and coming...

so it looks like josh's family dog of 9 years will be leaving us soon. he got the bad news last night and hasn't really reacted to it. he is spending the night at his mom's so he can say goodbye. i feel like i am in a bad play. it is almost funny.

but no more tears! time to move on with our lives! starting with this weekend!

i am going to attempt to get outside and go strawberry picking! call me crazy, but there's nothing like lugging your 10 pounds back on the hay ride with an aching back and heat stroke. i can't wait. send me strawberry recipes if you have any good ones. i know its been a while and i want to start cooking/baking and taking pictures again.

tonight i have a yelp event - free spa treatments with catered food and wine at a spa that just opening in the south end. yay to being invited to be an elite member! i rule. i am also in DIRE need of a manicure. i did some weeding on a whim last night sans gloves (and pants for that matter...). and i started biting them again, which is bad.

not much more to report. i want to write about last weekend, but it is just too sad. i lost three pounds, and i think they were all tears. i saw some people whom i haven't seen since graduation and although some of the feelings are still there, holding that grudge seems so silly and useless now. it is unfortunate that jon's death brought us all to one place, but i am a little bit relieved. i still dont think they like me, and i know they don't respect me, but a little bit of me is glad that things are back to the status quo. a part of me wants to tell them what i went through, why i was/am so upset, why i needed so much time away from that life; i think they are chalking it up to craziness or immaturity. but if i am going to let things go, i need to do just that. dredging up old feelings will only cause pain. part of me still cares what they think, but that is what got me into so much trouble in the first place. i just need to move on, see them when i see them and remain happy in the life that i made for myself.

and coming

josh's grandmother was admitted to the hospital yesterday.

is it us? are we cursed?

and the hits keep coming

now my dad is in the hospital - not sure if i can take any more bad news.

the deceased

i'm on the phone, ordereing flowers for his funeral and they ask me the name of the deceased. i barely made it to the bathroom before i started sobbing. this is so damn hard.

He was born in Arizona, got a condo made of stone-a

rode the rails, saw some gold, ate some sushi, and got made of fun of by a singing waitress; it was a tiring, but full, weekend.

friday i took an early train (go summer fridays!) to NYC and, as is customary, made a bee-line from Penn to the eyebrow threading place on 35th and 7th. Although my gal pinky doesn't work there any more, i trimmed the caterpillars and went on my merry way... to express. OK, so i bought the top 14 months ago and couldn't get what i paid for in credit; you can't blame a girl for trying. i also tried on a capri suit that was on sale and got manhandled into reopening my express card for the discount. 40 minutes later, i told him i had to be somewhere and bailed. i didn't want to suit THAT badly and i definitely didn't want the card and i made up my mind a while back that i was not going to be forced into these kind of things (again), so i left. i felt bad for the guy, but if he hadn't pushed so hard for the card, i probably would have bought the suit and left.

then off to drop my bags off with miss B. i WAS going to hit up some sample sales, but the day was so pretty and Bryant Park looked so bucolic that I sat there and read for 3 hours. It was a wonderful way to spend a Friday afternoon. BP is so funny - you have your guys in suits, your couples making out, your tired shoppers, your pretty boys in their boxers (and not much else) and me, all trying to get a little color on a perfectly warm (but not too hot) day. loved it.

then it was off to brooklyn for drop bags off, shower and head back in to the city for SUSHI! it had been SOOOOO long. not sure why, but i just don't eat as much here. been to sushi express once, but that's it. i am missing the big sushi group i had in nyc. anyway, aki was fantastic, as was Tasti-D-Lite and a small piano bar in the village (fun, but not really my scene). the waitress was great though - kind of reminded me of miss debrot from middle school. after an hour or so of that, we grabbed some pastries on bleeker and then called it a night. we had a long day ahead of us.

after some scrambling at the nj transit, we were on our way to trenton to meet up with my recently engaged friend to drive to phila. for a group brunch with my old roommate. it was SO good seeing everyone again, i can't even tell you. a lot of the old new york group was at the brunch and it made me realize how good i had it those two years. thursday nights and clubbing and lazy sundays and sex and the city...

