Please, call me Martha

I have been oddly domestic over the last couple of weeks. Maybe due to the season, maybe because the book I just finished (Julie & Julia...it was an okay read) inspired me to not be afraid of my kitchen, maybe because I was desperate for some delicious gingerbread...who knows. All I know is, I've thoroughly enjoyed my escapades in the kitchen lately and, by George, I do believe I can actually cook if I put my mind to it. I even debuted my fried egg sandwich for Charles this morning....something I haven't made since my dad taught me many, many years ago. I feel like a whole new world of cooking & baking might be opening before my eyes as I grow more comfortable in the kitchen. As proof of this new-found talent ability, I share with you my foray into the wonderful world of gingerbread cookies and a sinfully delicious, super-easy to make blackberry & pear cobbler. I don't know if I've ever been more proud of myself than when, yesterday, my grandmother tried the cobbler and told me it was wonderful...if she says it's good than it must be the case, she's not one to be biased just because we're blood. She would tell me straight up if it sucked. Which, thankfully, it didn't. Yay for dessert!

A Bubbalicious Christmas

Once a year, we purchase stuff for our beloved animal that we know he will immediately destroy. I enjoy buying him his Christmas gifts, though, and it is truly like he knows Christmas morning that he is going to get stuff. We give him his toys before we open our presents thus keeping him out of our hair while we enjoy our Christmas morning. Oh, it's also the only time of year that Charles allows "squeaky toys" in the house. Tal likes squeakers. As soon as he discovers a toy squeaks, he squeaks it over and over and over....and over. Here are the before and after photos of Tal's Christmas (click for bigger versions):

Before...nice shiny new toys. The little animal he's attacking in the second photo is his stuffed chipmunk, he freakin' loves that thing!

After...stuffing everywhere! After the squeak, squeak, squeaking he decides at some point that the squeaker needs to be destroyed and attacks the stuffed thing at full force pulling out its innards until squeaker is out, chewed to bits and the whole thing is ultimately unrecognizable.

24 Hours in NYC

• learned that my plastic life doesn't work everywhere. when in new york, have cash
• visited the highest attended movie theatre in the country
• with friends, had three drinks (total)....threw up a little when we paid the $50 tab
• stayed in the tiniest non-japanese hotel room i've ever seen...150 sq. ft at the hudson hotel
• waited for a cab with the highest volume of uber-hipster twenty-somethings i've ever encountered in one spot and felt extremely out of place with *gasp* my jeans not suction-cupped to my body and, heaven forbid, worn outside my boots
• walked from lincoln center to empire theatre stopping almost every block to do a 360 degree turn & soak in all the sights
• ate delicious malaysian at penang
• ate not-so-delicious tasty delight. ok, so it's "tasty" i guess but just for a split second then it totally disappears in your mouth leaving no hint of taste at all. bizarre actually. what did taste very delicious were the crushed up andes mint she rolled my cone in. yummy!
• saw tavern on the green lit up beautifully for christmas
• hung out with a new yorker in her 800 sq. ft. apartment that was purchased 15 years ago for $160k and is now worth over $1MM. fascinating and it was everything i hoped a nyc apartment would be
• did not pass a single h&m
• did pass about 50 hotdog stands, 500 starbucks, 382 theatres, 47 "new york style" stores whatever they are, 89 europan deli's, 12,000 mommies pushing babies in plastic-shielded strollers
• ate a bagel. it was the best damn bagel i have ever put in my mouth and i have no idea why
• by accident, saw yankee stadium, giants stadium and shea statium
• got totally screwed by a cabbie who charged us $20 more for the cab ride back to the airport than the one that took us from the airport to our hotel. doh! what can one do about that?
• did not see shannon, keeva, tammy o., heidi, mike, joanna or any other friend/acquaintance in the area
• did see a car with "happy hanukkah" flags and a massive menorah adhered to the roof
• learned from a jewish friend (with the $1MM apartment) that one should never call said car a "jew mobile" as that is highly offensive
• shopped in a cute little make-shift market on the edge of central park
• squealed in times square
• squealed again at what i called "the center of the universe"... i have no idea where i was but i'm pretty sure the earth revolves around that very spot
• learned that gloves & comfy shoes are essential when hoofing it mid-december
• altered my ability to call myself a "city girl"...we have a yard and a car and 1,200 massive sqare feet of living space, who am i kidding? we might as well be bumpin' in the burbs!
• fell in love with an amazing city

obviously i didn't even scratch the surface...didn't have a new york hotdog, didn't take the subway, didn't stroll thru central park, didn't catch a show....but still, what an incredible city.

Catch up

She's alive!!! Needless to say, it's been a crazy month. A couple new posts on the way, stay tuned.