NYC Newlywed

Hurricane Irene Coming

2011-08-26T07:58:00.001-07:00

The possibly - probably impending hurricane coming towards NYC (after NC) is all over the news. Regardless, there will probably be a lot of rain this weekend. I started making mental preparations in my head yesterday. Fill things that hold water with water. Make hard-boiled eggs. Make cookies - my mom always made cookies before storms when we were growing up. And hard-boiled eggs, but the cookies were more fun.

Mr. D came home last night after a going away party for a colleague, and in his slightly inebriated state, started saying that he was going to post on facebook that he didn't know he had married my mother (as i was making crazy preparations).

Then he said, that isn't it better if the eye of the storm passes over us - it's the calmest. I had to explain that the storm is the worst around the eye.

Fast forward to this morning when the same man is telling me that I should probably go get food this weekend. Which I was going to do anyway, because we need some for this weekend, but now the whole thing is made more difficult by the fact that the stores will be crizazy.

Also thinking about other times when I've "prepared/waited out" a hurricane. When Rita came through Houston after Katrina hit New Orleans, I had just started dating Mr. D, and all of his friends were IMing me to evacuate to his place in Austin. I remember watching I-45 out my office window, and seeing it absolutely packed with cars headed to Dallas. I was headed to a friend's wedding that weekend, so I pushed my flight forward and my dad took me to the airport before it closed.

When we moved to NYC, my brother and some of his friends from medical school came to stay with us the first weekend we moved in. Ike was headed towards Galveston (where they went to med school) that weekend, and I remember watching the news with them all weekend (but especially at the BBQ restaurant) and seeing their reactions. Especially Nick worrying about his turtle.

Off to re-look up Alton Brown's cookie recipe...

Words that Should NEVER Appear in Your Resume

2011-07-01T06:50:00.001-07:00

A sampling - it's the Friday before the holiday weekend, so I thought I would add some (my) work-related humor. I have actually seen all of these words/phrases in resumes/cover letters that were sent to my company:

- night club
- prowess
- nitty-gritty
-"I'm likeable."
- "those were dark days indeed"

La la - getting ready for a fun weekend in Ft. Worth with J&R - and Mr. D and I both got free upgrades - yippee

Home Alone - the Grown-Up Version

2011-06-24T06:31:00.000-07:00

These past TEN days without Mr. D have been weird - I feel like my parents are out of town or something (not that I think Mr. D is my parent), even though (as I complained to AB's husband in college), "I AM a grown-up." Sasha and I just don't know what to do with ourselves. I mean, there are people to see and things to do, but it's just weird. I think it's because he is missing and he is coming back.

So the fun parts have been that I get to cook and eat whatever I want, whenever I want. So, I made a batch of lentil salad (insert sisterly comments of disgust here), and ate at 7:00 or 8:30 or 9:00 depending on what I felt like. I saw a recipe for strawberry fool in the NYT. Strawberry fool is pureed strawberries and whipped cream, mixed together. Now, I'm pretty sure I have "invented" this before, as I love whipped cream (and Cool Whip). When I was in junior high (ok, high school, ok, now) I have been known to take a spoon and eat Cool Whip plain. It's hereditary, my dad does it too (and my brother, not so much my sissies). Anyway, I may have had this 3 or 4 times while Mr. D has been gone. It's really easy with the stick blender. Put strawberries in cup, puree, scoop in bowl. Put whisk attachment on, put cream in cup, whip, scoop in bowl. Stir. Done.

Another guilty pleasure is that I get to watch all the stupid shows I like on USA. Mr. D does NOT like them (though he's the reason we still watch Survivor, so....), so I usually watch them when he has a late day at the office, but this week I watched them without having to listen to him grumble.

I FINALLY got a Skype from him last night, since my brother-in-law managed to Skype my sister multiple times, and all I got was an email. The reason: they had an amazing wi-fi connection at the bar (ps they say weefee in France/Italy, how cute is that?). He called again later, so I got to meet his roommate for the trip and talk to my cousin (and hear hilarious stories of my brother's antics).

So, Mr. D is back tomorrow, but I leave tonight for St. Louis for a family trip, so I won't get to see him until Sunday night. Sasha is going to be upset when she realizes she doesn't get a whole half of the bed (and one morning she (the 20 lb dog) had managed to push me all the way to the edge.

Today on HGTV/DIY

2011-06-19T17:55:00.000-07:00

Those are two of my favorite channels. And HBO, not that True Blood is coming back on.
Anyway, Sasha and I have been living it up, since Mr. D is on a fabulous vacation with my Dad and 20 of my Dad's closest friends.
Sasha loved it - to make up for her absentee father we went to the dog park twice and each time, we stopped at Home Depot twice. I don't know why, but my dog LOVES to go into Home Depot - weird.

Anyway, we went to Home Depot to get supplies to hand my new coathooks, which I purchased at the antique market in Paris (!!!). I had to order the little plaques, but I stained them yesterday and hung them today. There's another one too, but the picture got too small.

My new favorite work snack

2011-06-15T11:42:00.001-07:00

Yumm - found them in line at Whole Foods (on line for you Yankees out there - ps - who says "I'm on line for BBQ - weirdos)

My Parisian shopping trip loot

2011-06-11T07:57:00.001-07:00

I forgot to post about this earlier, but Mr D and I did take a morning to go shopping while we were in Paris. I walked past the window of the store, checking these shoes out. Finally, five minutes after I talked myself out of them, I turned to Mr D and told him I wanted to go back and get them! I don't know if the picture foes them justice, but I love them!

Target Obsession

2011-06-06T15:28:00.001-07:00

I had a bit of a shopping "episode" while we were in Houston for the wedding over Memorial Day weekend, partially spurred by my dear friend A.B.'s post on a certain collection at Target. The bride and groom of the wedding in question had registered at Target, and my cousin, the bride, trickster that she is, registered for Cheetos. The morning of the wedding, my baby sister, Mr. D and I made a trip to Target to purchase what would be 10 of at least 30 bags of Cheetos to be seen on the gift table.

As we're walking to the register, I see a sign hanging over the swimsuit section - the Calypso collection was still going on. As Mr. D wanted to hit up the Spec's, and we had to be back at the house for brunch (go Mom), I told them to get in line and I would meet them before they checked out. I ran over and scanned the rack and found this swimsuit.
I didn't even have time to try it on, I just grabbed what I thought was the right size and ran back to the register - total time, two minutes. :) Cute, right?

Directions - catch-up

2011-05-25T06:44:00.001-07:00

These were our directions to St. Remy, where we wandered around aimlessly, truly, as most of the shops were closed in Monday. We did find some amazing chocolates - which makes the trip well worth it.

Later, we went to the Camargue and saw wild flamingos, horses, and bulls - famous in Provence.

Snack Saturday

2011-05-14T07:00:00.000-07:00

We walked through Nice to the Chagall museum, then walked along the Promenade Anglais on the beach. Wandered through the market and the decided on a sandwich for lunch - pain bagnant which has tuna, hard boiled egg, radish, celery, and artichoke. We bought some Chevre banon - the picture, some delicious strawberries, olives and a baguette to snack on on the train. We're on our way to Arles by train, where we'll be until Tuesday.

France

2011-05-14T06:52:00.000-07:00

Did I mention we were going to France - if so, only because we were scurrying around until the last minute getting ready for it. This was my be Thursday night - we upgraded our tickets with miles. Flying first class overseas is lots of fun. You get a huge meal, complete with cheese course and an ice cream sundae. We flew to Brussels and then on to Nice, where we spent yesterday and today - I'm writing this Saturday, but you may not see it - Internet is spotty.

History lesson

2011-05-07T06:26:00.001-07:00

My dad and grandma were in town last weekend, Dad for a conference and Grandma came to visit my great-aunt, who is a retired Maryknoll sister. We were talking about the times when my grandma had come to New York to visit. Two stories I had never heard before:

1) my grandma was in Times Square when they announced V-J day, and

2) she and my great uncle visited the Empire State building shortly after a little plane hit the building, and the elevator they rode in was still broken, but since safety codes weren't what they are now, there was just a blanket over the whole.

Sent from my iPhone

Did I Say Boring?

2011-04-29T05:40:00.001-07:00

Ha ha - I hear God laughing now. Of course, as soon as i said life was boring, stuff happens. Clients go crazy, all extremely busy and each wanting to be most important (the good kind of busy), clients send us random requests for consultants, my boss leaves town, and to top it all off, I'm at work early, because I managed to in-grow myself a toenail last night. It kept me up half the night, then I woke up at 5 and tried to fix it, then took advantage of my dad being in town (poor dad - twice in the last year I've called him at 6 am with medical questions), and went over to his hotel for him to fix it. I didn't have anywhere else to go and going home would have gotten me there in time to leave again, so I'm here at work. Rambling, yes, but I'm sleepy and the iced coffee is just kicking in.

BTW - who would have thunk that a Zabar's operation would have iced coffee for 2.00? To be fair, it's not as big as the one you could get for $2 from Dunkin Donuts, but still a nice size.

