A very pleasant weekend

[jethrien]

It was a nice, uneventful weekend. While I love traveling and seeing people and busyness and all, it's nice to have the occasional weekend with nothing to do.

Friday evening's weather was remarkably unpleasant. I know this because I spent 20 minutes in the freezing rain trying to find a restaurant in Tribeca. Unfortunately, due to my poor knowledge of that area, I ended up wandering in East Soho. After two calls to Chuckro (God bless cellphones), I managed to wander in 10 minutes late, looking like a drowned rat, freezing, and a little freaked out. (The neighborhood doesn't look like a place for restaurants at all, the restaurant is really hard to find, and there was no one out there.) But the evening took a turn for the better with the menu. It turned out that it's Restaurant Week, which we were all unaware of. Chuckro ended up being the only one ordering off the Restaurant Week menu - I was too intrigued by the venison with huckleberries special (preceded by the asparagus with truffle oil and parmesan) and the tangerine souffle. Fabulous. The restaurant is Capsouto and Freres - it's pricey, but worth every penny.

I've started playing with my new watercolors I got for Christmas. Very pleased with my first attempt, since it's been years since I've used watercolors and they're quite different from the acrylics I last painted with. It helps that I chose a subject matter well suited to very loose brushstrokes - lets composition make up for lack of technique. Did a set of cliffs from Point Lobos that I'd tried sketching on our honeymoon. I'd been very disastisfied with how they came out in black and white - they worked much better in color. Again, the splashiness helps make up for the lack of technique. Of course, at some point I'll need to actually develop the technique, but it's nice to start with something that doesn't result in ego-crushing failure, y'know?

Comments

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Good luck with painting. I have absolutely zero skill at it myself, but I would love to see some of what you've done next time I see you. I'm sure they'll be lovely.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

Well, my sea/cliff-scape came out very well, and I'm very pleased with it. Well enough to be willing to consider hanging it up, even.

I suspect I could burn through a lot of paper, quickly.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

That's good. The more you do it, the more it will come to you. Yay! Hobbies!

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

I've got an overabundance of hobbies, and feel guilty sometimes about not spending enough time on them. Sewing, drawing, painting, writing...

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I sit at home and have reading to do, new games to play, music to sort, cross-stitching out the wazoo. Didn't help that I then went out and bought another large project to do, woo-boy. And I definitely need to get writing again...

[deltagrl.livejournal.com]

YES! I was just saying to my brother that I don't like eating dinner in Tribeca!!! Sympathies!! But glad you had an overall nice weekend. :)

[(Anonymous)]

Restaurant Week is a glorious thing. Pity I don't think word really got out about it around Princeton. The winter one is ALWAYS the week of Intersession, which is just perfect. Wish I'd gone to more, but Atlanta's restaurant scene is actually comparable. I apologize if I gave any New Yorkers heart attacks with the word "comparable."

[lithoglyphic.livejournal.com]

Oops, that was me.

[lithoglyphic.livejournal.com]

And I also had to comment on the watercolor... I just restarted painting myself, although I didn't have much experience to begin with. Next up subject-wise are a tiger (ambitious, ambitious) and the SF Bay Bridge (cubicle art, if it's up to snuff). Flickr is an excellent source of Creative-Commons-licensed source photos...