In which we eat, learn about the past, and shop

This morning Stephen and I hauled ourselves out into the cold cold* for some grocery shopping. Stephen was feeling a little seedy after being laid off yesterday and subsequently going on a bender so, before hitting the stores, we stopped at Peter Pan for a delicious counter breakfast: whole wheat glazed doughnut for me, bacon, cheese and egg on a roll for Stephen and, of course, coffee for both of us. We stayed long after we'd finished eating to chat with two old timers who had been reminiscing about the neighbourhood. Bill and Mike told us about how there used to be several theatres on Manhattan Avenue there, how Peter Pan had changed over the years, how they used to heat their houses with coal furnaces, and how they used to play stickball and punchball in the street, sometimes for money, when they were kids in the 1940s. It was neat.

Anyway, we bought spelt berries, tangerines, chickpeas, black mission figs, and olive oil, amongst other things. We've been spending the afternoon keeping warm drinking peppermint tea and laughing at this weird** Japanese game show on Hulu.com, which is rather entertaining. I've also been hanging things on the walls and making postcards to send to strangers via sendsomething.net.

I suppose now I'll do my exercises and we'll listen to A Prairie Home Companion and eat dinner and go to sleep and wake up in the morning to a new day.

* -8C
** as though there's any other kind

Nothing to see here, folks. Move along.

Uh, not much going on here. It's cold outside and I have a cold inside. Just a teeny tiny little one. Not enough for me to bother doing much about except for eating a lot of toast, which, to be honest, may not be a particularly effective strategy. I just like toast. Actually, I was thinking about my love for toast and was trying to come up with a list of my favourite foods. I don't think that I'm ready to share my list yet but let me just say that avocados, nectarines and toasted pinenuts will definitely be on there. I'm not sure whether or not I should include foods that I don't eat anymore like, say, prawn cocktails. I miss prawn cocktails.

On second thoughts

Even a new job that does suck would be something right about now...

Happy new year!

Yes, happy new year to you. We have been celebrating with prosecco and apple pie, which to be honest, has been a far better NYE than I have had in a long time. We watched the ball drop in Times Square online and were glad we were not there. Times Square is gross and, also, it's -8C out there and it feels like -17C. That is not my idea of fun. Anyway, I do hope that 2009 brings you all much happiness and success. Personally, I'm hoping for a new job that doesn't suck. I haven't made any resolutions because I can't think of any but I will bend my mind. I made a new year's resolution two years ago and have stuck to it ever since, so I know that they can work. If I make a new resolution for 2009, you'll certainly hear about it.

By the way, last night I dreamt that I was riding a horse and it was wonderful. The night before that I dreamt that I was a golden dragon flying high above the earth and it was even better.

And good will towards hens

Oh, merry Yule, friends. We had a nice time: a nice breakfast with presents, friends over for Christmas dinner with board games and more presents. Um, that's about it, really.

Oh, look, here comes 2009. Sigh.

Getting into the spirit

On Sunday Stephen and I went out and got a Christmas tree. Usually, we walk down through the park to Williamsburg and get one from the guys in the church school parking lot on N7th, but this year there was a new Christmas tree stand on our street just two blocks from our apartment so we went there. It's a good thing we didn't have to go so far because last year Stephen almost gave himself a hernia lugging our enormous tree home. This was much easier.



In the afternoon, we had some friends over to help trim the tree by making popcorn and cranberry garlands and cutting out paper snowflakes. We served Union Square Cafe nuts, crackers and spreads, and Stephen made round after round of Seelbachs, his signature cocktail, and everyone was very merry indeed. Handcrafting things with friends over snacks and drinks is a remarkably pleasant way to spend an afternoon and it's so nice to have a Christmas tree hand decorated by one's friends. It's actually my favourite event of the year. You can see a little of it here in the video below taken by the Captain. Please note Megan's unorthodox use of radishes to create her "garland of anarchy".

It's Sunday

It's cold and windy outside. I'm inside with a headache and an animal who is slowly devouring my Christmas packages.

I haven't been sticking to my self-imposed rules as strictly as I probably should but, mostly, I'm not doing too badly with all that. Usually, I just sleep in an extra hour or just don't wash my hair on a particular day.

I got pretty much all my Christmas shopping done on Wednesday last week, which was pretty exciting. I also bought myself a hat - a black cloche that's just beat up enough that I don't have to worry about it but still looks quite elegant.

We had our first snow last night. Very exciting but it was all gone by morning.

Now I am am planning our tree trimming party to be held a week from today. Good times.

