Halloween has always been my favorite holiday. In high school I celebrated by throwing the biggest party of the year—every year (thanks for being so cool, mom and dad). Back then, I planned my costume six months ahead, and my mom sewed it for me (thanks again mom). In college I marched in the Village Halloween parade—three times. Then the merrymaking evolved into barhopping and attending parties, and the costume planning shortened to the weeks, not months, approaching October 31.
Last year, I threw my costume together on Halloween night. This year, things are shaping up similarly. I think I’m going to be a Jeopardy contestant. Thanks, Becky!
Correspondingly, as the costume planning takes up less time, irreverence and timeliness become more important than bearing skin. Yes, if you can pull off Bernie Madoff or Balloon Boy this year, you’re golden. Sure beats fading into the sea of slutty vampires...
Friday, October 30, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
A Box in the Mail!
Today I received a package from a dear friend. In it, the ultimate inspiration for my next dinner party: White Trash Gatherings: From-Scratch Cooking for down-Home Entertaining. It's a follow-up of sorts to Ernest M. Mickler's White Trash Cooking, a book that my mother's had on her shelf since as long as I can remember.
It arrived just in time. Dan and I just purchased a dining room table and chairs ($125 on Craigslist!). Now, what's for dinner—tater tot casserole or Poochie's biscuit bean bake?
Latest Travel + Leisure Book Out!
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The book that I (and so many others) spent months working on has finally arrived! Go buy one (or three)!
Dallas High and Low
Yesterday's Thrill No. 1:
Finding seven perfectly good wine glasses in a box outside the trash chute. Score!
Yesterday's Thrill No. 2:
Happy hour at Wolfgang Puck's Five Sixty, the slowly spinning restaurant in the big ball. From 5 - 7 on weekdays there's a menu of $5.60 appetizers and drinks, made better on this occasion by meeting two new friends there (moms don't worry—they weren't randoms. They work in public relations and I'd been in touch with them while I was at T+L).
Yesterday's Thrill No. 3:
Pizza and 25-cent wings (none for me, thanks) at new friends' favorite dive bar Bryan Street Tavern
Yesterday's Thrill No. 4:
Welcome-to-Dallas gift basket featuring wine, heavenly Neiman Marcus cookies (damn those things are good!), and a well-vetted insider's guide to Dallas, written by said new friends.
Hooray!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Death Penalty Watch
Anyone who knows me well knows that I’ve got an irrepressible interest in crime reporting and exoneration cases. So does the state of Texas—on both sides of the spectrum. And, as Texas prepares for a gubernatorial election amid a series of wrongful death cases, capital punishment is front and center.
Tomorrow, two prisoners who were wrongfully sentenced for a 1997 murder will be released in a case that’s unique because it wasn’t DNA that proved their innocence, but a confession by the murderer after the case had been reopened. Research done by the University of Texas at Arlington Innocence Network and the Actual Innocence Clinic at the University of Texas at Austin prompted officials to reassess the case.
The story behind the 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was convicted of starting the fire in his home that killed his three children, has also been in the news recently. According to the Dallas Morning News, “In the past five years, at least six arson experts have examined evidence in the Willingham case and found that there were no credible indications that the fire was intentionally set.“ Governor Rick Perry defends the investigation, maintaining that Willingham was guilty and even calling him "a monster."
The case prompted former governor Mark White, once a dogged death penalty supporter, to release a television commercial in which he apologized for the executions conducted during his term, fearing that some may have taken the lives of innocent people. "There is a very strong case to be made for a review of our death penalty statutes and even look at the possibility of having life without parole so we don’t look up one day and determine that we as the State of Texas have executed someone who is in fact innocent," he said.
