life and other complications

play ball

because i am all about "anything worth doing is worth *overdoing*", i sort of handled T's fantasy baseball draft as if it were a child's baseball themed birthday party. this was no easy feat, considering T was resistant to a me-catered affair, insisting that "we usually order pizza and everyone is fine with that." happily, during one of our countless weekends out of the city, visiting friends, the Garster let me know that pizza was not the ideal, just what had been previously provided at drafts of yore.

since i have come to learn that the best men are "fueled by bacon", i set about making up a brunch recipe that would cover the important pork-product category. what i came up with was french toast sticks with bacon belts (sorry for the utterly uncatchy, yet fully descriptive name-- marketing was never my thing). i then took a few different french toast recipes and altered them according to my needs. a little Alton Brown for a recipe base, and doubles it--adding vanilla, real maple syrup and using 1 cup half-and-half + 1 c. milk instead of all half-and-half. and instead of cooking the french toast in the oven on racks, i just used a buttered cookie sheet. before baking, i sliced each piece of french toast into thirds.  then took bacon (which i had parcooked in the microwave) and cut each slice in half, wrapped the bacon around the french toast stick, tucking the ends under, and baked for 15 minutes or so at 375 degrees F. although i forgot to photograph it, the sticks were a major hit. (even though T neglected to give everyone plates, preventing his fellow drafters from enjoying the sticks with syrup, as was my intent and, indeed, the very reason i sent out a tray with the sticks, two types of maple syrup, napkins and *plates*).

but the pièce de résistance was the little cupcakes i made to look like baseballs. (ok, to vaguely resemble and, thus, evoke thoughts of baseballs):

i just frosted devil's food cupcakes in vanilla and then used thin red fondant strips to emilate the stitching. these were so cute. oh, if only T and his friends were five year old children at a place like Shep Messing's Soccer World* or Sal's Baseball Academy. alas, the novelty and coolness may have been wasted on this crowd.

ah, what can you do... (clearly, not stop baking and turning out overwrought, way-too-involved desserts.) now i just need to sleep. last night's overabundance of lychee martinis (at Chola with the Lamps) followed by too much more wine at Chez My Parents (a/k/a where we live these days. yes. still) has taken its toll. and chasing this guy around the apartment sure didn't find me any new energy:

at least there's still Sunday to regroup.

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* although, according to the internet, there is no such thing as Shep Messing's Soccer World, i *know* it existed at one point in time. in fact, as the only (or at least one of the only) girls attending Todd Kussin's elementary school birthday party, i am 99% positive that during an indoor soccer game, i was so dedicated to defending my team's goal (no joke, as left-fullback) that i dropped my shoulder and stood my ground as Lowell Simpson came downfield and BAM! gave him a bloody nose.

new tricks?

back in the day (1981 or so), my mom tried to be rational with me and use positive incentives (i.e. cold hard cash), to get me to do some basic chores. ever the lawyer, i suppose i wanted it committed to a written contract, so she couldn't try to change terms on the fly or--the horror--renege.  see below for that contract:
 

well, here we are 27 years later, and still i have a hard time with all of these save #3. (and without live-in help, the housekeeper's day off is now seven days off so, yeah, that one's way tougher now too). T is horribly sad seeing this list and realizing it's not just that i've picked up some new habits in regard to being sort of a lazy ne'er-do-well unfond of straightening up, being polite and lending a hand. i, frankly, take solace in the fact that i've *always* sucked and, thus, am not going downhill but am holding strong! 

it really is amazing though that my character and who i am today, is kind of who i was when i was six. scary? un peu.

that's right-- you can say that a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, Raph Waldo Emerson-- i know how to stick to my guns. whatever the consequences.

Jack (1999 - 2008)

Jack (1999-2008)

last night, or rather early this morning, my parents' cat Jack died. Jack was kind of clumsy, always adorable and had the sweetest personality. sadly, for the last few months, no doctor could figure out what was wrong with him-- he was limping a bit and also seemed a bit shier, but was still the sweet cat we knew.  on Monday, fairly suddenly, we realized things had taken a turn for the worse and my mom brought him to the vet's office.  the doctors didn't think anything was seriously wrong with him, but kept him overnight for some tests and observation.  when my dad brought him back home last night, my mom could tell that he was really unwell. they brought him back to the vet at 9pm or so and they were going to run some more tests.  then at midnight the phone rang-- he'd had a seizure.  then at 1am, the vet called again to let my mom know he had died, despite every effort. they said he did not suffer, so that's comforting but the whole thing is still shocking.  we will miss him a lot and so will Winston, as the two of them were kind of BFF.

NYSD? (so much better than NOCD)

did i ever tell you about the time (yes, singular, because i am so not the socialite i would have been were the choice up to me) i was in the New York Social Diary? it must have been a light news day, as T, my brother and Lil E all were published in our "support a good cause" finest.  this time it was a benefit for Riverkeeper, which i discussed at some length in the past, even how thrilled i was that i was (for once) snapped by Patrick McMullan*.  i kind of forgot all about it, until i googled my own name and lo and behold:

there i am! and they even used the picture where you can't see my full leg brace!! how awesome!!
(scroll about four fifths down the page to see me).

and, yes, this may be a lame post but i know Frank is reading now, so i feel the urge to post more often than just occasionally.

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as an update, i was *not* photographed at Robinhood, so the dream died pretty quickly.

wheeeee!

so if you came home and saw the above how excited would you be???

it's the Nerf Wii Sports Pack! yayyyyyy!

ok, not so much. because here's the catch-- *we* don't have a Wii.

for some reason, my mother (with whom we *still* live as renovations continue) decided that it was important to buy not one, but two of these Wii Sports Packs. somehow, not as important to buy an actual Wii with which we might use said Sports Packs.

O. Henry never even dreamt up this one...

wax on, wax off: a travelogue

so a couple of weeks ago i was in for a real treat. just before a grueling day of Sunday errands--Home Depot (in NJ) and Home Expo (in Westchester), T and i paid a visit to the Carwash King. and you have no idea how fun it was. though i was sans real camera, i still had to document the perk of my winter season--

the King let me ride *inside* the car during its wash at his fab new carwash in Kearny, NJ (The Kearny Auto Spa, for those of you in need of excellent car washing). now maybe to some of you this is no great thing, but trust me, ever since pesky insurance rules have gotten in the way, most car washes make you get out and send your car through by itself.  indeed, the Kearny Auto Spa has such rules.  lucky for me, i was exempt and got to relive the car wash fun of my youth.  (according to the King, his friend's four year old son enjoys the car wash ride almost as much as i...)

here is my adventure, about to begin! (yes, i was made to sit in the passenger seat, lest i steer into the wall or something. T declined to join me because he has maturity beyond mine):

from inside the tunnel (where normal folk merely watch their cars get cleaned, T and the King hang out, mocking me, no doubt):




there's T again!

each color soap does something really important towards cleaning your car (or else it just looks cool. yay! rainbows!)

getting rinsed:
       

now a better documentarian than i would have remembered to take a picture of the freshly cleaned car. but i am not that good! instead, i will leave you with a photo of the awesome diner where we were taken to lunch (photo by Nesster [Flickr]:

you may also note the highlighted sign, which prompted me to ask, "what are 'Cheesecake Cocktails'?" because that sounds gross, no? as it was explained to me, they are letting you know that they have both a) World Famous Cheesecake and b) (presumably not World Famous) Cocktails. ah, the mysteries of life...