Put on the Glasses

December in Arizona

2011-01-23T16:44:00.001-05:00

At the end of last December, Brian and I went to Arizona for our friends' wedding. Here are a few pictures that make me smile.

When we got to Arizona, we rented a car. Thanks to some fast help from the groom, Bobby, and his brother Billy, we have a new addiction: In-N-Out burgers:

From Arizona

Does it get more delicious then this?

From Arizona

Besides eating, we visited the Botanical Garden with our friend, Jorge. It was quite pretty:

From Arizona

There were saguaros EVERYWHERE. Who knew? This is a saguaro:

From Arizona

The night before the wedding, we waited with the groom for his formal invite to the mehndi ceremony at the bride's house. The invite arrived with gifts, including Bobby's shoes for the wedding. The look on his face cracks me up:

From Arizona

At the bride's house that night, the guys had a good time:

From Arizona

The next day at the wedding, here I am with Tanya, trying to figure out what the ceremony will include so I don't look like a complete fool:

From Arizona

Here are the Bobby and Sabina during the wedding ceremony:

From Arizona

Here they are as they walk down the aisle afterwards:

From Arizona

We had a whole lot of fun at their wedding in Arizona. Congrats, Bobby and Sabina!

Denver Trip Photos

2011-01-23T16:32:00.000-05:00

Here are some of my favorite pics from our trip to Denver back in October. We went for my birthday. It was 10-10-10 and we figured that was cause for a good celebration.

Here's Brian at our hotel, the Brown Palace. That's a stained glass ceiling above him. The hotel was over 100 years old:

From Denver

Here is a view of the lobby from above. They were serving afternoon tea:

From Denver

Outdoor brewing at the Great Divide Brewery in Denver:

From Denver

We took a brewery tour and this was out favorite place. We still hunt for Great Divide's raspberry ale.

Here is Brian at Casa Bonita, made famous in an episode of South Park:

From Denver

Here I am ("More sopapillas, please!"):

From Denver

We drove up into the mountains one day. It was October and it was snowing up there. It was beautiful. My camera batteries died so most of it is just a memory now. Here I am up in the mountains:

From Denver

Great trip and good times.

Sculpture Garden

2010-10-08T18:00:00.000-04:00

Here are some pictures from when Brian, Nicole and I went to the sculpture garden in Minneapolis. Here is a classic shot of the Spoonbridge and Cherry:

Here is Brian being...well...Brian:

Here we are from the deck of the Walker:

Good times in the Minne-apple.

I'm Back

2010-10-07T20:58:00.000-04:00

I'm back from my hiatus. What have I been doing with my time? Who knows. I don't know where the past few months have gone.

Since it has been so long and I don't feel like trying to fill the gap of time with explanations of where I've been, I'll just keep this simple. I'm in Minnesota. Love it here. Got a job writing website copy for law firms. It's right up my alley. Life is awesome all-around.

I got a new digital camera, so I've been pictures like crazy in my precious, work-free hours. So, I thought it best to start my return to blogging with one of my typical Brian and Leela napping photos:

Aren't they cute? I think so.

Goodbye, Brooklyn

2010-05-27T07:21:00.001-04:00

Tried to post this yesterday. This is the Williamsburg bridge.

Goodbye, Manhattan

2010-05-26T20:24:00.000-04:00

More Pictures from Jones Beach

2010-05-22T10:27:00.001-04:00

Yesterday, we went with friends to Jones Beach on Long Island. We had a blast. I don't think I had ever been on a beach like it before. The main beach season starts on Memorial Day but there were still tons of people there. The beach itself is 6.5 miles long and has 23,000 parking spots. It is just crazy big. There were people everywhere and you could not see an end to the beach in either direction.

Here is Brian when we arrived at the beach. Just to let you know: most of his pasty-white skin was saved from sunburn:

He immediately buried himself in the sand:

Brian and Bobby played in the waves:

I share that picture simply because I want to remember the high pitched scream that came from Brian when he was getting hit by the waves. The water was ice cold.

Here are Christina and Rahela by the epic sand castle we built:

The girls in the group first attempted to build a castle and it looked like a cross between a volcano and a dilapidated wedding cake (not pictured; you don't want to see it). The boys seemed insulted by our effort and proceeded to take charge. With a little direction, we ended up with a medieval fortress, colosseum, monk sanctuary, moat and a bridge.

The pictures just don't do our sand castle justice. Here's part of the group working on it:

This is the epic entryway that Brian, Sabina and I all focused on. I'm proud of my little square buildings and stairs:

Bobby informed me that I was building ziggurats. I had no idea that there was a word for those structures. You learn something new every day.

Here's my requisite picture of the ocean:

But what the heck is this thing? I saw it slowly shuffling down toward the water. It looks prehistoric:

I kept my distance.

We had an awesome time at the beach. It was a perfect, sunny day and I am sure that this is going to be one of my all-time favorite New York memories! Thanks for driving us, Sabina!

UPDATE: Nicole thinks it's a horseshoe crab. After extensive Googling, I believe her to be correct. Thanks, Nicole!

Jones Beach

2010-05-21T13:11:00.001-04:00

Blogging at the beach. The speck is Brian.

Right Now

2010-05-20T08:14:00.001-04:00

I felt that an unnecessary photo of Leela would brighten my blog.

Here are some of my thoughts right now:

The Move

Less than one week until we pick up the truck. I can't believe how fast time has gone. The majority of our stuff is packed up already and we are excited to get moving.

We bought cardboard carriers for the cats. We plan to dose them with this herbal calming remedy Brian bought at the pet store. I hope it works.

Internet

Brian was a diligent mover. About a week ago he called the power company, the gas company and our internet provider, Verizon, to let them know that we are moving. Although Brian was very clear that we we still needed internet for a couple of weeks, they cut us off when he got off the phone. Poor Brian spent hours on the phone with Verizon trying to explain what happened and to get it turned back on. It took them almost a week to fix it. It was ridiculous.

All week and no internet makes Alicia a dull girl. I almost lost it. I hadn't realized how addicted I was to the internet. I watch television online. I read the news online. I communicate online. It was not a pleasant week. Luckily, I am back online now, watching Netflix and reading my Google Reader. I can go without a lot of stuff but I do not want to live without internet.

Things to Do

Only a week left and that is not much time to fit in New York stuff. Right now the agenda includes:

Jones Beach, Long Island for some fun in the sun
Glaser's Bakery for some black and white cookies
Carl Schurz's park where Brian proposed to me
the MOMA so I can use my free admission one last time
the White Horse Tavern which is one of my favorite New York bars

Can you think of anything else I haven't seen or done? I have visited a lot of New York sites and I just can't think of any I've missed out on. Let me know if you have any ideas.

Grant's Tomb

2010-05-19T19:08:00.000-04:00

Last week, Brian and I finally made it to the last major historic monument on my personal list of must-sees in New York: Grant's Tomb. It's is the largest tomb in North America and in it resides the bodies of former U.S. President and Civil War General Ulysses S. Grant and his wife, Julia.

It was breathtaking. Brian and I went to see the tomb at an off-hour. That meant that we got some stunning shots of the exterior, sans tourists. The white building was so bright, it made my picture a bit blurry:

Fun fact I learned: Grant was the second general to be given a 4th star in U.S. history. The first was Washington. That's how awesome of a general Grant was.

It looks like it's glowing:

I loved the detail on the eagle sculptures flanking the steps:

Here are the sarcophagi where they are entombed:

They were on a lower level. You could look down on them, like you see here, and you could walk around them downstairs too.

Brian loved the woodwork on the domed ceiling:

Whenever I go to new places, I buy my Mom a souvenir spoon for her collection. Unfortunately, they weren't selling any. They did have one in a glass case though. I guess people have been collecting spoons since at least 1892:

Sorry that I couldn't get you a spoon, Mom. I suppose the picture will have to do.

Finally, here's another shot of the dome and part of a wall. I loved the murals, showing different parts of his life:

It was beautiful to see. If you happen to be in Manhattan and are up by Columbia University, you should go check it out.

Shake Shack and Gormley's Event Horizon

2010-05-10T11:06:00.000-04:00

On Saturday, Brian and I met with friends to go eat at the Shake Shack in Madison Square park. It was one of those New York places I had been putting off. I needed to check it off the list before the big move. Above, you can see Brian with his burger and fries. I forgot to take a picture of the line to get this food. It was enormous. I think we waited for an hour.

Here's a picture of Brian while we were in line, you can kind of see how far we are from the building:

The wait was worth it. The food was excellent. This shake was the best shake I have had in years:

The other great thing in the park that day was the new art installation. If you weren't paying attention, you might miss it:

You don't see anything? Let's take a closer look at the top of that building:

See that statue on top of the building? It is part of an art installation by Antony Gormley called Event Horizon. There are 31 statues perched on top of buildings around Madison Square. I thought they were excellent. It was almost like a game trying to find them. Here's another one (just the guy on top of the building, not the statue in the foreground):

All in all, it was a nice Saturday. Good food, good friends and some art.

Chuck Palahniuk Again

2010-05-07T12:01:00.000-04:00

It has almost become a ritual for me. Every May, Chuck Palahniuk releases a new novel and goes on tour. Every May, I go see him and get my stuff signed. Last night was Palahniuk's New York City event, held at the Cooper Union, and I was there.

I was a VIP again, meaning I was one of the 100 people who got to meet Palahniuk and have their stuff signed (VIP just means that I was one of the first to buy a ticket). With my ticket, I also got a free copy of the new book, Tell-All.

Here I am with Palahniuk:

Here's the silly picture:

Here's Palahniuk on stage:

The blow up Oscars and turkeys were part of a contest he did. People had to blow up the Oscars as fast as they could. The fastest won a blow-up turkey. I did not compete. I still have my blow-up penguin from last year and I never know what the heck to do with it. The turkeys were pretty awesome though.

Finally, here are pictures of what he signed in my books. Here is my old copy of Lullaby, which I brought along from home:

Here is Tell-All:

He wrote that message because I walked up, being the nerd I am, and said, "This is like two for the price of one! I get to see you and I am at the famous Cooper Union!" I have no idea if he knew what I was talking about.

For those of you who also don't know what I am talking about, the Great Hall, in the basement of the Cooper Union, was the site of one of Abraham Lincoln's most famous speeches. In fact, the speech is now known as "The Cooper Union Speech." I took a picture of the marble statue and sign outside of the Great Hall:

If you can't read the famous quotation, obviously from that speech, it states:

Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.

I had a lot of fun at the event. I wish that I had the mental recall to tell some of the jokes that Palahniuk told or a great answer he gave to an interview question. However, if I tried to recreate them here, I would be paraphrasing and I fear that my retelling would not do him justice. If he is coming your way, go see him. Even if you aren't a huge fan of his books, he is always entertaining to see.

Walking Around with Brian

2010-05-06T12:09:00.001-04:00

When we decided to move back to Minnesota, Brian and I walked around our neighborhood and took some pictures. I thought I would share a few of the pictures here.

Here is Brian looking out from the park at Grand Street with the Williamsburg Bridge behind him:

Here's another shot of the Williamsburg Bridge in the rain:

Here's the plaque describing the park as being the site of a ferry landing in the 1800's:

This is the smoke stack the plaque was on:

Here is some funny graffiti we saw while walking:

Here is a shot of Manhattan across the East River. There were very low clouds that day. Just a bit to the left of center is the Empire State Building, getting lost in the clouds:

It was a great walk but we will have to do it again when it is not raining.

FAQ: Our Minnesota Move

2010-05-05T18:19:00.008-04:00

We have been getting a lot of questions about our move to Minnesota. So, I thought it prudent to post an FAQ.

When are you moving? We pick up the truck on May 26th. We will be leaving NYC either that day or the next. It all depends on whether we decide to drive straight to Minnesota or if we decide to spend a night somewhere. This means that we are guaranteed in Minnesota, barring some unforeseen incident, by June 1st. It is only a 20 hour drive so we will probably get there much sooner than that. The lawyer in me says that I shouldn't make any promises.
Are you bringing your cats? Of course we are! Why would you people believe for even a second that I could abandon my cats? Have you not noticed the number of pictures of my cats I have posted to this very blog? For your information, there have been a total of 33 posts about cats on this blog. We still haven't decided how we are going to transport the cats, however. Our current plan is to drug them and keep them in the cab of the rental truck with us. Let me know if you have any better ideas.
Where are you moving to in Minnesota? This has yet to be decided. Right now, we are planning to stay at Brian's parent's house for a couple of weeks while we job hunt and search for an apartment. I am not renting an apartment without seeing it first and there is no time for a short trip. We are very excited about the prospects though. For what we pay in rent now, we could live like kings in Minnesota.
Are you looking for jobs? Yes we are. Know of any? Let us know. I am looking for a legal job, like a paralegal or clerk position, since I am not admitted to the bar in Minnesota. Brian is interested in anything. He says he is "wide open to ideas."
Are you getting rid of a lot of stuff? Not really. After our last couple of moves, we have really pared down our stuff. I have been scanning a lot of paper into the computer to make the load lighter. I pitched one full garbage bag of shredded documents last night. It feels good to clean.
Why are you moving? It is the right time. A lot of little things built up to make us decide to move. It wasn't just one thing. I refuse to publish a list of complaints to illustrate our reasons because it would be both misleading and whiny.
Are you excited? Yes we are. We can barely contain ourselves.

