Buxbaum-ing!

Oooooooooooh baby it was a good weekend.

Friday night I checked out Shalel Lounge with Leann. She is so funny and sweet, and always throwing great little parties with her roommate Marion. I was hoping Shalel would be a little bit more fun than it was however. It's advertised as a Moroccan bar, but besides a few metal tables and lamps, the Moroccan theme was a stretch. It was a cute romantic place for a date; very dark, cozy little nooks, a waterfall in the back. What really killed it was the bartender spilled alcohol on my purse and our little niche was taken over by three very loud and smelly men. So we enjoyed our conversation, and then moved on out.

Saturday around noon Rachel Buxbaum came over for a visit. We had planned on going to a museum, but the weather was so nice we decided to run around Greenwich Village and SOHO instead. We started off with an Israeli lunch at the Hummus Place; ful, dolma, salatim, incredible harif, topped off with limonana and turkish coffee. Absolutely dreamy. We then ran around, stopping in stores way too expensive for us as well as super cheap ones. There was even one that really reminded us of shanti-shanti places in Israel. Towards the end of our spree we stopped by the Aroma to take pictures (we're holding off eating there until my birthday weekend). (Pictured: Rachel at Aroma, oh sweet Aroma)
After stopping back briefly home, we got dressed and headed out for dinner. It was all good and plenty, until I sucked more than a soy bean out of my edamame. Oh yes, it was a caterpillar. I give myself applause for not freaking out, and quickly called over a manager. After every other waitress had come over to check out the worm and say "Ooooo, is gross" the manager finally arrived. Something in the translation though didn't seem to carry over, and instead of comping us (as any self respecting restaurant would have offered) they decided to just take off the edamame and give us a 10% discount (a whole $2). So, although I love it, I must advise against Swish until I have gotten over this grudge. (Pictured: Rachel andMe, post worm)

Rachel and I then went over to my friend Debra's apartment for a little get together in honor of Ari Bronstein. Ari was on WUJS with us, though not in our machzor (semester) so we spent three months with him in Arad and then would periodically meet up with him in Jerusalem. He's a sweetie who's made Aliyah and he had just come into NY for some family events. I actually met Debra through him when she joined a small group of us for a week in Jordan. Debra and I had shared a very bumpy jeep ride and we kill ourselves remembering the times we thought we would surely die as the Jordanian police man screamed "10 Gas!" and our driver floored it through the dunes. It was a treat to see both Debra and Ari, as well as meeting their eclectic friends. So this is a special shout out, thank you Ari for being a loyal reader of my blog!

(Pictured: Me, Ari, and Rachel in Debra's apartment)
Next up was Melinda's birthday at the Katwalk Bar and Lounge. Melinda and I had gone to OSRUI (Jew camp) together back in high school. She is just great and I love getting to reconnect with her now that we're both in grad school in NY. Once we got to the club it was a bit hard to find her and her group. We ended up partying with a group of Indians celebrating their own birthday girl for awhile by mistake. When we finally found her it was perfect. She was a very happy b-day girl and was very welcoming of Rachel. Rachel and I just had the greatest time, as we always do. Rachel is always up for introducing me to new things, especially drinks. (Pictured: a sassy Melinda and myself)

Somehow we woke up this morning. Rachel invited me to go to Brooklyn for lunch with her family, and I was happy for some Jewish safta (grandma) time. We stopped by Russel's and Sam's apartment to pick up her car and got a chance to give a very sleepy Russel a hug. Once we got to her grandma's we were plied with bagels and lox before Rachel's adorable 5 year-old cousin, Moshe, joined us with his parents. This kid is not only cute, he's a smarty. We played a game where he either acted out animals or contorted himself into the shapes of foods. Whereas most kids would be a banana, he was a cashew, a loaf of french bread, and acted out a Basiliscus (Jesus lizard).

(Pictured: Rachel and Moshe, he wasn't normally this scary looking)

So now I'm enjoying a little rest before the Oscars...