hee-hee, Pockies!

what flavor pocky are you?

[c] sugardew

And, to continue the theme, please follow this link, as I am not blog savvy enough to include video in my blogs.

Now I know Japanese commercials can be...odd, after all, I am a huge fan of Japander, but this goes beyond. Way beyond. And I love it.

I ♥ Rainy Days and Garlic

Doesn't good home made food just make you feel so good and comfy?

First of all, thank you Susi, for such a relaxing fantastic day up (and, uh, I do mean up. I think I saw a Mountie) in the Inwood 'hood for a day of fabulous snacks, fun music, and knitting. If you ever need someone to go through all your books housesit for a week I'd be happy to help out. That's just the kind of helpful gal I am.

But really, with all the rain swishing round outside, and the feeling of being far removed from the city noise, the vinyl scratching round and round, and the sisterhood feeling that was just permeating, it was...cozy. Very very cozy.

Then I had to endure the subway and rain on the way home, and once I got in, all I wanted to be was cozy again, without having to squint at my intarsia chart. So, I had a couple of recipes I wanted to try, both from New York Times Magazine. I made egg drop garlic soup. How, do you ask? Well, allow me to illegally reprint the recipe right here for all you lovely readers.

This is a combo of two different recipes, Julia Child's Garlic Soup with Poached Egg, and Daniel Patterson's method for cooking poached scrambled eggs

Whatcha do:

In a large saucepan or soup pot, combine:
the peeled cloves of a whole head of garlic
2 tsp kosher or coarse salt
1/4 tsp each of dried sage and dried thyme
1 bay leaf
4 parsley sprigs (i used chopped frozen parsley, thanks Trader Joe's!)
2 Tblsp olive oil (it says 3, but that was a bit too much)
Pepper

Pour in 2 quarts (8 cups) of cold water. Bring to boil, then lower heat to simmer, cover pot halfway and simmer for half an hour.
Set a sieve over a heatproof bowl, and strain soup into bowl. Press on solids to get out as much flavor as possible (hold on to that garlic, tho, it's good mushed up with mashed potatoes, or butter, or just put back in the soup)

K, now for the eggs. For one serving, pour about a cup and a half of the soup into a smaller saucepan, cover and heat to boil. Meanwhile, crack one egg over a slotted spoon and let most of the thin part of the whites drain. Beat the egg in a bowl with a fork for 20 seconds. Stir the soup clockwise with the fork, to get a bit of a whirlpool going. Pour in the egg thru the tines of the fork, cover and cook for one minute. Careful, it may boil over a bit. Turn off the heat and let sit for one minute. Then, c'est fini. On a side note, this is the way, using plain water, that Patterson makes the lightest scrambled eggs you will ever have. They are yummy.

This is so good, and filling, and inexpensive, and doesn't require a trip to the store. It will most definitely become part of my repertoire. And you can change it up a bunch of ways. Next time I'll add sliced mushrooms, or horseradish or wasabi, or beans, or rice. Rice would be fantastic. And start to finish it took about 40 minutes, which really isn't bad. Takes longer to order in food.

It's midnight now, and I might make a second bowl. Hee hee, no vampires tonight!

Drama Be My Name

So, apparently I had a 'moment' there.

I've gotten lotsa comments, mostly from Bret Easton Ellis, who wants his style back. Or Jay McInery. No, don't feel like spell checking that one. Can anyone really tell the difference between those two anyway?

Anyway, enough of all that. The next day was torture. I was all kinds of hungover, and could not feed myself, pick up needles, talk on the phone, or get off the couch. Tho realized the next day that I wasn't merely hungover, though I was, I truly was, but I was also sick. As in my usual changing o' the seasons cold. Loverly.

Next day still felt all stuffed up and yucky, but decided to buck up and go into midtown and pick up the magnetic board that the lovely Miss Claudine graciously lent me, so that I could move beyond row 8 of my intarsia tote bag.

And I'm so glad I did, cause I found a few really lovely things that day. Miss Claudine never told me that her school was next door to Bridge Kitchenware! Where, believe it or not, I had never ever ever been to. I know, you're shocked. Well, so was I when I saw the prices. On a side note, I'm looking at their web site now, and they're having a book signing with Susan Spungen, and does anyone else wonder if that's Nancy Spungen's sister? I read "And I Don't Want to Live This Life..." when I was 16 and living in Sweden and it was one of the books the library had in English and I have to say, it made a huge impact on me. I read a lot. A lot a lot a lot. Like as in being a librarian or working in a bookstore sounds like a very attractive second career option, and that book is one of the ones that stick out in my memory.