Let me know if you think of any big questions I may have missed. I will try to be diligent about updating this blog concerning any new moving developments.

Me and Facebook

2010-05-05T11:44:00.000-04:00

Facebook has been getting under my skin in recent months. Don't worry, I am not going to delete my account, though I have been mighty tempted to do so.

First, I have become very frustrated with how long it takes for my blog posts to show up on Facebook. Facebook allows me, on the "Notes" page, to import an external blog. I did that a few months ago and I loved it. People were able to comment and see my blog regularly without having to go to the blog itself. However, the time it takes to show my blog posts has become frustratingly erratic. I publish something on the blog and it could be 5 minutes, 4 hours or, recently, 2 weeks for it to show up on my Facebook page. It annoys me to no end.

As a result I have unlinked my Blogger account from my Facebook page. My blog posts will no longer be located in my "Notes" on Facebook and you will have to visit my blog to read the posts. I'm still going to tell people that I posted, however, by linking to each individual post with a status update (thanks for the idea, Brian!).

I will also, eventually, delete all of my blog posts that are saved on Facebook. This will not effect my blog itself, just my Facebook "Notes" page. This segues into the second reason I am annoyed with Facebook: their privacy settings. I do not want to keep my old posts on Facebook's servers because I do not want them to be used in some sort of marketing data.

It isn't just my "Notes" page that has been affected by their privacy settings. I have had to alter my privacy settings at least 5 times in the past 3 months in order to keep my information private. Consequently, I have deleted almost all of my personal data from my Facebook page. I do not want to ignore Facebook for a week, only to return and discover that all of my data has been made public again.

I've read some great articles lately about Facebook privacy issues:

BoingBoing had a terrific post about the privacy issues in Facebook's new "Connections" feature (located here).
Silicon Alley Insider presented a great list of the top ten reasons you should delete your Facebook account (located here).
Lifehacker posted a how-to article about deauthorizing applications in the wake of Facebook's new privacy policy. You applications can see information you may not want them to see (located here).
Lawyerist, a blog for lawyers, points out the pitfalls of Facebook in a work environment and the importance of keeping an eye on your privacy settings (located here).

As a result of my reading and my own beliefs in personal privacy, I have deleted a lot of my personal information. I urge you to do the same but I understand if you do not feel as strongly as I do about it. I am constantly amazed at the amount of people that make their Facebook "Walls" public along with all of their photos.

Let me know what you think. Am I crazy and overzealous to delete most of my private data from Facebook? Am I a hypocrite for doing that when I have a blog? Have I deleted too little?

Brooklyn Botanical Garden

2010-04-28T17:24:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday, I went with a group of friends to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden to see the cherry blossoms. The gardens were beautiful. I took a few shots and thought I would share them with you.

Here's the crowd near the cherry blossoms. They are right at the end of their run and the blooms were just starting to wilt.

Up close they still looked great though:

They were like balls of fluffy cotton candy:

Tulips:

That's about it. I recommend the Botanical Garden when it's in season. It is a beautiful park and it's free Saturdays from 10am to Noon.

Moving Back to Minnesota

2010-04-27T16:06:00.000-04:00

As I am sure almost all of you have heard by now, Brian and I are packing up and moving back to Minnesota. We are extremely excited.

Photo from Doug Wallick's Flickr Stream.

Yes, this is out of the blue. We literally made this decision on Saturday. I don't hate Brooklyn. It didn't beat me, we aren't broke or going back with our tails between our legs. I love Brooklyn. I think it is just time to move on. I don't have negative things to say about New York. We love our friends here and we will miss them. We'll miss the bars and restaurants, the excitement and the museums. We will be back to visit.

However, that being said, we are elated by the prospect of the following things in Minnesota:

Family
Our Minnesota friends
Targets that are organized, well stocked and staffed by helpful people
Caribou Coffee
Twins baseball
Malls that aren't packed with people
Parks
Grass
Trees
Camping
Hiking
Fishing
Snow
Grilling
Square footage at a reasonable price
Schell's beer
Driving distance to Duluth
All those 10,000 lakes

I am sure I could go on. Most of all, I can sum up the thing I want most in one word: space. I cannot wait for open lawns, open clear skies, and 1,000 square foot apartments. I will actually be able to use the Google Sky Map feature on my phone to figure out what stars are above me because I will have a full view of the sky. I'll even be able to drive to see the northern lights.

We're moving at the end of May. We already have the truck rented and we gave notice to the landlord, Gus, who was very sad. He's been my landlord for 5 years. We are on the hunt for moving boxes and have already made a list of stuff we are getting rid of.

It's exciting and I'll be blogging all about it.

This Guy Looks Like a P.I.

2010-04-16T12:03:00.000-04:00

I looked out my window this morning and saw this guy across the street:

He looks like a film noir P.I., a gumshoe or a modern day Sam Spade. I had to take a picture and share it with you fine folks.

Maybe I am being followed. Just kidding. Seeing this guy just invoked this sudden urge to watch The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep or Laura. Those are probably my three favorite film noir movies. Does anybody know of some other ones I should see? I love a good crime story.

Right Now

2010-04-15T17:44:00.003-04:00

Music

I am still using Grooveshark a lot but mainly I just repeat the following songs:

"Fight Song" by The Republic Tigers
"Electric Feel" by MGMT
"Rock Lobster" by The B52s
"White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane
"Psychobilly Freakout" by Reverend Horton Heat
"Tik Tok" by Ke$ha

I would also like to note that I just don't get the whole Justin Bieber thing. Maybe I am getting old.

Food

Brian and I are trying the chicken challenge this week. This involves trying to stretch the meat from a chicken into as many meals as possible. I kind of cheated and made two chickens at once because they were super cheap at CostCo. and this recipe from the Pioneer Woman looked too good to resist.

So far Brian and I have had 3 dinners based on the chickens. The first night was just the herbed roast chicken. The last two nights we have had chicken salad sandwiches à la Kenny Shopsin (see my previous post about his book). The chicken salad was so good that we had it again the next night.

Tonight we are having Cook's Illustrated Chicken Curry in a Hurry (recipe located at the bottom of this post). Tomorrow night, if all goes as planned we will be having chicken tortilla soup. I am amazed at how far a couple of cooked chickens can go.

Goals of the Week

Last week, as you already know if you follow me on Facebook, I set a goal of using no emoticons or exclamation points unless they were entirely necessary. It was more difficult than I anticipated.

It isn't as if I insert copious amounts of exclamation points into short stories or memos. I just use them in emails and messages to friends. Nonetheless, I found it incredibly difficult to stop inundating my status updates with those marks. I felt like Lilly in Taylor Mali's poem "Like Lilly Like Wilson." To tempt me further, as if knowing my plight, some neighbor kid drew a smiley face on my door with a marker.

I did, however, make it through the week only using one exclamation point. I will continue my endeavor to express meaning through word use and not symbols in the future.

This week I am trying to stop swearing. Again, like the exclamation points, it isn't as if I do this all the time. I do, however, spit out unladylike words in certain situations. Examples of these situations include, but are not limited to, dropping a plate of cookies on the floor, being narrowly missed by an out-of-control driver when I cross the street, or when the neighbor kid vandalizes my door.

I will let you know how it goes.

Hainanese Chicken

2010-04-09T15:35:00.000-04:00

Back in early march I read the Kitchn review of Mark Bittman's Hainanese Chicken and I had to make it. It looked so darned good. I mean look at it:

Just look at it. I made that and it was as delicious as it looks. I guess I'm proud of myself because I had to poach a chicken to make it. I had never poached a chicken before. I can barely poach an egg. Plus, the method seemed a bit sketchy to me.

My mom taught me to have a good, healthy fear of food born illnesses. I grew up in a house where we cook our food until it is good and dead. This recipe calls for you to only boil the chicken for ten minutes, turn off the heat and just let it sit there for an hour. Just sit there. This seemed like crazy talk. But I trusted The Kitchn and the New York Times to not steer me wrong and by golly if it wasn't delicious. The chicken was nice and juicy, perfectly cooked and it was extremely easy. What is easier than boiling water?

Here's the chicken when it came out of the pot:

The skin doesn't look great but Brian ate it anyways. He is strange like that.

Here's a shot of Brian's hands while he pulled the chicken:

He's helpful in the kitchen when you give him tasks where he can steal bites.

Here's my veggies getting ready for the rice:

The finished product again:

Here's the recipe (from here):

Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 whole (3- to 4-pound) chicken, trimmed of excess fat
Several cloves smashed garlic, plus 1 teaspoon minced garlic
Several slices fresh ginger, plus 1 tablespoon minced ginger
1/2 cup peanut oil, or neutral oil, like corn or canola
3 shallots, roughly chopped, or a small onion
2 cups long-grain rice
1/2 cup minced scallions
2 cucumbers, peeled and sliced
2 tomatoes, sliced
Chopped fresh cilantro leaves
2 tablespoons sesame oil.

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Add chicken to pot along with smashed garlic and sliced ginger. Bird should be completely submerged, but only just. Cover, reduce heat to medium, and cook for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and let bird remain in water for 45 minutes to an hour, covered, or until it is cooked through.

2. Remove chicken from pot, reserve stock, and let bird cool to room temperature. Put half the peanut oil in a skillet over medium heat; you may add trimmed chicken fat to this also. When oil is hot, add remaining garlic, along with shallots; cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add rice and cook, stirring, until glossy. Add 4 cups reserved chicken stock and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cover; cook for about 20 minutes, until rice has absorbed all liquid. Stir in salt and pepper to taste.

3. Make a dipping sauce of remaining oil, ginger, half the scallions and a large pinch of salt.

4. Shred or chop chicken, discarding skin. Put rice on a large platter and mound chicken on top of it; decorate platter with cucumbers, tomatoes, remaining scallions and cilantro. Sprinkle sesame oil over all and serve with dipping sauce.

Yield: 4 to 8 servings.

Like The Kitchn suggested, I skipped the sauce part of the recipe and just put soy sauce and sesame oil on it. This was a great recipe. I highly recommend it.

Books Read Recently: Part 2

2010-04-08T15:31:00.000-04:00

Continuing my post from yesterday, here are the rest of the books I read this month:

The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova

I think I would have liked this book if I had not had high expectations for it. I really loved her first novel, The Historian. Who doesn't love a good vampire novel? The Swan Thieves just didn't pack the detail-ridden punch of the last novel. In this story, an artist attacks a painting in a museum and is arrested. When he is placed under psychiatric care, his psychiatrist tries to unravel what drove this him to attack that specific painting. I think I would recommend the book to art lovers and possibly Dean Koontz fans.

The Invisible Kingdom: From the Tips of Our Fingers to the Tops of Our Trash, Inside the Curious World of Microbes by Idan Ben-Barak

This was a very entertaining, quick read about microbes. It doesn't go deep into the real science; it briefly explains the world of microbes and their importance in a fun way. You get the sense in reading this book that Ben-Barak really loves microbes. He'll make you love microbes too. I recommend this to people who like pop science books.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

This book was surprisingly good. I say that because I made the horrible mistake of seeing the movie first. Do me a favor and do not see the movie. If you must see it, fast forward and watch only the parts with Stanley Tucci in them.

I actually only read the book by accident. I had already reserved a copy from the library long before I saw the movie. It happened to arrive 2 days after I watched the movie and I only picked it up because I didn't want the librarians to get mad at me for making them ship it, label it and shelve it just for me. I'm glad my guilt made me take it home.

It is an amazing book. Not only was it fast and easy to read, but it is well written and about a serial killer. Those are all elements for a great, late-night read, preferably by flashlight. I recommend this book to everyone. I do not recommend the movie version.

Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin

I grabbed this book from the library because it was new and it had recipes. I had no idea what it was about. I was laughing from the first page. It is a memoir of Kenny Shopsin, a very peculiar restaurant owner and self-taught chef with a very peculiar customer service philosophy. He does not believe the customer is right. Here is a quote to give you an example:

Some people tell me that they're deathly allergic to something and that I have to make sure it's not in their food. I kick them out, too. I don't want to be responsible for anyone's life-or-death situation. I tell them they should go eat at a hospital. Often, after I do that, they'll back down and tell me, well, they're not that allergic. And then I really want them to leave because now I know they're assholes.

That passage made me laugh so hard that I had to read it out loud to Brian.

The most surprising part about the book, however, was not just the philosophy of food service, but the off-hand way that he name drops. You'll be reading the introduction to a recipe for chicken salad and read, "Bob Dylan, who lived in the neighborhood was hooked on it for years." Now I totally want to make that chicken salad.

If you like thinking about food, food service, cooking and customer service, read this book.

That concludes this month's installment of "books read recently." Next month, I hope to have read Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Await Your Reply and some other awesome books.

Books Read Recently: Part 1

2010-04-07T16:43:00.000-04:00

I can't believe a month has passed by since my last series of book reviews. I am proud of the fact that I got through another 8 books this past month. Writing these monthly blog posts has really pushed me to read more. Here are some of the things I read:

The Gates by John Connelly

I loved this book. It was a funny, fast read about the gates of hell opening up. I know, that sentence does not make much sense. It was fast in that I polished this book off in one night. It was funny in that the writing didn't gross you out or frighten. It simply told the tale of a boy trying to stop demons from flooding out of the gate and overrunning his town. I definitely recommend this book if you like Neil Gaiman or Susanna Clarke.

