Ed Weeks from the Mindy Project - Update

UPDATE ON MR. WEEKS:

 I found some interesting information in my investigations.  If anyone else has any info or believes that my information is incorrect, let me know.  I have only found one source that states Mr. Weeks' birthday: December 31.  This date would make him a Capricorn.  Now, while most January Capricorns (like my mother) are very serious and career driven, Mr. Weeks' also is blessed with being a December Capricorn which would make him a lot more fun than his January counterparts.  His mother is from El Salvador.  From what I gather, his father is English and that is the passport that Mr. Weeks carries.

I also discovered through a video interview I found that he spent most of childhood years, starting at 7, in boarding school.  This fact makes Mr. Weeks an even more intriguing subject.  How does this type of upbringing affect one?  Still investigating.  Stay tuned.

(P.S. - My friend who thought the Mindy Project wasn't manly enough to watch, finally relented enough to go to the site.  He saw Chris Messina and admitted that he does look like him!  You see, that wasn't so bad, was it?  Maybe he'll finally watch the show in summer reruns. :-) )

RED EGG IS GOOD LUCK!

RED EGG RESTAURANT IS GOOD LUCK!  One of the managers told me that the name for the Red Egg is based on a Chinese tradition.  When a baby is born, people eat an egg that has been dyed red on the outside for good luck.

Well, this restaurant has been good luck for me in terms of delicious food!

It's dim sum is the highlight.  It does have other traditional Chinese food, like shrimp, chicken, vegetable dishes that are fried or steamed.  They have  a good selection of soups and a full bar.  But the menu that I am most interested in is the dim sum.  I love shrimp and so I am always ordering something with shrimp in it.  My favorite dumplings are the Red Egg shrimp dumplings and the seafood shu mai which has shrimp and scallops.  They come in steam baskets and are fresh and hot!  I use three sauces to dunk them in:  sweet soy sauce, plum sauce, and hot chili sauce.  They are steamy and scrumptious.  My mouth waters thinking about the delights that are going to visit me.  I also order a side of white rice to make the meal heartier.

The other day, I decided to order something different:  the jumbo shrimp with honey walnuts (see picture).  It's a jumbo shrimp dish served with broccoli and candied honey walnuts.  They serve it with a mayonnaise base sauce on the side.  I use my trio of sauces with this dish which you also have to add rice to if you wish.  The shrimp are fried and tenderly crispy.  The candied walnuts add a deep, sweet complexity to the dish.  I love fresh steamed broccoli and the sweet/citrusy mayonnaise based sauce added a touch of decadence.

What's even better about this place is that between 10am -12pm and 4-7pm there are specials.  I go after 4pm and get the dim sum special.  You get 1/2 off the dim sum and drinks.  So, I can mix and match and experiment to try all the tastes I am curious about.  For example, yesterday, my friend let me try her  vegetable dumplings (which I may have not tried right away since I like meat).  They were delicious and fragant! 

I like the Lychee Sake-tini which is in a martini glass and has lychee flavored sake.  There is another drink called the Wakawaka which has jasmine flavored courvoisier.  Intriguing!  There were many interesting cocktails, beers, and wines.  There is something here for everyone.

 It's on 202 Centre Street in Chinatown+.  The closest station is Canal Street on the 6 line.  You could also take the D and walk over or take the D to Broadway/Lafayette and transfer to the 6 line.

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Mindy Project Finale - So Bizarre!!!

You guys really love these posts.  So, here’s a review of the season finale+…….

Last night’s Mindy Project was truly bizarre!!!  (Spoiler Alert:  If you haven’t seen the season finale – I am going to discuss the twists and turns of the evening).

First of all, Dr. Reed invited Mindy and Danny in to help him deliver triplets that were soon to come.  Handsome Dr. Reed wasn't in the show much after that except at a party.  Mindy spontaneously agrees to go with Casey to Haiti and then after a camping trip with him and Danny and his wife, decides that it would be a mistake.  But that’s not the end. 

