F: Is for Food Fetishes!

Last night I was invited to dinner by PR guru Desta, who wanted to introduce me to his newest client. 24 Prince Street is nestled between Mott & Elizabeth in NoLita and oozes comfort from the moment you open the door. Managed by Brad Grossman, Chris Heller and one of the next contestants on Top Chef Chicago Chef Nikki Cascone. I was so excited to experience this night as I am a big fan of Top Chef and have always wanted to taste some of the signature dishes I watched with mouth watering envy and here was my chance before the show even aired. Seating 52 in the main dining room, a private back room and a backyard area this is a well designed space, with distressed leather couches that made you want to relax and enjoy what was to come. I started with a signature cocktail of Mango puree, Malibu rum and fresh coconut and was delighted at the pleasantness of the textures. My business partner Tom joined us and had the Pinot Noir which I later switched too and highly recommend. On the menu were some of my favorite things, macaroni and cheese, meatloaf and creme brulee. Yum! We started with the Jumbo Lump Crab Fritters in a avocado & citrus, pomegranate $14, Grilled Flatbread with sausage, pecorino & pesto $11 and 24 Prince Mac & Cheese in a smoked gouda & pancetta sauce $ 7/14. All these dishes were generous and were beyond amazing. I can not say enough about the Mac and Cheese. I am now ruined for life. I seriously wanted to pick the bowl up and lick. Decadent with Orecchiette pasta which is perfect for holding the sauce which is done to perfection. I wanted to get on my cell and start calling all the people I wanted to turn onto this dish. I know I sound fanatical but you know that question if you could take three things to a desert island what would it be? Yeah, definately this. We moved onto a fresh salad with a white balsamic & mint vinaigrette. The salad was colorful and crisp and the dressing light and refreshing. Entree's were Meat loaf wrapped in puff pastry with barbeque sauce, mashed potatoes topped with kale and escarole $17 Pan Seared Salmon crusted with pumpkin seed, chili -tomato & herb salsa and Roasted Free-Range Chicken with a seasonal vegetable pot pie both $18. Again all portions were generous and all had their own original twist on a traditional item which made them unique. I had already glanced at the dessert menu so I knew to save room as I am a sugar addict. Unless a restaurant can wow me in this department I am never truly a fan. They did not disappoint. To our table came coconut creme brulee, crusted gingerbread with homemade cinnamon ice creme and zeppoi's with warm chocolate sauce and homemade vanilla ice creme. I live near Cafe Lalo and these desserts put it to shame. Everything melted in your mouth once it entered and left the most exquisite tastes. Though I was beyond stuffed I managed more bites than I should of because it was so delightful. Once Top Chef airs you will need a reservation to enter (212) 226-8624. If I have not enticed you enough check out the rest of the menu at www.24prince.com This is a restaurant you definitely should check out for lunch, brunch and dinner. You will not be disappointed.

Nikki, if you were not chosen as Top Chef you are in my book because all I can think about is ordering your Mac and Cheese and eating off a human dish, for that is the only way it can be improved upon and that is certainly a food fetish decadent F.A.C.T.

S: Is for Security Issues!

Two U.S. Border Patrol agents were sentenced to prison terms of 11 years and 12 years for shooting a drug smuggler in the buttocks as he fled across the U.S.-Mexico border. The Mexican Military is Invading our borders and our agents are being shot and imprisoned with no help from our Government simply for doing their jobs.

The combat in Iraq and Afghanistan continues as the government insists that these wars are necessary to “keep Americans safe”. Meanwhile, President Bush and Congress refuse to secure the borders. In 2005, President Bush went into a secret agreement with Mexico and Canada called the North American Union. He signed the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) without Congress or the Senates approval. The goal supposably is to open up the borders for trade and commerce which is how the European Union started! The President has yet again failed to mention that part of his plan was to allow the importation of illegal drugs and immigrants into the country via the use of the Mexican Army. An independent reporter as seen in the video below brings to light how the heavily armed Mexican military is illegally smuggling drugs & humans across the border, and leaving the Border Patrol agents powerless to stop it. What’s even more upsetting, is that although this issue has been brought to the attention of the Department of Homeland Security several times, they continue to remain silent and inactive. Securing the borders does not allow the progress of the NAU formation. This is their MO so that we become desensitized and conditioned to having foreign troops traipse across our soil. Why do we not fight against this when citizens are heavily scrutinzed and controlled by things like a forced Naitonal ID card, which begins in May of 2008, spying on citizens & wiretapping phones, gun confiscation and countless executive orders signed by Bush to enact marital law in a time of national emergency. Take a look at what has really happened since 911- NOTHING! What has been done to protect American's and our land? We are only being further controlled. Our Government is financing wars and is bankrupting our economy, and it certainly has no intention of “protecting our freedoms”. This video of the Mexican Army crossing over with drugs & humans is just further evidence of the real agenda.


