A rainy Saturday

On Saturday I met Ed at Engine 73 for the VII show on the Congo. In the past six years, 3 to 4.7 million people have died in the war. In 2005, Doctors without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontiers invited the photographers of the agency to document their work in the region. The photographs were exhibited in a converted firehouse. A video by Ron Haviv played in a corner, the audio supplying a voice to accompany the photographs. As we left, I noticed one of the attendants was reading King Leopold's Ghost, a novel about the Belgian king's treatment of the country. I expressed my admiration at the book; she said she was reading it for class.

We ate lunch in Chinatown, a quick dim sum at Ping's before heading to the Rubin Museum. Rain peppered us off and on as we walked. The museum was free, participating in Open House New York. We toured the basement gallery of Mathieu Ricard's photographs of Tibet, and then climbed to the 5th floor for the Wulsin photographs of Tibet, China, and Mongolia, 1921-1925. The photographs were scans of hand-painted lantern slides. The color added a new dimension and look to the photographs, and it was amazing how closely the painter had captured the colors of the area, having never seen the areas. Afterwards, Ed mentioned that although he had just come from central Asia, seeing the photographs made him want to turn around and go right back.

We caught an evening show of 2046 before dinner. It was beautiful and better on second viewing. When we left the theater, the rain was falling in earnest. We were both hungry and I asked Ed what he felt like. A Turkish place was around the corner; the recently opened Congee Bowery had opened a few blocks away. Ed said he was trying to avoid Middle Eastern food. We waited for the rain to let up. When it didn't we made a break for it.

By the time we made it to the restaurant, we were soaked. We were sat at a small table and given menus. We ordered the seafood with bean curd, the five spiced duck, and the beef chow fun. After we placed the order, the waitress moved us to a larger table. Ed said I'd probably have to bring stuff home. She offered us winter mellon soup and spooned it out into our bowls. The food came and we fell silent. The food was good and we finished it all. Ed said you really remember good meals when you're in Iraq.

After dinner, the waitress brought us red bean soup. The meal was complete. Since coming back from Morocco, I've been eating mostly Asian food. I hadn't realized I missed it so much.

It was cold when we left. A hard rain continued to fall. We parted ways on Broadway. Ed was taking the N back to his corporate apartment, and I continued walking west on Spring. I thought about stopping into a deli to warm up, but soldiered on. My shoes were still wet the next afternoon.
Links: Democractic Republic of Congo: Forgotten War
Links: rubin museum of tibetan art
Links: 2046
Posted by eku at October 10, 2005 9:15 AM