Wawaloha!

Happy Halloween! Unfortunately, I don't have an exciting costume. I'm just dressed as a boring lawyer today-- what else is new.

I've already, though, heard some interesting things today.

My co-worker in the next office was talking about how the King of Spain (being a former, 19th century King of Spain) was in the chain of title for the 57,000 acres of land in New Mexico which is part of a deal she is working on. It's never a good thing when oil and gas leases and references to European monarchs are all shown in a title report. She also keeps arguing with various people about how a trip to New Mexico isn't warranted. I just want to make sure that somehow I don't get stuck being sent to New Mexico. As that troublesome t-shirt from Urban Outfitters used to say, New Mexico. Cleaner than Old Mexico. (or something to that effect).

Rumor has it Julia Roberts may be pregnant again. This is good news for everyone who is currently pregnant because the only other famous people pregnant right now are Sofia Coppola (Sofia is not bad, but she doesn't count because she's already like 7 months along) and Tori Spelling. Tori Spelling. Unacceptable.

Thoughts on last night's episode of Heroes? I was generally saddened-- there was too much Niki, not enough Hiro and Ando.

Thoughts on the Bachelor? I haven't seen it yet, but since Tuesday is generally a bad night on TV, I expect I'll be making the husband watch last night's episode when we get home.

Thoughts on Reese and Ryan? I always thought she was too good for him. Sorry, Ryan.

In other fronts, we went to the Zoo on Sunday. It was pretty lame. Great company, lame zoo. I'll post pictures soon!

Love and Kisses,
Wonder Warthog

Black Strap Molasses and Key Lime Pie...

When you feel the way I feel right now having to hear how your co-worker ate an entire bag of fritos really doesn't help matters.

Amazing Race....

Now that the Amazing Race is on Sunday nights, it seems every week the 4pm football game runs over which means 60 Minutes cuts into the Amazing Race and everything gets all backed up. What this has meant for me is that for the past couple of weeks I've gotten stuck watching Andy Rooney. Sure, Andy Rooney might have had a good sense of humor when I was a kid but by now he's mostly just an old coot.

College Saturdays...

Okay, so I know that Ana loves college football, but I went to Cornell. This means that my most exciting college football memory was the day that our marching band assaulted the Princeton Tiger (which, by the way, Leda and I almost missed since we decided to take a bus out to East Hill Plaza to get lottery tickets during half time. Hey, you never know.)

So today, the only thing on tv has been college football. Navy and Notre Dame, etc., etc. All I can do is while away the hours until Ebert & Roeper is on.

More Movie Quotes...

Sent by 410e9th and I just thought it was appropos, especially on a Friday afternoon.

"Why are you asking questions about dead lawyers?"

New York's Best Doctors, 2006

So, the doctor I've been seeing needed to give me some referals. I got three names, lets call them, Manny, Moe and Jack. I call up Manny's office and I'm told that Manny won't be practicing after January. Any alternative's? Manny's office gives me the number for Moe and Jack (as if there aren't any other doctors in town). I do a quick Google search for Moe and lo and behold I find that Moe has been sued (and lost) for malpractice for just the sort of think that I'm looking for help with. So, that crosses Moe off the list, call me old fashioned. I try Jack (despite the fact that Jack and Moe share an office and I might end up getting stuck with Moe anyway)... Jack won't call me back. I've tried three times and I'm told, "they're backed up with calls, they'll call you today." Okay, what if it was an emergency? Great service! I did some research on my own and found a guy listed in New York Magazine's Best Doctors of 2006. I figured there was surely no way in hell that he'd give me an appointment, and I was right. Thanks, Blue Cross Blue Shield--- why even show this guy as in your plan? So, I ask this guy's office for a referal. The give me another name. I call them. I'm interrogated as to why I'm looking to switch doctors and then I'm told that I can drop off all of my records at a mysterious location on the way Upper East Side and Dr. Hoity-Toity will review my records and make a determination as to whether they will consider giving me an appointment.

FYI, I'm not looking for a plastic surgeon.

Shout Out

To 410e9th. It's one thing if you're too busy to post new blog entries, but its another thing if you're "too busy" to see The Departed. Next thing you're going to tell me is you don't want to see it because it couldn't possibly compare to Infernal Affairs. Hmpf.

