Michael Clayton.

What can I say, George played a cross between the guy from Syriana and Danny Ocean. Love George as a general matter but this flick? Not that great. Liked the ending and everything but it was a long time coming and nothing really shockingly new about the legal profession here. It reminded me of The Insider, except not nearly as good.

Hmpf.

Tonight Miss Kitty was watching Golf. She actually made it a bit interactive when she reached up and pawed at the TV screen when the Golf Channel did an aerial shot of the course. I guess she liked the look of the greens. Perhaps she took her savings from having worked at Taco Bell and has scheduled a tee time at Pebble Beach. You never know. It could happen.

Tax Deductions...

I had a bag of odds and ends (baby clothes and mugs and other knick knacks) sitting in the laundry room for the longest time. The other day in the mail I got a postcard from the Lupus Foundation seeking donations of household goods. Last night I went on to their website and scheduled a pick up for this morning (love the internet!). I indicated that my goodies would be in the driveway. My confirmation email told me to put the items out before 7:30am. I put the bag out on our front steps early this morning (as it was too cold for me to actually put the bag in the driveway-- but I figured they'd find it.)

Coincidentally, my Mom is coming to visit. My parents like to travel light, so she's shipping her clothes up via FedEx.

This afternoon my Mom asked whether her box of clothes had arrived. I told my Mom that I hadn't heard FedEx, nor had I seen a box, "oh, and by the way, did I tell you I left a donation for the Lupus Foundation?"

This chain of events made Mom a bit nervous as FedEx had sent her an email saying that the box was delivered at 10:30am. Needless to say her first instinct was that the Lupus Foundation had taken both my bag of goodies and her box of clothes.

I happened to be in the car while we were having this conversation and I drove right past the house-- thankfully, FedEx box was on the steps, garbage bag of odds and ends, nowhere in sight. "I Love Lucy"-Esque Crisis Averted. Priceless.

Cuckoo

Last night I walked through our entry foyer on the way upstairs and a small round brown object caught my eye. It was on one of the throw rugs and it kind of looked acorn-ish. I admit, I was being lazy, the lighting wasn't that good and I wasn't about to pick it up for closer inspection. I told myself it was probably an acorn, didn't want to attribute how it got there and went about my business. This morning I was walking up stairs and I saw another one. "Oh, no." I thought, "Is it some sort of bug cocoon?" (I hate bugs). "Why on earth are there two of these things? What is invading our home?!?" I decided I would be brave and take a closer look. Mystery object? Cocoa Puff.

The Husband brought Cocoa Puffs upstairs as a snack last night. It isn't clear whether he was leaving a trail back to the kitchen a la Hansel and Gretel or if the Cocoa Puffs knew that their fate had been sealed and decided to jump ship.

Satellite...

The errant spy satellite is expected to be shot down on Wednesday around 10:30pm, ET near the Pacific coast of the U.S.

MSNBC's coverage notes, "complicating the effort will be the fact that the satellite has no heat-generating propulsion system on board. That makes it more difficult for the Navy missile's heat-seeking system to work, although the official said software changes had been made to compensate for the lack of heat." Which basically says to me that the missle could just as easily take out some poor schmoe with an ipod in Oregon.

Window!

Skills.

So suffice it to say we were having some difficulties today which led us to think that attempting to try a cloth diaper would be a good idea. While we have tons of cloth diapers (as they are convienent for use as burp cloths) we don't have any pins and I don't actually happen to know how to properly fold one. At the time that this grand plan arose it was not amenable to internet research. Thus, I called upon the only similar skills I know-- scarf tying, thanks to the little Hermes "How to Tie a Scarf" book. I'm not quite sure whether our friends in Paris would be mortified or proud to learn that their handywork has been put to use with diaper folding. I made my initial fold on the diagonal, in order to maximize the size of said cloth, put Baby in the middle, wrapped both ends around her waist and tied a knot. I then proceed to fold up the point of the diagonal towards her mid section. What ho, nothing to tie it to. Do I have diaper pins? Of course not. I didn't even know where I could locate a safety pin. But alas, I am a lawyer, so of course, I have a house full of random sized Binder Clips. Yes, not only can a binder clip serve as a "chip clip" in the event of a snack emergency, the small size can be a makeshift diaper holder in a diaper emergency.

wow.

Right now we're sitting in line at the drive-thru at Wendy's and the line of cars is actually so long that it is outside of the parking lot. They *really* need to build another fast food joint around here.

Crank.

So, for those of you who have seen the above-referenced Jason Statham flick, this is to let you know that this evening we realized we had our own Crank on our hands, or in this case, "Crank-y". Miss Baby was very exciteable and wound up before bedtime tonight, such that merely sitting and playing with toys was wholly unsatisfying. Nope, she needed adrenaline. Had we a baby bungee jump she would have gladly partaken. She wanted to be bounced, carried around while mom was running through the house singing, carried around by dad while running to chase after mom, jumping up the steps, floating up to the ceiling, dancing (with assistance) to a tune reminscient of "Shake your Booty" by KC and the Sunshine Band.

Reasons to Love Jamie Oliver...

Who else says things like: "I've got recipes for leeks, man, that'll blow your mind."

Random!

Check out the illicit cultural property website which appears to be keeping track of art theft, etc. around the globe. Oddly interesting.

Down to the Wire...

Even though we are getting close to bar exam time, tonight's dinner was a fun one... mini cheeseburgers on Hawaiian rolls with waffle fries! Woo-hoo!

More Movies We're Not Going to Go See...

Jumper, with Hayden Christensen. As MSNBC states, "Christensen, in particular, has an astonishing emptiness to him on the screen, somewhere between a 1950s Hollywood contract player and a 1990s Czech gay porn star." Exactly! So god knows why George Lucas cast him as the young Darth Vader!

The Code...

So this evening it is becoming ever increasingly difficult to study Contracts as my study materials keep refering to the UCC as "the code" and all I can think about, of course, is the Da Vinci Code. Damn Tom Hanks!

How to Beat the High Cost of Living...

This is right up there with movies of my youth like "The Increible Shrinking Woman"! Anyway, its on Retroplex!

Congratulations,

Wee Kraken!

This is a Response Post...

In response to 410e9th.

First- a question. If the "basic democratic platform is formed around the notion of providing social safety nets for the lower quartile of Americans, greater economic opportunity for the middle 50% and paying for it, at least partially, by increasing the burden of the upper 25% (especially the top 10%)" how is Hillary's proposal ofrequiring illegal immigrants to pay fines and back taxes consistent with this platform? Unless there are some illegal immigrants in the upper 25% or top 10% of the population (you know, all those illegal Swiss banker types...)

That being said. How would a democratic candidate earn my vote? By recognizing that the "middle class" and "upper middle class" make a lot more today than in the past and thus maybe they're targeting tax increases at the wrong people. Why not embrace abolishing the tax code and enacting a flat tax?

Besides all of that. Hillary just scares me, plain and simple. You're right I phone banked in '92, yada, yada. I believed the hype. I was a complete Clinton supporter. Then the rug came out from under me. The whole Monica Lewinsky thing. I'm sorry but Bill Clinton lied to Congress. I don't care what he lied about or why, to me it just goes to show that the power of the presidency made him think he was above the law. He lied about something as stupid as Monica-Gate, how could he be trustworthy at all? The Clintons claimed that they would be doing all of this "good" but at the end of the day they were (and are) just as money and power hungry as the Republicans, but without the tax cuts.