I am Boring

2011-04-26T09:04:00.000-07:00

No, Seriously, I am. Which is why seriously had a capital S. And why I haven't been posting.

Easter was a bummer. The hubs and I went to church, took the dog to the park and then hung out most of the day, because he was waiting for a work email to come in. Did I mention he's been working "late" for the last week and a half? And that he had to work almost the whole way through our trip to Fort Worth? Boo.

We did manage to make a delicious pistachio-crusted rack of lamb (Mr. D's contribution) and an asparagus-leek risotto (mine). I made mini lemon-thyme pound cakes with strawberry ice cream for dessert. Yum.

Then I pulled out a vacuum bag of summer clothes from under the bed and swapped out sweaters for tank tops!

Last box on the shelf

2011-04-20T11:02:00.000-07:00

My boss and I are indulging:

Weekend in TX

2011-04-19T05:40:00.000-07:00

Mr. D and I made the first of what are sure to be many trips down to Ft. Worth to visit our friends R&J, who moved down at the beginning of the year. We had an amazing time, just sitting around the pool on their deck. They had amazing meals planned for us - I think it's a crime that no one realized that blue cheese was missing from potato salad until now.
The real downer was that Mr. D wound up having to work most of the weekend. That, and that after a weekend of sitting in 80-degree weather, 60-degree weather feels eve chillier.

Sent from my iPhone

Random Story

2011-04-11T17:50:00.001-07:00

So, I saw a Facebook update from a friend from high school - she's a dentist and there was an article about how she was a dentist for the entire family - which made me think of this story.

When we were kids, we went to the dentist for the first time at my mom's cousin's office - he a regular dentist, not necessarily a "family " dentist.

All is hunky dory, then the hygienist gave me some fluoride to swish when she was done brushing my teeth. Then she didn't come back for a looong time. I didn't know what to do, so I swallowed the mouthwash.

She eventually came back, and we got ready to go. We walked up to the check out desk... and I threw up. On the floor. I still gag when they give me mouthwash at the dentist. Yuck.

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Early and cloudy

2011-04-10T05:23:00.000-07:00

But not freezing!! We're at the driving range at Chelsea Piers.

Daffodils

2011-04-09T20:10:00.000-07:00

Some of the flowers we saw at Central Park this morning with SashA - she loves off-leash hours!

Sunday Night dinner

2011-04-06T19:03:00.000-07:00

I'm behind on posting - I've been at work later than normal, then going home and looking for something to do that is not going to the gym, and apparently not blogging.

We're speeding through Mr. D's "Braise" cookbook, in hopes that it will soon be too hot to braise something. This weekend we made short ribs with daikon and shiitake mushrooms. We had to go to the Asian grocery store for a few things - like bean paste!
On the side is a remoulade with cucumber, radish, wasabi and mustard.

Breakfast

2011-04-03T12:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon, I started making cinnamon rolls (ps - I accidentally spelled breakfat in the title, and it Autocorrected to verandah). When Mr D woke up, he started the oven and I popped them in when I woke up. Tadaa. They turned out great - except the one by the vanilla bottle. That was the end one.

I also made a quick glaze with powdered sugar, milk, vanilla, and a little ground coffee - yum.

Ideally, Mr. D would have also popped them in the oven and made coffee and taken the dog out, but that would mean I was a spoiled brat.

When Cooking Strikes Back

2011-03-31T10:22:00.001-07:00

As I was thinking about this post, I thought about saying something about something homemade, and that what I made basically turned into a weapon, but I didn't think I wanted to have the CIA knocking down my door anytime soon. Then, I thought about the new shows that I've seen commercials for - "When Vacations Attack!" I'll never watch these shows, because I'm 99% sure that they would give me nightmares.

A couple of weeks ago, I bought some jalapenos to use for a fish taco marinade. When I was putting together the list, we were in the car on the way to/from the wedding in PA. Normally the default amount of jalapenos on the FreshDirect site is .25 pounds, HOWEVER on the iPhone app, the default is a pound. We wound up with a produce bag with 40 jalapenos. Not wanting to waste them, I thought I would try to pickle them. So I did. Last night, they were "done," so I took them off the pantry shelf and put the brine on the stovetop to boil before putting the peppers in the fridge.

Don't try this at home. Unless you don't live in a not-so-well ventilated apartment in NYC. Mr. D and I were coughing for at least an hour. Jalapeno tear gas. Just when you thought it must have vented out - the jalapeno would get down in the back of your throat and you'd have to cough again.

We'll be sad to see you go...

2011-03-29T06:44:00.000-07:00

Some friends from Mr. D's work are thinking about moving later on this year. I may have stepped in it when I suggested that we take over their apartment (same size, slightly more storage, HUGE terrace). Her husband took it the way I intended, that it could save them some money and we could have a great apartment. She was a little offended, as if she didn't want us to have the apartment even if they weren't there...

Why it is so hard to get out of bed in the morning

2011-03-24T06:23:00.000-07:00

This is what Sasha does as soon as one or both of us gets out of bed. Cute, right?

All the Wrong Things

2011-03-22T12:29:00.000-07:00

Lots of things have gone wrong today.

1 - I woke Mr. D up and asked if he could still take Sasha over to the kennel (yes, I have a spoiled dog), because I was going to the dentist. He thought I wanted him to pick her up. Fix confusion.

2 - realized the only tights I had clean were maroon - the rest had fuzzies all over them.

3 - went to the dentist, where the alarm was going off because the dentist didn't know how to turn it off.

4 - the hygienist called in sick.

5 - when we went to reschedule, they had deleted my appointment anyway

6 - stupid Quickbooks online has been down for most of the past two days - driving me insane!

Home Cooked Birthday Dinner

2011-03-20T18:50:00.000-07:00

Last night, for my actual b-day we went out to Jean Georges for dinner - it was delicious and amazing.

Tonight - we made braised lamb shanks with bourbon-soaked prunes, from Daniel Boulud's "Braise." Soo good. The veggies/prunes came out of the braise sauce and I made some orzo to go along with it. The meat just fell off the bones. Mr. D wanted to make the as his birthday dinner, and we both realized that as spring is coming, there will be fewer days when we can braise something without turning the apartment into an oven.
I contributed the dessert tonight - one that my friend J made one night when she and her husband came over for dinner. It's a ginger cake upside down cake with apricots on top. They may be a bit over-caramelized. If you think the pictures look better, it's partially because I took them using my new camera and partially because I used the autofix on my laptop.

Random Pictures

2011-03-14T19:36:00.001-07:00

Hallo - some random pictures of things that happened this weekend (and things that are just in my house that I wanted to take a picture of):

First - this is Mr. D and I at the after party, which was at our hotel. This is before we started playing Phase 10. For those of you who are not familiar, I will explain at a later date. However, it is awesome fun.

These are the favors from the wedding. Note that we have 6. We originally had 9 or 10, as Mr. D went on a rampage and filled his jacket pockets with them. They are cocoa mix. I made him give some to his cousin's girlfriend (who is a super sweet person and decided that I was a nice person) some, because she only got two (they had a lot of favors that were extras, sitting on a table in the back).
While we were in PA, we went to the grocery store looking for Mr. D's favorite potato chips (Hartleys, BBQ waffle), which can only be found in central PA. They had Easter candy out, so I went looking for Russell Stover marshmallow eggs. The eggs I sought were not to be found. These delicious looking local eggs were - and they came in dark chocolate peanut butter. Yum. AND I thought we bought a box of twelve, but there are TWO layers. Double Yum. Literally.

Also hanging out in the living room is my Valentine's present from Mr. D, which was, no doubt inspired by the puzzle-thon held at my parent's house over Christmas. This one is extra nice, because it was a painting of Arles, where we will BE in May. It was a present for me, but something tells me he may have gotten it to keep me occupied.

Also - I made some one of Mark Bittman's soups last night for dinner, so we had the leftovers today. I put some sweet potato in it to make the picture look more interesting, so if the food police are watching, that's not how I served. Not that it would be a bad idea.

Traveling Weekend

2011-03-11T13:48:00.000-08:00

We're off to a wedding for one of Mr. D's cousins. It's in central PA, which means we're driving to get there. Which means we're driving at rush hour out of the city.

In situations like this I'm not sure if it's better for me to drive or Mr. D. On one hand, my lack of driving aggressiveness will be criticized. On the other, Mr. D will no doubt convince me that he is going to give himself a stroke while we are stuck in traffic.

It was supposed to be brunch..

2011-03-08T11:12:00.001-08:00

But then, one of my college roommates was in town, so we had brunch with them and then made this for dinner (from one of Michael Ruhlman's posts): bacon an asparagus pizza with fried eggs on top. Mr. D popped it in, so I'm not sure how he got the crust so shiny - maybe just having the bacon on it did it. We also had a salad with it, to make ourselves feel a little healthier.

