Summer Resolutions

Unlike most of the Western world, I don't jump on the New Year's Resolution train. Sure, January is a fresh start in many ways, but it has a lot of stuff working against it. It's cold. I need to finish off the Christmas cookies. The days are short. And, like most people, I have a job. Though the thought of starting fresh and getting into new habits is intriguing, but not really enough to get me out from under a fluffy blanket, snuggled on the couch next to my husband with my dog at my feet and a plate of chocolate filled butter cookies on my lap.

But this June, as the school year was winding down, I thought long and hard about all the things that I said I would do "in the summer. When I'll have time." It was at that moment that I realized that though I am not an advocate for the New Year's Resolution, I should start a new tradition- that of the Summer Resolution. So I made up a list of things that I wanted to accomplish this summer and ways to better myself. Now to make progress on it!

1) Stop being messy.
As mentioned previously, I am not a clean person. Much to the chagrin of my husband, a perfectly clean room on Sunday slowly devolves through the week as every item of clothing I own somehow ends up all over the floor and bed frame by Friday. My footsteps to bed are muffled because my feet don't actually touch the floor (J- that should be in your "pro" column). It's time I come to terms with the fact that if I'm sifting through a pile on the floor to find a shirt to wear for the day, I have a problem.

I am in fact taking this one step further than just cleaning and organizing my things, which are all nicely now either packed away in boxes to be stored for the summer or folded beautifully in drawers waiting for me to wear them. I cleaned out the little bedroom and the refrigerator (2 years and a fridge gets gross!). Next on my list are my shoes/ closet. I'm sure that this list will grow weekly!

2) Stop being lazy.
I don't like exercising. Though I will enjoy the occasional Yoga class or long walk (owning a dog is good for something! Those suckers like to walk. And they will look at you sadly with big, beautiful eyes if you don't want to), I'm not much for... organized exercise (much like organized religion. In fact, most people I know are much more devoted to their exercise regime than to G-d). However, this summer I have vowed to get off my lazy ass... which is often sitting on the couch... and start the couch to 5K program. I'm in week three. I still don't like running, but I'm pretty sure I look hotter already!

3) Take advantage of NYC
 
I hate to admit that 3 weeks into summer vacation, this is the one that I'm kind of slacking on. I want to make a date to go into Manhattan and do an activity a week... maybe a museum or the park. I haven't been as on that as I would like, but it's on my to-do list. I still haven't seen the high line!

4) Do school work

Teachers may have the summer off, but September will be here before I know it! If I'm teaching seniors (and I might be) I need to design an advanced curriculum and will have to hit the ground running! There is no faking it for a few weeks while I throw something together. I haven't started this yet, but I'm forming some ideas.


So, those are my basic summer resolutions. Hopefully I'll stick with them well past August into the new (school) year.

Trend-spotting: Vampire Edition

Now, I know I'm a bit behind the vampire fiction curve (I only read the Twilight series this year, and twilight itself was first published in 2006. The main "plus" to this is that I did not have to wait with baited breath for each new book to come out. JK Rowling, I hope you're taking notes. There doesn't have to be a 10 year gap between the first and last book in a series), but I like hopping on these literary waves as they fly by. So seeing how the vampire wave is just about to hit the shore and fizzle into the sand (am I carrying the metaphor too far?), I figured I'd try to get one more blog entry out of it. A friend lent me Dead Before Dawn, and I just couldn't help but notice...

These are just some things I have noticed are trendy in new vampire fiction:

• Telepathy. It might be the vampire. It might be the girl. But someone can read minds... and the person they fall in love with is the one person whose mind they can't read.
  
• Mainstreaming. These modern vampires want nothing more than to live among the uh, living. They want to hang out in bars, drink anything but human blood (synthetic/ animal), and have loving relationships with humans. Their favorite hobby seems to be mooning over their present relationship in a disbelieving "I can't believe I'm so in love with you" haze.
• Crime Solving. Mysterious deaths in town? Mass murderer in Seattle? These vampires will get to the bottom of your problem with their trusty gal friday! Vampires... they're the new Sam Spade!
• Socially awkward girlfriends who are mysteriously much more beautiful than everyone else, but don't really notice it. It's kind of amazing. These girls are the social outcasts that everyone is seceretly in love with. Much like me in high school, I must admit.
• Bad vampries who dress all slutty and want to kill everyone.
  
• Shape-shifters who turn into dogs/wolves and are also in love with the socially awkward girl, but she love the vampire more. But she really loves him... *as a friend*

And speaking of clothing in Dead Until Dark (et al), none the clothing that Sookie dresses in sounds pretty. She wears lots of things that I think would get her put on What Not to Wear, or that indicate that the books are set in 1991 when they were written a good 10 years later- white dresses with roses, jeans that lace up the sides in leather, blue dresses with daisies. The worst part is that all of Sookie's outfits are described in minute detail, making it so that I can't even pretend that she's dressed like a grown up. "But Amy," you're probably saying right now, "you said yourself that the female characters are socially awkward. She's probably supposed to be dressed badly as part of her characterization." However, I am mostly convinced you are wrong. I think you are wrong (yes, you are wrong) because EVERYONE comments on these outfits favorably. Everyone is like, "Wow, Sookie is dressed in clothes a decade out of fashion. She looks great! How sexy!" That just messes with me even more.

Liveblogging the Oscars: 2009 Edition

Kajal is out of town and likes my live-blogging, so Kajal... this is for you! I'm out of practice blogging- I should really start up again. Maybe the Oscars are the right time to get back on the proverbial horse! And straight off, from every news source I borrowed red carpet pictures from, I apologize. I just need the visual.


The Red Carpet...
Got a little bit of a late start here. Sorry. I probably missed all the good stuff.

1) TIM GUNN is doing the red carpet! That's amazing. Give whoever decided to do this a raise!