The man should have been impeached. There you go. That's how I feel.

As for Hillary? She hung on with Bill. Why? Because she's even more power hungry than he is and without a drop of charisma.

How can a person who hails from Illinois, was the first lady of Arkansas justify that the right next step is to become a Senator from New York??? Why? Because Moynihan's seat was up and NY is one of the most powerful states in the union. God forbid she actually rise up through the ranks of Congress by being a representative from a state where she has a connection to the constituency and then become a senator in due course. Nope, she stuck with Bill and so her reward was a Senate seat.

Further, the Democratic party focuses on all of these wonderful social programs which we'll get the benefit of, but during the Clinton administration what did we get that was really beneficial? Yes, the economy was good, but was that by virtue of a social agenda? I didn't receive any exceptional federal grants or loans during college (and certainly not during law school) and I of course earned too much upon leaving school to benefit from any interest deductions on my taxes for the student loans I did incur. Want to work in one of those programs where you qualify for Federal Loan forgiveness? The income which qualifies you is so paltry you certainly couldn't successfully live in Manhattan, heck one might even be priced out of Omaha.

Obviously, no one these days likes George Bush, but within just a few months of his taking office I got a check from the federal government for $300. That was a nice check to get.

As for Barack Obama-- he seems truly like an idealist and that's great but at the end of the day the man has about as much viable political experience as a Boy Scout Leader.

This all being said, the Republican pool isn't much better. Huckabee. Well, I don't even think you need to go beyond the man's name (a discussion of the whole "evangelical" thing is scary enough) and while John McCain would have been a viable candidate years ago, the fact that he would be entering as the oldest first term president is certainly not a good thing.

I don't know what to tell you but I don't think the options out there are good and I'm certainly not looking forward to higher taxes to supposedly fund "benefits" which I'm never going to see.

ps. glad the necklace was a hit. ;)

What I Heard on MSNBC...

Here's a link to Hillary Clinton's speech from El Paso this evening.

Below are a few excerpts, with my thoughts.

"I see an America where everyone willing to work hard has a job with a rising income."... so we can collect more tax from you.

"I see an America where health care is a moral right, not a privilege." Okay, I'm all for health care for everyone, but I think that needs to be done by requiring ALL employers to make benefits available and by making insurance companies lower premiums for folks who work part-time or are in lower wage jobs. That being said, as I'm studying constitutional law for my bar exam prep, no where have I found a constitutional right to health care. I hate to sound like Ron Paul, but really. It's not there.

"They will not have the door slammed in their face because of the costs of higher education." Hillary says that for young people, they shouldn't have the cost of higher education be a barrier for entry to college. Of course not, but by the same extent, let's make sure that if you earn what we consider to be "too high" of an income after you get out of college, you'll not get any tax deduction for all those student loan interest payments you'll be making.

"In my America, we're going to make sure that the federal government gets back into loaning people money at a low interest like they did when I went to school instead of the student loan companies." Guess what, Hil. The Federal Government does loan money, unless your parents "make too much" and you don't qualify. Those would be the same people who you'd like to raise taxes on so you can fund universal health care. What do you say, will you lower the financial thresholds for government loan funding? Will government loans be made available for people going to law school and med school (yeah, right.).

And, with regards to the illegal immigration problem, Hillary thinks that the road to citizenship should certainly be paved with things "like paying a fine for coming here illegally, like paying back taxes" do we not see a theme here?? Now she even wants to get more tax money out of illegal immigrants-- probably the people making the LEAST amount of money out of everyone....

Best In Show...

So we managed to make it to MSG and find the Thisbe family! Yay! A fun day was had, but note to self and all other dog loving families out there-- the more kid-friendly day is definitely Day Two at Westminster.

Bad Day at Black Rock

Today is the day that we go to Westminster! Unfortunately, the day has not gotten off to a great start. First, its like 18 degrees outside (at least its sunny). This means we're very bundled and Ugg boots are on all around. As we're getting ready to go down stairs and head to the car, Miss Kitty hacks up breakfast on the second floor landing. Ugh. Nothing says "joy of cat ownership" more than cat puke in the morning. Next: trying to find snowsuit, finally locate snowsuit just in time to change monsterously stinky diaper (which indeed required full outfit change). Am too tired to climb stairs so I use spare outfit from diaper bag and jeans from dryer (thank goodness!) Get bundleme from dryer. Bundleme has of course managed to come completely unzipped and is now in two pieces. Attempt to reattach bundleme while in garage where it is approximately 25 degrees. Baby in car (check), maclaren in car (check), diaper bag (check). Car keys? No car keys. Back in house (what about that train you're supposed to catch??? Forget about going to the bank for extra cash-- looks like you'll be using one of the "thousands" of Bank ATMs convienently located at a Duane Reade in Penn Station...) Aha! I have a valet key. It starts the engine but won't lock the doors... At least it gets me to the husband's office where I can pick up spare keys.

Get spare keys. Find space at station. Pack Miss B. Into maclaren (where, mind you, bundleme velcro has become like steel and I can't properly allign shoulder straps... Attempt to pay for parking. I have a twenty. I need four singles. (Otherwise I'll get stuck with 5 parking tokens...) I buy my train ticket figuring I'll use the change for parking. I get back multiple sacagawea dollars (and one Susan B.). Score! I have four dollars (in coins).

Parking token dispenser only accepts dollar bills. Its just like the French tollway. No coins, just bills (and of course, no credit cards!). As I'm dealing with this... Train pulls away. That was the 11:18. We were supposed to catch the 10:50. Go to train station cafe, trade in my coins for dollars. Pay for parking. Figure we'll catch the next train. At 11:41. That's where we are now (at Newark Airport). Its making every stop. I also just finished eating cottage cheese while riding backwards. Miss B is blissfully asleep (best way to experience NJ Transit). Its got to get better, right?

Westminster!

It's official, we are getting very excited about our upcoming trip to the Westminster Kennel Club dog show on Monday with the Thisbe Family!

Duplicity!

Today Miss Baby and I visited the Big City to go to an open casting call for the new Julia Roberts/Clive Owen flick Duplicity. We waited in line for quite a bit and chatted with the wacky tall man in front of us in line (who kept telling bad jokes) and the nice Ukrainian girl behind us (who was an extra in "I Am Legend!"). As usual when going to an open call for background actors the mix of people was rather unique-- a true cross-section of Manhattan! Here's a shout out of thanks to everyone (Ukrainian girl especially) who helped us manuever the Bugaboo up and down the steps into the church auditorium and here's to hoping we all get called back!

Go Rudy!

Yes, that's right, as of 12:59 am I was one of 460 people in Middlesex County to vote for Rudy even though he dropped out of the campaign!

Boo Boo!

MSNBC has an article about "loveys" and the lengths that parents will go to to replace them if lost. Luckily, Boo Boo (pictured, in Venice) has never been lost, but thanks to the Mom and Dad, Boo Boo has been replaced and replicated many times over, despite being made from a pattern sold only in the seventies. I excitedly anticipate Miss B's development of a particular affection for a stuffed something. So far Grover is in the running, but really, the field is still wide open.

660!

This is post 660! I don't know why but I find that interesting. Baby is napping at the feet of Grover.

Super Tuesday...