Cue my little sister commenting on food I make/eat that she thinks is gross. :)

Last Sunday

2011-03-06T19:58:00.000-08:00

So, last Sunday was the last day of Baby Sis's trip. We:

Went on an NBC studios tour

Ate Bo Ssam at Ssam Bar - deliciousness (and reaffirmed my love for bean paste)

Top of the Rock

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Made Beef Daube in the crock pot - really good!

Saturday w/ Baby Sis

2011-03-04T14:19:00.000-08:00

Saturday's recap:
1. Wake up early - force Baby Sis to borrow coat, gloves, and scarf.
2. Go through security to get on boat for Statue of Liberty
3. Take boat to Liberty Island - Baby Sis and Mr. D amuse themselves by telling me the seagulls are going to poop on me.
4. More security at the Statue of Liberty, but not Ellis Island
5. Head home and nap/get ready for dinner - at which point I suggest that Baby Sis's outfit is not dressy enough (jeans and untucked button down) and loan her a skirt and some tights to wear w/ her knee-high boots
6. We wander around shopping in SoHo - which Mr. D tolerated fairly well. I found a cute dress at Bloomingdale's.
7. Dinner at Colicchio and Sons, in the back room. The food was amazing, and we had a very nice waiter, who assumed we were 20 years old and kept calling us "his lovelies"
8. After dinner, Mr. D talked us into meeting some of his friends to go bowling. Friends who I like, but, based on multiple experiences, should never plan things - generally, they just don't plan at all. For instance, there are 4 bowling alleys in manhattan. 4. They suggested meeting at 8:30 on Saturday. Since we're not super cool, our dinner reservation was at 6:00 and we made it to the bowling alley. Saturday nights are apparently club night, as our bags were searched AND there was a mandatory coat check. Mr. D went to put our name on the list, and the hostess said to come back in an hour and she MIGHT have a buzzer for us, but that it would probably be at least 2.5 hours!!
9. After getting special dispensation from the bouncer, we kept our coats and waited by the door for everyone to show up. Though it took persuading, we convinced the "planners" it was too long to wait. We wound up spending the rest of the night at a nearby bar

Random Email to My Sister

2011-03-03T11:30:00.000-08:00

Me:Do you think these emails sound vaguely offensive:

cuch17@blahblah
titig@per@blahblah

Sister: yes

Me: why would someone leave them on their resume?

We may have to have a weekly recruiting column - people are sometimes not very good at promoting themselves.

PS - true story: when I was at Rice, they started giving out free emails when our freshman advisors were freshmen. They let people pick out their own emails then, and one girl picked gspot. She didn't realize the problem this presented until she had to tell her professor her email one time. She claimed she "saved" it by saying it was g.s.pot.

Weekend w/ Baby Sister

2011-03-01T05:58:00.001-08:00

Baby Sis flew in for a visit this weekend, she's getting her master's, so it was her spring break. Here's the rundown:

Friday:
1. Getting ready to walk out the door and Baby Sis puts on her coat, which is a cardigan. Me: did you not bring a coat? Her: this is a coat, I'll be fine. Me: it's 40 degrees out. Her: I'll be fine
2. Great dinner at Snack Taverna (I heart Greek food), afterwards, we headed to Little Branch, a super teeny bar on the basement level nearby.
3. We put our names on the list - 45 min wait for a table, so we grab a drink while we wait. I have a Presbyterian, which has Ginger beer, lemon, some other things, and a fun metal spoon straw. Yes, I am 6 years old.
4. After an hour and a half, Mr D sees a couple tables that are ready to leave (ie don't have drinks), but haven't. He asks one of the hostesses/bartenders how much longer. Baby Sis and I are a dew feet away, but we are told they go on the defensive, saying they have a policy of not kicking people off a table - would Mr. D like them to kick someone off a table? Of course, he responds yes. And the girl who walked up behind him says - while you're at it, can you kick someone off a table for us too? This does not go over well with bartenders/hostesses/waitresses. Mr. D begins gesturing (in a both hands up, what is going on, what is wrong with you people type fashion). They say there is nothing they can do. We leave and go home.

This is all I could write on my commute today, so stay tuned for tips on how to go bowling in New York tomorrow.

PS - I really like Little Branch - they serve very good cocktails. They use fresh squeezed juices, and make classic cocktails. The atmosphere is great - very speakeasy. Most of the people who go there are not complete jerks. We got there at 8:30, and were told it would be 45 minutes - honestly, not that long to wait there. There are not many tables, and some are only for two people. We usually try to go at 7, right when they open, so we don't have to wait.

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Hunger Games Overload (not really)

2011-02-24T08:03:00.001-08:00

This weekend's travel plans coincided with me finishing my latest book, Agaat. So I picked up the first Hunger Games book for my Kindle app on the iPhone, knowing that I would have at least some free time on the plane, after two of my friends had recommended it to me over our trip to Austin. Very good - and a quick read. Especially when your flight is inexplicably (not really) delayed because your flight crew had not even left the airport they are coming in from, which is even more aggravating when you look up the flight and they weren't supposed to land until your flight took off anyway - how are they supposed to get across the terminal and do all of their checks - who knows? Not Continental. (I did see that we wound with one of the nicest pilots, who saw that we were all waiting on the jetway for our bags - yay tiny planes - and went out to check with the ground crew for us.)

Anyway - between the flight delay and the general coziness of being at the in-laws, I finished the first book Saturday night. Then our flight got delayed leaving, so I read a big chunk of that. Between me reading on the subways on the way to work and in bed this week, I'm almost finished. So good!

Weekend in Buffalo

2011-02-21T12:43:00.001-08:00

We went up to Buffalo this weekend to visit Mr. D's parents. We were supposed to go snowmobiling, and then go to the ice castle festival, but this week's weather melted almost all of the snow. While we were at the festival, Mr. D and I followed a bunch of people out onto the frozen lake, and I fell within 10 steps - right on the heel of my hand (see below).

Valentine's Day Dinner

2011-02-17T19:40:00.001-08:00

Hello - more pictures of food for the viewing. Mr. D and I continued our tradition of making ourselves a fancy meal for Valentine's Day (we celebrated on Sunday). Below is the main course: Butter poached lobster from the French Laundry cookbook.

Everything was delicious. I found out that I am pretty good at getting lobster meat out of the claws without breaking it. Mr. D handled the buerre monte (butter sauce), the beet reduction, and cooking the lobster. I chopped the veggies into teeny tiny pieces and sliced the leeks. I was in charge of the potatoes (on top) too, but they weren't quite right, I think they were supposed to be crispier.

Yumminess

2011-02-13T10:06:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, it's been a long time since I posted. In my defense, I had a bit of a busy week at work, dinner with the girls from my old job, and a friend from business school was unexpectedly in town, too. I did manage to make the fabulous dinner you see below:

Cooking Channel is so amazing - there are so many good shows - this recipe is from Emeril's new show: Indian-Inspired Shrimp with Coconut, Chiles, and Tomatoes. The recipe is really quick and easy. I served it with rice with turmeric and some steamed broccoli. The next night I didn't have as much broccoli, so I cut it smaller and added it and some frozen corn to the rice while it was cooking.

One Truth, One Lie

2011-02-05T13:31:00.000-08:00

So this is on the window of the deli on the corner - thank goodness we never eat anything prepared there!

Ice

2011-02-02T07:55:00.000-08:00

These are what the trees look like today - somehow, I will have to try not to stand under them when they break.
Stupidly, I closed the lid of my laptop at work, so it wasn't connecting to the interwebs, so I couldn't remote in - blech.

Project of the Day

2011-01-30T14:04:00.000-08:00

This is what I did today:

Winter Fun!

2011-01-29T20:13:00.001-08:00

I was going to say that it was the first weekend day without snow in a month, but it snowed tonight, so there's that.

Mr. D has been wanting to go ice skating, so her coordinated it with two couples from work for an outing this weekend. We met up and went skating at the Bryant Park rink. We skated for about an hour and a half - and I didn't fall once! Even weirder, Mr. D had never been ice skating!

After skating, we all went to Koreatown for Korean BBQ - yum! I realized that I could quickly become addicted to bean paste. Ok - the words sound gross, but it's the best sauce ever.

I may have a stalker

2011-01-20T14:41:00.001-08:00

Seriously. So, as some of you may know, I am a recruiter. In my case, thy means companies pay the company I work for to find people to work for them.
A guy called in yesterday afternoon to tell us about himself, without having a specific role in mind. He was very vague about the companies he worked for and a bit goofy sounding (like a too smooth announcer voice), plus his skill set is out of date. I told him to send his resume and I would take a look.
He called back this afternoon. I told him we didn't have any open positions. That's ok - I know that we'll be working together soon. Eww that's what he said! Then - I looked up your company on the Internet and I liked what I saw - I have a real affinity for women-run businesses. Thank goodness I was laughing silently! After he hung up, I ran to my boss's office laughing so hard I was crying!
Don't worry - he promised to follow up!