How long before you wake up. These are F.A.C.T.S. that can not be denied

T: Is for Items that are HOT!

What do Paris Hilton, Snoop Dog, Carmen Diaz, Brad and Angelina all have in common? If you guessed an Uglydoll you'd be up on your pop culture. Contrary to popular opinion being ugly is not always a disadvantage, ugly sells. What one person considers ugly, another considers beautiful. Uglydolls are a bunch of quirky, colorful characters that have taken the US by storm, disappearing off shelves. Soft and huggable, they make great naptime companions. Part toy, part art collectible, Uglydolls are the buddies of choice for celebs and fashionistas. Über-chic stores such as Barney's of New York can't get enough of the little devils, and they're even being featured at MoMA, The Whitney and The Louvre. There are twenty-four lovable characters and each doll has his/her/its(?) own endearing traits, so you can choose an Uglydoll to suit your disposition. For example, Big Toe is very busy and Toodee is curious about everything. Yes, I know it sounds a little weird, but all the best crazes do! Let's be honest, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were hardly normal, were they?

The story of the Uglydolls started a couple of years ago. David Horovath was living in Los Angeles, and his girlfriend, Sun-Min Kim, had moved back to Korea. Writing long, pining letters, and at the end he would draw one of a number of cartoon characters he had made up -- a blocky, orange guy named Wage, with startled round eyes and an apron. At Christmas, Kim surprised him by sending back a plush-toy version of Wage. Wage has been bought by the thousands and about half the people buying Uglydolls are grown-ups who have no intention of passing their cute new companions, with names like Jeero and Babo, on to a child. We all need something to cuddle and this great new product that started out as a love story has it's happy ending in our arms.

While at the toy fair a new game was introduced by a world conscious company called Enlightened Play. EcoRanch is a board based on inner and social awareness. Volunteering to aid a ranch in herding a group of rescued animals to their temporary foster pens to await adoption, you make a decision to adopt an animal. But wait! There’s a mix-up and you must barter or trade with other players to get your animal. During play, you encounter choices that impact you, the other players, and the animals. This game is meant to build and strengthen relationships, while learning yourself, your friends and family, and the collective society we live in. Check out www.enlightenedplay.com to learn more.

Toys now can teach us to love ourselves, faults and all and move on. Maybe by excepting we can make a better world and that would be an encouraging F.A.C.T.

C: Is for Camp!

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A: Is for Art Aounding!

Mark your calenders! Starting March 27th until the 30th The Bridge Art Fair comes to New York. Located at 222 West 12th emerging and contemporary art internationally conjoins for the first time in New York City this spring at the Waterfront, concurrent with the Armory Show. The Waterfront building, popularly known as "The Tunnel," is a 23,000 sq. ft. converted railway tunnel once home to Peter Gatien's infamous Tunnel nightclub. Located smack in the middle of the Chelsea gallery district, the complex of buildings now houses some of New York's hottest young galleries and art entrepreneurs. The Tunnel space spans an entire NYC block over 700 feet in length, and its 20-ft. ceiling heights offer an open, spacious environment for an estimated 70 international exhibitors. Paintings, prints, photography, sculpture, installation, drawing, film, video, new media and conceptual art merge together. A spotlight on Asian art involves Manila, Taipei, Singapore, Shanghai, Tokyo, and the Pacific Rim. Asia offers art collectors never before seen contemporary work from the East. “Cool Stories for When the Planet Gets Hot,” a selection of video works by artists interpreting green themes, is organized by ARTPORT, an international arts exchange project based in New York and Valencia, Spain. The compilation of 11 short videos will screen on a continuous loop each day of the fair. Bridge Art Fair New York follows a very successful Bridge Art Miami, London, Berlin and Chicago. In a short period of time, Bridge has skyrocketed to become a major influence in the international contemporary art market, offering new finds for collectors and art professionals worldwide and now New York is a part of that scene. Maybe you can discover the next face of art here and that is a F.A.C.T.

F: Is for Food Openings Galore!

