It's been a headlong rush into the new year. Work has been plentiful and I am not complaining especially since taxes, closing & moving will all be coming up around the same time in the next couple of months- aargh!

Am always grateful to be swamped with work, but anxiety over my schedule is definitely creeping in and unfortunately, I am not big on delegating, but I really need to learn. Besides learning to delegate, I need to make sure to have a little fun to stave off the stress.

One way to relieve work anxiety is to rely on Fcat to prepare a lovely meal, complete with my new favorite beverage, Lambic Framboise which is a very very light Belgian beer flavored with fruit like raspberries. I do not like beer, but the lambic is akin to drinking a smooth fizzy juice drink. I was first introduced to it by my bff (love that acronym-truly a gem of colloquialism), JK when we had dinner at Red Bamboo.
Fcat made my favorite peppers with crostini. The peppers are completely random in their hotness. Happily stuffing my face with yummy peppers, I suddenly experienced a heat so painful that I could do nothing but walk in circles for several minutes in between spoonfuls of Tofutti sour cream & rice (never drink water to calm the burn- it spreads the heat!). Glad that I had gotten a few peppers in before being forced to stop.

Fcat had also veganized a delicious creamy Cuban black bean recipe which he had cooking for two days- needless to say, it was really tasty with the right amount of heat. I had to laugh at the recipe though where the woman mentions that one could remove the ham hock before serving and it would be considered "vegetarian" by people like her mother- she was being facetious of course.

Early this week, we were invited to attend a screening at The NYS Theater at Lincoln Center for a new documentary about the amazing ballet career of Jock Soto. Fcat knows Jock from the gym, but we had no idea that he was such an influential dancer. The documentary looks back at Jock's career when he started dancing at the age of 5 and then dancing under Balanchine's direction at the age of 16. Jock's story is so compelling & inspirational-being part Navajo & Puerto Rican, growing up poor and achieving the American Dream through his sheer love of ballet. Please check out the movie at www.waterflowingtogether.com The movie will also be shown on April 8th through PBS' Independent Lens Series- check your local listings.

The theater is so gorgeous and it was here at Lincoln Center with the New York City Ballet that Jock danced as a principal for 24 yrs, retiring at the age of 40.

Here is the post-screening chat with Jock Soto & Gwendolyn Cates, the filmmaker. Jock is extremely handsome and charming. One gets the sense that he is a really nice guy albeit not just any nice guy, but one with a tremendous amount of talent, determination to put his body through the rigors of a career in ballet. Fcat confirms that Jock is truly a great guy and that is nice to hear.

Lincoln Center is so pretty. I used to go to the opera & the ballet more than I do now- definitely have to get back to that...

Fcat & I treated ourselves to Rosa Mexicano across the street from Lincoln Center. We debated a bit because the restaurant is a bit expensive, but we had been in the screening since 6:30pm and it was past 9:00pm so we were beyond hungry and well, what the hell- we might as well have a nice night out! I love the wall that runs from ceiling to floor with little divers attached to it.

We had decided on just entrees & a drink but when we were there we decided to let ourselves have the $14 guac which they make fresh in front of your table with mortar & pestle.

The guac comes with yummy flour tortillas to make wraps if one is thus inclined. Featured with the chips are delicious tomatillo & chipotle salsas.Fcat had a margarita & I had some white sangria.

As with any upscale restaurant, they are more than happy to accomodate vegan requests. I had delectable spinach & mushroom tacos in tomato sauce minus the cheese- yum yum yum.

The only thing to detract from our lovely meal was some Asian tourist who thought Rosa Mexicano's was a Starbuck's. She was seated next to us and literally had her laptop out during the entire meal and it only got worse because at some point after she had finished her entree- the dish still in front of her, she was leaning her head on her hand, elbows & half her body draped across the table to look at her laptop. It was so rude! People were staring in disbelief and the waiters came by once or twice to see the rudeness for themselves. I understand that she was a tourist and perhaps thought that since people have their laptops in coffee shops that she could do the same at any restaurant, but anyone with a shred of common sense would see how obnoxious this was here! And the splaying out onto the table to read her laptop just proves that she was never taught any table manners, so perhaps she is also deficient in common sense therefore, possibly immune from being castigated. I promise to let it go now that I have had my say, but it was just so blatantly obnoxious. Fcat snuck a picture of her stuffing her face, chewing with her mouth open, half- laying onto the table, elbows up, reading her laptop- but it's not nice to make fun of people, so I'll just leave you with this pic to show you how glaring a laptop can be in a fine dining establishment.

And I leave you on a sweet note- I found Sweet & Sara's Smores at Whole Foods.

Yes, you can say "yum"!Pricey, but worth it. I haven't had marshmallows in forever...and these are free of the false vegan marshmallow controversy- no lying Emes fake vegan marshmallows here!



Okay, back to work- lots of shootings and a big campaign shoot in February in Los Angeles- exciting! In addition to all the shoot logistics, I'm trying to plot all the vegan places I will be eating at in L.A. too. Hmm, maybe I can get MCafe to cater the shoot- hehehe, don't all celebs in L.A. eat macrobiotic?

Have a great weekend!