2) So is this lady I don't know at all. She's probably famous or something, but I don't know.

3) The cast of Slumdog Milllionaire is adorable.

4) Mikey Rourke is crazy looking. And wearing a ton of makeup.

5)I didn't realize that Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron were "America's sweethearts"... I haven't ever seen one High School Musical movie, and barely know who these kids are.

6) I love Viola Davis' dress. I don't know who she is, but she worked with Meryl Streep, and the gold dress is so pretty.

7) I love Tim Gunn.

8) Miley Cyrus' dress is a little age-inappropriate. What's with all the tweens anyway? I want grown-up actors!

Plus, when she starts talking, she's annoying. Plus, it just makes me think of that clip from a junket during Bolt! that The Soup always uses for her. I'm sure that's part of the fact that I just can't listen to her.

9) Ahhh... Anne Hathaway. Beautiful dress. Not to mention... LOVE Tim Gunn. Seriously, her dress is amazing. Like a disco ball, but pretty.

10) Amy Adams looks pretty good too. Or was that Inga Whats-her-name. They look a lot alike.
Okay, maybe not so much there.(Ilsa Fisher's picture is not from the Oscars, but is the only red carpet picture I could find where she had similar hair.)

11) There go the dorky guys with the winners. Tim is telling us about their outfits, but really, they're just boring tuxes.

12) Meryl looks good, but the dress is a little boring. Her daughter is striking though. I think Meryl should have worn a necklace.

13) Penelope Cruz is wearing a pretty cool dress, though it's a littlebridal. I love the fact that it's vintage however. Not sure how I feel about the bangs.


14) Jack Black has a SEXY wife. Though I wish her dress was a little more formal.

15) Marissa Tomei- Her dress is kind of like something Leanne from last season's PR would have made with all the pleating.


16) Did Seth Rogan lose weight? He looks pretty good. Maybe he was just heavy during Pineapple Express.

The Oscars!!

8:30: Starting right on time. Good job Oscar-people! Lets see if we can stay on schedule!

8:31:See how much I follow this stuff. I had no idea that Hugh Jackman was the host. That's a little strange right? He's not a comedian or anything...
Kate Winslet looks pretty.

8:32: My sound keeps knocking out. This will piss me off before long. Hopefully it will fix itself.

8:33: Kate Winslet's hair doesn't look all that great. The front does, but the back is strange.

8:34: Craigslist dancers? AH! funny...

8:35: Anne Hathaway is wearing a different dress already? This one looks kind of like an ice-skater's costume.

8:36: A Frost/Nixon romantic drama might have been nice...

8:37: Okay, The Reader part was super funny. "I didn't see the reader...I meant to see it"

8:38: I'm Wolverine. Okay, maybe Hugh wasn't a bad choice. Still a weird choice, but at least he's funny.

8:39: Meryl Streep's daughter is afraid that Hugh Jackman is going to do something crazy to her, you just know it.

8:40: Love Angelina's green ring.
Is Meryl Streep the Susan Lucci of the Oscars? No, she won in 1979. Nevermind.

8:41: Whoops. The curtain isn't opening for the montage! Kind of a dull montage, so just as well.

8:42: Tilda Swinton is kind of adorable. I love that she doesn't wear makeup. Or at least lipstick and eye shadow. It's adorable. Did I say that already? Well, she's wearing lipstick now, but she wasn't the year that she won. Unless she ate it all off.

8:44: Uh, what are they doing to Viola Davis? Oh, she's nominated for best actress.

8:45: Whoopi, that was funny "It's not easy being a nun." And Amy Adams is adorable. And I LOVE her necklace. Though I better watch out- J thinks she's pretty cute too! Did two of those women who got nominated come from Doubt? Amy and Viola? Hmmm... I don't think I even heard of that
film!

8:47: Huh? This is only best supporting Actress. Really? Hmmm... That's quite a set up! Yay Penelope! Joe and I didn't see this film yet.

8:49: Uh, why is Penelope still talking? Isn't there a time limit? And anyone want to give me the Spanish?

8:53: Tina Fey looks beauty-ful! Steve Martin looks dashing too! Love her earrings!

8:54: They're pretty funny.

8:58: Sorry, I was in the kitchen beginning to heat up some Trader Joe's Coconut Shrimp to nosh on. J and I ate dinner at like, 4. We're a little hungry. Hopefully the deep-fried aspect won't make me sick so
I'll miss the rest of the Oscars, and dead-blog (uh, regular blog) the Oscars later. Fingers crossed.

9:03: Team Jen! and Team Jack! (He doesn't necessarily need a team, but he deserves one). I kind of like her hair.

9:04: What's with the closeup on Brad and Angie? For what it's worth, they're laughing and look fine. Of course, they're friends with Jack Black. Right? Damn, I'm behind on my celebrity gossip- I haven't read an US
Weekly in a month!

9:07: Is anyone surprised that Wall-e beat Kung Fu Panda?
I watched Mamma Mia on Friday, and might I just say that I am thrilled to get to see Meryl not wearing overalls.

9:26: What's with Robert Pattinson's sketchy facial hair?

9:32:That's an interesting color for Natalie Portman's dress. Kind of Barbie-pink. Don't know how I feel about it. Hmmm... Ben Stiller is doing a kick ass Joaquin Phoenix though.

9:34: The camera man is more interested in the clips than in Ben Stiller's being funny. People
are laughing and I don't know why. Good. He caught up.

9:35: Who was that who was returning to their seat? Aren't there ushers to stop this kind of thing?

9:57: I'm a huge musical fan. Why is homage to the musical number leaving me cold?

10:01: My puppy is fast asleep. Adorable.

10:08: I didn't even see The Dark Knight, but I'm glad Heath Ledger won for Best Supporting Actor.

10:10: Stupid E! Online won't let me copy their pictures.