Also

Saucy, Saucepot, Babycat, Friskymitts, Miss Moocher, Little Moocher, Stinker

Miss Bitsy Valentine

AKA Bitsy, Bitsycat, Lil Bit, the Bit, Cat Pants, Miss Pants, Catten Cat, Catticus, Catticus Minimus (her gladiatorial name), Cat Sauce, Saucy Britches, Little Miss Saucy Britches, Saucer Eyes, Bright Eyes, Catcat, Catsicle, Meowmeow, Little Meow, Little
Miss, Bitesycat 4ooo, Pretty One, Cat One, Crazycat, Ghostface Poopah, Spookycat, Spookster.

Hunting not-turkey

Today I on a special trip to the Whole Foods at Columbus Circle to try to track down a Field Road Celebration Loaf for Thanksgiving dinner. My heart sank* when I got to the refrigerated section and saw a blank space above the little price sign that said "Celebration Loaf". A gentleman with tattooed arms and unusual skin who was working in the dairy section offered to set one aside for me when a new shipment arrived the next day. I was distinctly not thrilled at the prospect of going back there, tomorrow, though - it's kind of a hike. Anyway, I said yes BUT then found some Celebration Loaves in another part of the store and cancelled my reserve. Hurrah! Anyway, I was then feeling so chuffed about successfully bagging my prey that I proceeded to purchase all manner of indulgences: Spanish cocktail nut mix, a tin of golden syrup (hello, Anzac biscuits!), a pocketsize tin of healing Badger Balm, Late July Ritz style crackers, and a copy of "Feline Wellness" magazine. Lovely.

Bitsy is outraged that she has not yet been fed and is giving me the saucer eyes. Sigh.



* Translation: I was filled with rage and loathing.

Slow going

So today I broke two of my rules: I got up after 7am and I did some extended napping. Sigh. I'm so ashamed! No, not really. Here's the thing: it was very cold last night. I was warm enough in bed, actually too warm and I did not sleep well. I was wedged in between Stephen and Bitsy and was only able to toss and turn within a very limited space. Most frustrating. When my alarm went off I was tired, cranky, and sweaty and the heating had not yet come on. The prospect of getting out of bed, damp, into the frigid air was, well, less than appealing. So I hit snooze until I could no longer stand the gnawing of my conscience or the cat's demands for breakfast, which was, for the record, before 8am.

I emailed me resume to someone in HR at my old company, who had offered to forward it to one of her contacts. She called and left me a message telling me that, basically, it sucked and that in the current economic climate (etc) it would not help me at all. In response, I ate cold leftovers out of the fridge and then lay down on the sofa for a long nap. I slept until I started to have confusing nightmares, got up and ate some chocolate chips. So. Tomorrow, I am going to overhaul my resume and am now feeling very fired up about it. No one likes a kick in the arse but, you know, they're pretty useful. Apparently, the universe has finally come round to the fact that I am essentially fairly lazy and need regular kicking in order to get anything done.

Anyway. I was feeling so guilty about my unscheduled nap that I decided to attempt to go for a run, which, to my surprise, turned out to be a great success. I ran nine laps of the track by our house. That's four laps more than I have been able to manage at any point this year and the longest run I have done in 8 years. Huzzah! All those hours of repetitive exercises and visiting the physio for excruciating deep tissue massage are finally paying off. I am, as they say, mad excited. Also? Turns out that the track is nice and quiet when it's below freezing out. Woo!


Yesterday Stephen and I went to the South Street Seaport Museum. It was not quite what I was expecting but neato nonetheless. We were disappointed that their ships were not open for viewing (I guess because it was so cold) but we enjoyed looking at FDR's maritime history collection, cutaways of commercial cruise ships, and photos from the Fulton Street Fish Market. We will definitely go back some day when we can walk about out the Peking, the Ambrose and whatever else they have docked down there.



On another note, I'm not sure whether any of you ever listen to streaming radio through iTunes but we have recently started listen to WKSU and have been enjoying it very much. It's an NPR affiliate operating from Kent State University, Ohio. We appreciate their civilized-classic-music-and-no-anxiety-heightening-music-or-inane-commentary approach to evening radio. Living in New York can be quite stressful and one usually needs to be soothed at the end of the day. WKSU helps.

Today is a new day

So yesterday my boss called me into her office to tell me that they were eliminating my position at the company, effective immediately, and that I could stay till the end of the day if I wanted. Ur... yes, indeed. I was taken quite by surprise, to say the least. It's not so bad, though, because I've been meaning to find a new job since, ur, last year and I'm getting three months severance pay. I am very grateful for that because, honestly, without it I probably would have just upped and died on the spot. Times are rather lean here at the moment so being suddenly without an income would have been a disaster. I'm not sure what I will do but I will be starting my job search on Monday.

In the meantime, I have set myself for rules for living without a job: get up before 7am on weekdays, have a shower and wash my hair and make myself presentable as though I were actually going to work somewhere (somewhere quite casual, of course), remember to drink at least 6 glasses of water during the day, maintain an exercise regimen, and absolutely no extended napping. I suppose you can expect an increase in blog entries.