We finally got in our W-2 forms today, which means it's tax time. All I can say to anybody out there who will be eligible to vote in the primaries on Tuesday is: DO YOUR TAXES before you go to the polls. Maybe what you see will influence your vote.

In the Democratic Debates last night Barack Obama indicated that he wouldn't mind having to pay a bit more in taxes in order to fund certain of his programs (including his health care proposals).

Given that we don't qualify for the child tax credit (earn too much), can't deduct student loan interest (earn too much), got our "energy savings" rebate reduced by almost 90% (earn too much) and our AMT burden increased by $7,000 from last year (when for four months out of the year I essentially had little to no income) tells me that perhaps we're all paying a bit too much in taxes as it is.

If no one won tonight's MegaMillions jackpot the next drawing will be for $102,000,000. I say let's have a national lottery, abolish the tax code and institute the old Steve Forbes' favorite flat tax.

Romney's New Policy

I had a discussion yesterday with the Dad about politics. He mentioned that Mitt Romney's new way to deal with the deficit is to sell Montana. I thought it was a brilliant strategy. If we sell Montana to Mexico we can deal with the illegal immigration problem at the same time!

More Thoughts...

There's a show on this afternoon called "Amazing Births"... the description indicates that one of the vignettes will be about a Girl Scout who assisted her mother in delivering a baby. My question: what kind of badge do you get for that!?!

Today Martha is doing a Superbowl show. She was demonstrating a chicken wing dish with Eva Longoria and she actually called the marinade a "Mar-in-ahdd".

Lucky Number Slevin

We watched this the other night. Aside from the suffocation scenes (which I could have done without) I actually liked this flick and thought it was much better than the reviews.

The Bronze Age

Today Miss S has moved into the realm of tool usage. Now previously she has exhibited an understanding of simple engineering principals (as in when she tilts the large stool towards her when she is in her high chair in order for the desired toy to slide into her grasp), but today she actually used a taper candle as a bat in order to knock over a photo frame.

Stuff!

Miss Baby and I visited C & G Casting for a casting call for extras for "Confessions of a Shopaholic"...

Jerry O'Connell is actually pretty funny in Carpoolers... who knew?

Cobb Salad-- we had it for dinner tonight... not bad at all. I used two kinds of bagged greens and then included a chopped yellow pepper, red pepper, cherry tomatoes and a red onion. In addition we put ham, hard boiled eggs, diced avocado, sharp cheddar cheese and blue cheese chunks (not to forget croutons, of course). We put a bit of WF's organic ranch dressing and served with a loaf of french bread. Light but tasty!

US Men's Figureskating...

I started watching the beginning of the US Men's Figureskating championships on NBC. They began with an interview of fur-collar clad Johnny Weir. Then Bob Costas, reporting from the ice, began talking about the great rivalries involved, and the personality clashes between Weir and Evan Lsyacek. I swear, it was right out of Blades of Glory!!!

Oscar Watch

While we love to watch the Oscars for the whole red carpet fashion thing, after seeing the Golden Globes get wrapped up in an hour with Billy Bush, it made us think that perhaps a change in format due to the writer's strike wouldn't be such a bad thing. The Husband took it a step further and suggested that they should just scroll the winners' names in a crawl along the bottom of the screen while Yolanda Vega is reading off the lotto balls. It could kill two birds with one stone, or lotto ball, as the case may be.

Street Photography!

One of my photos has been selected for the exhibition "Street Photography" at the Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, CO. The show will run from March 28-April 26th.

All things Muppet!

It's the Muppet Wiki!

Check it Out!

Bigfoot's moved to Mars!

Jeopardy, sponsored by bad taste...

Tonight's episode of Jeopardy! was sponsored by both: (a) Super Colon Cleanse (really) and (b) Steak-Umm.

Lamps!

I love when Jeopardy! has great categories, like "Lamps".

Pretzeltown

Miss S has a cold. She didn't sleep well last night and has been stuffy, stuffy, stuffy all day. While watching the AFC Championship we had all kinds of snack foods and decided to give Miss S. a treat-- some salt free pretzels to munch on. Given that she's got no teeth yet one has to be rather vigilant and make sure to substitute a new pretzel every time that the old pretzel has become so soggy from gumming that it has lost structural integrity. We went through probably six or seven pretzels. Once snack time was over it was clear that a bath was in order, as Miss S's trip to pretzeltown was quite messy.

At the Angelica...

So, the other day I watched La Vie En Rose (aka "La Mome"). My god, it was awful. I mean don't get me wrong, I can totally see why Marion Cotillard won the Golden Globe as she did have quite a Charlize Theron-like transformation into Edith Piaf, but other than that. Ugh. They killed off Gerard Depardieu within the first 20 minutes and once into adulthood Edith wasn't a very nice person! Anyway, I couldn't even sit through it and I was in my own family room. And considering that I have sat through Camille Claudel which clocks in at almost 3 hours, I think I have a history of past patience with random French biographies...

3-6pm CNN: Ballot Bowl

"Uninterupped coverage of the presidential candidates campaigning in South Carolina, Nevada and Michigan." I turn this channel on and what's on? A Kia commercial. So much for "uninterrupted".

Chicken Tikka Masala!

Tonight we made Chicken Tikka Masala (thanks to the recipe included on page 14 of this month's Bon Appetite mag)... I know, I know, given the whole "bar" thing I'm not supposed to be making complex food, but I figure that for the next three nights we've got take out planned (Chick-Fil-A, Dominos and Chipotle!) so I thought what the hey, I would make something fun tonight. Anyhoo, we started by making the first marinade for the chicken, let the chicken sit for 15 min. instead of 30 (as we were a bit short on time) then made the second, yogurt based marinade and let the chicken sit in that for over two hours. In the mean time I made the masala sauce. I added a bit of butter and cream to the sauce (heart healthy!) to make it closer to a makhani than a masala. I also cut up a couple of yukon gold potatoes, boiled them and then added them into the masala. After the chicken was done marinating I put the chicken pieces onto skewers (and can I say-- finally! a use for the wooden skewers that I've had in the cabinent for years... used to be I'd just break them up and use them like toothpicks to test when cakes were done!) and then attempted to "grill" them on the stove. My grill pan is rather small so I just sauteed them in a deep pan for 3-5 minutes or until the outside was a bit browned. Then I transferred the skewers to a tin foil lined baking sheet and roasted the chicken skewers for 15 minutes at 375. I also made some jasmati rice and this great frozen Naan that I found at WF. I put some rice in wide bowls, poured some of the masala onto the rice and then once the chicken was done removed it from the skewers and served it atop the masala. The Naan was a great accompaniment. Overall the result was good-- spicy, but not too spicy and the chicken was amazingly tender!

Thanks to Google...

Apparently, I was amongst those lawyers chosen by LSNY as a 2007 Pro Bono Honoree. Oddly, I only found out this by googling myself. Must have secretary start *OPENING* my mail.

File Under Ooops...

Last night we were going to have a rotisserie chicken from WF with couscous and a vegetable tian. When I brought home the chicken I put it in the oven to keep it warm (note at this point, obviously, the oven wasn't turned on... ) the chicken was still inside the plastic WF bag and the plastic rotisserie chicken dome that they all are packaged in. I proceed to sautee the onions for the tian and slice up the potatoes and zucchini and of course, pre-heat the oven. It is not until I go to put the tian in the oven AND I open the door and see a melting chicken that I remember that the chicken (package and all) were IN THE OVEN! The packaging looked like a shrinky dink gone awry. Luckily no plastic had gotten to the floor of the oven and nothing stuck to the rack, and thankfully they still had chickens when the Husband went to WF on his way home from work.

