Leftover Madness

We have so many leftovers from our turkey dinner. Next time I decide to invite over half as many people as we have food I will remember to buy some extra tupperware and force everybody to take stuff home. I love leftovers but I would also love to continue to fit into my pants.

Not only do we have leftovers, but we have a ton of veggies that we didn't end up using. Since I HATE wasting food, I'm trying to find ways to use everything. Tonight I made a Thanksgiving Leftover Shepards Pie. I got the idea from crazy Martha Stewart but turned it into my own thing. I layered everything in a pie plate. Stuffing, then turkey, a few plops of gravy, cut up carrots and green beans and the whole thing topped with leftover mashed potatoes. It was ok. A little dry and VERY filling.


As for the rest of the vegetables, I'm going to have to be creative. Unfortunately, the only thing I feel like cooking right now is Christmas cookies and candy! I'm going to restrain myself until most of this food is gone though. Bummer. Luckily, our friends gave us this awesome cookbook called The Illustrated Kitchen Bible and every recipe has pictures! I've already looked at it for a few hours and found some inspiration. Time to start cooking!!

Gobble gobble highlights

- Standing in line for 45 minutes at the neighborhood bakery to buy bread for dinner and stuffing. It would not have been so bad to stand there with my coffee, smelling fresh bread, except that the lady next to me felt the need to talk stream of consciousness about her whole life. After the bakery I hit Trader Joe's where the wine guy told me all about his Thanksgiving plans, in way too much detail. I guess I just bring out the chattiness in people. Of course when I got home with four loaves of bread Frenchie informs me that those are too beautiful to use in stuffing so we had to ask one of our guests to bring bread.

- Frenchie massaging the turkey with butter. Hopefully he will give me permission to post the video on here because it's funny.

- Me waking up at 5:30am to make the pies which included pureeing pumpkin, followed by "What the hell are you blending?"

- Mismatched dishes, tables, chairs, glasses and silverware. Food being served in measuring cups because that was all we had left! Me realizing that we really should have married in the traditional way where we give people a night of food, cake and dancing, and they bring us some freakin' serving platters!

- Me realizing that it didn't matter how the food was served as long as it tasted good and people enjoyed eating it

- "This is the best pumpkin pie I've ever had!" : )

- Tons of potatoes, none made by me, thank goodness.

- My first ever turkey and gravy was a complete success. I had lots of compliments and I also thought it was good. The gravy was a lot of work though. I might have to do some exploring with gravy recipes in the future. The turkey and gravy recipe I ended up using was from Bon Apetit of course. Roast Heritage Turkey with Bacon Herb and Cider Gravy. Of course we didn't actually use a "heritage turkey" but it probably didn't make that much of a difference. If I can ever afford a heritage turkey, I will definitely use this recipe to prepare it!

- More posting to come, as soon as blogger starts to work properly. Check out more pics at Flickr.

Goddess Grunt

I recently had the realization that I go to an old lady gym. That's right. I'm 27, and I work out like an old lady, with old ladies. This was pointed out to me by an anonymous review on the internet, and ever since I read it I've started noticing things. First, the gym does not play music. I noticed this when I first joined but thought maybe it was just a bare bones gym. This is the first independent gym I've gone to and I didn't know how it worked! Second, if you go in the middle of the day or the morning there are only old ladies (this was a pretty big sign). Third, there is a woman in one of my classes that wears a unitard, kind of like the one below, but on a much larger lady. More power to her, but I'm pretty sure this one is the same one she had in the 70s when she was Jazzercising.

I usually go to the classes in the evening because a) I don't like entertaining myself between 4-7 (that's another story) and b) I like to watch Ellen in the morning (yup, still unemployed). After 4 or 5pm the crowd is a little younger; the teachers from the area or students. Then I don't feel so young. Yesterday, however, I decided to go to yoga in the morning and found myself a good 30 years younger than the next youngest person in the room, perhaps including the teacher. The class started and got moving pretty slowly but I had hopes that it would pick up. Oh...it did. At the climax of the class we did the goddess pose (below) and all of the sudden all the women started sighing. "ahhhhh" "ahhhhh" each time we went in and out of the pose. Then the teacher said to pick up the pace and all the women started loudly grunting! "grah" "grah" It took everything I had not to laugh!