Dinner Success

2011-01-19T17:58:00.000-08:00

Hmmm. So I forgot to take pictures, but perhaps I will later this week, when we have Giada's broiled tilapia sauce on our chicken. Meaning that I only bought two fish fillets, but made all of the sauce, so I thought we would have it over some chicken later this week.
Mr. D and I have decided to start trying to be healthier, which includes eating healthier. Mr. D pulled out a few recipes from the Abs Diet cookbook, which are pretty good (but why would anyone print a fajita recipe that only marinates the meat for five minutes).
Anyway, tonight, we had tilapia with mustard yogurt sauce, quinoa, asparagus, and some pickled broccoli stems (we each just had a couple spears, not whole stems). Pickled broccoli stems are actually very tasty - and easy - recipe here.

True Grit

2011-01-15T13:57:00.000-08:00

This weekend is proving to be cold, so earlier today we did one of our favorite weekend pastimes and went to the matinee. Matinees are great in New York, because 1) it's only $6 and 2) half of the city isn't awake yet, so they are usually not crowded (unless you're seeing something the first weekend, but you definitely don't have to get there as early). We went to see True Grit. Me likey. Mr. D. likey.

About 20 minutes into the movie, I heard someone snoring. At first, I thought it was part of the soundtrack. No, it was a guy all the way in the front - everyone in the theater could hear him (only about 15 of us). Eventually, it just became background noise, but Mr. D kept glaring at the guy every once in a while - not that he knew.

The Absent-Minded Professor

2011-01-09T15:56:00.000-08:00

My husband is an idiot. Not really. He occasionally does very absent-minded things. He broke his iPhone a week after he got it (which he got replaced for free). A few weeks ago he decimated his Kindle at the gym (it fell off the book stand and got caught between the skis on the elliptical machine).
Today, he unhooked the dog in the elevator on the way back up from taking her out. There was a big pile of things from the trash room waiting to go down in the service elevator. Sasha got scared. She didn't come out. The doors started to close, so Mr. D hit the button to keep them open. Now she is stuck. Luckily, they're calling the repairman, I mean, they have too.

Um, weird

2011-01-08T11:29:00.001-08:00

I have a Facebook stalker...my mother. Seriously. It all started when she unfriended me, and the rest of her children, because she couldn't figure out how to block Farmville notifications (which I admit, it was embarrassing, but I hardly ever play now). After Christmas, she refriended us, at least I assume it was all of us. Now, EVERY time I post an update, she has a comment. EVERY time. It is very weird.

Sent from my iPhone

Repost: Dinner Fail

2011-01-07T07:44:00.000-08:00

Sunday night I made a pretty unsuccessful dinner. It started out innocently enough, I saw that Fresh Direct had turkey legs on special. Hmm, roasted turkey legs would be tasty. I started out brining the legs. They're funny-shaped little (big) guys, so I put them in a pitcher to sit in the fridge.

PS - Apparently Blogger is a bit like me when reading emails - if there's a picture, I tend to go straight there without reading the rest. Here is the rest of the post:

The brine had salt, some allspice berries, peppercorns, and a bay leaf. They went into the oven for a while, and while they were cooking, I steamed some cauliflower for cauliflower purée - the saving grace of the meal. (Steam the cauliflower, add a few tbsp's of cream/milk/chicken stock a pat of butter, salt and pepper - just like potatoes, but with more vitamins)
The other veggie was going to be some bok choy I had steamed, then frozen. I opened it, we think it was celery greens. I tried steaming and adding some spice to it. They were terrible, smelled so bad I had to take them off the plates because we couldn't eat with them there.
The turkey legs were a disaster too, the skin didn't get crispy, and they were kind of greasy. We struggled through the meal, luckily there weren't any leftovers.

Dinner: Fail

2011-01-05T20:23:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year

2011-01-02T19:16:00.000-08:00

This post is already a day late, so there goes any sort of resolution to stop procrastinating :)

Mr. D and I had a big organization day earlier today - we got back from visiting Houston on Friday, but have managed to get the luggage unpacked (uck) and put away. And Mr. D has started laundry. This never happens - he usually only does his socks, but he has put clothes in the washer, then in the dryer, and folded the clothes that were in the dryer. And now he's folding them and putting them away. I'm in shock :)

Now I had better go do my part by finishing cleaning up the dishes from dinner :)

New hat

2010-12-31T09:35:00.000-08:00

Loving my new hat (excuse my airplane makeup/hair/face). Thank you Target!

Vegas Part II

2010-12-21T07:53:00.000-08:00

Yoinks - it's been a while since I promised the follow up to this story (I have been saying yoinks in my head this week - I'm annoying myself with it, maybe if I put it here it will be embarrassing enough to banish it from my head before I head home for Christmas).

When we left off, I had finished up at the spa.

12. Get dressed for dinner early, so that we can go gamble before dinner. And drink - we have vouchers (classier than coupon) for free drinks at the bar.
13. Lay on bed so as not to wrinkle dress and watch random sitcoms while Mr. D works (this is unexpected, and annoying, though one of his co-workers completely gave up an hour of her Saturday night to help him out, since he didn't have a computer).
14. Go down to the bar for a drink. Yes, if we sat at a table we could have a drink for free, but only a well drink.
15. Go to Alain Ducasse restaurant for dinner. It is at the top of the building, and the view is amazing, as we wait for our table when we check in for our reservation. I hate waiting when you have a reservation. The Les Halles on park is really bad at this, which is where we like to go with R&J at the last minute. So we make a reservation off our phones and then head over there. And then wait an hour. But I digress.
16. Tolerate waiter at dinner. I don't know why, but he rubs me the wrong way. At one point he says he likes the chocolate souffle, but not with the pistachio ice cream, he likes it with butter pecan. I don't really like pistachios, but I kept it with the souffle just to not do what he said.
17. We head down to go gamble. First we hit the blackjack tables - the discount blackjack tables - no joke. We found a $10 table, but the dealers were all very...odd. One would deal, and every time she put the cards in the shuffler, she would sit and pick at her fingernails. I won some money, so we got up to go find Pai Gow for Mr. D.
18. No Pai Gow tables open, so he sat down at Let It Ride. I watched for a while, then the dealer convinced me to play. I did not win a single hand. Luckily, I didn't lose more than I won and Mr. D won some, so we headed to bed happy campers.
19. Mr. D was up early, but the poker tables going were full, so he played some Pai Gow. And won. I sat down at video poker and was up a bunch, but got too greedy and lost a little. While I was there, Mr. D hit the craps table and won some more money. We decided to stop there.
20. We headed over to the Bellagio for a crazy buffet. The sushi portion was unexciting, California and veggie rolls.
21. As we are walking back, I start to cross the street on a flashing red. Mr. D stops me, then I decide to go ahead. I'm almost across the street when I eat it. Mostly I fall on my knees. And it hurts. They start swelling immediately, and by the time we get back to The Hotel, they are bad enough for me to put my feet up in the cab. At the airport, it felt like I had an egg under each knee. They are still purple, no skirts without tights in H-town over Christmas.

Random Sasha photo

2010-12-17T12:19:00.000-08:00

This is Sasha's WTF face. In this picture it is because she is wearing a coat that is too small. My mom sent it to her, probably because she doesn't have grandchildren (Ree, can you get on this).

Snowy

2010-12-15T07:02:00.000-08:00

Well, I left my phone at home yesterday, so the rest of the post if Vegas is forthcoming.
In the meantime, lovely snow has been falling here, which reminds me that it will be too cold to take Sasha to the "big park.". My brother-in-law bought Sasha some booties for the cold - I'm not sure if we'll use them, but they sure confused her. Mr. D's parents' dog just froze and wouldn't move once they were on.

Las Vegas synopsis

2010-12-13T09:24:00.000-08:00

1. Leave work Friday, fly to Las Vegas
2. Get to hotel - get upgraded to a suite - hooray
3. Grab some burgers an plan to gamble
4. Finish burgers and realize we're about to crash - head to bed
5. Mr. D wakes up at 7 to play poker
6. Go down to play video poker - I'm a winner, Mr. D finishes - he's a big winner!
7. See guy Mr. D won most of his money from; he looks and sounds pissed, but it is slightly comical, as he is wearing a teeny fedora hat.
8. We take our winnings for a walk in the out of doors before lunch
9. Lunch at rm seafood. Food is good, service is bad (when we got our oysters, there wasn't a spoon for the sauces, when asked for, the guy bring two forks and little plates, so we wait again while they go to get a spoon, then we realize they brought 1 each of 6 kinds instead of 2 each of 3 kinds). It's hard to like a seafood restaurant that can't figure out how to serve oysters, but the rest of the meal was amazing - I had a crazy-good tuna melt
10. We go up to the room to get ready to go to our massage appointments, b/c Mr. D wants to go to the gym first, me not so much. Unfortunately, he got an email from work so had to run around to find a printer that worked.
11. Massage was good, but afterwards I got confused. Not that I wanted to be nakie, but the reviews said that that's how the pools were here, so I didn't take my swimsuit downstairs. I walked into the pool room (in my robe), and all the women in the pools had on swimsuits. Hmm. I grabbed a magazine and chilled on the lounge chairs, not wanting to be an exhibitionist. Finally two ladies came out and hopped in to the pool, nakies. After they hopped out, I hopped into the hot pool. It definitely felt weird, but it's not like anyone was watching. Unlike if the topless pool at the hotel, where the hotel charges you money to see topless ladies (if it had been open, I wouldn't have gone topless)

Anyway, this is getting rather long, so we'll have to do a two-parter.

