flavanoids

The Hunger Games Trilogy

2012-02-04T10:50:00.005-05:00

I blew through this trilogy in one weekend, angering John that I would stay up to all hours of the night trying to finish. They are very quick reads, and I loved them. Yes, the last book was a little uneventful especially compared to the big build up from the first two, but I still enjoyed it, and was surprised at how easily the author could bring me to tears. She did it in the first book so quickly that I was automatically hooked. A friend of mine recommended it to me, she said it's a Young Adult novel about teenagers who are forced to participate in the Hunger Games, to fight for their lives. As soon as she told me what it was about I was a little turned off, but I kept hearing so many great things about it. And once I started reading them, I fell for them hook, line and sinker. Katniss Everdeen is the heroine and she has many faults, but that's why she's so likeable and relate-able. The author Suzanne Collins was able to capture elements of life as a teenager that almost anyone could relate to, or at least any girl I know, but then just as swiftly put Katniss in situations that no one has had to face, and that's why these series work so well.
I highly recommend them, as I said I zipped through all three in one weekend, and now am waiting for the first movie to come out, hoping that they don't ruin it. And yes the idea of making people kill each other in a televised sport is not new, it definitely reminded me of the Running Man, but these books seem perfect for our time with reality television and apathy toward politics. I would really love to hear what teenagers who've read it think of it, I of course was all caught up in the love triangle. Yeah, I'm a sucker for all that stuff. But these books are a great distraction, so get to reading them already!

Godspell

2012-02-03T14:37:00.007-05:00

A few months ago we got free tickets to see Godspell. My husband was a little apprehensive about it, I didn't know much about it but was game. We almost left at the intermission. I was so embarrassed for the actors, although their singing and energy was great, the material was so hokey and it was directed in such a weird and juvenile way. There were so many cringe worthy segments it was difficult for me to look the actors in the eye, and since the theatre was a circle there was plenty of opportunity to look them in the eye. The theatre itself was actually very awesome, too bad the play was so .... simple. The casting of the blond haired blue eyed white guy as Jesus was just so predictable, as was the casting of a black guy as Judas. Seriously? In this day and age?? Whatever, I guess I'm not the target audience, because the only thing I'm glad about is that the tickets were free. During intermission they offered free wine in the tiny plastic cups (like they serve at those big evangelical churches) and several people swooped down from the audience to partake, We were a little suspicious that there was more than wine in the glasses given the heavy handed nature of the first act, so we passed. They also threw out mardi gras beads during the first act, gold ones to hammer home that greed is evil, but I was just glad no one had to flash to get their beads. Any way to each their own I guess, but I don't recommend it.

Billy the Kid

2012-01-13T12:36:00.001-05:00

I turned on PBS the other night in an attempt to heal my poor, rotting brain cells after the damage that occurred while viewing The A team movie. It's blasphemous (see my previous A-Team post), but the movie has recently been littering the cable movie channels and I thought, how bad could it be? Well it was pretty horrible. Liam Neeson deserves to be shot, I mean what happened to him? He used to do actually good movies, or great movies...but now he is just laughable. And he was the absolute worst acting in the entire movie...AND he had some stiff competition. But I digress...

In hopes of washing my brain of that horrible sham of a movie, I turned to PBS and was just in time to watch the American Experience episode about Billy the Kid, I didn't know much about him so I figured hey why not. Boy was I in for a treat, I had no idea that Henry McCarty (aka Billy the Kid) was originally form New York and travelled west with his mother for a better life. It was great and fascinating story about a rebellious youth who was first and foremost was loyal to his friends, trying to make right and provide justice for the little guy. He became a hero to the native peoples and a hero to me. The real villains were unscrupulous "business men" and "the law," McCarty was no angel but given the chance he always tried to do what was right. Besides the fact that he had an uncanny knack for getting out of seemingly devastating ends.

Check it out if you are so inclined: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/billy/

Camera Obscura

2012-01-12T11:32:00.001-05:00

This guy makes whole rooms into cameras by blacking our the windows and cutting small holes in the plasic. I love this. I would love to try this. :)

http://www.abelardomorell.net/photography/cameraobsc_01/cameraobsc_13.html

Thanks to the Mental Floss water cooler ammo for this.

Woodberry Kitchen in Baltimore, MD

2012-01-04T12:25:00.001-05:00

We had a delightful end to a long, relaxing holiday in Baltimore, our gracious hosts introduced us to the Woodberry Kitchen, it's an awesome place. It's beautiful, rustic and cozy. "Woodberry Kitchen features the seasonal best from local growers and emphasizes organic meats and sustainable agriculture. Our goal is to nourish and delight our guests with cooking grounded in the traditions and ingredients of the Chesapeake region." The menu is fabulous, the waitstaff was friendly and efficient, and it was just a great place to spend the evening, do not miss this if you are in Baltimore area. They are often very busy, but we called at around 7 and got 9:30 reservations, it sure is a treat.

We started with the Smoked Rockfish Fritters and Stuffed Tom's Cove Clams, these clams were stuffed with pork sausage and other yummy ingredients, their menu often changes slightly to accommodate the local delicacies that are in season. For my entree I had the chicken and biscuit, and it was divine. The chicken was on top and so delicately crispy and tasty, covering delicious veggies and gravy. I also ordered the Potato and garlic gratin with Hawks Hill cheddar as a side. Again very tasty. And what better way to finish a gluttony filled holiday then with a decadent dessert? Pat and I shared the C.M.P. which is malt ice cream, chocolate sauce, marshmallow fluff, wet peanuts. This is the stuff dreams are made of, it was served with a flat top with some kind of sugar crisp cover, but it wasn't bruleed, it was perfectly clear keeping all the goodness safe inside. Every thing is hand made, even the marshmallow fluff. So good can't wait to go back there again. I also hear the brunch is fab. Again on my list of things to do next time I'm in B-more.

Hope everyone has had a good holiday! Time to hit the gym!
xox

Woodbury Kitchen, Highly recommended, Entree Prices range approx $16 - $30, a great place to splurge. http://www.woodberrykitchen.com/

Random photos

2011-11-19T10:41:00.001-05:00

I LOVE the orchid room at the Baltimore Conservatory, just block away from my sis's house in Bmore.

Chalupa is accustomed to cuddles every morning.

And belly rubs.

Renovations as of 10/13/2011

2011-10-13T22:14:00.002-04:00

So the Kitchen/Dining room is coming along. I took pictures during the day and a few at night, the light makes things look so different, but it's all coming together. I just want to make sure that the finishing is done right. One thing I have to say is when you are doing renovations like these and say an electrician, plumber or carpenter doesn't want to or know how to do something you want them to, you have to push them. It's your house it obviously is more important to you, plus also these guys are in a hurry and are trying to get the job done and get paid. Sometimes I had to push harder than others, and I try to be reasonable but I also know that I'm the one that is going to have to live with the work when it's done. So if you can't see yourself living with it, ask them to do what needs to be done so that you can.

Occupy Wall Street March 10/05/11

2011-10-06T12:34:00.001-04:00

I participated in the March to support the Occupy Wall Street March, the millionaires need to be taxed appropriately. I agree with Warren Buffet, he should not be paying less in taxes then his secretary. We live in the greatest country in the world, how can the "haves" completely use and abuse the "have nots" when it's the "have nots" that are their teachers, firemen, police, WE are they're customers, they're consumers, they have built their fortunes on our hard earned money. Visit We are the 99% read their stories. See if you don't agree, we are only asking that Millionaires get taxed under the same rates they did under Clinton. We need to balance the budget by increasing tax revenue and ending unnecessary wars, I agree we do need to ensure that money gets spent wisely. But giving tax breaks to the rich is decimating the middle class. And the middle class is what has built our country. Here are some photos of yesterday. Please share.

More pics of kitchen/dining room renovation

2011-09-28T10:22:00.001-04:00

To save money we opted to do the painting ourselves, which means myself. This Martha Stewart Light Strokes paint is definitely the fanciest paint I've ever used. We needed something light to counter balance the dark cabinets, and this has some kind of metallic silvery element in it that makes it sparkle. I've been working on this and stripping the paint off the doors in the foyer which isn't fun, it's a LOT of work, but it's getting there. I enjoy painting much better.

My painting tips: Protect everything that needs it with plastic and blue painters' tape. Use a squeegee to make sure the blue painter's tape is sealed tightly to the wall. Paint in bare feet if you can, since you will know right away if you step in paint and will be less likely to track it all around the house. Use a plastic bag as a paint tray liner, this makes for easy clean-up. I learned this trick from John's old company's handyman, Izzy. Put on some good music.

What is this??

2011-09-19T17:34:00.000-04:00

Mystery thing a ma jig, two of these came with the cabinets. NO ONE knows what it is. Not the person I bought my cabinets from or anyone in my facebook list.

I am somehow the proud owner of two of these weird plastic parts, it's got magnets all down the back and little spokes sticking out that it looks like would hold a bunch of tiny little flags. Does anyone out there know what this is?

Black Walnut Slab will be our breakfast bar

2011-09-19T10:58:00.000-04:00

Construction snags

2011-09-16T11:23:00.000-04:00

Cabinet drawer face will have to be replaced. Minor thing compared to moving the water lines.

A few snags in the installation of the cabinets, looks like the cold and hot water lines need to be moved over the left so that they are directly under the sink, if not the carpenters have to cut the backs of two cabinets. This requires another water shutdown and technically we are only allowed one. The building management office will get back to me to see if we are allowed another one. The trash bin provided by my cabinet maker doesn't fit in the cabinet they provided. My cabinet guy is going to do some research to try and find an alternate. He looked for this before and had a lot of trouble. Also, the one drawer face came with a big scratch, but he said that's an easy fix, that they can just provide a new drawer face.