Anyhoo, back to my day. Bridge was hella pricey, and though they had covetous things, I ain't working this week, so no spending for me. Tho I was intrigued by the copper pots big enough to boil a shetland pony. My goodness. And at only $2500, a bargain. Think of all the chicken soup I could make.

After that, went to Claudine's, met some of her bosses, one of whom asked me to name the ugliest celeb I've ever worked with. I think I sidestepped that one quite nicely. Then I left, and wandered over towards Grand Central to go back homewards, and found that I could happily eat my way up and down 45th street. All my favorites, including this really cool little rice ball joint, called Oms/b which is so my type of place. Cheapo, and you can order small amounts of food without having tons of leftovers, I had a salmon roe rice ball and a wasabi/scallion one. Yummy!

And no, didn't work on the tote that night. C'est la vie.

Today I was feeling mildly less crappy, and my friend Ro was having some man troubles, which once she laid it all out for me sounded eerily like my man troubles of recent times, so I went to Williamsburg to comfort her over cappucino's and yummy italian pastries. I know, how I suffer for my friends. This wasn't the 'Burg of Bedford and unwashed hair. This is italian everybody knows you and all the kids you went to school with are still in the neighborhood and everybody knows alllllllll about you and your family and say hi to you from passing cars and you get charged less for your coffee than other people Williamsburg. It's nice. Homey.

After that, meandered over to the afore mentioned trendy end of the burg, and up and down Bedford, including a foray to The Yarn Tree where, miracle of miracles, I resisted buying anything . Yay me! I did, however sign up to volunteer on Sunday at the sheep shearing thing in Prospect Park. C'mon, who's with me? I'll bake something yummy and bring it along. Course, I know less than nothing about sheep shearing or spinning, so it should be interesting.

Then, over to the Bedford Cheese Shop, which damn it all, was out of my chocolate chevre. Bastards. And they had these two women working there who had no sense of salesmanship at all, instead of the yummy guy who just plied me with samples of whatever he thought I would enjoy. Well, almost..... ;>
Anyway, they gave me samples of what I asked for, and I bought some stuff, but it just wasn't the same. Sniff.

Came home, and wouldn't you know that the second I get out of the subway my buddy in Williamsburg calls? His sense of timing sucks. Apparently, mine does too, since he was working today. Oh well, nice that someone is working. Bitter, table for one, please.

Tonight I made the macerated strawberries for Susi's fete tomorrow, very much looking forward to that, and reheated some homemade from scratch potato soup over portobello mushrooms and chicken sweet sausage. And if you think that sounded good, you should experience how it tastes. Seriously, I have leftovers. C'mon by.

All in all, a loverly day, with fantastic weather and even some exercise. Yee ha! Now, throw a nice 8 or 10 week gig into the mix, and I'd be happy as the proverbial clam (sorry for the whining, but it's worked before)

Oh, OH! Before I forget! This is such immenent disaster. Apparently, Broadway Panhandler is moving INTO A SPACE UNDERNEATH MY BUILDING. You know, I really can't decide which is worse. Having a kitchen supply place within jumping out of my window distance, or a yarn store doing the same. Or Sephora. It's like a shopper's version of "would you rather...." Either way, that's where all my available cash will be going. I give fair warning.

night out

you know when you go to a party for a job you haven't been involved with in a year, and air kiss everyone when you don't remember their name, and make chitchat so you don't seem like you really don't care what they've been up to, and pretend to remember who they are when you have no idea, and then it's 2am and you go to another party and start drinking water to sober up, and get photographed in a low cut shirt by someone you don't know, and go to a random stranger's apartment to continue the party with five other people, and your really really hot friend (who is not single, by the way) starts making amorous moves, but your conscience remembers that he has a girlfriend who is not there, but out of town, way way out of town, but still... and the slightly skeevy French guy starts making everyone play Truth or Dare, and you remember that you are 32 years old, and way way removed from middle school, which is the last time you played that insipid game, and you really have no desire to play 'Seven Minutes in Heaven', so you leave, only to wait on Broadway and 28th street at 5am for an uncomfortably long time for a cab, trying to avoid eye contact with everyone around you and praying that no one thinks you're a hooker, and finally getting home around 5:30 and thanking Yahweh and all involved that you don't have to work tomorrow (today) and then getting bummed out because you have no work tomorrow (today) and deciding to say screw it all, I'm going to post, then go to bed, and remember all the club kids and drag queens and the whole scene from way back when, and marvel that some of them are still around, and curiously some of them look even younger now, and remember all that you've done in your past and how far you've really, really come in life, and hell, it's not over yet, but still....you wonder...

yep, you know.