I still like this gym but I wonder if I would be getting a better workout with music playing and harder classes not catering to the older crowd. At least it's entertaining!

Prep

You still need to eat when prepping for Thanksgiving. My almost famous enchiladas.

Testing pumpkin pie recipes. Aren't they cute? Turns out you can make mini pumpkin pies in ramekins.

My favorite thing at Russo's. These cute herbs bundles. They have tons of herbs and they are cheap!

The featherlight yeast rolls. They actually are getting better with age. Frenchie even said they are good.

So far..

We bought the turkey and about half of what we needed at Costco, even in our hungover state. Plus a bunch of stuff we didn't need of course, because that is how Costco works. Frenchie: "Check out that beef (with stars in his eyes). We should get this. I mean 8 lbs of beef chuck is kind of a lot, but we can always freeze it. And it is only $3.59 a pound! Oh, and look over here! 2 whole chickens for 10 bucks! What a deal!" Emily: "Hey, can you pick up that gallon of whipping cream?" Frenchie: "Are you sure we need all of that?" Emily: (rolls eyes) "It's Thanksgiving!"

You all know what I mean... Well, my family does at least. Whipped cream is important. Way more important than the turkey.

The turkey was a "Fresh, Young Turkey" for 99 cents a pound. Hells yeah! Cheap and I don't need to defrost it. We were wondering; if the young turkey is so cheap, the "Not so fresh, and not so young turkeys" must have been really cheap. Those were apparently sold out though because we didn't see them. : )
Anyway, we went for one that is 20.09 pounds. For the upcoming year (which is going to be a great year, BTW).

I've come up with most of the menu.

Menu

Munchies
Roasted Hazelnuts (from my grandparents farm)
Trader Joe's Kettle Corn (if I don't eat it all before Thursday)
Cranberry Champagne Cocktail

Meal

Turkey
Cider gravy
Fennel, sausage, squash stuffing
Mashed potatoes (brought by a guest, so I don't have to worry about it)
Green beans with shallots
Sweet Potatoes (still figuring out how I'm going to prep these)
Cranberry sauce (still working on this recipe too)
Brussel sprouts with buttered pecans
Rolls (I'm trying out a recipe tomorrow to see if making them is a possibility. If not, buying them somewhere)

Dessert
Pumpkin pie
Apple pie with walnut streusel
Lots of whipped cream

I can tell you are all jealous now. What are you doing for Thanksgiving?

Discovery

I've made a discovery! Going to the gym in the morning means you get to start drinking earlier in the evening! Which leads to a very slow Saturday morning. I think I'll go back to evening gym classes. : )

5 people...7 bottles of wine. Nuff said.

If we can get off our butts we are going to brave Costco today. Need to find that turkey so I can start defrosting it. Right? How long do they take to defrost? I am definitely in over my head... Actually I think I'm more worried about the mashed potatoes after last week's situation. Maybe I can put one of the guests on that one.

Perfect Pizza Dough Recipe

I have tried a bunch of different pizza dough recipes but the first one I ever tried is the best. And super easy! The only hard part is remembering to make it a couple hours before you want to eat it so it can rise.

Pizza Dough
1 package active dry yeast
3/4 cup warm water

2 cups flour
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp olive oil

Pour 3/4 cup warm water into small bowl; stir in yeast. Let stand until yeast dissolves, about 5 minutes.