It was a long night...

I've been very tired lately. It happens. Unfortunately, right now the husband has a cold. What this means for me is snoring. The husband only snores when he is either a) excessively tired or b) has a cold of some sort. Let's not forget that whenever the cat manages to wedge herself between us while we sleep, she snores too.

Last night at about 4:30am I am awoken by the ever increasingly loud snoring. To be fair, now that the frogs in our yard are out of season its very quiet at night, which only makes the snoring seem louder than it really is. I'm awake. Fully. So awake I should probably be taking up Sudoku out of boredom. After a few minutes the husband rolls over from his side to his back and the snoring abates. I start to fall asleep (the cat meanwhile has moved from wheezing to grooming, so now I'm just hearing the sound of her sandpaper tongue...)

Right before I'm about to drift off the husband rolls back on to his side and the snore symphony begins again. I bolt awake. I try to wait it out, but I'm sitting there thinking, I'm never getting back to sleep. ever. Do I wake him and ask him to move? Finally, I do. (After a few attempts of patting, as a minor pat tends to sooth the snore beast as well, but that only works to limited effect). Husband sits up, and then falls back asleep. Flat on his back. This works for a good fifteen minutes. Once again, I'm almost asleep. Then the snoring starts even with him lying flat. I swore I heard a frog croak in the distance, as if to mock me.

Matchmaker, matchmaker

I participated in the chain of emails today at the job....

To: Weef!
From: webdr@webdr.com

You may think that this email is out of left field, but do you know a Janis Spindel?

To: webdr@webdr.com
From: Weef!

I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't know anyone by that name.

To: Weef!
From: webdr@webdr.com

ok, thanks
here's the reason
she is a matchmaker,
she said she has the "perfect person" for me, named *****, double Ivy grad etc...
there arent that many who fit that bill
my sister is an attorney and looked in martindale
thanks
webdr

To: webdr@webdr.com
From: Weef!

Sorry, wrong *****, but by all means good luck with your search!

To: Weef!
From: webdr@webdr.com

thanks
i told my sister that google had you married, so i thought it was a long shot

Old Navy

Why is it that 99% of the items for sale on the Old Navy website contain high levels of polyester? I was on the site today and trying to find something substantially made of cotton was like a scavenger hunt. Bad enough I'm at the Old Navy website (drawn in by a need for cheap opaque tights, it is, after all, fall once again...) but then further disillusioned by the presence of all man-made, all flammable fabrics. Yeeech.

Things to Think About....

Maybe right now Mac and Cheese wasn't the best choice. Okay, not to mention, it's never good when you eat french fries to "settle" your stomach.

This morning started with ritz crackers. (Okay).
Then tomato soup and more crackers (oyster variety)-- this ended up not being enough food.

Then we got to the french fries.

Now Mac and Cheese. According to the "Blood Type Diet" featured in this weeks "In Touch" magazine I should be focusing on meats and avoiding carbs. Maybe that explains it.

Marie Antoinette

was generally disappointing, though the coolest thing in the whole movie was a quick shot of Marie trying on some shoes and in the background were a pair of pink converse low-tops.

Just a few minutes ago I saw a new trailer for Casino Royale. My plans are set for November 17th.

Lexus

I just saw an ad for a Lexus that can parallel park itself. Do we really need this? Aren't there better directions for research and development, like, perhaps hair dryers that don't blow fuses, or cold fusion? Besides, if you can afford a Lexus, shouldn't you be able to parallel park on your own? Better yet, if you've managed to get far enough along in life that you've both got a driver's license and you've got a new Lexus, just park somewhere else.

Can I go home

and pass out now?

Chou d'amour

Some days walking past Mendy's and getting a big, robust whiff of sauerkraut is just not a good thing.

Updates and Indian Food

Last night we tried to make up for Saturday by making home made indian food. Thanks to a great recipe for Chana Masala from Orangette and a good dash of Chicken Makhani Sunday night dinner was much better than Saturday's.

In other news, I forgot to mention that the best part of getting a new iPod was buying the warranty plan from Best Buy. I'm pretty confident that within 6 month's time I'll be using that. Now I just have to make sure I don't lose the receipt.