10:13: Did the documentary lady just curse because she cursed? Funny.

10:27: I haven't heard any songs. Are they not doing that this year? Usually at this point I've heard like, 5 songs that are up for an Oscar. I didn't miss it, did I?

10:29: The Dark Knight is doing well. I still can't believe I haven't seen it yet.

10:40: I'm bored.

10:43:Aw. I want to give Jerry Lewis a hug.

10:46: Seal is hot. How do Heidi Klum and Seal even exist in the world without it imploding from their combined beauty?

10:51: Ah, here's the music.

10:54: Zac Efron has gross looking hair
Slumdog Millionaire is doing pretty good too! Another one I haven't seen. I barely watch movies. It's embarrassing.

11:01: Oh, I just realized, another Barbie-Pink dress. Is this in honor of her 50th Birthday?

11:05: Uh, are we really living in an age where a commercial where a woman is looking at vacuum cleaners as her love is appropriate (Woman lusting after Hoover Platinum while "At Last (my love has come along)"
plays- I couldn't find a video)? Is feminism really dead?

11:18: Reese Witherspoon is wearing an interesting dress. I don't know how I feel about it exactly. and the whole HD thing is making it so I can see all the flesh-colored supports that are supposed to blend from
this distance. Well, I suppose that answers a lot of my questions about celebrity clothing. But in general, I'm pro-Reese, so I won't get too picky.

11:26: Ah, here we are, the money awards... or as they say, the "highly anticipated" ones. Sophia Loren is still alive?

11:27: Halle Berry is so cute.
Anne Hathaway is back in her beautiful dress. Whew.

11:30: We are officially over time now. Meryl looks amazing. Sophia Loren should lay off the plastic surgery. Wowzers. Sophia Loren then Sophia Loren now.


11:31: Maybe I'm just a sucker for Nicole Kidman, but I love her sparkly feathers and her adorable hair.

11:32: Anne Hathaway had the most joyus and genuine reaction for Kate Winslet. That was sweet.

11:34: The whistle thing was adorable.

11:35: "I think we all can't believe we were in a category with Meryl Streep at all!" ADORABLE!!

11:40: What happened to Adrian Brody's hair?

11:41: Anthony Hopkins is super awesome.

11:43: Sean Penn won for Milk. Which I assume he was great in. Give yourself a cookie if you realize by now that I haven't seen it either. Sigh.

11:44: "You commie, homo-loving, sons of guns." Love it!

11:46: REPEAL PROP 8!

11:47: Steven? Stephen? Spielberg. I'm still a little bitter with him over Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. Yes, I've seen that. Sigh. I'm an embarrassment.

11:53: Slumdog Millionaire won best picture. Excellent!

11:56: Done. Not too shabby! G'night!

On Demand

I have always ignored the on demand channels on my cable box, because I get no fancy cable channels, so i figured they would be worth nothing to me. Then a few years ago I found out about exercise tv on demand (channel 1025 on Time Warner Cable NYC), which is free and lets me pretend to be healthy while not leaving my living room.

But today I was looking to see which channel exercise tv was for a friend of mine (I never said I actually used it), when I discovered that there's a lot of normal tv on demand. I can watch My Super Sweet 16 on Demand. The Barefoot Contessa on demand. Demetri Martin on demand (channel 1012 on TWCNYC). This is facinating. I don't know if I'll ever use it, but it's kind of neat to know that the option is there.

Blogging Sandra Lee- A Very Special Christmas Present to You!

Some of you might know the infamous food-tv host Sandra Lee, whose show, Semi Homemade with Sandra Lee, has given hours of amusement to me, Brianna and Gillian among countless others.

One assumes that somewhere in the world there are people who actually like Sandy with her crazy tablescapes, boozy cocktails and re-purposed food. Luckily, they don't invite me over for dinner. When I noticed that Sandy had her very own Christmas Special this year, I decided that I had to watch it and blog it so that you could avoid having to watch it yourself. So grab a beer-garita, make a centerpiece out of car parts, and enjoy.

1- Sandy is not looking too hot these days. She's kind of... orange. And her decollage is really tan and looks sun-damaged. She is fair, she should be more careful.

2- Sandy, honey, lay off of the bedazzler. That shirt has been jeweled within an inch of its life.

3- Self-serve cocktail bar. Actually, that's a pretty sweet deal. One place where Sandra Lee doesn't mess around is her booze.

4- Sandy is a little too excited about the fact that she doesn't have to "play bartender" her whole party. Somehow, my guests have always been able to mix their own drinks themselves for years.

5- Secret for faux-mojitos that look "professionally made": fresh mint. How do you make a mojito without fresh mint? And the names! Mistletoe mojito?

6- She's making a turkey. So far I see nothing semi-homemade. Seems normal turkey-making to me. She's pouring broth in the bottom of the pan. I have no clue why. She also seems to think that stuffing compound butter under the turkey skin will make it "self baste" and therefore save time. I don't think she understands what basting is.

7- I'm not even going to comment on her "cranberry glaze". All I have to say is: canned cranberry, orange juice and orange marmalade.

8- She stuck candy on the edges of all her guests cocktail glasses. That annoys me.

9- She's making stuffed mushrooms, and so far I'm kind of impressed of how little of this is semi-homemade. She de-stemmed her own mushrooms, chopped the stems, cooked sausage, chopped leeks, but now she's using pre-packaged cornbread stuffing. The way she said this was as if people who were not semi homemade might be spending all of their time making cornbread from scratch in order to use it to stuff mushrooms. Thank goodness we have Sandra Lee to save us from ourselves!

10- Special tip from Sandy. If you light candles, you don't have to tend to them the way you would a traditional fire, and will have more time for your guests. Seriously. That's her time-saving idea.

11- She seems to be serving passed appetizers. Herself. She buffets the drinks but then spends her time passing around mushrooms on a tray?