Before I moved here, I’d been following the saga of Sharon Keller, the judge who closed her office at 5:00 on the dot despite desperate pleas from a team of lawyers working feverishly to draft an appeal that may have stopped the execution of Michael Richard. “It seemed that Richard’s attorneys were having some computer problems that were preventing them from getting their motion for a stay filed before the clerk’s office closed, at 5. They wanted to know if they could deliver it after-hours—5:15, 5:30 at the latest. Keller, who has been on the CCA since 1994 and the presiding judge since 2000, listened to Marty’s question. Under her leadership the court has been one of the more conservative in the country, developing a reputation, especially on the left, for rubber-stamping death sentences. Her reply would cement this: “We close at five.”
Since 1982, the death penalty in Texas has taken the lives of 441 people. According to the New York Times, "that includes 334 since the start of 1997, a period in which Texas accounted for 41 percent of the national total."
Tomorrow, two prisoners who were wrongfully sentenced for a 1997 murder will be released in a case that’s unique because it wasn’t DNA that proved their innocence, but a confession by the murderer after the case had been reopened. Research done by the University of Texas at Arlington Innocence Network and the Actual Innocence Clinic at the University of Texas at Austin prompted officials to reassess the case.
The story behind the 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was convicted of starting the fire in his home that killed his three children, has also been in the news recently. According to the Dallas Morning News, “In the past five years, at least six arson experts have examined evidence in the Willingham case and found that there were no credible indications that the fire was intentionally set.“ Governor Rick Perry defends the investigation, maintaining that Willingham was guilty and even calling him "a monster."
The case prompted former governor Mark White, once a dogged death penalty supporter, to release a television commercial in which he apologized for the executions conducted during his term, fearing that some may have taken the lives of innocent people. "There is a very strong case to be made for a review of our death penalty statutes and even look at the possibility of having life without parole so we don’t look up one day and determine that we as the State of Texas have executed someone who is in fact innocent," he said.
Before I moved here, I’d been following the saga of Sharon Keller, the judge who closed her office at 5:00 on the dot despite desperate pleas from a team of lawyers working feverishly to draft an appeal that may have stopped the execution of Michael Richard. “It seemed that Richard’s attorneys were having some computer problems that were preventing them from getting their motion for a stay filed before the clerk’s office closed, at 5. They wanted to know if they could deliver it after-hours—5:15, 5:30 at the latest. Keller, who has been on the CCA since 1994 and the presiding judge since 2000, listened to Marty’s question. Under her leadership the court has been one of the more conservative in the country, developing a reputation, especially on the left, for rubber-stamping death sentences. Her reply would cement this: “We close at five.”
Since 1982, the death penalty in Texas has taken the lives of 441 people. According to the New York Times, "that includes 334 since the start of 1997, a period in which Texas accounted for 41 percent of the national total."
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Biking the Big D
Presenting my new wheels...I got the bike for fifty bucks on Craigslist and it looks almost exactly like the bike I had when I was 12. See that hot pink? So neon, so 1995. So awesome.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Scenes from the State Fair of Texas
Big Tex
Believe it.
Here's what winning the watergun game gets you!
Here's what winning the watergun game gets you!
Tre, the 1,000-pound pig.
Nachos, Texas-style. Yum!
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Friday, October 16, 2009
Wine, and a lesson in Texas politics
Say what you will, I have the best of luck meeting people in bars. Exhibit A: Looking for a glass of wine and some conversation, I walked over to Vino 100 last night, a wine bar and store just down the street. The place feels like a living room- there is a fireplace, a big couch, and some hearty wood dining tables. The bar itself only has a few stools, and the walls near it are lined with wine for sale. Over a glass of Viognier (and later, Sauvignon blanc), I got to know the bartender, Ryan, and the only other patron, Johanna, a professor of British literature at UT Arlington. My segue into saying that I just moved here was Ryan's comment on Thursday's New York Times article on the new Performing Arts Center. While the news made the front page of the Arts section, the writer just couldn't help but point out the reality of the arts scene in this city:
"Civic leaders have been trying to give this city a cultural heart for decades now, but the results have always felt more like a loose collection of unrelated buildings than a cohesive urban vision."
