I was in need of a new iron and Niel found this really awesome brand. All I add is water on the top and it steams away all wrinkles. I am really happy with it. It was inexpensive too. For really really difficult wrinkles I like to use Easy On starch. Just another tidbit from me to you.



Song Stuck In My Head: Saint Anger by Metallica

Craving: For a camera phone

It was a very nice weekend. The weather was perfect and we made time to do some activities in the city. Friday evening we went to the Museum of Modern Art to see the Pixar exhibit. Friday evenings you can get into the MOMA for free. It wasn't very big but the pieces they did have were interesting. I also saw two of my three favorite artists Klimt and Van Gogh. But I didn't see any Diego Rivera paintings. We hadn't been to the MOMA in Manhattan in a while. We had been to the temporary MOMA Queens location though. We then came home and had some Chinese food while we relaxed infront of the television. Saturday I had a dentist appointment for a root canal and to put a temporary filling in another tooth. They accidently cut my tongue slightly. It didn't bleed much. It still stings a bit but should heal soon. I couldn't talk all of Saturday because of that and the tooth work. I'm a lot better now though. We also made two Target runs. The second time I had to use the bathroom but both times we got fantastic deals. We also saw Red Eye(riveting) and Valiant(cute for kids). Sunday we went to the Chinese New Year Festival in China Town. That was a lot of fun! Everyone was having a good time, streamers were being thrown all over the place, small fire crackers going off, various colored dragons marching up and down the streets, kids in sweet traditional Chinese clothing. Besides the yummy Chinese food from our local take out place which we enjoyed Friday evening I also made Mexican corn and chicken chowder, corn pudding cakes, and for the first time biscuits and a fritatta. Ok all the recipes were a first time for me making them. All delicious! I was pleased. The food at the Chinese restaurants we ducked into after the festival were also fab. We enjoyed seafood congee, chicken and mushroom dumplings, crispy scallion pancakes, custard(plain, almond, banana, strawberry and honeydew. I liked the plain, strawberry and almond. Niel liked the banana and plain. I wish they had coconut. After lunch we were walking to the train when we stumbled upon the Sur La Table store. What a nice store. So overpriced though. I was gloating about how I found some of the overpriced stuff they sell there at other stores much cheaper. Now for some random thoughts I'm not much of a football follower but would like the Seahawks to win. I am so pissed the Book of Daniel got canceled. Lately I really enjoy Avocado(Haas) and Ginger. And wishing Dave a very happy birthday! Pictures
here.





Song Stuck In My Head: Curry and Rice girl seen on Web Junk on VH1

Stupid Story of the Week:

Craving: For it to be Friday

I love this apple recipe which I make sometimes for breakfast. I couldn't find my round cake pan so I baked the Puffed Apple Pancakes in a muffin tin. They came out just as good and held up well.






Song Stuck In My Head: The one from the Verb commercial. Anyone know the name?

Craving: Luck getting a car.

Our supermarket recently had a sale for Barilla Tortellini. They came in cute little blue bags. We purchased a few different fillings. Garlic and cheese, three cheese, and porcini. All cooked very well and were tasty. Great as a side dish or a meal on its own.




Song Stuck In My Head:"All Over You" by Live

Craving: A New Winter Coat

I love wacky socks. I don't get to wear them as much as I like because I have to wear average socks for work. But sometimes those I mix up with stripes or dots. Although I love socks I find that the elastic on them does not last long. Yesterday I had on a pair of socks and they gave out. So on the way to work I purchased new ones. Well what do you know. Those gave out too. I don't understand why they are not made a bit tighter. Maybe my ankles are too fat.








Song Stuck In My Head: "I Want To Break Free" by Queen

Craving: McDonalds

Most people know that I love to watch wrestling. I've always been a fan. I remember watching it when I was little. When the largest wrestling company was called WWF instead of the WWE. So much to my delight when I found that the WWE has their own brand of ice cream. I was at the corner store purchasing eggs when I looked in the freezer section and spotted the WWE vanilla sandwich bar on a stick. Usually the ice cream I find is either a sandwich bar or on a stick. Not both. Plus the one I found had Chris Jericho's image on it. Pretty neat.