Boo. Things were going so well too. This issues aren't too horrible, I'm sure it will work out...I just knew things were going too smoothly.

Cabinet Installation, from earlier today.The

2011-09-15T15:26:00.000-04:00

These are the upper cabinets laid out for them to hang. I had to re-order another cabinet for above the fridge since the fridge we wanted was a little taller and wider then we originally thought.

Love the laser level that they use to make sure everything is square and straight.

Photos of work completed yesterday, Day 16 *

2011-09-14T12:47:00.000-04:00

View coming in from foyer hallway.

Foyer Hallway with rounded archway removed.

Kitchen view from dininr room alcove.

Sleepy time Chalupa

2011-09-09T12:25:00.003-04:00

Chalupa in her bat cave.

Kitchen Renovation Day 13*

2011-09-09T11:49:00.000-04:00

This corner doesn't look like much, but right under the window is where the old radiator pipes that stuck up above the floor were located, it was a horrible eye sore and you had to be careful not to stub your toe while trying to open the window.

They are in the process of installing the doors on our new small closet area. A little bit of extra storage space is always a good thing.


More skim coating is completed, finally clean straight walls in the kitchen.

*Day 13 plus or minus year and a half or so.

Kitchen Renovation Day 12*

2011-09-08T11:04:00.002-04:00

The new contractors, Telia Contracting are still doing well. The main carpenters (Christion and his partner) do solid straight work. And they do a good job of clean up at the end of the day. These pictures are from yesterday that's why I titled it Day 12. Today is actually Day 13 and the skim coat guy is back to finish fixing up the walls. I'm hoping to get a coat of primer on the walls over the weekend. Since we are hard up for money, I opted to do the painting myself. Besides I like painting, to be honest, I like all this stuff. I wish I could be in there working right along side those guys. They use this cool magnetic laser level, that when turned on shoots out a red beam on all the walls, they used this when they dropped the ceiling down so that it would be straight. It's pretty awesome, and then the other guys mix together some kind of wall cement to patch up the walls. It's progress....real measurable progress. Now I'm knocking on wood so I don't jinx it. Last time I was excited about progress the sh*t hit the fan.

Also Chalupa has evidently developed a taste for gypsum board dust. It's gross...I know...for all her character and personality she is a dog and dogs likes gross things. She insists on coming with me anytime I go through the plastic to talk to the guys, and she never just quietly walks in, she jumps through like a lion from a cage and makes a grand entrance. She's made friends with Christion and the other carpenter and now expects them to share all their food with her, I have to keep her in the other room with the door zipped, but sometimes she still tries to claw her way in.

*Day 12 of new contractors working, actual total of days I've been working on this add about 370 days or so...

All she need is a little hard hat.

2011-09-06T17:30:00.004-04:00

Chalupa walks through the plastic wall to inspect the new construction.

A cautionary tale for homeowners hiring contractors

2011-09-05T10:34:00.000-04:00

Our kitchen in progress.

Well today is September 5, 2011 and this is what our kitchen currently looks like. As I said before we started this project well over a year a go, originally we just wanted to re-do the floors and fix the bowed in walls, and re-cap the radiator pipes so that they were under the floor instead of sticking up two inches ABOVE the floor.

Before we did anything, before we spoke to contractors, interior designers or architects, we asked our then building manager to come up and look at what we wanted to do to get his advice. The radiator piping sealed under the floor---no problem, removing the wall between the kitchen and dining room----no problem. Of course at the time he had been the manager for 16 years, and we thought we could trust what he had to say. But of course as soon as the wall came down, we found nine gas risers, and the guy who was our manager had been replaced. Here is also when everything hit the fan. Our original contractor Sam Woods of Construction Designs and Solutions was/is a crook, his workers not only exposed the gas lines and caused a gas leak from our line, he threatened to call Con Edison himself because he was angry that the building wasn't going to let him do this work that he was obviously marking up a great deal. The day I asked him to return the money that we had just paid him days earlier to move the gas lines was the last day I spoke to him. The next day Con Edison got an "anonymous" call that we had a gas leak. By this time the plumbers from the previous day had stopped the leak. But it didn't stop Con Edison from shutting our gas line and our upstairs neighbor's gas line off, until further testing. Which means we were held responsible for the plumbers to test all the gas lines and for any other expenses associated with this incident, i.e. the food bill from our upstairs neighbors while the gas was shut off. It didn't help matters at all that evidently our neighbors could only eat out at the most expensive restaurants in the area. (Thanks Neighbors!)

This whole thing has been an awful experience and I feel I could write a book on what not to do when looking to hire a contractor and or designer for your home. We or more frankly I did so many things wrong, or trusted the wrong people, that we were bound to have some good luck sooner or later. The job is only half complete, but the new contractors, Telia Contracting are doing a very good job. It's a stark contrast from Sam Woods and his guys, Telia Contracting seems to be the real deal, but the project has yet to be completed...so I'm a little cautious, but cautiously optimistic. This ordeal has been horrible from hiring an interior designer who mislead me and misrepresented herself, to firing her, to hiring a contractor who passed a "rigorous background check and approval process" from Service Magic.com only to find that he was an absolute crook who stole our money and was only able to complete the demolition work and cause a gas leak along the way. It's been so stressful and miserable, but I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel. Yes this is costing us an arm and leg, mainly because we were robbed by a horrible, manipulative contractor, but we also felt kicked from all sides when our building pretty much held us hostage so that we would agree to pay for all the damages from our contractor, or else they would not approve our refinancing package. Not to mention our not so neighborly neighbors. It's been so horrible that I couldn't write about it. I was ashamed and also angry and deeply troubled by all of this. I've broken down into fits of tears more times then I can count. So anyway, it's a long round about way of apologizing for not keeping up my blog but also for being able to move on. Here's a little bit of common sense advice, that needs to be read over and over when you are going through this process. Because it sounds simple, but once you are in the middle of the process and are desperate to get the work done you begin to rationalize this and that, and before you know it you are in the same boat as us.

DO NOT PAY a contractor, electrician, plumber, etc more than the initial deposit until work is actually completed. Don't trust that the work will get done. And make sure the initial deposit is something reasonable, and payment schedules are clear. Mr. Woods would trick us into giving him more money by saying that so and so is going to cost more, can he have a check. And because we were the ones that didn't' want to be dishonest we gave it to him. But I've learned the hard way that you just have to stay firm and only pay when you actually see the work being done.

I've found that most people have heard similar contractor horror stories, and it's about time these creeps get what's coming to them. Here is a link to the Home Improvement Consumer guild from the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs. http://www.nyc.gov/html/dca/downloads/pdf/home_improvement.pdf

Good luck if you are starting or in the process of getting home improvement work done. If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment and ask me. At the very least I hope you can learn from my mistakes. It's also worth noting that I tried to do and buy everything that is as eco friendly as possible, I mean what's the point in recycling bottles, cans, and paper and reusing shopping bags etc, if when it comes to the big purchases we opt for the cheapest chemical laden environment destroying kitchen cabinets. I donated our old kitchen appliances, cabinets and counters to Habitat for Humanity, I purchased our new cabinets (that have been sitting in our building's basement since April!) from the Green Depot, I searched high and low for ceramic tile with recycled content in it for both the floor and the backsplash. Energy star approved appliances, etc etc. But I felt as soon as I mentioned this to most contractors or architects they either glossed over it or took this to mean I was a big fat sucker. And maybe I am....I guess maybe I am.

Chalupa napping

2011-07-05T15:27:00.002-04:00

Sleeping Chalupa

2011-06-29T14:38:00.002-04:00

Chalupa is enjoying a quiet day with no contractors, no workers, no electricians and no plumbers...at least not yet. Supposedly a plumber is supposed to come by today. They've really been eating in her nap time.

Kitchen renovation

2011-06-28T23:37:00.004-04:00

Again, I should have documented our long abyss of flaky interior designers, contractors, architects, bureaucratic paper work, more paper work, procrastination, vacations, and life that has finally brought us to the beginning of our kitchen renovation. It's been over a year in the making, but we finally started on June 20. Here are two pics, one taken when all the furniture and what not was still in place, and the other just today. It's a huge cavern of nothingness, but to me I see progress. Slow, bitter, painful, dusty, dirty, smelly progress.

little chalupa

2011-06-28T23:28:00.002-04:00

Been busy procrastinating so have been woefully ignoring this little blog. The big news is that about a month or so ago little Chalupa was stricken with glaucoma. She woke up one morning with her eye very very swollen and she could barely open it. We had a vet appt in two days, so I thought it would be ok to wait, but by the next morning she was in so much pain she wouldn't stop wailing. It was heart breaking, and if I knowing what I know now, I would have rushed her to the Vet as soon as I could. She is doing very well now, in no pain, and even though she still has no vision in her left eye, she is back to her old bossy self. There is hope that eventually the eye will heal, the Vet set that they can see that her nerve is healthy and not too damaged, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. But also dogs are perfectly fine with one eye, in fact there is a big black lab in our building who lost an eye to cancer years ago and she is doing great, and has been for many years.

Public Domain Protest song

2011-04-21T12:17:00.001-04:00

Public Domain Protest Song

Great song. Take a listen.

austraila!

2011-04-07T20:02:00.005-04:00

Our big trip down under was amazing. Snorkeling with the whale sharks was unbelievably cool. There is nothing like staring at a 28 foot sea creature in the eye. It's even more overwhelming when that huge sea creature decides to to get a closer look at you. It was an unbelievable experience. It was like no other snorkeling trip we had been on, since by law only 10 people are allowed to swim with a whale shark at one time. We were split in groups of 10 where we had to carefully listen to and follow our guide. It was actually stressful we had to jump into the water on cue quickly and quietly (one of my weakest skills) then swim briskly to where she was pointing then once we saw the shark we had to ensure we stayed 3 meters away and only swim near his sides and his back, never toward his face or dive down below he's belly. The belly is their weakest spot. Then after a few minutes we all had to stop when our guide told us to, and circle ourselves together in a small group so that the boat could easily pick us up. And this also allowed the other group of ten to then get their chance.

