Saturday mornings, I get up a little early and make my son breakfast — pancakes or waffles, something more involved than a school morning, where we’re always racing the clock. He has an hourlong tae kwon do class, and there’s a fantastic little bakery on the way called Big Booty. I’ll swing by for a coffee and then, after class, we’ll go and he’ll get a cupcake. Maybe a couple, if he has a play date.
We spend a lot of time up at the Museum of Natural History with a tour guide we really like, Vickie Costa. We’ll reach out to her and ask if there’s something new or worthwhile we should see. The museum’s fantastic!
Sometimes we’ll stroll through Central Park. We have a dog, Elvis, who’s a Jackapoo, a Jack Russell-poodle mix. He’s kind of a night owl: He sleeps in in the morning. Often we’ll get him to Central Park, or we’ll go to the West Side Highway and Chelsea Piers area, and just walk around.
A restaurant we like very much is Little Owl, in the Village. It’s a sweet, charming, small neighborhood place. They do nice pastas there, and they have my wine on the menu. Yes, I make wine — Pursued by Bear, named for Shakespeare’s stage direction. David [Lynch] and I share a love of wine. In fact, when we first met to talk about “Dune” back in 1983, we spent a lot of time talking about wine. What do they say? “I drink coffee until it’s time to drink wine.”
I do a lot of cooking, so one of the things I love to do is go to the wonderful green market in Union Square. I’m participating in a cookbook judging thing for Food 52. I’ve got these two cookbooks, and I made a bunch of things outside my comfort zone. One was a soul-food cookbook with some fantastic chicken and bean recipes; the other was “I Am a Filipino: And This Is How We Cook.” That one had a steamed bun you create a filling for, and you make the dough, roll it out and let it rise. I used to make bread when I was in college, so I thought I’d bring back that skill. I made a chicken and porchetta combination, and it actually turned out really well. I’ve still got it!
