ZimWex Family Blog

A Night Out.

Last night was a pretty big night! The US premiere of Hysteria at the Tribeca Film Festival.

So we got all gussied up....

We started at a work dinner for Tanya, where I tried to catch my outfit in the bathroom mirror!

We got to the red carpet and accompanied our kids down the red carpet for the first time...

Nice shoes!

We watched Tanya charm the press...

And then I captured this shot of my two glamorous pre-teens.

And got a shot with me as well!!

Then the real fun began...we got to watch Hysteria with 900 other enthusiastic audience goers.  Way to go, my love. I am, as they say around these parts, kvelling!  

AZ

This Moment.

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.  A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

This Moment.

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.  A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

AZ

A girl of adventure...

I got to attend Ruby's 2nd Grade Publishing Party last week.

Below is the text of her latest story...Not at all lacking in imagination!

"Lucky lived in a mountain with her mom, dad, two sisters, and a brother.  She lived a peaceful life, but also, Lucky is a girl of adventure.  She's gone to every place you can think of right now.  But there is one place she didn't go: NYC! She really really really really really wanted to go to NYC. Tomorrow she can go!

She packs and packs, then goes to bed.  In the morning she put her luggage and a zipline on her g-i-a-n-t giant flying c-a-t cat, Then she jumped on her cat and was off!  She saw a lot of buildings.  then...she was hovering over Manhattan. She smelled hot dogs. She saw pretzels.  She saw cars zooming by.

Plop! Lucky and her cat landed in Central Park! Lucky got into a boat nearby and she rode and rode.  The she saw a duck.  She docked her boat and chased after the duck.  Then she crashed into a bush in the z-o-o zoo.  Click! She was locked in!!

Then she remembered she had clipped the zip line to her belt. Then she said "excuse me, sorry for chasing you." "That's ok" said the duck.  "Can you fly out and tie one end of the line to the tree near the giant cat?"asked Lucky.  "Sure" said the duck.

The duck flew out and tied the rope to the tree. Then Lucky zipped across.  Then she leaped on her cat.  A cat named Kala with a  giant head. Lucky took Kala home. She knew that she couldn't keep Kala because she kept trying to eat her goldfish.  So she donated her to Julie Case, her detective friend."*

She then does a tie-in with her friend Polly's book about a girl detective...

She made a little clay figure of Lucky (who I think is so very cool).

But this girl is cooler...

Proud of my girl.**

AZ

*Okay, so it doesn't really end.

**And wishing I could buy her a portable clip-on zip line.

Museum of the Moving Image

I spent last Sunday at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria. It was closing day for a cool Jim Henson exhibit, so we checked it out and also watched two episodes of the Muppet Show on the big screen...Starring...Julie Andrews and Gene Kelly!*

The Museum has been redone this year, and is a great place for a family outing. We combined it with lunch at 5 Napkin Burger across the street, and were happy and stuffed!

Check it out and bring your families....

AZ

*Gene Kelly, like most Muppet Show hosts, was well past his prime, but the Pigs in Space segment did not disappoint!

Lunch Spot:: Kuku Canteen

I have recently been eating at a cute Korean lunch plate called Kuku Canteen. Its clean, affordable, fast, and has a good vibe (And lots and lots of spicy stuff).

My favorite is the shitake mushroom salad which has some crazy addictive dressing I like to put a little Sriracha sauce on the side.  Also, in this photo, note the Kimchi on the side..

T usually orders the bulgogi, but everything is really good...

Check it out next time you're in the neighborhood!
AZ 

New Restaurant:: Tortaria

The other day a friend and I met up for lunch at a new Mexican restaurant called Tortaria.  I had no expectations going, so was totally charmed to walk in and find this!

The place was completely great looking.  Luckily, the food was delicious, fast and cheap!  I got the fish tacos, and tried a bite of my friend's Pulled Pork torta, which was also good. They have good salsas, homemade guacamole, and seemed that the rest of the menu was good, too.  We ate for about $10.  I highly recommend a trip to Tortaria the next time that you are near Union Square.  