Having walked the Arts District just yesterday, I can attest that it does feel somewhat empty, especially compared to the stairs full of people that can be seen every day in front of the Met. And the area surrounding the two new buildings is anything but pedestrian-friendly. To walk there, you have to make a wide arc around the surrounding blocks, crisscrossing streets to avoid road construction and sidewalk closures. We'll see how things shape up in the coming months.
Turns out that my new bartender friend is an actor with a knack for Texas politics. Did you know that LBJ nicknamed his wife Lady Bird so that her initials would match his? Oh yeah, and his children also had the initials LBJ. Convenient (and narcissistic), huh?
During the course of the evening I was also introduced (in conversation, not in person) to Ann Richards, the charismatic former Texas governor known for her speech at the 1988 Democratic National Convention. My favorite line:
"Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels."
I also picked up a quote from Texas politician John Garner, FDR's vice president. In describing the job, Garner once said it's "not worth a bucket of warm spit."
Now that's Texan.
"Civic leaders have been trying to give this city a cultural heart for decades now, but the results have always felt more like a loose collection of unrelated buildings than a cohesive urban vision."
Having walked the Arts District just yesterday, I can attest that it does feel somewhat empty, especially compared to the stairs full of people that can be seen every day in front of the Met. And the area surrounding the two new buildings is anything but pedestrian-friendly. To walk there, you have to make a wide arc around the surrounding blocks, crisscrossing streets to avoid road construction and sidewalk closures. We'll see how things shape up in the coming months.
Turns out that my new bartender friend is an actor with a knack for Texas politics. Did you know that LBJ nicknamed his wife Lady Bird so that her initials would match his? Oh yeah, and his children also had the initials LBJ. Convenient (and narcissistic), huh?
During the course of the evening I was also introduced (in conversation, not in person) to Ann Richards, the charismatic former Texas governor known for her speech at the 1988 Democratic National Convention. My favorite line:
"Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels."
I also picked up a quote from Texas politician John Garner, FDR's vice president. In describing the job, Garner once said it's "not worth a bucket of warm spit."
Now that's Texan.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Arts & Architecture (and, unexpectedly, Sculpture)
Today I was all set to attend an architecture forum with Rem Koolhaas at the spanking new Wyly Theater, an event that was advertised as free at 4 p.m. So I walked downtown to get a seat—little did I know I needed a ticket. Not that the website of the Performing Arts Center gave any hint. No one wants to hear me complain about the inefficiency of communication, so to hell with it. I took it as a chance to tour the Nasher Sculpture Center just down the street. My favorites: Rush Hour by George Segal, Bronze Crowd by Magdelena Abakanowicz, and Walking To The Sky, by Jonathan Borofsky. Come to find out, there was also an exhibit on the architecture of Foster + Partners, the designer of the Winspear Opera House, the other big-deal arts opening in Dallas this week. Norman Foster is speaking at a forum tomorrow morning. Now, if I can only figure out where to get a "free" ticket...
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Baking Bread
Now our apartment smells homey too. Yesterday I baked banana bread and also learned a little baker's trick. If you don't have baking soda to mix with your all-purpose flour, just substitute self-rising. (maybe that's just obvious, but I'm new at housewivery) I used this recipe.
Adventures in Fitness (Indoors and Out)
Being home all day sure is motivation to get some exercise. Lucky for me, an entrance to Katy Trail is just down the street. The 3.5-mile still-in-progress trail is a "public park" that's "privately maintained," which means it's funded by donations. A running path runs alongside a cycling trail, and the whole shebang is built atop of a former railroad track. The trail begins a little bit south of the entrance I use and goes north to the Mockingbird Station area. It's great because it serves as an access point to other neighborhoods, like Knox-Henderson, and it links some small city parks. I just read that a cafe is supposed to open along the trail. That calls for some investigation.