And, I finally got my cd from France-- and, even bigger shock, it actually works! Amazon.fr is a secret weapon in the world of import records! I even downloaded The a la menthe to my iPod. Of course, my new iPod doesn't use my old iTrip, so I can't listen to it in the car, but alas, that will be some other visit to Best Buy.

Saturday.

We had a plan for today, it was go to the dry cleaner, head up to Bridgewater Commons to get the iPod fixed, pick up a new black cashmere cardigan at Bloomingdales (since I've worn my last one so much I have actually worn through the elbows...) check out the new Maggiano's, go to PC Richard and look at dishwashers. Not too exciting, but a full day.

As we're about to leave the husband gets an email from a client-- "need you to call immediately." Client then emails me, asking for Robert to call him, "immediately". We quickly regroup-- I say I'll go to the DC (have to get some pants hemmed anyway) and I'll pick up lunch at the Fil-A (thanks for a gift card from Mom and Dad). We figure after lunch we'll start our day and go to Maggiano's for dinner.

First issue-- seamstress isn't at the Drycleaner today. Okay, no biggie. Pick up my clothes and head over to the Fil-A. Shocked when Fil-A cashier actually knows about the gift card protocol and seems excited to see one! Two chicken sandwiches and extra large waffle fries later I'm at home. We've had our lunch and are ready to go. Husband gets another email, this time from Boss-type person saying, "thanks for telling me you spoke to client, call me immediately."

Eventually, approximately 3 hours later, we're back on the road. While riding through Rocky Hill we see a sign for a book sale and pull off. Books Sales are one of my many weaknesses. We head into the library and ask where the book sale is (there is a little white clapboard house right next to the library, but at first we couldn't pin point the sale location). Inside the library they say, sheepishly, that they're not the sale referenced in the sign, though across from the ladies room there is a shelf which always has books for sale. There were about 10 books, right next to 60 years worth of old phone books and yellow pages. We quickly head over to the little house. The little house (which I have driven by for almost 3 years now) is neat but also kind of creepy on the inside-- it was a good thing that it was manned by a little old lady with a British accent (that is, unless you've seen Arsenic and Old Lace). I managed to come away with a very, very old leather bound two volume set of Ben Hur, a first UK edition of In Cold Blood and a couple of other pretty neat finds. Things kind of went downhill from there.

We got up to Bridgewater and the first thing was Bloomingdales had no black cardigans. Okay, fine. Then we head to the iPod store where I was greeted by an employee who looked far too much like Jake Busey. In fact, given Jake Busey's past career moves, it may have been Jake. He asks if he can help me and I indicate that I'm carring two broken iPods and I want to talk to someone about getting them fixed or at least getting some sort of a credit. He asks, "Do you have an appointment?" Am I at the dentist? Have I dropped in on my dermatologist? It's the iPod store for christ sake and it's not even a very big one at that. I guess this should be a sign that they have enough products with problems that they actually have to take reservations for people to come in and deal with them. I find out that the next available appointment is 2 hours away and I have to make 2 appointments, one for each damaged pod. Okay. Now we're at a mall, we can kill two hours, right? Not so much. Bridgewater Commons is a really lame mall. No JCrew, no Banana, no Saks. I had to make a return at Williams-Sonoma, it was a miracle they had one of those. Though it was a small enough store that they didn't even have the full line of Emile Henry products (just some lousy mugs and a lone bowl).

At this point I'm thinking its highly unlikely that I'm sticking around to come back for my iPod appointment and I'm pretty well liquored up and pissed off about having to make an appointment in the first place. I've given up and lucky for the store employee I managed to do so without hurling some sort of cloud of obscenities about both their product line and their approach to customer service.

Instead, we head over to the new "Village at Bridgewater Commons" an outdoor sub-mall that's just gone in with a Crate and Barrel and the Maggiano's as previously mentioned. Now I've been to centers like this in Atlanta-- and it's a bit of a nice throw back to the old style outdoor mall. However, much like Orchard Park in Illinois mystified me, so does the Village. Who the hell is going to want to walk around this joint in New Jersey when it is winter time? Hell, today was October 14th and it was too damn cold and windy to walk around outside. Tried again for the Banana-- it is opening in "Fall 2006" which when they say Fall they must mean something akin to January 2007 because they looked far from done. We did however manage to confuse the other shoppers since we were carring a Banana Republic shopping bag (yet another failed mission-- those unflattering wool pants will just have to wait another week to be returned). At this point we're disappointed but we figure we'll give Maggiano's a try. We thought we'd put our name down and then head over to Best Buy.