I'd like to see how other people deal with the nakie/no-nakie at the spa.

Woe is Me

2010-12-08T05:53:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of posting lately, we had a bit of a crazy week, as we found out that our best couple friends are moving back to Texas- as in leaving in a few weeks. We're going to miss them a lot.

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Christmas tree up!

2010-12-05T14:24:00.000-08:00

We put it up while watching Love Actually one of my favorite Christmas movies

Limoncello

2010-12-01T06:35:00.000-08:00

After the party we had a few weeks ago, we realized we had bought too many lemons. Instead of lemonade, Mark made Limoncello, which is very easy to do. We use the food network recipe from Giada. Take the zest off 10 lemons with a veggie peeler (cutting out pith - white part) and soak in .750 liters of vodka for at least 4 days. Make syrup - heat 3.5 cups water w/ 2.5 cups sugar until combined and add to the vodka when cool. Wait another day. Strain the vodka and bottle. Yumm! Not really a winter drink, but tasty nonetheless.

Thanksgiving Weekend Synopsis

2010-11-29T15:44:00.000-08:00

1. Get out of work later than agreed to on Tuesday (wait for mail instead of lunch). Wash - I can't really complain since I did get to leave early.
2. Sit in traffic for 30 minutes just to get into the tunnel. And listen to Mr. D go crazy yelling at the idiot in front of us (from our car, so it's not like the guy heard).
3. Make long drive to the D family house.
4. Make Thanksgiving dinner (lunch). Mr. D and I contributed home-made green bean casserole ala Alton Brown. We can't get too adventurous with the D family.
5. Mr. D smokes bacon
6. The dogs fight (Sasha, the D's dog, and brother D's dog).
7. It rains - we play some Wii.
8. We eat leftovers for dinner.
9. Wake up to biiiiiig breakfast. French toast and bacon.
10. Check in on work. Not a lot going on - good.
11. It snows. More Wii.
12. The dogs fight.
13. The D's, Mr. D and I go to the casino.
14. Mr. D and I each win $100.
15. We go home, make dinner, dogs fight.
16. Biiiig breakfast @ 9:00 am. Pancakes and sausage.
17. 11:30 - meet Mr. D's high school friend for lunch at best wing place (note small difference between breakfast and lunch).
18. Cook for Mr. D's brother's Mexican-themed birthday party. Refried beans - Win! Spanish rice - Fail! (Truly - never let me cook rice for you - Mr. D is never satisfied, and it's never quite right. I think this was close, but a bit mushy).
19. Watch football.
20. Eat huge breakfast - eggs, bacon, hash browns and toast.
21. Drive home.

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T13:15:00.000-08:00

I'm thankful for my wonderful husband, adorable dog, being out of Holiday traffic, and even though I'm not with them until Christmas - my family!

My brother-in-law bought Sasha some booties - here she is modeling them. Hopefully emailing the video works, if not, I'll fix it tomorrow. :)

Pie

2010-11-23T09:44:00.000-08:00

I made a pie over the weekend! From scratch!

Disappointed that there wouldn't be pecan pie at thanksgiving at Mr. D's house, I decided to make one this weekend. I made a tiny one so that we wouldn't be eating leftovers all week. I used the recipe from "Diner" in the NY Times last week, mixing chopped nuts into the filling and putting the whole ones on top. Very yum.

Bacon

2010-11-18T20:10:00.000-08:00

Over Thanksgiving, we'll be going over the river and through the woods to Mr. D's parents' house. At which resides a smoker. So Mr. D started curing bacon last night:

Ewww

2010-11-17T18:45:00.000-08:00

OK - so Mr. D pointed this one out to me. Apparently, hospitals will harvest foreskins - A.B - can you confirm or deny (not that she works in a hospital, she just had a baby boy). Article here.

Weekend

2010-11-17T14:10:00.000-08:00

How is it already Wednesday? We had a little bit of a busy weekend - the kind where you're exhausted, but you didn't really do anything. Saturday we woke up and ran errands before my brother arrived, then we made pizza when he got there and then the boys spent the afternoon watching soccer and football.

We took little brother out for a steak dinner, and the restaurant was a little odd. First, we were surrounded by little kids, though one did seem to be a regular (or his dad worked there), the way the whole staff came around to say hi. Then a waiter carded a woman, clearly in her late twenties, with her husband. She didn't have her purse, so they refused to serve her. The couple had a big problem with that, as it was their anniversary. We thought they would walk out after the manager said he couldn't do anything, but then, 5 minutes later she had a glass of wine in front of her.

The next day, Mr. D and I woke up, then spent the next two hours trying not to wake up my brother on the couch while we took the dog out, got coffee, and ate breakfast.

We walked over the Brooklyn Bridge to Grimaldi's and had pizza (yes, again). We walked over to the waterfront and then took the subway back into the city to watch the Bills game at a sports bar by the apartment. The best part was the crazy hockey game on the tv next to it - there were 10 goals and at least 3 fights.

I made dinner at home before we went to the Knicks game that night against the Rockets - our first time at an event at Madison Square Garden, even though we live right down the street. The Knicks were terrible, the Rockets won, and we left early to get my brother home to prep for his interview, so we missed the fans booing the Knicks at the end of the game.

Sent from my iPhone

Knicks vs. Rockets

2010-11-14T16:29:00.000-08:00

Sunday

2010-11-14T08:45:00.000-08:00

Walking the Brooklyn Bridge w/ mr. D and my brother to get Grimaldi's!

Randomness

2010-11-11T05:44:00.000-08:00

We are swimming in pate post-weekend party. Pate, cheese, and cookies, which, in combination make for a bad week on the scale - especially since we'll be out with people most nights this week, so getting to the gym will be tough. I did manage to make a picnic-y dinner of pate, cheese, bred and pickles - trying to evoke future memories of our trip to France next Spring.

My brother is in town this weekend - interviewing for a residency spot. Why is it the first things I think about are whig restaurants to go to? Partly, I think, because he came up with his med-school buddies and they did almost everything there is to do. Not the Circle line, though, and it might be warm enough this weekend.

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Aftermath

2010-11-07T08:55:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of one of the flower arrangements I made for our cocktail party last night. Tadaa.

Why Jeggings Are Good

2010-11-03T14:29:00.000-07:00

In response to my friend's (AB) comment that jeggings are not good, I felt the need to provide reasons why jeggings are one of the best clothing items ever.
First we must define the jegging - the ones of which I speak are very stretchy jeans. They look like denim, and are much thicker than leggings themselves - which is important, as no one wants to see the jiggling that goes on with some people who wear leggings.

Jeggings should be worn under a shirt/dress/jacket that is long enough to cover at least to the apex of the bum. Any shorter and you're just wearing hoochie pants.

The great part about jeggings is, that if worn properly, you can wear them - and look cute - in a casual work environment, while being super-comfy. A great pair of jeggings feels like wearing yoga pants all day.

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A good, good day

2010-11-01T09:11:00.001-07:00

You know it's going to be a good day when you're walking down the street to the subway, and all of the sudden your jeggings realize that the button wasn't completely "done" and proceeds to pop open, which also alerts you to the fact that you didn't zip your fly. Luckily, I was wearing a coat, and a sweater dress, so nothing was "exposed," except I had my hands in my coat pockets (without looking like a perv) to hold my pants up for 3 blocks. Fab.

My work cat

2010-10-25T14:32:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm allergic to cats, but the ones at my office haven't bothered me yet. Of the two that have free rein of the apartment, only Maxie seems to like me.

One way NYC is better

2010-10-25T06:07:00.000-07:00

This morning was another example of how NYC is better came up the morning. Last night Mr. D took the turkey breast for tonight's dinner in a brine. As I was putting together my lunch today, I asked Mr. D if I needed to do anything aside from dumping the brine out to make sure it was ready (if we had left it in, it would have been too salty).
"Just rinse it off before you put it back in the bowl."
I didn't think about the turkey again until both of us had left and I was 2 blocks away - when I realize I hadn't taken it out of the brine. Since I wasn't on the subway yet, it wasn't too hard to turn around and do it, and I was only a few minutes behind schedule. Had we been back in Austin, I would have been on Mopac in 2 minutes, well past the point of no return, before I had realized I needed to go back.

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Afternoon at the Met

2010-10-24T20:10:00.000-07:00

Mr. D and I met up after he went in to work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We had a chance to see the bamboo exhibit, but not take the excursion up through it - see the group of people?

Afternoon

2010-10-23T13:23:00.000-07:00

Enjoying the last of the afternoon sun with Sasha and Mr. D walking along the pier (after not enjoying the Texas game).