12- Ah, here's some semi-homemade. Canned potatoes and cream of potato soup in the potato-leek soup. Whew. I was getting worried.

13- Cream of potato soup and organic chicken broth in the same pot... sigh. Sandy, Sandy, Sandy.

14- Her tablescape this year is very black and silver. It feels very 80s to me.

15- They just showed a basting shot. How dare she lie to me!

16- Crap. Sandra Lee has fire. We should all run for our lives!

17- I wonder how much they pay the people at Sandy's party... right now it seems they pay her in booze.

18- My friends are way to lazy to do this build-your-own-cocktail bar. But could she not garnish just one glass?

19- Who does all of their cooking during their party? Wouldn't you do most of this before hand?

20- Why is she so amazed that cupcake batter is so thick? Oh- because she "semi-homemade-ed" up the box-mix by subbing out water for milk and adding instant coffee. So thick! How amazing!

21- She's making these cupcakes in mugs. Can you just put a mug in a 350 degree oven? That sounds wrong. I think you would just end up with crappy cupcakes in a puddle of ceramic shards.

22- Sandy's friend just called cool-whip "your famous whipped topping". Scary.

23- Just stop it with the garnishes. Why can't these women lay off the garnish?

24- Princess bites?

25- Her turkey looks gross- I think she just pulled out the raw turkey. I swear it's still pink.

26- She's cooking on a gas stove top, but there's no flame. How peculiar...

27- It's cocktail time (again)!

28- She's got a heavy hand on the white chocolate liquor.

29- Oh! A garnish-less glass. How did that lady luck out? Of course, maybe luck is too strong a word. After her first sip, she looked like she wanted to hurl.

30- She just used about $20 of fresh herbs as garnish for her turkey. And a bunch of fresh cranberries. And some pears, but at least she can use those again! Seems semi-homemade is not too easy on the pocketbook or on the stomach.

31- Oh! we're using pre-made cupcakes as a base for our dessert. First, we take chocolate cupcakes with no icing (she did say "cupcakes or muffins" so they might be muffins) and chop off the top. Then we scoop out the middle and fill it with the most amazing filling. Yes, you guessed it right. Cherry pie filling. There is your cherry center. Then make a "beautiful presentation" by making a shell out of aluminum foil. Now, for the wreath, use pre-made icing with peppermint extract and make little stars. It seems we just dicard the tops. Excess. Why do they make cupcakes with tops? And OF COURSE a wreath needs a big bow. It's very easy. So first get a fruit strip. I don't know what this is. It looks kind of like a skinny piece of red and green fruit rollup. Then take the ends and roll them into a big bow. Pinch it in the middle and boom! An edible bow! "How sweet" Then she just sticks it onto the icing. Now, if you want to get "fancy" we can kick it up a notch. Put a dab of icing in the middle of your "bow" and put a red hot in the middle. The final touch- green sugar sprinkles. How festive and pretty..and gross.

32- Winter white wonderland meets disco chic with black and white. That is her theme for her tree and her tablescape. The executive editor of InStyle magazine just complimented it. Remind me never to buy that magazine, as their taste is obviously suspect. Oh, and now she's helping put together the tablescape. So black and sparkly. Just screams Christmas. Her table cloth is just from the fabric store- beautiful black velvet with sparkles! And finally, where you would expect food to go on your traditional table is a big oval mirror covered with cake pedestals of various heights with one black or white ball ornament in it. How does she come up with it?

I'm sorry I wasn't able to get this post written in time for your holiday festivities, but hopefully you can use some of these *amazing* tips for your next party, or even start planning for next year.

Twilight: The Movie

Every so often there appears a teen-trend that becomes so wide-spread that it infuses itself into mainstream culture. These trends are not necessarily high-quality, but something in them is so compelling that it moves past the screaming 13-18 year old set into my quiet circle of 25-32 year olds.

The books are easy to get obsessed with- even though I'm well out of my teens, I can clearly remember the feelings that Stephanie Meyers espouses in the series- each furtive glance, accidental touch and over-analyzed moment is a bit like being transported back to your biggest high school crush; where in the end you get the guy-- and he's a vampire (spoiler alert). Even though they're far from literary works of art... or even good books... they're a fun way to spend a few weeks.

So it's easy to see why, after spending 3 (I haven't borrowed the 4th yet) books debating the pros and cons of vampire over werewolf, it's tempting to go see the film adaptation of these books, with their scrumptious sounding creatures dazzling us with their beyond human good looks and deep insights into our souls. If reading about Edward and Bella sitting next to each other in Science class, the air between them fraught with sexual tension and heavy breathing is enough to get my hardened heart beating a little faster, then seeing it on screen could only add to the mistique, right?

Wrong.

Twilight, the movie has none of the pizazz of the books, though it brings at least 30x the comedy factor. Elisa, Sabrina, Brianna, Kajal and myself walked into the film with all the giggly, girly, vamipre-lovin' mojo you could imagine. We had popcorn, candy and soda. We had had embarrassingly long discussions about whether or not Bella was a step backwards for feminism, the virtues of Edward over Jake and speculation about the role of Mormanism in the books (see Brianna's genius essay on the lack of sex in the Twilight series). We thought we were as prepared as any self respecting 16 year old to moon over the hot vampires and relive our youths. Little did we know that the Twilight movie thwarted us all...

First... the good.

Kristen Stewart is very good as Bella. She trips and falls with ease. She takes herself a bit too seriously, but in the same way she does in the book. She's pretty but looks like she doesn't realize it.

Ashley Greene is adorable as Alice Cullen. She's cute, giggly and just the right amount odd. She's surprisingly kick ass in the end scene where she breaks James' neck in one smooth movement. She's a decent actress.

Kellan Lutz is hot. Emmet is supposed to be hot. Good job Kellan.

Cam Gigandet is hot and delightfully evil. He was a great James.

