Paul's Twin?

It seems that all I've done since Friday is watch the Olympics.

And since Michael Phelps is shown on TV approximately every seven seconds, it seems that all I've really done is look at Paul.

I first noticed the resemblance between Paul and the record-breaking swimmer four years ago during the Athens Olympics. A few photos of Phelps as a child were shown on TV a couple of nights ago, and they look even more like Paul.

I'm obviously not the only one who thinks they very possibly could be one and the same person.

Today Paul forwarded me an email from one of his former co-workers. It was originally sent to about a dozen people and included one line and a photo:

"Paul's been busy in China!"

The Bridges of Kings County

The Brooklyn Bridge is the queen of New York City bridges, and for good reason.

You can see one of the most beautiful sights in the entire city for a $2 subway fare-- ride the train across the nearby Manhattan Bridge at sunset and watch the reds, yellows and pinks reflect against the Brooklyn Bridge and the skyscrapers of lower Manhattan, with the Statue of Liberty gleaming in the distance.

But my second favorite bridge is closer to home: the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. It connects the Bay Ridge/Fort Hamilton neighborhoods (and Brooklyn in general) to Staten Island. The Shore Road Promenade is about a 15 minute walk from our apartment and runs along the bay and under the bridge.

Paul regularly uses the promenade to train for the marathon, and we'll often take a walk along the water together. We also have taken many of our guests there. You get a great view of the Verrazano in one direction and lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty in the other direction.

Needless to say, I've taken many a photo of the bridge. I've posted a few, but not all. Here's a collection of the best:

Shore Road Promenade, with the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in the background.

Underneath the bridge.

The bridge at sunset.

A little bit closer ...

And even closer.

Teeny Tiny Teany

On Saturday we had planned to continue our international culinary adventure around New York, but nothing sounded quite right.

We flirted with Argentina or Brazil but couldn't find a recommendation we could agree on. I looked into a few Belgian restaurants but decided to go for brunch some day when I could get a waffle.

In the end, we decided to try Teany. It's not ethnic, but it was an adventure all the same.

We first heard of the restaurant at Little Cupcake. Paul sometimes gets the Teany-brand bottled tea, and it's really yummy. The back of the bottle said the Teany cafe was co-owned by the singer Moby and located in the Lower East Side. We were intrigued.

The cafe not only has 98 kinds of loose-leaf tea, but also vegetarian food and vegan desserts. I even said goodbye to my normal glass of water for the night in favor of the Red Cooler - a blend of raspberry and mint teas and cranberry juice. Tasty.

For my meal, I choose the turkey club (with vegetarian turkey and bacon). It's not many places you can get a sandwich on pumpernickel bread.

The cafe earns its name in another way, too. It really is teeny tiny. The place holds about 20 patrons, tops, and that would be crowded. The "kitchen" was just a corner of the room and was probably smaller than the one in our apartment.

It's probably not the type of place I would eat every week-- or even every month-- but it was fun for a change. It also gave us a chance to walk around the neighborhood a bit. I'd been there once by myself, when Paul was in Columbus in April and I made a run for cupcakes. But it was dark then, and on Saturday we could actually look around.

The Lower East Side is the hip place to live in the city nowadays. It used to be quite sketchy, but now all the 20-somethings are moving in, along with nice restaurants and stores. If I had to compare it to a Columbus neighborhood, I would say it's closest to Clintonville with a dash of the Short North.

And yes, I forgot to take pictures yet again.