meatloafing

Jesse L. Martin’s final episode of Law & Order airs in two weeks. The episode, titled “Burn Card,” isn’t just a bittersweet end to a legendary era of Dick Wolf’s nearly two-decade-old series—it’s also Meatloafing favorite Jeremy Sisto’s time to shine (i.e., excite us the way he did so often on Six Feet Under). JLM final episode spoilers here. (We’re holding out for the real thing.) [All Things Law & Order]

“Burn Card” airs April 23 at 10 p.m. (NBC)

You are a unique and beautiful snowflake.

• Our good friends over at Lunchboxr have started a Flickr group. When you add your photos to the group, your lovely lunch appears on the Lunchboxr home page. See, there’s my grilled cheese sandwich from yesterday. Fun!
• Snow is pretty, but wind and rain? No thanks! Get yourself a Nubrella, the revolutionary umbrella that won’t flip inside-out.
• Jesse L. Martin announces departure from Law & Order; the world cries. So much for my JLM–Jeremy Sisto sandwich. (But he’ll be playing Marvin Gaye in the upcoming biopic, so the world cries again, but the tears are made of joy, not sadness.) [Variety]

• Pretty safe to say that Yum Thai is finally gone. It sucked anyway, but when will a good Thai restaurant open near me? [Midtown Lunch]
• The Pond at Bryant Park is closing tomorrow. Eff u, Fashion Week! Stop by and say hello to our friend Dan as he dismantles his fruits of labor.
• Twins separated at birth met and married. [Reuters, via Brooke] (I’m honestly not sure what I’d do in this situation…you can’t undo what’s already happened, so maybe just stay together? Weird/sad.)
• National Treasure: Book of Secrets sucks ass. Not even a good dumb-movie-on-a-lazy-Saturday choice. Enormous and not overlookable plot holes. Nicolas Cage just gets uglier, and I don’t understand why my beloved Helen Mirren was in this shit?

Have you finished your holiday shopping? I haven’t really started, but I think most of my presents can be purchased at Duane Reade. Mostly I’ve been entertaining (cookie exchange) and not venturing past Food Dimensions. Also would recommend seeing Juno. Will report on Walk Hard after tomorrow.

Benjamin: is it really dead there today?
me: yes
midtown and subwyas were dead too
i took a pic, will post on loaf
Benjamin: get a pic of you in deserted midtown and you can call it Mollie Is Legend
me: i don’t get it but i gather it’s a reference to that movie
Benjamin: well in th emovie will smith is the last person left in manhattan
so it’s deserted except him
me: oh
hehe
i am so full of cookies
it’s given me some digestive issues

• Tragedy at DiFara last Wednesday: They’re out of artichokes until sometime this week. They were also out of porcini mushrooms, which was troubling but not as heartbreaking as the lack of ‘chokes. We had to order sausage, which was fine, and eggplant, which wasn’t as fine (it was chewy and weird, but luckily half the pie was plain…mmmm). Meatloafing urges you to call DiFara before you make the trip.
• We Went to the Movies: Awhile back, we caught an advanced screening of I’m Not There at the Tribeca Cinemas. Saw some d-list celebs and aggressively blitkrieged the hors d’oeuvres people at the reception and Q&A sesh with Todd Haynes. But my main reason for mentioning the film is that I think you should see it because it is amazing and Cate Blanchett is amazing, but much of the movie confused the hell out of me and I wish I’d done just a bit of research prior to the screening. I think even if you know a decent bit about Bob Dylan’s life, you’re still going to be like “huh” if you don’t know what the filmmaking process involved. Maybe not though; I could be dense.
• Midtown Lunch scoops out the 53rd & 6th daytime cart and its legitimacy. Is it for real? (Who cares, really? The daytime cart tastes delicious and there’s no way I’m going to wait in (on) line for an hour to get a cart dinner.)

• The Brooklyn Kitchen First Birthday Party & Bodega Challenge is TONIGHT!
• Especially relevant to me: Curing Insomnia Without the Pills [nytimes]
• Adrian Grenier: Hot or Not?* The Entourage cast held a book signing yesterday and there were like 20 people standing in (on) line, as compared to more like 200 for The Sopranos book signing. I love the show but am simply having difficulty categorizing him as hot or not. Thoughts?

*As Adrian Grenier (the actual person), not as Vincent Chase (who is obviously hot)