Brush large bowl lightly with olive oil. Mix 2 cups flour, sugar, and salt in processor. Add yeast mixture and 3 tablespoons oil; process until dough forms a sticky ball. Transfer to lightly floured surface. KNEAD dough until smooth, adding more flour by tablespoonfuls if dough is very sticky, about 1 minute. Transfer to prepared bowl; turn dough in bowl to coat with oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let dough rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in volume, about 1 hour. PUNCH down dough. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Store in airtight container in refrigerator. ROLL out dough according to recipe instructions. (Start in center of dough, working outward toward edges but not rolling over them.)

While the pizza dough is very important, I think the sauce is equally important. I tried to use Trader Joe's pizza sauce once and it was a disaster. This recipe is the best! Make a bunch of this sauce and freeze it in batches so you always have it when you want pizza. I have modified it in many ways depending on what I have available but I think the most important components are the honey and a little bit of spice; red pepper flakes and cayenne pepper. It won't be spicy but it adds a LOT of flavor.

NOW, my other piece of advice on pizza making is to buy some fresh mozzarella and basil and just make a pizza with splotches of each. Spread olive oil on the dough, and put a slice of mozzarella next to a dollop of sauce and place some basil leaves over it. I always get rave reviews on this pizza!

This pizza from the other night had mozzarella, chanterelles, big chunks of garlic on one side and pizza sauce, cheddar cheese and spicy sausage from TJs on the other. Yummy!!

Penne and cheese

I made a wonderful penne and cheese dish yesterday for dinner. It might have been the most unhealthy thing I've ever made (minus desserts of course). Here is the recipe I used. It is loosely based on a Bon Apetit recipe but I changed it so much it is now mine!

Penne and Cheese

1 lb bag of mini penne pasta

1 tbsp butter
1 small onion chopped
1 leek chopped
1 tsp flour
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
1 cup milk
1/2 cup cream
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup goat cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh tarragon (or whatever herbs you have around)

8 slices bacon, chopped.

1 cup bread cut into pieces
2 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 350, grease a 13x9x2 glass baking dish. Cook the penne al dente.

Melt 1 tbsp butter in a large pot and saute the onions and leeks until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the flour, mustard, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Stir until combined, then add the milk and cream. Whisk quickly until the sauce thickens a little bit, about 5 minutes. Add the goat cheese until melted and combined. Add the grated cheddar cheese and herbs and whisk until cheese melts. Add the pasta and mix it all together. Taste a couple pieces to make sure it isn't gross (it won't be).

Cook the bacon in a saucepan until crisp and drain on a paper towel. Add half the bacon to the pasta and cheese mix and stir together. Pour the mix into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the remaining bacon on top.

Melt 2 tbsp butter in saucepan and add the bread crumbs. Cook until browned and spread on top of the pasta. Bake in preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until heated through.

I took a picture but blogger won't upload it right now...I'll add it later.

Frenchie and I have just decided to host a Thanksgiving dinner at our house so now I'm freaking out a little about the cooking. I have never cooked a turkey!!! Any advice or recipes to share?

J'ai un interview

I kept saying that for the past 4 days to Frenchie, even though it was totally wrong. Whatever, he knew what I meant. I had my interview today but it turned out not to really be an interview. It was just sort of an initial interview for a legal temp agency so maybe they will find me something else. Oh well. I was pretty disappointed at first because I had my hopes up too high, but now I feel better. That might be thanks to the 800 pieces of Trader Joe's Peanut Butter filled pretzels I just ate. Man those things are addictive!!

I suck at lying

In a desperate attempt to make some money last week I signed up with a secret shopper service. My experience with secret shoppers came from working at Starbucks and having them warn us about them. At Starbucks the shoppers would take the drink into the bathroom to measure the amount of foam and test the temperature. We also had very important requirements like to ask the guests (Starbucks' word) if they specifically want a Hawaiian Bagel. Not just a pastry, or a bagel, it had to be a Hawaiian Bagel, with cream cheese. And the fear of asking a secret shopper if they wanted a pastry was very real. I thought I would get fired if I got caught asking a "guest" if they wanted "something to eat" but at the same time I felt stupid suggesting to every customer that they needed a Starbucks Classic Coffeecake so I never actually did that.