Billy Burke did a great job as Bella's slightly awkward father, Charlie. The laughs during those scenes were purposeful and a really true-to-life example of a father and daughter who aren't used to each other yet, and don't quite know how to relate to each other.

Taylor Lautner. I am really looking forward to seeing more of him in the next movie. Total werewolf hotness- he might be enough to get people to switch over from the vampire-love.

Jose Zuniga as Mr. Molina. I got way too much of a kick out of the goofy-teacher scenes. Probably because I'm a goofy teacher.

Secondly... the bad.

Robert Pattinson looked like he was constipated nearly the whole time. This wouldn't have been so bad if he wasn't the romantic lead. Each time he moved his face, it was quite obvious that he used his extensive training from Joey Tribbiani's "Smell the Fart" school of acting. Sometimes he looked like he wanted to puke. Every serious moment in this movie made us burst out into quite undignified laughter because he looked so... uncomfortably... intense.


Jackson Rathbone as Jasper. Jasper is supposed to be brooding, dark, and about to suck everyone's blood due to his severe lack of the self control that the Cullen's take immense pride in. Jackson played him with crazy wacky hair and a shell shocked expression. He walked around the whole movie looking like he just shoved his finger in a live outlet. Every time the camera panned to him, the five of us tried unsuccessfully to stifle our giggles.

 

So, the good may seem to outweigh the bad, but the bad is much worse than I could possibly explain in this blog. However, the bad is hiliarous, making the movie a fun way to spend a few hours, even if it doesn't have the emotional pull of the books. Girls, do you have anything to add that I forgot?

Random Observations

1. I sometimes evaluate my life on whether or not it would be a good
facebook status. Thank goodness I don't twitter, or else I would worry
about that more often.



2. Justin Timberlake seems like a genuinely funny person. I was
watching SNL this evening and during his sketches, I was thinking it
would be nice if he wasn't famous, but instead was my friend and
watching TV with us. I bet he snarks well, and would be as amusing to
watch Gossip Girls with as Brianna.



3. Why doesn't Beyonce (and her backup dancers) wear pants?



4. It kind of scares me that grunge is back. I used to laugh at my
mother when she told me that fashion was cyclical. I kind of didn't
believe her. Now I see the same fashions that I stopped wearing not too
long ago. I am my mother.



5. Dogs are really funny. They're these fuzzy things that wander around your apartment and just want to be pet and play. Bad part: having to wake up early on the weekends to take them outside. Good part: you can go back to sleep when they're done. Dogs are sort of like children-lite, and cats are like dogs-lite. I don't even know what fish are (though I have one).



6. I love fall. Mainly for the food- pumpkin, squash... christmas
cookies! I have to start soon! Tonight I made butternut squash pasta
(another butternut squash recipe for my arsenal)

Wine x3

I've missed a few months of wine club review, so here they are... Please forgive the brevity of my tasting notes!

First is a wine that I got for my husband as an anniversary gift.

Orin Swift The Prisoner, 2006
I really liked this wine. With notes of cinnamon and wood, this wine has a lightly oak-y taste
with hints of blueberry and cherry. The ending is dry, and the color is
a beautiful, deep, ruby red.

For Cristina's wine club, the theme was sparkling reds.

Mine was the 2007 Banfi Rosa Regale Brachetto from the Francis Coppola Winery. I gave it 2.5/5 on Snooth. It was a very fizzy sparkling wine, but the bubbles faded quickly. It had strong rose petal flavors.

San Giuseppe Lambrusco, 2006
I don't have access to a picture of this. It was fruity and tasted of strawberries with light bubbles. It was very drinkable, though a bit forgetful as a wine.


Paringa Vineyards Shiraz, 2004
This wine tasted very "special occasion", and was one of the most
interesting sparkling wines I've tried. It smells like a very typical
shiraz with peppery notes. The initial flavors surprised me by being
very sweet, like drinking burned sugar. I liked it, but it is not a
wine to drink every day.

We then had a Napa Valley theme.


Relativity Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, 2005
This wine has a peppery smell that I usually associate with shriazes.
The flavor was good, and it had the "typical" dusty flavors usually
seen in Cab Savs from Napa.

Fleur de Mer Rose, 2006
This wine was light and crisp, though it had a slightly metallic taste.


Sterling Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, 2005
It took me a few sips to get used to this wine, but after I did, I liked it. It had a very smokey taste.


Hayman & Hill Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Reserve, 2006
This was the favorite of our group. We picked up a lot of chocolate,
tobacco and leathery flavors, in addition to the "dusty" taste of most
napa cabs.


Meridian Cabernet Sauvignon, 2004
Tastes of leather, smoke, berry and maple, there was also a hint of
spice and pepper. It was an inexpensive wine, and pairs well with food.


We then had a club focused on wines from the US, with the exception of Napa Valley.


Cooper Mountain Vineyards Pinot Noir Cooper Hill, 2006
Described in our group as the Gap to Cooper Mountains' Banana Republic brand, this wine is made from organic grapes. It is very light for a Pinot Noir, and would probably pair well with poultry and
work well as a Thanksgiving wine. It has heavy berry flavors and some
found it metallic in flavor. It mellowed over time.


Hedges CMS Red, 2006
This wine had a very pretty color with a rich and dense mouth feel. We felt it would be a good fall wine.


Red Diamond Merlot, 2005

I didn't take any notes on this, save "liked it". Make of that what you will.


Raphael Cabernet Franc, 2006
An earthy, almost dirt like nose. Strong mineral flavors, along with green peppers and grass. Dry but not tannic.


Montebruno Gewurztraminer, 2007
A perfumey example of a Gewurztraminer, this light, citrus wine was a
beautiful pale golden color.

The final wine of the evening was from Liz's wedding, and I couldn't find any mentions of it on Snooth, where I try to record all my wine-exploits. However, they did have several other wines from the King Family Vineyard in Virginia.