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

I think this book was beyond me. It concerned many facets of small town life, senior living and marital relations that I just couldn't relate to. It was beautifully written and the characters were fascinating but the story itself didn't pull me along. The book reads as a sort of collection of short stories that all revolve, in some way around Olive Kitteridge, a lonely and complicated woman. I read the book through to the end because I liked the character of Olive Kitteridge but as a whole I found the book kind of unsatisfying. I think I would recommend this one to people who like Jane Austen, the Brontes, Isabel Allende or Faulkner. Maybe the book was just a touch too girly and emotional for me.

The 158 lb. Marriage by John Irving

After Olive Kitteridge, I picked up this book. I usually like John Irving but this book was a bit dry and pointless. It is one of his earlier works and concerns the plight of two married couples. The couples swap spouses and you can imagine how well that turns out. The unfortunate part about this book, and why I call it dry, is that nothing truly interesting happens. I also feel like I didn't learn anything about the type of person who would participate in that kind of marital relationship. That's the whole reason I read the book. I don't understand swingers for the life of me. I still don't. I don't know if I would recommend this book to anyone. It was nice and short though.

The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coehlo

After reading Coehlo's book The Alchemist last month, I was excited to try another book of his. I can't say that I was disappointed but I didn't love the book either. My main problem with it was the fact that you couldn't separate the fiction from reality. The book chronicles Coehlo's own personal travels along the Road to Santiago, a pilgrimage path taken by Catholics throughout the centuries to gain an understanding of themselves and to see religious relics. I had a hard time discerning the reality of what happened to Coehlo on the trip from fictional mysticism. This was the same mysticism from The Alchemist but in a realistic setting and I just couldn't get into it. I think I would recommend this book to mystical Catholics or spiritual people on the road to self-enlightenment.

Check back tomorrow for my thoughts on the other 4 books I read this month including The Swan Thieves, The Invisible Kingdom, The Lovely Bones and Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin.

Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon

2010-04-06T15:41:00.001-04:00

I made this recipe a few weeks ago and I cannot possibly praise it enough. I loved it. The sauce was rich and full of complex flavors. The beef was perfectly tender. It lasted several meals for me and Brian. All of those things are big pluses in my book.

The down side to the recipe is the time that it takes to make. I didn't start cooking until about 5:30pm one night and we didn't eat until around 11:00 pm. It takes a lot longer than you would expect to prep all of the ingredients and get it ready for the oven. However, don't let that stop you. It is actually really easy to make if you just follow Child's instructions.

If you want a copy of the recipe, Knopf-Doubleday has PDFs of the recipes needed here. You will need to print and follow the main recipe and the two sub-recipes for onions and mushrooms. Don't worry. It's not that hard.

I was too lazy to go to the butcher to get real, uncut bacon. So, I bought Oscar Meyer Thick-Cut Bacon and cut it into strips. It worked out great. Here's the blanching bacon:

It looks kinda gross but it smelled great.

Other changes to the recipe were very slight. I used a dutch oven instead of the 10 inch casserole she called for. I also used a Pinot Noir for the red wine. I planned to get a Cotes du Rhone, but they were out of it at my wine store. Yet again, I was too lazy to go out of my way for a specific red wine.

Here are my hunks of beef browning (America's Test Kitchen taught me "don't crowd the pan!"):

Here is the dutch oven all ready to go in the oven with almost all of the stuff together (meat and some of the veggies):

Brown-braising the onions (see the separate recipe):

Sautéed mushrooms:

Those mushrooms alone were so good that I have since made them as a side dish for a different meal. So simple. So good. So full of butter...

All my cooked meat and veggies together:

Making the sauce, which always takes longer than I think but is worth it:

The finished product:

It was a definite success.

Boston! Part 3

2010-04-01T21:58:00.000-04:00

To finish off my Boston pictures, here are just a few more highlights from our day trip.

Here's Brian playing with his dinner:

Here is my first ever Lobster Roll. Delicious:

Paul Revere's house:

Here I am in front of Faneuil Hall (a big marketplace), getting despondent at Brian's picture taking speed:

Finally, here is a picture that makes me giggle. Brian trying to lift a very big chain. There was a lot of grunting:

That wraps up my trilogy of Boston posts. We had a great time. I recommend going if you haven't been there!

Boston! Part 2

2010-03-31T19:59:00.000-04:00

I have a thing for graveyards. I've always liked them. Not in any morbid sense. I just like how peaceful and pretty they are. I also don't have any fear of ghosts or disturbing the dead. I figure that even if the dead are watching me, Our Town style, then they will be happy that I am remembering them by reading their tombstones.

Knowing this, you can imagine how happy I was to be in the Granary Burying Ground in Boston. It is filled with famous patriots. Due to the rain, I didn't get a picture of all of them, so here are just a few of my favorites.

Here is Samuel Adams tombstone, signer of the Declaration of Independence:

Paul Revere's tombstone and memorial:

Here's John Hancock's overly phallic tombstone:

Finally, there are some of my favorite designs:

I loved the graveyard. I definitely want a skull and crossbones on my tombstone and I love the patina on that metal.

More pictures, less grim, tomorrow!

Boston! Part 1

2010-03-30T21:15:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, Brian and I took a day trip to Boston, Massachusetts. It was extremely cheap to take a BoltBus from NYC to Boston and we decided to take advantage of Brian's spring break (break from teaching that is). We had a blast and I thought that I should share some pictures of our adventures.

It rained really hard all day so some of my pictures are rather blurry. The rain was actually kind of nice because we had the touristy areas to ourselves! Here's Brian when we first arrived at Boston Common, which is basically a big city park:

This is the Rotunda in the Boston Common:

This bar was used as the outside shot of Cheers. It's right next to the Common and the Public Garden. It used to be called "Bull and Finch" but it is now a "Cheers" brand bar:

It was too early in the day to start drinking. We had beers later in the Cheers bar at the Quincy Market. Despite being touristy, we had loads of fun and had possibly the greatest bartender ever. He gave us free drinks and was a master of good conversation.

Here is picture of the pedestrian bridge in the Public Garden next to the park. The pool was drained for the winter but that didn't stop the ducks from waddling around in the mud:

Speaking of ducks, I loved this duck sculpture:

Here is the State House across from the park:

I now believe all domes should be gilded. Doesn't it look impressive?

What I really loved about the Boston Common and Public Garden was how they were steeped in history. There was a beautiful plaque describing the founding of the Common in 1634 by John Winthrop. There were also memorials and plaques for the revolutionary war and the first soccer soccer club in the United States that was undefeated from 1862 to 1865 on their home field. Being a history nerd, I loved it all.

More posts and pictures coming soon about our trip to Boston! Tomorrow, expect a post about the Granary Burial Ground.

Carnegie Hall

2010-03-26T17:01:00.000-04:00

Last weekend, Brian and I went with some friends to Carnegie Hall. I had always wanted to go there but had never gotten around to it. Luckily, our friend Tanya is excellent at planning things and got us some great cheap tickets! I thought I would share some pictures of the place for those of you who haven't seen it.

Here is what it looks like from across the street:

Here it is on the inside:

You should actually be pretty happy that you got to see this picture. I got yelled at by an usher for taking it. I didn't use a flash and the orchestra was only warming up. However, the rules state that you can't take any pictures inside. He didn't make me delete them so I figured I could post it. Shhhh...Don't tell anyone I posted it here, okay?

We saw the Orchestra of St. Luke's and it was terrific. Even with my lack of classical music knowledge, I really enjoyed it. I recommend it if you are in the mood for some relaxing music in a very classy and calm atmosphere. I say calm because the audience was completely silent throughout the performance. That is a real rarity in this city. Trust me.

Brian's Birthday

2010-03-25T17:02:00.000-04:00

I waited and waited for Brian to post on his own blog about his birthday. Alas, it looks like I am going to have to do it for him. I was pretty proud of what I did for his birthday. I set up a treasure hunt around the apartment.

At midnight, he opened his birthday card and inside was an origami figure. This was the first one he got:

When he unfolded the origami, he found a riddle written on the paper. This first one had the following riddle:

"I am only always empty on the seventh day."

Once he solved it, he went to the location to find his next gift and another origami figure. I was worried that my riddles were too easy for Brian but I was lucky that a few stumped him. Here he is trying to figure one out:

He was pretty happy when he solved the riddles though. Here is a very happy Brian with a new Ikea gift card from my parents that he found after solving the first riddle:

He certainly loves Ikea. Here he is opening my favorite wrapped package:

I know the box was made for kids but I don't care; I thought it was hilarious. In case you are curious, the box had candles and bubble bath in it.

Two of the other riddles he had to solve were:

"You can take me anytime but you cannot take me anywhere."

"I run all day but never get tired."

I am not giving you the answers because I think that spoils the fun of riddles. Also, there were a few other riddles but you would have to be Brian to figure them out!

Overall, I think he had fun. Writing a bunch of riddles was a lot harder than I thought it would be and I felt really lucky that he didn't guess them all right away!

On his birthday we also went shopping. I swear, he wanted to go shopping for his birthday. For dinner, we went to The Smoke Joint in Fort Greene for some awesome barbecue. Finally, we finished off the evening closing two different bars: The Thirsty Scholar and Barcade. It felt like it was my birthday too! A good day indeed.

Spring Music

2010-03-24T17:00:00.001-04:00

I have been switching up my music to things that feel more like spring to me:

Rebel Rouser by Duane Eddy
Gimme Shelter by The Rolling Stones
Short Skirt, Long Jacket by Cake
Rock Lobster by The B52s
Sunny Afternoon by The Kinks

Can you think of any other good peppy, Spring-tastic songs?

Amusing Graffiti

2010-03-23T17:05:00.000-04:00

I like graffiti that makes me giggle. Spotted this fountain at St. Marks Church, at 10th Street and 2nd Avenue, in Manhattan:

Here's a close-up of what amused me:

I love it.

Leela Loves Spring

2010-03-22T17:04:00.000-04:00

This cat loves Spring. Now she can sit in the window and look out on her old territory.

Apple Pie

2010-03-21T13:57:00.000-04:00

Last Sunday, as you may have noticed, was Pi Day. As is π = 3.14159... To celebrate this mathematical day, every year Brian and I eat pie. This year I made my Mom's Apple Pie recipe, famous in our family for it's life-changingly delicious crust.

She gave me permission to post her recipe, so here it is:

For the Crust:

2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup veg. oil
3 tbsps. cold water

In a bowl, mix flour and salt. Blend oil in thoroughly with a fork. Sprinkle cold water over and mix well. With hands, press dough into a smooth ball (if dry add 2 tbsp. veg. oil a little bit at a time until you reach desired consistency; you want it rollable). Split it into two balls. Roll out each separately between sheets of wax paper (my Mom uses plastic wrap because the crust is less likely to stick to it and rip; I always forget this). Now go make the filling.

For the Filling:

5 to 7 tart apples (I always use Braeburn)
3/4 to 1 cup sugar (depends on how tart your apples are)
2 tbsps flour
dash salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 tbsp butter
Lemon Juice or grated lemon peel (also depends on how tart your apples are)

Preheat oven to 400F. After making the pie crust, pare the apples and slice thin. If apples aren't tart, add 1 tbsp lemon juice or grated lemon peel. Mix the sugar, flour, salt and spices. Add this mix to the apples. Set one crust into an ungreased pie pan. Trim with edge of pan.
Add the filling. Dot the filling with chunks of butter. Place other crust over top and trim edge 1/2 inch bigger than the pan and fold under. Seal edge with fork. Cut 3 or 4 slits in top of pie (My sister, Vanessa, uses these cute little cutters in leaf shapes to make the holes and it always looks awesome). Bake for 50 minutes. Be sure to let it cool before you dig in.

It is an easy pie to make in theory. The part I find difficult right now is making the crust look pretty. It tastes great but I have yet to master the perfect cuts and golden brown color.

Of course, that is the problem I had this time. In the past I have also:

Ripped the crust, making a frankenstein-style pie when I attempted to mend it.
Added too much sugar so that it became a soupy mess.
Added so much filling that it boiled over and made a burned sticky mess all over the oven.

I'll master this some day.

Regardless of my inability to make it look picture-perfect, it was delicious. That is the beauty of this recipe. While I have made a lot of mistakes, it has been delectable every time. That's a winning recipe in my book.

Garbage Pail Kids Flashback

2010-03-20T12:59:00.000-04:00

These cards were aptly named. It was a flashback to see them at Target the other day. I haven't seen these cards since I was a kid. They made me smile and maybe they will make you smile too.

Yes, I bought them. They were only $1.99. That is a steal for a bit of nostalgia.

Sorry I have been so lackadaisical in posting lately. Brian's birthday made it a very busy week!

For future reference

2010-03-13T22:39:00.000-05:00

Next year, after Christmas, if you are at Target or Smith & Hawkin and see their Amaryllis kits for sale, buy one. I got mine for $5.00 on clearance and it has been blooming beautifully for over a month.

I don't even have to water the thing. It just blooms and grows.

As a matter of fact, I had completely forgotten that I had bought it until one day back in February I was cleaning and found it was breaking out of it's box. It actually broke through the cardboard. My own ineptitude with houseplants and forgetfulness can't even kill this thing. I highly recommend it. This is one hardy plant.

Pictures of Leela

2010-03-12T17:05:00.001-05:00

Because it has been a while since I have subjected you to unnecessary pictures of my cat. Here she is with what I imagine are her thoughts when she jumps up on my desk:

"Where are my treats, Treat Giver?!"

