CityMinx

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Lies, all Lies.





You Are 65% Normal

(Really Normal)









Otherwise known as the normal amount of normal

You're like most people most of the time

But you've got those quirks that make you endearing

You're unique, yes... but not frighteningly so!





I hate the idea of being normal. 65%!!! That's ridiculously normal!! That's it, I'm going to do something crazy with my hair again.

Ok, let it go. And, speaking of going, I'm heading to Battery Park later today (friday) to go to the Swedish Midsummer Festival. It's from 5 til 8 or so, and it should be a cute time. And lot's of adorable swedish guys, and girls, if you're a guy (or into girls)

And for those of you that couldn't make it to dinner, it was a yummy success. And Jo brought an 8 inch square brownie. See what you missed? I'll invite you to the next one.

Liquid Gold and Tiaras

So, what does a sane person do on a day when it's 89 degrees out, sunny and gorgeous?

She stays inside and makes chicken soup!!!!

I told you, I can be a bit touched sometimes.

Well, I did get out bright and early today (11:30am) and hit the Greenmarket. My goodness, that was just temptation in the Square. Mostly in the forms of herbs and berries. I bought: strawberries, blueberries, peaches, dill, a small turnip (for the soup) peas in the pod, a fair sized mango, potatoes, and shallots. Oh, and purple scallions. Yum.

Then my friend Stephanie, another makeup artist, called and asked if I wanted to grab some lunch. That's Steph over there. Well, she called as I was shoveling in leftover fried rice from yesterday's impromptu early dinner at a noodle shop with Miss Jessamyn. So, I said, go grab lunch, come on over and we'll get some iced coffee and go out and enjoy the day some more. Then I hung up and continued watching Gilmore Girls.
So, Stephalump (really, I mean this with all affection. You should hear what she calls me) came by, and we headed out. She had this idea that she wanted a turtle, since you can paint the shells and make it look fabulous. I came up with the name Tiara the Turtle. If the turtle's a boy, then she'd name it Tiara the Drag Queen Turtle. Cause, you see, we're hip modern metro gals like that.

Anyway, off to the Petco, where we realized that A) turtles need to live in water, and B) which would entail buying an aquarium roughly half the space of Steph's apartment. And tortoises (which live on dry land) are like eighty dollars. So, maybe a hermit crab?

Went upstairs, ooh and ahhed over kitties. She said she couldn't be the typical single Jewish girl in New York City with a cat. I stopped speaking to her for a good fifteen minutes after that.

So, then some shoe shopping, bought some undies, blah blah blah, we parted ways, I went home to mess up my kitchen.

Typically, I was missing a few key ingredients for chicken soup, like onions and celery. Whatever. I had bought a kosher chicken and some extra necks (for flavor. Once, I made a chicken stock from nothing but necks, backs, and wings. It was one of my best efforts). I have this theory that chicken soup tastes best when made from kosher chickens, which, other than Empire, is difficult to find in the city. So, la, when I had gone to Jersey for father's day, I bought chicken.

Instead of celery and onions, I used elephant garlic, a turnip, baby carrots, dill, and a few bay leaves. Liquid gold, I say. Mmmmmm.

And, I had to get all creative and render up some schmaltz and greblens. Which, is chicken fat and the fried chicken skins. Sorry, my vegetarian friends. So, that's done. And done, literally. Greblens are infamous for not lasting ten minutes beyond cooking time. They are just too damn tasty.

Then, I had all this leftover cooked chicken. Which I put thru a food mill. Apparently, food mills are for fruits and veggies. I did not know this, and damn near broke my wrist and took half an hour to grind up a single chicken's worth of meat. And that took up a quart container. So, now I have a quart of ground chicken. Two words: empanadas, and dumplings. That'll be tomorrow. Jessamyn, what's a good wonton wrapper? I know you know.

Dinner Invite! Miss Jo is coming over for dinner tomorrow, but I have enough for one more guest, if you'd like to join us. By tomorrow, I mean Thursday, the 22nd. Which, depending when I finish typing, will more likely be today. Anyway, on the menu is: Skate with brown butter sauce over black rice. And fresh peas with mushrooms. Jo is providing dessert. Leave a comment and I'll get back to you. This is nothing formal, just me, cooking up some fish. Using up some fancy expensive butter. Tra la la.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Party Crafts Redux

So, what have I been up to the past month or so?