We are all looking to get healthy and to be successful on our diets, after all bathing suit season is coming soon. A welcome new addition to 18 West 45th St offers just that remedy. Chef Matthew Kenney whose restaurants Heirloom and Blue/Green Organic Juice Cafe is making a comeback at Free Foods NYC. This is organic's answer to fast food. Located in the heart of midtown, the space shelves are lined with organic sodas and wicker barrels are stocked with organic chocolates and chips. Even the containers are made of 100% sustainable, corn-based material. Try the spice-rubbed filet mignon. Juicy slivers of filet wrapped around a sweet caramelized potato and finished with a tangy caper parsley pesto. A daily seasonally rotating selection of dishes, include salmon with shitake mushrooms and pomegranate seeds as well as farro pasta with fiery chicken, pancetta and fennel pollen. Free Foods NYC also features a soup station with a tasty roasted red pepper soup as well as a large roster of paninis, including a BBQ pork panini. For dessert grab a chewy macadamia nut blondie spiked with maple sugar. www.freefoodsnyc.com

Oh Tom look what I found. Terroir is a 24-seat wine bar located at 413 E. 12th St., nr. First Ave. Marco Canora and Paul Grieco, partners at Hearth and Insieme revive some of the Italian snacks they concocted at Craftbar. Sausage stuffed with sage leaves and a signature panino of duck ham with mushrooms and taleggio, veal-ricotta meatballs and turkey wings agrodolce should have you salivating. As for the wine list I guess we will have to visit and taste.

For Cheep eats try the Burger Shoppe at 30 Water St, near Broad St. Comfort food here soars at recession prices. All you wall streeters can take solace in $4 burgers, hot dogs two for $5, and buttermilk batter onion rings. Done up like an old soda fountain, with twelve stools and a Formica counter the first floor is reminiscent of "Happy Days". There are big deals ready and waiting for the cut throat win. The 100-burger “party monster” requires only one hour’s notice and goes for $365. That makes each hamburger $4.65 and that is something to write about and that is a delicious F.A.C.T.

S: Is for a look at sentencing

In Awwamiya, Saudi Arabia a teenager went to the police to report she was gang-raped by seven men, she never imagined the judge would punish her and that she would be sentenced to more lashes than one of her alleged rapists would receive. This story of the Girl of Qatif has triggered a rare debate about Saudi Arabia’s legal system, in which judges have wide discretion in punishing a criminal. Where rules of evidence are shaky and sometimes no defense lawyers are present. Sentences are left to the whim of judges. This includes one in which a group of men got heavier sentences for harassing women than the men in the Girl of Qatif rape case or the three men who were convicted of raping a boy. In another, a woman was ordered to divorce her husband against her will based on demands by her relatives. The Girl of Qatif, was sentenced to 90 lashes for being alone in a car with a man to whom she was not married, a crime in this strictly segregated country. It was at the time that she was attacked and raped by a group of other men. The 19 year old is struggling to forget the spring night that changed her life. Her sleep is interrupted by a constant replay of the events. That night, she has stated she left home to retrieve her picture from a male high school student she used to know. She had just been married but had not moved in with her husband and did not want her picture to remain with the student. While the woman was in the car with the student, two men intercepted them, got into the vehicle and drove to a secluded area where the two were separated. She said she was raped by seven men, three of whom also raped her friend. In a trial that ended in November. Four of the men received between one and five years in prison plus 80 to 1,000 lashes. Three others are awaiting sentencing. Neither the defendants nor the plaintiffs retained lawyers, which is common here.“The big shock came when the judge sentenced myself and the man to 90 lashes each.” The sentence was handed down as part of the rape trial. Lashes are usually spread over several days, dealt around 50 at a time. The sentences have yet to be carried out, but the punishments ordered have caused an uproar. (This picture is what 50 lashes looks like)

Justice in Saudi Arabia is administered by a system of religious courts with a strict interpretation of Islamic law. A rapist, for instance, could receive anywhere from a light or no sentence to death, depending on the judge. In one recent case, three men convicted of raping a 12 year old boy received sentences of between one and two years in prison and 300 lashes each. In contrast, another judge sentenced at least four men to between 6-12 years imprisonment for fondling women in a tunnel in Riyadh. A columnist for Al-Watan, asked Justice Minister Abdullah Al-Sheik to explain why the boy’s rapists got a lighter sentence than the men in last year’s sexual harassment case. His answer ‘Do you think it satisfies God?’ For Fatima, another Saudi woman who suddenly found herself divorced from her husband, after her half-brothers went to a judge and told him their sister had married beneath her. Fatima had been married for over three years and was pregnant with her second child when the judge declared the marriage void in July 2005. Today, Fatima sits in jail with her 11 month old son. Her 4 year old daughter was recently freed.

I write this column because we in America are increasingly losing our rights. Maybe by seeing this you will fight for yours as well as the rights for others. The F.A.C.T.S are easily found but maybe not the reasons.