Maggiano's-- 2 hour wait. 2 hours? I mean we found a really great parking space, but still, 2 hours? In 2 hours we could have driven from Bridgwater in to New York City and gone to a real restaurant, with time left over to spare.

Upside, we headed to Best Buy and after about an hour of working with a former computer programmer who was trying his damnedest to bring Dilbert to life we walked out with a new HP Laptop, a new iPod and a "rewards zone" membership. Now our only remaining goal was dinner (PC Richard and the quest for a new dishwasher had quickly falled by the wayside).

This is where things get interesting. We harrass our dear friends at the BMW Concierge service and try and get ourselves dinner reservations. Needless to say the BMW "Concierge" was totally humilated to have to be calling the Olive Garden in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. The Olive Garden one-uped them, of course, by not accepting reservations. P.F. Changs? No reservations remaining for the evening and an undeterminate wait-- call back when you get closer we're told.

We then proceed to go back to town. We figure we'll try a drop in on the Garden. When we get there--- 40-50 minute wait and the entire place reeked of fried food...!?! PF Chang's. 2 hour wait, and considering that by now it was 9pm and they close at 11pm would suggest that those people at the end of the list might not actually be fed.

Romanos? 45 minutes. Random Mexican Chain Restaurant. 1 hour, and by the way, the kitchen is closed (does that mean all I'll get is some chips and dip?) Now to be fair we didn't try Hooters or the new establishment "Cheeburger Cheeburger", but we were generally discouraged and headed back into Princeton proper. Mediterra? 45 minutes. Main Street Bistro, you can walk in, but it will take you ten minutes to drive here and our kitchen closes in 20 minutes. Sure, you could say, well if you had just waited at the Olive Garden you would theoretically be seated in 10 minutes. True, but by this time it was the principal of the thing. Used to be a time where we'd be in Manhattan and you could always find a restaurant with no wait. Here all of the food is for the most part crap and they want you to wait anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours to get it. In New York you can (a) wait for 2 hours for a great meal, (b) walk right in to some place else with no wait and have a great meal, (c) wait for 2 hours and have crap or (d) walk right in and have crap, the choice, at least, is yours.

Moral of the story, we came home and made frozen manicotti.

Pancho Villa

I've finally jumped on the Gaucho bandwagon, albeit a bit late. Today I'm wearing for the first time my Theory maroon-ish corduroy Gaucho pants with a cream colored turtleneck and brown boots (which look more wine colored next to the maroon)... I was hesitant to buy Gauchos (other than the ones they sell at Target for $5.99 that are suitable for in-home wear only) but I was at Loehmans and found these puppies for 50% off of $30.97. I'm sure Gaucho pants will be out of style in about three minutes, if they aren't already.

Cheeseburger Happy Meal

My lunch today was very unsatisfactory for some reason. I had wanted to go to Le Pain Quotidien for tuna. I should have. I was up at 70th and York and I know there is one near by but I didn't have the address and I hailed a cab too quickly (giving me no time to try and figure out where to tell the cabbie to go) so I just went back to Rock Center. On a quest for Tuna I went to Cucina and it was okay but not great. I had half of a half of a tuna sandwich and some jalepeno potato chips (even those weren't good). Needless to day I was hungry this afternoon. I finally decided I'd head down to the lobby and get a snack. I knew I wanted something substantial and by the time I got down stairs I was debating between Au Bon Pain and McDonalds. I voted for McD. I wanted a cheeseburger. (I know, I usually don't eat beef, but really, is McDonald's beef??) I though a Happy Meal would be perfect-- a smigden of fries a tiny coke. Everything's right with the world. Went to McD, they actually prepared the stuff fresh for me since I was practically the only person in the joint. I came back to my office (after having the chance only to stuff two french fries into my mouth...) and what happened? The *second* that my bag hit my desk my co-worker from the office next door shouts for me to come in to her office because she wants us to return someone's call.

