Let it Snow!

I spent the last weekend before Christmas all snowed in with my parents and the Professor recovering from my job (which is bananas), decorating for Christmas, watching mom do her kitchen holiday baking magic (the woman is a veritable Dumbledore with yeast and flour) and catching up on my cable movies. Did anyone else think Enchanted was hilarious the second time they watched it? The Professor and I thought it was wickedly clever, but we were a tad snokered...
We got a soil 20 inches of white stuff before the storm left our area. The snow just kept coming and coming, and there we were all snugly inside, baking Christmas cookies and bread, playing stupid board games, watching the birds try not to get nailed by bird-feeder avalanches, preparing the house for Christmas, and enjoying the forced calm. It was le fabulous.

Grandma Rogers is here, Eric is on his way from Richmond, and Tommy will land from Cali tomorrow. Merry Christmas!

Friday Funk?

Me too, but it is headed out the window. It is 67 degrees, breezy, bight, the flag is wa-waving outside my office window, Jason is on his way home for the next 10! days, and I am heading out the door very very soon. I don't know if people took off uber eraly for Thanksgiving or something (I hope so) but my office is like a ghost town. That is fine with me. It is much easier to shake a funk when people aren't doing annouying things like aking you to do your job. How do I shake the funk? Well, it does depend on the day of the week and what resources I have available...but today the funk relief fairy came in the form of this, dare I say, delightful music video Boys & Girls by Martin Solveig featuring Martina of Dragonette.


I love the suspenders and (of course) the little weddingish touches -- if Jason and I were eons cooler than we are, we would rock this as a fist dance song. But we are lame and will probably go for the mellow, sentimental, and mushy.

Enjoy it. I SAID ENJOY IT NOW!

xoxo

Confession Monday

I have developed an almost Homer-level craving for...

deep fried bread/white flour, sticky chocolate icing/calorie goodness. About once a day now, I consciously think how freaking yummy a chocolate glazed doughnut would be. I don't eat one once a day or even once a week or once every three weeks, but I THINK about it. Obsession? I don't think so. Just a hang-up. Weird.

Bad. Bad. Bad. Danger! Danger!

Luckily there is a dress living in my parents house that I need to still look fab (not flab) in come May 28th. I bought it back in August when I was at my skinniest (exactly what all the magazines and books tell you not to do...bite me Martha). I probably owe it credit for my ability to still rock my small jeans, because all I have to do is picture the dressmakers face when I bust out of it at my fitting and suddenly I am no longer hungry. But I am a firm believer in moderation, and sometimes a girl need a damn doughnut. Like this morning.

Mini Pies of Sunlight and Deliciousness

Ever since I saw the Sunday Suppers recipe post for mini pies of sunlight and deliciousness, I had been dying to lock myself in on a chilly cold night and test them out. Yes, I know Sunday Suppers calls them "meat pies" but thanks to Miss. Lovett aka Helena Bonham Cater, I just can't stomach the words "meat" and "pie" all strung together like that. :Shudder:

Source

I am really lucky that that movie didn't set me off of protein-hugged puff pastry forever. Anyway, after renaming the suckers last Wednesday, I gave the recipe a go.
First, a few shots from the SS kitchen:

While the pies were in the oven for 20 minutes getting all golden and flaky, I set the table and made an arugula, tomato, olive, and feta salad.

Presto chango:

Dinner.

The pies looked so stinking adorable in their finger-sized mininess, and they were damn good. Delectable even. The recipe was well worth the hour and a half prep time (10 - 15 minutes for the dough, 15-20 minutes of for the filling, 10 - 15 minutes to create the shells & tops, 15+ minutes to fill/seal, 20 minutes to bake) . The dough had to rest for 30 minutes before you make the pies, but I found that the rest time gave me just enough time to make up the filling, so everything came together quite nicely. One batch of dough and filling made 24 standard muffin-size pies and they were quite filling (This hungry girl managed 2). We had a box of 12 left for lunches once everyone ate their fill.

A couple lessons learned/tips:

• I was concerned that the filling juices would make the pasty soggy, and strained out some of the juice before I filled the pies. I had no need to worry. This dough is awesome and the pies are best with all the moisture locked in so use all of the juice!
• The recipe doesn't call for it, but if you find yourself (like I did) with extra filling, make up some gravy to drizzle over the pies. Uhhhh-yum.
• To save on prep-time, prep the dough and filling a few days ahead of time and assemble before baking.
• The dough is sturdy enough to be used for a large pie if that is your preference. The small pies are adorable, but the assembly is somewhat time consuming. When I use this recipe for a larger family dinner in the future, I think I will make a single large pie and double the filling.

Serve with a nice white and fantastic conversation (we had both, of course!). Try it. You know you want to.

Grandma Georgie turned 77 this past Sarurday!

