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New York Magazine had an interesting article on the concept of “skyfarming” — building skyscrapers that would house vast amounts of agriculture. This idea has been explored, in a theoretical sense, by a professor at Columbia.

Of course, as with most big ideas, this one is supposed to solve most of the world’s ills, including global warming, the need for sustainable energy, the ability to feed a rapidly-growing population, clean water, fresh food, global terrorism and Tom Cruise’s love of Scientology. Ok, I made the last two up. But you get the idea.

In theory, it all sounds wonderful. The science behind the ideas is not entirely theoretical. However, unless billions of dollars suddenly appear out of nowhere (attention Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and George Soros), it will be difficult for these ideas to grow beyond the concept stage.

I realize that it’s Wednesday night, which is slightly late for a weekend update. Strangely, I feel that as I am less busy at work, I post less. It might be because my days are much shorter, and I spend a lot more time talking to my coworkers instead of sitting in front of the computer.

The title is appropriate because not only do I have a few pictures to recap the weekend’s highlights, but much of this weekend was spent in pictures of one type or another.

What is probably our last big snowstorm of the year started on Friday morning and extended until Friday night. It was pretty messy, with at least as many ice pellets as snowflakes. But Saturday morning dawned clear and sunny. On the way to church, I got a snapshot of the snowy sidewalks of the East Village. Wait, who’s the hot girl in the red coat?

Sunday morning, Jannine and I joined Jeremy and Erica for brunch at Alias. As I have written here before, Alias has great dinner food, particularly for their Sunday Supper, which is one of the better restaurant values it the city. The brunch had received similar high reviews.

The brunch received mixed reviews from our panel of foodies. First, the positives. The service was prompt. My cheese grits and collard greens were delicious. And the fruit compote that came with Jannine’s waffles were great.

However, overall, the food seemed fairly average. Jeremy didn’t give rave reviews to the eggs benedict. The Alias brunch has a nice southern twist, but it certainly isn’t on the level of Clinton Street, 9th Street Market or Sarabeth’s.

After brunch, we headed over to Brooklyn’s Stay Gold Gallery for a show called Blowup, featuring photos from Holga, Lomo and other “toy cameras.” It was such a great show — I highly recommend you stop by before the show closes this coming Saturday (March 24). We ended up so entranced by some of the photos that we ended up buying two. We were excited because it was our first gallery purchase.

On the way back, I took this picture out the window of the J, which is elevated in Brooklyn. Yeah, I know, still not ready for a gallery.

From Stay Gold, we went up to the MoMA to see the Jeff Wall photography exhibit they have right now. Wall is largely known for his huge (wall-sized) gelatin-on-glass prints which he puts in light boxes, which really makes them come to life. One of Jannine’s coworkers had recommended the show, and we were glad we went, because there were some great photos. We also decided to join the MoMA. A dual membership is only $120, and at $20 per person admission, we’d only have to go three times over the course of the year to recoup our money. Plus, we can buy up to five $5 guest tickets every time we go, so if any one wants to go see the MoMA with us, just let us know.

After we finished with the Jeff Wall exhibit, we went down to the fifth floor to see the Van Goghs and the Monets. I love the water lilies so much — I could sit and look at the three panels for hours. Here’s a shot of the center panel, which doesn’t even begin to do justice to the scope and the depth of the painting.

Finally, we ended our day with a lovely dinner. But that, dear readers, is a topic for another post.

Thursday around 8:30 p.m., I had my typical nightly dilemma. It was time to order dinner from Seamless Web so that I could sit at my desk and eat out of takeout containers while working. Always a good time. If you want to to be romantic, you can turn off the light and pretend that the glowing computer screen is candlelight. After six months of work, I’m getting somewhat tired of the available options, despite the 180 or so restaurants on the list.

Then, I noticed a new option: Barbarini Alimentari, an Italian restaurant on Front Street in the South Street Seaport area. The menu descriptions sounded interesting, so I decided to try it.

I ordered a red beet and dried ricotta salad and spinach fettuccine with roasted tomato puree. The beets were fresh and juicy, and the ricotta had a nice, tangy taste. The fresh-made fettuccine was perfect, and the tomato puree was one of the more interesting tomato sauces I have had. It has a cream base, but the tomato puree gave it a great texture and taste.

As I researched the restaurant today, I discovered that one of the owners is a former chef from Paprika, an excellent restaurant in the East Village.

Anyway, I’d highly recommend stopping by there if you’re down in the seaport. It’s a nice switch from the mediocre tourist-friendly places around there.

Although it is now the 16th of February, Valentine’s Day is still close in the rearview mirror. To celebrate, Jannine and made the trek through snow and ice (Wednesday morning brought our first major snow storm of the year, complete with freezing rain, high winds and heavy accumulation) to our new favorite restaurant, Alias.

When I hear “Alias,” I think of Jennifer Garner flying around the world, taking down the bad guys with prejudice. So the name of the restaurant has it off to a good start in my mind. Alias had a great value for a Valentine’s Day five-course pre fixe menu, which is something of a rarity in New York, a city where it seems to be a sport of restaurants to see how much they can jack up their prices for special holiday meals. The food, as expected, was outstanding. Alias specializes in using fresh market ingredients for their food. The combinations are creative, and the dishes are generally seasoned so that the individual tastes of the components can stand out. The highlight was probably a baked acorn squash with wild rice, wild mushrooms, leeks and thin slices of cheese (I want to say it was pecorino, but I don’t really remember).

The one negative of the dinner was the atmosphere. The restaurant wasn’t particularly busy, and the heater didn’t seem able to keep up with the cold winds outside. So we felt too exposed as our extremities slowly froze. Also, Alias didn’t seem prepared to serve a multi-course meal successfully, and kept us waiting for far too long between courses. However, given the quality of the food and the great price, it still comes out as an extremely good value.

As we were walking through the Lower East Side to the restaurant, we passed Clinton Street Baking Company, our favorite brunch place. In celebration of the holiday, they had made a beautiful light display on their front fence.

More as a note to self than anything, but also as a heads-up to the culinary-inclined NYC readers:

Was chatting with the first-year associate who’s working across from me on my current deal tonight. We always have good convo about random subjects when we call each other to ask questions, get information, etc. Anyway, tonight the talk turned to restaurants and he recommended what is regarded as one of the top Thai restaurants in NYC.

It’s called Sripraphai, and is located in Woodside, Qns. Apparently, it is only about a block from the 7, so it is pretty accessible.

When I have more time, I definitely want to check it out, so I decided to add this post so I won’t forget the name. From what I’ve seen online, you should check it out too.