I will get more exciting in a couple weeks, I promise.

It's hard to convince myself to blog when my blog is this boring, because (a) it's kind of supposed to be boring, and (b) my life is pretty boring these days.  As it turns out, "resting up between incredibly long run and even-longer marathon" is not a super-exciting thing to write about.

This Saturday, however, I only had to run ten miles, so I had time for some excitement later in the weekend.  The first part of this excitement was hosting my super for a game of what's-wrong-with-the-electricity-?.  I have no electricity in parts of the apartment, which include a few outlets, the refrigerator, and the stove.  So all of my food is in the auxiliary fridge, which turns out to be plenty big enough for the food of a person who never cooks.  However I am going to need my stove back before the marathon so that I can make pasta.  Other super-thrilling parts of the weekend included why-don't-they-have-the-lotion-I-want-at-Bed-Bath-and-Beyond-? (never fear, I ordered it on Amazon; by "subscribing" to get it every six months, which I can change or cancel anytime, I got a 15% discount on the cheaper-than-NYC-stores price and free shipping, plus I got to buy it with an existing gift certificate, so this was a win), and doing a puzzle of the periodic table, which was fun and educational and, I assure you, only about four times as geeky as it sounds.  

Also I ate two meals in restaurants, of course.  I had an early dinner Saturday at Bocca, in Union Square.  This is a fussy Italian place with a somewhat unusual menu - everything had some kind of twist.  The gnocchi I ordered were lighter and creamier than most gnocchi - ricotta instead of potato - and were served with clams wrapped in some kind of Canadian bacon.  My dining companion had pasta with largish chunks of what I think was lamb, which I've never seen before.  It was a good meal, but the portions were small - obviously we were meant to order appetizers and dessert and so forth.

I also had a late brunch at Spoon, which is in the Chelsea mold of let's-pretend-this-is-a-rustic-farmyard-retreat-instead-of-a-trendy-fifth-avenue-eatery.  Again, everything on the menu was a twist.  I had the bacon, egg and cheddar "panini", and everything in it was really good - great bread, decent cheese, excellent bacon - but it was missing whatever it is that usually ties these sandwiches together (grease?).  Also - this is my pet peeve for brunch spots - the coffee was served in wide, shallow cups, which meant you didn't get much at a time and it got cold fast.  Seems like they should serve coffee in larger portions since refills are always free the server's time is probably more valuable than a tiny bit of wasted joe.

I had two good restaurant experiences that I forgot to blog about.  One was at a restaurant on Columbus Avenue around 72nd (Columbus Tavern, I think).  I was going for drinks with a friend, and we ended up sitting in the semi-enclosed porch in front, which the weather was perfect for.  They had a full menu, but we just had wine, of which they had a fairly good selection (although no vino verde), and the waiter didn't pester us to order more.  Also, I had a quick brunch a couple weeks ago at a nameless diner near Herald Square; the inside of the diner was depressing and gross and the outside was on a loud street, and I was determined to hate it, but the coffee was good (and hot and refilled quickly by the not-hipsterish waitress) and the pancakes were the best I've had in ages.