Why do I never take pictures?

2010-10-21T08:25:00.001-07:00

Last night we went to a Rice Alumni event on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, so I was able to catch up with some people I hadn't seen in a few months. Being on the floor of the Stock Exchange was very cool. Every once in a while, the group of us would realize we weren't talking anymore - we were busy staring at our surroundings. Very cool. I should have had someone take our picture, but one of our other friends had just had his picture taken, so I didn't want to draw the process out.

Anyway, it was a bit of a hustle to get there (small urgent matter at work had me leaving a few minutes late, then home to let the dog out, then back on the subway, so I was about 20 minutes late all said and done), and I realized I should throw on a jacket when they sent an email about a red carpet three hours before the event. Luckily no pictures were taken, it was just to show us where the security scanners were. Once we got in there was quite the spread for a Rice event, they even had a carving station. Oh, and the founder of the company that got listed, the whole reason for the event got up and made a speech. A not very fun speech. Honestly i feel bad that no one was really paying attention, but the venue is not really conducive to speech giving because there's a big trading stall in the middle of the floor in front of the podium and behind that was where they had the bar and some appetizers set up. Poor planning.

Leaves

2010-10-18T15:02:00.000-07:00

Hi Houston friends - see the mysterious orange leaves :)

Saturday Errands

2010-10-16T08:16:00.000-07:00

This morning we headed out for coffee and took Sasha to the dog park - which is pretty standard fare for a weekend morning. Mr. D had decided that he wanted to make duck confit, and luckily, he realized while we were out that he needed some olive oil. Trader Joe's is fairly close, and much cheaper than Whole Foods, so we went there.

To get to Trader Joe's we have to go out of Madison Square Park on the south side, and Sasha always gets confused when we do that - she always tries to go inside Home Depot, and if we don't go in there, she tries to go in Best Buy - silly dog. We finally get to Trader Joe's, but obviously we can't go in there with the dog, so I waited outside.

I was planning on making an apple pie, so I looked up the recipe on my iPhone and emailed Mr. D the apples I needed. A bit later he came out, with only one kind of apple, olive oil, pomegranates and two pieces of frozen fish - he picked those up just because they were "only $10." Silly boy - if I had done that he would have called me cheap.

Now we're back home and I'm getting ready for an impromptu baby shower, then meeting Mr. D at Hill Country for a UT watch party catered by the Law Alumni group - whoo hoo! Then I have the apartment all to myself tonight while Mr. D goes to a men-only dinner party at R&J's house (J is out of town). More on this later...

Commuting

2010-10-12T05:58:00.000-07:00

Ok - so I don't really commute, but in my new job, my boss lets me go out and meet with the candidates who we are introducing by myself. As a result of all the rain last month and a few errands midtown, I now know how to ride the bus. Today I'm meeting a client and a candidate in Stamford, so I'm on the Metro-North line. It's so much more fun to go on work trips when you can play on your iPhone the whole time because you don't have to drive!

Sent from my iPhone

Wedding Weekend

2010-10-09T08:40:00.000-07:00

We've spend a good deal of the last 36 hours traveling, and now it looks like we're going to be spending more. Two of Mr. D's coworkers had their wedding in Charlottesville, VA on Friday. We flew out yesterday morning to Richmond, then drove the rest of the way to Charlottesville and met up with another of Mr. D's coworkers and her boyfriend (K&S) and the four of us went and toured Monticello. K & S were pretty hilarious, and kept cracking Canadian jokes (they are both Canadian) during the tour.

The wedding was gorgeous. The weather was perfect, and the happy couple were married just as the sunset behind the mountains at a vineyard. They had a great DJ, and everyone was dancing the night away - I even tricked Mr. D into slow-dancing with me several times. Mayhaps we had a bit too much to drink, as the couple hired a bus to take us to and from the vineyard, and both of us were a bit hungover this morning.

We rented our car for exactly one day, so had to be at the airport half an hour early to return the car, which we did exactly 2 minutes ahead of schedule. Then we went inside to print our boarding passes and realized that our flight was delayed for two hours. Yargh. So here we sit, instead of getting home by three, we won't get there until 5:30 or 6:00.

Sidenote: Those of us who were invited (only 8 of their coworkers (plus the partners) were invited) discussed the fact that the people who weren't invited to the wedding were complaining at work after the bride and groom left for Charlottesville. People. Seriously. The people who were invited were the ones that go out with each other for drinks after work. Not, as put it, the people you run into at the bar because they left first and didn't ask the rest of them. Now, I am all for being inclusive with wedding invitations, but, when you find out that you are not invited to something, you should not complain. No one was trying to hurt feelings, but there are always budgetary and space constraints. The couple was a member of two departments, and it's clear that they can't invite everyone from both departments without adding 50 people plus +1's to the guest list. Anyway, that's my two cents.

You think?

2010-10-05T19:23:00.000-07:00

Mr. D and I were just online buying a wedding gift for the wedding we're going to this weekend (procrastinate much?). We were at the online store that starts with Williams and ends with Sonoma. After checking out the registry, which took days, because it wasn't working (and no, Mr. D, it would not be an appropriate thing to bring up with the bride the day before she leaves for the wedding).

As I may be likely to do, I clicked on the sale page. The third item: the SPRING cookie wreath. Shockingly, it was on sale. How can they still sell this? Do you really want to eat something knowing that 6 months later it can still be eaten? Gross.

Randomness

2010-10-03T08:22:00.000-07:00

Some things I thought about this week, but was too lazy to post. Blah.

Rain in New York is the most annoying thing in the world. People forget how to walk and that the umbrella makes them wider than they used to be. For some reason, most people don't "get" that you can close your umbrella under the scaffolding.

More annoying rain problems: my subway station entrance floods. Like walk down to the platform and have to step into a 8 ft by 8 ft by 4 inches deep puddle.

I love the clean apartment. We gave everything except the bedroom a total overhaul yesterday. Everything was spotless - J&R were coming over for dinner and J and I made ravioli and pasta while the boys sat and played video games. J&R do not have a video game player - I have a feeling they might be getting one soon...

New Shoes

2010-09-29T05:21:00.000-07:00

Mr. D was so depressed after watching the Bills lose on Sunday that he just wanted to get out of the house. He had mentioned that he needed new tennis shoes, so I suggested a trip to DSW. I also needed a new pair of shoes, as my athletic shoes have probably had it. They are so old that they have puppy chew marks on the heel.

While we were there, I picked up these cuties by... Dr. Scholl's. No joke. They are super comfy with a teeny wedge heel. I could live in them.

The Amazing Race

2010-09-26T18:56:00.001-07:00

We're sitting around watching TV after a lazy day. I'm wearing my equivalent of sweatpants - a jersey skirt from Old Navy. Very comfy, a good option to change into after work, or when I don't want to get dressed. I've only worn one in public once or twice. One of our favorite shows is back on - hooray. Every time we're watching, Mr. D brings up the fact that he wants to be on the show one day. I predict disaster, but we'll get to see, because I think the guy (Chad?) of the guy/girl team where the guy is going to propose during the race acts like Mr. D. I am pretty sure that is a terrible plan. What if they get kicked of before he does it? What if they break up on the race (as has happened before)?

Anyway best quotes from this week:
I can't feel my face.
I have the worst headache ever.
Maybe we're our boat.

Before and After

2010-09-25T05:13:00.000-07:00

No, this isn't a post with my elbow in it, and I am alive - it didn't kill me.
Despite the whole elbow thing happening this week, we managed to finish the living room rearrangement. Well sort of finish. In the ideal world where we had infinite money we would probably get a new carpet, the couch from the HGTV Urban Oasis apartment, and maybe a new chair. Eventually, eventually. For now, getting rid of the IKEA bookcases (nothing really wrong with them until the movers punched holes in them when we moved in - so yes, we've lived with them like that for two years) and my old TV stand (when I made the dumbest purchase ever and, in my cheapness, bought the last non-flat screen TV ever made).
So, the old bookcases did not look bad, by any means:
Note: The white thing all the way on the right is a cabinet that we used as a printer/supply stand. Yes, those are Mr. D's socks drying on the Rock Band drums.

This is what new living room looks like:

Not nearly as dark, and not just because the lighting is better. Honestly, part of it is that we got rid of (taking to the Strand (kind of like Half Price Books) and I say taking, because they are boxed up in the bedroom right now) a LOT of our books. While I would like to have bookshelves full of books, we decided to only keep ones we use all the time (ie cookbooks or bar books) or might actually look at again. Lately, we've been reading on the iPhones/Kindle (Mr. D got one for Christmas - actually two in the year of multiple Christmas gifts), so we don't have books, except for cookbooks or ones that are given to us.

Anyway, I'm rambling a bit. The printer is now on the wine fridge, which was previously a junk repository. The only issue now that white cabinet is gone, is that the curtain that just went to the top of it now doesn't cover the newly exposed section of window. The curtains are just panels from Bed, Bath & Beyond, but now they're out of the long ones - everywhere. So a new window treatment solution is in order. Sigh.