then off to get mani/pedis. now by the time we made it there, we had about 30 or 40 minutes before we had to start walking to the Franklin Institute for King Tut, so (being as time apprehensive as I am) said that we might not all be able to get things done and dried AND walk over there (and not have to run) in time. the two russian ladies were so pushy and adamant that it could be done and that we should just pick colors and sit down, that i just switched off. i was going to do it for fun, and as soon as i felt any pressure, it was no longer fun. so josephine and i chatted while miss b got pampered. her toes looked really good, and we probably would have made it in time, but, like the express card situation, i felt that i didn't want to do it and it would cost money and i would feel regret it later. i felt bad that we bailed like that, but i think it was the right choice for me. moving on.

king tut - so much gold. it was insane. my archaeologist bug bit me hard, and visions of howard carter and the cairo museum kept dancing in my head. everything was wonderful. it is amazing that so many things (many of them wood) survived for so long and in such pristine condition. i kept thinking about what it was like to close that tomb door and then what it was like to open it. but then we got to the end and there was no sarcophagi and no big mask! and they were cleaning it when i was in egypt (or something) so i was disappointed to not see it here. but all in all, i was happy we made the trek down for the day and got to see things that only a lucky few can see. note to my future self. unless the work science or children is in the name of the museum -leave them at home. everyone suffers and i want to jam golden spears into your head as you walk behind me. also got a glimpse of middle america - and as horrible as it sounds, i was glad to come back to my over educated, elitest new england.

oh - this story must be told - so we were on the nj transit back to nyc and a group of two british girls and two irish boys had gotten on around newark (they were staying at the same hotel) and when the conductor came to get their tickets, they asked him if he knew of any good places to go out. i will give you some of the highlights:

"oh - just go up 8th ave. you know you are in times square when you pass the 50's"

"you guys would have a really good time in hoboken, you should go there"

"i know some good places in pennsylvania if you plan on going there (paraphrased)"

"there isn't much karaoke on saturday nights (K-Town is RIGHT next to Penn...)

B - let me know if i forgot any good ones...

so we are listening to this and barely holding in laughter, when he leaves and we give the group some suggestions (along with some other nearby passengers who couldn't help but overhear the tour guide's suggestions...). too funny.

back to brooklyn for some pizza and team america (so ron-ree) and sweet sweet bed.

some more scrambling this morning (i opened my eyes 14 minutes before the car was supposed to pick us up and it took us both a while to realize what that actually meant...) and then BACK on a train and to my parents house for some father's day cheesecake factory and then home home home.

here are some pics from the weekend. i will post more when they are sent my way (ahem.)

the building that is currently blocking B's veiw of the river. it is amazing how much building is going on in the city. i took some pics of the park, but deleted them. none of them did the day justice.

no explanation here:)

my tiny blueberry treat. yay italian eateries on bleeker!

ER

so we had a little trip to the ER on saturday night. josh and his modeling knife had a disagreement around 11:30 and at 11:40 we were in the car on the way to mt. auburn hospital. It was a pretty uneventful as ER visits go; we were the only ones in the waiting room, and waited just 10 minutes for the midnight shift change.

The resident was adorably nervous and josh and i put everything we had into not calling him "newbie", and the attending totally looked like the todd. And we watch too much scrubs. moving on.

they wrapped up what was left of the tip of his thumb (a dime size piece was waiting for us at home) and stitched up the gash on his middle finger. When the attending came to check the stitches, he was about 4 feet away, gave them a quick glance and said "good" while walking away. I couldn't help but think about the 20 minute inspection my hair dresser's teacher gave my head when he came to approve the cut she gave me. I am glad no one caught me smiling to myself; not sure what I would have said.

The patient is fine. It could have been a lot worse and I am thankful that he he will heal almost completely. The only thing I am not thankful for is that he can't do dishes for the next week or so. meh.

update

works every time - if you just give up on the sox, they come through for you. i watched schilling pitch an ALMOST no hitter yesterday on the elliptical with old wrinkly men and lithe young things cheering on the machines with me. watching the game at the gym will never not be fun. it give you a boost of adrenaline and a great sense of camaraderie while simultaneously letting you be in your own world.

i also talked to the scuba people and they said we could get our money back for everything. phew! i had pictures of selling everything on eBay floating through my head...