The First Rule of Fight Club

is never wake a sleeping baby. I've got Miss S. asleep on my lap and a) the phone rang (unfortunately the phone is in the kitchen I guess, regardless it's not within arm's reach so sorry to whomever just called!!) and b) I've lost the remote and I'm stuck watching "Make me a Supermodel".

Music Class...

Miss S and I go to a weekly music class for youngsters... she really seems to enjoy it and I thought it might be a good way to meet more moms in the nabe. Unfortunately we're on to music class #2 and the folks in this class seem to be just about as friendly as the folks in the last class, which is not very friendly. Truth be told I'm not much of a socializer myself but I try my hand at small talk and try to look friendly. At our first class of the new semester we had quite a mix in age range for the kids-- from babies Miss S's age up to 3/4 year olds. Basically, however, the class seems to be made up of generally two kinds of people: Snobs with babies and Velour Juicy Couture Track-Suited Moms with older kids who run amok during class. Possibly the moms with the toddlers (if they have a moment where they're not chasing said toddlers (i) around the room or (ii) trying to get them to stop beating the piano with small bongo drums) might be amenable to socialization, but the snob moms (including one slightly older botoxed looking mom and a mom with a Gucci baby bag) have formed a clique by class two and I don't think we'll be breaking down barriers any time soon.

I appear to have lost my opportunity with the Snobs with Babies group at class one by not having presented the right first impression. Sadly, I was in wide leg jeans and a cardigan, no jewelry (save my baby shoe) and unmanicured toes. For all they could tell I was some sort of unwed mother with little regard for nail care. In her defense, Miss S. had on a very, very cute "Baby Nay" matching top and pant set, but I did allow her to leave the house with socks from Target.

For class two I tried to up the ante and actually found myself dressing to impress at a children's music class. Dear god, what has my life become??? Regardless, I had on nice jeans, a cashmere sweater, scarfy-scarf tied all Parisian like and fancy "logo" belt, I even whipped out my own Gucci bag. I had on socks this time (as the toes remain unmanicured) and had pulled out both the straightening iron for my hair and loaded up on the jewelry. Miss S was all decked out in the latest matchy-matchy outfit from the Gap (with Trumpette socks, Target socks being relegated to the other days of the week).

On the one hand I could justify this and say that it's nice for a change to dress up (a change from wearing the same five outfits each week because I barely have time as a new mom to brush my teeth let alone crack the vault which is my closet) but on the flip side I think-- why the hell am I dressing to impress these people, and like they even care! I guess it's that "I-used-to-work-in-New-York-Type-A-Personality" Competitive Streak. Anyway, it didn't work. I guess I can go the intellectual route next week and wear my Phi Beta Kappa pin with my Cornell Law sweatshirt or I can just bake some cupcakes and try and win over the velour lounge wear set. Bring a tranquilizer dart for the toddlers and we may just have hit pay dirt.

Post Office...

How is it that I managed to spend $41 at the Post Office today? I didn't even come away with a commemorative stamp set or a first day issue. I thought if someone managed to spend that much in sheer postage they'd at least get a building named after them.

Facebook!

I have finally joined the ranks of all those folks on Facebook how this came about just proves that I am getting old. I finally decided to take the plunge after watching a segment about it on 60 Minutes (which leads me to the question, why the hell was I watching 60 Minutes??, This, coupled with the fact that I almost got sucked into watching "Comanche Moon" proves I'm getting old... I guess CBS figures they'll just keep making those damn Lonesome Dove tv movies until everyone in America has seen them at least once, but I digress). At first I was a bit reluctant about my Facebook entry. I didn't upload a photo, I didn't have too much information out there... I was going by the mantra always espoused by Dave about never having his photo on the internet. Then, much to my surprise, I saw that Dave has a very detailed Facebook profile page! How things have changed in this new digital age. Anyway, that gave me more comfort and I did upload a photo (though arguably I have to look for a better one)... we'll see how all this progresses. I've already sent out feelers to Thisbe and 5820 Mommy to join!

Uber-Cranky!

Today we coined a new word in baby-dom: Uber-Cranky. That's what happens when baby has pushed past the point of desperately needing a nap. Today this was brought on by far too much play with our Haba Fantasiesteine (aka "fantasy blocks") and Mr. Monkey, stuffed monkey courtesy of Grandma & Grandpa!

Other things to think about-- last night it was our anniversary (yay!) We had chocolate chip cookies (hot out of the oven) and watched the latest Harry Potter Installment. We had reservations at the local hoity-toity French restaurant, but alas it was not in the cards... anyhoo... Harry Potter 5? Both long and boring. Geesh.

3:10 to Yuma

Last night we watched 3:10 to Yuma... the Mom and Dad weren't big fans of it, but we enjoyed it. Sure, Christian Bale's character was a bit of a loser but Russell Crowe's character was pretty cool. Overall not a bad flick, though as always, leaving the question raised by the Dad-- have they really run out of good stories in Hollywood that they have to remake this??

Spoonula!

DMV...

As you might know I'm preparing for the Bar Exam. In addition to filling out an excessively long personal certification packet (including credit report information, to which I say, here's $30 just go order my credit report yourself!) I am now in the process of sending in all my goofy supporting materials. Among the required items are driving abstracts covering the last seven years of my driving history. To be honest this is the biggest reason why I didn't take this exam 8 years ago when I took NY-- I didn't want to have to go through the rigmarole of getting this! Fine. To get my NJ abstract I had to apply online for an identification number which was then mailed to me so I could apply online for the abstract. For NY, one has to call the "out-of-state" number (unless you happen to have handy your old driver's license number, among other information off of your old driver's license, which was most likely taken from you by the state where you have a license now, in which case you can order your abstract on the internet or by mail) 1-518-473-5595. For whatever reason, this number worked for the Husband, but I've been trying to call it since Tuesday. All it does is ring busy, unless of course it's after 4pm in which case it rings through to a message informing you that the office is closed. Yesterday (day three) I finally called the Manhattan DMV to see if they could get me in touch with some other person in Albany (they couldn't) but if I wanted to go to the DMV in Herald Square I could theoretically pick up the abstract in person. Yeah, okay. Today I called the number again. Same thing, busy signal. Over and over again. So I called 411 and asked for the main number for the DMV in Albany. They connected me to the insurance and traffic violations division which disconnected me after a few go rounds with the automated menus, including my not pressing any buttons and pretending not to have a touchtone phone in a vain attempt to be put through to a live person (or as live as anyone at the DMV can be). I noticed that the exchange on the phone number that 411 had given me was one number off of the exchange I had been calling, so I tried calling 1-518-474-5595. This gave me "a non-working number at the State of New York" and gave me a phone number for Directory Services at the State of New York. I called these people and plead my case. They connected me to the DMV's Division of Certified Records. The woman there, after much cajoling and her sounding like she wasn't surprised by the whole "phone off the hook" trick she put me through to another division. After hearing a long automated menu about insurance issues and car title documentation I finally reached Ron. Ron sounded like he was shocked that someone actually got through. He took down my information (after having to give him the first three letters of my first name and the first five letters of my last name, because obviously the rest of the letters are immaterial)and supposedly I'll be receiving both a fax and a hard copy by mail. Sure I will.

Random!

