Announcements

Greetings to all who found this blog through Jeremiah's Five Bucks to Friday -- an excellent blog and webcomic I commend to all who did not find this blog through FBtF. I hope everyone is having a good week.

A few announcements:

1. My dear Park Slope United Methodist Church is having a Book Sale next Saturday, February 26, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The church is at the corner of 6th Ave. and 8th St. in Park Slope. This is always a really fabulous event, as the people are friendly, the selection wide-ranging, and the books cheap ($2 for hardcovers, I think) -- everyone in the neighborhood should check it out. If you'd like to donate some old volumes for a good cause, let me know in the comments and I will gladly tell you where and when.

2. It turns out Rice to Riches -- the wonderfully futuristic rice-pudding shop in Soho where I have taken many a New York visitor -- is operated entirely on funds from an illegal sports gambling ring. This continues the trend of beloved institutions in my life becoming associated with organized crime, as I learned late last month that my first employer out of high school, the tiny little CassTel phone company in Peculiar, Mo., was funded by the Gambino crime family. (Woo-hoo! I'm a moll!) Anyway, I really hope they don't close Rice to Riches; not only does it overwhelm you with only-in-New York-iness in its specialization and expense, it is excellent, excellent rice pudding, and one of the few places where you can exercise creativity in your dessert selections since you get to make up cool combinations. And if it's ever revealed that Hampton Chutney Company is actually owned by the Gottis, I am abandoning all faith in mankind.

3. In the trivia department, I bought a new shower curtain. This counts as Announcement-worthy news because it is the first major decorating change I have made in my apartment since, um, 2002 (a new bookshelf and filing cabinet notwithstanding). Yes, we at Brooklyn Arden believe strongly in the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" school of home decor. Martha would weep.