Liz's wine was the 2005 Chardonnay. It had an almost creamy, round mouth feel with flavors of citrus, lemongrass and smoke. It has a long finish in the back of the mouth.

Hopefully I'll update next wine club sooner!

If you live in CA- please Vote No on Prop 8

Now is the time to donate. Let your support be known.

To see more of these pro-"no on prop 8" ads, check out Looky Daddy!

boogeyman?

This afternoon I had my blond hair in a ponytail, was wearing dark wash jeans and a trendy sweater, while drinking a latte from the cute indie coffee shop and walking my dog.

It was then that I realized that I was the walking visage of gentrification that scares pretty much my whole neighborhood. Boo.

Things I've Been Tagging

I think I'm going to make this a monthly topic. Keep an eye out for updates!

Freakonomics: Diamond and Kashyap on the Recent Financial Upheavals: What's happening to the economy in as close to plain English as I can find.

ClustrMaps: I went to a blogging workshop for work the other day, and though most of it was stuff I already knew of, I thought the clustrmap seemed pretty fun.

Garlicky Pasta with Fresh Tomatoes and Basil: I have a recipe similar to this in my repitoire, but I thought it sounded yummy anyway.

The New Yorker- My Gal: I'm an East Coast liberal and I think the New Yorker is funny, so that probably means I'm an elite too.

Dog Training Inner Circle: I haven't joined, but he has lots of good free videos available. Training a puppy is hard!

90210 Scoop: Uh, duh? Got to keep up with my favorite zip code!

NYT Chumby article: This looks potentially awesome. I'm only about... 4 months behind on this.

How to Make Soft Pretzels: I am kind of obsessed with the idea of making soft pretzels. Yummmm....

Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night: New at the MOMA. One of my friends already went- I'm jealous.

Omnivore's Hundred

On Bucky's Barbecue and Bread, he completed this food meme from Very Good Taste, which is a British food blog. I thought it looked fun, so I'm going to try it.

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.

2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.

3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.

4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at Very Good Taste linking to your results.

So here’s my Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100.Snake

So... 53. I could probably do better. The funny thing is, I just had Pistacho Ice Cream for the first time this week. There were some things I didn't count though they technically might be true- for example, I have drunk Cognac and smoked a Cigar, but I don't think I've done them together. I also might have eaten some things that I just didn't know the name of. For example, I've had several Thai soups, but I don't think I've had Tom Yum. But maybe I have.

But this is a kind of fun exercise, and an interesting way to think about what I eat. I think I'm going to try to be more risk-taking in my food choices in the future, which is not typical of me. It's not that I'm an overly picky eater mind you; but there are things I like, and I know it, so I tend to stick with what I know.

Live Blogging 90210

Kajal is a big fan of my live-blogging entries, and after inviting a few of us over for an evening of 90210, I decided to drag my laptop along and do my best interpretation of live-blogging the premiere. So, Brianna, Kajal, Liz, (and Dilan and B by default) and myself met up at Kajal's apartment for pizza, snark, and 90210- the new class.

For the record, I'm going to try to not plot summarize as much as possible. I'm not a recapper on TWOP; I'm just someone who finds the idea of a new 90210 hilarious. If you want a recap, check out TWOP; I'm sure they have a good one. The ironic part of this for me is that I never watched 90210 in my youth. I've been catching up via Soap Net this summer, but I'm still not totally there. I caught the end (the after-college years?) and now they recently started over, so I'm probably about a month or two into it. Brenda and Dillan just started dating in my world, and Brandon is being a little over protective...
But on with the snark!

- Aunt Becky from Full House!

- Grandma character is awesome. She's the mother from Arrested Development, and she is a GREAT character. And her name is Tabitha. Awesome.

-"Black dude" has very small nipples. Brianna told me that I should call him black dude because we don't know his name yet, and she's assuming that he's the only black dude on the show.

-Blow job in the front seat would never have been on the old 90210.

-Teacher guy is totally hot. We're officially old. Frankly, the principal is pretty hot too. Liz finds it a little hard to believe that the original cast's kids are that old.

-They're really not going to let off on the fact that these new kids came from Wichita. I think it's been mentioned about five times already and we're only two minutes in.

-The Mr. Matthew's character is hot. If I didn't mention that before. Which I totally did.

-Andrea Zukerman's daughter is part of the class. And looks... exactly like it.

- They're doing *Spring Awakening* as their high school play???? Not only is it verrrry risqué, as Bri pointed out, the rights alone would be insanely expensive, if available at all. I mean, it's still on Broadway.

-Brenda! Even though I'm the only one that saw it. We rewound three times. Everyone else agrees with me.

-Drugs! Hidden in a book. Scandal! Artsy fartsy girl seems to have a problem...

-Rich Girl needs report written. New Girl handily already wrote a paper on that same topic. That she'll totally lend Rich Girl.

-Awww... Kajal sings to Dilan. It's super cute. Dilan might be cuter than Mr. Matthews, let me just note.

-Apparently, before the commercial break black dude was in a fight during lacrosse practice. Awesome grandma (who thinks she's too good for tater tots) thinks it might be racially motivated.

-Party at the Peach Pit (after dark?)!!!!!!

- Slutty rich girl mom stopped by principal's (/new kid's) house. They're really making this guy have an extensive West Beverly back story, despite the fact that I've never heard of him before.

- Becky is bitchy! Awesome! Plus, she dated some guy named Morris Cornbluth.

- Silver has a video blog. Half a million hits! That makes her.... 20 million times more popular than me. And she makes funny videos. Oh, and she's Kelly's little sister.

- Black guy's name is Dixon. Got to figure out what new-girls name is now (Dixon's sister). He got kicked off of the lacrosse team. Now maybe he can focus more on media club and get to being Brandon.

