spring break : going, going, gone...

i think everyone, myself, included, thought i would be cooking more than i have this spring break. considering my finances, which took a hit after outlet shopping, you would better understand why i haven't cooked that much this spring break. on the upside, i now own a beautiful trifle bowl (i have coveted a trifle bowl for about two years now), many t-shirts and button-down shirts, silver leather sandals, and a beautiful yellow raincoat to keep my iridescent lime green rain jacket company in my closet. i didn't need the sandals, but i find shoes that i like (and can afford) so infrequently that when i do, i am generally compelled to buy them knowing that i will wear them enough to justify the cost (case in point: my black leather flats).

back to food. i have a couple of quickies to impart. in fact, to impart again because blogger really hates me right now and i'm rewriting this post. sadly, it will be abbreviated since i do not desire to rewrite the entire thing, but i encourage you to soldier on, anyway.

i had intended to do more work during break, but of course that's never the way it goes. first, on monday, i departed bright and early with luis for new york city, in order to visit MoMA per my 4.104 TA's instructions. sorry, leo, we didn't make it to dia, but at least i know what it is now. if i could have had my way with spring break, i would like to have gone to marfa, texas, to see donald judd's "100 untitled works in milled aluminum." i think that's what it was called. anyway, see the new york times magazine from last saturday if you're confused.

back to MoMA. the line was looooong. MoMA and the guggenheim are the only museums open on mondays, so go figure. the building itself is gorgeous - all perfect proportions and perfectly placed windows in the way that a beautiful actress is all legs. and because this is my food blog, i will digress and move onto the food. did i mention that every inch of this museum is gorgeous? yoshio taniguchi, i love you and will marry you unless tadao ando asks me first. to get to the point, even the cafe on the second floor - the plebeian, proletarian level eating (as opposed to the restaurant on the top floor for the high rollers). step into cafe 2 and order your food, then sit down at the long, minimalist wooden tables that are delightfully communal. the communal thing was completely unexpected, and we discovered that there are nice people in new york city. or, nice tourists; the people next to us offered us their extra cookie before they left. the food is, of course, expensive, as museum food is wont to be, but it was worth it. plus, i hope part of the price inflation went to the waiters, who don't really get tipped because the turnover of diners is so frenetic. anyway, for lunch i had possibly the best panini of my life. well, not just possibly - i'll take a stand like i'm always being encouraged to do in studio. i had the best panini of my life, in a museum cafe in new york city. if you're italian from italy, you probably want to slap me for saying this, but at least know that i have been to italy and had panini there. the panini i had was a simple prosciutto, fontina, and rocket deal. but it was hot and the bread was wonderfully crusty, and the fontina was so good and melty...rarely do i like designer greens, but the rocket was actually good. i had never actually had fontina before, and now i understand why other people like it so much. and i wasn't really that hungry, so you can't accuse me of enjoying it just because i was ravenous enough for anything to look good.

this isn't food related, but the people who offered us the cookie left shortly after we sat down. they were replaced by two old women. i usually try not to perpetuate stereotypes, but they sat down and immediately wondered (a) where their food was and (b) if one of the waiters was going to come clear the dishes that were still on the table (after looking at us and wondering in a non-subtle manner if they were ours). the previous party's number was still clipped to the spot, and i started to take it off, to help them, but one of the women stopped me and left it there. and of course, about a minute later a waiter comes with food for table #91. except the old women really had a different number - #91 was the number of the previous party. the wrong food was brought and the two women tell the waiter what they've ordered. he leaves and one woman starts complaining to the other: "really, ursula..." another waiter came by and asked ursula for her receipt. she gave it over extremely reluctantly, testily demanding that he bring it back tout de suite; he looks at the receipt, immediately discerns the problem, and gracefully pretends it's all his fault. oh, ursula.

a note about the lighting - even the lighting in the cafe was perfect. there is no direct light in this building, which is wonderful. yoshio taniguchi, i love you and i will marry you, unless tadao ando asks me first. the lighting in the cafe is such that the fixtures point upwards and the light reflects off these white square panels that extend about 6 inches from the ceiling. the result: square expanses of warm white light.

the second quickie is really a quickie. jessica and i can cross lala rokh off our list of restaurants we need to go to before jessica leaves for oxford. it was pretty good - exotic food is always fun - but slightly less well executed than, say, cafe baraka, which is slightly more exotic than lala rokh. if that's because it was lunch and not dinner, i don't know. the restaurant itself is a nice place to eat, and the food seems to be authentic and wonderfully exotic, but at the end of the day i could have made the same thing myself, at home. i had a great barley soup with shreds of carrot in it, then a wrap with saffron chicken and saffroned potatoes. jessica had this fabulous appetizer of a flourless herb cake, which was great if not quite my speed - it will take me a bit longer before i really like anything that has so many herbs in it. but what lunch at lala rokh really made me do is wish that celina had done another persian menu at lmf before she moved.

and finally, a short plug which i would generally not make. every now and then, my favorite food magazines turn out really spectacular issues. like that issue of gourmet with the extensively footnoted article about the maine lobster festival (footnotes! in a food magazine!) and gorgeous, gorgeous photos of food in the summer. the new issue of gourmet has a great article about a woman who starts celebrating passover just so she can make her grandmother's brisket (a funny parallel: jessica and i are having an easter brunch expressly to have mimosas), and an entertaining article by calvin trillin about two dinners in Paris, one of which involves a deep love for perfect dumplings. then, the new issue of saveur is all about american artisanal cheeses. i love cheese and i hope you do too.

p.s. to my mother: i adore chicken pot pie (and you know it), and i adore it when you bring me your chicken pot pie, which inexplicably gets better every time you make it. thanks, and much love.