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!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
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!
Saturday, September 27, 2008
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.
It was then that I realized that I was the walking visage of gentrification that scares pretty much my whole neighborhood. Boo.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
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.
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.
Sunday, September 07, 2008
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.
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
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.
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.
Monday, August 25, 2008
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!
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!
Thursday, August 21, 2008
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...
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...
Sunday, August 17, 2008
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.
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.
Monday, August 11, 2008
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.
"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.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
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.
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.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
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).
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).
Friday, July 11, 2008
Things I've been tagging
I'm vaguely obsessed with del.icio.us, a social bookmarking website that allows you to save websites that you find online, and share them with your friends. Here are some of the things that I've been tagging this week.
Stumptown Coffee Roasters- this coffee shop has a Seattle location, where J and I are going to be next week. We're soliciting recommendations if you have any!
Curry Chicken Soup- sounds delicious, no? Recipes are probably my #1 tag- especially when I'm reading tastespotting.
Pingg- for years I've been bored of evite, but haven't found a reasonable alternative. Could this be it?
The best lock to protect your bike- I just got a new bike! It might not need the *best* lock, but I would like it not to get stolen. Just in case, I haven't left it outside a store yet- I've just gone pleasure riding.
The Seattle Underground Tour- someone from Seattle recommended this as her favorite touristy thing to do in town. Again, if you've been to Seattle (and you're not Brianna who has already done this), suggest away! We love ideas.
Baby Toy Alternatives- as some of my friends have been having kids, and I'm thinking about having some myself, ideas for low-mess apartment friendly, sustainable toys are on my mind. This article has some good ideas (and Unclutterer is an awesome blog).
The Boys and the Subway- both my husband and Brianna tagged this for me. It's an adorable NYC picture book, and it made me smile.
Salumi Artisan Cured Meats- One of Brianna's Seattle suggestions. YUM.
Update on the Red Hook Ball Fields- we have a date to go to the ballfields, but last I heard, they still weren't open. Keep your fingers crossed that it will happen soon!
This isn't comprehensive, but a pretty good overview of fun things I've found in my travels this week. If you're on del.icio.us and want to be my friend, let me know and I'll add you. I tag things for people all the time that look interesting or fun, and it drives me crazy when I want to tag something for someone and have to email it instead. I think we all should start to embrace social bookmarking.
Stumptown Coffee Roasters- this coffee shop has a Seattle location, where J and I are going to be next week. We're soliciting recommendations if you have any!
Curry Chicken Soup- sounds delicious, no? Recipes are probably my #1 tag- especially when I'm reading tastespotting.
Pingg- for years I've been bored of evite, but haven't found a reasonable alternative. Could this be it?
The best lock to protect your bike- I just got a new bike! It might not need the *best* lock, but I would like it not to get stolen. Just in case, I haven't left it outside a store yet- I've just gone pleasure riding.
The Seattle Underground Tour- someone from Seattle recommended this as her favorite touristy thing to do in town. Again, if you've been to Seattle (and you're not Brianna who has already done this), suggest away! We love ideas.
Baby Toy Alternatives- as some of my friends have been having kids, and I'm thinking about having some myself, ideas for low-mess apartment friendly, sustainable toys are on my mind. This article has some good ideas (and Unclutterer is an awesome blog).
The Boys and the Subway- both my husband and Brianna tagged this for me. It's an adorable NYC picture book, and it made me smile.
Salumi Artisan Cured Meats- One of Brianna's Seattle suggestions. YUM.
Update on the Red Hook Ball Fields- we have a date to go to the ballfields, but last I heard, they still weren't open. Keep your fingers crossed that it will happen soon!
This isn't comprehensive, but a pretty good overview of fun things I've found in my travels this week. If you're on del.icio.us and want to be my friend, let me know and I'll add you. I tag things for people all the time that look interesting or fun, and it drives me crazy when I want to tag something for someone and have to email it instead. I think we all should start to embrace social bookmarking.
Saturday, July 05, 2008
mememe
About a month ago, Brianna tagged me for a meme which I responded to by not blogging for a month, therefore avoiding responsibility by not writing at all- even though if it was only self imposed responsibility which few people even see. But tonight I have decided to buck up and finish this so that I can blog in the future without feeling irrational guilt.
Anyway, the meming goes like this:
Anyway, the meming goes like this:
1. Link to the person who tagged you (check. At least twice)
2. Post the rules on your blog (uh, check? Seems kind of silly)
3. Write six random things about yourself (This is where I start to freak out because I have no clue of what to write)
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs (And this is where I get out of something, because I don't even *know* six people who blog, well, at least who haven't already done this meme.)
5. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website. (off the hook-- boo-ya)
6. Let your tagger know when your entry is up. (well, now)
In some ways I think that writing six random things about myself should be easy. There are many random things about me. However, random doesn't necessarily mean interesting, and it seems like something of a waste to post boring random things. I want my random things to tell a story- to draw people in and form a sense of commonality of all our experiences. So, please bear with me in my grand attempt.
1) I measure time in people's ages.
That doesn't really make a lot of sense written down, so let me try to explain. In some ways, everyone measures time in age. I'm 30, my cousin is 17 and my father is in his 50s. But when I think about events and objects, I measure that in age. A school year is a pregnancy- about 9 months. I've been married for almost a toddler- just about 2 years- but have been with my husband for a 4th grader- 10 years. I've lived in New York City for a nearly a 3rd grader- 8 years. I like being able to visualize how long something is, and measuring in people's ages really helps me do that. And in case you were wondering, if all goes well, I'll be retiring by the time Kajal's beautiful little girl is a 25 year old woman, graduated from college, and making her way in the world.
2) I often get along with children better than I get along with adults.
I really like playing. At family gatherings, I will rarely be found socializing with the adults in the kitchen, but instead will be the one playing game upon game of tic-tac-toe, or hide and seek. I will roll down a hill or play tag or jump from colored square to colored square on the rug in my bedroom. I love coloring books, crayons, plain white paper and paint. I like not having the pressure to be an adult. If you need a babysitter, call me.
3) This made me cry. And laugh- don't get me wrong. But totally cry. It made me think of the beauty of humanity and the world. I must have too many hormones or something.
4) Music isn't a big thing to me.
I mean, don't get me wrong- I like music and all. But music seems to mean way more to 99.25% of the people in the world than it does to me. I got through high school both listening to the radio and swingin' on the flippity-flop, but I was more into obsessively listening to my copies of Oliver! and The Secret Garden (oh, Mandy Patinkin, how I love you). By the time I entered college I owned about 20 CDs (Brianna will scoff at this number, and label it closer to 5 with one of those being En Vogue, so does it even count?), the majority of them being Billy Joel and Broadway musicals. I was fine with that. My major musical influences now are as follows: Dar Williams, Ani DiFranco, Ben Folds and no, actually I think that's it. I supplement with The Postal Service, Jets to Brazil and whatever it is that my husband is currently listening to. And I'm still just fine with this.
5) I grew upon next to a farm.
When my parents bought the house I grew up in, you couldn't see another house in any direction. Straight ahead, out of the front door- a farm. To the left, woods, then a farm. To the right, woods, then a tree nursery. To the back, woods, then the same farm that was to the left. The man whom my parents bought their land from was the farmer who lived down the street (and owned the farm that we were mostly surrounded by).
When I was little, you could see houses, but they were still pretty far away. My brother and I would run through the woods to the fields behind our house to pick strawberries and corn. We would ride our bikes through the dirt paths (we weren't allowed to ride on our surprisingly busy street with a 40mph speed limit and small shoulder) and feed long pieces of grass to thecows steer. My uncle married one of the farmer's daughters and they built a house in the woods to our right. My aunt taught us how to dig for potatoes and her father fed us cow's tongue sandwiches (I opted for good old fashioned PBJ). Now that the farm is condos and a golf course, I'm pretty nostalgic for my rural youth, with all the pros of living on the farm, with none of the "getting up early" or "taking care of vegetables" that seemed to take the romance out of actually being Laura Ingalls Wilder.
6) I've never really broken a bone (though I once fractured my middle finger in gym class)
If I ever play "two truths and a lie" with you, my lie is that I broke my leg during gymnastics in 7th grade (one of my truths is #5). Though I did suffer a nasty bruise from falling off the balance beam that year after attempting a 360 degree jump during practice, my bones have stayed more or less in one piece for my entire life.
The only minor exception to this random fact also occurred in middle school. We had co-ed gym, which to adolescent girls is both "whoo!" in the fact that they get proximity to adolescent boys (which is desired) and "egads!" for the same reason (though most people would not say egads). My gym teachers- Mr. C and Mr. S (Mr. C actually went by Mr. C; Mr. S went by his name, but I later dated his son, so I'll refer to him by S to give him some anonymity) decided that they wanted us to weight train by doing stations through the gym. This was awesome for them (which I can totally vouch for now as an actual teacher- great strategy guys!) as they could teach us for about 1 day on the correct way to use each station, and then spend the rest of the unit sitting at the side of the gym bullshitting as we did what they taught us to do on day one. It was really the workshop model at it's best, and I applaud them. However, I was kind of a dumbass, and probably to impress some boy that wouldn't pay attention to me until I was 25 and way hotter than I was at 13, I used weights that were too heavy for me to do a Dumbbell Lateral Raise (I just had to spend about 5 minutes googling that). The weight of the dumbbells made it so that instead of the weights coming together in a slow, controlled movement, they crashed together really hard. And when I say "together" I mean a weight sandwich with my middle finger as the meat inside dumbbell bread. The Misters C and S ignored my tears and gave me a band-aid. A week later my finger still hurt a lot, making my mother bring me to the doctor. Some x-rays later, my middle finger was was in a splint and a bandage, making it so puking in Math class actually wasn't the worst thing that happened to me in Middle School.
