vip in the city

NYHRC Opal Anniversary Cruise

Mom and Dad’s 34th wedding anniversary! Traditionally, this would call for an “Opal” anniversary gift. Though upon review, this list compiled by librarians at the Chicago Public Library’s Information Center offers a pretty strange collection of presents: “Improved real estate” seems oddly specific for the 42nd anniversary; “Groceries,” pretty mundane for the 44th. But if you reach the milestone two years beyond that, the 46th earns an “Original poetry tribute.” By the 49th anniversary, the gifts can be “Luxuries, any kind.”

To celebrate this year, J, the Entertainer and I decided to take Mom and Dad for a lunchtime cruise aboard the New York Health & Racquet Club Yacht. After an initial morning rush, the family convened at the Skyport Marina on East 23rd with plenty of time to spare before the noon sailing aboard the newly renovated 75-foot vessel.

Once we embarked, C set us up at a table inside the air conditioned dining cabin, which became our base for the three-hour tour. (Insert Gilligan’s Island joke here.) As we hit the water, the summer sun grew strong overhead, but the East and Hudson rivers provided a refreshing breeze as we cruised at a decent clip. Lunch was a simple affair of grilled chicken wraps, quiches, fresh-cut fruit salad, bagels and lox, tortellini salad, grilled vegetables, muffins, yogurt and granola. But the views…!

The route was determined by the captain that afternoon: we sailed down the East Side, wrapping around the Southern tip of Manhattan, and several miles up the West Side to Trump Place. On the return, we took a slight detour to pay a brief visit to Lady Liberty.

Strawberry cake from our namesake Yeh’s. Happy anniversary, Mom and Dad… and many more!

ISX @ Slate Plus

I only recently discovered Tenzan, a casual sushi restaurant on Columbus Avenue, after dinner with CS one night shortly after she moved into the neighborhood. As local joints go, it’s been reliably tasty: the fish is always fresh and they excel in what chowhound Jim Leff affectionately calls “Stupid Pandering Americanized Sushi,” which is to say, “double dragon rolls, spicy tuna, lots of crispy and spicy thingamabobs.” Sometimes I crave the stuff, too – my apologies if that offends the sushi purists among you. Of late, I’ve been enjoying Tenzan’s “Spicy like roll” (don’t ask me what that means): an enticing combination of chopped shrimp, tobiko and crunchy bits. B accompanied me there before our night of liquor tastings; he opted for a couple of the more familiar rolls, and one creamy and curiously sweet peanut/avocado roll.

Off to The Independent Spirits Expo (ISX). This evening’s showcase featured the brand owners of three specialty liquors — Mãe de Ouro cachaça, Khukri Himalayan rum and Orange V Mandarin and Valencia orange-infused vodka.

Slate — which I learned today has been redubbed Slate PLUS (Electric Boogaloo?) — is a bi-level restaurant-lounge-billards hall. This spot has had a long storied history as a pool hall; back in the day, it was known as “Chelsea Billiards,” the famed 24-hour den, known for its clientele of millionaires and hustlers. Bronx Science alum Jeanette Lee, a.k.a. “The Black Widow,” is perhaps the most recognizable face in professional pool. She often recounts the story of how she fell in love with the game after walking into Chelsea Billiards one Spring afternoon in 1989. She entered her first professional event in January 1993 and within a year became one of the top-ten ranked players in the world. In 1994, she was number-one, earning the “Player of the Year” award. She has won countless professional awards since, including a gold medal for the United States at the 2001 Akita World Games, and even co-authored a book, “The Black Widow’s Guide to Killer Pool.”

Our favorite at the IXP was the Cachaça Fazenda Mãe de Ouro. “Cachaça Dave” Catania was there, promoting his authentic, small-batch pot-distilled cachaça by mixing up rounds and rounds of his delicious caipirinhas throughout the night. We were in fact, so enthusiastic in our praise and interest that Dave ended up giving us not one, not two, but FIVE imprinted wooden pestles — or muddlers — for making our own caipirinhas at home. That’s five each, ha!

Here’s his recipe for the perfect caipirinha:

• 1/2 Fresh Tahiti Lime
• 1-2 teaspoons superfine sugar
• 1.75 oz Cachaça Fazenda Mãe de Ouro

Cut the ends off the lime and slice the lime into 8 wedges, removing the white core. Add sugar over 4 lime slices in the bottom of a large, heavy-base rocks glass. Muddle the limes and sugar together with a wooden pestle, pressing more on the fruit than on the rind. Fill the glass with ice and add Cachaça Fazenda Mãe de Ouro. Shake or stir well. Enjoy!

Nine gallons of pure hand-cut sugarcane juice are used to create each hand-numbered bottle. Dave’s artisinal cachaça is served at restaurants around town… or pick up a bottle at select liquor stores, like Crush Wine & Spirits and Landmark Wine & Sake.

P.S. — it’s pronounced “ka-SHA-sa.”

Good times, good times.

Leigh Nash release party

After the weekly vegetable pick-up, I stopped in at Sucelt Coffee Shop for a mango batida. Traditionally, it seems these tropical fruit drinks are often spiked with cachaça, the potent sugarcane liquor from Brazil, but the ones served up at this decades-old hole-in-wall are served sin alcohol. Love their Cuban sandwiches, but it was a bit too early for dinner and this night, I had plans to attend the release party and showcase for Leigh Nash at the Housing Works Used Book Café.

Nash is best known as the lead singer of the now-defunct Sixpence None the Richer. Blue on Blue, her first solo album since the group disbanded in 2004, hits stores today, August 15.

Sixpence was one of the spate of crossover Christian rock groups that came to the fore in the late 1990s. (See: Creed and P.O.D.) The band’s name was a reference to a story in C. S. Lewis’ book, Mere Christianity. Their mainstream popularity was sealed with the mega-hit “Kiss Me,” which was featured on two episodes in Season 2 of Dawson’s Creek (even landing the lead-track position on the Songs From Dawson’s Creek soundtrack. Yes, I own it. So what?) Live sports fans, of course, mostly hear the tune nowadays when it’s played to entice spectators to kiss for the Jumbotron.

Years ago, I had seen Nash perform at Madison Square Garden when Sixpence opened for the Barenaked Ladies. Don’t remember much about their set list that night other than the aforementioned “Kiss Me” and a nice cover of The La’s “There She Goes” (which they later recorded and released as a single.) In the much humbler setting of the book café, Nash seemed sweet and at first, tentative… shyly introducing the acoustic set inspired by her achingly earnest musings on love and motherhood. (Nash has a toddler son, Henry, who was born just as she and longtime Sixpence collaborator Matt Slocum parted ways.) That angelic voice – instantly recognizable – was in fine form, though to my ears, the tunes didn’t venture so very far from the Sixpence formula. Nash quickly warmed to the audience, making self-deprecating jokes, and seeming genuinely grateful for the second-act opportunity, though this time without the backing of a major label.

The evening was awash in blue: from the glowing blue Hpnotiq drinks (garnished with branded glowsticks) to the goody bags containing the Blue on Blue album, a blue fizzy bath bomb and a bottle of pale-blue Essie nail polish.

Through September 1, would-be remixers can download the stem tracks from the first single “My Idea of Heaven” to “re-create, re-edit, re-configure and remix” at will.