Red Queen
Back and forth
Back and forth
Across the black and white board
She moves with a graceful speed.
So fast, the swish of taffeta
Across the squares–
Gone sooner than you can say you’ve seen her,
She is the shortest distance.
And she moves faster
And she moves farther
Than any of her subjects can
A streak, a flash, she can incarnadine along
Any chosen line–
But even she is bound by one rule.
She can never move as you can
Who follow her in a strange
Charming twitch;
Forward and left
Now right and back,
Sometimes close enough to smell the warm spice
Of her skin one square away,
Yet still moves away from taking her.
And sometimes, seeming so remote,
The distance is closed in a single step.
You collide and share her square for a breath
Until she finds herself on her back
And yields (the board) to you.
Perfect Christmas Day
Got up late and went into the city all the way to 112th Street to the glorious St. John the Divine. My mother had never seen the church, and it was wonderful to walk around the enormous sculpture outside with her and see the white peacock that a pair of 3-year-old twin girls were feeding pretzels from their stroller. St. John is such a weirdly mystical place.
We went to see Early Music New York present A Dutch Christmas, a series of Dutch madrigals and pieces for recorder and lute that they have arranged in tandem with The Met’s current retrospective on Dutch art, The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The music was beautiful, though because of all of the rules about what could be used in music at the time, it become hypnotically similar, and the chill of the cathedral made me rather sleepy.
After the performance, we went to Veselka where they still had Christmas Borscht… though I’m pretty sure it was the last dregs of the stuff, since it was very reduced and dark in color. Then we went to see Sweeney Todd… Even without the iconic “Ballad of Sweeney Todd” it was still just perfect. No one but Tim Burton could have directed it, though it was rather restrained for him. Perhaps he is growing up.
Christmas Dinner was at Danube where I had one of the top five meals of my life. Being in David Bouley’s restaurant is like dining in a Klimt painting, it’s so beautifully decorated with swirls of gold and blue lacquer. Of the seven courses, the sorbet course was the best. It’s funny, so often the afterthought courses on tasting menus are the ones that I like best (this was definitely true at wd~50). The one last night was clementine and tangerine with Gluhwein gelee with some divinely delicious elderberry puree.
This morning, I’ve been eating the lemon pound cake that the folks at Danube gave us in a little bag at the end of the night from David Bouley’s bakery… It is absolutely delicious, perfectly moist and tart and just barely sweet. I highly recommend getting to the bakery (120 West Broadway) and trying some if you’re ever in Tribeca.
Filed under food, music, nyc, xmas | Comment (0)My One Christmas Regret
I cannot believe that it has been an entire holiday season and I haven’t managed to get to Veselka and drink their perfect, tart, dill spiked Christmas borscht, the broth the color and clarity of a perfect faceted ruby. Oh, Christmas borscht, so delicious with beautiful miniature mushroom pierogis floating impossibly in the broth, so tight and firm in their little dumpling skins, never falling apart into the mushy, flat dumplings that a lesser soup’s inevitably become from heat and humidity. Oh, Christmas borscht, now I must wait an entire year to taste your perfection. I have been so remiss.
*a tear*
Filed under food, nyc, xmas | Comment (0)Ágætis Byrjun
As they say in Iceland… a new beginning.
New blog. Almost a new year. More as it comes, for now, just enjoy the bird and some Sigur Ros.
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