So, that's my meme. I hope you enjoyed it, and now I can go back to not blogging because I'm lazy rather than through misguided guilt.
2. Post the rules on your blog (uh, check? Seems kind of silly)
3. Write six random things about yourself (This is where I start to freak out because I have no clue of what to write)
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs (And this is where I get out of something, because I don't even *know* six people who blog, well, at least who haven't already done this meme.)
5. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website. (off the hook-- boo-ya)
6. Let your tagger know when your entry is up. (well, now)
In some ways I think that writing six random things about myself should be easy. There are many random things about me. However, random doesn't necessarily mean interesting, and it seems like something of a waste to post boring random things. I want my random things to tell a story- to draw people in and form a sense of commonality of all our experiences. So, please bear with me in my grand attempt.
1) I measure time in people's ages.
That doesn't really make a lot of sense written down, so let me try to explain. In some ways, everyone measures time in age. I'm 30, my cousin is 17 and my father is in his 50s. But when I think about events and objects, I measure that in age. A school year is a pregnancy- about 9 months. I've been married for almost a toddler- just about 2 years- but have been with my husband for a 4th grader- 10 years. I've lived in New York City for a nearly a 3rd grader- 8 years. I like being able to visualize how long something is, and measuring in people's ages really helps me do that. And in case you were wondering, if all goes well, I'll be retiring by the time Kajal's beautiful little girl is a 25 year old woman, graduated from college, and making her way in the world.
2) I often get along with children better than I get along with adults.
I really like playing. At family gatherings, I will rarely be found socializing with the adults in the kitchen, but instead will be the one playing game upon game of tic-tac-toe, or hide and seek. I will roll down a hill or play tag or jump from colored square to colored square on the rug in my bedroom. I love coloring books, crayons, plain white paper and paint. I like not having the pressure to be an adult. If you need a babysitter, call me.
3) This made me cry. And laugh- don't get me wrong. But totally cry. It made me think of the beauty of humanity and the world. I must have too many hormones or something.
4) Music isn't a big thing to me.
I mean, don't get me wrong- I like music and all. But music seems to mean way more to 99.25% of the people in the world than it does to me. I got through high school both listening to the radio and swingin' on the flippity-flop, but I was more into obsessively listening to my copies of Oliver! and The Secret Garden (oh, Mandy Patinkin, how I love you). By the time I entered college I owned about 20 CDs (Brianna will scoff at this number, and label it closer to 5 with one of those being En Vogue, so does it even count?), the majority of them being Billy Joel and Broadway musicals. I was fine with that. My major musical influences now are as follows: Dar Williams, Ani DiFranco, Ben Folds and no, actually I think that's it. I supplement with The Postal Service, Jets to Brazil and whatever it is that my husband is currently listening to. And I'm still just fine with this.
5) I grew up
When my parents bought the house I grew up in, you couldn't see another house in any direction. Straight ahead, out of the front door- a farm. To the left, woods, then a farm. To the right, woods, then a tree nursery. To the back, woods, then the same farm that was to the left. The man whom my parents bought their land from was the farmer who lived down the street (and owned the farm that we were mostly surrounded by).
When I was little, you could see houses, but they were still pretty far away. My brother and I would run through the woods to the fields behind our house to pick strawberries and corn. We would ride our bikes through the dirt paths (we weren't allowed to ride on our surprisingly busy street with a 40mph speed limit and small shoulder) and feed long pieces of grass to the
6) I've never really broken a bone (though I once fractured my middle finger in gym class)
If I ever play "two truths and a lie" with you, my lie is that I broke my leg during gymnastics in 7th grade (one of my truths is #5). Though I did suffer a nasty bruise from falling off the balance beam that year after attempting a 360 degree jump during practice, my bones have stayed more or less in one piece for my entire life.