"Scratch the top of my head now please. Then give me treats."

"I am bored with you now. I think I will go bother Brian over there and see if he will give me treats."

Good Recipe: Tuna Croquettes

2010-03-10T17:05:00.000-05:00

I love making Alton Brown's Tuna Croquettes. Not only do they include my favorite fish, tuna, they are also super easy.

Here is the recipe, which is also available here:

1 (7-ounce) pouch albacore tuna, drained and shredded
2 green onions, chopped fine
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 large eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 cup panko bread crumbs, divided
Olive oil, for sauteing

Place the tuna, onions, mustard, eggs, lemon juice, salt, pepper and 1/4 cup of the bread crumbs into a medium mixing bowl and stir to combine. Divide the mixture into 8 rounds and set aside on a parchment lined half sheet pan. Allow to rest for 15 minutes. Place the remaining bread crumbs into a pie plate. One at a time, coat each round in the panko on all sides.

Heat enough olive oil to cover the bottom of a 12-inch saute pan over medium heat until shimmering. Add the croquettes and cook 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Remove to a cooling rack set over a half sheet pan lined with paper towels. Allow to cool for 2 to 3 minutes before serving.

The recipe makes eight croquettes and I usually slice up lemon to drizzle over them while eating. I have also made this recipe without the lemon juice or the green onions and it still turned out great. I definitely recommend this recipe.

Right Now

2010-03-09T18:16:00.000-05:00

Here are things I've been thinking about lately but that I do not think deserve an entire post in and of themselves:

Movies

I know that this will be obvious to some of you but Dirty Harry was a really good movie. I finally saw it for the first time last week and it was much better than I expected. At the end I was actually yelling at the screen, "Get him, Harry! GET HIM!" It should not have taken me this long to see the movie. Shame on me. There is definitely a gap in my movie knowledge. This must be remedied. I felt this same way when I finally saw the French Connection. I was baffled that I had never seen such an awesome movie before. Can anyone think of any older movies I should see?

I saw Precious. It was a tear jerker. Very hard to watch. I had been putting off seeing it because I read the book. The book was so incredible that I didn't think any film could do it justice. Now, the movie was not as good as the book but it was darned close. A lot closer than I thought any movie could be. See it.

Recipes I Want to Make Soon

Here are some of the recipes I am considering making in the near future:

Momofuku Milk Bar's Compost Cookie Recipe: These will be made soon if Brian does not consume all of the potato chips I bought.
Cheesecake: I have never made one. This must be remedied. I live in New York for crying out loud.
Hainanese Chicken with Rice: It looks delicious and I really want to find out how this whole poaching a chicken thing works.
The Chicken Challenge: 1 chicken, 17 meals and no mayo used. It sounds like an awesome and fun way to make budget meals.
Tuna Croquettes: I've made them before and they are fantastic. The ingredients are in my kitchen already and they will either be a midnight snack or lunch tomorrrow! Expect a post soon.

Exercise Plan for Spring!

Spring is in the air and it is time for me to start exercising again. I have the shoes. I have the outfit. Now I just need to get my behind out of my desk chair and working out.

My beginner's plan involves:

Wii Fit for 30 minutes including the 10 minutes Free Style Run
A short walk, either on an errand or as a late night walk with Brian

Laziness has really taken hold over my life. While I have gotten a lot of reading done, I am getting tired of feeling sluggish. If you are wondering why I am opting for using the Wii Fit instead of venturing outside, it all comes back to motivation. I make excuses. I can come up with a million reasons why I don't need to go for a long walk or to the running track. However, I think if I make my goal something that sits in the middle of my livingroom, I won't be able to avoid it.

Any advice on keeping me motivated?

Music

I've been listening to Grooveshark a lot. It is an online streaming music service that lets you build playlists out of an enormous database or listen to Grooveshark Radio, their version of Pandora (selecting music based on your tastes). Now I will pay for music even less often than I already do. I definitely recommend checking it out if you listen to music on your computer as much as I do.

It's Almost Gardening Season!

2010-03-05T21:42:00.002-05:00

Garden Project 2010 has started! We went to Home Depot this evening and picked up some supplies for the summer. I am very excited. Here's a shot of what I bought:

This year, Brian and I are abandoning the backyard (so there is no need to fight with the neighbor kids for space) and we are going to plant our garden on the fire escape. This will be probably be to our benefit because I will be able to keep a close eye on my flowers and a have terrific view out my window.

Here are some things you can look forward to reading about in the 2010 Garden Project:

Building a window flower box or where to buy a good one
Small space gardening techniques
What flowers and vegetables grow best in Brooklyn
Alicia's desperate attempts to keep the neighbor kids away from her vegetables
Leela's inevitable escape attempts back to her old stomping ground

I am happy it is almost time to start growing things again. I had so much fun last summer! Hopefully I will learn from the mistakes of last year and have a bountiful harvest of asparagus, herbs and tomatoes this year!

Let me know if you have any tips, advice, ideas or if there is something garden related you want me to write about.

Hollandaise the Easy Way

2010-03-04T17:05:00.000-05:00

I love Eggs Florentine. Who doesn't love a perfect combination of eggs, butter and spinach?! If I go out for brunch, I always order it. At home, however, I have always shied away from it because hollandaise sauce is such a pain. You can imagine how elated I was when I saw in Julia Child's cookbook her recipe for blender hollandaise!

Here is a close up of the finished product:

It literally took less than 5 minutes to make the sauce. Here is the recipe for Blender Hallandaise:

3 egg yolks
1/4 teaspoon salt
Pinch black pepper
1 to 2 tablespoons lemon juice
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, cut into small pieces

In a blender, combine the egg yolks, salt, pepper and 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice. Set aside.

In a small saucepan over heat the butter on medium high until foaming.

Blend the egg yolk mixture at top speed for 2 seconds then, with the blender running, remove the cover and pour in the hot butter in a thin stream of droplets. By the time two-thirds of the butter has been added, the sauce will be a thick cream. Continue pouring, but don't pour in the milky residue at the bottom of the pan. Taste and adjust seasonings.

If not using the sauce immediately, set the blender carafe in tepid, but not warm, water.

It was so easy that I am going to start making it a regular weekend breakfast! Now I just have to master poaching eggs...

Right Now

2010-03-03T14:17:00.000-05:00

Music on my Playlist:

"Kiss Off" by The Violent Femmes
"Add it Up" by The Violent Femmes
"The Longest Road (Deadmau5 Remix) by Morgan Page
"24" by Jem
"Malaguena Salerosa" from the Kill Bill 2 Soundtrack
"Parting of the Sensory" by Modest Mouse
"I Want You (She's So Heavy)" by The Beatles

Movies Seen Lately with my One Sentence Review:

Up in the Air: It was alright but not Oscar worthy.
The Hurt Locker: See this movie if you haven't already.
Shutter Island: Scorsese succeeds at making an utterly creepy film reminiscent of the Shining.
Avatar: Everyone was right; it was a good movie.
Night at the Museum 2: Better than I thought it would be and I would actually watch it again.

New TV Obsession:

Archer

Other Random Obsessions:

I am amazed at how mush more I like the Chrome browser.
The video game Heavy Rain is awesome.

You should make these recipes

2010-02-27T10:00:00.002-05:00

I saw Julie and Julia. I love Nora Ephron movies, even if they make my husband roll his eyes at me (sidenote: When Harry Met Sally is hands down my favorite rom com). After seeing it I needed to make a Julia Child recipe. I immediately got a copy of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking from the library (I highly recommend cookbooks from the library).

I decided to try two recipes out of the book two nights ago for dinner. I made gratin dauphinois (scalloped potatoes with milk, cheese and a pinch of garlic) and supremes de volaille aux champignons (chicken breasts with mushrooms and cream).

I was a bit nervous about making them but they both turned out perfectly. Plus, they were really easy and reasonably priced!

I made the gratin first:

Here's the recipe, though I recommend picking up the book at the library because Child lists numerous variations to this base recipe:

2 lbs "boiling" potatoes (I used red)
1/2 clove unpeeled garlic
4 tbsps butter
1 tsp salt
1/8 tp pepper (I think I used a bit more)
1 c (4 ozs) grated Swiss cheese
1 cup boiling milk(I used skim and it was fine but I think whole milk or cream would be even better)

Preheat oven to 425F. Peel the potatoes and slice them 1/8 inch thick (I used a mandolin and it was a snap). Place slices in cold water so they don't discolor (Brian and I call it "potato oxide"). Drain when ready to use. Rub the baking dish with the cut garlic. Smear the dish with 1 tablespoon of the butter. Drain the potatoes and dry them in a towel. Spread half of them in the bottom of the dish. Divide over them half the salt, pepper, cheese, and butter. Arrange the remaining potatoes over the first layer and season. Spread on the rest of the cheese and divide the butter over it. Pour on the boiling milk. Set the baking dish in upper third of preheated oven. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until the potatoes are tender, the milk is absorbed, and the top is a golden brown.

It was delicious.

The second recipe I made was the chicken:

Don't you want to eat that? I wish I could have it again right now. That is how good it was. The mushroom were one of the variations to the master recipe of chicken with cream. It was so good that I will have to try other variations. Here is the recipe:

5 tbsp. Butter
1 tbsp. minced shallot or green onion (I used shallot)
¼ lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced or diced
4 chicken breasts, boneless/skinless
1/2 tsp Lemon juice
3/8ths tsp. salt, divided
pinch of pepper
¼ c. white or brown stock or canned beef bouillon (I used Emeril's Beef Stock)
¼ c. port, Madiera or dry white vermouth(I used the latter)
1 c. whipping cream
Salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste
Minced fresh parsley to garnish

Preheat oven to 400F.

Rub the chicken breasts with the lemon juice and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Heat the butter in a casserole (I used my dutch oven) over moderate heat until foaming. Stir in the minced shallots or green onions and sauté a moment without browning. Then stir in the mushrooms and sauté lightly for a minute or two without browning. Sprinkle with salt.

Place chicken breasts in the casserole and turn in the butter, coating both sides. Cover the pan and place in oven.

Child says to cook the chicken for 6 – 8 minutes and then return to the oven if the chicken is still soft. I had to leave the chicken in the oven for 15 minutes total because my chicken breasts were insanely large. When they are done, remove the pan from the oven and remove the chicken, covering them on the serving platter to keep them warm. Leave the mushrooms in the pan to make the sauce.

Place pan on stove and turn heat on high. Add the stock (or bouillon) and the vermouth to the pan and boil down quickly until the liquid is syrupy. Stir in the cream and boil down again over high heat until the cream has thickened slightly. Off heat, taste carefully for seasoning, and add drops of lemon juice to taste. Pour the sauce over the chicken, sprinkle with parsley, and serve at once.

Here's a picture taken while I made the sauce:

Mmmmm... creamy goodness. I am going to dream of that sauce. It is by far the best sauce I have ever made. Who knew it could be so simple?!

Here is Brian's "action shot" of the dish:

It was seriously good. You need to make this. Trust me.

Brooklyn Snow!

2010-02-26T17:09:00.000-05:00

My view improved drastically with the addition of few inches of snow and ice today. Here is my improved view of the fire-escape, covered in snow:

I love the sheet of ice flowing off the underside of the stairs! I also have a great view out the front window:

I don't know if you can tell but he is wearing a Yankees hat. Excellent winter day. Definitely a night for cocoa and movies.

Books Read Recently: Part 2

2010-02-26T14:37:00.000-05:00

Continuing my post from a couple a days ago, here are some more books that I have read in the last month:

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz

This book was incredible. It is definitely one of the best books I have ever read, which is not surprising since it won the Pulitzer Prize (that is actually why I had put it on my wishlist; one of my methods for finding new books is looking at lists of award recipients).

The book is set in both the Bronx and the Dominican Republic. It tells the story of Oscar Wao, an unpopular, Dominican nerd, and his family. The book combines Dominican history and culture with a classic and compelling coming of age story. While the book is mostly in English, Díaz mixes in Spanish words and phrases regularly. However, at no point did I feel excluded or isolated. Instead, this book became the determining factor in my beginning to learn Spanish in my free time. That is how good it is; it inspired me to do something. I recommend this book to anyone. Read it.

Invisible by Paul Auster

Paul Auster writes meta-fiction at it's finest and his newest novel does not disappoint. However, trying to summarize this plot results in a problem because if I try to tell you what it is about, I will ruin some great twists. Let me just say that it is a compelling story, exquisitely written, that highlights some of my favorite aspects of literature: perspective, reliance on the narrator and self-awareness. I am sorry if I am vague. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves Willaim Faulkner, Agatha Christie, Atonement by Ian McEwan or the movie Memento.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larrson

This is one of the best crime thrillers I have read in years. Not only was it a good story, but I was captivated by the details of Swedish life that snuck into the novel. Written by that late Stieg Larrson, the book tells the story of a fallen Swedish financial reporter. He becomes wrapped up in his new assignment: researching a tycoon's family history in search of a girl who has been missing for 40 years. While researching, he comes in contact with one of the most interesting mystery characters I have ever read about: a girl called Lisbeth Salander, a very private and secretive computer hacker.

While each element of the story could be a corny stereotype, Larrson weaves a complex story that keeps you turning pages as fast as your eyes can take you. Please do not be put off by the book's hefty size. You will not be bored by it. I recommend this book to anyone who likes crime fiction or thrillers.