I go in. I tell her I'm sorry she missed me when she was looking for me (this was word on the street as I stepped back into the office itself) and mentioned that I had gone down to get some food because lunch was bad. She comiserates and says that her lunch was bad too and asks what I got. I advise Happy Meal. Do I get a-- "why don't you go and eat it real quick, we can meet back in ten minutes"? Hell even five minutes? No, of course not. And it's not like my food was hot or anything. So I'm thinking, fine, it should be quick maybe we can just get it over with.

Not quite. We called back this gentleman from another firm and he was very nice, very helpful but also one of those people who has to give you 37 different examples all of the same thing. He was just a teensy tiny bit LONG WINDED. Meanwhile I can smell my food (which is sitting on my desk in the next room) getting cold. What was a nice touch of irony is that now I'm getting nauseous. Nauseous in that whole if you don't eat that cheeseburger now you're going to be hitting the floor face down in about thirty seconds...

I was on this call for 20 minutes. Blood sugar dropping. When I was finally released I promptly went into my office, picked up my Happy Meal and transported it to the garbage can in the kitchen. Nothing is worse than a cold cheeseburger. The cheese really turns back into yellowy-orange plastic after about 10 minutes exposed to the elements. I want my $3.78 back. I want my hot cheeseburger. Instead I went downstairs and got some sort of curried lentil soup from Au Bon Pain that who knows how many other people sneezed in since its part of the self-service soup bar. I just couldn't bring myself to go back to McD and have to explain why I'm back for seconds.

Quite the antithesis to a Happy Meal.

Columbus Day

You know you're in New York when not only is the Columbus Day parade is televised on NBC, its hosted by Joe Piscopo.

iPod

Is it just me, or is there some sort of iPod conspiracy out there? First I had an iPod mini which was great, but it had that whole "lets recall them because the battery doesn't work" problem. Nothing like having to charge it every five minutes, then I got the new iPod 20GB "Photo" ipod. This model was on the market for about five seconds in between the iPod Mini, iPod nano and the new fifth generation iPod "video". Well, the other day I'm out in the car and it freezes. I do the whole "reset" thing. Then what happens-- I get the "sad" iPod icon. This is basically a very small picture of your iPod and on the screen are two "x"es for eyes and a downturned frown. Also accompanying the "sad" iPod is an exclamation point inside of a triangle. The same sort of thing you see on the Autobahn when your coming around a sharp curve and rocks have fallen.

What does all of this mean? According to the website and the instruction booklet, I may have a "hardware" problem. That sounds omnious given that all the iPod is is a piece of hardware. I follow the instructions on Apple's website, and ultimately give up. The next step is to sign up for service (you can either sign up and have the offending sad iPod shipped or you can visit a store in person, I opted for shipping)... I fill out the forms (am of course told my iPod is out of warranty) and am then asked to input my credit card information since it will cost $277.77 to "fix" my iPod. (Mind you, Apple is selling a 30 mb "video" iPod for $249...) Excuse me? What? Can you explain? You haven't even seen it and you're telling me it will cost me more to fix this antiquated iPod than it would be to buy a new one? You haven't even seen it. What if I didn't follow the "reset" "restore" instructions properly and you could actually fix it with a few key strokes? $277.77? Are you crazy???

So I guess that helps make that whole mac or pc question that much easier to answer. I mean, is it me, or are they designing these things to break? I wouldn't even mind if I had really gotten a lot of use out of it, or if I manhandled it. Come on my iPod had been in its jelly-protective sheath since I brought it home. It lived inside my purse and I used it frequently but I'm not one of those crazy people you see on the subway who have actually had their headphones permanently implanted into their ears... I would use it in the car, on the train, occasionally while cooking (thanks to the Bose iPod dock).

Now what? Sure, the price of a new iPod is approximately what I may monthly for cable (which says more, I think about my cable bill than anything else). But still, I'm really disappointed. The best invention of the 20th century right next to air conditioning seems to be a moneymaking scam. I've had cell phones that are more reliable, and that's saying a lot.

The a la Menthe

How much do I love Amazon.com? I've been trying to find the song that's playing in Ocean's Twelve while Vincent Cassel is doing his whole capoieria thing for ages. Bought the soundtrack, not on it. Very disapointing. I did a little internet research and found that the song is by a band called La Capture and that the song itself is "The a la Menthe". Needless to say, here in the states, it's no where to be found. Amazon.com doesn't have a copy in stock, you can't listen to it, nothing. But, if you go to www.Amazon.fr, it's there. Not only is it there but you can listen to selections. I navigated my way through Amazon's french site and supposedly I got the last copy in stock. It's being express shipped. Yes, I had to pay as much in shipping as I did for the CD (that being said Amazon in France is just as cheap as it is here, so neither shipping nor the CD was that expensive!)