This morning the site was visited by a short person from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan seeking information about capri pant hemlines. Got to love Statcounter.

Shoutout to 410e9th's Nasal Passages

Here's to making a quick recovery! Feel better, 410!

Shuffle!

Taking a Cue from Ana

1. Put your iTunes on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.

IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY?" YOU SAY?
Just a Girl - No Doubt

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF?
Les Yeux Ouverts-- Beautiful South

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Stayin' Alive – The Bee Gees

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
It's Not Right, But It's Okay-- Whitney Houston

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
Waiting for My Lucky Day-- Chris Isaak

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
That's Life -- Frank Sinatra

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Adios Muchachos -- Lester Lanin

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Cosmicgirl -- Jamiroquai

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT OFTEN?
Here Comes the Hotstepper -- Ina Kamoze

WHAT IS 2 + 2?
3am Eternal -- The KLF

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Linus & Lucy -- Vince Guaraldi

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Isn't it Romantic -- Derek Smith (Hannah & Her Sisters Soundtrack)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Seasons of Love – Rent

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Independent Women -- Destiny's Child

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Heroes -- David Bowie

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Guilty -- Barbara Streisand (if only! Where's Barry Gibb??)

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Land of Canaan -- Indigo Girls

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Let's Get Loud -- Jennifer Lopez

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?
Escape -- Enrique Iglesias

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Memories Are Made of This -- Dean Martin

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
I Love The Nightlife -- Alicia Bridges

Select a Candidate!

Minnesota Public Radio's website has a Select Your Presidential Candidate survey. Take the poll and it will show you which candidate's views best match your own! Interestingly enough, mine showed that my views most match Rudy's... too bad the poor guy probably won't be in the race much longer. But, so much, too for the accuracy of this thing. Rudy shows up as my closest pick with Obama and Paul!?!? following??

Project Runway

How could they get rid of Kevin?? We love Kevin! Kevin looks like Joey Fatone! Kevin has been in the top 2/3 designers each week! Sure his outfit made his model look like an Indonesian hooker, but still! It's a travesty! I'm sorry but I think Ricky should have gone home. Ricky's outfit was really boring and he's been in the bottom from the beginning. Okay. That's all I have to say.

Sesame Street in the 21st Century

We watched Sesame Street this morning and Ernie actually used air quotes. I think that muppet is getting too hip for his own good.

Wigs and Weaves...

So on the latest episode of the Salt n Pepa Show S&P began investigating creating their own line of wigs and weaves. Then last week I watched a rerun of The View with a segment about, you guessed it, Wigs and Weaves (all about Sherri's hair options)... my thought: Weaves for babies. Maybe that whole Natalie Portman in "V for Vendetta" look isn't for you.

Another Big Day Out For Baby!

Today was an exciting day. We went to our first day of the new semester of Music Class (which is now populated with kids baby age through 3 or 4), then we wandered around downtown Princeton. It was a beautiful spring-like day. We hit up the post office first, then Chase Bank, then (while Miss Baby was napping) we got lunch from Panera and finally ending with passport photos! Now that we have passport photos for both Mom and Baby we're that much closer to actually obtaining passports (mine expires this spring... and it's certainly time to get rid of that old passport picture). After our excitement in the passport photo place (where we were charged a premium because "baby photo take longer") we then headed on to the doctor's office.... Miss Baby needed her flu booster and besides that she had been pulling on her ears a lot lately so I wanted to make sure there was no ear infection going on. Nope, turns out much like Edmund Hillary, Miss B is just tugging on those ears because they're there.

Update on Lemon Cake!

Okay, this stuff is really good. I used fresh lemons for the lemon zest and bottled lemon juice for the buttermilk/lemon juice combo which is added to the batter. I skipped the lemon and sugar syrup that Ina suggests that you pour on the cake but I did keep the confectioner's sugar glaze (though I only drizzled it on top-- didn't want the cake to be too sugary!) I used the parchment paper to line the pan as Ina suggested and it made it super easy to remove the cake from the pan. Suggestions/changes? Only that next time I might add some poppy seeds to the batter--but really this was super easy and very, very tasty!

Lemon Cake!

Despite the fact that we're supposed to be scaling back he cooking while studying for the bar, I can't really get too much done during the day. So, today we've made Ina Garten's Lemon Cake. I cut the recipe in half so we've just got one lone cake and I had a certain seven month old accompanying me in the kitchen. Miss Baby acted as supervisor which worked out well until she tried to wrestle the spoonula out of my hand. Now that we're waiting for the cake to emerge from the oven, I had on Fox News, Miss B, however apparently prefers Stargate Atlantis as she just changed the channel to SciFi. So much for trying to get young people interested in politics. Anyhoo, we'll let you know how the cake turns out!

In Response to Thisbe...

Hey there! Some of us republicans are fans of "America's Mayor"! Huckabee??? I don't know what kind of crack those Iowans were smoking but please, nobody with a name like Huckabee can get elected (let's not even discuss his politics, the whole christian right thing, yada, yada, yada). Romney?? He looks like a used car salesman. And lets not forget that Ron Paul just seems like a nut!

As for the Democrats, I'm glad you've indicated your hat is in the ring for Edwards. I can appreiciate that. As for the other Democrats?? Okay, Richardson looks too much like Horatio Sanz (and I'm totally suspicious of his relationship with Valero), Obama-- seems like a nice guy but I think I have more "presidential" experience because I was president of the National Honor Society in High School. I mean come on, how long has this guy been in politics?? And Hillary. She's just too frightening to even discuss. But again-- if nothing else, experience please?? 8 years as first lady really doesn't count. Eeouch. Its going to be a long road to November.

How Can They Aready Be Remaking

The Incredible Hulk???

And Practically Everybody I Know is a Lawyer...

Interesting article about the state of various professions from the NYTimes...

Illinois Nazis

Cinemax is showing The Blues Brothers! Yay, no commercials and full on cursing. "We've got both kinds, country and western!"

Hmpf.

Sometimes Miss Baby will wake up when I sneeze. Other times, like this afternoon, she can be so sleepy that she actually fell asleep in the car on the way home from Stop N' Shop (which is approximately 2 traffic lights from the house) while I was singing along (rather loudly) to "Seasons of Love" from "Rent".

As Always, More Random Thoughts....

This afternoon we watched Martha and it was a rerun of the "Babies Show". I have to say that I do truly admire Martha. After all the woman sleeps like two hours a night and then spends her days running her empire and at the same time masterminding carrot cake cupcakes and onesies stenciled with potato cut stamps (let's not forget that she climbed Kilamanjaro and of course manages all that animal husbandry up in Bedford.) As admirable as her stamina and creativity may be however, Martha really need to work on her people skills given that she's got a daytime talk show. Martha can be charming when dealing with men (case in point, Russell Crowe, David Letterman, etc.) but put her next to women, children and even dare I say animals and geesh! On today's "Babies Show" Martha had to hold a few tykes and she really looked like she was thinking.... "I have people I can pay to do this" Not to mention she seemed a bit ticked when one of the babies who was modeling a fancy stroller in the "mom's musts" segment wouldn't stop crying.

While checking my email this evening Ticketmaster reminded me that tickets will go on sale next week for "Je'caryous Johnson's Three Ways To Get a Husband" at the Beacon Theater. Which can only bring to mind the quote from "It's a Wonderful Life": "I been savin' this money for a di-vorce, if ever I got myself a husband!"