The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larrson

Shortly before Steig Larrson passed away he turned 3 manuscripts over to his publisher. This was the second manuscript. The third will be published next month in America. I won't tell you much about this sequel to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo because I don't want to ruin it. I will admit, I didn't like the first half of the book. I thought it was slow and not as well written as his first book. However, about 150 pages in, the book took a drastic turn for the better and I couldn't put it down. I recommend this book only if you have read the first one and then it is obligatory.

That concludes my summary of books read in the last month. I am currently reading The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho. Hopefully you will hear all about it next month.

Books Read Recently: Part 1

2010-02-24T22:07:00.002-05:00

Another month has passed and another pile of books has been read. I read 8 books in the last month which I think is pretty good. If I keep this up, I might be able to reach 100 books by the end of the year! That would be amazing but I am not holding my breath. Once the weather warms, walking will take a priority over curling up with a book.

Like last month, I wanted to give a brief assessment of what I thought of each book in case you might be inclined to read it. Here goes:

The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell

As you might have noticed, last month I read Assassination Vacation by this author. I liked that book so much that I quickly picked up this book to read. At first I was disappointed. It does not have the sarcastic dry humor that I loved so much in her other book. Plus, it is about the Puritans, a subject I know little about. However, once I got used to the characters (early 1700s political figures in Puritan New England), I found myself unable to put it down. I recommend pushing through and reading it. While it seems a dull subject matter, Puritan thought has had a tremendous effect on American politics and rhetoric. Read it if you like American history and would like to see a time period that is often overlooked.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo

This book took me completely off guard. Paulo Coelho is an author that a friend recommended to me. One day at the library I noticed this book and picked it up, not even paying attention to what it was about before I started reading the first chapter. I liked it so much that I read the whole book in just a little over 24 hours. It is a story of a shepard on a journey to find his personal treasure, set in Spain and Northern Africa. A lesser writer would have put me off with the spiritual tone of the book but Coelho managed to strike the right balance between the mystical and the personal. I would recommend this book to anyone and I am excited to read more of his books.

Thanks for recommending Coelho to me, Tanya!

Infected by Scott Sigler

This happens about once a month. I go to the library, see a book with an interesting cover ("A triangle shaped iris?! Well heck, I'll read about that!"), title or review and I take it home. Then, after about 50 pages I am just frustrated and annoyed by the poor writing. Then, for the remainder of my time reading the book, my poor husband has to endure my constant groans, copious use of expletives and long-winded diatribes aimed at the disaster that is that book.

This was the case with Infected. I do not recommend this book. For some unknown reason I saw this book through to the end and I can tell you straight out: it is not worth reading. The end was dull. The story was full of cliches. The action was sparse and predictable. Just avoid this book. Please.

Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer

I normally do not like arguments in favor of vegetarianism. This one I liked. In this book, Foer struggles with the question of whether or not to feed meat to his young son. Foer has been an off again, on again vegetarian his whole life and debates which path to lead his son down. He discusses the issue with farmers and activists, eventually coming to the conclusion that he does not want to feed his son meat.

I am not a vegetarian, nor will I ever be one. The world would have to run out of meat first. What I liked about the book, however, were two things:

He did not try to force his views upon me. He acknowledges that vegetarianism is a personal choice.
He really advocates just eating less meat. I can get behind that.

He really made me think about my consumption and its effects on corporate farming. I definitely recommend this book to those who like to consider the food they eat and where it comes from.

That concludes part one of this month's installment of "Books Read Recently." Coming up in Part 2: Junot Diaz, Steig Larrson and Paul Auster books are summarized and briefly expounded upon.

Good Recipe: Curry Chicken Pot Pie

2010-02-20T17:56:00.000-05:00

I tried out the Curry Chicken Pot Pie recipe from Alton Brown's new book and it was excellent.

I changed the recipe a bit. My store was lacking in puff pastry so I just made a batch of homemade biscuits in advance to substitute.

I love biscuits.

In order to protect the chicken mixture from burning or drying out in the oven because of the lack of puff pastry, I covered it in tinfoil. Then I just broke open biscuits and poured the chicken curry mixture on top.

It was really good. A perfect, warm winter meal.

My Favorite Living Authors

2010-02-19T17:14:00.001-05:00

This is going to sound stupid and nerdy but I love looking at my books. When I am bored I just stare at the shelves and think about the books I've read or books that I still want to read.

Last night, I couldn't sleep so I was looking at my bookshelf and I concocted a list of my top living authors. These are the authors who, if I see a new book of theirs advertised or at a store, I do not hesitate to buy it. These are also authors who have written more books that I like than books that I didn't like. That would exclude, for instance, Mark Danielewski who wrote one of my favorite books (House of Leaves) but his second book was not so good. Also, John Kennedy Toole does not make the list because he only wrote one book. Furthermore, I didn't list authors when I have only read one of their books, like Junot Diaz, Joyce Carol Oates or Paulo Coehlo.

Is this a subjective list? Yes. Is this a pointless list? Probably but I was amused by it and I thought you might be too. It also might give you some perspective on my thoughts on books when I post about things I have read recently.

My Top Living Authors:

Paul Auster
Jonathan Lethem
A.M. Homes
Cormac McCarthy
Ian McEwan
Neil Gaiman
Chuck Palahniuk (he is barely clinging to this list after his last three, not-so-good books but he still meets the rule)
Jeffrey Eugenides
Gabriel García Márquez

Think I am missing someone important? Want to argue about my list? Do you absolutely hate one of the authors I listed or mentioned? Let's fight it out in the comments or on Facebook. Bring it on.

Spareribs, Sauerkraut and Dumplings

2010-02-18T18:52:00.000-05:00

For Valentine's Day this year I cooked a dish that reminds me of home like no other. It's a family recipe that my Mom knows by heart and my Dad gets on special holidays. Spareribs, sauerkraut and dumplings:

Here's my plate before I started inhaling it.

Not everyone likes it. I didn't like it until I was an adult and came across a very similar dish in the Czech Republic. I craved home-cooked food at the time and I instantly became obsessed with the dish.

The tricky part about the recipe is that it wasn't really written down. My Grandmother, Anita, wrote a copy for my Mom a long time ago but my Mom has since changed parts to simplify the recipe. This is the recipe that my Mom told me and I adjusted on my own.

For the Dumplings:

These are the dumpling when they were boiling, as they start to get done, they float to the top of the water.

3 c bread crumbs (about a half of a loaf dried on a tray for a day and broken up in a food processor)
3-4 c grated raw potatoes (grated in a blender and then press out water in a sieve; about 2 lbs of potatoes; try to get as much water out as possible even with paper towels if necessary)
1 egg
1.25 c all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. salt

Mix together and then form into balls (I find it easier to do this with my hands). If too wet, add more flour. My dumplings were about 1.5 inches in diameter. You can make them smaller. Cook in boiling water for 20-45 minutes depending on the size of your dumplings (ping pong ball sized cooking at 20 minutes; mine cooked for about 40 minutes).

Here are my dumplings in a serving bowl.

For the Spareribs and Sauerkraut:

This is the meat as I was browning it. When browning, be sure not to crowd the pan (learned that one from America's Test Kitchen).

2-3 lbs of boneless pork spareribs
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 can beef broth
One large can or bag of sauerkraut (my mom uses the big green can; I don't have that here so I use Boar's Head brand bags)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Pat the ribs dry with paper towels. Heat oil in a dutch oven on medium heat on the stovetop. Once the oil is hot, brown the meat for a few minutes on all sides. Pour in broth and put the dutch oven, covered in the oven for 1.5 hours. Add sauerkraut to the pot and return it to the oven, covered for another 30 minutes, long enough to heat the sauerkraut through. Remove from oven and scoop out meat and sauerkraut with a slotted spoon into a serving bowl. Serve with the dumplings.

This is the meat and sauerkraut as I was reheating it the next day.

The best part of the recipe though are the leftovers. The next day you slice the dumplings and fry them up in some oil. It is delicious.

Here are the sliced dumplings being fried up. Now I want some. Darn it.

Now that I have written down a complete recipe I think I am going to be making this dish a lot more often then special occasions. It was actually pretty easy, the ingredients weren't pricey and it made for great leftovers.

I hope I didn't anger any family members by posting the recipe. If so, let me know and I will take it down. Also, let me know if you think there are any ways I could make it better or if I messed something up! I've never written out recipe instructions from scratch before.

5 Years Today, 6 Months Tomorrow

2010-02-14T08:34:00.003-05:00

The first picture of us together taken in the Spring of 2005 in Duluth.

Today is the five year anniversary of my first date with Brian. Yes, we had our first date on Valentine's Day. We spent the night at my apartment watching Dawn of the Dead and Shaun of the Dead, in true Alicia fashion. He knew what he was getting into on the first date. I still force the poor guy to watch horror movies against his will.

Tomorrow we will have been married 6 months. We are still happy newlyweds, just starting to get used to being viewed as one unit.

On the big day at the Wynn Las Vegas.

I also finally had my name changed on the Roll of Attorneys about a week ago. This is not my fault. It actually took that long because Nevada marriage certificates do not state the wife's intended name. So, I had to change my name by Order on Application. It was slow process going through the court system but I can now officially practice law under my married name. Hooray!

What are we doing for our anniversaries? Probably brunch, shopping, and a good dinner. I am planning to make my family's spare-rib, sauerkraut and dumplings recipe. It should be an adventure because I haven't made it for a few years and the recipe is a little tricky (it's a long story; you can expect a separate post). We are looking forward to a romantic weekend full of reminiscing.

Why is my Husband Better at Cooking than Me?!

2010-02-13T21:35:00.000-05:00

Look at those chocolate chip cookies. They are perfect. I swear, Brian is a better cook than me. I must find a way to best him! Ideas?

P.S. He used Alton Brown's recipe for Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies, a variation on the classic Toll House recipe.

P.P.S. Brian even weighed each cookie scoop to make sure that the cookies were identical. Sigh.

Unnecessary Photo of my Cat

2010-02-11T11:20:00.001-05:00

Leela is becoming a normal desk accessory for me.

I Heart Craigslist Free Page

2010-02-10T17:37:00.002-05:00

Every day I look at Craigslist and peruse the "free" page under the "for sale" category. Usually there is the normal stuff that I don't want like mattresses or tube televisions. Sometimes there are funny posts like this one advertising free snow. Every so often there is a gem nearby.

A couple of weeks ago I got lucky. Someone posted that they had left a bag of books outside for free. It was only a block away! I immediately marched to the address and snagged some great books:

I have wanted to read that Bruce Campbell autobiography for years. The books were all in great condition. The ones I didn't want, like the old Photoshop books, I donated to the local library for their free cart.

If you haven't looked at Craigslist's free page I definitely recommend it. It is fun to read and sometimes you might actually get something you want.

Tres Leches Cake

2010-02-09T17:31:00.001-05:00

This past weekend, since any hint of a diet had vanished with Brian's quesadillas and burgers, I finally made Tres Leches cake. The cake acquired it's name, which means three milks, from it's use of condensed milk, evaporated milk and half & half. If you are lactose intolerant, I apologize; this cake isn't for you.

I used (big shocker here) Alton Brown's recipe. It turned out perfectly or at least I think it did. I had never actually had it before.

I put off making it for so long because Alton's recipe instructs you to use a stand mixer, an appliance I only acquired last fall. Above you can see the cake batter as I was mixing it.

Alton called for a 9x13 metal cake pan. I didn't have one so I substituted 2 8 inch round cake pans. It was a perfect fit.

My favorite part of the recipe was pouring the milk mixture onto the cake and watching it soak in:

It tasted exactly like white cake dunked in milk, which is surprisingly delicious. If you like milk, I think you will love this cake. I did. To be honest, I liked it so much that I went to the kitchen and grabbed another piece from the fridge while writing this post. It actually keeps in the fridge really well and I swear it got better.

Let me know what you think of Tres Leches cake, if there is a better recipe or if you have suggestions for similar things I should try!

Right Now

2010-02-08T14:19:00.000-05:00

I am going to try out a new kind of post. Periodically I will post a summary of things in my life, like music, movies and projects, that I am interested in right now. I was inspired to do this by Brian's summary posts, Lyza Danger Gardner's blog and by the sidebar that I had on my old webpage that I called "Things I am Obsessed with Right Now." I miss that sidebar.

Music on my Current Playlist:

Ghostwriter by RJD2
American Music by the Violent Femmes
Lovegame by Lady Gaga
Machine by Regina Spektor
Uprising by Muse

Movies Watched Lately:

When Harry Met Sally

I will never get tired of this movie. I have watched it too many times to count and I often quote it ("You're right, you're right, I know you're right"). I actually made chicken paprikash solely because Harry says, "Waiter, there is too much pepper on my paprikash." Yes, I am that sad.

Beer Wars

Watched this on Netflix Instant Watch. It was worth the time if you like beer. It gave a great synopsis of the struggle microbrewers face against Budweiser. I didn't like the narrator though. She added very little.

District 9

I love this movie. Not only am I happy that it is an alien movie not set in America, but the story itself is superb. It's so good that I've already watched it three times.

TV Shows Watched Lately:

Battlestar Galactica

We are on season 2 now.

The Office
Fringe
The IT Crowd

If you have netflix, watch this instantly, as soon as possible.

America's Test Kitchen
Antiques Roadshow

The most consumed foods in the Copeland apartment in the last week was quesadillas. Brian started making them and they are so easy that we have made them nearly every day.

