Snowy Upper East Side

Outside of Louise Hirschfeld's house.  It snowed all day and the city looked amazing once it stopped.

An evening with the Hirshfelds

The other night Serge and I had a glass of wine with Louise Hirshfeld, the widow of famous line-drawing artist Al Hirscfeld at her beautiful Upper Eastside home.  We met her at a BAM event sponsored by BofA in November, the kickoff benefit dinner for the Bridge Project.  She is a culturally involved socialite now actively involved in a foundation that promotes educational arts programs around the area.

At the dinner where we met, Serge and I sat in between Louise and Sam Mendes (the husband of Kate Winslet, winner of an Academy Award for American Beauty).  Louise was so charmed by Serge that she invited us both to tea at her home.  I agree with her, he is quite charming.  

Though I don't envy the four flights of steps, nor the effort it must take to keep the many bookshelves and artwork so well dusted, walking through her home was like being in a museum- an absolutely incredible experience.  We saw Al Hirschfeld's 4th floor studio and the barber's chair where he worked.  Serge and I both got a kick out of the sign on the bookshelf, "Remember, it was an actor who killed Lincoln."  

In addition to seeing a career-spanning collection of Al Hirschfeld's artwork and various other collections (including an entire wall devoted to a mural), I got to play on his daughter Nina's Steinway & Sons grand piano.  Nina is best known as the identity behind the name so cleverly integrated into all of her father's line drawings. 

It was a wonderful evening.  To put it in proper "tea" terms,  the evening was "delightful" :)

Another valuable piece of info to remember

The morning is wiser than the evening.  Translates in multiple languages.  Don't forget it!

Never judge your fitness when you're running up a big hill

A few years ago I was about 2 miles into a 10 mile run in Central Park.  All of a sudden, I was overwhelmed by a feeling that I must be in horrible shape, this was too hard, maybe I should turn around and go home to try again tomorrow.  Up until this point, I thought I felt OK, but in an instant, I determined that I must be an awful runner and should probably give up the sport entirely.

Then, I happened to look up from sucking wind and feeling like a terrible runner and realized that I was running uphill.  Granted, Central Park is not exactly Colorado, but the North end of the park definitely has some inclines you can't ignore.  

The great epiphany was realizing that running felt really hard because I was running uphill.  And uphill is supposed to feel more difficult than the flats or downhills.  It takes significantly more energy and noticeably more effort.  This is according to my high school physics teacher, as well as all of the wisdom/intuition I've accumulated in my life up until this point.

Never ever judge yourself as a runner when you're running uphill.  Never ask yourself how you are feeling or in any way assess your performance.  When running up a hill, never be critical of your ability (or irrationally conclude you have none).

A hill will distort your perception.  But the reason it feels harder is because running uphill IS harder.  So wait until the top of the hill, when the terrain folds over until a nice downhill stretch, and keep going while you shake out your arms and catch your breath.  Then you can start thinking about your running.  

Obviously, this applies to much more than running, but the principal still holds:  Never judge anything based on a distorted up-hill assessment.

On a final note, I had a great high school assistant cross-country coach who has forever shaped my life with his little tidbits of simple wisdom.  For example,"if you want to win the race, all you have to do is just run faster than everybody else."  

We trained in the foothills of Boulder, Colorado, so there was not a single run we could go on that didn't include hills.  He would remind us daily, "A hill is an opportunity."  Another piece of good advice.  

Every time I see an Italian coffee percolator, I think of Jess

I heard from a good college friend today, none other than Ms. Jess P.  You will one day see her on SNL, or doing stand up, I predict.  

Typical Smithie... A very accomplished flutist (is that a word), I think a Music major, possibly double major in Italian too.  She now lives is San Francisco (again, typical Smithie behavior to migrate to cool cities, what can we say?) and is getting ready for an MBA in finance/economics.  Clearly she and I took similar different paths from Smith by starting career paths that appear to have absolutely nothing to do with anything we studied in college.  In addition to intramural soccer and the community orchestra, Jess is now doing Venture Capital analysis and research for Dow Jones.  That is precisely what I love about Smith though.  Jess knows what I'm talking about here... must be a Smith thing.  

Anyway, whenever I think back to my time and friends at Smith, images of Jess are never without a coffee percolator.  I'm not really sure what branded such a distinct mental image, but I pity everyone else who sees coffee percolators and does not have the pleasure of remembering Jess P. stories and laughing.

Mark Bittman, you make me wanna cook!

I love Mark Bittman's New York Times cooking column, The Minimalist.  I bought this cookbook last year after basically flipping a coin between this and Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  Julia, after all, went to Smith too, and well, it is Julia Childs!  However, I am confident I made the right choice... I guess you could say Mark Bittman is just a little more... user friendly.  

Birthday candles, Korean Saunas, Chinese Food, Superbowl, and Russian friends

After our day at the Korean Sauna, we were all just far too relaxed

We also worked up an appetite for Chinese food at a buffet in Queens

It was actually an Asian Fusion buffet

They offered fresh sushi too

And just in case anyone left the all-you-can-eat buffet still hungry, we had a birthday cake for Sergey afterwards back in Brooklyn while we watched the Superbowl

Every runner's dream

All that a runner could ask for

Cheat Sheet

Granted I have my own personal Russian teacher--the best one could hope for--but Russian grammar is pretty complicated.  I needed backup.  

Flushings, Queens

In New York City, a trip to another country is just a quick train ride away

Come ride the pink dinosaur!

Does it really even matter what is being sold here?

Chinatown in Flushings, Queens, before a day at the Korea Spa with a group of Russians

I've got a special place in my heart for fresh produce, in whatever language