Lately I’ve been thinking about a place to go, for the weekend, a long weekend. Tickets to London are cheap now, though it is wise to acknowledge that London is a lot like New York, except colder, bigger, and even more expensive. But I have friends in London and I never see them, and we have a hell of a time putting the pints away before everything closes at 11PM. There’s always LA which is warm and cozy and parental, but let’s face it – the whole place is on fire at the moment. And folks, nothing is worse than Los Angeles during a heavy news day. What I mean is that the newscasters have enough trouble reading the weather off a teleprompter, what with the botox seeping down from their eyelids, and the collagen dripping down their teeth. What I mean is, it’s painful to watch people in LA speak extemporaneously on serious events. Even people that aren’t on television. You thought it was bad in New York. You thought it was bad in your podunk suburb of St Louis. LA is the worst. If there’s a cliché to be pronounced wrong and then pounded over and over forehead first into the pavement, it’ll happen on KCAL. Better yet, if there’s a cliché to be mispronounced and used incorrectly with this indescribably aggravating tone of wonder, the dude at the coffee shop’s got your number.
Besides for that, I don’t have too many friends elsewheres to visit for a weekend away. It’s a bit of a bummer. I remember at some time in my life having friends all over the place, from high school from college, from camp that one summer between 6th and 7th grade. But it seems like the ones I’ve got are the ones here now. We’re either close cause we hang out often, or it’s fizzled. Makes it easy on the MCI bills, bummer on the weekends away.
I am, for sure, going in December to Peru to hike the Inca trail to Machu Picchu. And then maybe drink the tea of the vine of the dead. Or maybe not, we’ll see how I’m adjusting to the altitude. Either way it’s a guaranteed adventure. More on that to come.
In the mean time I’m stir crazy. I need something new soon. New scenery, new love, new career. I’m open to all options.
I’ve been spending too much time writing at my newspaper job to spend anytime writing on Nil by Mouth. That’s all there is to it. And it’s not even that I’m there everyday. That might be part of the problem – I wish I had more time there. It’s an unpaid two day a week internship. The other 5 days are mostly devoted to making websites that pay my bills, and then recovering from that worn out feeling that accompanies it. And sadly, the blog has suffered.
I’m only here now because I am, and have been for several hours, procrastinating writing an article on kosherfest and kosher dining in Manhattan. I think I’ve basically decided (though it’s far too early in my career for such a sweeping statement but fuck it) that I don’t like writing about food, restaurant food specifically. It’s boring, and every restaurant says the exact same thing.
“We use the freshest/best/highest quality ingredients”
“Our staff is the friendliest ever”
Yawn.
Doesn’t matter what the angle is, what the story is about. Every restaurant is the same, or at least each one presents themselves the same way. And maybe I’m being lazy because I’m not digging deeper. But I worked restaurants for several years, and I just don’t want to grill or fast talk or out maneuver some overworked manager, or peevish owner who’s one case of wine away from bankruptcy. Cause really, unless it’s ESPN Sportszone restaurant or a Subway franchise, they all are. Unrelated sidenote: is it just me that has been noticing the alarming rate at which Subway Sandwich stores are invading New York City? It’s like every storefront that once housed a specialty ink store turns into a yellow and brown BMT factory. [Now this could be an actual restaurant story. Note to self: investigate further]
So here I am, got a bunch of notes from interviews with 2 Rabbis, 2 restaurants, and a butcher, and I can’t seem to make it at all interesting to myself. Supposedly more and more people are eating kosher food or ingredients out of a perception that it’s cleaner or healthier or something. But besides for the marketers, I can’t find anyone who admits to this practice. Anyone? Either people who think this are too ashamed to admit it (because it’s basically a completely unfounded assumption) or b, it’s a marketing strategy thought up by a bunch of shrewd Rabbis with MBAs and several extra pounds of pareve poultry.
New Angeles Monthly, June 2008
Weekend America, March 30, 2008
Los Angeles Times, March 13, 2008
Los Angeles Times, March 6, 2008
Nil by Mouth is written by Neille Ilel. Neille is a writer, reporter and user interface specialist in Los Angeles. If you think that's a lot, she's also got a host of meandering sidelines including improv comedy, tennis, cooking, drawing and thinking about learning to play the guitar.
Nil is her given name. It's a long story.
E-mail her here:
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