Anyway, my first assignment was not Starbucks or anything useful and interesting. I had to call a childcare center and pretend to be 5 months pregnant and ask for information. I was not that excited about this because, having never been 5 months pregnant, I didn't even know how to make things up. I had never thought about what I would want out of a childcare center so when she asked me that question I think she figured me out. I was like, "umm, I want you to watch my soon to be born child, like, all day and stuff." And then I was supposed to ask all these weird questions so I asked, "uhh, what kind of classes and teachers do you have?" Thinking to myself, what kind of freakin' class are they going to have for a 6 week old infant. Gymnastics? She obviously had me figured out by that point and just started rattling off all the propaganda for the center. I felt dirty lying to her and stupid for being so bad at it.

All that work and all I get out of that is $9, a packet of information about the childcare center (that will be useful if I ever have a baby in Lexington MA), and this blog post! Now they want me to take my cat to a vet in the area, which would be a free vet trip and less lying, so I'm considering it...

Oh, and an update on last night's dinner. I am horrible at making mashed potatoes! I need you Abra! My potatoes turned out so gummy we could barely swallow them. Any advice on less gummy mashed potatoes?

Frenchie's steak with chanterelles was very yummy as usual though! Cook the chanterelles with butter until slightly soft, add some cream until warm and pour on top of a prepared steak. Voila! Beautiful French meal.

Monday update

I am sitting here trying to think up a clever title to this post so I just gave up and decided to just write about stuff.

Last night we went to the Ani Difranco concert at Boston's Symphony Hall. I think this was the 6th Ani concert I've been to but I might be forgetting one. She is wonderful in concert!!! Really amazing. Last night was no exception and I think was even better than some of her other concerts because she was in really good spirits. Her third song was a brand spankin' new song about President elect Obama. It was so inspiring and really summarized the feelings that I think a lot of us have about this election year. I had goosebumps.

We also put in a cat door in the window so the cats can go in and out but we can try to keep the heat in the house. It is getting very cold here in the Northeast. Those silly cats cannot figure it out!! We try to show it to them and they look at us like we are crazy. I think Gizmo went one direction this morning but then she started crying at the window because she couldn't get back in. I really thought they were smarter than that! I guess I'm going to have to do some research on how to teach a cat to use the cat door. It is kind of funny though.

Tonight I am going to make fennel mashed potatoes and steak with chanterelles, if Frenchie will agree to make the steak. Chanterelle mushrooms are one of my favorite foods so I'm super excited that it is the season right now but I leave it up to Frenchie to cook them. He's so good at making things with them so I just leave it up to him. I was going to make my pumpkin soup again but I can't cut the pumpkin in half!! It's too hard!!

Whine Stopper

I think I have to apologize to my readers (all 4 of you) for that whiny post the other day. I really appreciate the nice things you all said though! I even knew, while I was writing it, that I would regret it and feel stupid later, but whatever. Sometimes you just need to get things off your chest!!!

Really, things aren't that bad. Frenchie and I will be fine. I called the nice loan people and they said I could defer a couple months before starting payments and I now have a job interview! I think this one is actually going to happen too. I don't want to jinx it by saying too much so you are all going to have to wait until Wednesday to hear about it.

Yesterday we had some friends over who are going through a breakup. I'm a little unclear why they came to dinner together but it definitely put some things in perspective. Their sadness hung in the air and their voices and it made me realize how lucky I am right now. I have everything I need in my life right now and I think I'm going to try to just appreciate that.

In other news, hopefully I improved my friends' moods by force feeding them this amazing cake I made yesterday! I think it was the best cake I have made!! And it was pretty easy. Making the caramel icing could have been a disaster but I got lucky. Just make sure to only cook the sugar for 2 minutes. Also, I did not have all these spices and it was still very yummy. Just improvise if you can't find them (add more of the ones you like!).