Song Stuck In My Head: "I Want To Go Home" by Ryan Adams

Craving: To learn how to pipe better

The weekend was nice and relaxing. We mainly stayed home except to grocery shop, do laundry or visit with my parents. I also made a Shepherd's Pie after I made a stew with lamb I didn't care for. Niel liked it fine but I know we wouldn't eat it again. Instead of chucking good ingredients I made the Shepard's Pie out of it. Tasty!!! We also watched Four Brothers. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Set in Michigan and as the title says is about four brothers who were adopted. It didn't really go into their rough backgrounds and why they were put up for adoption. It focused on the love they had for their adoptive mother and also one another. Blood sometimes is not thicker than water. After their mother's death they come home for the funeral and to seek revenge. It reminded me somewhat of a Charles Bronson film. The conversations between the four actors were very natural feeling. It felt like the actors had bonded off screen. The movie had a lot of twists and turns and I was yelling at the top of my lungs for the brothers to succeed. I recommend renting it. While we watched the movie we ate Dominos. Niel and I both had previously turned up our noses to this pizza chain but something possessed us Friday night to try it. We got the Steak Lovers pizza. The best chain made pizza I have ever had!!!!!! So run out and get some Dominos while you watch Four Brothers!

Here is a cute article about animals bonding. No its not the one with the snake and the hamster. That I find worrisome. I don't know how long that little hamster will live honestly. And I am sorry that little whale in London couldn't be helped.

If you comment you'll hear back from me either in an email or in my comments section. Depending on if your email address is available and how I am feeling. Thought I should put that out there.

Song Stuck In My Head: "Stick to the Status Quo" from High School Musical

Craving: For it to be Friday instead of Monday!

Stupid Story of the Week: Croatian man complains of getting a woman's kidney

I love fruit and try to eat it as much as possible. But my favorite fruit(berries, cherries and strawberries) can't be found as readily in the Winter or as good. Luckily I have grapes, plums and clementines to tide me over. But I also love to eat fruit strips, also called fruit leather. My favorite is the Stretch Island fruit leather. It's the most fruity tasting to me. Recently I found that Tropicana sells its own version and it's pretty good. My favorite flavors are grape and apricot.






Song Stuck In My Head: "Stewie's Sexy Party" from Family Guy

Craving: The end of the work day!

I haven't done one of these in a while and I found this on Amanda's page. Play if you like.



Song Stuck In My Head: "King of the Road" by Johnny Cash

Craving: Better Burger

I first thought this has got to be the most overpriced cake dome but then I took a closer look and its just not for holding a cake but also has an extra tray for chips and dips or for cold foods. The dome can also be used as a bowl, you know for popcorn or whatever. It's by Rubbermade. Besides being versatile I like to say the name of the line over and over again. Elegan, Elegan, Elegan. Elegan also sells a separate holder for cupcakes as well as other useful kitchen supplies. But I would get more use with the cake holder. Atleast for now. I added it to my Target wish list. And I sure could use it today.






Song Stuck In My Head: "Cry, Cry, Cry" by Johnny Cash
Craving: Not to drop the cake

Papa Johns menu offers a dessert pizza. What pray tell is dessert pizza? It is pretty much a warm thick crust with fruit topping and icing. It comes in three flavors. Apple Twist, Cinna Swirl and Very Berry. Niel and I had the Very Berry. It is pretty good. And seems easy enough to make. I'm glad they decided to have their own version because I became curious to try one after I saw an episode of the Food Network where a pizza place I have never heard of was selling them as a novelty item.



Song Stuck In My Head: "Father Figure" by George Michael
Craving: Sushi

Ech I'm at work today. I'm thinking of this past weekend to console myself. Atleast today's holiday like President's Day is considered a floating holiday in my office. Meaning I can take it off on another day. The weekend was good! Niel and I ate really yummy foods, ran errands and watched movies. We viewed The Brothers Grimm with Heath Ledger and Matt Damon. I am so glad I didn't go to the theater to see the movie. I was so disappointed. The acting was fine but it was lacking in something and I couldn't put my finger on it. From a score of 1 to 5 I would give it a 2. The other movie was Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie. Very funny. It was an hour and half of extra footage from Anchorman and had another storyline prepared incase the plot with the panda wasn't enjoyed by the test audience. It was released as a separate DVD. We also finally saw The Book of Daniel on TV. We taped the first two episodes but only saw episode 1. I really like it. It's a bit predictable and the characters are transparent but it is also funny and sweet. It sort of reminded me of a short lived series "A Year In The Life." Our favorite scenes were with the Daniel the minister(Aidan Quinn) and Jesus. Now that is my kind of Jesus. He wasn't preachy or judgmental. All he does is try to guide Daniel into being the best person he can be. He still loves Daniel even with all of his family problems. I can't understand why some stations were banning it. What family doesn't have their problems? What preachers aren't human? I don't get why people in general use God's name anyway as an excuse to be hateful? We also got a 101 project done. We put all of our DVD's in a CD booklet to clear up some of the space underneath our television.

