Jan.30-Feb.1

NOTE: The Big Red Apple is now TheBigRedApple.net

To view this post at its new location click HERE!

This was possibly one of the most awesome weekends ever. On Friday night I went out to Monkey Town for ‘Forest Dinner,’ which was truly incredible. The meal was accompanied by some of the organizer’s favorite videos of all time. Here’s the breakdown:

Forest Dinner Prix Fixe Menu

• Fennel braised rabbit
• honey & ancho grilled quail
• venison ravioli
• espresso rubbed elk loin
• grilled wild boar chop [I skipped this one]
• black forest cake

Forest Dinner Music Video Program

• Dan Deacon- Drinking Out of Cups
• Cool Kids- Black Mags
• Bat For Lashes- What’s a Girl to Do
• Kanye West- Flashing Lights
• Lasse Gjertsen- A Self-Portrait
• Mr. Rogers- Lifetime Achievement Acceptance
• Justice- Stress
• MGMT- Time to Pretend
• Kelis- Bossy
• Thunderheist- Jerk It
• Warrior Queen- Almighty Father
• Lasse Gjertsen- Amateur
• Daft Punk- Da Funk
• Wu Tang Clan- Triumph
• Aphex Twin- Rubber Johnny
• Vitalic- Poney Part I
• Tame Impala- Half Full Glass of Wine
• UNKLE- Rabbit In Your Headlights
• Sonic Youth- Death Valley 69
• Madvillian- All Caps
• My Bloody Valentine- To Here Knows When
• Prodigy- Smack My Bitch Up
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Y Control
• Fleet Foxes- He Doesn’t Know Why
• Liam Lynch- The Museum Rap

I really like the set-up they have in their backroom. I attended a screening of Honey Bunny V2 there during Porn Week; check out this picture:

HoneyBunnyV2

Having the screens surrounding you gives the room a sort of virtual-reality atmosphere and the low couches along the walls make for excellent people-watching. Their food is usually very good but the cocktails are kind of hit-or-miss. I had one on Friday that tasted sort of like onion-infused vinegar. I think when bartenders decide to add things like onions to drinks they need to really test them out before adding them to a menu.

I followed that up with drinks at the Huckleberry Bar. I have to say I really prefer Huckleberry on weeknights; Friday night it was so packed and noisy that you couldn’t really enjoy their fantastic cocktails. I particularly like the Article 57. It’s a grown-up version of hard lemonade; rather than just citrus the drink is also infused with ginger. The waitress took forever but then gave us free drinks, which was very sweet of her and definitely made up for the wait. The DJ was totally intolerable but then I guess I’m just not a fan of going deaf from the music. It’s not really a place where people dance so I feel as though that level of volume is uncalled for.

Saturday afternoon I took my first flying trapeze lesson at the New York Trapeze School. It was definitely one of my more thrilling experiences to date and I would recommend it to anyone who does not have a crippling fear of heights. The staff were really friendly and encouraging and even in your first lesson you get the thrill of hanging by your knees, doing a back-flip-release and attempting a catch (I failed; I’m just not that athletic). This is a picture of the tent:

New York City Trapeze School

Saturday night I saw ‘The Cherry Orchard’ at BAM:

The Cherry Orchard at BAM

Ethan Hawke was pretty amazing. You could also really see Tom Stoppard’s hand in the whole thing; his style is very recognizable. I saw a production of his play ‘Rock and Roll’ in Boston and though this was obviously a Chekhov play you could see the similarities between the two. Chekhov is pretty depressing but then again, it seems to me that Russian literature is almost always depressing. Perhaps it’s all the cold.

It has been far too cold in NYC lately. I mean when I step out of the subway and the wind almost knocks me over it takes away from my general enjoyment of going out. I feel as though I haven’t had an outfit that was right for the occasion and the weather for months. I’m tired of wearing boots for goodness sakes. How long must this go on? In a city where you walk all over the place winter is just so much more stressful than in places where you hop in and out of cars. I recently took a cab for 10 blocks. I felt ashamed afterwards but I mean really, I was wearing stockings for crying out loud. Stockings!

I had a late dinner after the show at Bacchus, which is a really great French Bistro in that area. It’s tiny and not too fancy but the food is consistently good and the waitresses are friendly and French (not a likely combo). I’ll admit to being a huge francophile. French accents make me want to be scorned and condescended to. After Bacchus I was out with friends at Union Hall until they closed for the night, which was earlier than it should have been. Union Hall feels like the Park Slope version of the Cheers bar. Of course everyone doesn’t actually know your name, but you do feel comforted the moment you get in the door. How could you not feel comforted by fireplaces and leather couches and hipsters playing boccie ball? They also have some fun events, including the Raspberry Brothers, who I saw do commentary on The Terminator and found hysterical.

I slept too late Sunday to go to the Chinatown New Years Parade, which was a bummer because I really enjoyed it last year. I did however head into the city in the late afternoon for dim sum at Red Egg. I’m not a big fan of Chinese food; I don’t eat pork and I don’t like soy sauce so a lot of it doesn’t work for me. The textures are also somewhat problematic. I have textural food issues. I can’t eat mushy things. There are few exceptions to this and it includes many things that other people appear to like (ie yogurt). I like to chew my food. The experience of dim sum is fun though and since I was with friends who are crazy about dim sum I was able to enjoy the vicarious excitement as well.