Snapshots from a Birthday Month [Part II]
Bookstores, bakeries, and 16th Century paintings—Oh My!
A while back, my Mom bought me this beautiful Tartine cookbook.1 I’ve looked through it numerous times. The recipes are not complicated per se, but nearly every single one is a bit of a project. Or a big project. Or requires special flour like dark rye flour or einkorn flour. (I mean, if someone wanted to send me special flours, I wouldn’t say ‘no.’)
Shortly after she gave me the cookbook, I told her that I’d like to make something out of it as some point but would need to plan ahead. She told me that, honestly, she bought the cookbook because of the gorgeous pictures. She’s not wrong; the pictures are incredible.
In the midst of my nearly nonstop rewatch of Great British Baking Show, there was one thing that kept coming up but sounded like something that was likely to be in this cookbook. I took a look, and sure enough, there it was.
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Soho is a strange place. Sure, most neighborhoods in New York feel entirely different from one another but Soho feels like a different planet to me. It has a high concentration of luxury stores and an excess of classic New York looking buildings, backdrops, and stoops.
Walking through Soho on the way to meet a friend for another one of my birthday activities, I walked by no less than three people having photoshoots. Models? Influencers? Whoever they were, they were always standing in the middle of the street.
*
A little influx of birthday-related money is appreciated and, well, needed. I budget and rebudget it numerous times. I have a plan to replace some things, to replenish some things, to include a little joy. It’s my money. Also, I’m an adult. I get to choose where the funds go. And yet, I wait a long time to buy anything. I keep thinking, “What about in three months when the uncertainty might be screaming in my face again. What about then?”
*
I go to two different grocery stores looking for slivered almonds. No trace. I buy regular almonds and just tell myself I’ll blitz them extra hard.
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When the idea comes to me, it seems perfect. It’s exactly the kind of birthday activity that will fill me with joy. A bookstore and bakery crawl. Does anything sound better? Not to me! And I know exactly the person to invite.
Then, I have to make a plan. Find the areas with clusters of bookstores within a walkable distance from each other. Plot the bakeries around them. Hope for nice weather.
And thus, we begin in Soho.
*
Another birthday activity that will make me incredibly happy? A visit to another museum, The Met, with another friend. We get it on the calendar for late in the month. Every time I look at that date on my calendar, I’m filled with comfortable excitement—excitement for an activity that you are confident will be good.
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It’s a frangipane tart. That’s the recipe. I decide it’s going to be a cherry frangipane tart. I spend nearly $10 on frozen cherries.
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The weather is good for bookstores and bakeries but also, a little confusing. Our spring time weather keeps swinging wildly and is often accompanied by strong winds that make it feel a full 5° colder than it is.
We’re the two extremes: a heavy winter coat for one and a relatively thin sweatshirt for the other. We’ll both be sweating no matter what.
*
Apparently, cosmically, March was supposed to be a tough month. But, I have a much better time than I did in February so I thank the stars for giving me a reprieve.
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When the tart overflows in the oven, I’m really glad I put a baking sheet underneath it.
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Remember when we used to say, “an abundance of caution” all the time? It wasn’t that long ago, actually. Beginning just about five years ago. On my birthday.
It’s the phrase that runs through my head when I realize the COVID tests I have are way past their expiration date. Even past the extended expiration dates.
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Browsing activities seem to be the things I love the most. There’s nothing that lifts my heart more than wandering around with another person, maybe a few other people, browsing and chatting about anything and everything. We don’t even have to look at whatever we’re browsing although whatever it is is usually a nice backdrop for connection. That’s undeniable. But it’s not the things or the places or the schedule.
It’s walking through stacks of books. It’s sitting on stoops. It’s walking through galleries of European paintings from the 1600s. It’s lounging on a bench, surrounded by tourists and teens who insist on taking pictures of art instead of just looking at it.
It’s the company, of course.
*
The frangipane tart comes out okay, which I was worried about when half of it was cooking on the baking sheet beneath the tart tin. And it tastes pretty good. It’s the first time, I believe, I’ve had frangipane tart so I’m not sure what it’s supposed to be like. Which means, obviously, I did it perfectly.
Now, it’s just me and a whole tart.
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Bookstores and bakeries makes me a little mad. …mad that I don’t live closer to the bakeries we stop into. I have an incredible kouign-amann at the bakery we start at, maman. It’s big and caramelized and full of flaky layers of pastry. It lasts me two days. If I lived closer to one, I’d probably be there at least once a week. A few times a week. Every day of a week.
It’s probably good I don’t live closer to any of these bakeries.
*
Soho. maman. Housing Works. McNally Jackson. Dominque Ansel. West Village. Three Lives & Company. Union Square. The Strand. Flatiron. Michaels. Astoria. Jack Jones. Martha’s Country Bakery.
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Don’t worry. I picked up non-expired tests. All was well. An abundance of caution, remember?
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The Met day was also a confusing weather day. Nearly 80° with a chance of rain. How do you dress for that? You take a chance I guess. I don’t remember what I wore but I do remember that if it had started raining I would have been woefully unprepared. I mean, what else is new?
It didn’t start raining. Or, I didn’t get caught in it, at least. The temperatures did plummet though. I got on the subway when it was still in the 70s and I got off the subway and it was 50°. A woman at Chipotle with a tiny dog tried to make conversation about it. I smiled and agreed and went back to waiting for my burrito and prayed that my ‘no rain’ luck would continue.
*
It’s a beautiful thing when you are out-and-about with someone who is ready to tap out pretty much exactly when you are.
Bookstores and bakeries was on a Saturday. By about 3p or so, there were a lot more people then when we started at 11a and I’d definitely hit my limit with being in public. When we sat in Union Square to regroup, we found we had both hit our limit.
It’s funny. It’s such a little thing. But when you have a moment like that, it reminds you exactly why you keep the people in your life that you do.
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Anna Karenina. The Cooking Gene. Poetry from Czeslaw Milosz.2 A new pen. A myriad of postcards. A sticker or two. A single granny square.
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Depending on who you are—probably—and where you’re from—probably, a place like The Met probably screams pretentious. And sure, depending on the day, I might agree with you. But someplace like The Met is also a great place to tell some pretentious stories. They fit right in with the background.
Also a great place to tell an untoward story or tidbit or one-liner. They fit right in with the background.
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I also love running errands with people.
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I still feel like I didn’t get enough done in the month of March. When I sat down to journal the other day, it was something that came up. There are areas of my life where I feel like I’m not doing enough to achieve the things I want to achieve, to get to the places I want to get to. It’s cliche, but I try to remind myself that every month, every day really, is a chance to recommit. I don’t always believe myself.
But that’s the thing, isn’t it. In a month filled with activities and community and plans for future things, it probably doesn’t matter that I didn’t get ‘enough’ done. I got enough done for my soul. (Cliche also.)
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I do spend my birthday money. Ultimately, I’m pleased with my purchases. Many of them are things I’ve been waiting to buy for a while, better quality things.
Not like the $300 linen quilt I bought a few years ago that was supposed to be good quality and started falling apart within two days of having it.
Current Samantha says these purchases were worth it. I suppose we can wait and see what future Samantha says.
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The Met’s gift shop is under renovation, apparently, so they had a smaller auxiliary one on the opposite side of the lobby. The postcard selection is small but nevertheless, I buy some. I can’t not. It would be a travesty. And a sticker. I also buy a sticker.
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When I’m not even halfway through the frangipane tart, I decide to freeze a good portion of it. I know I won’t make it through the whole thing myself. I’ll get bored or forget about it. So, freezing seems like the best option.
And now I can share it when a friend comes to call.
On the road to browse with a friend?
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