shekere makers make the shekeres,

they are supposed to have one good thought for each of the zillion beads that are in the skirt.

and i thought that was just a fantastically happy idea!

so here are some of my good thoughts, were i to make a shekere:

{and if i were to make a shekere, it would no doubt be purple}

-to pops, because he is flying to new york tomorrow!

-to restaurant week. amen to that. 

and my seven thousand reservations about it.

-to all of my musician friends taking their first summer music festival auditions this weekend.

-to mum for FINALLY being done with jury duty.

-to roomie because he obviously must have had a horrendous and terribly awful day which caused him to totally forget to do his dishes tonight.

-to everybody that is going on my 11:45 tour tomorrow. 

back to back tours?! somebody please carry me up the stairs.

-to miss alli who has just come down with strep :-( feel better, doll!

-to the men at electric literature, 

for "making reading bad for you again."

-to the poor iPad. 

it's not your fault everyone is calling you iTampon.

hehe. 

i have about a lot more beads to go.

but it is past my bedtime.

and i must be well rested for my first restaurant week reservation tomorrow!

xoxo

yeh

-

week 4: zaftigs

ohhhh k! so. let's talk some about

boston

.

see, to me, a weekend visit to boston means:

-seeing old friends

-strolling on

newbury stree

t

(with a definite visit to the marc jacobs store)

-perhaps exploring cambridge

-a sit with a chocolate sandwich cookie at cambridge's

hi rise bread company

.

-and maybe a nun chuck lesson?

but to the boys,

a weekend visit to boston means one thing:

get. wasted.

as in, 

wake up, 

and even before breakfast, 

be very very drunk.

{even if the only cups left are measuring cups}

it's like a tradition for them.

it's ridiculous. 

don't even get me started.

anyways,

naturally my restaurant for this week was going to be in boston,

but i faced a challenge:

i needed a restaurant that would be interesting and tasty and boston-y,

but

it would also need to appeal to some very drunk or very hungover boys.

anything that took traveling to the opposite side of the city for?

ummm no.

any posh seafood restaurants?

not a chance.

the greasy four dollar cheeseburgers they all craved?

bored. so bored.

so with the help of former bostoner

z

, i found it:

zaftigs

.

walking distance from friend trent's,

not too expensive,

voted

best breakfast in boston

,

and a perfectly acceptable place to nurse a hangover.

there it is.

we arrived on sunday at typical brunch hour,

ready to wait

{because what fabulous sunday brunch doesn't have a severely long wait?}

oh but wait we did...

for almost

TWO

hours.

good thing there were fun mural people for brian and i to play with...

and to pick the noses of.

teehee.

luckily the wait gave me enough time to decide what i wanted.

and,

because there were too many ridiculous menu items that i couldn't pass up,

i also decided what friends kyle and trent would want too.

for me:

the challah french toast.

{holla!!!}

when, 

by complete chance, 

i happened upon a girl from my

high school english class

on the walk to zaftigs,

she recommended it, 

and i was all, damn, this is a

sign

!

and then about six more people told me i should get it.

so i did.

and it was, to quote miss erin who also got french toast,

cake for breakfast!!

i mean, i'll take that any day.

i also felt weird about going to a jewish deli and not having a potater pancake.

which,

by the way,

is there a difference between a latke and a potato pancake?

it was ok.

it was at least crispy enough.

friends matt, erin, and becca had

a monstrous breakfast sandwich,

bananer

french toast, and a

salmon

burger

and...

for kyle:

the raphel

roast turkey, stuffing,

cranberry

and

apricot

chutney, mashed potatoes, and gravy

atop toasted challah.

think: the gobbler at the

millburn deli

in jersey.

except with mashed potatoes,

that in my opinion,

 took away its rights to be a sammich.

might as well have just had thanksgiving.

oops.

for mr. trent:

the lupo

brisket sandwiched between two potater pancakes

with gravy and horseradish

it was a good thing that trent was willing to order this,

because if he hadn't

i would have had a major problem.

i mean, 

what self respecting person that likes to blog about food sees this on a menu and doesn't taste it?

i was a bit confused when it came out though,

talking about,

are you supposed to pick it up and eat it like a sandwich?

or is it just too messy for that?

trent opted for the fork approach,

and so did i.

it was good, pretty good. 

a+ for creativity.

joe got an omelet.

:-)

zaftigs was an all day affair.

we were there basically until the early evening.

and it almost bordered on

this severely long typical sunday brunch wait being almost too severely long.

i was satisfied with my toast.

but i'd like to spiel about traditional american breakfast places some:

there seems to be a commonality about em that is a plateau.

because,

really,

how many ways are there to omelet an egg?

or flip a pancake?

or iron a waffle?

don't get me wrong,

it's good food.

but i've never had, and really can't imagine an out of this WORLD brunch. 

{black label burger of brunches, do you exist?}

it seems that when it comes to breakfast,

it's either solid,

or a stale bagel.

i'm truly equally satisfied with a

telepan

prix fixe ordeal,

an egg mcmuffin,

or a zaftig's seven hour affair.

what i'm saying is, 

zaftigs was very good...

but unless i crave the brisket + latke combo,

and unless i have a whole day to spare,

i'll focus on my next

48

restaurants, thankyouverymuch.

xoxo

yeh

zaftig's delicatessen

is located just outside of boston, in brookline.

joe+kyle don't remember a thing.

happy pizza night from the east side!

a very pretty day warranted a stroll across central park,

some upper east side exploring,

excellent conversation,

and a few greasy slices of pizza

with craig.

have a wonderful weekend, everybody!

i am off to boston tomorrow!

xoxo

yeh

a day of firsts

{no, not my firstborn}

today was the first day i...

1. baby-sat for a baby that wasn't my sis

2. burped a baby

juggles baby,

 takes out black berry, 

pulls up google,

types in,

"how to burp a baby"

ah! fantastic.

i am a pro.

{kidding. that didn't actually happen}

3. drove a car in new york city

baby's mum, "heyyyy molly, you don't drive do you?"

"why, yes i do!"

forgetting that i've only driven in suburbia, u.s.a.

"PERFECT! CAN YOU PARK MY CAR?"

...don't worry, mum, the parking garage was only a block away,

{no left turns needed}

4. ate at

'wichcraft

with friend maria.

'twas good.

'cept we both agreed that

our little neighborhood hole-in-the-wall

has better sandwiches.

no 'fense, tom

5. ate a mushroom

i know, right?

i've never had one.

but they're part of tom's chicken 'wich. 

so i said what the hell, and gave it a go.

it was fine.

sorta covered by the fontina, so i probably didn't get the full effect. 

i don't think i'm mentally ready to eat a solo mushroom anyways yet.

but may i tell a weird story?

as i bit into the mushroom stricken sandwich,

mum texted me to say,

"i think you should try mushrooms this week." 

did you have any firsts today??

xoxo

yeh