the boy and i got to philly on the later side of christmas eve- the kids were asleep and my parents were almost ready for bed (having both come down with a cold). so we helped ourselves to the leftover turducken, ham, green bean casserole, mac & cheese, and carrots. i was severely disappointed in herbert's turducken. not very tasty and a big letdown compared to the one i had had at a holiday party last year. . . in any case, i made up for it with my mom's ham which was as delicious as usual.
while the boy and i ate, my brother and sister kept us company. because my niece was sure to recongize her mom's handwriting, the boy was asked to write "santa's note" to the kids thanking them for the christmas cookies and chocolate milk. eventually, we went on to gift exchanges and watching video of the kids' christmas performances and a piano recital. full belly and a couple beers later, we fell asleep on the sofa watching p.s. i love you. i got maybe halfway through before i conked out- feeling that movies like that give women unrealistic expecations of love and romance.
the next morning, we were woken up by my niece looking for signs of santa. and sure enough, mostly eaten cookies on the plate and santa's note sealed the deal for my excited niece. although she called into question the familiar wrapping paper that her gifts were left with.
T: isn't that the wrapping paper that was at grandma's house?
sis: um i don't think so. shooting me a glaring look as i had convinced her that unwrapping the gifts would be unnecessary.
T: hey, this is a karaoke machine. grandma got me a karaoke machine. grandma, didn't you get me a karaoke machine?
grandma: i think santa must have gotten things mixed up in the delivery.
T: looking questioningly at my mom oh ok.
fortunately, she got excited about the other gifts and moved quickly on. the rest of the morning was filled with present unwrapping for the kids, eating pancakes and homemade crossiantwiches, and doing crafts. lovely time. just a bit too abbreviated.
the holidays can be difficult when you work in retail. for the past couple of years, while everyone was visiting their families, i was working extended hours and never had enough time to travel home. my family had compensated by traveling up to see me when possible- three years ago they came up to nyc and stayed through christmas morning.
two years ago, i celebrated xmus with q2 catching a flick at the cinema, dinner at yokocho, and drinks at angel's share. last year the boy and i spent the day with his family, relaxing & enoying a more traditional dinner. while i have fond memories of both and enjoyed myself immensely, it feels more "right" to be with my family. . . so THIS year, i'm happy to say that i have some time off and will be heading to philly with the boy to spend xmus with the entire immediate family!
MERRY XMUS!!!
lovely dinner with eulalie tonight at felice.
i am often reminded of how lucky i have been in my life to meet such quality individuals who i can still consider close friends. these relationships all require and demonstrate a level of loyalty, honesty, and trust that allows the relationship to truly stand the test of time and distance. to me, the best relationships are ones in which two people let themselve be truly honest with one another. this is certainly not an easy way feat. which is why delicacy and sincere intentions are often critical to easing the delivery of hard truths.
on the surface, aside from sharing a passion for food, eulalie and i seem quite different. she is vibrant, talkative, and committed to development work. i am at times reserved, quiet and immersed in retail/fashion. nevertheless, we know and understand one another incredibly well which comes from our ability to be brutally honest. throughout the years, our talkouts have been therapeutic and constructive. allowing us to work through various issues and to see different viewpoints. and yet, sometimes, like tonight, i feel that the truth is not so easy to grasp.
i confess i may have a girl crush on boa kwon. . . as i'm sure all guys with an asian fetish and young asian men will appreciate.
saw her music video while gymming . . .
enjoy
the good morning was a all beef hotdog, wrapped in bacon, deep fried and topped with cheese a fried egg and chili! a heart attack waiting to happen! . . but comfort food at it's finest. . .the spicy redneck on the otherhand, was surprisingly sophisticated. the crunchiness/creaminess of the coleslaw added a complex dimension to the dog, making it a meal rather than a common ball park food. and a very delicious meal at that! the boy's jon-jon deragon was a play on the ny bagel with cream cheese, scallions, and the toppings for an everything bagel- a combination that sounds questionable at best but turned out to be one of the tastiest things i've ever eaten.there is an art to giving gifts and the ability to do it well. . is a wonderful *ahem* gift to have. . .