Basically we saw three to four whale sharks on 5 dives. I didn't see anything on the second dive, being the weakest swimmer (I admit it, I used a noodle) the whale shark had sharply turned away right when we entered the water so everyone swam one direction and I was hopelessly left behind. I probably would have been able to swim faster without the noodle, but it is purely a psychological thing, I didn't want to panic. And the noodle kept me calm. But so did spying on a large, beautiful and peaceful fish that we call a wall shark. So yeah, whale shark snorkeling is very regimented, but one can understand why it has to be. On the day we went out there was only one other Whale Shark Tour boat in the harbor, so we were very lucky that we didn't have to share sharks with them. Or so I'm told. The 28ft (or 8 meter) whale shark was the biggest we saw, the others we saw we between 5 and 6 meters.

The third dive is when I just casually looked over my right shoulder to look at a the huge 28 footer, looking back at me. One thing about whale sharks, that despite their size they seem like happy sharks, they have big mouths but they seem to smiling. Call me crazy but all other sharks you see look mean, or grumpy, or hungry. Whale sharks seem very zen. But perhaps that's because they're bellies were full. We were told that basically these are adolescent whale sharks (not even half their full size yet) that have stopped to fill their bellies before they continue chasing the girls up the coast. What a life.

What was funny for me was that I didn't think the sharks looked all that big until one was right next to me. And even then, I was like, wow he's maybe like 3 meters long or something. Then we went back on the boat, and I saw the "small" 5 meter shark and I was like "woah" that's huge, he didn't look that big in the water! Anyway, if you ever get the opportunity to snorkel with whale sharks I recommend it 1000%, it was definitely the highlight of the trip.

Not to mention emus, kangaroos, and parrots. Will talk more about these later. :)

Chinatown Ice Cream Factory Deal of the Day | Groupon New York City

2011-03-10T08:29:00.002-05:00

Chinatown Ice Cream Factory Deal of the Day | Groupon New York City

I can 100% recommend the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory, we've been going here for years. They have delicious ice cream and sorbets in amazing flavors. Lychee sorbet, blueberry sorbet, coconut icecream, red bean...this groupon coupon basically gives you 50% and can be used in several visits. Enjoy!

Groupon plug

2011-03-08T17:57:00.002-05:00

http://www.groupon.com/r/uu11656230

Follow this link and I get credit for the referral. :) One interesting groupon coupon is a haunted tour of lower manhattan or the village. This is the last day to buy that coupon.

Obama Foodorama: The Obamas Make History With Homebrewed White House Honey Ale

2011-03-08T08:36:00.004-05:00

Obama Foodorama: The Obamas Make History With Homebrewed White House Honey Ale

5 Amazing Things Invented by Donald Duck (Seriously) | Cracked.com

2011-03-06T08:37:00.000-05:00

I loved Donal Duck as a kid, and then loved watching the Scrooge McDuck cartoons. Who says you can learn anything from a cartoon?

5 Amazing Things Invented by Donald Duck (Seriously) | Cracked.com

KT Tunstall tickets, concerts and tour dates. Official Ticketmaster site.

2011-03-04T16:19:00.000-05:00

KT Tunstall tickets, concerts and tour dates. Official Ticketmaster site.

Oopps I just realized I used Elmer's Ultimate glue, not gorilla glue

2011-03-03T10:44:00.002-05:00

I think it's basically the same stuff, but I should give credit where credit is due. This Ultimate Glue sure did the trick with the floor lamp bases. Now, I will go back and correct my past entries.

Floor lamps with bases fixed!

2011-03-02T15:56:00.002-05:00

Floor lamp base fixed by gluing top of base with gorilla glue, bolts to attach lamp pole tightened, now one lamp or torchiere as (I've learned they are probably called) is good as new and the other just needs replacement glass; which I ordered today. Progress!

Fixing our wobbly floor lamps

2011-02-28T14:26:00.008-05:00

If there is glass in the house, most likely I will break it. To John's dismay I've broken several drinking glasses. But on Friday I was rushing around trying to get out the door and make it to a yoga class when I realized I left my phone charging on the living room end table. Stupidly I walked over there with my gym bag and yoga mat in tow. I felt the lamp sway a little but I figured I could still grab my phone and steady the lamp at the same time. Wrong. The lamp come crashing to the floor and the glass lamp shade exploded in a million tiny pieces.

We considered just getting new lamps, especially since after we moved in 2005 with "professional"* movers (Moishe's) somehow our floor lamps were never quite the same. They wobbled and were very tipsy. But since they are on the floor and are very rarely moved it didn't seem like a big deal. We took the better part of Saturday to shop all around the Lighting District, but didn't quite find what we were looking for and plus the prices were a bit high.

Since I had to at least get a new lamp shade, I called around and asked if anyone could repair the lamp base. One place recommended that I email a picture or two and they would let me know if they could repair it. Well, once I actually took a look at it, I realized it would be a (fingers crossed) fairly easy fix. The base is some kind of cement or ceramic material that was encased with black plastic. The problem was that the top part of the base broke off, the lamp was not attached to the base at all since the bolt only attached it to the top portion. I thought a heavy duty glue would do the trick.

I have a bottle of gorilla -correction used Elmer's Ultimate- glue that I couldn't use any more because somehow the bottle glued itself shut. I kept it around since it was an almost full bottle, and I figured if I was really desperate I could some how cut the top off and use the glue then throw the rest away. I tried jabbing a hole with a small pair of scissors, until I realized that my electric drill would do the trick. I don't get a lot of opportunity to use the drill, so I relish the times that I do. I held the glue bottle in one hand and just drilled a few holes with the other. I rinsed and wiped off the drill bit immediately after since I didn't want to ruin my drill bit with glue. And eureka I'm back in business.

The following our pics of my handiwork. I recommend taking pictures whenever attempting to fix things, not only to make long drawn out, rambling blog posts; but to also serve as guide when it comes time to put the thing (what ever you are fixing) back together again.

*The movers at Moishe's also managed to break a $200 dollar light fixture in our old building. And they crushed my very expensive hat we got in Paris for a hat wedding.

The King's Speech

2011-02-28T10:46:00.003-05:00

Months ago in early Fall, our friends Karin and Paul invited us to a special screening of a movie, we couldn't remember the name of the movie but we knew it had Collin Firth (who's name I always get confused with Collin Farrel) so we decided to go, mainly because we wanted to see and hang out with our friends, and also because it was free. Karin is a member of the Producers Guild of America. She gets a to invite a few guests per showing. My expectations were pretty low, remember at the time I wasn't exactly sure which Collin I was going to be seeing, and if it was Farrel it probably wasn't going to be the best movie ever. But as the screen lit up with images of England, I was glad it was Firth but also a little skeptical....another English royalty movie really???

But within the first scene of the movie, I knew this was a British royalty movie of a different sort. Who hasn't met someone with a stuttering problem, or even have had a touch of this speech impediment themselves. It's horrifying to watch and even more so to go through, couple that with being public speaking royalty and it makes for good cinema. Even better that it's all based on a true story, a story that many still remember. I remember really liking this movie, at the end there was even a Q and A with Collin, Helena, the Director and a Producer. I was sorry that the screen writer and that Geoffrey Rush were absent. Because to me the screen writing and Geoffrey Rush made the film.

It was a great film, and over the next few months I got to view many other of the soon to be Oscar contenders from The Fighter, to True Grit, to Black Swan. And although I believe Black Swan should have had more recognition in many areas, for make up and costume at the least. I do think that The King's Speech was the best picture this year. But that's just my two cents.

Groupon coupon $10 for $25 at Nutty Guys

2011-02-24T11:04:00.004-05:00

Check out the deal here.

They've got great prices on nuts, candy, chocolate covered stuff. etc.

Office Manager Chalupa

2011-02-23T17:01:00.002-05:00

Posto Pizza, 310 Second Avenue @18th Street

2011-02-23T13:45:00.005-05:00

I think I'm a little late to the party on this one, especially considering the packed crowds around dinner time, but better late than never, right? Posto pizza is delicious super thin pizza, it's got a nice homey decor and good service. The pizza here is just amazing, fresh ingredients and super yummy. John and I were addicted and went here many times in the span of about a week and half. Seriously, it was getting embarrassing. We can not wait to have more people to bring here. We prefer to go around lunch time on the weekends when there isn't a crowd. And John LOVES the Arnold Palmer (half lemonade and half iced tea) because they bring a bottle of sugar water for you to add to the drink. We go ga ga for the Meat Lover's pizza. But we've also seen many other delicious looking concoctions leaving the kitchen. It's so thin it's like eating air, it can't have that many calories, can it? Ohh.. bonus the dressing for their salad is so super garlicky, it's just the best. And I'm not a big salad dressing person, I usually prefer my salad naked.

Posto Pizza. Very Highly recommended. 212-716-1200 310. Second Avenue @18th Street

groupon

2011-02-23T13:41:00.002-05:00

http://www.groupon.com/r/uu11656230

Check out groupon at the above link and I get credit for the referral. Just look around it doesn't hurt to look. I have so far bought two groupon things: one was a $25 for $50 worth of merchandise at American Apparel and the other was $30 for unlimited yoga for 30 days at Ishta Yoga. Both were pretty good deals, I'm really enjoying the yoga. I was going to post it here but the deal is no longer available. But they have some interesting deals on restaurants and just today a hair salon. And I've been looking for a new hair place. We'll see. :) Hope you enjoy it.

How much is that doggie in the window?

