Momma!

IT IS MY MOMMA'S DAY! 

Couldn't LOVE a Momma More. 

Good and Bad.

Good...

or it is bad...

In honor of spring, AKM and I went to Shake Shack in Madison Square Park. It was a little chilly, and winter coats were definitely worn, but as a result of it being early in the season, the line was short! I think its worth the trade off. (Needless to say, the pic above was not yesterday!)

Strangely enough,  I am never really that full after SS, despite having just consumed a burger with "special sauce" (which SG tell's me is basically mayonnaise, which in theory I hate) and fries. Yesterday afternoon, burning calories at a rapid rate to keep warm, AKM and I were tempted to go for round two...we resisted.  

 

It's a bummer that its snowing today. Memories of tiny burgers and yesterday's sun will have to hold me over until Spring returns.  

Bad...

or is it good...

To combat yesterday's not that filling burger and fries, I am heading to Exhale Soho for some core fusion.  Every once in a while they have a 10 pack of classes on GILT and I am always drawn in. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this class, its intense.

Lots of work at the ballet barre, which sounds pretty fluffy, but believe me, every muscle in your body is begging you to stop. Aside from the physical pain, its pretty comical because each class is like 10 girls and one boyfriend, who comes in thinking he is hot shit and going to dominate this girly workout. Its always amusing to watch him discover its hard as shit. 

It's HERE!

The iPad has arrived!! After spending the last week at the fedex shipping facility in Hong Kong, suddenly, overnight, it had arrived! To say I am excited would be an understatement, it is everything I thought it would be.

An important step in this process was letting go of the need to justify this purchase. Many people asked (and rightfully so), why do you need it? What are you going to use it for? At first,  I tried to come up with good answers for these probing questions, which of course led to the realization that is a completely superfluous and extravagant purchase. This realization made me feel a little guilty. Obviously,  I overcame this guilt, and have abandoned all attempts to justify. I am really excited and I love it. That is all the explanation I am giving.

What I really need here is help with app selection. I feel like there are so many cool apps out there, I just do not know where to look for them! Please, all 18 of you who read this blog, send me cool ideas!!

To remind myself of how excited I was with this purchase, I had it engraved with a special message:

Technically, in the Dosey Doe...

This past week I think my sister, LM, and I were running a race for who could not update their blog for the longest. I won. Sorry. For some reason, life seems busier lately and I am still basking in the glory of my gym fire. This week, I will be better. I swear, do not give up on me yet.

Saturday morning I was on the 8:16 train to Ronkonkoma. Obviously, I was early, so I was sitting in PENN Station at 7:30 AM, working. So engrossed in fact that almost missed the train I was close to 40 minutes early for. Ha. Got the train and was passing through Hicksville before 9AM. 

I was heading out to LI at the crack of dawn to be wedding date for one of oldest and bestest, the incredible tenor VBV. I can not fully disclose the circumstances of the wedding/date but let's just say I was taken aback the phrase "the wife is submissive to the husband" being thrown around without the bat of an eye. Scanning the crowd,  hoping to see someone else looking as horrified as I, but no, it seemed I was the only one aware of the fact that we were indeed still in the 21st century. Leaving everything else aside, the DJ was rocking some pretty funny throwback tunes, like, Cotton Eyed Joe-- actually I am not even sure that qualifies as throwback....not sure where it fits in. Anyways, its not every day you get to Dosey Doe, so VBV and I were tearing it up ( still all before 12 PM, I know, serious). In the middle of the square dancing confusion, legs flying in all directions, VBV turns to me and shouts, TECHNICALLY, IN THE DOSEY DOE, THE ARMS ARE NOT INTERLOCKED!!!" Ha. Good to know, would not want to destroy a classic.

Spent Sunday wandering up and down the west side with ALP and his new phone,  that SG insists on calling"the super computer",  which can google something at the speed of light but holds a charge for about 10-15 minutes. Ha. Found this little "beach" along the west side highway, as close as we are going to get in these parts, a little pathetic, I know.

Burn Baby Burn

This evening, wandering around my apartment searching for the chinese take out pint container that I use as my water glass, while simultaneously compulsively turning off lights (roommate competition to lower the electricity bill every month-- its getting intense...!) I thought about bagging this entire blog effort. Actually internalizing daily life and reflecting on it every morning before work is a job in itself! Who has the time, who has the insight?! Apparently, not I.  As I meandered from one room to the next searching in vain for this freaking pint container full of water,  I was feeling increasingly guilty about the virtual neglect. I managed to find about 10 other glasses that I had somehow missed when collecting dishes for washing this evening, typical. and then, there it was, along with my other two pint containers that I had apparently given up for lost, another glass, and an old seltzer can that SG left to remind me of him during the week,  all right there on the night stand/filing cabinet next to my bed, where I was sitting when I got up to begin my search. and where they are every night. I took a pic, and thought, well hell, I will blog about the fact that I am apparently blind. Live update, just kicked it the pint over, onto my pillow, how wet.

I would rank this week as fun. In no chronological order:

VOGUE arrived! Its better than I even expected, interesting articles, great pics. All a girl could want on a solitary Sunday evening.