I only got up about 40 minutes later than I would have if I had to be at work at 9:30am today. I showered, I made my face, I got dressed and was out of the house well before 9am. I went to the bank and I bought bagels for breakfast, a newspaper, and a box of bandaids*. We ate the bagels and read the paper. Stephen left for work and I've been reading my regular websites and blogs, emailing people, and making lists of things to attend to. Bitsy is napping in the window sill. I recently moved her fleecy cat bed up there because I thought she might like it and I was right.

So that's all, really. Later today I am going to make some "cream" of broccoli soup and do some exercises**. We're going to a gathering at a friend's house this evening so I may also make some snacks to take over. Perhaps a dip.


* Last weekend I cut half my fingernail off with a knife while I was making dinner. We've been going through bandaids at a rather rapid rate since then.

** I've been seeing physical therapists for the last few months because of kneee and back problems. I have lots of exercises that need to be done on a regular basis. They have been enormously helpful. If anyone wants to buy my leftover muscle relaxants and opiates, I could certainly use the cash... Just kidding.

Hello, friends

Tuesday last week we elected a new president.

Thursday last week Stephen and I got new phones.

Last Saturday I cut off half of one of my fingernails with a kitchen knife while making dinner.

Today I lost my job and my blog got a new look.

Exciting times, my friends. Exciting times.

The Beautiful Struggle

What? It's only been 2 months since my last post

This is my 400th post. This seems fairly amazing to me - especially considering that I have not been much of a blogger this year. I guess I've just been tired, you know? Actually, I have been tired. I went to the doctor a few weeks ago thinking that I was perhaps anaemic or had a vitamin B12 deficiency despite my best efforts but, actually, it seems that I am completely well apart from the fact that I just don't get enough sleep. Oh, yeah. Huh. I've been getting up earlier and earlier but have not actually adjusted my bed time accordingly. Stoo-pid.

So. Here's what's been going on:

May 3rd: We went to see our friend Josh's band The Ruffian Arms. They are very fun and energetic and wear costumes. They're entirely adorable - which is just as well because this particular show was not very good. The venue was fairly small and the sound was terrible. Oh, well. They will be playing at Lit on July 31st (I think) and we expect that show to be much better.
May 5th: I had jury duty. I sat in the jury room at the Brooklyn Supreme Court and read, napped, texted and people watched for 8 hours minus the hour break we had for lunch in which I ate sushi, took photos, and bought stuff: second hand books (for myself - to read while waiting to be called or not), feathery catnip toys (for Bitsy) and truffle oil (for Stephen). Souvenirs for everyone! Stephen has jury duty in two weeks time and is not happy about it.
May 5th was also Fran's birthday. I did not manage to send her present in time but she did get a cheerful email on the day and a t-shirt from Threadless.com some time later. Apparently, the shirt is a hit.
May 15th: I went to a cocktail party at the MoMA store in Soho with Ashlee. They were launching their collection of Japanese stock. I bought a device for making balls of apple sized spherical ice. Stephen was quite taken with it.
May 25th - 27th: We were in Montauk celebrating Lori's birthday. She and her boyfriend, whose house it was, were going down there for a long weekend and we turned it into an extended surprise birthday party. Lori was certainly surprised. She and Dean were in their bathers making a batch of pina coladas when we appeared suddenly at the back door with party poppers and cheers of "surprise!". For a good half a minute (or what seemed like it) she just looked at us as though she had no idea who we were or what we were doing there. Very satisying. We ate and drank a lot and played board games. I lay in the sun doing nothing for two days while Stephen got burnt digging up enormous clams in the water at the end of their backyard. It was very relaxing and civilized.
June 1st: We went to a recital at Carnegie Hall to which a friend had given us free tickets that she had gotten through a work connection. Though the pianist was perfectly good, it was not the sort of music that we like at all. We were just happy to have done something outside our usual routine and to have been to Carnegie Hall for the first time.
June 21st: We went to Ed and Ashlee's apartment for dinner and played team Trivial Pursuit until late. Stephen and I won, but only because Stephen is a sponge for trivia. I was able to answer three question for the entire game but felt slightly better about the fact that no one else there knew those particular answers.
July 23rd: Hannah and Rima were in town so we took them to a Mets game. The Mets lost, of course, but it was much fun. They stayed with us for a couple of nights and we had a nice time hanging out in Brooklyn.
June 29th: We went up to Morningside Heights to visit my great aunt who showed us her collections of stuff and gave us some things to take home: a bell, some plates, brass figurines of a cicada and a goat, a handful of turtle charms, a couple of chains, a quartered circle pendant and a red blanket that she had knitted herself.
July 8th: It was our 5 year anniversary.
July 12th: We went to the Brooklyn Museum to see the Takeshi Murakami exhibition, which was good, and some other stuff, which was really interesting. We wandered around parts of Brooklyn that we never usually go to until we got tired. I acquired a very nice red and white cellulose necklace from a flea market and we had a very ordinary lunch at the Park Slope Ale House. It was a nice day.