a single gift can communicate how well you know someone, your perception of that individual, your history, and your level of consideration and esteem for that person.
when done right, a gift can bring great happiness:
"i've been wanting X for over a year. thank you so much!"
and done wrong, can lead to misery all around.
on the bright side, i feel that there is not a great correlation between how much you spend and how much someone will like there gift (excluding those individuals who's requirement for a great gift is that it's expensive). a little bit of thoughtfulness goes a LONG way so perk up those ears and listen for those hints!
the weather has had me hankering for comfort food so i decided to make beef stew for dinner saturday night. in preparation, the boy took me to stew leonard's to get groceries. like tara reid at beach week, i couldn't help but go a little crazy. i loaded up on fresh produce, cheese (wasabi, goat, and bbq wing flavored!), snacks, beef and buffalo trace. since i was already running behind schedule (the stew takes 3-4 hours of simmering time), i decided to keep my anxiety in check and warn my dinner guests that dinner would be an hour late.
we got home around 5:30 and i started preparing dinner. . . by 8:30, the crostini and wasabi meatballs were done just in time for our first guest's, british dave, arrival. by the time celestial arrived just minutes later, i could relax and just let the stew finish simmering.
the result of my first attempt at making beef stew? somewhat mixed. i altered the recipe to suit our palettes- almost doubling the meat portion and halving the amount of potatoes. while it was definately tasty and substantial- it was more like a beef bourguignon than the stew i grew up eating and had been craving. i guess no one else minded and in fact, the boys helped themselves to seconds.
the meatballs were a surprise hit along with the nifty nabber which we all took turns playing with. after consuming a hearty meal and a few bottles of wine, we all felt like calling it a night and ended up nixing our initial plans of going out. . .making it a nice winter's night in.
i love the rain. thunderstorms during the summertime that feel like they shake the earth and leave the air smelling cleaner and cooler. falling asleep listening to raindrops steadily beating against the roof during the fall. day long glooms of rain when you're holed up inside under a warm blanket with a steaming mug of tea and a good book.
however, braving the wet windy rain while waiting for the bus that is terribly late because traffic is at a standstill twice in a day (twenty minutes this morning and almost and hour on the way home) is just plain miserable. what confounds me the most is that rain is not foreign to east coasters the way it is to southern californians so why everyone loses their wits and drives like they've never seen rain before, is a mystery.
hopefully it'll dry out by saturday. but i guess i shouldn't complain too much- afterall, at least i have a warm dry apartment to come home to.
my mother is from a different era, raised in a cultural landscape where gender stereotypes were deeply ingrained and straightforward.
according to her, a good woman. . .
dresses smartly- never too much skin
speaks quietly and does not laugh too loudly in public
does not flirtwith men
gets married and has children (otherwise she's not a woman)
does not drink more than a glass of wine (in private is occasionally ok)
and so on. . .
a couple weekends ago when i was having dinner with the boy and our parents are felice, my mom gave me a knudge and look as if to say "are you sure that's a good idea? what will his parents think!" when the boy poured a healthy second glass of wine for me. i motion to their almost empty glasses of wine and shoot her a look back that says "don't worry, they are completely fine with it!"
in truth, my mom has never been comfortable with the idea that her daughter likes to drink. the fact that i always drink responsibly and know my limit does not really matter. it would be different if i were a boy as evidenced by the fact that she has never raised issue with my brother. needless to say, i found this article particularly interesting. and can just imagine my mom's chagrin (note: i would never condone binge drinking or dependency on alcohol but think in moderation, alcohol can be part of a fairly healthy life).
seitan it's a funny word. i always feel like i'm mispronouncing it or trying not to say satan. it's "say tan" or wheat gluten which i've never prepared before.
the occasion was dinner with the nose and his new boyfriend, a vegetarian. having grown accustomed to a protein/mean intensive diet over the past few years, this was going to be a culinary challenge for me. the nose's assurance that his boyfriend was very understanding of us carnivores did not ease my concerns. but, what kind of a host would i be if i didn't make sure that the meal was tasty, filling, and pleasing to every guest?
