Ooh! Barb re-posted her recipe for Pear and Cream Cheese Pie, one of my all-time favourite things to make. Check it out, and share the deliciousness with your friends and family at your next pie-friendly occasion!

Speaking of pie, Kristin Chenoweth (Olive on Pushing Daisies, as well as the original Galinda in Wicked) did a book signing at the Lincoln Triangle Barnes and Noble last night! You know I was there! Man, that woman is about seventy trillion times cuter in person.

It's amazing, the effect she had on the audience. People love her. People are enraptured by her. I've seen people fanboying and fangirling over actors, but this was something special. After her interview, she took questions from the audience, and every other person opened their question with an ejaculation of "I love you!" She's like a human joy-generator.

Hopefully, I'll be able to give some of that joy back! She mentioned in the interview that she despaired the lack of good Southern cooking in New York, so I gave her the address of Mara's Homemade, a fantastic Southern/Creole restaurant in the East Village. She seemed absolutely delighted! As a thank you, she signed my Pushing Daises DVD case, even though the Barnes and Noble folks wanted to limit signatures to her book only.

I lead a charmed life. :D

My world has been so full of exciting events lately. On Friday, Mike Cho and I saw Vienna Teng perform at Le Poisson Rouge, as part of her international tour. She's such a fantastic performer, and I rejoiced to hear her sing a number of my favourite songs, including as "Blue Caravan," "Antebellum," and "Stray Italian Greyhound."

Before she went on, though, a band called Paper Raincoat and a solo performer, Ben Sollee, played a few numbers. After Paper Raincoat played their first song, I happened to glance to my left and realize I was standing one person away from Vienna herself! Between songs, I said hello and re-introduced myself.

We'd met in February, when she did a gig benefiting the Caffe Vivaldi. We had a mutual friend in Jenn Jackson, Jim Butcher's agent, and the three of us spent quite a while chatting after her show. I gave her lessons in being evil and she gave me a hug. It was an awesome night. I'm amazed I never got around to blogging about it! Bad Cellie!

Anyway, she remembered me, and she greeted me with enthusiasm. We didn't have time to say much then, as the Paper Raincoat's next song started up, and I didn't want to be disrespectful, but we got to chat briefly after the show again, at which time she signed my Book, "Always great to see you! :)" Mike took some great photos here, including two of Vienna and me together.

But the fun doesn't stop there!

Sunday, Craig, Shecky, Sue, Sue's mother, and I went to the Bronx Zoo on Sunday! It was Easter, so we had much of the zoo to ourselves. I took oodles of photographs, though my shutter finger was tempered somewhat by the fact no store in or near the zoo sold film, and I had to be conservative with what I had. It's unbelievable how difficult it is to get film these days! I'm so grateful that my mom is lending/giving me her sexy digital camera, as she hasn't used it in ages. It's something like eight years old, but it was top of the line then, so it's still a fantastic camera by today's standards.

I think I got a handful of decent shots from our explorations, but I felt "off" photographically most of the day. Some recent feedback I received on my photos, raising a skeptical eyebrow at my attachment to my Lensbaby, struck a nerve. In reaction, I tried to take a mix of Lensbaby and traditional photos, but I ended up sabotaging myself, obsessively questioning every move I made instead of letting inspiration strike organically. I need to get over myself. Hopefully, I'll have the few good shots ready for posting in the next couple days!

Anyway, photography aside, it was fabulous to spend time with the crew. Craig is also a big Dresden fan and Shecky is a fellow beta, so we spent part of lunch squeeing over Turn Coat. Afterward, Craig invited me to his family's Easter dinner, a feast of Italian family proportions.

And that's all I have to say about that!

Labels: new york is awesome, vienna teng