2011-02-23T13:37:00.003-05:00

This little doggie was non plussed that I was taking his/her picture. But how could I resist? It's just one of the things that make New York a great city.

Why Obama’s Handling of the Egyptian Uprising Reveals That He Is a Pragmatic Centrist to the Core -- New York Magazine

2011-02-14T10:22:00.000-05:00

Why Obama’s Handling of the Egyptian Uprising Reveals That He Is a Pragmatic Centrist to the Core -- New York Magazine

A good article about why Obama's actions and reactions to Egypt's revolutions were so tempered. He is a pragmatist, and that's a good thing.

Chalupa

2011-02-10T10:29:00.002-05:00

Another old random photo of Chalupa, this is one of her favorite things. She absolutely LOVES to lay in the warm clothes out of the dryer. I ended up folding them all around her and carried the basket up from the basement this way. It's great when we are on the back elevator and someone comes on, they slowly realize that I'm carrying more than just laundry. And in case you are curious, after several months of allergies and or yeast infections, Chalupa is doing great on real chicken and rice. This week I started roasting the chicken instead of boiling it, and she absolutely loves it. It looked so good I stole a tiny bite...that is before I added the nutritional powder that adds all the vitamins and stuff. A dog's life....

A random Chalupa photo to brighten your Monday

2011-02-07T11:05:00.002-05:00

Screw U: For-profit Colleges Scamming Students and Taxpayers Out of Their Money - Campus Progress

2011-02-07T11:04:00.000-05:00

These for profit colleges are horrible, they prey upon the poor and then let the tax payers foot the bill. To top it all off most students who find a way to actually pay all their fees and graduate usually end up with a degree that is useless.

Screw U: For-profit Colleges Scamming Students and Taxpayers Out of Their Money - Campus Progress

Cancer-Sniffing Dog Trained By Scientists

2011-02-02T11:03:00.000-05:00

Cancer-Sniffing Dog Trained By Scientists

Big football weekend coming up!

2011-01-12T18:15:00.002-05:00

So, this weekend we have the Ravens vs. the Steelers and the Jets vs. the Patriots. I think if the Ravens can pull of a victory in Pittsburgh then they have a great shot at going all the way. It's going to be an epic battle though, so buckle up. And if you aren't that into football you should know that the Ravens are the only NFL team that is named after a famous piece of literary work, by none other than Edgar Allen Poe. So that should get some literature fans on board. maybe?

Read Poe's The Raven here.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-23T18:20:00.002-05:00

Here's a little bit of Chalupa to keep away the withdrawal

2010-12-02T13:33:00.001-05:00

Kt Tunstall Tiger Suit

2010-12-02T13:10:00.003-05:00

Just saw KT Tunstall on her last night of the American tour for Tiger Suit and she rocked the house. I love KT, and got to see her once at a small free gig at the Apple Store in Soho. But seeing her with a full band and in full tour mode was something special. She obviously loves making music and her energy is infectious. If they release a bootleg of last nights concert at Terminal 5 I highly recommend it. One of the highlights of the night was the cover of Erasure's Little Respect. But in the mean time pick up Tiger Suit, and if you don't have her other albums (Eye to the Telescope and Drastic Fantasic) add them to your gift wish list this season and maybe Santa will be good to you. I have to say I liked the album when I listened to it, but I LOVE it now that I've heard the songs live. This music is meant to be performed, so go see her next time she's touring in the U S of A or hop over the pond to see her play in England in the next few months.

KT became famous when her Big Black Horse and a Cherry tree was featured on American Idol a few years back. Give her a listen, I think you'll like it. :) Bonus, the Hurricane Bells opened for her and they had a great eclectic sound, I particularly liked the drummer. He rocked out to several songs. Happy listening.

Just call me Terrell Suggs

2010-11-22T23:44:00.004-05:00

So I joined a co-ed flag football team this fall we played for 7 weeks. Tonight was our last night and it was play offs. I know I take these things a little too seriously, we started off the season with complete domination we had a star quarterback and a star receiver who were both recruited for college ball. But that abruptly ended in our fourth week, when due to illness our quarterback didn't show and for who know what reason our star receiver didn't show either. We got spanked. It sucked. Not only did we lose, but lost horribly. We did nothing right, it was exactly how it was in the Bad News Bears movie, where anything that can go wrong does. (And I'm talking about the 70s Bad News Bears not that crap with Billy Bob.) We were all shaken because we had no leadership on the field.

I wrote what I thought was a kick ass email telling our teammates to get off their butts so we could do something about it. My friend Jen and I were the only ones available for practice that Saturday. But we did practice. The next game only 6 players showed up, we played one man down and did a valiant effort. For flag football we play 7 on 7, and two girls have to be on the field at all times. The other team out played us mainly because they had extra players to sub in and out. But we moved the ball (slowly) down the field and despite the fact we still lost, I was proud of how we played. We were a team. We made completions, and scored touchdowns. The sixth week almost the entire team showed up, we had several players to spare and since the team we were supposed to play was a no show we ended up playing a scrimmage match and ended up winning. Yes we had our one great receiver back for the game, but it was more of a team effort.

Tonight was our last night and it kind of sucked. When one player is really good, but doesn't bring everyone up but rather brings everyone down it sucks. I was ready to play my heart out, leave it all out on the field, and I tried to. But our team dynamic was off, it's not just that we were losing, we were playing badly, unnecessary penalties and we just couldn't complete the plays. From the beginning I kept pushing our team to rush the quarterback, yes it's flag football and you have to count to 5 mississppi(s) before you can charge. But once you do that you CAN charge. And I swear once we started doing that the other teams had much less of a chance to complete passes.

What was funny was that it came full circle my team finally came around to my way of thinking to rush the quarterback, but then decided I wasn't doing a good job of it or something. So, when it was a guy guarding and he was standing doing nothing in the previous games...that was ok? But when I do it and count to 5 mississippi then rush it's not? I grabbed flags, I waved my arms, I swear I messed up their passes. But whatever, I felt a little under appreciated and worse it's how the game started. When they asked who would be guarding the QB, I said I would, but they said a guy should do it. I'm sorry I think that's some kind of shit, that it was my idea to rush the QB and I actually had to convince my teammates of this, and then when I finally start getting results I'm not good enough to do it??? I'm the perfect person to do it, I'm too short to guard most of the other players, but I can rush and put pressure on the QB. I don't mean to be a sore loser, and I know that's part of it. But I felt completely unappreciated and almost attacked by my fellow girl team mates who frankly haven't done a whole hell of a lot. Now, I know it probably wasn't the girls that wanted a guy to guard the QB, it was probably a guy that wanted the change. What sucks is that I felt as though they were conspiring or talking about it behind my back. And when I tried to explain my rationale of being too short to guard for passing, because they can usually pass over my head, the teammate who opposed me didn't think I needed to tell her. Not to mention, when our one star player decided he would guard the QB he got us about 3 or 4 penalties because he didn't know the 5 second rule. (!)

Whatever, I try my damndest every fucking time I'm on the field. I don't ever give up. And I for one would have loved a little credit for that.

Sigmund Pretzelshop, 29 Ave B bet 2nd and 3rd

2010-11-21T20:54:00.008-05:00

Dreaming of cheddar and jalapenjo pretzels. Every fall Madison square park hosts a market. Most of the booths are filled with crafts and specialty goods for the early Xmas shopper. But the handful of food booths always steal the show. Last year the gingerbread cookies were a big favorite. And as soon as the weather starting getting brisk I couldn't wait for the Madison Square market to come around again so I could partake in a cookie or three. But this year the pretzels and waffles were the upset. Sigmund Pretzelshop had a cozy little booth with usually about three different flavors of small pretzel and then their jumbo plain salted pretzels, your choice for $3. Three Bucks for one of the most delicious pretzels ever made? I'm talking jalapeno and cheddar, scallion and bacon, paprika and Gruyere, truffle oil and ooh...was it another cheese. I can't remember all of them. The jalapeno and cheddar is pictured in the foreground, along with an olive and something that John ordered with another jalapeno and cheddar.

But you simply must go to Sigmunds and eat a chewy delicious soft pretzel, I recommend the hot apple cider ($2) to wash it down with.

Sigmund Pretzelshop. Highly recommended. 646-410-0333. 29 Avenue B, between 2nd and 3rd Street.

Hello

2010-11-04T11:24:00.003-04:00

Hello to you who are out there. Hello to probably just my husband John who may still check in on this every now and then. It's been far too long, and again I don't have a real reason. Many things have happened, John has been dieting using Medifast and has lost about 40 pounds! I too have lost a few pounds, we are trying to be healthier.

Unfortunately the catalyst of this was the fact that so many in John's family have had serious health problems of late. Early in the year it was John's Father, with oral cancer, and John's stepmom with a detached retina. They were able to operate on the oral cancer and everything seems to have stabilized. Sharon, his step mom, has pretty blurry vision in one eye where the retina was completely detached, but they were able to catch the other eye and she gets checked regularly to ensure nothing happens to her good eye.

Then a few months later, the week John's mom was to go in to get her left hip replaced because she had necrosis of the bone, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She has since had a lumpectomy (there was not enough time for recovery from a full masectemy), her hip replacement surgery as well as an operation to remove a cyst on her ovaries. But she too seems to have stabilized, she is undergoing chemo right now and will also need radiation.

Then this past week John's Aunt had a brain aneurysm. It was all of a sudden and thankfully it was/is very small and they were able to operate and clip it shut. Despite the fact that it was an extremely high risk operation, she survived and is able to speak, move, and function. Her one eye is swollen shut, they had to touch the optic nerve but they are hopeful that that will heal with time.

I'm just exhausted, I am grateful that for the most part everyone seems to chugging along. But I can only hope and pray that our loved ones have the sense to listen to their doctors and take the time they need to recuperate.