The only minor exception to this random fact also occurred in middle school. We had co-ed gym, which to adolescent girls is both "whoo!" in the fact that they get proximity to adolescent boys (which is desired) and "egads!" for the same reason (though most people would not say egads). My gym teachers- Mr. C and Mr. S (Mr. C actually went by Mr. C; Mr. S went by his name, but I later dated his son, so I'll refer to him by S to give him some anonymity) decided that they wanted us to weight train by doing stations through the gym. This was awesome for them (which I can totally vouch for now as an actual teacher- great strategy guys!) as they could teach us for about 1 day on the correct way to use each station, and then spend the rest of the unit sitting at the side of the gym bullshitting as we did what they taught us to do on day one. It was really the workshop model at it's best, and I applaud them. However, I was kind of a dumbass, and probably to impress some boy that wouldn't pay attention to me until I was 25 and way hotter than I was at 13, I used weights that were too heavy for me to do a Dumbbell Lateral Raise (I just had to spend about 5 minutes googling that). The weight of the dumbbells made it so that instead of the weights coming together in a slow, controlled movement, they crashed together really hard. And when I say "together" I mean a weight sandwich with my middle finger as the meat inside dumbbell bread. The Misters C and S ignored my tears and gave me a band-aid. A week later my finger still hurt a lot, making my mother bring me to the doctor. Some x-rays later, my middle finger was was in a splint and a bandage, making it so puking in Math class actually wasn't the worst thing that happened to me in Middle School.
So, that's my meme. I hope you enjoyed it, and now I can go back to not blogging because I'm lazy rather than through misguided guilt.
Friday, April 18, 2008
On Sleeping
This is a meditation of sorts that I wrote on the train awhile ago. It's not the kind of thing I would normally post here, but it's the kind of thing that I do I normally write. I like looking at people on the subway and creating histories for them. I wrote three short profiles that day of people on the train with me, but this one ended up to be more about sleeping than about the girl who was falling asleep. I hope you like it.
The train rumbles, shaking and rocking along the tracks, through the tunnels towards Manhattan. Wrapped up in her warm jacket, hood up and arms folded against her chest, her head begins to nod as the train lulls her into sleep.
It always happens like this. Parents who take their children for long drives to lull them to sleep find years later that their tiny tots, stretched out with the magic of time, are now the adults whose eyelids get heavy on short car trips to the market. The ones who nap during their half hour commute and revel in the long stretches of sleep that can only be found on a transcontinental flight.
Her purse is secured tightly in her lap; or perhaps tucked next to the rail, an arm intertwined with the strap. Her chin begins to lean against her chest, and the lullaby of the conductor is the only thing she can hear.
The train rumbles, shaking and rocking along the tracks, through the tunnels towards Manhattan. Wrapped up in her warm jacket, hood up and arms folded against her chest, her head begins to nod as the train lulls her into sleep.
It always happens like this. Parents who take their children for long drives to lull them to sleep find years later that their tiny tots, stretched out with the magic of time, are now the adults whose eyelids get heavy on short car trips to the market. The ones who nap during their half hour commute and revel in the long stretches of sleep that can only be found on a transcontinental flight.
Her purse is secured tightly in her lap; or perhaps tucked next to the rail, an arm intertwined with the strap. Her chin begins to lean against her chest, and the lullaby of the conductor is the only thing she can hear.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Fun Fact of the Day
Apparently, lots of states have buildings that are shaped like coffee-pots.
Case in point: Big Coffee Pots
Does no one else find this strange?
Interesting note: Long Island (where I grew up) has a large duck. That however, is perfectly normal (and according to the article, is the darling of roadside attractions. Take that salt and pepper shaker museum!). Much like naming a town "Hicksville" isn't really funny either. Well, until someone says it and everyone not from Long Island bursts out into laughter while you stare around going "Huh? What's so funny?" until it finally dawns on you that the town is called HICKSville! Ah... funny!
Next week, J and I will be heading on a road trip adventure down to Graceland, Tennessee as inspired, not only by the King, but also by the lyrics of Paul Simon, spring break and a 10 year anniversary. When I get back I'm sure I'll have lots to write about and pictures to show!!!
Road trip 2008!!!! BFF!!! WHOO!!!!!
Case in point: Big Coffee Pots
Does no one else find this strange?
Interesting note: Long Island (where I grew up) has a large duck. That however, is perfectly normal (and according to the article, is the darling of roadside attractions. Take that salt and pepper shaker museum!). Much like naming a town "Hicksville" isn't really funny either. Well, until someone says it and everyone not from Long Island bursts out into laughter while you stare around going "Huh? What's so funny?" until it finally dawns on you that the town is called HICKSville! Ah... funny!
Next week, J and I will be heading on a road trip adventure down to Graceland, Tennessee as inspired, not only by the King, but also by the lyrics of Paul Simon, spring break and a 10 year anniversary. When I get back I'm sure I'll have lots to write about and pictures to show!!!
Road trip 2008!!!! BFF!!! WHOO!!!!!
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Sorry to Disappoint You
One of my favorite posts that Brianna does is when she has nothing else to write about is when she analyzes how people get to her site via google and other search engines. So, being something of a copycat, I decided to apologize to all the people who are looking for things they're just not finding here at my magical place...
1) I am not a stripper, and I do not know any strippers named Amy.
2) I do not know any strippers in Ithaca. Sorry.