There's also a Sunstone Yoga center across the street. Yesterday I took my first class, a 90-minute session called Fire. 98.6 degrees/60% humidity. No surprise, it was HOT, and the room was filled with sweaty, contorting bodies. I later found out that something was awry with the heating and humidity system, making the room significantly hotter than it should've been. Knowing that, I can't wait to go back!
Dinner & A Movie
Now that we're mostly settled in, we're finally getting out of the house and out on the town. On Saturday we drove to Mockingbird Station, a big mixed-use development (though tastefully done with a boxy, warehouse feel) home to American Apparel, kidrobot, and the Angelika Film Center (our reason for going). We caught a late showing of A Serious Man. Next time, we'll go earlier to check out Trinity Hall, a lively pub with folks playing fiddle and trivia on Tuesday nights. We hear it's pretty cool.
On Sunday we drove to White Rock Lake, a motorboat-free body of water right in city, ringed by a cycling/running track.
Geisha House, the restaurant across the street that's housed in the same plaza as a sister apartment building to ours, offers 20 percent off to residents of our buildings, so we went! Read my review here.
As for Tex-Mex, we've been to Mia's. They say the brisket tacos reign supreme here; my cheese enchiladas were pretty damn good too. Tonight, we're off to Manny's.
Worlds Collide In Dallas
Monday was a big day in Dallas: U2 performed at the new Cowboys Stadium, Oprah stopped in at the Texas State Fair, and the new Performing Arts Center kicked off its opening week.
Our Apartment
The city of Dallas has several neighborhoods (Oak Lawn, Downtown, Deep Ellum, Knox-Henderson). We live in Uptown, which, admittedly, shows signs of New York's Murray Hill—an abundance of sports bars and twentysomething males in striped shirts. But our location allows us to walk to a number of shops, bars, and restaurants. So far we're happy here.
The apartment buildings in Uptown are like dorms for the post-college set. They have gyms, pools, a mailbox station. I call ours "the fortress" because it has a pool in its center. Unfortunately
the water is too cold to swim.
The apartment buildings in Uptown are like dorms for the post-college set. They have gyms, pools, a mailbox station. I call ours "the fortress" because it has a pool in its center. Unfortunately
the water is too cold to swim.
Hello Dallas!
Exactly one week ago, I moved to Dallas—after seven years in New York City. I've created this blog to keep in touch with my faraway friends, as well as to write the goings-on about town, as I become...a...Texan.
So far, I'm enjoying the modern conveniences—a dishwasher and washer/dryer in my apartment, central heating and air, a parking garage, a car, SPACE—things that are hard to come by as a New Yorker. That said, there are some customs here that I've had trouble getting used to:
1.) Valet Parking. Most of the restaurants here have valet, even though there are wide-open parking lots abutting them. What's the rule here? Can you say "No, thanks, I'll park it myself."? Tried that. The valet guy insisted.
2.) Parking Lots at Bars. Scary.
3.) Window Shades Down (at all times). In New York, entire evenings can be spent watching events unfold in across-the-street apartments. There's a mentality that if you're nine floors up, no one can see through your picture windows. Not true. In our apartment building, I've yet to see a first-floor apartment with it's shades open, day or night. I guess we're exhibitionists...
So far, I'm enjoying the modern conveniences—a dishwasher and washer/dryer in my apartment, central heating and air, a parking garage, a car, SPACE—things that are hard to come by as a New Yorker. That said, there are some customs here that I've had trouble getting used to:
1.) Valet Parking. Most of the restaurants here have valet, even though there are wide-open parking lots abutting them. What's the rule here? Can you say "No, thanks, I'll park it myself."? Tried that. The valet guy insisted.
2.) Parking Lots at Bars. Scary.
3.) Window Shades Down (at all times). In New York, entire evenings can be spent watching events unfold in across-the-street apartments. There's a mentality that if you're nine floors up, no one can see through your picture windows. Not true. In our apartment building, I've yet to see a first-floor apartment with it's shades open, day or night. I guess we're exhibitionists...
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