CityMinx / CountryMinx

Hee Hee! First to post about upstate! Will wonders never ever cease….

So, bottom line, had such a good, nourishing, gal pal, bonding, relaxing, loving the country and the lake but not the spiny thing I stepped on, fulfilling, Harry Potter Movie-a-thon all around GLORIOUS time – Jill, you’re a star. No doubt in my mind at all.

I only have a few pictures, but oh, the memories they bring back.

Here’s Jewel thinking she sewed the baby sweater up completely backwards.
Takes a strong girl to laugh in the face of disaster. Seems that the stress of that scare had just worn the poor girl out. Or no, that was just Jewel. At about 9pm each night.







And the Michigan gals trippin’ down the lane. And the other lovely ladies as well. I love this picture, has a sort of coffee table lovely pic in the country feel.

And we did beauty treatments…..




And we cooked. And baked. And enjoyed the weather. And Stew Leonard’s! And knit. Well, most of us knit. I got bested by the damn lace pattern in the latest Interweave Knits. If any of you out there has attempted the Damned Trellis Scarf (adjective my own addition, it’s really call the Damned Scarf) would you please let me know. Much obliged.

So, I’ll post more tomorrow with more stories, and tales of the wondrous Passover Seder, which was fabulous and lovely and enjoyed by all and if I ever decide to do it all by myself again I’m hoping my friends and family will shoot me dead.

It would be much more merciful.

I'm covered in schmaltz, and I love it

i know, it's been a while. So long, in fact, that my browser didn't recognize my own damn URL when I typed it in to write this.I do apologize. I blame several things:

The Early Show: Not only is this the Early Morning Gig From Hell, but it ruins the rest of my day. I wake up at 3am, get to work. Work, thinking, oh, this isn't so bad, I don't have to deal with the anchors, the guests can be really interesting, I'm getting a free breakfast and lots of knitting done, and some free books too. And to make me feel guiltier, or more guilty, or something, last time I worked there I found in the Free Book Stash the Morehouse Merino Book AND the Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Knitting Rules!
So shame on me for badmouthing the Early Show. But. Then I get home and actually accomplish things for a few hours, like finding out that there are no lines at all at Trader Joe's at 10:30 in the morning. This is valuable information, people. However, around noon I am a cross-eyed drooling mess. So I pass out on the couch, for about 3 or 5 hours. Then guess what? A triple does of my beloved Ambien can't get me to sleep. I hate the Early Show.
The Julie/Julia Blog: Let's not mention that this blog is 3 years old. Let's not mention that I've already read the book that the blog gave birth to. Let's not even mention that I would probably not ever cook more than five recipes from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Let's just say that I feel like if I don't read a few weeks' worth of this blog every day, well, let's just say I read a few weeks' worth every day. And all the user comments.
Crocheting the projects for Debbie: Finally finally finally done. And I don't even care that the bear looks like a wombat. Or one of the pod people from The Dark Crystal. Awesome movie, I should rent that.
Passover: Tho, damn, I did make some fine Jewish Penicillin today. Tomorrow is Charoses, Carrot Souffle, and Gelfilte Fish Loaf. If any of you want to come over and be my sous chef, I'd love it. Seriously. C'mon, Jess, you're not working Monday, are you?

So, I should be more on track soon. And I am so looking forward to this weekend, and the sojourn upstate. I think it will be relaxing, if I can unclench just a tad. Mmm, if I'm done early Wednesday, it'll be massage-city for me.

bad bad bad bad bad blogger

ok, it's been a week. and i'm sorry. just haven't had the energy, or thought of something witty to write. i'll post tomorrow, i promise.

with pictures.

by the way, can you believe that was chris o'donnell on gray's tonight? i always knew that facial hair was an improvement for most men. yum.