Pumpkin Spice Layer Cake With Caramel and Cream Cheese Frosting
- bon appetit, November 2008

Cake
3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin (I used Libby's)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons finely grated orange peel (I used lemon)

Frosting
1 1-pound box powdered sugar, divided
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temp
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temp
Candied orange peel (I didn't use this)

CAKE/ Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter and flour two 9-inch cake pans with 1 1/2-inch sides, tapping out any excess flour. Whisk first 9 ingredients in large bowl. Using electric mixer, beat pumpkin, sugar and oil in another large bowl. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating to incorporate between additions. Mix in orange peel. Add flour mixture; beat on low speed just to blend. Divide batter between prepared pans.

Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 33 minutes (mine took more like 40 minutes). Cool in pans 10 minutes. Invert onto rack, then turn top side up and cool completely.

FROSTING/ Sprinkle 1/2 cup powdered sugar over bottom of small nonstick skillet. Cook over medium heat until sugar melts (do not stir). Continue cooking until sugar turns deep amber, stirring occasionally, about 2 minutes. Carefully stir in 1/2 cup cream, vanilla, and salt (mixture will bubble vigorously). Stir until any caramel bits dissolve. Stir in remaining 1 tablespoon cream. Strain into small bowl. Cool caramel to room temperature.

Sift remaining powder sugar into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl. Gradually beat in powdered sugar. Beat in cooled caramel. Cover and chill frosting until firm enough to spread. (make sure to taste the frosting along the way. A lot. Because it is wonderful. You'll have enough for the cake).

Using long serrated knife, trim rounded tops from cake (eat this with the frosting to make sure it's not gross). Place 1 cake layer on cake plate, cut side up. Spread 3/4 cup frosting over. Place second cake layer, cut side down, atop frosting. Cover top and sides of cake with remaining frosting, creating smooth surface.

Sprinkle candied orange peel over top of cake.

Doesn't this look yummy???

Chicken Pot Disaster

I roasted a chicken the other night, which was a first for me! I got the idea from an Oprah episode where they roasted a chicken and then used it for different recipes. Frenchie immediately started gnawing on it, even though we had already had dinner, so I guess that is a good sign! Although he'll gnaw on anything with a bone.

Last night I made chicken enchiladas with Trader Joe's Enchilada Sauce. Very yummy! I also made a Spiced Sweet Potato Gratin which was pretty good. A little too much curry I think.


Tonight I decided to make a chicken pot pie, one of the best foods ever. I've never tried to make it from scratch though so I didn't know what to expect. I had some puff pastry in the freezer so I found this recipe to try. I have never used puff pastry before. It turns out it is not easy. I defrosted it on the counter and the recipe said to roll it out into a square. I started to roll and it just started cracking!! There was definitely no rolling it into a square or rolling it at all. I decided to just stick it on the filling anyway. In it's rectangular shape. Ummm...bad idea.


I often have this approach to cooking (I'll just try it!) and it works about half the time. Ha!!

What did I do wrong? I think maybe it wasn't defrosted enough? The filling was good but the puff pastry was not. Next time I'll just make a regular crust.

Fall Forward

Every year at Oberlin there were two dance recitals. Fall Forward and Spring Back. These were always confusing because daylight savings is the other way around. These dances were always full of crazy modern dances that were sometimes beautiful but usually pretty awful. I miss those days!

Well, there was no point to that story. I just wanted to post some cute fall pictures of my Gizmo and thought of that title. She was watching the new neighbors move in which is funny because I was looking out the window to also watch the neighbors move in. I am passing on my snoopish (snoopy?) behaviors to my cat!

Contest

Check out the blog "while they play" to enter a contest to win a $50 gift certificate from her cool Etsy shop.

Downer...

I am having a really hard time right now. I know things could be a lot worse, but right now, in the middle of it, it feels like things are really bad.

