"The list is an absolute good. The list... is life."

Said by Itzhak Stern in the movie Schindler's List.

*cue laugh track

I've learned that telling some people about your good news can be just the same as telling them about your problems.

Why does everything in New York seem so much more tolerable after a few drinks?

All the irritating things from earlier in the day, they disappear into the night sky... but I'm sure will materialize again in the morning.

I guess that uncomfortable feeling means you're doing something right.

"Wake up. It's 2000. The new millennium won't be about sexual labels, it'll be about sexual expression."

Said by Samantha in the show Sex In the City. Season 2, Episode 16.

You can't write with a fork in your hand.

Hack.

"Why not fly? Why not try?"

From the song Streets of New York (City Life) by Alicia Keyes.

I always make a million promises to myself when I'm full.

Dear friends,

Please check out my most recent write-up for VICE's food channel, MUNCHIES: What Two Decades as a Restaurateur Has Taught Me.

Pasta with a past.

"Sit down. Be humble."

From the song HUMBLE by Kendrick Lamar.

"The ideal poached egg is as beautiful and fleeting as a shooting star---a warm bundle of fluid yolk encased by a barely-set-yet-tenacious white. It feels kind of tragic to have to spear it and set all that yellow sauciness coursing out, but that's what it's all about: rich, yolk soaking into your slice of crusty toast, or coating a pile of roasted veggies, or working its way into a pile of steaming, seasoned sushi rice."

From the story Put An Egg On It in the April issue of Bon Appétit magazine. Written by Chris Morocco and Amiel Stanek.

That oh-so-familiar smell of urine is the official fragrance of New York City, but the strength measured by the amount sprayed definitely ranges. Sometimes you walk by an area that has just a mist of it, and then others might seem like it was doused by the imitation version. It's easy for that urine smell to enter your body a few times a day though. It can hit when least expected. It'll slip right into your nose without any remorse, which just makes you walk even faster. New Yorkers are known to speed by because they're in a rush, but sometimes it's because they're running away from something, too.

"Didn't you know by now that you could never truly know another person?"

From the book The Mothers by Brit Bennett. Page 371.