AZ

Pride.

So I woke up this morning kind of a little tired.  And lazy.  And not wanting to leave the house if at ALL possible.  But then there was this parade coming to town.  The one that takes over our little corner of the Village each and every June.  The one that even the most gay-friendly locals can sometimes regard as, well, a bit of a nuisance.  After all, you can't drive into the neighborhood.  And its loud. Etc, etc, etc. When I woke up the idea of riding on the School Float in the parade seemed, frankly, like something I "should" do, but not so much something I wanted to do.

But...something happened while we were on the float today.  I felt proud in ways that I didn't expect.  Yeah, I felt gay pride.  But more overwhelmingly, I felt proud of our school.  The little progressive school from downtown New York that says every year that it is worth our community's time and money to have a float in the Gay Pride Parade.  And that encourages all members of the community to attend.  And that fills the float with singing, dancing, flag-waving, and, yes sometimes a bit cranky and exhausted kids.  I was so proud to be a part of that school and that group.  And so proud of my straight friends for turning up in the heat to be there to support the gay families they love.

I have no idea what the kids were experiencing.  I would like to think that they might be thinking about issues of fairness, justice, equal rights, yada yada yada.  In all likelihood they were mostly thinking about why some women weren't wearing shirts, why some men were dressed as women, and that there were a lot of pretty rainbows and tutus floating around.  Or when the next Lady Gaga song was going to be played.

Anyway, at the end of the day, in our own way, I think we were all glad to have gone.  Perhaps maybe next year I will remember all of this before I go!  A few photos follow below.  (Note the whistles that ALL of the children have around their necks....these will somehow disappear in the middle of the night and NEVER be seen again)

AZ

 

 
 


   

Num Pang

Thanks to Tanya, I have been turned on to a new great lunch spot by Union Square, Num Pang.  It is a Cambodian Sandwich Shop and it is delicious!

Housed on 12th street between University and 5th, Num Pang has a window to the street, which is where you order.* If you want, you can eat upstairs, in a very very small dining space overlooking the garage below.  So New York and gritty and not at all scenic but kind of cool because of it.

But what its all about is the food.  To date have only tried two sandwiches, the coconut shrimp and the pork belly.  But both were great.  In what I can only assume is traditional Cambodian sandwich style (?), they are served on yummy baguettes with cilanto, carrot, chili mayo, and cucumber and served on tables that feature big ol' bottles of Sriracha sauce.  Heaven.

It is grungy, affordable, and yummy. What could be better?

AZ

*Reminiscent of the Soup Nazi.

It's Time to Play the Music....

 

It's time to light the lights, It's time to get things started on the Muppet Show tonight.

Ah, the Muppet Show.  The soundtrack of a happy 70s childhood.

Thus far, I have never had quite as much success getting my kids to perceive the brilliance of the Muppet Show as I might want to.  In the world of unending children's TV programming, on at all times of day or night, and on demand, and DVDs that they can watch in endless loops, the Muppet Show seems, well, kind of quaint!

They have watched a few old episodes but would nearly always pick something else out over it.

However,  via high-priced marketing tie-ins, we have found our way in....

On a recent grandmother visit to town, a certain grandmother known for spoiling her grandchildren rotten decided that she would take the kids to the new Make Your Own Muppet Workshop  at FAO Schwarz.  The kids proceeded to have a blast making muppets that channeled the inner them. *

 

They had a great time, and the little ones particularly loved the COLORFORM type sets they were each given to design their muppets.  It's not cheap; each Muppet costs $130.  So....its sort of in the American Girl category of things and designed specifically and only for grandmothers who like to come into town and spoil the kids rotten.  If, however, you have one of those in your life, I fully recommend the experience!

Best of all, we spent the rest of the week watching the Muppet Show, and that classic piece of 70s Cinema, The Muppet Movie.  You'll never guess who loves Animal....

AZ

  *pictures to follow.  At this moment they have not yet been taken and Mommy is way too lazy to get off her butt, find a camera, line them up, and photograph them.  Until I have some caffeine, we will all have to use our imaginations.