Crisp

I went to Crisp today for lunch at the urging of a coworker. I love falafel, so I was really looking forward to it, and I wasn't entirely disappointed as I expected to be. The restaurant was ultra yuppie-like, and reminded me a lot of Zen Burger but in a bad way(Zen Burger's looking like that is okay because it's like a yuppie version of McDonald's), and dear lord is it ever overpriced.

But, the falafel itself was very soft and not at all greasy, which was nice, and the pita was pretty good. I had just a plain Israeli-style sandwich, but they have lots of interesting ones, including one with "North African ground peanut sauce" and sweet potatoes, which could possibly be good and would certainly be interesting. I also appreciated the effort with biodegradable packaging (although don't get me started on making plastic from corn, because I recognize the huge issues with that, as well).

Overall, I probably won't go back, just because I love eating falafel from carts (where it tastes better than this) or from a chain that also sells French fries, and because I really can't afford to blow $9.75 on a falafel sandwich and lemonade all that often, but I wouldn't tell anyone else not to go. If you want to stop by, there's one at 684 Third Avenue and another at 110 West 40th Street.

Bacardi Mojito Commercial

I won't lie. I don't want much TV, so I don't see many commercials. However, watching three episodes of House in a row, yesterday, I saw two particularly good ones, and decided to do up a quick review. One was for Lenscrafters, and you can see watch it here. I just thought it was really cute.

The second is beyond cute. It is effective. Before the commercial was even over, I knew I needed whatever it was they were selling. I would not hesitate to say that this is the best commercial I have ever seen. I knew instantly that whatever they were selling would not only make me hipper, thinner, and happier. It would also give me the ability to travel back in time, to parties from the present day to the 19th century, rocking out to Matt & Kim's "Daylight" (a fantastic song) with my diverse, hip, thin friends through the ages. Just seeing this commercial made me feel better about the direction of my life. It was better than the shows I saw it during (Mythbusters and House, in case you were wondering)

When I discovered that the commercial was for one of my all-time favorite drinks, the mojito, I knew that I shared a deep bond with this piece of cinematic genius. Watch it. Love it. Then go out and buy yourself some liquid happiness.

UnitedHealthcare's Office Workout

Today at the office, we got a little memo talking about doing a five minute exercise each day to "take some time for yourself." As a joke, my colleague read it out loud to me, and I did all the exercises at once.

Somehow, this miraculously reminded me that I deeply love stretching, and stretching at work makes you feel better about being there. I'm sure you can find the actual "Workday workout" pdf online (and if you can't, and want it, let me know and I'll email you a copy), so I'll just give you my new stretch, which I'm planning on doing at least once an hour from now until someone tells me to stop.

Sit up straight in your chair. Shrug your shoulders up to your ears. Raise your arms above your head, interlocking your fingers so that your nails face the top of your head. Place your right ankle onto your left knee. Keeping your back straight, bend forward as deeply as possible, until your stomach and face are flat on your lap. Rise. Repeat, switching legs.

I hope this new stretch improves your workday as much as it improved mine!

Fifth Avenue Street Fair

After much deliberation (I hurt my knee, I worried about rain, I like to make excuses), I decided to go ahead with my original plan and check out the Fifth Avenue Street Fair in Park Slope yesterday. This was my second time in the neighborhood this weekend. Though I sometimes jokingly think of Park Slope as the city equivalent of Bronxville, I don't really mind it nearly so much as much as I pretend to, particularly because I have several wonderful friends who live there, and I really enjoy the iced maple lattes at Gorilla Coffee.

So, I walked down to the fair and met Leah at around 1pm yesterday, and we proceeded to get some coffee before walking the span between Sterling and 12th streets. The fair was nice, although it tended to be filled with the same sorts of stands that are at the Brooklyn Flea every week and every other festival I've been to in New York. (I love Karen's Monsters, but I do get tired of Elma Blint all the time.) We had some empanadas from the V Spot, which are some of my favorite empanadas, and enjoyed a live presentation of the Sham Wow, as well as a Beatles cover band in front of ChipShop.

One thing that might have improved it (and which certainly improved TulipFest a week earlier), would be to have some more open spaces like Byrne Park, where we could have sat and relaxed and chatted. I suppose this is a structural problem with New York, though, and not with the festival itself. Overall, it was a nice little afternoon, and I thoroughly enjoyed the nice five and a half mile walk that came included.