So. That's what we've been up to.

Right now, our friend Jill is in town from Albuquerque so went to dinner at Dokebi last night for delicious shabu shabu and had her over to dinner at our place this evening.

Stephen, the cat and I are well. Will let you know if anything changes.

Probably.

Eventually.

My Spring wishes

1) That you had a happy Beltane and/or May Day;
2) that Fran had a happy birthday on Monday;
3) that I will acquire a bicycle or something like it (at the moment I'd probably just settles for a pair of rollerskates);
and
3) that everyone would just get over themselves (and, yes, that includes me).

Hey, there, wait a minute, Mr Postman!

Wa-a-a-aait...

Ok, peoples, your late birthday cards will be mailed tomorrow from the post office at Grand Central Station. Woo hoo!

Not much to report. It's much warmer now and everyone is enjoying it very much. Everyone is taking out their Summer clothes and seeing them with new eyes and saying to themselves, "This was my favourite thing to wear last year? Pff..." I always getting a kick out of seeing girls drag out whatever the ubiquitous trend of the previous year was before realizing that it was just that, a massive trend, and they cannot wear whatever it is for at least five years (or until everyone forgets - whichever comes first). The first year we were here it was sequined mesh slippers, then it was North African-looking beaded slippers, then it was metallic Indian sandals. These are things you can buy on the street. I'm looking forward to seeing what the big cheap shoe is this year.

Speaking of things to wear, I'll be doing a little shopping on Threadless in the next couple of days. I am not much into tshirts with designs on them (isn't that so-o 2000? but whatever) but I saw one with a really great Egyptian style design on it and now I'm obsessed. Also, I actually really like the idea behind Threadless. Pure fashion democracy. Genius.

Also, I'm obsessed with the forefoot running. I have been out to try it a couple of times. I have not had the calf pain that everyone seems to mention but it's early days yet. Now, though, I'm agonizing over whether to buy my fancy gorgeous sneakers or go with something that provides an experience more like bare feet. There was an article in NY Magazine that's been circling the internets the last few days about how shoes pretty much ruin everything. It makes sense to me. So much sense, in fact, that now I also want some other type of fancy shoe as well. The one who dies with the most shoes wins, right?

Other recent obsessions: the new Gnarls Barkley album (it's a grower) and a little chickpea salad.

Bitsy loves quarters, likes catgrass

You know, it's kind of not very exciting but whatever: she's my cat and I'm a big dork.

Some things I've been meaning to tell you

1) Some people thought it would be cool to get a whole bunch of people to make handmade prints of the elements in the periodic table. I think that's pretty cool, too.

2) Some other people thought it would be cool to take some old movies and dub the voices over with the characters from Spongebob Squarepants. I think that's goddamn hilarious.

3) There was a book written in 1886 called Danger! A True History of a Great City's Wiles and Temptations. Ostensibly, it was written in the interest of justice and to protect the innocent from the guilty in New York City. Ha! It's actually just an olde timey guide to committing all manner of criminal activity and became an instant best seller. You can read it online. I'm sure it's very, er, educational.

4) I think we're going to go to the Prospect Park Zoo on Sunday and touch some animals. I am pree-tee excited about the Pallas cats, I can tell you.

I read the news today, oh boy

Actually, I listened to the news this morning and oh, boy. So depressing. Firstly, Silvio Berlusconi was reelected in Italy. Seriously, are those people on crack? Secondly, some animal rights loons in California have been harassing researchers and planting bombs under their cars. Yeah, nice going, guys. Sure, cutting up cats' eyes and getting monkeys addicted to cigarettes is unconscionable, but threatening to hurt people is not cool, actually hurting people is not cool, and making anyone who cares about animal rights seems like a radical nutbag is extremely not cool. Anyway, all that to say that as soon as I got up I wanted to go back to bed, but having had extremely intense dreams about my ex-boyfriends last night, going back to sleep was not a safe option, either. Sigh.

Let me tell you what I'm excited about: forefoot running. Seriously, I'm so excited. I'm hoping that this will be the answer to my knee problems. Well, we'll see but, you know, I'm pretty excited. I will definitely let you know how it goes.

I have been cooking a lot. Stephen had made several batches of seitan. You can see pictures if you're so inclined.

PS. Hello, it is Sam and Sal's birthdays today and tomorrow. They will be getting cards from me. What will you be sending?

PPS. Hello again. Someone (pictured above) has been stimulating the economy with their health problems. Sigh. Someone is fine now, thank you very much.