Place Settings #45: February 1, 2015

Eat | Definitely a what’s-left-in-my-refrigerator kind of breakfast. Egg-in-a-hole, avocado, and bacon.

Drink | It looks like a beer, but it’s not. It’s a can of Guayaki yerba mate in a pretty glass. Yerba mate is a plant in the holly family that can be brewed like tea to make a tasty beverage. I wasn’t really familiar with it until I spent a month in Berlin and was converted into a Club Mate addict. Club Mate is head and shoulders and torso above any other yerba mate drink I’ve ever encountered and it’s very difficult to find in the US, a fact that makes me cry every so often.

Place Settings #44: January 25, 2015

Eat | These are bacon pancakes with a blob of avocado mash. They were delicious and super easy to make: I just chopped up some bacon, cooked it, and added it to the pancake mix.

Drink | More Baruir’s coffee.

Read | Still going strong with Moby Dick. As I read, this book keeps getting higher on my list of favorite books. Whales are constantly on my mind — I went on an extended YouTube deep dive of whale documentaries — and the infamous whale chapters are actually the best ones.

Place Settings #43: January 18, 2015

Hello! We’re back

Eat | A wheat berry and brussels sprouts salad (recipe here).

Drink | Coffee from Baruirs Coffee, a 45-year-old, family-run coffee store around the corner from me. 

Place Settings #19: November 24, 2013

Eat: Thai leftovers. I’ve been out of town for four of the past five weekends, which I think entitles me to be a gross slob at home this weekend.

Drink: Harney & Sons’ Paris tea. There was a cold snap in New York overnight and today is perfect for fuzzy socks and lots of hot tea. According to Harney & Sons’ website: “Our Paris tea was created by Mike in homage to Paris, where Mike enjoyed many a pot of tea at the famous Paris tea shops. This blend is reminiscent of one of the most popular blends in Paris. It is a fruity black tea with vanilla and caramel flavors, and a hint of lemony Bergamot.”

Read: I’ve been reading two small volumes this week: Herman Melville’s Bartleby the Scrivener and Paul Auster’s The Red Notebook. I finally got around to reading the first of these after I read and loved Enrique Villa Matas’ Bartleby & Co. four years ago. Melville’s story is about a Wall Street clerk who one day starts saying, “I prefer not to.” to every task presented to him. There are a multitude of effects, from the adoption by Bartleby’s officemates of the word “prefer” in every possible context, to the narrator (Bartleby’s boss) moving to a different office building to get rid of him, to scandalized rumors that run through the Wall Street legal gossip circle.