And as much as I'm advocate for good, yummy, tasty things. It should also be said that you do have to take care of yourself. Moderation is the key, right? So we are just entering the holiday season, and I want to be the first to wish you a joyous celebration with you family and friends. Life is precious and fleeting, so take care of yourself. Chalupa has approved this message.

Dancing Chalupa

2010-04-03T22:19:00.002-04:00

Meade's Bar

2010-04-03T21:49:00.005-04:00

We decided to take advantage of the nice weather and head down to our old stomping ground at the South Street Seaport. We took a quick cab ride down and walked around amid the tourists and headed for the smaller, cozier restaurants just off the main strip of shopping and larger restaurants. Meade's Bar is an unassuming place, it's clean and pretty and the historic building gives it a lot of character. So it looked like a nice but perhaps a little plain place to grab a light brunch. I ordered the Tater pie, which on the printed menu did not have a description. I thought it would be the tater tots in a small casserole, with the extra fried egg I ordered on top. What I got was a hearty surprise, from the bottom there was a layer of tater tots, then chili, then cheese, with the fried egg as the crowning glory. This was delicious, and I completely understand now, why they had a little "great cure for hangovers" next to its listing on the menu. It was absolutely delicious, maybe it's my love of tater tots...but the whole thing together was hearty, flavorful and filling. I highly recommend it, and alcoholic drinks for brunch were $12 but bottomless. John got the egg, cheese and sausage on focaccia and a tropical fruit salad. I had the fresh squeezed pink grapefruit juice. Check it out it you are in the neighborhood, Meade is located at 22 Peck St, on the corner of Water St.

***Bonus Chalupa loves visiting the Seaport since most of the restaurants have outdoor seating, they have recently even installed permanent round picnic table/chair combos, so you could just grab some grub and find your own place to sit outside. Outdoor seating is a definite plus for people with dogs. They love the nice weather too.

District 9

2010-04-03T21:28:00.003-04:00

So, it took us a while but we finally netflixed District 9, this is a movie that for some reason seemed to come and go in the theatres without much fanfare. I think it had to do with the trailers. They didn't really make me want to see it, I was mildly interested. But I don't think the powers that be cast the trailers in the right light. I mainly put it on our queue because a friend was raving about it and John really wanted to see it.

Let me tell you, it was a great movie. Suspenseful, well-edited, great creatures, and a satisfying resolution. The alien creatures themselves were very bug like and I thought about them a lot last night (we watched it yesterday) and overall I was on the edge of my seat. Yes, some scenes were just drawn out a bit, but overall it's a pretty tight story. With plenty of references to modern day evils like military business, merciless mafia kingpins, and apathetic worker bees. Not to mention the ignorance and scorn of the populace. The story is really about what happens when one poor, hapless chap gets put in charge (by his father-in-law) of the eviction of the aliens to a camp much further away from the rest of civilization. You follow his story, and he embodies the every man, which is what makes the story so real and interesting.

I don't want to give away any more of the plot. I just recommend the movie and I'm surprised there wasn't more buzz about this movie when it was out. It's a great rental.

new pics from the new camera

2010-03-28T21:44:00.002-04:00

B + H Photo store

2010-03-28T16:00:00.002-04:00

So for any local New Yorkers this isn't news, but I just have to give props to B+H camera (video, photography) store. It's a crazy place filled with knowledgeable and friendly staff, it's got a conveyor belt that travels through the various levels of the store that carry your goods from their respective departments down to the cash registers and pick up area. It is quite a spectacle, and I enjoy going here. It can be a little overwhelming especially on a day like today (the will be closed for 10 days for the holiday). But anyone that loves cameras, tvs, videos, etc can find any gadget and many gadget geeks to commiserate with. It's pretty fun. Stop by and check it out, it's at 34th and 9th Avenue.

We bought a Nikon D90, this DSLR camera will be able to use two old film lenses I already own, plus it came highly recommended by our sales guy Pierre. And from what I can tell it's a pretty sweet camera. So sample pictures are to come soon. :)

El Museo De Barrio

2010-02-15T11:40:00.003-05:00

So yesterday we met up with our good friends Paul and Karin to celebrate a low key Valentine's Day but going to El Museo De Barrio, the Neighborhood Museum. We are always up for visiting a museum, and one dedicated "to present and preserve the art and culture of Puerto Ricans and all Latin Americans in the United States" sounded particularly gratifying. Although many consider Filipinos only asian, there is a very heavy Spanish influence, and we have many similiarities with Latin American cutures. The exhibit was pretty nice, with great works by Frida Kahlo and the like. But what should have been an inspiring visit to a newly renovated museum was ruined by what I can only describe as Gestapo like security guards. The one security guard stationed in the lobby was very nice and welcoming, as were the two ladies that manned the front desk. But as soon as we entered the exhibit area we were met with a overly anxious security guard that had to make sure we had paid our "suggested" donation fee*. By looking over each one of us carefully to ensure we were wearing our admission pins properly. Then we made the mistake of wandering into the exhibit the "wrong" way and were told by another guard, again in a very dictatorial manner that we were supposed to enter the exhibit through the other door. Moments after we re-grouped and headed into the "right" direction, I was excited to find an art work that was about Culebra (where friends of ours have a little piece of property). Now this artwork was part of a very large exhibition mounted on the wall and the whole thing was encased in glass. I was not touching the glass, but vaguely pointing at the artwork with my brochure...again not touching the glass..and I was reprimanded by the very same security guard that accosted us when we first entered the exhibit.

This was the main theme throughout the exhibit with each room I visited, I took careful note, not to make any sudden moves and watched as countless other visitors got corrected. John pointed out that most of the artists and art works were about fleeing oppression and about freedom of speech and rising up against the man, and it could not have been more ironic that these pieces of artwork are "guarded" with Gestapo like brutality. I suffered through the rest of the exhibit, but the treatment that I experienced first hand and the treatment that I watched others experience left a very sour taste on my tongue. Art work in general is usually about celebrating creative freedom, and artwork by minorities specifically exploit these opportunities for self expression. But the way almost every single visitor was treated today by these guards was at the very least offensive if not oppressive. It's a shame that these guards don't seem to understand that you don't need to hostile to be effective. And as far as I could tell all the guards were minorities themselves, and perhaps they should take a moment to look at and understand the voices of the artworks that they are overseeing.

We also recently visited the Rubin museum and the Museum of Art and Design, which overall were much better experiences. Security guards there did have to reign in visitors, but did so in a respectful and non abusive manner.

*This along with other museums (The Met, for example) do not have a set fee for admission. Meaning that they are well endowed, and that visitors can choose to pay what ever they want to enter the museum. Which means basically I could have paid $1 to enter. Which only makes this security guards actions against us even more absurd.

another Chalupa in the laundry pic

2010-02-03T12:42:00.001-05:00

Spoon and Tablespoon

2010-02-03T12:16:00.004-05:00

So, our good friend Christine, has turned us on to a great little place for Brunch and lunch on weekdays (they aren't open for dinner). Spoon is the catering side of the company and Table Spoon is the restaurant side. It's homey and unassuming, and I liked the looks of it right away. It's kind of diner-ish but in a chic and friendly way. The chrysanthemums on the tables in the glass jars are a nice touch. I ordered the pancakes (which I had offered to share with Christine in exchange for half of her skillet) and John ordered the granola. As soon as my beautiful pile of pancakes was placed before me, I immediately regretted the sharing arrangement. But I shared, and her skillet was very flavorful and savory, but I'm not into runny eggs, and the skillet wasn't quite hot enough to cook the eggs on top. But I dutifully cut my pancake order in half and heaped them on her plate. My pancakes were fluffy bites of syrup coated heaven. And I don't even like syrup all that much, but it was blueberry syrup and a little bit of real blueberries sprinkled around the plate. It definitely hit the spot. If you are in the flat iron district (20th street between 5th and 6th) I definitely recommend coming in for a nice brunch. Or stopping by during the week for their "boxed" lunch. I haven't tried the lunch yet, but I suspect that it will just as good as brunch. Everyone was very happy at our table. Highly recommended.

Three Cups of Tea

2010-01-14T12:31:00.004-05:00

So, I got this book for Christmas last year and I never got around to reading it until now, when I was searching for a different book entirely. Don't get me wrong, I was always interested in reading it, I looked at the cover and it seemed to be an inspiring story about some dude building a school.

The book is about Greg Mortenson, co-authored by writer/reporter David Oliver Relin. And it is a story about a dude making schools, but it's so much more interesting and timely. Since the book was a present I didn't know much about it until I started reading it. Mortenson is a mountain climber, and for personal reasons he tries to summit a huge mountain peak called K2 located in Pakistan. The book follows Mortenson from 1993 to 2003, and it's a good read. It starts off a little slow, but it's definitely worth it. Mortenson becomes an insider in the remote mountain villages of Pakistan and out of respect for the small village that was so kind to him when he lost his way coming down from the mountain, he promised to build the children a school. This is where the real story begins.

I think everyone in America should read this, I feel like I have a much better understanding of the peoples of this area. It drives homes sentiments that I've read in one sentence news synopsis, that I might not have completely believed to be true or have understood. For instance their hatred of the Taliban and Osama bin Laden, and exactly how ignorance is used to oppress and hatred is used to control the mainly poor inhabitants of this area. But the best thing about this book is that gives a person like me hope, that one person can truly make a difference. I know that may sound trite in our cynical world, but just read it and see what you think. It's not at all preachy, although a little alarm went off in my head when Mortenson's childhood is explained. And the reader finds out his parents were Missionaries. But Mortenson himself is not interested in converting anyone to a certain religion, his goal is provide a balanced education to all the needy children. Children who voluntarily gather in fields of dirt scratching with sticks for their make shift schools (with no teacher present). Mortenson just cares about these kids and his work and his heart have opened the minds and hearts of the people who live in an area where so much volatile and Anti-American sentiment runs rampant.