That's a pretty good summary of our recent consumption. Let me know what you think. Recommend stuff to me or let me know what sorts of things you would like to see by commenting on this post.

New Blog Design!

2010-02-05T17:41:00.001-05:00

I changed the look of my blog today. Are you excited? I am.

Here is a screenshot of what the old blog looked like (please ignore the little beige box; I was hovering over my bookmark):

Here is what the new page looks like (I'm putting a picture up for Facebook readers and posterity):

I love the new color scheme and clean look. I hope you like it too! Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions for how I can make it even better.

Very Quick Update

2010-02-01T22:17:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to post a quick update. I have not run out of things to say. Instead of blogging, I have been wasting my time planning a website redesign. I hope to roll out a new design sometime this week. You will hear more from me then!

Alton Brown Recipe Day and the Best Burger Ever

2010-01-25T18:01:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend, Brian and I decided to have a day entirely consisting of Alton Brown's food. We love Alton Brown. He teaches us so many wonderful things about cooking.

The first two meals, breakfast and lunch, were inspired by his latest weight-loss episode. The episode, called "Live and Let Diet," highlighted his tricks for losing weight. I decided I wanted to try 2 of his recipes from the episode: smoothies and sardine toast.

We had the smoothies for breakfast:

Sorry the picture is blurry. I was in a hurry and wanted to eat it. It was delicious. I didn't follow all of his nit-picky rules and steps on making the smoothie (I just blended it like I would any other) but it still turned out great. I love the soy milk in it. I need to use more soy milk; it is delicious. The recipe is here.

Next, I made his sherried sardine toast (recipe here) for lunch. Now, don't revolt at the sight of the word sardine. Sardines are wonderful. Don't knock 'em. Of course, I am the girl who eats tuna at least twice a week, thinks brussel sprouts are divine and enjoys liver and onions. Apparently there are people out there that do not like these things. Shame on you.

Here is a photo of how Alton wanted the sardine toast served:

I wanted a sandwich of lunch so I just toasted twice as much bread (I used rye) and they turned out great:

Brian was skeptical and said he would never request it but enjoyed it. I don't think it will become a regular fixture in our meals but I liked it enough that I will be experimenting with sardines again soon. It also made a lot more than I expected. I recommend halving the recipe if you aren't sure you will like it.

Finally, for dinner, after Brian was stuck eating diet food all day, he made us Alton's "Burger of the Gods." It's from his newest cookbook, Good Eats: The Early Years, and is also available here.

Here is the meat cooking in the skillet:

If you don't have a cast iron skillet, buy one. Now. Once you have cooked steak or burgers in one, you will wonder why you ever used a grill. We have not used a George Foreman since Brian bought our 12-inch cast iron a couple of years ago.

Here is a picture of my burger:

Make this burger. It is, as Brian would say "life-changingly good." The meat was fresh, juicy and full of flavor. This is our new go-to burger.

Sidenotes: Sorry I always take pictures of food with bites in them. I tend to get excited and start eating before it occurs to me that I should take a picture. Also, that's fresh mozzarella next to my burger. We just found a butcher down the street that makes it fresh every day for $5. It is phenomenal. I am craving it right now.

Awesome Mug

2010-01-23T18:01:00.000-05:00

Brian dropped this mug on the floor. The mug didn't break. Instead, it took a chunk out of the floor. That is my kind of coffee mug: lethal.

Just so you know, it's from Fishes Eddy. We are debating buying new dishes from this store because we have broken several IKEA plates in the past month.

New TV Obsessions

2010-01-22T18:01:00.001-05:00

I easily become obsessed with things. I find a song I like and I listen to it repeatedly until I tire of it. I find a show I like on Hulu or through Netflix and I watch every single episode, as fast as possible. I find an author I like and I have to read all of their books. So, I thought I would give a list of television shows that I am obsessed with right now, as a snapshot of what I do with my spare TV time. These don't include my normal shows; these are just shows I have discovered recently.

Battlestar Galactica

I know, I am late in the game on this one. I've avoided it for years. Then I stumbled on a 90 minute show called Caprica on Hulu. I loved it. Turns out that it is a prequel to Battlestar Galactica. Brian and I rented the first disc of season one and we are hooked. Luckily, I have downgraded my Netflix membership to 1 disc at a time. It is keeping this obsession a bit under control.

Intervention

Brian and I have been watching every episode we can find online of this A&E show. You get to look inside the day-to-lives of addicts and see their families and friends before they have an intervention. It is very personal and heartbreaking.

Three Sheets

On New Year's we discovered this show on Hulu. Thank goodness for Hulu, without it we never would have discovered our new favorite TV personality. Zane Lamprey hosts this show where each episode features him drinking in a new city. So far we have watched him in Paris, Tokyo, Prague, New York and many more places. He is my new drinking muse.

Adam Richman eating at Katz Deli. That is one of my favorite New York meals.

Man vs. Food

Similar to Zane Lamprey in his shenanigans, Adam Richman visits one city per episode and takes on one big food challenge. It is always either some huge food, like a 6 pound burrito, or something really spicy, like sushi made with the ghost pepper. It is oddly compelling to see if he can do it. If you have Netflix Instant Watch, seasons one and two are on there.

Other shows that I haven't made up my mind about are Hoarders, Ghost Hunters, and Legend of the Seeker.

Anyone know of any new shows that I should try? I am always looking for good filler while I am knitting or doing cross-stitch.

Books I Have Read Since Christmas (Part 2)

2010-01-21T18:30:00.000-05:00

13 1/2 by Nevada Barr

If you like John Saul, you will probably like this book. I am sick of John Saul. I went through a John Saul phase last fall and read about 5 of his books in a row. I feel like I could write a John Saul novel now because the plots became so predictable. Nevada Barr's 13 1/2 is the same contrived thriller plot. I predicted the ending within the first 50 pages and then rolled my eyes as my prediction unfolded. That being said, I read it in one night (awesome) and it wasn't dull. It was a typical thriller. If that floats your boat, read it.

Sin and the Second City by Karen Abbott

This is another fictionalized history that I loved. It chronicled the short but exciting existence of the Everleigh Club in Chicago, a famous brothel. This is another book I would recommend if you like history in narrative form.

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

This was my second time reading this book. It was just as good the second time around. It is a science fiction novel about the atom bomb, religion, government and science. If you like Vonnegut, you'll love this. If you haven't read any Vonnegut, shame on you. Double shame to those of you who have not read Slaughterhouse-Five.

Superfreakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner

The first 3/4s of the this book was fun. The last 1/4 I skimmed because it went on a global warming tirade. I can't handle environmental diatribes. They get on my nerves. It is very similar to their first book, Freakonomics. It is fun to look at social phenomenon from an economic perspective. I enjoyed it but Iwould only recommend it to someone who has read their first book and loved it. Read Freakonomics first.

I think I am keeping up a good pace reading this year. All of these books have been read since Christmas. Seeing them in a list definitely boosts my self-esteem. Right now I am reading Dennis Lehane's The Given Day and hopefully you will hear about it next month when I review books again!

Books I Have Read Since Christmas (Part 1)

2010-01-20T16:59:00.014-05:00

Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem

This book had a bit of a slow start. It definitely took me a while to get into it. However, once I got into the flow it was a terrific novel. It is set in Manhattan and follows Chase Insteadman, a former child actor whose fiance is stuck on a space station. He becomes obsessed with a culture critic names Perkus Tooth and most of the novel involves their antics and puzzling obsessions.

The first half of the novel I wondered, "Where is this going? What is the point of this?" At some point, I let it go and enjoyed the free-flowing narrative that is a strange mixture of fact and fiction. Several times I had to Google things in the book to check to see if they actually existed. He would intertwine fiction with real New York places, people and events. For example, the weird maple syrup smell that occurred a couple of years ago and WNYC's Brian Lehrer were in the book. However, the book also talked of a strange tiger terrorizing the city and vases called "chaldrons," neither of which exist to my knowledge. That combination of the real and imaginary gave this book a very surreal feeling and halted my ability to stereotype and predict the plot.

Overall, I enjoyed it. Maybe you will too.

Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell

This book was terrific. The prologue made me laugh so hard I cried. The book tells the story of Vowell's journey to visit relics of presidential assassinations. I learned fascinating facts about Lincoln, McKinley and Garfield and their assassins. I am already anticipating reading it a second time.

Ice Land by Betsy Tobin

I don't know much about Iceland as a country and I know even less about it's myths and the myths of the Norse peoples. With that in mind, I loved this book. It is a modern remix of Nordic mythology. It had a touch of magical realism. I recommend it if you like Neil Gaiman (it was similar to American Gods and Stardust), mythology or fantasy.

Thunderstruck by Erik Larson

I really loved this book. I even took it on the subway with me, something which I never do with a hardcover book (it's too hard to hold hefty books with one hand while trying to hold the pole). This may be due to the fact that I am a telecom nerd and this book tells the story of Marconi, the man who perfected wireless telegraphy. Just like Erik Larson's other famous work, Devil in the White City, this book also tells a related tale of murder in addition to Marconi's story. It is riddled with great anecdotes and details of the times. You are given a complete picture of the era and the struggle to make wireless a viable commercial product. If you like narrative history, give this book a go.

Check back tomorrow for part two of my thoughts on books I've read in the last month.

Good Recipe: Pork Shoulder

2010-01-15T18:38:00.000-05:00

I love the blog The Kitchn and I try to make their recipes as often as I can. I recently tried making their pork shoulder and it came out perfectly. Their post on the recipe has excellent pictures and descriptions of what you should do and buy. It made cooking it much easier for me since I probably would have left the fat on the shoulder and hated the overly fatty sauce. The picture above shows the meat as I was browning it.

Those are the vegetables before I cooked the meat in them. As usual, I neglected to take pictures of the food after I cooked it. I just get so hungry! I used wine instead of beer and stewed tomatoes instead of diced. Basically, I just found stuff in my pantry that was similar to the recipe and it worked out just fine. It was delicious meat and it made great sandwiches for leftovers.

Dave Eggers Event

2010-01-14T15:05:00.004-05:00

Last night, Brian and I went to a Dave Eggers panel discussion concerning the latest issue of McSweeney's Quarterly Concern. Above you can see the panel of Chris Ying and Dave Eggers, both editors of McSweeney's, along with Linda Miller, co-founder of Salon.com, as moderator.

The new issue was done in newspaper, specifically broadside, format and called the San Francisco Panorama (that's where McSweeney's is based). If you bought it in San Francisco when it was released it would seem quite relevant. There are all of the normal components of a local newspaper: local news, advertisements for local businesses, sports and comics. The difference lies mainly in the depth of the articles, the design and the editorial choices. From listening to the panel discussion it was easy to see that Dave Eggers and his team wanted to pay homage to the craft of newspaper writing and to really explore newspaper as an art form. There are great design features, like graphs, diagrams and drawings, that seem to be lacking in many modern newspapers as costs are continually being cut.

Here's a picture of the new issue:

Here is where I got it signed by Dave Eggers:

I am quite happy. I have been obsessed with Dave Eggers and McSweeney's since high school when I discovered their second issue at a Barnes and Noble. I have almost all of their issues. The Panorama is their 33rd issue. I recommend checking the magazine out if you spot it. Each issue is unique (check out some past issues here) and always filled with great content.

The McSweeney's event also coincided perfectly with the class I am teaching Brian on literature right now (in exchange for him teaching me programming). The class is called, "The Rise of McSweeney's and Post-Post-Modern Literature." This definitely will add a new level to the heated discussions in our next workshop.

I Love the Library

2010-01-13T18:28:00.000-05:00

Not only is it full of books to borrow but now the Leonard branch of the Brooklyn Public Library has a free book cart! I love it. This was the last stack of books Brian and I snagged. He is very excited about the programming books. They usually cost $50 each. I find myself using the library more and more. The first time I saw the cart I thought it was a fluke but I asked the nice lady at the desk about it. The books are free and you can bring in your own books to add to the cart. I plan to do that the next time I go so that I can share books I've finished. I love the Brooklyn Public Library!

Going Paperless

2010-01-12T18:17:00.000-05:00

I'm trying to go "paperless." By this I mean scanning everything into my computer instead of keeping it forever. I hold onto everything: letters, greeting cards, articles that I clip from magazines. This paper is all taking up storage space and starting to get out of hand.

My inspiration for starting this scanning comes from three sources:

lack of storage;
this post on The Lawyerist blog; and
the A&E show Hoarders.

I do not want to be a hoarder. My problem is that I feel guilt tossing a nice card or note. So, with some Christmas money we bought a new, cheap Canoscan scanner from Microcenter. Now I can keep it all without it taking up any more space than my computer already does. I'm only keeping hard copies of important papers, like my taxes, legal documents and bank statements.

So far it is going well. I got rid of a couple of garbage bags full of paper and that is only from the area around my desk. It is time consuming to scan but I find a couple of hours in the evening while I am reading my blogs. The best part is the feeling when you get rid of stuff. It is like a weight being lifted. I definitely recommend it.

Diabolical Cats

2010-01-11T18:04:00.000-05:00

I think I caught a cold due to lack of sleep. The cats have been conspiring to wake me up pre-dawn for their breakfast. For months, I have been sleeping peacefully with Livia out in the livingroom because the bedroom is Leela's territory. Leela, however, has learned that if she lets Livia in the bedroom, she gets breakfast early. So now I have Livia back to her old tricks in the morning, eating my hair and clawing my skin to wake me up. She even digs under the blankets to expose skin to claw. She is a diabolical cat.

