Marmalade Daydreams

Though I miss the road life (even more that I'm actually back at school -- though I'd said that no amount of per-session money could drag me back into the building before my mandated return on the 31st, I actually was excited to set up my new classroom, which I just found out I will not be receiving this year due to administrative snafus. Crestfallen, I'm blogging on the department of education's dollar.), it has been pretty sweet to be back in Brooklyn. Granted, as I returned about a week before my sublettee had to move out, it's been a bit strange in the apartment (though I've been sleeping in my roommate's bed, as she's never around and her mattress is obscenely comfortable -- she doesn't know, but I don't think she reads my blog, so I feel safe divulging in this forum).

Sure, SoHo's boutiques don't have salesgirls standing on the sidewalks shouting at passersby and clapping enthusiastically, and it's hard to find a charcoal barbeque at three in the morning, but last night I got to indulge in a glass of California Cabernet while my friend James played bass for a spirited crew of soulful country musicians at The Living Room's "Honkey Tonk Happy Hour", then I walked a few blocks northeast to Esperanto, where my friend Ehud was playing accordian for a forro group, and I ate some excellent coconut tuna ceviche, and I wrapped up the night by dropping in on my friend Sol who was closing up at The Chocolate Room. It's hard enough to find decent chocolate in Asia, let alone entire establishments dedicated to its continual refinement and distribution. So, although my exploits this summer had made me consider maybe spending a year teaching in Asia, affording travels to Ladakh and Luzon, Malaysia and Mongolia, Shanghai and Xinjiang, the twin pleasures of being among my loved ones and my loved Western pleasure are making me reconsider...

Looking forward to celebrating my birthday with my folks tomorrow (who are just returning from a week in Paris to celebrate their 30th anniversary) at an amazing vegetarian Korean restaurant which is set up like a temple inside -- really beautiful and the food is stupendous -- and then some craft beers with friends at a nearby ale house. If you're in town, stop by the Waterfront Ale House on Second Ave at Thirtieth Street around nine... This weekend, Labor Day, brings the West Indian Day Carnival back to Brooklyn -- look forward to accounts of the incredible intoxicating all-night party known as Jouvet, which involves much public drinking and dancing, people throwing paint and baby powder each other, as the floats get set up with steel drums and blaring reggae in the streets of Crown Heights. It's amazing -- I'll try and take some pics this year, but most of the fun is in the predawn -- once the sun starts coming up, a sense of confusion starts to set in as people try and figure out if they're going to try and get a nap in before the (literally) millions of parade goers start to fill in the streets, or if they'll try and party straight through the parade. I've got a few liters of my best homebrew -- a Belgian abbey-style trippel that's been cold-conditioning for six months -- banking on my ability to continue into the day and get on my friends' rooftop overlooking Eastern Parkway. And the following morning is the real first day of school. I can't wait.