On the news tonight I saw Hillary Clinton's speech after the Iowa caucus and is it just me or did Bill Clinton look like a wax figure?

Flix was showing one of my favorite movies Seems Like Old Times. What can I say I'm a sucker for those Chevy Chase/Goldie Hawn movies.

Cultural Guerillas?

Apparently, people broke into the Pantheon in order to repair its clock...

What a Way

to ring in the New Year....earlier this afternoon one of the major networks rebelled against bowl game fever by airing Seal on Ice sponsored by Musselman's applesauce. Yes, Seal sang selections from his songbook live while people iceskated. I think Heidi must be behind this (as she does have her own line of birkenstocks and yogurt candy, so I think its fair to say that she's the queen of odd cross-marketing).

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everybody! Last night we welcomed in the New Year with an exciting assortment of hors d'ouvres... including mini meatballs (with swedish meatball gravy for dipping), mini goat cheese and cojack quesadillas, toasted ravioli alfredo and Thisbe's favorite, mini hot dogs ala pigs in blankets. We also had our traditional three cheese fondue which we make every new years. Whoever bought us that fondue pot for our wedding can know we put it to good use at least once a year. Rounding out the evening was a chocolate fondue with assorted fruits. I liked the apple slices but I fear that my dislike for bananas was reconfirmed. Why is it that bananas always taste like rotting fruit? Anyhoo, I fear that for a while this may be the end of fancy cooking. I'm starting off the new year by studying for the bar exam (why is it that certain states which shall remain nameless fail to see the utility in a little thing we like to call reciprocity???). Eeeoch. I'm fearing that this may seriously cut down what little "free" time we have. But, worry not, after the bar we have a few new cook books to test out including Barefoot Contessa Parties! and Cooking with Jamie.

Palmiers!

Tonight we made Palmiers from the recipe in this month's Gourmet magazine. We cheated a bit by doing a Martha Stewart and using Pepperidge Farm puff pastry, but regardless these were super easy and really, really tasty!

Miss Baby's First Christmas!!

This picture not only signifies Miss Baby's first Christmas, but also her first Christmas present. Something's telling me in the future it will take more than a wooden rattle with some colorful circles attached to evoke that level of excitement!

Check It Out!

Its a map of the Rue de la Clef

Yet Another Reason to Hate Apple...

I got a new computer (yay!) and this evening I attempted to move my ipod library onto my new computer (since my old computer will no longer recognize that it is connected to the internet, yada, yada, yada). First problem? I find my iPod box, my iPod receipt, but no software cd. Okay, fine. The Husband asks whether I can't just download the software from iTunes. Indeed, I can. I do this... download the software. Then I figure since my iPod is essentially a flash drive and all 1000 songs are already saved to it I should be able to just plug it in to my new computer and have all of my songs transfer, right? Of course not. Nope, instead the iTunes software asks me if I want to "sync" my iPod with the newly downloaded software-- which would be great except that to "sync" it would mean that my iPod would be wiped clean. Yeah, that's right-- it's not that the content of my iPod would be transferred to my new library, instead the empty library would be transferred to my iPod erasing everything I've ever put on it. I'm sure this all boils down to copyright issues but can I just say out of the 1,000 songs on my iPod 99 have been purchased from iTunes and 901 songs have been downloaded from my own CDs. Hello! What copyright issues?? Now I have to go into my old computer and either a) save my iTunes library to a CD or DVD (which, mind you, my old computer can't burn, so that's a no) or b) do some sort of complicated thing where I save all of my iTunes library onto my iPod (FOR A SECOND TIME) and then use it as a flash drive to download it to my new computer. Why I can't just transfer the songs in their current state is beyond me.

Zoo Official

"cites low wall in Tiger attack" "and Tiger", as Husband noted.

Martha Stewart's Prison Crafts...

Who knew they have ceramics classes in prison??

I thought this was

funny...

Danger Will Robinson!

Today I was in the city with the Dad. I had bought tickets to Harold Pinter's The Homecoming because Ian McShane is in it and he's one of the Dad's favorites ever since the days of Lovejoy. We had a nice brunch and did some shopping about and then headed over to the Cort theater for the play. For those of you in the northeast you'll know that today was not the nicest of days weather wise. After leaving the play (we're not even going to discuss the content or summary of the play other than to say-- what???? what the hell was that all about???) we were heading back to the garage to pick up the wagon. It had started raining quite a bit at that point and at the corner of 50th and 6th (where far too much of my life has always seemed to converge!) we bought a $5 umbrella from a street vendor. Just as we were crossing from the southwest corner to the northwest corner a huge wind gust kicked up. The umbrella is caught up in the gale and I manage to hit myself in the forehead with the metal umbrella pole while simultaneously knocking my Burberry rain hat off of my head. At exactly the same moment the Dad's Borsalino "water-repellent, crushable" fedora is launched off of his noggin, landing in the street, rolling under a police barricade and trying to make its way across 6th avenue to Radio City (I guess it wanted to catch the final days of the Christmas spectacular). My hat ended up in a puddle (containing who knows what kind of city grime and antifreeze) and the Dad's hat rolled into 6th just far enough to gather grit and grime. There were no cabs, our umbrella was completely shot, our hats were soaked (and to add insult to injury somehow or another my shoes were leaking so my socks were wet-- don't remind me that I had two pair of wellies sitting at home safe and dry in my closet). All I can say is I've never been quite so thankful that the wagon has heated seats.

Note to Self.

When you have a six month old and you're going out to lunch, the first rule of baby lunch is: only order food you can either (a) eat with one hand (aka french fries) or (b) eat with a fork (a spoon is just asking for trouble). Case in point-- risotto appetizer, uses a fork. fork good. Turkey club sandwich: two hands, bad. I managed to eat half of one quarter of the sandwich and took three quarters home.

Season's Greetings from Sting

You buy tickets to one lousy Sting concert at Ticketmaster.com and suddenly you're enrolled in some fan website and you get emails like "Season's Greetings from Sting!!" I wonder if he knows how often I make his favorite pasta sauce???

Dangerously High Estrogen Levels...

So last night I watched back to back episodes of The Real Housewives of Orange County and then I watched Dreamgirls on HBO OnDemand (all the while while wrapping Christmas presents, etc.)

As for Dreamgirls, I do have to say, despite all the singing, it was entertaining, however, that being said, it couldn't hold a candle to Chicago. I know it was directed by Bill Condon and it was up for Best Picture, but it was just one or two steps above something you'd see on ABC's Family Channel. Chicago was one of the few movies I've walked out of thinking, "that'll win best picture"... (one of the other movies was The Departed, but there I was thinking, "it should win BP, but you know Marty Scorsese's record...." good thing it was broken, but I digress.)

It's already

December 18th... where has the season gone?? I just finished decorating the house yesterday which included 80 feet of natural garland (which I'm sure will start dropping needles in about five minutes or so), one large tree and two smaller ones (pictures to follow). One of the smaller trees has been decorated with our cat tree topper so it is officially the "cat tree", not to be confused of course with the real cat tree --being the six foot carpet and tree branch concotion which adornes our family room. I still have to make Miss Baby's stocking and manufacture candy for the Husband to bring to the office. Let's not forget about last minute shopping (egads!) and all that other good stuff. Looks like it will be a busy week.

Primer...

Anybody else seen this wacky indy movie about time travel? Thoughts, anyone?