in the end, i decided on thai food: vegetarian green curry, red curry fried seitan and greenbeans, coconut rice, lemongrass shrimp skewers -for the meat eating contingent- and almond tofu dessert. i was easily able to purchase a package of seitan at an organic/health food store in my neighborhood. i was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to work with! i think i am a convert and will start integrating more seitan into my every day cooking (seitan chili maybe?).
dinner was completely prepared with half an hour to spare before my guests arrived. all the recipes fell into place and the spicy dishes paired well with the white wines that the nose brought. it was one of my most relaxing dinner parties- everyone drank and ate a lot, conversation flowed smoothly, and the time flew by.
somehow this friday seemed particularly slow in coming but come it did.
celestial and i decided to meet up at boka for dinner. . somehow original plans to check out tet were derailed as the idea of bon chon chicken won us both over. we split a large order of wings and seafood pajun. i think boka is still perfecting and unfortunately worsening their act. the wings were smaller. the pajun recipe changed. AND the prices are a little higher. it's still a good option in st marks which keeps me going back. . but not sure for how long.
after dinner, we decided to wander over to crocodile lounge where we indulged in skee ball, photoboothing, and free pizza!
the skee ball made us both want to bowl so we decided to head to bowlmor to see if there was a wait. on the way, we noticed that forever 21 was still open and ended up having a shopping/trying on clothes spree. another girlish form of fun. good times.
this has been an unusually hectic week- heavy work load compounded by the fact that i'm still catching up from missing work days due to jury duty and three sessions of training. to head things off, i've been going into work even earlier than usual- around 7ish.
which means that by 6pm, i'm totally sapped. thursday was no different. the boy and i had tickets for vampire weekend at terminal 5 but there was time to kill while he made the trek out to manhattan. luckily, megs was free and so we took the opportunity to catch up over happy drinks at tg whitney (2 for 1 drinks on thursdays). while midtown/uptown bars are generally not my scene- the place was not terribly douchey, the drinks were cheap and wine generously poured, and minutes away from work. good find.
traffic was sufficiently sucky so that the boy and i got to the show just in time to catch vampire weekend's first song but not in time to snag a balcony spot with a clear view of the stage. so i settled for hopping and moving around to get glimpses here and there. after some time, a visibly and endearingly enthusiastic fan offered to let me stand in his spot for half of a song. overall a good show- vampire weekend sounds just as good live as pre-recorded and the crowd was earnest. i do believe the streak of bad luck has been broken!
i'm the weird bird that hates to miss work- mostly b/c it means i'll come back to a shitstorm of work when i finally do make it back. that and i believe my pops instilled just a little bit of his work-acoholicism onto me.
needless to say i was not looking forward to jury duty the week of thanksgiving. worst case scenario- i'd be selected for a criminal case, be sequestered, and have to spend my thanksgiving vacation in court. best case scenario- i'd miss a day of work and have to forgo my halfday and catch up on emails and vendor requests.
in the end- i lucked out and ended up enoying two days off of work. i did a lot of reading and was interviewed for a spot on the "back up" jury. it was an interesting assessment process.
i arrived at 8:45, by 9am, the waiting room was mostly full. one of the attendants turned on a cheesy film featuring a young diane sawyer about the importance of the jury and fulfilling one's civic duty. two hours of waiting. fire drill where we all filed out into the hallway before being asked to return to our seats. another half hour of waiting. FINALLY, my name is one of twelve to be called for jury selection.
all the interviewees filled out a form. we were released for an hour lunch break so the lawyers could review our profiles before reconvening. the plantiff's lawyer introduced the case of an individual who was suing the city of new york for negligence after slipping in the snow. then, the plantiff questioned us all one by one. next the defendant's (the city of new york) lawyer gave a rebuttal type speech and did his rounds of questioning.
i guess i should have known it was a done deal when i said that i thought that americans are too litigious and that individuals need to take more personal responsiblity?