I mean, sure. Work, paying bills, cooking and eating, knitting and crocheting. Living life and having fun. But what have I really been up to?

This:

And these:


Here's a close-up:

I think this was my favorite:


And five each of these:


And I had the pleasure of dragging home (walking, no less) about 80 pounds of candy from Economy Candy to turn into this:



And goody bags for the golfers (have I ever said that 'swag' is one of my very favorite words?:

Which included this loot:

And, it all added up to this:

And you wonder why I've been a bit stressed.

So, basically, I've been a CraftyMinx. And to tell the truth, I'm not really an artsy type of person. I leave that to my sister-in-law. And I really couldn't go to a Michael's or AC Moore, so I basically ran around, multiple times, to Pearl Paint, fabric stores, NY Bakery Supply, every damn frickin toy and hobby store in the city, Party City, Gristede's, D'Agastino's, KMart, a really really scary subterranean train shop on 45th street, and the liquor store. A few of them, actually. Oh! and every time I went into a bar (hey, it was necessary) I'd ask if they had german beer coasters. Not to mention finding something to wear. I was a lot of fun the past month.

And I had to deal with my mother. Clandestine emails, phone calls (to make sure my dad wasn't around to see the fax or email I was sending), texts, and her arranging her route so that he wouldn't see her car driving down Route 17. Plus just listening to her have to blow off steam, and fret about who hasn't yet rsvp'd, and what she would wear, and all the errata that goes on with throwing a semi-formal event, not to mention a surprise party and secret roast. And a golf outing the next day. And my poor brother, who just started a new job, had to deal with helping co-ordinating all these details, plus providing the graphics I needed and dealing with a questionnaire he had devised.

We was busy.

But, it was all worth it. It was, as I had said, a fabulous party. Unfortunately, the pictures I took are generally horrible, so they're not worth posting. But we had those disposable cameras on each table, so if there's a good shot, I'll post that one.


Ok, shake it off. It's done. Yee-ha!

So, what else is new? I bought yarn! I was at The Point, and they had a sale table. Not a bin, a table. With this:Katia Sevilla.

In this colorway. I love this color. When make-up shopping, I'm a sucker for this kind of stone color. I own about 9 or 10 shades of stone. I think what I really want to do is cut the yarn into little pieces, and tape them to my eyelids.

But, what to do with it? A wrap, so I can stop shopping for one. If anyone has a great pattern for a shimmery ribbon yarn wrap, please please let me know. I'd even pay for the pattern (gasp!)

Ok kiddies, that's all for now. Back to normal life tomorrow. Yay!

Friday, June 16, 2006

C'est Fini

The party is over. He was very surprised. The centerpieces and placecard holders were fabulous. The speeches were hilarious. The food was...ok, but the drinks more than made up for it. I looked, if I may say so myself, pretty damn good. Wore a shawl, but ditched it after about 5 minutes. We have an entire cake left over, and about ten pounds of candy. I will post pictures when I get back to the city in a few days.

If I haven't said this before, my dad is an awesome guy.

Happy 60th, Lloyd!

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

I got more done today before the time I'm usually awake...

I love this!

Here's the pic:

And here's the link to the article about said photo. Tho, sometimes, it's better to make up the story one's self, dontcha think?

Ooof, I'm beat. I was up at 4am, to go to work today. And I decided to do it sans Ambien, as per my complete idiocy on the med. So......got about 4 hours of sleep. And I was determined not to nap, since I had mega multi things to get done today. And - miracle of miracles, a lot of it actually did get done! What did not get done: finding a shrug for the dress, the all important mani pedi, and the cleaning of the apartment. But that may happen in a little while. I did get laundry done, hit the pharmacy, shopped all of 9th street (I had no idea there were so many great and inexpensive vintage stores there! I mean, why would I? I've only lived on this street eight years). I put up the blind that's been sitting on the floor for two days. I got various crafty things done, y'all know what I'm talking about, and I found the frickin trains.