When I, begrudgingly, give in and get them breakfast, I promptly go back to bed. Even though I believe I will now be left alone, this is never the case. Due to one morning of confusion where Brian and I accidentally gave them breakfast twice, they persist in waking me up, trying to trick me into feeding them again. This results in very little sleep for me.

Brian was kind enough to set me up with a spray bottle last night and I got much better sleep. The second that my hand reaches for the bottle, the cats scamper away. It still doesn't stop them from trying though. If I sleep on my side, facing away from the bottle, Livia scratches me.

Any ideas for how to stop her from waking me up? I can't shut the door because the other cat needs out to use the litter box. It also doesn't matter if I leave extra food out the night before; she wants fresh food. I hope the water bottle works better tonight.

Pictures from New Year's

2010-01-04T18:33:00.000-05:00

Tanya was kind enough to send along the pictures she took from New Year's Eve and to give me permission to post them here. She always takes better pictures than I do! Above are me and Brian on the boat. We were inside for most of the ride so it was nice and warm.

Here we are when we ventured out onto the deck. From left to right that is Tanya, Katie, me, Brian and Reed.

Here I am with Katie.

Katie, me and Brian with Reed in the background.

This is probably my favorite picture now. Tanya asked another lady on the boat to take our picture. The woman neglected the fact that there were streamers hanging down everywhere. I think it is a pretty funny picture. From left to right that's Brian, me, Jorge, Tanya, Reed and Katie. Great times! Thank, Tanya, for letting me steal your pictures!

Happy New Year's!

2010-01-01T19:04:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year's from the Copelands! I am finally feeling recovered after last night's excitement. Katie and Reed visited from Minnesota for the holiday, just as they did last year. I think this is an excellent tradition they've started!

Along with Tanya and Jorge, we all took a champagne cruise around Manhattan and ate a great prix-fixe meal at Gustorganics. We toasted the New Year at Tanya and Jorge's apartment, happily avoiding the disastrous crowds at Times Square. I hope Katie and Reed had as much fun as we did!

I thought it pertinent to tell everyone my resolutions this year. I figure, if I tell all of you about them, maybe I will be guilted into actually accomplishing them. So, here are my resolutions for the New Year:

Start making the bed every day. I have always hated making the bed. I thought it was an exercise in futility to make a bed that you will unmake later that night. Suddenly, last week, we made the bed and it looked great! Our room looks cleaner and more welcoming. Have I finally grown up?
Obvious one: diet and exercise. I plan to start jogging. I bought the shoes, I know where I am going to go but I am nervous about the whole thing. My plan is to start slowly, walking regularly and building up by jogging in small increments. My goal is to be able to run a mile. I honestly don't know if I have ever done that.
Read an equal number of fiction and non-fiction books. I want to keep a balance in my reading habits this year. I recently finished Sarah Vowell's Assassination Vacation (about her travels and tales from visiting sites associated with presidential assassinations) and I loved it so much that I want to integrate more non-fiction into my reading routine.
Learn Spanish so that I can communicate with my neighbors. My super and I have developed a very complicated system of hand gestures that could be simplified with a little learning on my part. Plus I think that I would really enjoy the shows on Telemundo if I knew what they were saying.

I will let you know how these go. Happy New Year's, everyone!

New Apartment Layout for the New Year

2009-12-29T18:30:00.001-05:00

Every six months or so Brian and I see someone's apartment or go to an open house. This inevitably results in our deciding that we need to change things in our apartment. Our friend, Jay used to make fun of us because our apartment would be completely different every time she came over to visit. We can't seem to help ourselves.

This time we saw our neighbor's apartment. We were watching their cat over the holidays and they have the most wonderful, open apartment. They have nowhere near the amount of stuff we have but it isn't empty or cold. We are a bit jealous. So, of course, this results in our consulting the IKEA catalog (it's pages get pretty worn by the end of each year) and rethinking our space.

This time I decided to use graph paper to create a new layout for the bedroom. This is our bedroom right now:

Behind the bed are windows that you can't get anywhere near with the bed where it is. This layout is also really annoying because the dresser drawers can't fully open and the laundry bins are far too close to the radiator.

It was really kind of a pain to cut out the little pieces of paper representing all of our furniture. However, when I was done, it was really easy to see what I could do with my stuff in the space. I highly recommend taking the time to make the cutouts.

We now think this is the bedroom layout we want:

Do you think this is a good layout? The one compromise is that my bookcases (labeled Billy for the IKEA name) will have to be separated. I do like having a wall of books but I can do without. We are planning a trip to IKEA soon to get me yet another bookcase (I have too many books and I refuse to part with them) and I will let you know how it goes!

Christmas Present from Brian: Books!

2009-12-28T18:11:00.000-05:00

Brian did an excellent job shopping for me this year. He looked at my wishlist and bought me almost every book on there. Six books! With all of these and the huge stack of books I picked up at the library last week, I will be reading until rapture! Hooray! I already peeked inside and read the preface to Sarah Vowell's Assassination Vacation and I was rolling on the floor laughing. She is hilarious.

He also bought me a personal library set! I've always wanted one of these. Now I can labels my books properly when I lend them out. :)

Because he got so many books, he got me the free tote bag at the Strand, my favorite bookstore in NYC. They really do have 18 miles of books or at least it feels like it. I am so excited to read the books that I can hardly contain myself. I guess it was a good thing I was an English major, huh?

Legos!

2009-12-27T21:18:00.008-05:00

It was a Lego filled holiday season in the Copeland household. During Black Friday shopping, Brian and I scored a 50% off coupon at the Lego Store at the Mall of America (there were only 3 50% off coupons in the whole store that day; everyone else got 10 or 15% off). We used that discount to obtain the wonderfully stylish Fallingwater seen above. The set usually runs $100 but we got it for $50. I was beaming.

That same day we also picked up the Empire State Building set.

Then, on Christmas, I opened my presents to discover that my Mom had sent me the Guggenheim set! Brian has a picture of me when I opened it, with a huge smile on my face. He refused to let me post the picture, claiming that he will put up a blog post tomorrow. We shall see.

My Mom also sent us the newest Santa and Snowman sets from Lego. They're cute and will make an excellent addition to my Christmas Lego decorations.

I love Legos!

Merry Christmas from Leela

2009-12-25T13:09:00.000-05:00

Leela wishes you all a Merry Christmas. This is the cat that got herself stuck under the oven. Right before I took this picture, she tried to eat the Christmas lights behind her. She is not a smart cat but she makes up for it by being cute.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T00:01:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas from the Copelands!

Christmas Present Pull Tab

2009-12-24T13:04:00.000-05:00

Every year Brian finds a way to outdo me in Christmas wrapping. This year was not an exception. He put ribbons in the wrapping paper so that I can quickly open the present, like a FedEx envelope or a pack of gum. I am very excited to find out what he got me. Merry Christmas Eve, Everyone!

Rockefeller Tree

2009-12-23T17:14:00.000-05:00

On Sunday, we went with Tanya and Jorge to see the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. It was beautiful this year, with the snow just having fallen the night before. At times, I thought the snow was fake because it looked so idyllic. Above is Brian in front of Radio City Music Hall.

Here I am in front of the tree. Obviously, it is very well lit. We were really curious how they got the lights so evenly spaced and with the colors balanced correctly.

Here is the tree with the statue of Prometheus. You can just see the edge the ice skating rink (they were fixing the ice between skating sessions, which was the only reason we were able to get close to it; the crowds were crazy).

Finally, here is a picture Tanya took of us and Jorge. This was supposed to be the non-silly picture. Instead, it captured Brian and I making fun of each other, a common occurrence. The star behind us is a big replica of the Swarovski star on top of the big tree.

I'm saving the great picture that Tanya and Jorge took of us in front of the tree for a Christmas post. I am sure you will wait with baited breath.

Brian's Tree of Lights

2009-12-22T18:31:00.000-05:00

We own a lot of Christmas lights. Every year, we get excited before we take out our decorations in storage and we buy more lights. This year, Brian put our overabundance of lights to good use by creating this silhouette of a tree in lights up on the wall. It's terrific because we don't have the space for a full sized tree and it tricks you into thinking a tree is there. I love it. Good work, Brian.

Christmas Card Success!

2009-12-21T18:58:00.003-05:00

This is the front side of the Christmas letter we sent this year. We did a silly quiz.

My Mom was right: you need to send mail to get mail. We sent out Christmas cards shortly after Thanksgiving and we have received a ton of cards in return. I am so excited! I am decorating my bookshelves with them to celebrate. Thank you, everyone!

To everyone that I didn't get a chance to send a card to: this is the letter that we sent with our cards. Enjoy!

This is the back of the letter:

Good Recipe: Brie Stuffed Mushrooms

2009-12-20T18:16:00.000-05:00

I finally got around to trying a recipe from The Pioneer Woman's blog. I picked an easy one to test, the Mushrooms Stuffed with Brie. They came out almost perfectly. I let them bake a bit too long and the brie kind of liquefied. It didn't matter though., They were delicious. Also, I substituted spinach (1/2 cup chopped) for parsley because Brian hates parsley. For the recipe, with mouthwatering photography, click here. You will enjoy them and they are super easy. Trust me.

Old Site Deleted

2009-12-19T18:09:00.000-05:00

I finally put to rest my old Googlepages website that was located at aliciaglaser.googlepages.com. I haven't used it since Brian and I were engaged in the Spring of 2008 and I had not looked at it in a year. It was sort of sad to see it go. However, Google made it easy to download the entire website to my computer for backup. Now I will always have a copy for posterity and not worry about what is lingering on the site in the future.

Data protection has been a bit of a worry for me and Brian lately. Ever since Brian's Dad had his identity stolen, we have been locking down our information. I deleted my old MySpace account. I also locked down my Facebook account so that outsiders and 3rd party applications cannot see my data. I am debating deleting my Twitter account but I haven't gathered the nerve to do that yet.

If you want information or photos from the old site feel free to ask!

What I am thinking about this week

2009-12-18T18:10:00.002-05:00

Creepy that the day after I make Brian promise to go with me to see the tree at the Rockefeller Center, Tanya asks if I want to go see the tree. Great minds think alike.
I spend far too much time on Facebook
Wednesday night, I was baking cookies in the oven and the oven starting clattering like it was alive. I freaked out, thinking mice or, heaven forbid, a rat was in my oven. While debating what to do, I checked to see where the cats were and Leela was missing. A while later, a white paw reached out from under the stove. She was, I don't know how, under the oven. My oven does not sit up high; the cat had wedged herself in the 2-3 inch space under the oven. Brian had to move furniture to give her enough room to climb back out. Stupid cat.
I really am enjoying the new Lady Gaga album
I read 2 good books this week: Ice Land by Betsy Tobin (fictional novel based in Icelandic myths) and Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane (novel about a U.S. Marshall sent to investigate the disappearance of a patient at an experimental facility for the criminally insane).
I tossed aside a few books that were not good and rejected without finishing: Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton, Alice Fantastic by Maggie Estep and Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire.
It is getting cold in the apartment as the temperature finally drops below freezing. The cats respond by burrowing under blankets. It's cute.

Christmas is Coming

2009-12-17T13:14:00.006-05:00

It's Christmas time and we will be stuck here in New York. As a result, I have been cooking like crazy to try to retain some semblance of tradition. Christmas isn't the same without my Mom's caramels, fudge and cherry-drop cookies.

In the past I have always failed at making my Mom's caramels but this year I finally succeeded (with a giant stock pot and a diffuser). Here's a shot of the caramel when I just started to heat it up (before I was distracted by the need to constantly stir and watch the thermometer):

Here is a picture of the huge pile of caramels when I was done wrapping them:

Now, I refuse to divulge my Mom's recipe to the internet. It is her recipe, not mine and I do not feel that I have the right.

I will, however, recommend a sugar cookie recipe. I always have had issues with sugar cookies. They never live up to my iconic memories of the perfect cut-out sugar cookie. This year I finally found a recipe that did live up to my internal hype. I got it from the Kitchn, a blog that I read daily:

Best Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
between 8 and 12 dozen, depending on size

3 cups butter, softened at room temperature for an hour
3 cups sugar
3 eggs
6 ounces cream cheese (3/4 of a standard cream cheese package)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 teaspoons lemon zest
9 cups flour
4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon salt

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and add the sugar. Cream until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until golden. Add the cream cheese and again beat until well incorporated. Add the flavorings and lemon zest.

Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl then add, bit by bit, to the butter/sugar mixture. You will have chosen a large bowl for this particular recipe, I hope - mine was overflowing by this point and I ended up doing the final mix in a large plastic bag.

Refrigerate the dough for at least an hour - preferably overnight.

Heat the oven to 350° F. Divide the dough into smaller balls and roll out 1/4 to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut out cookies.

Bake cookies for 8-12 minutes, depending on thickness. The small, thinner ones started browning after about 8 minutes, and I didn't want these brown at all. The larger ones had a slight golden bottom after 11 minutes, which was perfect for my purposes.

Let cool before icing or decorating, and store in a tightly covered container.

The recipe, taken verbatim from their post, worked perfectly:

I cut the recipe in half though. It made a ton of cookies. When I piled them onto my cake stand, I couldn't put the lid down until I ate a couple.

For the icing, I mixed 3 cups confectioner's sugar with 1/4 cup milk, a dash of salt and food coloring. They are perfect. I highly recommend them.