3) I do not know any magical strippers. However, if I find any I will be sure to post about it.
4) I do not know any strippers that will jump out of a cake in NY.
5) I do not know what strippers look at. I'm sure you can picture what a stripper looks like. Use your imagination, don't look at blogs.
6) I do not know of any giant bobby pins in NYC. Sorry.
7) I do not know of any strippers named Amy in Milwaukee.
8) I do not know of any women who strip on the subway in queens.
9) I don't have any real tips to tell you how to drink more beer (with a d?).
and finally, despite the name of this blog,
10) I have no real advice on how to make magical dreams come true.
So guys, especially those in search of a stripper, I'm really sorry to disappoint you. Good luck finding what you need somewhere else.
1) I am not a stripper, and I do not know any strippers named Amy.
2) I do not know any strippers in Ithaca. Sorry.
3) I do not know any magical strippers. However, if I find any I will be sure to post about it.
4) I do not know any strippers that will jump out of a cake in NY.
5) I do not know what strippers look at. I'm sure you can picture what a stripper looks like. Use your imagination, don't look at blogs.
6) I do not know of any giant bobby pins in NYC. Sorry.
7) I do not know of any strippers named Amy in Milwaukee.
8) I do not know of any women who strip on the subway in queens.
9) I don't have any real tips to tell you how to drink more beer (with a d?).
and finally, despite the name of this blog,
10) I have no real advice on how to make magical dreams come true.
So guys, especially those in search of a stripper, I'm really sorry to disappoint you. Good luck finding what you need somewhere else.
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Fried Chicken, With a Twist
Today, on our way to get our tires rotated, my husband and I were stuck in Flushing with an hour or two to kill. If you have never been there, Flushing Queens is a fascinating place. After running some errands at Walgreens, we walked around a nearby strip mall, ducking into Fancy Fancy trying to find some accessories for my Mr. Bento and Payless for some halfhearted cheap shoe shopping. We then ventured some more down Northern Boulevard where we were realized lived a (delicious) phenomenon that we had only dipped our toes into- the world of Korean Fried Chicken.
In our humble neighborhood of Jackson Heights, best known for it's Indian, Bengali, Columbian and Peruvian cuisine and culture, there lies a small Korean presence. It is seen most obviously in the bright shiny newness of the Yogurtberry on 37th Avenue. It takes you by surprise when you get off the subway at 2am to find that Chung Ki Wa Restaurant is open 24 hours a day. Nearby there is even a Korean place called Prince HOF, which is a Korean style beer garden! But the availability of Korean Fried Chicken trumps all of that.
After we had moved into our apartment, when we were still sitting on the floor for meals and eating off of boxes we had our first introduction to Korean Fried Chicken in the form of our local eatery, Unidentified Flying Chicken(the tast [sic] is out of this world!). We had found UFC as we had taken a long walk through Jackson Heights via Roosevelt Avenue, admiring the amazing variety of foods available and gathering menus to make our "dishes are still packed" lifestyle as palatable as possible. We passed by restaurants as varied as Taqueria Coatzingo to the Himalayan Yak. But UFC was different. It was sleek and shiny and minimalist. And it sold fried chicken.
I don't remember much about that first introduction to Korean fried chicken, except for the fact that after our meal we were all pretty happy and satisfied. We haven't tried it again since. However, on our local message board, there has been a recent conversation about Korean Fried Chicken again. And so I started to get an itch. A very delicious itch.
I'm going to take a moment here to address the question that I'm sure some have been dying to ask. And that question is "Amy? Are you really sure you should be eating fried chicken??? With your incomplete digestive tract? Really?" And the answer to that is: I'm kind of dumb, and reckless, and willing to sacrifice some personal discomfort for some seriously good food. Well, that and so far, so good (knock on wood). So: I know, I know. I'm dumb.
So today, walking down Northern Blvd, a little peckish and a lot bored, my husband and I decided to stop into one of the yummy looking Korean fried chicken places that lined the streets and indulge. Bon Chon Chicken is pretty much what I remembered my induldgence at UFC to be. We split an order of chicken wings, half soy garlic glaze and half spicy. To start, we had a salad (kind of boring with russian dressing that tasted like special-sauce) and pickled radishes (yum!!!). I got a beer- Hite. The chicken took a while to come out because they cook it to order, but when we got the extremely generous portion, we were extremely pleased. The chicken isn't overly heavy or greasy but is crispy and flavorful. The beer and the radishes complimented it perfectly. J didn't find that the spicy wings reminiscent of buffalo wings, but I did. He thought they tasted more along the lines of hot peppers, while I thought they had a back note of vinegar. The soy and garlic was subtle, but good. I didn't have too much of the chicken (maybe 4 pieces) and J finished off the rest and I think we were both satisfied with the amount of food. I got some frozen yogurt (Korean style) on the way out. By the end of our meal, our tires were ready and we were full! How perfect is that?
