Summer Days, Summer Nights I

The past month has been beautiful: cool weather, free happenings, and I realize we've not been the most assiduous posters. So without further ado, here's what's been going on the past month or so:

Back in early June, while Julia was upstate for the GYGIG ride, James, Sameer, Monica and I met up for brunch. Now I wanted to go back to Mogador, because it's good, and I know I like it, so why should I go somewhere else? James and Sameer *said* they'd be okay with Mogador, and came out to meet us there, but then proceeded to make so much noise about going to the same brunch place, and couldn't we try somewhere else, and we've already eaten here, and what about Mexican for brunch, blah blah blah. So we went down the street to La Palapa. Huevos Rancheros seems mandatory when I think of Mexican brunch, but James got upset because Monica and I both ordered it and he feels the only way to order in a restaurant is to all order different dishes so we get as full an experience of the menu as possible. Me, I just want to order what I want to eat. Well, the food was okay ( I have to say, I felt a little vindicated by the saltiness of the food - see, I *told* you we should have just gone to Mogador!), but as you can see from the picture, I managed to get it down and the atmosphere was almost worth it. Take a look:




--- picture deleted out of respect for Julia's delicate sensibilities ---


Like we're on vacation, right? It was a pretty cute backyard, and didn't feel like New York at all, which I have to admit, beats Mogador (not for food though, to reiterate - I was right!!). In an aside, I know a lot of blogs do it, but do people really like to see close up pictures of food? It's kind of gross. And maybe I don't help matters by eating most of it *before* I take the picture?
After brunch, we continued what seems to be a tradition in the making. We 1) saw a ginormous dog and 2) relaxed in the park.

We walked around Tomkins Square Park and ran into a carnival to raise money for a local Catholic School. And look what we found: a bouncy castle!!!! Remember these?

And right next to it, there was a bouncy boxing ring. What school carnival can't be made *that* much more fun by kids dressed up in absurdly oversized headgear and boxing gloves and going at it? They could barely stay upright since it had bouncy castle floor. And then with those huge boxing gloves and what with trying to pummel each other, they spent most of their time falling down. They did manage to land a few flailing punches, but those boxing gloves insure they really can't hurt each other. It's more like a macho pillow fight. Also, please note that one kid is wearing a Superman shirt.




















The contenders






Afterwards, we ended up going to see a Japanese anime movie in midtown called Paprika. It was a surreal movie, which is only fitting since it's about dreams. I won't go into details, but the poster is pretty fun:



Also, some pics from the terrace/balcony. The movie theater is right next to Madame Toussaud's, so there's a couple of nice shots of the giant hand.






















That'll have to be it for now. I still have a ton of pictures to post, but it's just too much right now. Next up: Shakespeare in the park, Mina's birthday and Cara's return!