passing on a free table

last night i had my second top-notch social dining experience at brooklyn's habana outpost. it's a very relaxed picnic table outdoor place. no waiters. as i got up from the table with kat and ash, i saw a family waiting at the entrance. "are you waiting for a table?" i asked. "why, yes, thank you!" and they took our spot. new yorkers spend a lot of time waiting for space - i was blessed with an opportunity to shorten that time, even for a few minutes.

laptop-sitting

How cool is it that in a local coffee shop (yes, the tea lounge in park slope - they sell coffee too, though it's not really very good coffee) on can ask just about anyone to watch your laptop while you go to the bathroom? Some folks don't even ask. Are they the folks with crappy computers? Yes, I do understand the many levels of elitism of this comment - living in a neighborhood nice enough to have a coffee shop, having enough leisure time to sit in a coffee shop, having enough $ to even own a laptop and afford overpriced beverages - but nevertheless, it's a good feeling that after the coffee and hours of sitting, you can pee in peace.

sushi bar buddies

sushi bar buddies
yesterday i had a deliciously simple lunch with my sister and nephew at porter exchange in cambridge. what at first seemed a grungy fast food sushi bar quickly turned into a communal conversation about roots reggae in boston. rakia handed out cards for her upcoming show and we even made friends with the stern-looking sushi roller dude.

community is just around the corner when you least expect it.

beach shovel, times two

today i went to ogunquit, maine with my brother rusty. we were lucky enough to drive up there and schlep all kinds of luxury items like snacks from trader joe's and extra towels. the best item, however, which we borrowed from my parents and which i don't own, was a beach umbrella.

luckily, we had a forward thinking neighbor on the crowded high tide beach who had one we could borrow. and then later on when we had to change our spot after getting hit in the leg with a volley ball, we found another neighbor with an excellent metal shovel to dig a nice hole for our beach umbrella.

it's funny - i debated whether it was worth the energy to be disappointed in myself for forgetting such a simple item, but in the end, it really brightened my day to encounter the kindness of strangers.

what will be my new york counterpart of random acts of kindness? besides giving out metro card swipes, i'll have to keep you updated.

welcome to vegan cheese inspiration

in the past few weeks i've had literally hundreds of life lessons thrown at me. as i walk through each day, i am constantly surprised my these vignettes and finally decided i needed a place to start sharing them. i'm calling it vegan cheese - basically, it's a double meaning. first, most of you know i've been keeping a mostly vegan diet these days, so the addition of 'vegan' is basically a reference to that. also, since many of these 'life lessons' will be quite 'cheesy,' that's just a warning - it will be cheesy, but the cheese will be vegan.