In our humble neighborhood of Jackson Heights, best known for it's Indian, Bengali, Columbian and Peruvian cuisine and culture, there lies a small Korean presence. It is seen most obviously in the bright shiny newness of the Yogurtberry on 37th Avenue. It takes you by surprise when you get off the subway at 2am to find that Chung Ki Wa Restaurant is open 24 hours a day. Nearby there is even a Korean place called Prince HOF, which is a Korean style beer garden! But the availability of Korean Fried Chicken trumps all of that.
After we had moved into our apartment, when we were still sitting on the floor for meals and eating off of boxes we had our first introduction to Korean Fried Chicken in the form of our local eatery, Unidentified Flying Chicken(the tast [sic] is out of this world!). We had found UFC as we had taken a long walk through Jackson Heights via Roosevelt Avenue, admiring the amazing variety of foods available and gathering menus to make our "dishes are still packed" lifestyle as palatable as possible. We passed by restaurants as varied as Taqueria Coatzingo to the Himalayan Yak. But UFC was different. It was sleek and shiny and minimalist. And it sold fried chicken.
I don't remember much about that first introduction to Korean fried chicken, except for the fact that after our meal we were all pretty happy and satisfied. We haven't tried it again since. However, on our local message board, there has been a recent conversation about Korean Fried Chicken again. And so I started to get an itch. A very delicious itch.
I'm going to take a moment here to address the question that I'm sure some have been dying to ask. And that question is "Amy? Are you really sure you should be eating fried chicken??? With your incomplete digestive tract? Really?" And the answer to that is: I'm kind of dumb, and reckless, and willing to sacrifice some personal discomfort for some seriously good food. Well, that and so far, so good (knock on wood). So: I know, I know. I'm dumb.
So today, walking down Northern Blvd, a little peckish and a lot bored, my husband and I decided to stop into one of the yummy looking Korean fried chicken places that lined the streets and indulge. Bon Chon Chicken is pretty much what I remembered my induldgence at UFC to be. We split an order of chicken wings, half soy garlic glaze and half spicy. To start, we had a salad (kind of boring with russian dressing that tasted like special-sauce) and pickled radishes (yum!!!). I got a beer- Hite. The chicken took a while to come out because they cook it to order, but when we got the extremely generous portion, we were extremely pleased. The chicken isn't overly heavy or greasy but is crispy and flavorful. The beer and the radishes complimented it perfectly. J didn't find that the spicy wings reminiscent of buffalo wings, but I did. He thought they tasted more along the lines of hot peppers, while I thought they had a back note of vinegar. The soy and garlic was subtle, but good. I didn't have too much of the chicken (maybe 4 pieces) and J finished off the rest and I think we were both satisfied with the amount of food. I got some frozen yogurt (Korean style) on the way out. By the end of our meal, our tires were ready and we were full! How perfect is that?
Monday, March 31, 2008
Spring Has Sprung, The Grass Has Riz...
I wonder when vacation is!
Actually, I don't wonder that at all... it's on April 19th. I'm counting down the days....
But in the meantime, I'm enjoying my favorite of all seasons. Spring. Though Spring does has its negatives (rain, cold and did I mention the rain and the cold?), the little happy surprises of spring make up for it (for me at least). That warm day after a blustery cold one, when I don't have to wear a jacket. The haze of green that begins to creep over all the tired gray, old trees, making them young and new again. The crocuses, daffodils and tulips peeking out of the freshly thawed ground. The forsythia, bursting in yellow like spots of sunshine scattered among the still monotone landscape.
Spring makes me a little crazy (is that what they call "spring fever"?). Every so often, in the spring I get the urge to go for a run. For some people, that might not be crazy at all. In fact, I hear there are people who run all year round, just for the fun of it (not because they're being chased). I am not one of those people. I may take a stroll, or even a brisk walk. If I ever got a bicycle, I might even ride it. But I do not run. Yet, there comes a tricky day in spring where the sun is shining and the breeze is warm and you can smell dirt and flowers and freshness in the air, when my poor brain is tricked into thinking that a good run is all that is needed to make that day perfect.
The first time this happened to me was my first year of college, in 1997. I was sitting in Lit Con I (I remember it perfectly) listening to Professor Cummings discuss the book we were reading, but secretly glancing out the window at the perfectness of the spring day outside. The tree outside the tall windows of Demerest were starting to bloom into the pink flowers that smell like Pez, and the snow that lingers so long in upstate NY was starting to truly melt away. It was the kind of day that, though it was still 40 degrees and pretty cold, the braver (or dumber) of the boys I went to school with would shed their winter socks and shoes and start traipsing about campus in the flip flops that had to be retired during the sub freezing temperatures of winter. But this 40 degree weather, this thaw, was as good as summer to them. As it turns out, frat boys are not the only ones who are susceptible to this spring fever, and on that day, during this class, gazing longingly out the window at the clear blue sky and listening to the sound of the melting snow, I began to make plans to go for a run in order to perfectly enjoy this first, beautiful day of spring.