In a surprise twist, after talking to the mother of the now delivered triplets who said, “Sometimes you just say ‘Yes!’ ” or something like that, Mindy literally runs to Casey’s house and says she’ll go.  To show him how serious she is, she reveals to him and the audience that she has cut all of her hair into a very short style.  You have to see the episode to understand why that’s an even more significant gesture.

Then, if that wasn’t enough, Mindy and her short hair are intimately relaxing with Danny in the break room and it looks as thought they are about to kiss (even though Danny was trying to patch things up with his wife), but Mindy says that she is back with Casey and is going with him to Haiti.  Danny looks a bit forlorn.  Was he attracted to her or feeling confused about his wife, as he alluded to before he tried to kiss Mindy?  We won’t know until next season because the show has been renewed.

The show packed a whole lot into its little time slot.  I like how they brought the midwives into the going away party for Mindy and Casey.  I don’t exactly know why they would have been invited, but they are funny and entertaining. I wonder why they want to make all these love triangles:  Mindy, Casey, and Danny  vs. Mindy, Danny, and Danny’s wife.  I don’t know if it’s a good idea to have central characters date seriously on a show.  It kind of takes away the tension.  It has to be written just right.  Let’s see if they can do it.

I think they will only allow Mindy+ to stay in Haiti for part of the time and we will have the show returning after the time she spent with Casey.  I really like them as a couple and the fact that a woman of color is the central “love interest”.  Since it seems that every man in the world wants to date her,  it’s a wonder she would want to settle down at all because it would be so hard to make a choice.  I also wonder if it’s realistic for her to take a break from a practice that is still growing and rebuilding from the retirement of the last doctor.  My sister is a doctor and is definitely driven by her work.  I couldn’t see her running off to another country when her practice was still so new.  But this is television, right?  See ya next season, Mindy and Crew!

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Last Night's Mindy Project - What?! and Yup! and Aux Epices!!!

You guys really loved my last "Mindy Project" post.  I got so many hits!  So, here is another post about last night's episode.  I am still waiting for the response from Ed Week's PR people about an interview.  His agent ok'ed my request to go to the PR people, so I need them to tell me if it's a "GO".

Last night's Mindy Project was really bizarre!  Mindy was upset that her preacher boyfriend was leaving to help out in Haiti.  She didn't feel she could put her life on hold.  So, she was persuaded by a medical student that she was mentoring to go to a frat party.  Obviously, Mindy is way too old for that.  Inexplicably, her co-doctors, Jeremy and Danny, drag Morgan to this same dumb party in order to try to win him back from the midwives.  Hijinks ensue!  Mindy's boyfriend gets beaten up, Mindy rails against stripper poles, and Morgan comes back to work with Mindy's crew.

It was a funny and unexpected episode.  Although you know, nothing that has a frat party will end up well or normal.

What I like the most about the episode was that it was a wake-up call to those of us that are Mindy's age or older:  Don't pine for youth.  Remember it fondly, including how many dumb things you did!  As I said before, Mindy (nor any of her associates) should have ever gone to that party where too many, too young people are too drunk.  I don't ever wish to be that young in my mind again.  I have learned so much about life that I cherish so deeply, but it comes with the wisdom of the years.  I'm not sure if Ms. Kaling was trying to teach this lesson, but it works for me.  Of course remember, there's nothing wrong with being young at heart, which deals with being positive and proactive about life! :-)

Now, what did I have for dinner?  I had Malaysian food from a restaurant called Aux Epices on Baxter Street in Chinatown, New York City.  I had an appetizer of fish dumplings with seaweed.  It was unique and tasty.  The fish didn't overpower the dumplings, which I liked.  The main part of the meal was called Shitake Mushroom with Chicken.  There were udon noodles and plentiful morsels of shitake and chicken.  There were strips of carrots and greens.  It wasn't a full-on noodle soup.  It was laid in a savory, brown (beefy?) broth to which I added spicy pepper sauce and a sweet, soy type sauce that is usually used for the dumplings.  I am a sauce queen so I love the sweet and savory dynamic.  I really loved it, but I wanted more!!!!!

