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Trip to Russia. Day 1. Moscow. Off to the right and through Gorky Park

Trip to Russia. Day 1. Moscow. Off to the right and through Gorky Park

“In Moscow, you’d sit in an enormous parlor of a restaurant where you don’t know anybody and nobody knows you and you don’t feel that you’re a stranger. And here, you know everybody and everybody knows you, and you’re a stranger, a stranger… and a 

Trip to Russia. Departure Day — Arrival Day. From Ridgewood to Moscow

Trip to Russia. Departure Day — Arrival Day. From Ridgewood to Moscow

Our firm plan was to fly a red-eye. Direct. JFK to Moscow. Nine hours and some. We did get a few sympathetic words from friends about night flight hardships. The plane was scheduled to take off after midnight NY time and land in Sheremetyevo early evening. The 

A Faithful Man

A Faithful Man

French comedy at its best. Marianne (Laetitia Casta, familiar to most probably as a former Victoria’s Secret model) announces to Abel (Louis Garrel, known outside French cinema as one of the twins from Bertolucci’s The Dreamers) that she is pregnant and the baby is not 

That time we went to taste Queens

That time we went to taste Queens

— Did you tell her she can eat!?!? It was a little after 8 AM on a sunny April Sunday of 2009. I was upstairs in the bathroom getting ready. Downstairs, Tom caught our nine-year-old Lizzie sneaking cereal in the pantry. No, I didn’t tell 

Chili Verde and J. Kenji Lopez-Alt

Chili Verde and J. Kenji Lopez-Alt

My culinary romance with Christopher Kimball and Lynn Rosetto Kasper was going strong for years. We connected via podcasts during my morning runs on Saddle River Trail. Then, Christopher switched from America’s Test Kitchen to Milk Street and stopped talking for a while and Lynn retired 

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo – Men in Tights

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo – Men in Tights

Lizzie saw an ad for Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo in one of The New Yorker issues lying around the house and got four tickets including Charlotte, me, and one of her friends. She knew the show was the day after her wisdom teeth 

Sabor Unido in the Ironbound, Newark

Sabor Unido in the Ironbound, Newark

Today, we happened to be in Newark — courtesy of Lizzie. Looking for a place to eat in The Ironbound District is not an easy task — every restaurant is rated 4-5 stars by some 1K people or so. The weather was nice and the 

Yemen Cafe in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn

Yemen Cafe in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn

The moment you sit down at the table at Yemen Cafe, even before you order, you get a bowl of Marag, a hot lamb soup, a platter of Malawah, a crusty flatbread, and a bowl of Zahawiq, spicy tomato chutney with chilies and herbs. The 

Shoplifters

Shoplifters

——— MILD PLOT SPOILERS ———  This Cannes Festival winner is the story of six people from three different generations living together in a tight quarters somewhere in an area of Tokyo that would never be marked in tourist guides. At first, they appear to be 

The Favourite

The Favourite

Aurore Dudevant, better known as George Sand, once referred to men kidding themselves they hold power: Let them think they decide. It seems like this is the bottom line of The Favourite, a movie with three strong female leads and a bunch of men in