After class I headed up the Hill to my room where I changed into a pair of shorts and a long sleeved t-shirt adorned with a counterfeit Calvin and Hobbes dancing in the rain. I threw my 80s mix tape into my walkman (hey- it was 1997) and headed out for my run. I made it down the Hill okay, and jogged up St. Clair Street, beginning to question the judgment of my run already. As I ran towards the lake, I began to remember what I know when I am in my right mind- that I really don't like to run. However, I didn't want to look dumb and turn around, running straight home after an 1/8 of a mile, so I continued on, deciding to run a respectable loop up St. Clair, down South Main, through Houghton House property, down Jay, down Pultney until I reached St. Clair again and back up the Hill to my home. Mapping it out now, it comes to a respectable 2.893 miles (thank you Google map pedometer). I reached the lake and was beginning to catch something of a second wind, when, right in front of Sigma Chi, the impossible happened (or the very possible happened). I fell.
Splat. Boom. At least 1 mile away from medical care, I fell face first onto the sidewalk. After gathering my walkman and battery from where they had scattered, I stood up and evaluated the situation. My knee was gross and bloody and I could barely limp along, much less continue my run (you may want to note here, that though I consistently refer to this as my run, it probably counts more as a leisurely jog). Not expecting to become maimed during my celebration of this glorious spring day, I did not have a good plan on how to stop my knee from continuing to bleed in a very non-spring day like way. I limped my way over to Houghton House, but instead of going in and possibly bumping into a person who would then see that I can't even do something as simple as go for a run without killing herself, I limp my way over to the Sunken Gardens and apply non-melted snow to my knee to numb it and stop the bleeding. I then limp my way home.
To this day I carry on my knee a large, grotesque scar as a warning to myself during those days when a run in the spring sunshine feels like a great plan. However, the siren call of that warm breeze is often stronger than the quarter sized scar on my knee and for one brief day, I am no longer Amy- non athlete, but I am one with nature. I am the wind; the hyperventilating, sweating, red wind with a big ugly scar on her knee.
Actually, I don't wonder that at all... it's on April 19th. I'm counting down the days....
But in the meantime, I'm enjoying my favorite of all seasons. Spring. Though Spring does has its negatives (rain, cold and did I mention the rain and the cold?), the little happy surprises of spring make up for it (for me at least). That warm day after a blustery cold one, when I don't have to wear a jacket. The haze of green that begins to creep over all the tired gray, old trees, making them young and new again. The crocuses, daffodils and tulips peeking out of the freshly thawed ground. The forsythia, bursting in yellow like spots of sunshine scattered among the still monotone landscape.
Spring makes me a little crazy (is that what they call "spring fever"?). Every so often, in the spring I get the urge to go for a run. For some people, that might not be crazy at all. In fact, I hear there are people who run all year round, just for the fun of it (not because they're being chased). I am not one of those people. I may take a stroll, or even a brisk walk. If I ever got a bicycle, I might even ride it. But I do not run. Yet, there comes a tricky day in spring where the sun is shining and the breeze is warm and you can smell dirt and flowers and freshness in the air, when my poor brain is tricked into thinking that a good run is all that is needed to make that day perfect.
The first time this happened to me was my first year of college, in 1997. I was sitting in Lit Con I (I remember it perfectly) listening to Professor Cummings discuss the book we were reading, but secretly glancing out the window at the perfectness of the spring day outside. The tree outside the tall windows of Demerest were starting to bloom into the pink flowers that smell like Pez, and the snow that lingers so long in upstate NY was starting to truly melt away. It was the kind of day that, though it was still 40 degrees and pretty cold, the braver (or dumber) of the boys I went to school with would shed their winter socks and shoes and start traipsing about campus in the flip flops that had to be retired during the sub freezing temperatures of winter. But this 40 degree weather, this thaw, was as good as summer to them. As it turns out, frat boys are not the only ones who are susceptible to this spring fever, and on that day, during this class, gazing longingly out the window at the clear blue sky and listening to the sound of the melting snow, I began to make plans to go for a run in order to perfectly enjoy this first, beautiful day of spring.