If you purchase a the book from their website www.threecupsoftea.com 7 percent of your book purchase will go to helping build girls schools. Highly recommended.

Happy New Year! and DO NOT go see the gazillion bubble show

2010-01-01T10:21:00.003-05:00

I know it's been a long time since I've posted, and again I'm just being a slacker, but the posters for the Gazillion Bubble show are compelling me to write a new post. Last year, I think for Valentine's Day, I heard about the Gazillion Bubble show on Oprah, and thought it would be a fun night out. The tickets were about $75 for this "Off-Broadway" show, and I was sorely disappointed. First of all the dude on Oprah was a no show, instead his wife who was/is still learning to speak English took over. The "real" guy was off to Vegas for more shows. So why they thought that his wife could stand in, I don't know. It was just lame, I LOVE bubbles, but we pretty much paid $75 bucks a person to watch someone do "bubble tricks" that I think I could do with about an hour of practice. Also the secret is that their bubbles have some other chemical in them that makes them stronger than mere soap bubbles, leaving white residue on anything that bubbles touched, which would mean you, and your clothes, and your hair. The highlight of the show was when she selected kids from the audience and she went through the line and asked each kid how old they were and where they were from, various kids answered I'm 8 and I'm from Connecticut, I'm 9 and I'm from Brooklyn, and then one little girl answered, "I'm 7 and I'm from America."

Stay clear of the Gazillion Bubble show, it sucked big time and it was expensive! The whole show was pretty much an effort to sell their Gazillion bubble stuff, so pretty much you pay to get tickets for a live infomercial. Definitely NOT recommended. Oh and Happy New Year!

Precious

2009-12-02T11:54:00.003-05:00

I recently saw Precious, and it's a must see film. Yes, it's difficult to watch and yes it's nearly heart breaking but from reading about some of the students my brother-in-law teaches (blog-sothoth.blogspot.com) I think this story deserves to be told. The cast is amazing and the use of subtle special effects to enhance the story telling is seamless. For example there's a quick scene where Precious is getting ready for school and in the mirror she sees a beautiful thin blond girl. It's an unobtrusive way of letting the audience know more about Precious. It's filled with seemingly effortless effects that never intrude upon the narrative. I hope the inner city kids watch this and get it, I hope they can find some resilience in their lives, and I hope that this opens up discussion about domestic abuse and how more help is needed for good kids in unbearable situations. This story has stayed with me, and I have to say it had the best villan I've seen in a long time, scarier and more psychological than Dr. Hannibal Lecter. No one else can f you up quite like your mom.

Mountain Goats and Final Fantasy

2009-12-02T11:37:00.002-05:00

We headed over to Webster Hall last night and caught a great show, Final Fantasy opened for The Mountain Goats. And Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy) was cooky and pretty good, plucking his violin and shouting into the instrument microphone. He also used a Loop machine to pick and choose bits of instrumentals, and sometimes had an off-beat drummer join him on stage. They were a nice warm up to The Mountain Goats, in full disclosure I don't know the MG very well. Only a few songs that I've heard John play over and over, and I knew I would like them, but I didn't know how much I would like them. The Mountain Goats rocked. John Darnielle is lead and it's obviously his show, and he was funny, endearing and entertaining. You can tell he loves what being on the stage. Although they didn't play John's favorite song (Jam Eater Blues) they knocked out a great bunch of songs and ended the night with _This Year_ and _Going To Georgia_. Don't miss these guys if you get a chance to see them live...unfortunately their last show of this tour is tonight in Brooklyn...which is sold out..but you can always try Craigslist.com or scalpers.

More grafiti

2009-11-30T20:36:00.000-05:00

Cooking for Friday After Thanksgiving FAT!

2009-11-30T15:56:00.002-05:00

Thanksgiving bonanza

2009-11-30T10:29:00.003-05:00

We had a great trip down to Baltimore, we left late on Wednesday and truth be told traffic wasn't horrible. The fog was thick and traffic was heavy, but we left around 8 pm and after stopping for gas, and dropping off a friend in Towson we ended up getting to my sister's house at around 1am. Thursday we headed to John's mom's and had a beautiful Thanksgiving meal. We even brought my mom with us and she had a great time. It was a rowdy Thanksgiving with sporadic but funny fights about the absence of holiday staples like: french onion dip, crab melt-a-ways, and whiskey sours. All of which I believe will definitely be present at the Christmas festivities. They better be or else the drive down won't be worth it! After that we had a laid back time at John's step dad's, where we had out choice of several desserts. The fruit tart was a nice change of pace. At this point you'd think the Thanksgiving festivities would be over, but oh no...they had only just begun. Friday, or as my family named it F.A.T. day (Friday After Thanksgiving) was just gearing up. This is when my family celebrates Thanksgiving, and we began the day with a visit to the Lexington Market.

Now John and I met while we both worked at a design studio in Baltimore just a few blocks away from Lexington Market. So we were very excited to visit our old stomping grounds. And if you've never been the Lexington Market is a must. It's not fancy in the slightest, but it's got a great variety of really good, pretty inexpensive food. I fondly remember getting the hot and spicy fried chicken from one of the many fried chicken stands, and we bought a huge amount of chicken for the party. There's the Utz potato chip stand, where you can find some of the freshest potato chips, the greek gyro place, the turkey dinner place all the way in the back. Several small fruit stands and even a salad bar thrown in here and there. John LOVES the Pollock Johnny's sausage, just about any kind of food you can imagine they have it in some form. Oh and did I mention the bakeries with their mouth watering cookies and cakes. Cakes are half off on Fridays! Word of Caution: just like many places in Baltimore you have to be careful about what time you go to places, during the day especially on a weekday the Lexington Market is teeming with people who work in and around the area so it's very safe. But there are definitely people who will try to intimidate and or just beg money from you (especially if you go later in the evening)....You are in Baltimore after all. But if you are with a few people and you just ignore and talk amongst yourselves most everyone just leaves you alone. But if your concerned just don't wear your fanciest coat, dress down.

So, in addition to the Fried Chicken, we also bought a pork shoulder to cook the Lichon. The filipino style of roast pork. And then we visited the small grocery food store that anchors one end of the Market and picked up a lot of odds and ends: ice, french onion dip, chips, sodas. By the time we got home we were starved and ate a few pieces of chicken before we started doing the prep work for the day long party. We got busy making lumpia (filipinio egg rolls) this time we baked the egg rolls in the convection toaster oven instead of frying them. This not only saved calories but also spared us from the deep fry smell that usually permeates the whole house. Needless to say we had mountains of food, not only that we made but what others had brought too. And since it was more of an open house type thing many people came a little later and the party raged with kids stomping around up and down the stairs and people wandering about. The kitchen was a carousel of desserts with a huge assortment of pies, cakes, and other goodies.

I still feel full from that day. It was great to see all our families and friends, and I look forward to spending more time with everyone at Christmas, but I'm not looking forward to the drive though. Yesterday it took us nearly 8 hours to get home, and most of that was bumper to bumper. We passed probably 7 or 8 accidents, mostly fender benders from the stop and go traffic. I'm still recovering from that drive...bleh.

belly pillow

2009-11-17T12:44:00.000-05:00

When I walk from the studio office to the kitchen I usually find chalupa either on the couch or the club chair. The club chair is where her red pillow is and she works to stretch the oblong pillow out so that she can perch like a hen on top. Here she is resting on her fav pillow.

Rings true

2009-11-01T19:15:00.001-05:00

Dandie Dinmont Terrier

2009-10-26T16:35:00.003-04:00

We got to the Vet's office a few minutes early, while I've been walking without crutches for a while now, I still wrap my ankle every day in an Ace bandage and sometimes it takes me longer than expected to walk to places. I gave myself plenty of time and so Chalupa and I waited in the front lobby of the Vet for several minutes. It's always an interesting mix of dogs and cats at this Vet and today was no exception. The Vet itself as far as I can tell owns two beautiful cats, Max has a beautiful black coat of hair and has no qualms about completely taking over any and all counter space. The other cat is completely hairless but has beautiful skin markings, and is a little shy but is sweet as can be. Today I met Oscar who was a Dachshund and nearly blind. One woman also had a springer spaniel puppy. And a couple came out with two cute curly haired dogs, with what I've come to find out are Dandie Dinmont Terriers, one who looked older was in a proper dog bag, and the other was in a Saks Fifth Avenue shopping bag. I didn't know Saks carried puppies!!!! Maybe the puppy came free with the bag, or vice versa.

0 days without incident

2009-10-26T14:51:00.003-04:00

Sorry for yet another hiatus, I don't really have a good excuse. I've been really busy with work, but I could have and should have posted on the weekends. Also just the other day I had the idea to post how many days it's been since Chalupa has gone without incident, when on Friday she yet again had something go awry. This time it's her back left paw. Friday evening she kept incessantly licking her back left paw, I was on my way out to meet John and some friends, so I quickly soaked her paw in the same stuff they gave us for her front left paw. That night she had terrible diarrhea and also threw up in the middle of the night. I promptly called the Vet early Saturday morning, they recommended that she be put on chicken and rice. Well by Saturday night she seemed to be feeling better, but her diarrhea continued but she was no longer throwing up. Her paw was getting a little more swollen. To be honest, I felt like a bad mother, I was ashamed to have to report on this blog that yet again somehow I/we let Chalupa hurt yet another paw. Today the Vet told me with almost 100 percent certainty that her paw problems are a result of the food allergies. Which makes sense, because how could she keep cutting her self on each paw...AND..there never seemed to be a puncture wound. Chalupa is now on a strict diet of only venison and potato. She is once again on antibiotics, and she has to wear the cone so that she doesn't lick her paws. She is now peacefully snoring away in her little bat cave next to my desk. It's such a relief to know that I'm not a bad or careless parent. I really feel like we have a plan of attack now. And I have to say little Chalupa seemed to LOVE her new food. They say I can even bake the wet food into little cookies or biscuits for treats...which I fully intend to do. :) Keep your fingers crossed that the number of days without incident will finally go up.