An act of God occurred: A FIRE in my gym! So liberating. Burn baby, Burn.  (no one besides the sauna in the locker room was hurt)  How pathetic is it that it takes a disaster in my gym to get my to change my routine, but all I can say is thank you god. Running in the park was a much needed return to the outdoors, if I ever spin again it literally may be too soon.

CBC came into the big NYC for a girls night and haircut at Devachan Salon. Let me tell you her hair looks amazing!!!!! CBC has the most amazing, bestest curliest hair in the world, which unfortunately I did not inherit, but I can live vicariously and jealously... Her coming into town made my want to compulsively cook, baked a rosemary lemon chicken on Friday night, with garlic mashed and green beans, then made lattes and crepes on Saturday morning. Take that Martha. It was all bomb too, which, when I am at the helm in the kitchen, is always a small miracle. Having the day with her in the city was great, and I cannot wait for her to come in more often. Love love love love.

I woke up at 3:55 AM on Friday morning to order my iPad-- I will say I owe someone a BIG thank you for making that event possible. I am eagerly awaiting its arrival. I got it engraved, will post a pic when it arrives!!

Went back up to my old home,  Haaalem-- for a movie night with BR- and saw this amazing sign. Hey baby, I want a divorce, and I got my lawyer's number off a burnt out crack den, so you will probably end up getting everything you want.

It was daylight savings so inevitably I had no idea what time it was for most of Sunday. Which is always fun, and terrifying every once in a while when you think you  must have been abducted by aliens because you swear you sat down a second ago, but the clock says an hour has gone by...then you realize, you just havent changed this clock yet...which then brings you back to, is this time right or is the one you thought it was when you sat down...Pics below of varying times this evening...Who knows where the clock on the wall got the time...

Saw all four of my nephews, my  niece, my mom and all three sisters, which makes any week worth living in! So even though my closet looks like hell and I still cannot shower at my gym, things are good, and the blog didnt get the chop, this week at least.

Also discovered a hysterical new Avril Lavigne song that I am loving. So embarrassing, and yet I do not seem to care... Its not not on loop right now....whoa ohhhhh what the hell.

Prince Ali, Born this way baby.

Video was made by the hysterical and talented BR. 

Giving Up, Being Better.

During Lent I try to be a better version of myself, eat better, be kinder and more generous with others, while at the same time more frugal with myself (getting that off to a good start with the purchase of the iPad, I know...), be more patient, and remember to be appreciative. It's about subtracting the 'not so great' and adding in 'the better'-- the things I should be doing, but am not always getting done.

This year, I am giving up two things that strangely bring me much happines-- sweets and biting my cuticles- the later of these two vices literally seems to be my cryptonite, I stop, I start, I stop, I start, I rinse, I repeat, you get the idea. Its totally ridiculous.

With those two down, I need to work on the addition part-- read more, give more, be better, spend more time with family. I think by give more, I mean specifically of myself. As I am writing this, I think my main goal is emerging: Generosity. My main asset is time and giving it to the people around me will be a goal over the next 40 days. By time I guess I mean mainly just help-- not anything that requires ME specifically, but just things that need another hand;  my aim is going to be that helper as much as I can.  Feel free to share any thoughts as to how one goes about living up to their "good" potential, but I think even just being aware in our daily lives helps us make the kinder, more generous decisions, where ever we can.

I of course will only accomplish the above if I manage to avoid homicidal rage while dealing with taxes. Ugh. So killer. Wish me luck.

Home on the Range

My little house, back in time

Headed back to the SBC this weekend, divine, as usual. You know you are home when you are thinking, gosh, it is freaking COLD in here-- and you go to check the thermostat and it is indeed freaking COLD in there- as evidenced below. The best part was, CBC asked me why I didn't turn up the heat--don't know, I replied, just went and got the BIG blanket.

Home is where the "heart-y" is

 The dog has always loved to "bury" his treats in key places around the living room. After a good "digging session", in which he will dig that carpet or couch cushion to his little heart's content,  he will drop the little treasure into whatever gap he can find, and come back for it later. Often, he ends up dropping his treats down the heater vent, which ends badly for both our heating system and the dog. He will stand over the vent, knowing it's down there, but completely baffled as to how to retrieve it, looking longingly down the shaft...

More recently he has discovered the gap in between the couch cushion and the arm. He jumps on the couch, digs digs digs, and nuzzles the little morsel until it is secured between the two sides. Satisfied, he then turns around and settles in for a bit of a nap. Unfortunately, he sometimes forgets his little treasure and leaves one to find it when they sit down hours later. Other times you can see his elation upon the reunion of dog and buried treasure.

 CBC and I ducked into Lenny's for their yummy blackened scallop Caesar salad (it was lunch, so I held off on the shore dinner) and I could not help but share their "light menu".  Notice the key cooking descriptor for all but one item on this list...

