Blue Velvet Sectional

White Velvet Cutouts. The Champagne of sugar cookies. I can't even tell you how many batches of these cookies I have made.  I got the recipe from a Seventeen magazine when I was probably 13 years old.  I have been making them ever since.  They are great for so many reasons: they hold their shape when you bake them; they're a bit tart, thanks to the cream cheese; they're soft, but not too soft; the tangy glaze is a perfect counterpart to sweetness of the cookies.

Watching 60 Minutes was a Sunday night family ritual growing up- after dinner, we would settle in the living room to watch Mike Wallace rip some corrupt official a new one,  and I would dream up excuses for Monday morning for why my homework wasn't done.  Another family TV ritual is one I continue alone now, as I don't know a soul who is remotely interested in joining me to watch my not-so-secret shame,  40 year old  Columbo reruns. Come on, Peter Falk was adorable, right? All Columbo episodes end with exasperated killers confessing as the only way to make Peter Falk shut the hell up and stop pestering them.   Peter Falk was a fine actor, and adorable, in his way. His rumpled look actually holds up much better than than you'd think.  The 70s were a particularly cruel decade to men- hello, leisure suits and polyester! - and my GOD, the haircuts!  Columbo had great guest stars. One of my favourite episodes starred the crazy handsome and talented  John Cassavetes  as

Best. Drink. Ever.  Bar Hemingway, Paris (excuse the terrible phone photo.) I'm heading to New York the first weekend in August.  I've gone at the end of the month a few times, for the US Open, and to say goodbye to my beloved Shea Stadium, but this is the first time I have gone in the dead of summer with no specific event planned.  Well, except for seeing Neil Patrick Harris in Hedwig - can't wait for that.  I'm such a fatalist that I actually worry he'll fall off his platform shoes and hurt himself before I get there.  Keep it together for 4 more weeks, NPH!

Elaine:  "I will NEVER understand people." Jerry:  "They're the worst!" If, like me, you have ever had to utter the sentence " Excuse me, but could you not clip your toenails on the bus? ", you might understand my frustration with my fellow human beings.  A casual observer of this blog might go away thinking I'm an irredeemable misanthrope, but that's not (entirely) true. Yes, during the average day, I scold strangers for various offenses, but it's only because, well, let  George  explain. The thing is, though I sort of hate people, I love humanity, if that makes any sense.  By any criteria, we really are the worst- millennia of religious oppression, warfare, tribalism, sexism, and yet... look at all the good stuff! Some guys with crappier tools than you have in your garage built this. Respect.

The Tenement Museum, Orchard St, New York A few years ago, I moved into a brand new condo on a sweltering August 1st.  When I arrived with all my stuff, my landlord told me that the A/C wouldn't be ready for another month.  Surprise!  I lost my mind.  You would think I was being told I'd be without running water for a month.  I naturally started crying.  That night, I combed the city in search of cheap fans. I yelled at my landlord to knock some money off my rent.  It was a tiny condo with not too many opening windows, and that place was humid bordering on fetid for the month.  It was a nightmare.  Well, compared to my usual environment of perfectly comfortable.   In retrospect, I am aware that I did overreact.  Yes, I was sweatier than I cared to be for the hottest month of the year, but come on .  This was a prime example of what the nauseating but sort-of-right-on hashtag First World Problems describes. I visited the  Tenement Museum  in New York this winter- it was