Bad Books - You Wouldn't Have to Ask

Abra Cadabra

Any single gal in New York is used to smooth talkers. The last thing anybody hopes to encounter during a night on the town is a man who’ll use all his charming stories and fancy tricks to make a fool of you. Unless, of course, the man playing tricks is Magician Eric DeCamps. Having spent last Wednesday night being charmed and deceived by The Society of American Magicians’

award-winning Magician of the Year, I speak from experience.

After recently watching The Prestige, starring the delicious Christian Bale, I looked forward to an evening of illusion – the illusion being that I was Scarlett Johansson, called upon to fill the role of the beautiful and charming volunteer who disappears into thin air before the eyes of the audience. To ensure that was the case, I took a seat as close to the front row as possible. All said and done, that’s not quite how it played out… but close enough.

The show was billed “An Evening of Intimate Magic,” and intimate it was. Held in a room seating about 35 people at the old world (read: stuck-up) 3 West Club on West 51st Street, there was no room for smoke machines or invisible wires. DeCamps could only rely on the sheer skill that has made him the second person in 105 years to receive the prestigious Gold Medal of Excellence for Close Up Magic to amaze and delight us.

Upon entering the room, DeCamps instantly grabbed everyone’s attention by answering an age-old question: “Can you make money?” One after another, he made silver dollars appear, disappear and seemingly transport from one location to another, all while making sure we could each see that there was nothing up his sleeves, literally. Wives glared at their husbands as if to say, “Why can’t you pull money out of the air?” as DeCamps enchanted us with majestic stories and kept us laughing with his quick wit.

I perked up in my chair when DeCamps scanned the audience for a volunteer – it was the moment I’d been waiting for! His finger pointed in my direction, and I knew my moment was coming until he said, “You Sir, would you mind coming up here and helping me out?” He was speaking to, of all people, my boyfriend. Like an Oscar nominee whose name isn’t called, I shrunk back in my chair. Timidly, and with only an ounce of the strut I would’ve employed, my other half made his way the front of the room to be Mr. DeCamp’s “lovely assistant.”

For the next five minutes, my man assisted the magician as he made a fragile egg appear and reappear in a magic pocket. Even from such close proximity, neither a trap door nor blatant misdirection could be detected. Finally my boyfriend made his way back to his seat, and we sat and watched in amazement as the magic man finished his 80-minute show.

Even in this rough and tumble city, it turns out all it takes is a little magic to turn even the most hardened New Yorker into a kid again – if only for an hour. Now the only thing I’m left wondering is whether I can actually pull off wearing a top hat as a chic new accessory for Sunday brunch.

Dream Date for the Pair Annoyed

May 7th, 2007 by Jane Marie

Try as I might to avoid Coupledoom, at times I find myself suffering from the nasty side effects of a long-term relationship. These include—but are not limited to—large, unsightly butt imprints in my couch cushions, overdoses of Chinese take-out and a hefty cable bill from renting too many movies On Demand. Not one to be held down, I often make it my mission to ensure that being one half of a pair doesn’t leave my favorite sex-kitten stilettos lying in my closet collecting dust.

When I recently set out to plan a date night for my other half and me, I wanted to find the perfect middleground between nights spent on the couch watching bad TV and nights that end with me stumbling past the doorman at 4 a.m. with a bag of McDonalds in hand. After polling my crew of NYC foodies and scouring the Internet, I decided that dinner would be at the new East Village eatery Degustation. Next to buying my first pair of Choos, this was perhaps the best decision I have made in my entire adult life.

Degustation is tiny. It seats only 19 patrons at a time around an open kitchen where Chef Wesley Genovart and his crew of three to four sous chefs work their magic. Reservations are a must, and I recommend arriving a little early. However, even if you are forced to wait a while, it is worth it—and, odds are, the owner will hook you up with a glass or two of one of the spot’s spectacular wines.

Once you take your seat, the server (yep, Degustation only has one) greets you. In what should be chaos, she manages to maintain an air of complete and utter relaxation, expertly guiding diners through each dish, its particular nuances and an uncannily perfect personalized wine selection. Each and every selection on Degustation’s tasting menu is like a small piece of performance art borne of Genovart’s serene touch. The small servings dance a lively waltz upon entering the mouth. My faves: the potato croquetas and the absolutely divine lamb loin. By the time the ahort rib-stuffed squid hits the table, you will truly think you’ve died and gone to heaven. I, for one, have vowed to return again and again until I work my way through the entire menu. For those trying to save a few bones for drinks later in the evening, Degustation offers a ridiculously reasonable prix fixe of five courses plus dessert that runs $50 and easily satisfies two people.

More than two hours passed as we sat and enjoyed our meal. When it was time to leave, I felt as relaxed as if I had just had a hot stone massage. Yes, it’s that good. To continue this perfect night, we tipsily tippy-toed a few blocks over to Veniero’s Bakery for dessert. Veniero’s is famous for rich desserts, coffee cocktails and a late-night crowd. Those who arrive past 11 p.m. will likely encounter a long line, but it moves quickly. And, once you dig in to your first forkful of chocolate chip cheesecake, the rest of the world melts away.

