Bagelsaurus: for the serious bagelvore

Onion bagel with scallion cream cheese.

Onion bagel with scallion cream cheese.

Everyone I know who has been to Bagelsaurus loves it. And for good reason. The bagels, when toasted, have a nice crisp outside you’ll crunch through to a dense, chewy interior; the texture is fantastic as is the taste. Dang, it’s so wonderful. I’ve been there 3 times this week, and I tend not to repeat patronize food spots within a week, typically (to get variety).

If you like bagels and have no picky food preferences or dietary restrictions, you really can’t go wrong with anything on the menu, but there are just a few things I’d suggest:

  1. Don’t go there on a first date, or more specifically, don’t go there on a first date and order a bagel with cream cheese; awkward attempts at biting followed by the distracting, unbecoming oozing out of massively slathered cream cheese may ensue as you try to sever a morsel from the kind of carb-dairy-carb layered delectable shown below. Regardless of whether you’re on a date or not, you might want to have some napkins handy (or maybe I just haven’t figured out the trick to eating these things more gracefully).
  2. If you order a bagel with cream cheese, eat it there or soon after getting it to go; it’s just not nearly as good once it starts losing that crisp and warmth it got from the toasting.
  3. The times I’ve tried the pretzel bagel, it’s been seriously salty. Maybe that works for you, but just know what you’re getting into.

Continue reading

Sumo Orange = Tangerine + Navel Orange, 30 years in the making

IMG_5367
When these oranges showed up at Whole Foods, they looked so interesting that I had to give them a shot, and wow, you can really experience the tangerine and navel orange pedigree when you eat them. The segments are large, juicy and tasty. Nice. The texture of the peel may look weird, but the bumpy feel works for me.

Finding out and trying out this new citrus fruit reminded me of the Fresh Air discussion of fruit breeding with Russ Parsons, but in the case of the Sumo, I really can’t tell what compromises have been made, if any.

Oh, dang: Invisibilia episode 5

bird_diagram_final_wide-f57ad53cb648cd6a830907907811e189be432798-s1400-c85Wow. From kittens & puppies to categories to gender to culture to death. Invisibilia is once again quite a journey, interweaving personal perspectives with scientific research through compelling storytelling. This show still totally tops my charts and lists.

But my heart breaks just a little bit when I hear Lulu or Alix upspeak unnecessarily (Alix never seemed to do that in her news reporting!). Fortunately, there isn’t much of that in this episode.

Dang, I love you, NPR. TED Radio Hour, Invisibilia, Fresh Air, All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Radio Lab… you’re just nailing it.

Brené Brown, Karen Russell, David Linden: best podcasts episodes of my weekend

If you like an informative, insightful podcast episode every now and then, try the three below; they each enthralled me this snowy weekend. (In case you’re wondering why Invisibilia isn’t mentioned, I’m saving the latest episode for an evening of sheer exhaustion.)

Fingertips To Hair Follicles: Why ‘Touch’ Triggers Pleasure And PainFresh Air discusses various facets of the sense of touch with neuroscience researcher David Linden.

The Courage to Be Vulnerable—shame & vulnerability researcher expert guru Brené Brown converses thought-provokingly with On Being‘s Krista Tippet.  

Karen Russell On Balancing Writing, Technology, and Boredom—host of his eponymous show Leonard Lopate and author Karen Russell talk about technology, writing and boredom.

A Fun Week Wraps Up Constructively: The Conclusion of Bored and Brilliant

6. Dream House: tasked to build an ideal abode with the contents of my wallet as the last Bored and Brilliant Challenge (this one coming from artist Nina Katchadourian), here’s what I came up with: Verdant Hills, Lakeshore Solarium (situated somewhere in Western Massachusetts or Oregon, maybe Northern California or Shikoku if it came to that…)
IMG_5326a
As you can see, I don’t keep much in my wallet, keeping it slimmed down and comfortably pocketable. No receipts, no rewards cards, no coins—I deplore metallic currency; as soon as I’ve accumulated enough change to meet the $5 minimum for getting a no-fee gift card from Coinstar, I’m at one of their machines, dumping those coins.

BoredBrillant_NTC_SquareWhat a fun week! Thanks, New Tech City! Loved all the insights from research and wonderful interviews you shared with us, along with all the great prompts to tame some of our tech behaviors! I wish this were a month of challenges, but maybe now it’s time to continue building the challenges into habits. Looking forward to upcoming episodes and hearing about how other listeners experienced Bored and Brilliant…

Eagerly Awaiting: Bored and Brilliant’s finale is tomorrow

16216863478_bf12a7db47_mIt’s been a fun week of Bored and Brilliant challenges from WNYC’s New Tech City. I’m psyched to see how this all wraps up with the final challenge tomorrow.

Here’s a rundown of how the week has gone for me…

  1. In Your Pocket: the challenge of keeping my phone in my pocket/bag while in transit was made way easy by being snowed in; I don’t use my phone as much when I’m at home, opting for a computer as my portal for all things Internet (66 minutes on my iPhone; about half of that was streaming video in the evening).
  2. Photo Free Day: I didn’t take any photos… but I did record some video; the snowy woods were just too scenic during my late afternoon walk. (77 minutes)
  3. Delete That App: Tasked to delete my most time-sinking app, I was stumped;  Continue reading

Almost Time to Get “Bored and Brilliant”

f421b219-bc04-4c29-a5e3-c31ecd675658
After listening to the latest Studio 360 Science and Creativity podcast featuring Manoush Zomorodi talking about smartphone addictions, boredom, creativity and the default mode network, I am psyched to take part in WNYC’s Bored and Brilliant project! The plan: for the next week, resist/avoid smartphone tendencies, get bored, work on creative daily challenges.

If that sounds like fun to you, jump on in. At least listen to the Science and Creativity or New Tech City podcast on this the topic of boredom/daydreaming and creativity; great stuff there.