And guess who got to celebrate with her?

Gosh, you are smart.

I flew down to Tampa late Thursday/early Friday morning in honor of the occasion and some much needed grandma-granddaughter TLC. It was my first time on the Gulf during the big chill, and I have to say that I finally get what the snowbirds are all about. Sunny skies, comfortable temperatures, flowers and comfortable breezes...the coast was enjoying open window, convertible top down, I like my lattes HOT on the beach bliss (the shop on the corner of 8th and Gulfway makes a damn good latte P.S.). We spent the weekend doing whatever struck grandma's fancy: shopping, attending the symphony, eating, eating, eating, tea.

The cherry on the birthday was the St. Petersburg Orchestra's stellar performance. Guest composer James MacMillan conducted one of his own works, that of Ralph Vaughan Williams, and ended the evening with Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto. The concertmaster Jeffrey Multer was the soloist for the concerto and he had me at the second bar. The concerto is one of those pieces that most will recognize by ear if not by name. It is always a pleasure to listen to, but Multer made it soar with athletic dips and jerks.
Here is the lovely Anne Akiko working the concerto for your listening pleasure:

It was a wonderful evening of sound followed by some very nice cheese cake. I came back north on Monday, and I bet you aren't suprised to hear that I didn't want to leave. Grandma asked me if I wanted to move in and stay with her forever, and I was a little tempted -- but then Jason would probably have a problem with that arangement so I declined. Grandma will be up in the north for Christmas (can't wait!) and there is rumor of a NYC Chirstmas window/Radio City Music Hall adventure sometime in the near future....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!

Did you have a delightful Halloween weekend?

I did with Aby in NYC. I took the Bolt bus up on Friday night and spent the weekend relaxing, dancing, shopping, strolling, eating loads of kick ass Italian food, and soaking up what was some brilliant fall weather in the city.
Aby lives right by the park, so of course there was some serious strolling happening on Halloween morning.
After brunch at the Boat House in Central Park, a skateboarding hungover Spider man bummed a cigarette. I was amused.
Halloween night we joined a French Tuesdays costume party in the Russian Tea Room. We hadn't planned on attending a party that required full costumes, but our previous plans were a bust and one of Aby's friends came through with some tickets to the sold-out event at... 7:45pm. We had to arrive in costume by 8:30 to get the tickets, and made a made scramble to pull together three decent costumes from Aby's closet. I think we were rather successful. I LOVED my nerd costume. I kinda think the glasses make me look like my Grandpa K. I did the nerd smile all night. I couldn't help it.

I had never been to a full-out costume party before and it was so much fun! I wish I had better photos of the actual party because the decorations were amazing, but my flash isn't that great (or maybe I just don't know how to use it properly).
French Tuesdays had done a Heaven and Hell themed party. One ballroom was decked out in white with a mix of 80's and 90's rock hits, and the other floor was Hell with techno and more current hits. You were assigned to one ballroom or another when you first arrived and you had to perform and good or a naughty deed (kiss a stranger, take a photo with a stranger, tell your friend you love them, etc.) to earn admitance to the other ballroom. It kept things interesting.

Sunday we took it slow and met up with Alanna for a late dinner. I hadn't seen her since I left Bangkok and it was great to catch-up.

My only real "tourist" request for the weekend was that we make it up to the top of the Empire State Building. I had it on good authority from Terry McKay that "The Empire State Building is the closest thing to heaven in this city. "


The views were certainly lovely, but you had to pass through several stages of kitchy tourist-trap frustrations to get up there first. My advice: go early and budget several hours. Despite it's large staff and a clearly marked lines, they do a crappy job of moving people up to the top (it took us 2.5 hours RT and it was not crowded). I was so glad we went on a week day. There was a large group of Spanish tourist in front of us that stopped every 2 feet to ask questions, and after 30 minutes Aby was ready to lay out que etiquette for them Niomi Campbell style.

Terry: What makes life so difficult?
Nickie: People.

I spent the two hour assent learning some trivia. Did you know that the top observation deck was built as a landing pad for European blimps? The idea was that people could be ferried right into the heart of the city by airship. Crazy winds at 205 floors up prevented this from ever happening. You would think that the architects would know something about altitude and winds.

Thanks for a wonderful visit Aby!

Start Your Day with PiA

I love to rhyme, but I especially love it when people send me photos of events that I forgot to photograph for myself!

The night of October 14th was cold and rainy – the kind of night that doesn't make a burbs gal long for the city. You want to stay at home (or at least at a bar close to home) and be warm and comfortable. You do not want to fight your way though rainy rush-hour traffic, catch the Orange Line, change to the Red Line, and then hike 12 blocks in the mist. You don't want to go searching for an apartment you have never visited crammed with people you barely know. And you certainly do not look forward to commuting back to VA while Metro is "repairing" one of the tracks thus tripling your time on the rail going home. No. No. No.
But for PiA?....Alcohol, Asian food, and story time? YES! Yes, please!