And, finally some knitting progress. May I present...Moishe the Hasidic Elephant


Yeah, well, he was supposed to be Indian looking, but, seriously, take a look. That tallis, that yamulke. Looks kinda Lubavitch, no?
And that's the fabulous Berhan making sweet sweet cuddly love...no, can't go there. That's Berhan, holding it. Up next, the Incredibly Long Swatch, or whatever it's called, from Knit and Tonic. Yee-ha! Then, I swear, a garment of some sort. It's about damn time.


I should keep a notebook with me throughout the day. I'm always coming up with little bon mots (not to be confused with amuse bouches) that I think, hey, I should put that in the blog. And then I sit down here, and forget all the witty and slyly humorous things I want to say.

Wow, the minx likes to whine a bit tonight, doesn't she? I should end my day, stop eating the mallomars, and go to bed. Leave the packing and the organizing and the repacking of the kit and the grooming and the trying on of high heels and what to wear on Friday and the paying of bills and the arranging to have Jez taken care of to tomorrow.

And that, dear reader, is just what I'm gonna do.

Monday, June 12, 2006

Hi!

Hi lovelies!

Oh i've been busy. Been running back and forth to jersey, been working, been doing some crafty stuff (never thought I'd say it bud damn I miss the convenience of suburbia sometimes). I'd post more, but you never know who is reading this, and I'll post about my crafty stuff later, when it's safe.

And speaking of safe, anyone ever inhale fake smog for 8 hours? Well, hie thee over to Silvercup Studios to work on the reshoots for Anamorph, cuz you'll feel so right at home! Add in earplugs, since there will be gunshots - blanks, I think. I hope, and this was my week last week.

Actually, I can't complain. Or rather, I won't. The days were very light, I had a great time chatting with some hair and wardrobe people I hadn't seen in a while, Fling Boy was not there, thank Hosannah (there was some concern), I got some lovely major motion picture-type pay-rates, and learned so much more about the NRQ and E lines once they hit Queens! And, I learned the difference between Queens Plaza and Queensboro Plaza. Luckily, the difference is only about three blocks.

I'm trying to think about what's new, that I can talk about. Mostly, I've increased my bookmarks page by about 3 million. I am now addicted to food blogs. Which, actually, should come as no surprise to anyone. Haven't been cooking too much, since I've been out of the basics (like eggs, flour, honey, shallots, scallions, yogurt) for a few weeks now. I know, I know, get out there and shop. I've been shopping, it's just been at Pearl Paint. And I hate the produce there.

Anyway, cheese shop worth mentioning. Actually, entire food market worth mentioning. On Essex, between Delancy and Rivington there is the Essex Market, and oh boy. Wonderful produce, fish, meat, HUGE Latino market, and Vietnamese, and Saxelby Cheese. Oh yum. I mean, really, really yum. Talk to Ann when you get there, she's fantastic, and has tons of info, and gives lots and lots of samples. Check it out, let me know what you think.

Oh! Went on the yarn crawl with Katy. Well, that might be a bit of an exaggeration. It was Katy and I (me?), and we wound up going to only one shop, Stitch Therapy, which was lovely, but stuck to my yarn diet. But, I never said I was going on a gourmet food shop diet, and a good thing too, since we stumbled across Blue Apron Foods, 814 Union St. at Seventh Avenue, (718) 230-3180. Thirty five dollars later.....Well, some were food presents for the family. And I found Roast Chicken Flavored Potato Chips. Minx is curious.....
So, yarn looking, food shopping, dragging Katy into every toy store we passed, flea marketing, and finding a clean loo. Sounds like a perfect day.

Worked at CBS today. I really have to get over myself about that job. Really, it isn't so bad. So I have to wake up at the crack of dawn. It just makes taking a mid-day nap all that easier. So I don't do much, that's okay, I get lots of knitting and reading done. Whatever, there was a week there where I had absolutely no spare cash whatsoever, so until they offer me the key position on Law and Order or something, youse takes what youse can gets. And watch The Early Show on Wednesday, I'm doing the male models (heh heh).

Sooooo....Wanna see my stash? I've cleaned it up since, but by golly it's a mess...


Okaaaay, that's about enough for now. I do have tons more pix to post, but it will have to wait a few days. Full disclosure next week.

And a hola to Dave of Chub Creek, to prove I'm not crazy (yep, had another Ambien episode. I swear I'm going to have to switch to Lunesta) and to April, cause she taught me how to Frappr Chat, then we decided we liked iChat better anyway.