- 8 years ago something happened that made Dixon part of their family. "Really his son." Theories so far: adopted, foster-child, god child. 8 years ago would have made him about 8 years old.

- "I can't believe you copied the whole thing word for word." Really??? You gave it to her. To "look at." That's totally code for "copy it entirely"

- Is she crashing the party? The one that she was totally dis-invited from? Uh, yes. Actually, the quote the show "Are we actually crashing Naomi's party???"

- Brianna has seen the band playing at this not-sweet 16. She is way cooler than any of us.

- Rich Girl (Naomi's) mother is pissed off at principal guy for something that happened 20 years ago. Ah, that she had to give up his child in high school. That he didn't know about. I suppose I might be pissed off about that too.

- Rich Girl got a text, that stated "Your boyfriend is cheating on you. You know it's true" and freaked out crying and then broke up with him. Brianna thinks she's over reacting for gossip from an anonymous source.

-New Girl and Sliver, wearing fancy clothes, and possibly heels went to the beach. Ethan, who was at the party not two seconds ago, not only is already at the beach, but surfing, in a wetsuit and soaking wet. Brianna has predicted someone will get punched, (or shot) if the OC is any indication.

-Kelly has a kid. Who's the daddy? My money is Dillan.

- These kids are going to ruin their expensive clothing, because they're dancing in the salt water.

- Grandma character is awesome. Still.

- 2nd episode. Same as the first (but a little bit worse).

- In fact, I don't think the Ethan character is cute at all, whereas, the teacher characters are all cute. Like, he's not cute at alllllll. What was casting thinking?

- Ah! Artsy guy is cute. Kind of. Not as cute as the teacher or the principal, but still cute. And he's "noticed" Annie (aka new girl)

- Oh! Artsy girl is poor. A bitch, but poor. Maybe a bitch *because* she's poor in fact!

- Kajal astutely noted that Kelly's last name is still Taylor, implying singledom, and possible hook-up with hot teacher.

- Silver just had her best blogisode yet. This is quite possibly *my* best blogisode yet. Do you think that the term blogisode only refers to video blogs?

- Artsy guy's name is Ty Collins. Kajal thinks he's a little too pretty. His age isn't listed on IMDB. Instead it just says that his "age range" is 16-20. Lame. If you find out how old he is, let me know.

- We have a theory that Privileged is the same show as 90210.

- Artsy guy is flying New girl to dinner in San Fransisco. Nothing like that has ever happened to me.

- Awww. It's cute she's from Kansas! Artsy (super rich) guy thinks it's cute.

- Brenda!!!

- Brandon called Kelly at 3am and apparently hasn't seen his son (?) since he was a baby. Crappy dad Brandon, crappy dad. That's not how you were raised.

- Pigs in a car seem like a really big idea. I don't think your car would ever smell the same again after a pig pooed in it.

- Never do bad things. Because if you do, your grandmother will get in a car accident picking up her laptop because you were supposed to do it. This was foreshadowed (I'm an English teacher, can you tell?) earlier in the episode, when the principal and grandmother had a conversation about not driving on her pills and "iced tea."

- Ethan is wearing socks on in the pool. We don't quite know why, but my theory is that it has something to do with the fact that Brianna keeps mentioning how cold it is this time of year in California.

- Ethan is totally in LUV with new girl. I mean Annie. And he isn't wearing socks. It's just bad lighting. In an hour and a half, they have had an extremely complex relationship.

- Naomi and Silver have the same tattoo... ohhh... back story!

This is where my computer died. It was a long two hours ;) Luckily, I had a pencil and paper on me. The live-blogging must go on!

- Brenda is wearing a vest. Our group thinks this might be a not-so-subtle nod to the early 90s. Of course, this whole show could just be an extreme example of how that era is returning via fashion. I saw the grunge in In Touch. I know what the kids are wearing.

- These kids drink a ton of coffee. If they weren't all 6' tall amazons, I would remind them that coffee stunts your growth. And they get "coffee money". That just seems a little OD.

- Is it just me, or is Aunt Becky always from Kansas? I have to do some research here... ah, no. Her character on Full House was from Nebraska. The internet, is there anything it can't do?

- Poor friend-Ethan. That is all you will ever be. You and your pentopus should go back where you came from.

That's all folks! Wine club on Thursday, so I should have some reccomendations soon.

Live blogging the DNC (a not really political commentary)

Note: we were going to watch the convention on CNN, but they have an applause meter, and it annoyed J too much.

9:38pm The commentator (maybe it was David Brooks?) on PBS just called it the Osama campaign, not the Obama campaign. I think I am now going to have to live-blog the DNC.

- Maria Shriver looks like she wants to stop clapping, but can't due to the fact that they flash to her every three seconds. I feel for her. I hate clapping for too long (though I do love clapping rhythmically).

9:45: Interview with Kennedy's alternate delegate in 1980. She can barely hear the questions, and behind her is a girl texting on her blackberry. Let me just note, the delegate from 1980 is wearing an awesome zebra jacket. She's rocking. Much better dressed than the other women being interviewed (her first convention) who looks really uptight.

9:49: Peniel Joseph from Brandeis University is pretty cute. Best looking guy by far on this panel about Ted Kennedy.

10:16: The PBS commentator says mis-ur-a whereas the Senator from Missouri says Miss-ur-e. I wonder which one is right...

10:18: Ah, the PBS commentators took care of it. They said that there are two pronunciations.

10:26: Barak made Michelle date him by buying her ice cream. That's so sweet.

10:28: Michelle Obama's family is very good looking. She looks exactly like her mother too- Barak is a lucky man. She's also an excellent speaker.

10:46: J noticed that Joe Biden has sharks on his tie. Hmm....

10:48: How do all the people that only moments ago had Kennedy signs now have Michelle signs? I wonder how many signs these people have. Hmm... I wonder how sustainable this convention is. Do they recycle these signs? Are they made out of post-consumer materials? What kind of a world is it that America's Next Top Model is "green", but I'm not sure that the DNC is?