Ricky Martin and Scotch Eggs

Ricky+ Martin+ was in Evita+ last summer!  I love Ricky Martin and I was on a special he did for VH1+ a few years back.  The producer of the show saw me out in New York City and asked if I wanted to be on the show as a featured person.  I agreed, especially since my friend who was with me was totally in love with him.  So, we went and we were on camera.  I had to ask him a thought provoking question on the intimate set which was made to look like a cafe.  We received free CD's and we spoke with him after the show.  I gave him my #1 CD (it was the #1 downloaded CD in the biggest downloadable market at the time.)  He sweetly said, "Thank you!"  Now years later, I waited after Evita to speak with him. The handlers told him about me and he came to me first.  I reminded him of how we met and he gave me a kiss.  He was kind and humble acting as usual.  He's a nice guy.

In any case, there was a restaurant around the corner that had something I had always been interested in tasting:  Scotch+ Eggs+.  They are eggs that have been wrapped in sausage and then some sort of bread crumb crust, then deep fried.  I had to try them.  I went to a restaurant+ called St. Andrews.  You have to ask around to find Scotch eggs.  There were some restaurants cited as having them, but when I called they didn't. 

One of the restaurants they steered me to was St. Andrews+.  I went into the establishment.  It was very unassuming.  The clientele was a mix of artsy and business types.  I sat in the back, just to observe.  I told the waitress what I was looking for.  I asked her if the eggs were filling.  She said it was a nice portion.  When it came, the eggs were sliced open on a bed of salad.  I was going to order something else, but after seeing the eggs, I figured it would be enough for a late night snack.  I bit into them.  The outside was crunchy, as expected.  It had a hint of the sausage, but the egg taste was stronger.  It was an interesting take on breakfast, even though for me, it was a snack.  I enjoyed it on top of the salad.  It was a perfect filler for a nightly craving.  St. Andrews Restaurant is found on 140 W. 46th Street.  Their phone number is 212-840-8413.




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Alec Baldwin's Okay!

I know Alec+ Baldwin+  is a polarizing figure in the press.  The papparazzi try to make him seem like an angry guy, but I have seen another side.  That side is in some way responsible for me making it to New York.

When I first started college, I was a upset because I was accepted to New York University+, but my parents wouldn't let me go.  They wanted me to go to another strong school which gave me a healthy academic scholarship.  I really wanted to go to New York to pursue my more creative and business interests. 

One day on winter break, I was in New York with two of my friends from Virginia.  We ran into a vaguely familiar and very handsome man.  We asked him if he was an actor and then tried to guess his name with various twists on Alec.  Finally, he just gave it to us and we all laughed.  He was the first celebrity I had ever seen in New York.  He began talking to us.  We asked what he was doing and he showed us a new script that he had been rehearsing.  He asked us where we were from and we told him Virginia.  He immediately told us that he went to school near where we were from in Washington, D.C. at George Washington University and studied political science.  My friend told him that she went to Howard University.  We started talking some more and I told him about my dilemma.  I told him that I wanted to come to New York and pursue that arts, but that my parents didn't approve, even though my mother loved shopping in New York during my father's business trips.  He told me right away that I needed to get my training in New York and then go to California for work.  He shared some other tips and then we left the train.  He was really sweet and helpful.

When I got home to Virginia, I told my mom what Alec had said.  She didn't seem to care until a commercial popped up on television for a film that he was in.  I told her that he was the actor we met.  Then it seemed a lightbulb went off in her head and a few weeks later she said she had planned a trip for us to visit New York and check it out, including new universities.  Fortunately, everything worked out and they allowed me to transfer to the New York school during the next semester.

I lived on the upper west side and happily, so did Alec.  One day, after the success of a big movie he starred in, I ran into him near Zabar's (gourmet store on the upper west side of New York).  I thanked him profusely.  I am sure he didn't remember, but he was gracious and gave me even more advice.  I ran into him a few times after that when we both still lived on the upper west side.  He was always nice and patient.  So, this is the Alec Baldwin I have met and this is the image I will always have.  Thanks, Alec!


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