Beets + Beats

This is a not-so-fabulous photo of a fabulous dessert.

It's beet cake with beet gelato from the Breslin Bar & Dining Room in NYC. The server told me that Chef April Bloomfield plated it herself because she didn't like the look of her staff's first version. "Beets are deadly serious," wrote Tom Robbins.

I admit I've been wearing out that Robbins line lately. I tweeted it a few weeks ago when I learned that beet juice would help de-ice Tennessee roads this winter. And given that the pink cake across the top of this blog also gets its color from beets, I figure it's time we hear a bit more about beets from Robbins:

The beet is what happens when the cherry finishes with the carrot. The beet is the ancient ancestor of the autumn moon, bearded, buried, all but fossilized; the dark green sails of the grounded moon-boat stitched with veins of primordial plasma; the kite string that once connected the moon to the Earth now a muddy whisker drilling desperately for rubies. -- Tom Robbins

So why all the talk about beets?

I'm going back to NYC next weekend. In a fit of procrastination (and anticipation), I created a 41-song NYC-themed playlist. You can listen to the first eight songs by clicking here.

Do you have a favorite song about New York?

So Far Around the Bend ~ The National
A Letter to the New York Post ~ Public Enemy
Myriad Harbor ~ The New Pornographers
Queensboro Bridge ~ David Mead
My My Metrocard ~ Le Tigre

M79 ~ Vampire Weekend
Good Fortune ~ PJ Harvey
New York is a Woman ~ Suzanne Vega
Sheena is a Punk Rockers ~ The Ramones
New York ~ Cat Power

Glad Tidings ~ Van Morrison
The Only Boy Living in New York ~ Simon and Garfunkel
Yeah! New York ~ Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Chelsea Hotel #2 ~ Leonard Cohen
Song for Myla Goldberg ~ The Decembrists
New York Was Great ~ The Ravonettes

M79 ~ Vampire Weekend
You Said Something ~ PJ Harvey
Alphabet Town ~ Elliott Smith
Shattered ~ Rolling Stones
14th Street ~ Rufus Wainwright
Paranoia Blues ~ Paul Simon
N.Y. ~ Doves
Hotel Chelsea Nights ~ Ryan Adams
The Hudson ~ Dar Williams
New York City ~ John Lennon
Train Under Water ~ Bright Eyes
Good to Go ~ Elliott Smith
Talkin’ New York ~ Bob Dylan
New York City ~ Grandmaster Flash
This Mess We’re In ~ PJ Harvey
Daughters of the Soho Riots ~ The National
Bulletproof Weeks ~ Matt Nathanson
An Englishman in New York ~ Sting
Damn, Sam ~ Ryan Adams
Zephyr & I ~ Suzanne Vega
Famous Blue Raincoat ~ Leonard Cohen
Scenes from an Italian Restaurant ~ Billy Joel
Times Square ~ Marianne Faithful
NYC ~ The Charlatans
First We Take Manhattan ~ Leonard Cohen
Visions of Johanna ~ Bob Dylan