Ever Have....

one of those moments... today I was in the family room and I was thinking about how I visited Mont St. Michel with the Mom and Dad back in college-- I'm not quite sure what got me thinking about this, but I was and then I thought about that weird movie with Sam Waterston that was filmed entirely on location at Mont St. Michel a la "My Dinner with Andre". About fifteen minutes later I put on the tv and while searching through the Guide I noticed that said movie, "Mindwalk" was on IFC. Now if only I could harness this power for something more useful....?

Here Again....

How Its Made:

Mozzarella Cheese and Pantyhose, compact discs and flourescent tubes....

Magnets, Cooked Ham and Crash-Test Dummies.

Pennington Quilt Works

Miss Baby and I visited the Pennington Quilt Works the other day (as they are located next to the Wooly Lamb in Pennington) and the store is *really* cool. I fear I may have yet another hobby approaching on the horizon. (Let's not forget the piano. I've made very, very limited headway on the melody portion of Eric Satie's 3 Gnossiennes and so far have down pat the first three measures of the bass part of Linus and Lucy, unfortunately that is by far the easiest part of Linus and Lucy. I have *a lot* to learn.)

Gourmet!

Okay so the newest issue of Gourmet came and can I just say, it has some wonderful goodies in there-- especially in the candy and cookie department. Palmiers, torrone, peppermint patties! Candy thermometer and hard crack stage here we come!!

ps. this month's content was so good it even made Padma Lakshmi's chutney recipes sound tasty!

The Great Debaters....

Yesterday we watched the Des Moines Register Iowa Republican Debates. The editor of the Register was the moderator (and may I just say, she seemed less than professional when she said that she'd try not to be a "bitch" about enforcing the time limits... a bit colloquial for a newspaper editor, no?) Fox News said that it was a bit interesting that Alan Keyes was permitted to attend as he doesn't have a campaign office in Iowa and apparently certain of the Democratic candidates were limited from participating in their party's debate today for the same reason. I'll tell you why Alan Keyes was allowed to participate--- because someone had to make Ron Paul look less crazy. Is it just me or is Alan Keyes like a bad Garrett Morris character?

PR

Its the new season of Project Runway. For the past few weeks I kept thinking that Sweet "P" had a mole on her face near her lip. I just now realized its some sort of piercing (and we have an HD tv). So far, I have to say I like Kevin, mostly just because he reminds me of Joey Fatone (and I just think its funny that there are two people out there who look like Joey Fatone).

Our Trip Across Houston...

Miss S and I took some pictures the other day when crossing Houston from the FDR to the Holland Tunnel...

Marmalade!

So today was our surprise party for the Husband's birthday. All went well and while the Husband did indicate that I had been "acting suspiciously" he did claim it was a surprise. As the party encompassed a gathering of friends I used this as a perfect opportunity to distribute jars of marmalade. What kind of marmalade? Orange marmalade! Jackie rightly inquired whether a search of the blog would bring up a posting about marmalade and I realized that I had completely ignored marmalade making in terms of food postings, so here goes!

So far I've made two batches of marmalade based on Ina Garten's recipe. The recipe is pretty simple-- 4 seedless oranges, 2 lemons, 8 cups (yes, 8 cups) of sugar and 8 cups of water. While the ingredients are simple, the act of marmalade making is a bit more complex (taking two days) but still, with the help of a candy thermometer, not too difficult.

First you need to slice the 4 oranges and 2 lemons very, very thinly. It's best if you cut the oranges and lemons in half and then in half again and slice them such that you're cutting the fruit so that each slice looks like a classic "fruit slice". Ina's recipe says that if you have a mandoline this process will be quick (the Husband wasn't quite sure why having a small stringed instrument would help....) and as for me, I've had a mandoline for years and years and still haven't figured out how to properly operate it.... so it was just me and my chef's knife. Make sure you put your fruit slices (and all of the juices) into a stainless steel pot (no flavor transfer). Once you have all of your slices in your pot, add 8 cups of water and bring to a boil. Once the mixture has come to a boil you'll add in your 8 cups of sugar, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Set aside your fruit/water/sugar concoction, covered, for 24 hours. The next day you'll bring your mixture to a boil again and then reduce to a simmer and continue simmering for 2 hours (stirring regularly). Also remember to skim off any foam that accumulates on top of your mixture. Once you've hit the 2 hour mark, next you'll increase the temperature again for another 30 minutes. You'll want to use a candy thermometer to confirm that the mixture has reached 220 degrees. The neat part is that the marmalade mixture will reduce quite a bit from your original 8 cups of water and much of the fruit will dissolve (even much of the orange and lemon rind!) During the 2 hour period your house will also fill up with a lovely orange scent. Of course, you need to keep your wits about you, otherwise after about an hour, and since I was no longer in the kitchen, I thought to myself, "gee, what's that citrus scent? Is the Husband brewing some of his orange tea? What *is* that?" then I realized, "HELLO, you're boiling 4 oranges in 8 cups of sugar..."

Once you've followed all the steps above it will be time to can! I can honestly say I had never canned anything before, and indeed I was never a fan of jelly jars-- specifically hating to eat at "Po'Folks" back in ATL as a kid because they served your drink in a jelly jar. Alas, feelings for jars aside, the Ball people seem to have the marked cornered on canning supplies. I had bought a 12 pack of Ball jars. After washing the jars you'll need to get them hot as in order for the jars to seal themselves both the glass jar and the contents need to be hot. The canning process turns out to be the one time it is good that our kitchen faucet puts out ridiculously hot water. I rinsed each jar thoroughly and (while holding it with an oven mitt) spooned marmalade into the jars... I made sure the marmalade was still at or around 220. Make sure to wipe down the mouth of the jar (so no marmalade is on the threads) and then seal tightly with your lid. Once the jars and marmalade cools a vacuum will be created and each jar will seal. I hadn't mentioned this to the Husband so he came into the kitchen and heard these popping sounds and wasn't quite sure what the heck was going on.

Marmalade will stay for up to a year sealed in the jar, once opened it needs to be refrigerated. For whatever reason (namely all the sugar?) once refrigerated the marmalade becomes rather stiff. When spreading after refrigeration you may want to pull the jar out of the fridge a bit before you're ready to use it so it can warm up to room temp and be easier to spread.

Leda asked whether we grew the oranges and lemons ourselves. Sadly, we didn't, but I am always mesmerized by the meyer lemon trees in the W-S catalogue. Just give me some time.

Moussaka!

On Wednesday we visited with Em and Max and Emily treated us to a lovely lunch from a local Mediterranean restaurant. I had moussaka which was *really* tasty. It was different from traditional moussaka in that it didn't have a bechemel sauce and it wasn't in a sort of stacked lasagna type format. It was eggplant in a very lovely ground beef sauce served over rice. I really enjoyed it, so I decided that I would try and make it myself for lunch on Friday.

Since the moussaka that I would be replicating didn't have bechemel I figured it would be pretty easy. Somehow or another I got a little off track.