I am totally desperate for a job, or some lottery winnings. I am at the point where just hearing about people being busy with their jobs makes me incredibly jealous. I am craving that feeling that comes after a hard days work. I'm sure all you working people out there are like, "what is your problem! you have all this free time and you are complaining?"!! Yes, yes I am. Unemployment is not for me. It is hard enough that I have to try to find some meaning to my day, but now we are starting to worry about money. Because of me of course. My student loans are starting to send me ominous notes about how my payments are going to begin. And it is not pretty.

So now I have to decide what to do. I am assuming that if I wanted to get a job at Trader Joe's or Starbucks that would be possible. But then am I giving up on getting a job that actually utilizes the skills I've learned (and paid for) in the past 10 years? Another option is to only go back to pre law school and become a lab tech again but I feel like that would be harder to quit if I found something else. I'm thinking about selling my eggs but would anybody want eggs from an unemployed lawyer in serious debt?

I'm not really looking for sympathy, even though this is a pathetic post. I guess I'm just looking for advice and whining in a large forum.

What would you do?!? What should I do?

Wii Fun!

My gift from Frenchie for passing the bar was a Wii. I know that is kind of a silly gift for a professional to receive, but it is really good wholesome fun. Wholesome, that is, if you aren't listening to the incessant swearing from my hubby. It's like a Quentin Tarantino movie in our living room while he is playing Rayman Raving Rabbids. Freakin' hilarious.

Today though, our big Saturday night plan was to eat some Vietnamese food and then go to the Game Stop to buy a new game. We ended up with a zombie game (because what guy doesn't dream of shooting zombies) called Resident Evil. This game has brought out the French swearing. Now it is like Reservoir Dogs with French dubbing. I just laugh and laugh while he plays.

The Wii was a great invention. Keeping our marriage fresh one swear word at a time.

Failure

Well, I have failed. My friend, Nurse M : ) informed me that I didn't post on November 2nd, although I actually remember posting last Sunday so I think Blogger failed me and put the wrong date on. : ( And then last night I didn't think about posting until after midnight so I just gave up. This NaBloPoMo was a lot harder than I thought!!!

I will still post regularly though. Promise.

Bachata

I am super tired from my travels so instead of a real post I'm going to post this video of the new dance Frenchie and I are learning. We are taking a class called Club Latin where we learn Salsa, Merengue, and Bachata. Neither of us knew what bachata was but it is really fun. Here is a funny video that is nothing like how we do it, but apparently is still the bachata.

Another money waster...but this one with 0 calories!

I am a sucker for new brands of drinks. I don't know where I get this from but I love spending too much money on landfill clogging bottles of what is basically tap water.

Today I found Ayala's herbal water in a schmany store next to the Ritz. The flavor I am drinking is lavender mint lemongrass thyme. Seriously? All those flavors in one bottle? Well, I have to say the mint and thyme are the strongest flavors but it is surprisingly good! I just looked at their website and it is not sold in the Boston area but it is available at Safeway stores for you West Coasters out there.

Let me know if you try the other flavors. I am curious!!

Cultural Diversity

Today, so far, has been an interesting day. First I went to the Chelsea Market which was awesome! It is the home of Food Network and they have a bunch of small places to eat. I had a very expensive and yummy latte at the 9th Street Cafe (I think that is what it was called) and then a goat cheese sandwich at Amy's Bread which was really really good!

After that I found another cupcake place, called Billy's Bakery. Supposedly Katie Holmes likes their cupcakes which really is not a recommendation at all because she is a) crazy and b) too freakin' skinny to get cupcake advice from. I am saving it for later though so I will write an update on that later. I never found Crumbs so I'll have to wait for my friend's wedding to sample them.

Next I went to the Lower East Side Tenement Museum which my friend Anne suggested. The museum has 6 apartments that they have restored to exact days in the late 1800s to the early 1900's when there were an insane amount of immigrants living and working in these tenements. I did a tour called Piecing it Together about families in the garment industry. The first family had 5 children in a tiny three room apartment where they also did all the garment work (sewing, decorating, and pressing). The second apartment was a Lithuanian family with 6 children. It was really interesting because you really get a feel of what life was like for these immigrants. I can't wait to do the other tours someday!