10:57: Sasha, Obama's daughter is adorable. She loooooves the microphone.

11:01: We switch to the Daily Show which (as it turns out) doesn't cover the convention until tomorrow. Oh well!

If everybody else were to jump off of the empire state building, would you do it too?

Probably not. But seeing how the new thing to do on your blog seems to be showing off your Yearbook Yourself photo, I might have to jump on that bandwagon...

This is the best one, and it is the one in which I look most like my mother. There was an artist's rendition of her in my home growing up, which, minus the glasses, this looks creepily like...

Think Globally

...Act Locally.

Today I took a much anticipated trip to my local Farmer's Market. Almost every Sunday I mean to go, and nearly every Sunday something comes up. The fact that I have a real Farmer's Market within a two block radius of my apartment is something that comforts me after I read The Omnivore's Dilemma and realize that yet again I missed the sign up date for my local CSA. Yet the fact that I take such little advantage of it does bother me.
Within the past year since I've moved to this neighborhood, the Farmer's Market has improved tenfold. A few more vendors have shown up, including an amazing fish monger and a couple more vegetable vendors. This morning I convinced my husband to take a walk over with me to pick up some groceries and breakfast to start our Sunday. Due to this visit (with our adorable new puppy, Cayman), I developed a meal based around seasonal, local foods (plus picked up some local eggs). It was delicious.
My meal tonight consisted of pan seared local scallops dressed with local sweet corn salsa (local tomatoes, canned black beans). As a side note, it is interesting to note that "sweet corn" is what we normally eat. The corn that you usually see out your car window driving down the road is "feed corn". That is fed to steer and other livestock, not to humans- it's harder, tougher and less "sweet" (though my "farmer's daughter" aunt told me once that she thinks that it would probably be pretty edible when it's young). As a friend of mine found out too late, farmers usually grow sweet corn closer to their homes, which makes it much harder to filch on road trips (shout out to JJ!).
On the side, I prepared fingerling potatoes, and snap peas from Fresh Direct (which is my love because it means that I no longer have to drag my butt to the store or groceries up flights of stairs; and my husband gets all the seltzer his heart desires). The entire meal felt really light and fresh. The scallops had a nice buttery crust while remaining sweet, and the salsa tasted crisp and bright. I'm hoping it will be a bit more complex tomorrow after the flavors have a chance to "marry" a bit more.
We also shared a great bottle of wine, which was one of a trio that I bought for my husband for our second anniversary. It is a mixed red from Napa Valley called "The Prisoner" out of Orin Swift Cellars. I felt it smelled vaguely of cinnamon and wood with a lightly oak-y blueberry and cherry taste. It had a dry-ish ending and a beautiful deep red color. The other two wines will be drunk through the course of our marriage (one at 5 years and one at 7 years), and if they're as good as this wine, I'm greatly looking forward to them.

As a side note, our puppy remains the cutest that we have ever seen. It's hard to believe that it's only been a week since he's been in our lives. I am beginning to fear we will be the most obnoxious parents. Today we headed over to Astoria Park with him. There's a dog-run by Shore Towers that he got to hang out in, and the rest of the time was spent lazing around/running on the "great lawn" area. We had a few visitors, did some crosswords, and generally had a great afternoon. As far as Sundays go, this was a great one to almost-end my summer on.

Good Advice

Today I passed the scrolling billboard in front of Yankee Stadium. On game days, it gives information about, well, the Yankees. The rest of the time, I assume they sell the space to various companies to make a buck. As we passed by this evening, the message I read was:

"Always wear a life jacket"

to which my immediate response was: Always? I'm in a car! It just doesn't seem necessary.

We can only hope there was additional information that was given after we passed by to make that life advice a little more specific.

Puppy!

Meet Cayman, our new 6 month old puppy! Need I say more?

Everybody Loves a Clown

...just not necessarily on the subway.

The other day I was on my way home from a day of grad school and Shake Shack deliciousness when my peaceful subway ride home while reading The Other Boleyn Girl (which has since graduated to my Netflix queue) was interrupted by an onslaught of clowns.

Yes, clowns.

At the 34th Street station, around 12 clowns came on to my car, along with a variety of clown accompaniments. One clown had a hula-hoop. One had a children's riding toy that looked like a fire truck. They all were in full clown regalia, including wigs and makeup. And they all talked in what were possibly the most annoying voices possible. It turns out clowns do not speak like normal people- they talk in high, squeaky voices that are incredibly grating.

The good thing about clowns is that they are pretty funny. Every stop when people got on the train, they said "hi!" and waved. They rode the fire truck down the center aisle of the train. They got random people on the train to hula hoop. They danced. They sang.

The thing is, I am both a jaded New Yorker and a wide-eyed optimist. Because of that, I was torn between ignoring the clowns and cracking up over them. I half read my book, straight faced and half watched them in growing disbelief. These clowns were all in my age range. Yet they kept this squeaky voiced routine up for 9 subway stops, and two boroughs. When they finally got out in Queens, the woman next to me commented that now they could go scare children.

Random Observation

On the radio, television and in print I have noticed a trend that kind of surprised me. It seems that young children are trying to get away with something. And that thing is going to bed without changing into their pajamas. It seems that by not changing into their pajamas, children the world over will be able to save time both at night and in the morning simply by keeping their clothes on.
This doesn't seem desirable to me, because if it was up to me, I would never change out of my pajamas- they are very comfy. In fact, it seems that by age 16, this trend of not wanting to put on pajamas totally reverses itself, and you get the strange phenomena of people wearing pajamas as clothing all the time. However, most of us move past that and become functioning adults, wearing our pajamas at night and our clothing during the day (and those who don't end up on What Not to Wear).