Another 45 minutes and a few clanks from our Irish Coffees, my boyfriend and I left Veniero’s. I don’t know if it was the wine or the food that left us so giddy, but we practically skipped all the way home. Perhaps it was just the sheer joy that comes with one of those perfect NYC nights. Either way, somewhere shortly after midnight we floated off to dreamland listening to the sounds of the city, happy that we had neither spent another night indoors nor let an entire evening pass us by in a haze of loud music and vodka. Sometimes it just doesn’t get any better than good wine, a great meal and a slice of old fashioned New York Cheesecake.

Degustation
239 E 5th St
New York, NY 10003
Phone: (212) 979-1012

Venieros
342 E 11th St
New York, NY 10003
Phone: (212) 674-7070

Degustation Image taken by Noah Kalina from Eater.com

What's New?

Well, we have a lot to discuss don't we?! Let's start with the apartment. She Says and I successfully moved into our new place last Friday and it's coming along great! There are still some boxes around and lots of work is yet to be done, but it's coming along nicely and we're really loving our new home.

Hopefully this weekend we'll have time to hit up the Container Store and get some much needed organizational stuff....fun stuff!

Now for the update on oneTee. We've been pretty busy with the move obviously, so we haven't had time to do much, but we are proud to announce that we have a few designs up on our site. you can check out our main page here at CafePress.com/oneTee to see what we've done so far and of course to purchase your own oneTee shirt!

Let the girls know that you're not a nice Jewish Boy with this Naughty Jewish Boy t shirt design from oneTee. And if you see a girl wearing a Naughty Jewish Girl shirt, you know it's a perfect match.









Attract the boys you want with this Naughty Jewish Girl t shirt design from oneTee...because not every Jewish girl is a NICE Jewish Girl. With this tee you can tell the world just how naughty you are








The only people who talk about inner beauty are ugly people. Are you ugly? I didn't think so. Start to change the world's view of inner beauty with this Fuck Inner Beauty t shirt design by oneTee.
This shirt can be found at CafePress.com/fuckinnerbeauty







We hope you like our first three designs and we promise to have more soon!

2 more days until we move!

So, we're still scheduled to move on Friday, and we're probably not as prepared as we should be. We've done some packing here and there, but there's still plenty to do. Good thing She Says is taking off Thursday.

To add to the stressfulness (is that a word?) of moving, I hurt my knee last week and am walking around like a gimp. There are 90 year old women zipping by me on the street and it's very imasculating. I've had an xray and just went for an MRI yesterday, so hopefully there's nothing terribly wrong with me.

Point is, I'm streesed, She Says is stressed....moving is stressful! I'm going to feel better on Friday after we've moved our stuff in and after the cable guy is done installing our cable and internet. Although, even after we're moved in, there's still so much to do. We need airconditioners, a microwave, storage pieces....I'm just going to stop there because I'm stressing myself out even more.

Moving Company

Can someone recommend a moving company please? Thanks!

Glamourite.com

I mentioned last week that my wonderful girlfriend was writing for a website called PrettyBoring.com, and now her first post is up on another website called Glamourite.com. Make sure to check out the site and leave wonderful comments!

New Apartment Update

We went to check out the apartment last night because we just wanted to check it out again before signing the lease. I took some pictures that you can check out here. As you can see, the apartment's being renovated so we have no clue what it'll look like when they're done lol.

I went to the bank this morning to pick up bank checks to include with the signed lease...so...I guess it's really happening! Found out we need to pay the first month and one month security up front, not so bad. It's a lot of money, but it could have been worse. Our lease starts April 23, which means that we'll be overlapping 1 week and paying 2 rents for that one week. Doesn't sound bad until you look at the actual numbers....living in NYC is freaking expensive.

So, now the stressful part of packing, shopping, and all that other fun stuff begins....like finding an apartment wasn't stressful enough lol. Wish us luck!

One T Says...Check Out Pretty Boring.com

For those of you who aren't aware (which is probably most people), She Says (aka The Girlfriend) is back writing for a great website called PrettyBoring.com. Make sure to check out the site and leave comments on her articles. Go She Says!

One T Says...The Mango

Last weekend when we decided to ditch the broker and take things into our own hands, we saw a one bedroom in a nice building right around the block called The Mango. Well, we harrassed the leasing agent, got an application, and found out yesterday that our application was approved.

In case you're not fully understanding what this means....I think we found a place! I'm not going to be definitive until the lease is signed, and even then I probably won't believe it until we're moved in, but the application was approved and the lease is being sent to us. Congrats to us!

The application process was a little scary though. I talked to people who have bought houses and their mortgage application process wasn't this intense, and they're borrowing hundreds of thousands of dollars! We had to fill out some paperwork, include references, tax returns, letters of employment, a letter from our landlord, pay stubs, bank statements...it was just insane. For a whole day we didn't hear back from the leasing agent and we were convinced that she had stolen our identities and we'd never hear from her again. Obviously that didn't happen, but with the amount of info we had to send her, the thought definitely crossed our minds.

Now the process begins of packing, finding movers, buying new stuff, decorating, etc, and as stressful as that sounds, I'm pretty excited about doing all of it. At the least, the packing will make us finally go thru all of the shit we've accumulated and maybe we'll finally throw some shit out. We'll probably donate all those extra clothes that we always say we're going to donate but that are still sitting in the closet.

Wish us luck and we'll keep you updated along the way...if anyone is actually reading this.