Chalupa recovering

2009-10-08T16:39:00.001-04:00

Had to bring Chalupa to the vet yet again. This time it was her front left paw. Poor thing, I think she may have stepped on broken glass. She is fine though and they even did x-rays to make sure there was no glass in her paw.

Chalupa owns me

2009-10-06T11:58:00.001-04:00

Brunch at veselka

2009-10-04T12:27:00.000-04:00

Sitting outside enjoying the beautiful weather, waiting to place our order se spied this little guy. Too cute.

Cash only

2009-10-02T16:42:00.002-04:00

So I went to the orthopedic doctor today, and had a pleasant enough conversation with doctor. He didn't actually examine my ankle, he noted that it didn't look very swollen. And he talked about the different grades of a sprain (1st degree, 2nd degree and 3rd degree) the same kind of information I found when I google "ankle sprain". But it was nice to get a professional's opinion, and as I suspected it's not a big deal. He said to start slowly putting weight on it and only try walking in the house at first, but that I can go to the gym. I can work out everything but the injured ankle. He said to wait and see, I should call back in 10 days and let him know how I feel. At one point early on in the conversation he asked if I wanted to get an MRI. Which is completely unnecessary. But like I said overall I felt ok about the visit, until I had to pay my copay at the receptionists office and found out they only accept cash as payment. No credit cards, no checks. ????? What? Thank god I had cash on me, because I usually don't. Really, what kind of a doctor only accepts cash? Only in New York I guess.

One comical thing is that when I was waiting in the waiting room, there was a woman who was practically yelling for the doctor, but not in an urgent way. In an annoying...loud way. "Oh, Doctor??? Daaahhhhhcccttterr?? Nurse? Doctor? Receptionist? Anyone???" It went on for a few minutes, I was almost going to ask what she needed. For a cash only business you'd think they'd be a little more attentive.

So...I"m on crutches....

2009-09-30T19:21:00.003-04:00

So, I've been hobbling around on crutches since Saturday. I have a follow up appointment with an orthopedic doc on Friday. But I've already begun testing out my left foot and ankle. It's already getting old, and little Chalupa has little patience with me hopping on my crutches behind her while I take her out for very short little walks in the mornings and afternoons. I'm a little skeptical of the doctor's appt on Friday too. I've had more than a few sprained ankles in my day....I ran (more like jogged) track in high school and we used to run the trails and they would always be semi covered with leaves which always covered up small holes and inevitably I'd get my foot stuck in one and bam! a sprained ankle. They were fairly common in highschool and my coach would wrap it up, and I'd hobble around on it. No crutches though, I just made do. Then in college I had a horrible fall and almost fractured my ankle and it was the worst I had ever seen it, then they gave me crutches and I was on them for most of the summer. But even back then I don't remember a second doctor visit. So, any "follow-up" treatment is foreign to me, but whatever I'll go and pay my co-pay and see if it's worth it. The swelling has gone down quite a bit, and seems to be approaching normal ankle size. So, let's keep our fingers crossed and hope for good news on Friday. I'm already stir crazy and I've been out for dinner these last two nights...and I made a trip to the bank and to vote yesterday! The worst part is carrying food from the kitchen to the living room to eat, I usually just tuck my right crutch under my arm and swing it forward, while I carefully carry a plate in my right hand, but it makes my armpits pretty sore. I'm pretty hungry right now...so I guess I'll have to order something in...ummm.. decisions decisions.

Facebook Song, it's awesome!

2009-09-28T11:44:00.001-04:00

Find chalupa in this pic

2009-09-26T11:54:00.000-04:00

UN week

2009-09-26T11:51:00.000-04:00

Our neighbood always gets crazy once a year at UN week. Traffic is either detoured or gridlocked, people are every where and police are on every corner. Here's my only pic of the events. I was walking past the grocery store and this protest sign was just too good to pass.

Killing time

2009-09-26T11:40:00.001-04:00

Right now I'm sitting in the emergency room waiting for them to call me in. I'm almost positive it's just a sprained ankle. But it's starting to throb. Late last night I was at my computer playing around on FB and Chalupa was happily sleeping on my lap. When I decided to stand up to walk into the living room I had discovered my foot had fallen asleep. This happens a lot when chalupa sleeps on me because she likes it when I prop one leg on the other knee so she has a nice place to curl up and sleep. Instead of waiting for my foot to fully wake I decided I could walk on it even if it hurt. Well because I was holding Chalupa I couldn't see my foot and instead of placing my foot down I ended up putting all my weight on myouter left ankle. It's swollen on that side and I can't help but think about being stuck on crutches for a good long time. Boo. :(

View of the Chrysler Building

2009-09-17T23:48:00.000-04:00

John's still at work so I'm walking chalups for her nighttime walk. This is the view from 2nd Ave and 50th street.

Donors Choose

2009-09-17T12:02:00.003-04:00

For those of you who know my brother-in-law Geoff, you may have heard the occasional crazy story from his experience teaching at an inner city Baltimore School. Well, he's fighting the good fight, and he needs a little help. If you can donate even just a few bucks to help get books for his classroom it would be HUGELY appreciated, the project only needs $45 more. Click here to donate.

If you like check out his blog which is far superior than mine, right here. He details his day to day classroom experience, as well as reviews of books and movies.

Muchas Gracias!

Pandora Radio

2009-09-16T12:32:00.003-04:00

If you haven't yet tried Pandora radio, you should. Here's a link to the customized radio station I'm listening to right now. I've named it The White Stripes Radio.

Here's a quick run down: type in a song or an artist that you like, and Pandora radio will play something from that artist (they can't play specific songs on demand) but they usually give you something from that artist if they are part of their catalog. THEN the Pandora magic is that it picks other songs it thinks you might like, from there you can thumbs up or down and it will be even more specific to you tastes. It's fun, and if you're like me it's a nice alternative then just the music you own on iTunes. Plus you can try to screw with the computer brain and put in two completely different ends of the spectrum and see what you get. (Like for instance Beyonce and They Might Be Giants) Highly recommended.

Update on Chalupa

2009-09-16T12:12:00.006-04:00

Little Chalupa is sitting on my lap, mildy irritated that I took my hand away from her licking so I could type this. She had a slight rash yesterday and so I took her to the Vet again. The Vet we saw yesterday is their expert on skin, and she suspected that it might be a food allergy. Which made me realize that the Turducken dry food that I switched her onto several months ago may be the culprit. I've switched her back to the Cowboy Cook out dryfood, mixed with a forkful of her favorite wet food, Wing-a-lings. So, we are just going to wait and see. The Dr. said it was fine to give her a small dose of Benadryl if she needed it. But over all she's doing fine. Her ugly naked toe is finally growing back in, so she is once again the beautiful, glamorous icon we know and love. :) And I didn't even have to use Rogaine.

mental_floss Blog � Why Does Bottled Water Have an Expiration Date?

2009-09-16T12:08:00.000-04:00

mental_floss Blog � Why Does Bottled Water Have an Expiration Date?

VanLeeuwen Artisan Ice Cream Truck

2009-09-06T14:22:00.004-04:00

The other day John and I were walking to dinner and we spotted a pretty yellow ice cream truck and the flavors sounded so yummy, I'm ashamed to admit we had dessert before dinner. They call themselves the VanLeeuwen Artisan Ice Cream. The guy was very nice when we asked what flavors he recommended, and he actually recommended the vanilla among other flavors. Everything is organic and they use the finest ingredients, but after I sampled the vanilla (and it was very delicious) I opted to go for the hazelnut, ginger chocolate because it just sounded so good. As far as ice cream from a truck this is far and away the best I've ever had. If you see the truck, we found it at St. Marks and 2nd Ave, but I hear they are also in SoHo you MUST stop and have an ice cream. It's an order. You can thank me later.

Loreley Restaurant and Biergarden

2009-09-06T14:12:00.002-04:00

Just catching up on my blogging, much like I did all my homework through highschool...(procrastinate...procrastinate...procrastinate, then cram, cram, cram). Anyway Loreley's located at 7 Rivington Street is our new favorite Bier Garden ever since Zum Schnieder stopped allowing dogs, we've been looking for a new bier garden. No, we can't bring Chalupa to Loreley's but we never could...it's precedence. Yummy pretzels, great food, great beer, and great service, and a nice backyard garden, which is way nicer than sitting on the street at Zum's. Enjoy!

Lokie

2009-09-06T13:56:00.004-04:00

This is my sister's dog Lokie, he is a sweet and lovable and he is deaf. He has a few peculiarities because of his deafness, he is mesmerized by shadows and highlights on the ground. He loves to chase little bugs or tiny wisps of things that he catches sight of. He LOVES to play tug of war but his mouth is so huge he engulfs his toys leaving barely an end to grab on to and play, couple that with his powerful jaws and it's not that much to fun to play tug of war with the big lug. But he is nothing but love, he just likes to be with people. He does seem to terrorize the cats that share his residence, but they just mainly stay up stairs. While I was visited Viv and Jack, Viv and I took him on a nice long walk on the trails behind their house, we even dropped the leash so he could meander around himself, and he was very good, he always kept an eye on us to make sure he could catch up. The most endearing thing about Lokie is the way he very daintily tucks his hind legs under but flips his feet down so you can see his paw pads when he lays down, I've seen a lot of small dogs to this, but very rarely see large breeds lay like this. His pink paw pads are just irresistible. He also has very interesting coloring, since he was adopted they aren't sure what breed he is, but he has clear light brown eyes, and a pink nose, that with the summer blonde hair, and he also has webbed feet, he looks like he would enjoy the beach. When I got back home, Chalupa seemed even smaller than I remembered.