I started with the meat sauce recipe that we used for pastitsio. I sauteed mire poix (the equivalent of one bag of pre-cut mire poix from Wegman's) in a little bit of olive oil, together with oregano and a bit of thyme. Once the carrots softened and the onions became translucent, I added one pound of ground beef to brown (breaking up the ground beef periodically so it is in very small bits). Once the ground beef browned I added one 14 oz. can of diced tomatoes, about half a small can of tomato paste, 1/4 of a cup of red wine, two bay leaves, salt, pepper, cinnamon and allspice (to taste). Then I let the meat sauce simmer for about 45 minutes. In the mean time I prepared my eggplant. I cut one large purple eggplant into disks, then cutting each disk into chunks. The eggplant chunks with seeds I tossed with kosher salt in a colander set to drain into a bowl. I left the eggplant chunks draining for about fifteen minutes, after which I rinsed them with water. Once the eggplant was ready I pan fried the chunks in a bit of olive oil until just golden brown. I then added the browned eggplant pieces to the meat sauce. (Now, all of that having been said, if I stopped at this point I would have been replicating the "not-too-traditional" moussaka from Wednesday, and it would have been accomplished in two pans and one pot (for rice)). But, can I stop here? Of course not. Now I decide, "well, maybe I'll go ahead and make the bechemel" Yeah, okay, that means dirtying two more pots. First I needed four tablespoons of butter melted, into that I whisked one cup of flour. While whisking, four cups of milk was heating in a separate pan, together with one bay leaf and a bit of all spice. Once the milk was heated I ladled in one ladleful of milk at a time to the flour/butter mixture, continuing to whisk. You may need to adjust the milk to flour/butter ratio to ensure that you have the right consistency. I prefer a bechemel that is less thick-- once you're happy with the bechemel, add grated Parmesan.

Now, at the time I had thought I'll just drizzle some of the bechemel over the moussaka... then I thought, "oh, gee, why not bake it in the oven?" So I set the oven to 350 degrees and got out one of my emile henry pans. I put one layer of meat/eggplant on the bottom of the pan and then drizzled over some of the bechemel, layered more of the meat/eggplant and then topped off with bechemel. Finally, I added some breadcrumbs on top. (You could melt some butter and toss the breadcrumbs in the butter and use that as the topping, but by this time I had used so many pots and pans I figured I would just use plain breadcrumbs!). I then baked the moussaka in the oven for about 20 minutes (until the moussaka was bubbly and golden on top). While the moussaka was baking I made some rice pilaf (out of a box, thanks to "Near East" foods....)


All in all I managed to use one large pan, one small fry pan, three pots, a colander, a big bowl and a baking dish. So much for a simple lunch.

Once the moussaka was done in the oven I let it stand for about 5-10 minutes and then served with the rice pilaf on the side. Good crusty bread or pita and some hummus would have been a great accompaniment. All in all it was pretty tasty, even if more complicated than the version which inspired it!

Please, don't do it...

To the person from Charlotte who visited the blog after querying Ask.com "where can I find a reindeer car costume?" whatever you do, don't buy one. If you must I guess you can put a wreath on the grill of your car (truly only acceptable if you have some sort of monster SUV) but, please I beg you, on behalf of your vehicle, be discreet.

Sports Unfiltered.

I hate sports (except for the Tour). I love Dennis Miller. The Versus channel has recently unveiled "Sports Unfiltered" hosted by Dennis Miller-- a weekly sports commentary show. Unfortunately, I'm hooked.

Moreos...

The Husband had been taking care of Miss Baby and he stepped away from the baby for a moment to get her bottle from the bottle warmer. He left her on our bed (safely secured with a mountain of pillows around her, making only one mistake.... she was within grasping distance of our bag of oreos.) He comes back and apparently she had managed to snag an oreo out of the bag and was gumming it quite contentedly and did not want to relinquish said cookie. By the time I got upstairs I was told we needed to change out Miss B's onesie (as indeed it was covered with oreo dust) and upon further inspection Baby even had a small oreo mustache and telltale oreo dust underneath her fingernails. Ah, the draw of refined sugar is a powerful one.

Royale with Cheese

Okay, so I don't mean to be politically incorrect, but I have to make a statement. Food establishments should refrain from staffing the order taking/cashier positions with folks who haven't yet learned to speak english. If you want to hire people who are still mastering the language, try staffing non-customer related positions like food preparation, clean-up (of course, provided that other staff members can act as translators...) but it's kind of problematic for customers if you give your order to a person who doesn't understand what you're saying. If I wanted to teach an english as a second language course I'd volunteer at my local library, when I want to order a sandwich I'm not looking for it to be a learning experience for all involved.

Case in point, every time I go to the local Panera it's a crap shoot as to what I'm actually going to get. The first time I noticed this I was with the Husband and we each got only half of what we ordered. I got the soup I was supposed to get but my sandwich was entirely wrong, the Husband got his sandwich and it was correct but his soup order was left off. I went back with the Parents and this time we got the reciept with our order and then had to proceed to work with the manager of the place to actually establish what it was we ordered (confirming that indeed we didn't order four soups, one sandwich and a half sandwich (for three people), but three soups and two sandwiches.

Tonight things got even better. We went to Burger King (admittedly, our first mistake). We ordered a king size number 9 (chicken sandwich, king size fries, king size coke), a king size number 4 (whopper, jr. with cheese, no mayo, no pickle, no onion, no lettuce, king size fries, king size coke) and a medium onion ring.

What did we get in return? Upon our arrival home it turns out in the bag was one King Size fry, one King Size Onion Ring, a chicken sandwich and a double Whopper (no cheese) with mayo, lettuce, tomato, onion and pickles.

I'm 32 and I couldn't tell you the last time I ate a hamburger, let alone a double hamburger. Burgers are all about the cheese, indeed it's really the only reason to eat them. So there I am and my cut of this bag of goodies is a double whopper and a king size onion ring. If I didn't have a heart attack after that meal I guess I'll be good for the next 50 years. What's further disappointing is that I've never ordered a Whopper before, certainly not a double one. I've always stuck to the Whopper, jr. Just like at McDonald's in my youth I only ever used to order the quarter pounder (with cheese). Then there was a long stretch where I wouldn't eat any meat so it was only McNuggets, then (since pregnancy, mostly) my burger order at McDonald's has been demoted down to just a regular cheeseburger. I have to say that I always envisioned that if I went for the giant burger it would be a Big Mac. (While Burger King's fries are very tasty, I'll always be a McDonald's loyalist).

"Big Mac is a Big Mac, but they call it Le Big Mac."
"Le Big Mac.... what do they call a Whopper?"
"I don't know, I didn't go into a Burger King."

Well, I do have a plane...

We didn't think it could get any better! Okay, so the Husband and I are total geeks. As everyone who reads this blog already knows we've seen the Code a bazillion times and counting. Finally when it seemed like STARZ! was going to potentially stop showing it (with almost Law&Orderian frequency) we even used up precious BestBuy rewards points to buy it on DVD. We watched the DVD, we even watched all of the extras, but nothing could compare to this.... last night I was up late working on Loan Documents and nothing good was on tv. I decided to order up The Code on Starz! on demand. So I've got it on in the background and early on I thought I heard Alfred Molina deliver a line somewhat differently than normal (because after all, we've seen it so many times we know all the lines).... then a while later the Husband starts watching and he notices new scenes. Yup, that's right. Starz! has some sort of "Choice Cut" director's cut edition with almost 25 extra minutes of deleted scenes. It was like watching a whole new movie! Things are explained, lines now make sense, Tom Hanks' acting is still bad, but what ho! It was a lot of fun!

Ironically,

during Austro-Hungarian week we've had a visit to the blog from someone in Budapest. However, they were, as usual, looking for "Sting's Favorite Pasta."