whole again

sleep. is. good.

i was seriously run down yesterday- full fledged zombie mode which has not happened for awhile. though i probably have no right to complain since it's mostly from going into the weekend tired from work, having too much fun, and not enough sleep over the weekend.

went with the boy to against the grain on friday night. since the boy is a beer connosieur i am always on the look out for places with extensive or interesting beer lists (as long as there is a small selection of wine or i can get a gin and tonic i'll be happy). against the grain was a smallish place connected to grape and grain a small wine bar/restaurant that was opened by the owners who happen to love beer in addition to wine. i don't have a strong impression of the place. a little too dark which was highlighted by the fact that a t.v. provided the majority of the light in the place. actually don't like t.v.'s in bars unless it's a sports bar. it was very empty for the first hour, in fact we were the only customers for awhile. on our second round, the place filled up quite a bit. the server was actually pretty nice though i didn't love his wine suggestion.

two of the boy's friends, dapper and filmster, met up with us and after they finished a round we all headed to death & co. i guess the boy's love for the sazerac rivals my own as he had already raved about it to his friends. so we all partook. somehow the time had slipped away and we managed to close the place down somewhere between 3 and 4 AM.

by 11 AM the next morning i could not sleep anymore though i knew i was still tired. instead, i left the boy to sleep and went to the gym and grocery store. did some laundry and made some orzo salad to take to work during the week. around 4 PM we headed out for supper and went to mara's homemade in the east village. i had scouted out the place upon the boy's request to have good cajun cooking. we shared an order of gator bites. yes, pieces of alligator coated in cornmeal and then deep fried. delicious! he ordered jambalaya which turned out to be a dry version (mostly rice with pieces of chicken and sausage). it was good but not great. a little bland says me. my dish was a knock out though. catfish with creaole seasoning and topped with crawfish etoufee served with a side of broccoli and rice pilaf. the catfish was slightly crispy and the crawfish etoufee was extremely flavorful and rich, almost a gravy type sauce.

after dinner, we checked out our creative garden, a little community run garden on the corner of east 6th and ave b. lots of hippies and random passerbys. the place was overgrown with a hodgepodge of plans and random garden decor. the most striking element was a tall wooden "sculpture" with random stuffed animals, flags, and toys hanging on it. the garden seemed a little sad to me.

we had a couple hours to kill before the bowery ballroom's doors for cloud cult would open so we went to good world to have a drink in the garden. the concert was amazing, i was happy that they sound as good live (perhaps better) as they do on album and they are fascinating in concert. they are a multi-media performing group with a video projector in back and two artists (the lead singer's wife and the trumpet player) painting throughout the concert. at the end of the show, the paintings are auctioned off to the highest bidder. unfortunately, the two opening acts played for an hour each and the first group was pretty tired and the second was better but just tiring to listen to (too mellow).

after the concert was over i took the boy to auction house and then went to a diner. i had a horrible croque monsieur and he had a so-so omelette. it was 2:30 AM and i was beat. got home around 3 something and up by 7 the next morning for work. my boss was kind enough to let me leave at 6pm and i was home by 8. had a quick dinner of leftovers then went to bed at 9:30. 10 hours of sleep later, i woke up and feel like a whole new woman.