After class I headed up the Hill to my room where I changed into a pair of shorts and a long sleeved t-shirt adorned with a counterfeit Calvin and Hobbes dancing in the rain. I threw my 80s mix tape into my walkman (hey- it was 1997) and headed out for my run. I made it down the Hill okay, and jogged up St. Clair Street, beginning to question the judgment of my run already. As I ran towards the lake, I began to remember what I know when I am in my right mind- that I really don't like to run. However, I didn't want to look dumb and turn around, running straight home after an 1/8 of a mile, so I continued on, deciding to run a respectable loop up St. Clair, down South Main, through Houghton House property, down Jay, down Pultney until I reached St. Clair again and back up the Hill to my home. Mapping it out now, it comes to a respectable 2.893 miles (thank you Google map pedometer). I reached the lake and was beginning to catch something of a second wind, when, right in front of Sigma Chi, the impossible happened (or the very possible happened). I fell.
Splat. Boom. At least 1 mile away from medical care, I fell face first onto the sidewalk. After gathering my walkman and battery from where they had scattered, I stood up and evaluated the situation. My knee was gross and bloody and I could barely limp along, much less continue my run (you may want to note here, that though I consistently refer to this as my run, it probably counts more as a leisurely jog). Not expecting to become maimed during my celebration of this glorious spring day, I did not have a good plan on how to stop my knee from continuing to bleed in a very non-spring day like way. I limped my way over to Houghton House, but instead of going in and possibly bumping into a person who would then see that I can't even do something as simple as go for a run without killing herself, I limp my way over to the Sunken Gardens and apply non-melted snow to my knee to numb it and stop the bleeding. I then limp my way home.
To this day I carry on my knee a large, grotesque scar as a warning to myself during those days when a run in the spring sunshine feels like a great plan. However, the siren call of that warm breeze is often stronger than the quarter sized scar on my knee and for one brief day, I am no longer Amy- non athlete, but I am one with nature. I am the wind; the hyperventilating, sweating, red wind with a big ugly scar on her knee.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Blog Posts I'm Actively Not Writing
Each of the posts below is something that I have started to write about that is now sitting my my "to write" queue (in the order that I'm not writing them). Brianna is always complaining that she has nothing to write about. I am going to start the new trend of having too much to write about. So here's a look at everything you're not reading right now...
1) Everything that changes stays the same: a post about how the way we think of someone we were close to in the past stays the same, despite the fact that they evolve (and this explains the mystery of why brianna gets lots of ladybug themed gifts).
2) Books: What I'm reading, what I have been reading for the past two years, what I want to read, blah blah blah
3) Two Years Down!: About how I hit the two year mark of cancer survivorship.
4) knitting, knitting, knitting: much like #2, but with regard to knitting. Riveting I know...
5) Why I Refuse To Do Nablopomo: as you can tell, probably in queue since November, possibly December. Possibly exemplifies the #1 reason I refuse to do Nablopomo.
6) Hair Today: This is actually called Donating Hair to Charity, but I decided that was a boring title. Though, as you can tell, much more descriptive. How I cut off 13 inches of hair this summer, complete with pictures.
7) Sleepover: A play by play of a sleepover I had recently (and when I say recently, I mean October '07), reminisces of sleepovers of the past and probably a lot of foodie talk.
8) Guarana's Bad Rap: An in-depth look at guarana. Guarana awareness is a secret passion of mine. Just ask Joe.
9) 7 horses, 3 dogs and 2 mules: This is the who's who of animals that made an appearance in the Metropolitan's production of Carmen that I saw last week.
There you have it. I think of things to write, start in good faith and then peter out. Is there one that anyone is particularly interested in? Maybe some public outcry would be motivational...
1) Everything that changes stays the same: a post about how the way we think of someone we were close to in the past stays the same, despite the fact that they evolve (and this explains the mystery of why brianna gets lots of ladybug themed gifts).
2) Books: What I'm reading, what I have been reading for the past two years, what I want to read, blah blah blah
3) Two Years Down!: About how I hit the two year mark of cancer survivorship.
4) knitting, knitting, knitting: much like #2, but with regard to knitting. Riveting I know...
5) Why I Refuse To Do Nablopomo: as you can tell, probably in queue since November, possibly December. Possibly exemplifies the #1 reason I refuse to do Nablopomo.
6) Hair Today: This is actually called Donating Hair to Charity, but I decided that was a boring title. Though, as you can tell, much more descriptive. How I cut off 13 inches of hair this summer, complete with pictures.
7) Sleepover: A play by play of a sleepover I had recently (and when I say recently, I mean October '07), reminisces of sleepovers of the past and probably a lot of foodie talk.
8) Guarana's Bad Rap: An in-depth look at guarana. Guarana awareness is a secret passion of mine. Just ask Joe.
9) 7 horses, 3 dogs and 2 mules: This is the who's who of animals that made an appearance in the Metropolitan's production of Carmen that I saw last week.
There you have it. I think of things to write, start in good faith and then peter out. Is there one that anyone is particularly interested in? Maybe some public outcry would be motivational...
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