After the tour I rushed out to the U.S. District Court to watch oral arguments. Although I had no idea what the cases were about that they were talking about, it was interesting to see the different styles of the lawyers and how the judges reacted to them.

Tonight my friend and I are going to find somewhere to eat dinner near Lincoln Center and then we are seeing a modern opera called Dr. Atomic. I'll report back on that one tomorrow.

Sugar high!

Apparently I've decided to do a comparison of the cupcakes in the city because I've already been to two places today. I happened to walk by Magnolia's on my search for celebrities in the Village (I think I saw Kristen Dunst but probably not, it was hard to tell). That was my breakfast cupcake. Then I met a friend for a late lunch and we stopped at another cupcake place in SOHO I think but I don't remember the name. Not sure which was best. The Magnolia one was so pretty I think it tasted better because of that.

Tomorrow I'm going to try Crumbs which is where one of my friends is getting her wedding cupcakes. I want to make sure they aren't gross!

So excited about tonight's results!!! Hope you are all watching this historic event tonight with friends. Ahhh!!! Too much sugar!

Stayin' at the Ritz

My friend was coming to New York for work and found that she could stay at the Ritz at Battery Park for a very good price and she nicely invited me to join her! Wow. This is definitely the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in. The only problem is, it turns out that at the nice hotels, they charge you for everything! So I'm afraid to even touch the mini shampoo bottles for fear it will end up on her bill. Of course I still did and it was wonderful. I also used their amazing fitness center this morning on the 14th floor with towels and water at every machine along with your own personal TV.

The staff seems also really nice and not snooty at all, which is good, because I obviously do not belong here.

I'm trying to figure out what I should do while I'm here. All my friends are at work during the day so I'm entertaining myself. Any suggestions?

NaBloPoMo

I joined NaBloPoMo which means that I have to post something on the blog everyday for the month of November. This might be today's post because I'm heading off to New York City for a few days to see some friends!

Who brought the generic candy?

Halloween turned out to be a lot of fun this year! I started off the day by carving a pumpkin while watching Baby Stories on Discovery Health (I know, there is something wrong with me). Frenchie drew the pattern and I implemented it. Not too bad!


Then my friend called for a lunch date downtown which was tons of fun. I had some disappointing beef chow fun at Penang but her beef rendeng (sp?) was really good. Now I know what to order next time! It was super crowded in Downtown Crossing. There are always a lot of characters down there so it was hard to tell who was dressed for Halloween and who dresses like that every day.

When I got home, our neighbor had invited us over to give out candy, drink wine and eat pizza so I brought over the pumpkin, my bowl of candy and some Italian wine (to go with the pizza of course). It turns out that our neighborhood is Halloween central. I had NO idea because I've never been here for Halloween and Frenchie usually comes home from work too late. People come from all over Boston to see the decorations on the streets and beg for candy around so we wandered through and checked them out. It was fun to wander with my neighbor because she has lived here for many years and knows everybody's stories. I hope to someday find a neighborhood like that, where all our kids go to school together and we all know each other.

This guy turned his front porch into a pirate ship! Very elaborate.


Anyway, it was a ton of fun to see all the kids dressed up and remember what it was like when I used to go trick or treating. I found myself feeling bad that we bought the mixed assortment with smarties because wasn't that always a disappointment? It is amazing to think of the time when what sort of candy you were handed was the most important thing. I tried to hand some smarties to one boy and he said, "I don't want that crappy candy! Give me some chocolate!" Although he was obviously a very rude little boy and I kind of wanted to give him a little slap, I let him have the chocolate because the kid had a point. Chocolate trumps everything.

Of course I was a little sad because by the end of the night all my 3 Musketeers bars were gone. Time to hit the half price candy sales!