Walking the Brooklyn Bridge

2009-09-06T10:10:00.007-04:00

Yesterday we did something I've been wanting to do for quite a while, we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. I was very excited and happy to do this, but not nearly as much as Chalupa. She had no idea where we were going but she was jubilant about being able to go with us. She scampered to the elevator doing her cha-loop-de-loops which basically means she walks and then spins really quickly as if to say c'mon let's go! She happily trotted outside the door and even pounced on benches as we walked by...just because. She was a little confused when we hailed a taxi but she patiently sat on my lap...I think she knew good things were to come.

The Brooklyn Bridge is beautiful, it's grand and it's historic and everyone should walk across it if they get the chance. What no one tells you is that it's packed (we got there around 10:30 am), it's hot, and shade is few and far between. Nonetheless I really enjoyed it, it was pretty spectacular being able to stop on the bridge and look back at the city, and taking pictures of the architecture of the bridge itself. It is a good idea to bring a water bottle, as you are at full exposure to the sun for most of the walk. Little Chalupa started the trip happy enough, but somewhere just over half way there she got spooked. I think she realized that there were cars whizzing by underneath us, couple that with bikers rambling past us, and the blazing sun, so we stopped at the second tower to relax in the shade. We let her cool off and started walking again, but I ended up having to carry her the last little bit til we got to concrete again.

After that we found some shade under a tree in the grass and relaxed a bit while we tried to figure out the right direction to go to Grimaldi's pizza, which is raved about in anything you google about walking the Brooklyn Bridge. We finally meandered our way over and found a huge line, the place didn't even open til 12, and it was only 11:45 or so. We nixed that idea and went looking for a nice little place, that was quiet and had outdoor seating. We found exactly the place at Water Street Restaurant and Lounge, located at 66 Water Street. It had a handful of outdoor tables, which was perfect for us. We enjoyed a nice lunch, I ordered the jerk chicken tacos and fried polenta (both items from their appetizer menu) and John ordered the Fried Chicken Breast sandwich. The Chicken breast was yum served with homemade fries not very crispy but deliciously seasoned. AND they had very light and crispy homemade potato chips instead of bread. Double thumbs up. Afterward we had delectable chocolates and ice cream at Jacques Torres Chocolate. We both had the rum vanilla caramel ice cream in a waffle cone. Absolutely delicious. It was much more civilized then the mob scene over at Grimaldi's and the Ice Cream Factory. As for chocolates I asked for the liquid caramel, and it lived up to it's name and John got the peanut butter and declared that next time he will only buy the peanut butter chocolates, since they were so good.

We had to sneak Chalupa on board the Water Taxi ($7 bucks a pop non-refundable) , which we did (the guy who sold us the ticket suggested we do it). In a bag, she cooperated mostly but as soon as we got on the boat she started squirming about, but thankfully it's only a 2 min ride across to the South Street Seaport. All in all a fun day. And little Chalupa and I took a nice long nap as soon as we got home. I'd say a very good day. :)

Relaxing after walking across the Brooklyn Bridge

2009-09-05T12:13:00.000-04:00

Wrightsville Beach

2009-08-31T09:18:00.000-04:00

Beautiful beach, but no access to public showers forced me to trespass and take a shower at one of the rental houses. Most of the outdoor showers were padlocked but I found one that was just walled off... a quick shower made even less enjoyable when Viv told me the renters were coming back. I was very relieved she was mistaken.

Raleigh, NC sites

2009-08-30T15:22:00.000-04:00

Does Chalupa qualify for cash for clunkers?

2009-08-27T14:37:00.003-04:00

She's turning out to be a lemon, we might have to trade her in. She has a rash over most of her 10lb body, she's been so itchy she can only sleep a few hours at at time. Where she usually can sleep for hours and hours on end. Poor little thing, I was up with her at 5:30am, rubbing solarcaine aloe on her belly. Now, the vet also says that the fur hasn't grown back on her paw that was abscessed and it may NEVER grow back. Now she is no longer a cute little diva, she is a rough and tumble biker dog with the scars to prove it. How about it readers, time for a trade in?

It Might Get Loud

2009-08-18T11:28:00.002-04:00

So over the weekend it was unbearably hot and humid so we decided to duck into the Chelsea Sunshine Cinema and press our luck by just seeing whatever was playing, and boy did it work out. It Might Get Loud posters are scattered throughout the city and I was definitely interested in seeing the doc. It features Jack White, The Edge, and Jimmy Page and their eclectic guitar styles and philosophies. This is a great film, well-crafted, well-edited, and researched. From the opening scene of Mr. White hammering together a homemade instrument to the last scene of the three heros playing "The Weight" (take a load of Annie ) and the three figuring out what parts they would play/sing I thoroughly enjoyed it. It had some great animation sequences that helped further the story along and were never distracting or out of place. The archival footage of a young "James Page" and old photos of Edge, and early photos of Jack were so much fun and again worked together beautifully to tell a story. Three very different personalities, different lifestyles, from three different countries, all with a love of their music. A must see.

Chalupa and another load of laundry

2009-08-14T16:06:00.003-04:00

Her paw is healing nicely, the soft cone is definitely more wearable. Although she looks like she's about to get her teeth cleaned at the dentist.

...when you gonna make up your mind..

2009-08-14T15:40:00.004-04:00

..when you gonna love you as much as I do.....

Yesterday was a great day, not only did we have tix to see the lovely Tori Amos, but we also had reservations for dinner at Bobby Flay's Bar Amercain. The place is enormous, and pricey, so we don't go there often but while we're here we decide to live it up. For appetizers we got the grilled pizza, the artichoke salad, and the side order of homemade potato chips with blue cheese dip. The waiter said the potato chips were a must and had them get to our table right away...and boy was he right. UMMMMMMMM...if I could bath in that blue cheese I probably would...Or I could just eat mountains of potato chips dipped in the warm blue cheesy goodness. Also worth noting in the bread basket, I only tried the corn bread and it was delightfully buttery with little bits of pepper..nice touch. And both Miranda and Dory LOVED it too. John passed, and dug into the more man-sized rolls. For entrees our waiter recommended the Halibut and Dory ended up getting it, John got the NY strip steak, Miranda got the Red Snapper and I got the Smoked Chicken. Everything was super fab.

My only complaints so far was it took forever to get another club soda (and when we got the check they charged me for 3 club sodas when I only had two...and had to wait quite a while for the second)...also the Asparagus salad had some of the tiniest wimpiest sticks to pass for asparagus I have ever scene. Miranda and Dory were convinced it was the wrong salad...but no it's just that Asparagus salad there means the tiniest bit of Asparagus with a mixed salad. John insisted we all get a dessert, I ordered the German's chocolate cake, which was divine and GINORMOUS, almost as big as the restaurant itself..and did I mention delicious? Dory and Miranda split the apple tart and were exceedingly happy with it, and John got the blueberry and lemon crepes and was also very pleased.

It was an amazing dinner, that could only be topped with seeing Tori at Radio City Music Hall. We had pretty good seats in the Orchestra but in row AA, so about 26 rows in front of us and we were to the left of the stage. But it was a great show, Radio City is a great venue and the set list had a healthy portion of old faves from her much earlier work. It was a fantastic night...and if you haven't figured it out already the opening title to this post is from Tori's song Winter. Other highlights: her cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit, Precious Things, a great re-mix of Talula, and Big Wheel. Couldn't have asked for a better night. Also the guy who played guitar also would play the stand up bass for a few songs...sweet.

orchids from a street fair

2009-08-12T18:23:00.003-04:00

John bought me this at street fair. 20 bucks.

Chalupa in a soft cone

2009-08-12T18:21:00.001-04:00

Our neighbor had a soft cone that we could borrow for Chalups, she's finishing up feasting on a treat in this picture.

Dumplings from a truck

2009-08-11T17:00:00.003-04:00

I have a dream that for one full day I will only eat food items bought out of a truck. There are several food trucks in NYC, starting with the famous Mud truck (has great chai), there is a cookie truck (I have yet to see for myself), a dessert truck, and of course the ubiquitous Mr. Softee. There is also a knife sharpening truck that comes into our neighborhood mostly on the weekends. Today I took one bold step toward my dream and bought lunch from the Rickshaw dumpling bar truck stationed at 52nd street and Lexington Avenue. I paid $6 for 6 chicken and basil dumplings, and I was a little skeptical that the dumplings were a dollar a pop, but when I got them home and bit into one I was very happy. They provide a tbai peanut dressing for dipping. I was a little low on cash, but next time I'm gonna also try the watermelonade. Yum. Longish line, but the novelty of eating from a truck means bonus points.

Baltimore fun

2009-08-11T16:51:00.003-04:00

Was down in B-more over the weekend seeing family. Had a nice relaxing afternoon Saturday, then had a late dinner at Nick's Fish House where three out of four of us ordered the $30 prefix menu and the three of us had three huge crab cakes to take home as left overs. Great atmosphere, live music, by the water, a good place to stop right off ot I-95. Then on Sunday morning we decided to head over to the Sunday Farmers Market for some hot outta the fryer doughnuts, I love the Balitmore Farmers market, we gorged on the mini-doughnuts, snowballs, and sausages. Yum. If you are ever in town I highly recommend stopping by, but don't get there too late, many stands sell out of their fine produce or baked goods or whathaveyou. It also pays to shop around must corn vendors were selling corn for $5 a dozen, and we found a guy with a sign that said $4.50 a dozen, then he only charged us $4 and threw in an extra ear. :)

Poor chalups

2009-08-09T10:45:00.000-04:00

She had an abscess on her front right paw. Now she has to wear a cone when she's alone so she doesn't lick it.