Alumni from...China, Hong Kong, Mongolia, China, aaaaaaaaaand Thailand.

Someone has obviously been out of the Thai sun for five months. I'm growing my hair out for the wedding...bad idea?

Scott, the gentleman on the left, was our host and was PiA Taiwan before PiA was allowed back into communist China (if you know which years those were, congrats! You had a competent world history teacher). I never got a chance to visit with the other two people, but don't they seem lovely?

About 50 Alumni from the D.C. area cycled through, several of whom were kicking around Asia with PiA before my parents graduated high school. Awesome. Given the way Ed and Suzanne flipped when they heard the news in early '08 ("Cambodia? Vietnam? CHINA?!? Land mines, Kong, COMMUNISTS!?!") I wonder how their Cold War era parents took the news of them moving to Asia. I'll have to ask next time. The stories flying around that room were ridiculous and I really wish I had a photographic memory or at least a recorder to get some of them down. Gypsy caravans through Mongolia? Cold War Taiwan? Motor scooter accidents? PiA opening an office in Hong Kong this year — what? The event only lasted a couple of hours, which wasn't nearly enough time to meet and chat with everyone. I really didn’t want to leave, even when they asked me for money.

Thinking about all of the stories in that room has reflecting on PiA and the way our experiences have shaped our world views and choices. How have we changed? What have we learned? What are we continuing to discover many months or years after out return to the States? The organization has been kicking since the end of the 19th century -- think of all the changes "we" have seen first hand, the evolution of Asia and the perspective westerners have toward Asia and Asian culture. I wonder if PiA has ever attempted to record the fellows stories - fellows are required to submit reports at the 3 month point and at the end of the fellowship, but those questions are geared more to the fellowship and general know-how more than individual impressions. It would be interesting for someone to interview and archive alumni stories -- a massive undertaking but very, very interesting.

Glee gives me the Glee-ggles.

It is my not-so-guilty Wednesday night indulgence and I am enjoying every second of it..over and over (I have the series it DVRed). What do I love so much? The singing, dancing, hottie Mr. Shoe, the clever clever comedy...and Miss. Emma. I have a chickie-crush on the nerdy counselor and her wardrobe. I was going to be all clever and show you how I would dress were I going to be Miss. Emma for Halloween (or any other day of my life, cuz I totally would if I could!), and discovered that Fashion Me Fabulous totally beat me to the punch with her layouts for Polyvor.

What isn't to love? The only person I know who dresses similar to this in real life is my bestest friend Miss. Ane. I have often contemplated borrowing many pieces of her wardrobe, but alas, she is a 5'3" size 2 to my 5'9" size 8. I have said it many times and I will say it again: I need to befriend larger people.

Did anyone else LOVE the girl's number at the end of Episode #6? The song mash-up was choice, and how cute cute cute were the mix-matched yellow dresses and gold shoes ?
I haven't pondered the whole wedding party attire situation too deeply yet, but Glee got me thinking about my girls. I could choose a color pallet and mixed-match their dresses. I like-a-these...






Give my girls some guidelines and let them go...grown-up and lovely as they are I am sure they could handle it. Ponder ponder...

I watched a plane climb the horizon this morning and I wished I was on it.

Jason would have picked me up at ROC airport by 8:15, and we would have enjoyed some weak coffee and kick-ass pancakes at Jay's before wrestling up some fall weather magic. It would have been a great day of togetherness.

Dan-ah Kim

One of us is always watching the other one disappear for a while. I can't wait until we are done with this chapter.

Check out Terrible Yellow Eyes

Ever wonder how many people were impacted by the same seemingly obscure thing/event as you? I mean think about it. Chances are beyond good that many of the small things you loved and shaped you as a kid were also loved by other kids. When I was little I adored books (still do!), and one of the biggies in my collection was Where the Wild Things Are. I loved that book to death, and as I envied Max his exploration and adventures to unknown jungles with large monstrous friends, I knew I wanted to travel like that one day...

Do I think Max is responsible for my wanderlust or the reason I ended up in Thailand last year? No, not exactly. But I do remember hiding under the cover with a flashlight, staring at those illustrations thinking "some day, I am going to see that..."

Sendak and his Wild Things impacted me as they did millions of others. The Terrible Yellow Eyes project is a fantastic site created by artist Cory Godbey as a place for artists to share their admiration for Sendak's work. Every piece in the blog was done as a tribute to Sendak's life and legacy. It is pretty freaking cool and totally worth a wander. Here are some of my favorites:

Robert van Raffe

Israel Sanchez

Dan Matutina

BrittenyLee

BillCarman

AnthonyWu