AND - i wanted to give a shout out to Bess, who sent me a lovely present last week, which I consumed in like two days. Julie and Julia is about how one women who attempted to revamp her life by cooking all of Julia Child's recipes in Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year. I loved the writing style and could totally relate to being in a place where you just didn't want to be and trying hard to change your outlook. That being said, I do not have the stomach to cook (or eat) French food. The project did inspire me to branch out, though. I may attempt something like this with a Thai cookbook I bought. Since I can't go diving, maybe I will put all my energy into homemade curry pastes (you know, all the energy my stupid asthma will allow...)

WTF!

We are about to be swept by OAKLAND! GAH!!

oh - and in other frustrating news: my doctor told me that i can't go scuba diving! apparently people with exercise induced asthma have a tendency to stroke out when they ascend to the surface. and i was looking forward to this SO much. i am beyong disappointed.

now we just need to get a refund on the $1000 we spent on lessons and equiptment for the two of us.... the owner of the scuba place is not in today, so cross your fingers tomorrow - hopefully we can get it all back..

stupid asthma. stupid stroking out. stupid stupid.

forage

before B turned me onto smittenkitchen and before i saw the list of foodblogs on SK's site, i actually used to do work to find recipes and put together fun menu combos. epicurious.com, the new york times, donna hay, alton brown, giada, rayray and even paula deen were my sources. but nothing was ever wrapped in a bow with feedback, pictures, comments about what went wrong and what to avoid.

but, now, all the work is done for me. i realized how lazy i had become when i put together the menu for sunday night's bbq. well, not put together per say... i just grabbed a few recipes from the list that SK so conveinently posted for people who needed bbq ideas. and although they were all good and josh and i did the actualy cooking, i felt like i was cheating. from now on, inspiration only - no more copying!

so sunday, josh and i made out own bbq sauce. i felt like i was 10 again, grabbing anything i could reach and putting in a pot. we basically used all our brown, yellow and red condiments. tomato paste, soy sauce, hoison sauce, honey, vinegar, you name it. it boiled down and after 30 minutes i made josh taste it. "good." he said. then i tasted it. "it tastes like bbq sauce!" "well - yeah." i am usually a little bit amazed when i take things like flour and eggs and mushrooms and thyme and an hour later have ravioli, but at least that makes sense. this was just reduced brown-ness that tasted quite good. although we will have to replenish the condiment drawer, this was def worth the time and effort. it was just a bit of mixing and then simmering. and it will be fun to tweak next time we decide to make it and make it our own.





i also made bobby flay's coleslaw. i had never used purple cabbage before, but i wanted a little color and something spicey and this fit the bill. the dish was great - the texture had a crunch and the flavor had a bite and it kept well since there is almost no mayo in it. i have made a bunch of his recipes now and am finally seeing a theme - chili peppers, garlic, olive oil, cilantro and a blender.






i attempted a skillet conrbread, which was WAY too dry. when we ate sunday's leftovers on tuesday, i was tempted to throw it away, but decided to try a revival. this would have been quicker in a microwave, but since i am holding out as long as i can without one, i just broke up the pieces of cornbread, put them in a small baking dish and added some milk and popped it in the oven. 20 minutes later, we had huge chunks of hot, moist cornbread. i was tempted to add an egg to the milk before i added it to the bread, but was too lazy. the bread absorbed the liquid perfectly and i don't think the egg would have added anything significant. i will have to remember this trick in the microwave-less future.

i wanted to make deb's baked beans too, but didn't want to do all that work (plus we didnt have some of the ingredients on hand), so i just took a can of vegetarian baked beans, added some red onion, turkey bacon, paprika and salt and called it a day.

also made a quick and dirty salsa, which was a hit. diced red onions, quartered grape tomatoes, diced green pepper, jalepeno, and minced garlic, tossed with salt, cilantro and lime.

one last picture. you got to love the man who puts his glass filled with cold liquid on a hot night right NEXT to a coaster. i usually don't care about the table, but it was RIGHT there. sigh - men.