This is where the "range" bit of this post comes into play. The MAIN accomplishment of this weekend was the attack on the massive overgrown plant/vine/shrub/thicket from hell that was eating our back porch. I cannot count the number of times I have gotten snagged by this thing trying to make it out the back door. I have fantasized about taking a weed whacker to it on numerous occasions. Saturday was it. Armed with some pretty intense looking hedge clippers, I let this thing have it. As I got down into the thicket- literally- I had to get the pull saw involved. It. Was. Serious. I was so into it that I did not even get a before picture-- but just to give you the idea, this thing below, had entirely engulfed the porch.

After over an hour of indiscriminately hacking, I had begun to fight it back. The thought briefly crossed my mind that this thing had become so intertwined with the porch, that it might in fact be the only thing holding that baby up--- and therefore I was weed whacking/pull sawing my way towards my own demise in a tragic porch collapse, but luckily, this did not come to pass.

The second and far less satisfying portion of the endeavor was the hauling of all this debris back into the marsh.


 My poor little city boots had no idea what hit them. But whatever it was, it was muddy.

And,  in final news. About 6 months ago I started saving up for an IPad. Contributions to the fund have included proceeds from knitting projects, gift certificates from the generous family I babysit for, and sales of old Mac products (for my mom, who has some confusion surrounding the Mac of Steve jobs vs the Mac of Morange lipstick, this is the former) along with random change that I have been able to spare over the last half year. About four months into this saving extravaganza I realized it made sense as well to wait until the new version was released.  Much to my surprise I received this email from SG late last week:

The day has come sooner than I planned!! I hope to pull together the last portion of funds in time for Friday- possibly through a combination of singing on the subway and an abridged trip to Trader Joes. To say that I am more than mildly excited would be an understatement.

I plan to get it engraved-- they do it for free! Yay! Will report in when it's in my little paws.

The Girls

Rain Gear. Nothing cuter.

Quote from this week: "Reading makes your brain go wild with smart ideas"

Forget the Beauty! I want the baked Cheese...!

This weekend/Monday evening were heavy on the cooking and the walking. The highlight of the walking portion was our stunted visit to the Guggenheim. Meandering through the park we found ourselves at the museum, and pondered heading in for a visit. I asked: "what do you think they have in there?" --wondering if it was a permanent collection, modern art, a whole mix of pieces etc-- SG thought for a second and said " I think its like...art". Ha. Yes, art indeed. We went in, realized its was $18 a person, stood in the lobby for a hot second and then left. I guess that "like...art" will have to wait to be seen another day. We headed over to the Natural History Museum, which is suggested donation, and I have no shame...

Now onto the cooking portion of this post. This first endeavor I stole from my sister MM-- she had it at some fancy restaurant, loved it, and manged to recreate it at home. Its sooooo delicious.  

Ricotta Spread

Ingredients:

Ricotta

Honey

Sea Salt

Pepper

Mix ricotta, honey, fresh ground pepper and a little sea salt, all to taste, and throw it on some toasted baguette. 

This simple mixture of yummy ingredients creates light, fluffy, ever so slightly sweet spread that is absolutely a-mazing. I don't think I make it quite as good as MM, but its close!

Trader Joe's Baguette!

The second go was CBC's Crepe Recipe. I talked a big game about being able to make crepes, but was secretly apprehensive about my ability to pull off this delicate process. After a slightly bumpy start,  in which my batter was literally bumpy and I realized that the crepe "flipper" that the man at Sur La Table sold us was actually a crepe "ripper" -- things were off and running. So running in fact that I took pics of the beginning, not the actual product. Which were freaking delicious if I do say so myself. 

Again, as long as you don't panic, and are willing to throw about $40 bucks at the pan acquisition, they are pretty easy. The trick is to remember that you are not making pancakes-- keep it thin, so that the crepe can pretty much cook through without even turning it. You turn it at the end to brown the second side, but its pretty much done-zo at this point. I pop mine in the oven as I finish them to keep them warm for bulk consumption. Here is the recipe, in all caps, courtesy of CBC:

CREPES

INGREDIENTS:

2 EGGS

I EGG YOKE

2 T. MELTED BUTTER

1/2 t.  VANILLA

I/2 CUP OF SIFTED FLOUR

1/4 t. SALT

1 t. SUGAR

2/3 CUP OF MILK

BEAT EGGS GENTLY

ADD BUTTER,  MILK,  VANILLA AND MIX TOGETHER

IN ANOTHER BOWL

MIX FLOUR SALT SUGAR TOGETHER

ADD TO EGG MIXTURE AND BLEND UNTIL SMOOOOOOOTH

COOK OVER MEDIUM/LOW HEAT, PRE-HEAT PAN 

We had a bunch of fillings, including: the remaining ricotta spread, sauteed mushrooms, basil, eggs, tomato, Parmesan, powdered sugar and a few more I have forgotten.

To round out the weekend I made the feta-pumpkin muffins, which actually turned out to be feta-squash due to the limited Trader Joe's selection. Along with the winter veggie switcheroo, I made a few additional changes. I substituted whole wheat flour, left out the sunflower seeds, and used "southern greens" medley instead of spinach. They came out great, but I would suggest using a little extra of everything except the squash, more cilantro, more feta, more pepper, and something to give it a little kick-- maybe a little paprika...? What herb would be good here? They are a little bland. My herb knowledge is non-existent. 

That's all that's fit to print.