I hope to post more photos of our holiday cooking, decorating and celebrating in the coming days. Happy Holidays!

Things I'm Obsessed with Right Now

2009-12-06T15:55:00.003-05:00

making the cats like me
decorating for Christmas
the movies A Serious Man and Paranormal Activity
the tragic repetitiveness of John Saul novels
the British shows The IT Crowd and Wire in the Blood
the Lego advent calendar Brian bought me
finding passive aggressive methods to annoy the neighbors that make too much noise (yesterday Brian sat on a stool in the hallway and pretended to read a book to make them shut their door)
homemade hot chocolate
spiked cider
making lists of foods to cook for the holidays that I will probably never make like sugar cookies, caramels, etc.
the game Risk; I have only beat Brian once but I am getting better every time

Halloween Project 2009: Zombie Box

2009-10-26T18:32:00.002-04:00

I love zombie movies. My first date with Brian, I made the poor guy watch Dawn of the Dead and Shaun of the Dead.

A while back I saw a photo of a glass case that held a fake shotgun that said "in case of zombies break glass" (click here for my original inspiration). Of course, I wanted one. However, they were a promotional item for a videogame. Plus, the shotguns were fake, not at all useful if zombies actually were going to attack.

I tried to see if I could buy one of those fire cases that hold fire extinguishers and fire blankets and just adapt it. Those boxes, it turns out, cost at least a hundred dollars. I decided to take matters into my own hands and build myself an emergency box to prepare for the zombie apocalypse.

I bought a frame for a few bucks from a discount store and hand painted the glass:

The objects surrounding the glass were part of my "cat deterrence system." Oddly it worked. Livia prefers to sit on my paper projects anyways.

I built a box out of lumber from the hardware store. The back of the box the back of a frame from the "as is" section of IKEA. The hooks are from IKEA too:

I spray painted the whole thing black and put the axe in it:

Yes, it is a real axe. I popped the photo frame and glass onto the front of the box and here's the finished product:

It is a couple feet tall, about a foot wide and 3 inches deep. I love it. No zombie will dare mess with me.

More Pictures of my Cats

2009-10-19T16:14:00.000-04:00

No reason to post pictures of the cats. You will just have to deal with my obsession.

My Birthday: Part 5

2009-10-18T15:26:00.000-04:00

After the garden we finished our day at the Brooklyn Museum:

It looked large from the outside but it had a pretty small collection on display. We were utterly confused at the museum, unable to take pictures and they had mysteriously run out of maps for visitors. We ended up wandering around aimlessly, wondering what we were missing without the use of a map or any signs. I don't think I'll be going back any time soon.

Brian. however, enjoyed the fountain in front and claims that this is what he wants in his future dream home:

For dinner that night we went to Rye, a hidden restaurant/speakeasy in our neighborhood on a whim. It was delicious. I could eat their duck confit with gnocchi every day. I highly recommend the place.

To end the day, just under the wire at 11:59 pm, Brian presented me with a homemade birthday cookie:

It was delicious. A terrific birthday yet again.

My Birthday: Part 4

2009-10-17T15:24:00.000-04:00

Continuing in the Botanic Garden, Brian and I were amazed that in the rock garden, even the rocks had signs:

It turns out that the entire rocks garden is composed of rocks that were deposited on Long Island by a glacier. They traced back the origins of each rock and noted the story on each boulder. Here is a wider shot:

They also had a serene Japanese Garden and pond. I loved the big fish that swam up to the dock:

Here is Brian looking at the Fish:

We loved the Botanic Garden and plan to go back soon.

One more birthday post left. You best return tomorrow for the final part of the story.

My Birthday: Part 3

2009-10-16T15:22:00.000-04:00

After Grand Army Plaza, we made our way over th the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. This turned out to be the highlight of the day and we have vowed to return. Here is Brian looking at flowers:

It was amazing how many flowers were in bloom. coming from Minnesota, you grow up believing that everything hibernates as the first frost. I particularly loved these flowers that covered the ground:

There were beautiful, quiet paths to walk down in the gardens:

They also had signs to help those of us that do not know their plant life. I took a picture of this one because I like it so much:

More pictures from the Botanic Garden coming tomorrow.

My Birthday: Part 2

2009-10-15T15:18:00.000-04:00

Our walk through Prospect Park ended at Grand Army Plaza. It was impressive. There was a market in the plaza that day by the park, hence the tents. The arch is a war memorial modeled after the Arc de Triomphe in Paris:

Oddly, the corner stone for the arch was laid on October 10, 1889, exactly 120 years before we saw it. Here are some up close shots:

However, the highlight of Grand Army Plaza was the Brooklyn Public Library:

It was huge inside and I am going to have to go back to scan the shelves. I'm glad I finally got to see it though since it is a bit of a pain to get here from our apartment.

Stay tuned for upcoming posts!

My Birthday: Part 1

2009-10-14T15:20:00.001-04:00

I had a terrific birthday on Saturday. Since we saw so many things and I have been lacking photos for this blog, I have broken up the day into a series of 5 posts.

First, the day began with Brian making me breakfast:

I couldn't finish all of it. In the picture you can see the keyboard Brian snagged off the street for free a couple of weeks ago. It's nice (I'm using it now, as a matter of fact).

After breakfast, we headed on a bus to Prospect Park in Brooklyn. Prospect Park was designed by the same man, Olmstead (for those who read Devil in the White City like I did), that designed Central Park.

We found a historic marker showing where the line of defense was on August 27, 1776 in the Battle of Long Island. I thought it was pretty cool:

Here is a picture of the Long Meadow in Prospect Park:

It was quiet in the park and a perfect day for a walk. Finally, here is Brian in the park:

More posts to come this week including Grand Army Plaza, the Botanic Garden and the Brooklyn Museum.

A Nice Quiet Life

2009-10-09T12:16:00.002-04:00

I have not posted much because it has been very quiet in our apartment. Brian and I have been staying home a lot, watching movies and eating in. I thought I would give everyone a list of things that have been happening:

Brian and I finally got New York driver's licenses. I had to get my name changed and Brian just wanted to switch to a New York ID. Now I won't feel like such a tourist when I get carded at a bar.
I got a new social security card with my new name. Dull, I know, but I was proud of the fact that I went to the Social Security office at 7am to do the paperwork. According to the woman behind me, I bypassed the 3 hour long afternoon line. I was second in line at 7am. Oddly, I still had to take a number.
Brian installed a new operating system on his old, original Xbox. Now we can stream music and movies from our desktop computer to the TV in the livingroom. Our apartment is very technologically efficient.
Brian and I signed up for zipcar, a car rental service. You can reserve a car online. Then just go to the car and unlock it with your membership card. There are a bunch of zipcars parked within walking distance of our apartment. Brian and I reserved one for an hour and just drove it around for fun. We also took a car to CostCo. It is nice to be able to buy massive amounts of cheeseburgers, cat food and garbage bags without have to carry them on the subway.
We got a Playstation 3 and have been having a lot of fun playing games and watching movies on bluray. I daresay Brian has turned me into a gamer because my first instinct when we got the system was not, "Let's go get a bluray movie!" Instead, I marched us straight to the nearest open Game Stop and bought myself Fallout 3 and Little Big Planet. I waited three whole days before I bought a bluray movie. Just so you know, I got The Dark Knight and Coraline on bluray and they are totally awesome in HD.
We celebrated Livia's birthday (Oct. 6) with tuna and many renditions of "Happy Birthday." If we go by the vet's assessment, she is four years old. We have had her for a year and she is still amusing. I've started calling her "the panther" because of the way she stalks Leela.
I'm excited for my birthday. Tomorrow's plans include walking around Prospect Park, going to the Brooklyn Public Library, seeing the gourd display at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and carving pumpkins. On Sunday, Tanya and Jorge invited us over for a free birthday dinner. This means that I get more of Jorge's famous margaritas. If you have never had one, you have never had a margarita. :)
I got an orange KitchenAid Stand mixer. So far, I have made pumpkin bread and ground bologna sandwiches (with the food grinder attachment). I plan to make cookies today and butter when I can get my hands on some good cream.
I have been reading books at lightening speed lately. In the past few weeks I have read and recommend Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game, John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces (this book was particularly excellent), Stephen Kings' Just After Sunset, Ian Mc Ewan's Enduring Love and the Best of Nonrequired Reading for 2009. I do not recommend Dean Koontz's Frankenstein trilogy, John Grisham's The King of Torts, Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse novels or Ira Levin's Rosemary's Baby (if you have seen the movie because they are exactly the same).
My personal, annual Halloween Horror Movie Marathon is back this year. Basically, it is my excuse to watch as many horror movies as I want. This year has included so far: Dawn of the Dead, Midnight Meat Train, Last House on the Left, Scream, Final Destination, Arang, Hit and Run, The Bodysnatchers, and more.
I already have my Halloween costume and the apartment is decorated. I'm going to be a witch. I love Halloween.

That's about it. Like I said, it has been quiet. Hopefully, I will have exciting news or pictures after the weekend.

Brian and Leela

2009-09-23T14:35:00.000-04:00

This is becoming a regular sight in the apartment. Brian enjoys a good cat nap. So does Leela. They get along swimmingly.

Cruise with Tanya

2009-09-23T00:27:00.001-04:00

Last Friday, Tanya was kind enough to invite me along on a cruise around Manhattan with Classic Harbor Line. We had a lot of fun.

The cruise took us from the west side of Mahattan, at Chelsea Piers, past the Statue of Liberty, under the Brooklyn Bridge and up to the United Nations.

I am using mostly pictures Tanya took of the cruise because she got the best ones, as usual.

Here I am with the Williamsburg Bridge in the background:

Here we are inside the boat where a nice woman from Minnesota, oddly enough, took our picture:

Here's Tanya under the famous Brooklyn Bridge:

We had a really good time on the boat. We even got a free drink out of it. I recommend it to anyone visiting. It was relaxing, fun and a simple way to see the sights.

Livia Thinks the LoveSac is Her Giant Cat Bed

2009-09-17T16:53:00.001-04:00

Livia Doesn't Want Me to Scrapbook

2009-09-04T14:13:00.001-04:00

She seems to think that my cruise souvenirs make a better bed then a scrapbook.

Honeymoon: Po Boys

2009-09-03T11:34:00.000-04:00

In New Orleans, Brian had his first po boy (it's a type of sandwich). He had fried crawfish, as seen above. I had fried catfish, my favorite:

It was delicious.

Honeymoon: Cafe Du Monde

2009-09-02T11:30:00.000-04:00

The morning before our cruise I dragged Brian to the Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans for some cafe au lait (coffee) and beignets (a french doughnut). He thoroughly enjoyed them. I highly recommend this place if you are in New Orleans. Delicious. Here is a tired but happy Brian:

Honeymoon: Mixology

2009-09-01T11:24:00.000-04:00

Brian sure was lucky on the cruise. He entered into a "Mixology" contest to mix a drink that could be featured on the cruise. He made it, yet again, to the finals. Of course, the drink was my recipe, a twist on my favorite drink in college. Brian named it "Blue Steel" and it includes tequila, blue curacao, pineapple juice and lime. It is a delicious drink. Unfortunately, he didn't win the grand prize. He did, however, win a free drink and a book of cocktail recipes! Go Brian! The pictures above and below are of him while he was on stage mixing for the judges.

Honeymoon: Formal Night

2009-08-31T11:14:00.000-04:00

Every night on the cruise you went to a formal dining room and had dinner served to you by waiters, unlike the lunch buffet Every night you sat at the same table, with the same people. One night of the cruise, the second night, it was the full formal dinner where everyone had to dress up. So, I thought I would share the photos. Above, you can see me ready to go to dinner.

Here is Brian doing a Vogue-style pose:

Here we are at dinner:

It was a lot of fun! The most amusing part was seeing what other people thought of as "dressed up." Some women wore full prom-style dresses. I swear I saw a girl in a wedding dress. Some guys also considered a polo shirt and khakis to be dressy. There were a lot of little girls that were dressed up like princesses. It was a terrific people watching event.

Honeymoon: Piste

2009-08-30T11:06:00.000-04:00

After getting off the boat in Progreso, on the way to Chichen Itza, our bus made a pit stop in Piste, Mexico. I snapped some quick photos. Above is Brian next to the shopping area we were parked at.

Here I am next to the bus:

Here is a shot of building we were next to:

Lastly, a picture down the street:

I wanted to take more photos but the second we stepped out of the parking lot and near the street, street vendors started approaching us from all directions trying to sell us stuff. That seemed to be the theme of that day, at this stop and at Chichen Itza. Everyone we talked to on the cruise kept repeating the sellers' mantra, "One Dollar! One Dollar! One Dollar!" One man we spoke to at dinner believed he would actually hear it in his sleep. It's funny in hindsight but at the time it was quite annoying.

Honeymoon: Progreso

2009-08-29T11:01:00.000-04:00

I had to share some pictures from the port in Progreso, Mexico. Above, you can see Brian next to our ship, the Carnival Fantasy.

The water was such a terrific color that I had to take a picture:

Finally, here I am:

Can you tell it was windy? You can see the storm clouds behind me. We just missed them as we were getting back on the boat. We were very lucky!

Honeymoon: Towel Animals

2009-08-28T10:59:00.000-04:00

Every night of the Carnival cruise, the housekeeping staff would make a towel animal for us. I had to share a picture of elephant. It's cute.