More Fall Line-Up... and other happenings..

410e9th doesn't like Heroes. What, I think it's not bad. Anything's a step up from Reality television and the story seems to be moving faster than Lost.

Thoughts on "Help Me, Help You"? It seemed a bit boring, but I'm willing to give it at least one more chance. What about "Ugly Betty"? Haven't seen that yet, TiVo acted up last week...

And, tonight is the big Project Runway reunion special. This season has been interesting-- for the most part they had a lot of talented people and while Jeffrey is trying to be the class bully he's just not nearly as entertaining as Santino. Word around the watercooler is Michael is a shoe-in to win. So far, funniest scene this season was when Michael Kors imitated Uli and Heidi gave him a very dirty look. Don't mess with the accent.

Random question-- have you ever been to a Greek wedding? You should ask me about it sometime. There was a lot of Greek music, but disappointingly, no dolmathes.

Hmpf. in other news, as we all know, the Cafe at Saks is the happiest place on earth (even if the service may leave a bit to be desired)... yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting Thisbe, Ellie and Cecelia for a ladies lunch. What a better way to break up the afternoon than with good company and a half sandwich and a cup of corn and crab chowder!

Otherwise not much is happening. This weekend is the big birthday weekend, we've got lunch at Le Cirque and we're going to see The Departed. Why is it that I'm most excited that Marky Mark is in this? (Because, as 410 would say, I'm losing my edge).

Fall Line Up

Tonight is one of those rare nights where there are actually a lot of good things on tv. Its nights like this when the TiVo may explode. The Packers are on Monday Night Football on ESPN, and at 9 the premiere of the Bachelor (with Henry's friend, Lorenzo Borghese, as Bachelor) on ABC and Heroes on NBC. All summer there was crap on tv (with the limited exception of Project Runway)... now on one night, 3 things to watch all at once. And, for a double surprise, I may actually get home early enough to watch some of this stuff...

Tomato and Zucchini Risotto

I had a great Tomato and Zucchini Risotto once at Serafina I had recreated it before at home, but I didn't write down what I did last time, so today when I felt like making it again I googled for recipies.

When I searched "tomato and zucchini risotto" I found among other links, a link to
Jamie and Belle's recipe. It looks good-- I'll have to try it! The version I had in mind is a little bit different-- with more of a tomato-based sauce of sorts. Here's my try. Let me know if you like it.

Tomato and Zucchini Risotto

Drizzles of Olive Oil
40 oz. Vegetable Broth
1 cup Dry White Wine
1/2 cup finely chopped Sweet Onion (Vidallia or Mayan)
16 oz. Arborio Rice
1 medium Garlic Clove, minced
1 large (or two small) Zucchini sliced very very thin
1 can diced Tomatoes
1 can chopped Tomatoes
2 tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar, or to taste
Black pepper and salt to taste

Simmer vegetable stock in a sauce pan.

While sauce is simmering, saute onion and garlic with a drizzle of olive oil in heavy sauce pan. Saute until onions are translucent. Stir in arborio rice.

Add a ladleful of broth at a time, stiring until broth is absorbed. Stir constantly (so that risotto doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan). After you have added two or three ladles of broth, add half a can of diced tomatoes (with juice). Continue to add broth and continue stiring. Add one cup of white wine, add remaing tomatoes, broth and keep stiring.

Once risotto is creamy and slightly al dente, add in sauteed zucchini, balsamic vinegar and seasoning to taste. Makes about four servings. This is great as a summery light risotto (to the extent that any risotto can be light!) We paired this with herbed goat cheese toasts. The toasts are simple-- you can thinly slice a baguette or other crusty bread and then spread soft goat cheese on the bread rounds. Add herbs de provence, thyme and black pepper. Toast in the oven at 350 until the edges of the bread rounds are golden brown.

Tomorrow we're making Ina Garten's Potato and Leek soup from her Barefoot in Paris cookbook. I'll let you know how it goes!