Big thank you to Mr. D for arranging for Salvation Army to come pick up the old TV stand (he called Salvation Army, and I talked the doorman into keeping it in the package closet until they came). They're one of the few places that will pick up donations in NYC. We (I) decided the bookshelves were too damaged to salvage - the fact that they nearly fell on top of me while I was taking them apart and wobbled from side to side (as in you could make the shelf not have right angles) made me think Salvation Army wouldn't have taken it anyway.

Owie

2010-09-18T14:40:00.000-07:00

Last week, I scraped my elbow - a little scrape. Annoying, because it was right on the part where you rest your arm. Flash forward to yesterday morning, when my elbow wakes me up because it hurts, at 7:00 am. I try to go back to sleep, and if I'm going to call my dad for medical advice - he's a doctor - then I'd like to wait until it's at least 7 back home.

I couldn't wait that long - I called the house at 6:45 his time and told him I thought I had an infected elbow. At this point I was crying, since my still sleepy brain immediately jumped to the time my cousin had an infected scrape on his knee and wound up needing surgery. Aaah. After I calmed down, my dad told me that it could be inflammation or an infection, so I should go to the 24 hr clinic, if I could.

Luckily, the clinic is only a few blocks away, and I was the only person in the waiting room when I got there. The doctor's must have been changing shifts, because I still had to wait 40 minutes. Once I got in, the doctor was very nice, he thought I might have a minor infection and definitely some inflammation, so he gave me a prescription for some heavy-duty antibiotics and told me to keep warm compresses on it.

Off I (yes, I - Mr. D stayed home) went to the pharmacy, which was a block away. I handed the scrip over to the tech, and he acted surprised that I wanted to wait for it - wouldn't you think that people who are getting really strong anti-biotics would want them as quickly as possible. He didn't seem to think so - he told me 15 minutes, and after 20, I walked up to the counter to check. The pharmacist had no idea that I was waiting, but 30 seconds later it was ready - thanks, buddy.

On my way home, I played good-wife and picked up one ingredient for Mr. D's gumbo (J&R were coming for dinner) and grabbed coffee. After I got home, I used the heating pad on my arm, then fell back to sleep for an hour. Then we went to the market to get some last ingredients for dinner - which I regretted the whole time we were there. I could feel every step in my arm. I spent the rest of the afternoon alternating between cleaning and laying in bed with the heating pad on my arm.

Luckily, the swelling in my elbow went down by the time I woke up this morning, which meant that I didn't need to go back to the clinic to have it drained. My arm still hurts, but I can move it without wincing every time.

Bus Ride

2010-09-14T20:41:00.001-07:00

I took my first bus ride yesterday (in NYC). The reason is that we needed another box from the Container Store for the new living room setup. The store is on the way home, but if you take a subway, get out, and get back on, you have to pay twice, but if you ride a bus for one of the legs, the second leg is free. So I'm cheap, but I also just wanted to try it out.
As you can see from the picture, it started out well: sunny day, almost no one else there, and we were zipping along. It only lasted a few blocks. Clouds appeared, more people got on the bus, and traffic came to a standstill as the rain started.
Eventually, I had to get out and run thrower few blocks in the rain. Fail.

I'm old

2010-09-13T13:32:00.000-07:00

> Running to the bank for new work when I encounter 4 high school girls walking 4-across on the sidewalk. As we get ready to pass, they somehow manage to make it impossible for me to pass them. One of them said - I'm sorry MA'AM!! For the record, I'm wearing jeans and a top - very un-grown-up-like.
>
> Sent from my iPhone

Farm Share Box Update

2010-09-12T17:49:00.001-07:00

Our farm share box has been a bit of a debacle lately. I mentioned that I had cooked during my week off from work - but since we were out of town, we certainly didn't have time to eat the ginormous zucchinis (as big as a roll of paper towels) that were sent in our box. So that they wouldn't go bad, I grated up the zucchini and popped it in the freezer for zucchini bread - the first loaf is coming out of the oven as we speak!

Dinner Tonight

2010-09-09T19:01:00.000-07:00

Swordfish steaks w/ white wine, balsamic vinegar & caper sauce, cherry tomatoes, and zucchini fritters. The swordfish recipe is from Epicurious (but I threw the tomatoes in just because). To make the fritters, I cut one of our CSA zucchinis into matchstick sized pieces and added the to the Ratio fritter batter, seasoned with a little salt, pepper, and dried basil. The sauce "kind of" went all over the place, probably because of all the extra tomato juice.

New office view

2010-09-09T06:18:00.001-07:00

Not too shabby - and I have my own little office!

Exercise

2010-09-08T20:53:00.001-07:00

I don't know if golf in a cart counts, but I know tennis does, which means I've worked out at least two of the past three days. Yay me. Sidenote: my former employer always spelled yay "yeah," but I think that is how you spell what is pronounced as "yah."

The new job is going well, especially since I found out I get to leave at 5. Even though my commute is a bit longer (10 more minutes), this gives me more than enough time!

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Labor Day Vacay

2010-09-04T12:38:00.000-07:00

We're in North Carolina, (not the coast, but golf country) at the rental house my parents got, get this - 18 years ago. I haven't been here in years, I think Mr. D has been here more recently than I have, for one of my dad's birthday golf trips. It was weird coming back, and especially weird since we're the only ones here (we invited J&R to come with us, but R's parents are in NYC to see his new nephew).

Earlier in the week, Hurricane Earl gave us a bit of pause, but we realized that we weren't going to be anywhere near close enough to the coast to worry about it, so here we are, relaxing in the gorgeous weather, the faint smell of grilling in the air as the UT vs. Rice game gets started.

Thinking about the hurricane makes me think of all the "recent hurricanes, which I have been lucky enough to avoid my traveling. I remember Hurricane Rita, which caused HUGE amounts of panic, as almost all of Houston evacuated to Dallas/Austin, remembering Katrina, which struck New Orleans just weeks before. Mr. D and I had just met that summer, and his friends were trying to get me to wait out the storm in Austin with him, but I was all set to go to San Francisco for my friend Sara's wedding - and was able to move my flight up a day. The window in my office overlooked I-45, and the road was completely bumper-to-bumper with cars, and the southbound traffic was non-existent, as they had closed the road so people could use that side for northbound traffic, too. My dad took me to the airport the next morning, and the streets were deserted (Mom and little sis had gone to Dallas, but Dad was staying with my uncle who had just had surgery). Later that afternoon, they closed the airport, but, as we learned from the news in San Francisco, the storm was not nearly as bad as had been predicted.

Two years ago, as we were spending a week at my parents' house after our honeymoon, but before driving up to NYC, my Mom actually made us leave early, so that we would miss Hurricane Gustav, which turned out to be a dud of a storm.

Two weeks after that, we moved into our apartment, and my brother and a couple of his friends came up to visit for Labor day before his second year of med school at UT Galveston. While he was up, Ike hit Galveston hard, and we just had to watch the news for word, while the boys realized what they had left undone back home. My brother realized he had left all of his textbooks on the floor, while we kept reassuring another that someone must have thought to get his turtle before leaving town (despite the fact that the frat house flooded, the turtle was fine).

We've been relatively lucky to have funny stories about what happened during the hurricanes and not stories of injury or destruction (though my brother did have a huge job to deal with as fraternity president that year).

Life of Leisure

2010-09-02T05:18:00.001-07:00

My sister called me last night to see how my week of leisure was going (I finished up work last week and don't start the new job until Tuesday). My week has not been very leisurely. Monday we spent driving back from Mr. D's parents' house, then swapped out the TV stand. Tuesday, I went to the dentist (at 9 am), made sandwich bread (since I had time) and swapped out the old bookcases for the new ones - and it was hot in the apartment - thank you, heat wave (oh, and I made Alton Brown's spaghetti sauce, which probably didn't help the heat situation).

Yesterday I took the dog to the park, did some "fitness yoga" on the on-demand exercise channel, then collapsed, took a shower, and made some ravioli. The ravioli turned into a disaster; when I went to take the food processor bowl out of the fridge, the top popped off and half of the shrimp paste plopped in the refrigerator and then on the floor - fail. When Mr. D came home, we stopped by Eataly - which is basically an Italian food store/restaurant/theme park started by Mario Batali, Joe Bastianich, and maybe someone else - in the hopes that we would be able to eat there. Umm, the hordes of people (literally) and hour-long wait to eat in the pizza section led us to eat elsewhere (craftbar - yum). We did see Mario walking around helping the employees. He's kind of like part of the family - we did go see Avatar with him (or, his family was sitting next to us in the theater - same thing. If you watch MasterChef (of course we do - it's a reality show with food), then you know that Joe Bastianich is the token jerk on the judges panel who rarely has anything nice to say and throws food in the garbage.

