life of sundays.

Other than the part where there was my office and weekend windowlessness, this past Sunday proved to be a most wonderful day: a morning walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, and then over to the New Amsterdam Market, where I met up with my friend Peter to try out the various wares.  Duck prosciutto!  Sullivan Street Bakery bread!  Crazy infused salts!  (In the photo second from the bottom, the salt second from the left was mixed with the famed ghost pepper — my word, what a way to start the day!)  Porchetta sandwiches were on hand, but I had my heart set on Luke’s Lobster, though I opted for the crab roll instead of the usual lobster roll.  Such a wonderful, bracing, buttery treat.

Afterwards, I wandered around downtown before heading up to the office (blerg).  About halfway through my time there, I had a hankering for more Sullivan Street bread, but discovered that they closed early on Sundays.  So down to Grandaisy Bakery it was; they used to be affiliated with the Sullivan Street folks, and have many of the same products, including the thing I was wanting most: the awesome, out of this world pizza, which is served at room temperature and, when it’s at its optimal crispiness, is hands down one of the best things the city has to offer.  Sadly, at the tail end of a Sunday afternoon, the pomodoro and mushroom slices I got were less than ideal, but no matter — they were still closer to perfection than nearly anything else I could’ve found at that hour.  Then it was off to Marshall Stack for vino with the lovely Ms. Kathryn.  See what I mean?  Almost perfect Sunday!

After about a month of shooting with my new Pentax, I thought it was time to bring out old NoName, my reliable, yet oft-maligned Nikon FE.  The expired Kodak Ektachrome 64 I’ve been using for the past couple of years has a funny tweak where in low light (or shade, as was the case at the market), everything shifts blue-violet. Not the best film to use when shooting food, but it was alright; my new Pentax, as lovely as it is, has a very sensitive Takumar lens, and I’ve found that focusing can be a bit tricky, not to mention a built-in light meter mechanism that I still haven’t got the hang of quite yet.  Having NoName in my hands was like coming home to your own bed after a month in a hotel: everything feels just right, so familiar and comfortable, just the way you left it, and just the way you always want it to be.