Today, I plan to take the dog to the park, take some change to the Coinstar machine, order the last piece of the bookcase (we weren't sure we were going to get it), sell the books we don't need anymore, make red beans & rice, and make another batch of ravioli (chicken this time). Order the bookcase, done. Dog park, on my way so I can get iced coffee (we're out). In order of probability of happening today - red beans, ravioli, coinstar, and books - I still have tomorrow off, so the last two could happen tomorrow (except I remembered that I have to do laundry so we can pack for our trip to NC - not the coast, so no real Earl worries).

Things I made from Ratio this week: bread, mayonnaise (a bit of a fail, but I'm not sure exactly why), pasta for the ravioli, and filling for the ravioli. Have I mentioned I love this book?

Before and after (so far) pictures of the bookshelves:

Weekend at the in-laws

2010-08-28T20:45:00.001-07:00

We're in Western New York at the D's house. So far a traffic-y ride over, a power washer waking me at 7:30 this am, a trip to the car show (hence the power washer), and a trip to the lake (and Sasha's first boat ride)...

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Yargh

2010-08-26T06:40:00.000-07:00

Dear Mr. D - I know that you are a little happy/grateful/excited that I have all of next week off between my two jobs, but let's keep the excitement in check. For instance, now that we aren't moving, I'm glad we found a new bookcase/TV stand that we both like for the living room. Hopefully, I can pull the books and knickknacks we don't need in one day and get everything ready to install for when you get home from work. It is a little convenient that most of the boxes came early, but I really think we should hold off pulling everything else out of the box at least until we get back from your parents' house this weekend. I agree that the one bookcase does look great, but since the old bookcases are still in place, it's a bit inconvenient (not to mention terrorizing Sasha) for it to be in the hallway to the front door. Maybe we can move it before we leave For our road trip tomorrow. I love you, I really do (and I promise to dispose of the two old laptops that have been in the bedroom).

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Dinner Tonight

2010-08-24T20:44:00.000-07:00

We made sausage and pepper pizza with homemade fried unknown squash. The pepper and squash (a zucchini-colored ball) came from our CSA box. I just breaded the zucchini and fried it up. I made the dough this morning before work and let it rise while we were gone. Mr. D made the sausage a few weeks ago so we just had to pull it out of the freezer. I was pretty proud of our little meal, but prouder that I remembered to take a picture before we ate it.

Use Video Games for Good, not Evil

2010-08-21T07:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon, my boss invented a report for us to do for a client for Monday, which left me to do some formatting for a PowerPoint, and we did not finish until 6:10 pm. On a Summer Friday*.

Anyway, as I suspected, Mr. D beat me home, but had not taken the dog out yet. Usually the dog-taking-out schedule is that I take her out in the morning, then when I get home, and Mr. D takes her out at night. There is a unspoken agreement that if Mr. D gets home first, he will take the Soosh outside. When I got home yesterday, Mr. D was plopped on the couch with the dog playing video games. "Have you taken the dog out yet?"

"No, I just got home from work, when would I have had time to do that."

In my head: "I don't know, the cowboy on screen is already halfway to wherever, how much time did that take?"

Out loud: "Hmm, fine. Do you want to take the dog outside or make dinner."

Him: "I'll make dinner."

Best deal I ever made. Not that dinner was going to be too difficult, some fish fillets with veggies from our CSA box (tomato and mozzarella salad and sauteed squash). Yumm.

*Summer Fridays are a weird thing. My brother-in-law asked my sister why we had summer Fridays, when our business wasn't necessarily seasonal. I think it's more of a New York, Northeast type of thing. Basically everyone gets out early on Friday, though some companies are just having off on alternate Fridays. Our office is a little more frustrating; since it's not a set time, we can't make plans dependent on our leaving early.

New Job!

2010-08-19T19:02:00.000-07:00

Yay me. The reason last week was so stressful (really last month) was that I found a new job. Whoo hoo. The stress was because I was debating when to tell my boss, and eventually decided that, in this situation, two weeks notice would be sufficient. The stress was waiting until Friday to tell her.

Her personality is such that I did not know what would happened. I started (secretly) cleaning out my personal space (in our office, we have one drawer to use for our personal belongings, including your purse), because one of the scenarios included me having to leave right after I gave notice.

That day, I was kind of looking forward to going home, what with the wicked cold medicine hangover, and, since that was the night we were having dinner at J&R's place and J had told me I should come hang out while she was cooking, because she had the day off.

The actual act of telling my boss that I had quit was very anti-climactic. We sat down and she rather condescendingly told me that she would make it easy for me, because she like to make things easy for young women when they had something difficult to talk about. Um, what? At that point, I basically was just laughing in my head the entire time we were talking.

All in all, it worked out. I'm out and on to bigger and better things. Too be continued...

Don't Try this at Home

2010-08-17T19:38:00.000-07:00

Last week was a bit stressful (more on that later); so stressful, in fact, that I think I had the beginnings of a cold on Thursday. I really thought it was allergies, which it could have been. I started having symptoms Thursday afternoon at work, where I was a bit sniffly and sneezy. Not that big of a deal, considering most people come to work sick at my office. I think there have been maybe 3 times when people have taken a sick days in the almos-two years that I have been there.

That evening I was meeting J for drinks, so I took some of my allergy medicine. I felt better pretty quickly, but I knew that I wanted to nip a cold in the bud, before it started, so after drinks (really just one glass of wine) with J, I came home and ordered some pho (Vietnamese noodle soup). Then, right before bed, I decided to take some NyQuil and some Aleve. NOT a good idea. Too many antihistamines at once. I woke up with the worst fog/hangover ever. I didn't lose the fog until 2 pm in the afternoon!

Note to self: allergy meds or cold meds, not both

Kitchen Goodness

2010-08-16T17:41:00.000-07:00

J and I met up for drinks on the terrace at the apartment complex, one of our favorite places to meet up - though we did have to move the party to the lounge area when it started to drizzle on us. While we were there, we talked about what I should bring over to their house for dinner the next night. I was assigned dessert, and assured J that I would be able to bring it, even though I would have work the next day. At 8:30, we went upstairs to our respective apartments to have dinner. Due to the power of the Ratio book, I was able to throw together a pound cake that night. Pound cake is really easy, but the one is the book is a citrus pound cake, which wouldn't go with the hazelnut ice cream Mr. D and I had made the weekend before nearly so well as a chocolate one.

That is the wonderful thing about the ratio book. You know you have the basics, and the book shows you how easy it can be to tweak the recipes, so I just added some cocoa powder to the recipe - but since cocoa is so dry, I just added a little milk to the mixture to make sure that the cake stayed moist. Pop it in the oven, and voila.

Once we were at J&R's apartment, I made some chocolate sauce (also ratio) - heat some milk and pour over an equal amount of chocolate. Stir to melt the chocolate, and you're done (but you can add a liquor or flavoring to it too). To make the dessert, we put the pound cake on the plate, topped it with hazelnut ice cream and then drizzled (read - drowned) the ice cream with the chocolate. Tadaaa!

Note - this was a bit of a fail, as I tried to remember to take a picture of this last night when we had the leftovers for our own dessert. I remembered before dinner, and I remembered after dinner, but then I forgot until after I had finished devouring my dessert.

Anniversary dinner

2010-08-09T07:41:00.000-07:00

Saturday night, Mr. D and I went out to dinner to celebrate our anniversary at Annisa. The head chef, Anita Lo, was on Top Chef masters. The meal was delicious; a lot of the menu was seafood, so we stuck to that for the most part. My appetizer was soup dumplings with seared foie gras on top. Soup dumplings are one of the most amazing inventions ever. For those of you unfamiliar with them, they are dumplings that have soup broth inside of them, so when you bite into them the yummy broth explodes into your mouth - soo good.

The only problem was the air conditioning in the restaurant. I can understand that sometimes the a/c might not work that well, but when you see the he'd waiter take off his jacket, and that it was cooler outside than it was inside, you would think they might open the door.

After dinner we went to the Rusty Knot, which is a tiki bar that Mr. D has been wanting to try. He warned me that it was a bit of a dive bar, but a) I didn't mind if I was overdressed and b) NYC dive bars would usually still not qualify as a dive bar in Texas. The bar was pretty tiny and crowded, but fun - decorated like someones basement might be if they wanted a Hawaiian theme in the 60's. The Rusty Knot is also a drink - kind of a slushy mojito, but with the mind blended, so you don't get the big leaves.

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Why I Like Being Married

2010-08-05T18:02:00.000-07:00

Since the beginning of July, Mr. D has been on a special rotation in his department that has the reputations for being understaffed, which means the attorneys work longer hours. For the past two weeks, we have been suffering with the longer hours (not too long, but long enough where I have had to eat by myself more nights than not). So, for the most part I've been cooking for myself, which has led me to realize that I am a lazy cook. For the most part, I had pasta w/ leftover pork and whatever veggies I threw in from our CSA box. Super creative, right. I guess I just didn't feel like making a dinner that was more "presentable" since Mr. D wasn't home to eat it, too. If I wasn't eating with someone all the time, would I even bother cooking "nice" meals?