Song Stuck In My Head: "I Got You Babe" by Sonny and Cher
Craving: To be home

I'm excited that Hershey's Kisses have come out with Peanut Butter Kisses. I don't like plain chocolate. I prefer it mixed with nuts, or caramel or nugget. So far I have only found the Almond Kisses in the stores. I guess the Almond Kisses and Peanut M & M's will have to tide me over till I come across the Peanut Butter Kisses. I am also curious to try the Caramel and the Dulce de Leche but not the Cherry Cordial Kisses. I only like cherry just brought from the grocery store and in baked goods. I do NOT like it in chocolate or in ice cream. Just thought you should know.




Song Stuck In My Head AGAIN: "My Humps" by Black Eyed Peas

Pretzels have really come a long way. Although I liked the plain one fine with a bit of mustard. Niel taught me that. There is Auntie Annie's who sells really soft pretzels in a variety of flavors and dipping sauces. But I recently discovered a new type of pretzel. I was down in SOHO looking for a chocolatier and was nibbly. So I stopped at a street vendor and noticed he sold stuffed pretzels. Honestly I never heard of stuffed pretzels before this revolutionary day. He had a few different varieties to choose from. I like heat and cheese so I chose his Jalapeno and cheese stuffed pretzel. It was pretty good. And didn't dry my mouth out like the regular hard kind sometimes does. Now SOHO was the only Manhattan neighborhood I have found stuffed pretzels but I did a bit of research online and there are many companies who sell them. Just Google stuffed pretzels and you'll be amazed at what you find. I've successfully made bagels before maybe its time for me to try making stuffed pretzels. Hmmmm.



Song Stuck In My Head: "In Between Days" by The Cure

I mentioned here that I left roasted corn on the cob for a more exotic street fair food. Grilled corn cakes with mozzarella cheese. Well ok I didn't completely leave corn. I had no idea what I was eating at the time but I knew it was good. So gooood. The sweet corn cakes that housed melted cheese in the middle. It is the best grilled cheese sandwich I EVER had. Now I know they are called Arepas. They are usually eaten plain. You can add things to it, like the cheese one I ate. I found out the proper name from my It's All American Food. cook book. Arepas are popular in Colombia, Venezuela and Brazil. I'm not sure where else they are popular. Ok my belly, but I already said that. I have to add it to my list of delicious foods made from corn. Anyway if you are ever at a street fair and see an Arepa try it. You won't regret it.




Song Stuck In My Head: "You're So Vain" by Carly Simon

There are canned veggies, canned cranberry, canned pasta, Spam is canned but Indian food in a can? I found some Indian meals in a can on the way home from work at the grocery store by my train station the other day and purchased two different kinds. They were really good! And no I am not ashamed to admit it. The company that makes it is Jyoti. I tried the chickpeas with potatoes and onions and potato dumplings in a spicy sauce. All I had to do was remove (duh) the stuff from the can heat it up(separately) and serve with rice. That is how I got rid of all that rice I made accidentally the other day.



Song Stuck On My Head: "Private Eyes" by Hall and Oates

Happy Monday all. Yeah right. Monday the most hated work day. The weekend was good. Ran errands on Saturday then came home and watched two movies from Netflix. Niel luuuuuuves Netflix. We watched the remake of The Dukes of Hazard. Better than I thought it would be. Not Oscar worthy but not bad either. And Kicking and Screaming. Why is everything that comes out of Will Farrell's mouth hysterical? The week before we watched Murder Ball. Really good movie. And Family Guy: Live in Las Vegas. What a rip off. It was just a 17 minute documentary about a making of some video. At this rate we'll never to go see a movie in the theaters again. Which I'm not sure is such a bad thing.

Sunday we cleaned and put away our Christmas decorations. I hate that part. There is so much to put away. Then we played darts for a while. Darts is fun. It's Niel's new favorite game. I then went to a baby shower with my mother in law. Niel did the laundry and watched some more foot ball while setting up his mom's new stereo. After I came home we fell asleep watching Family Guy.

I accidentally made good rice. I brought a box of Jasmin rice which didn't taste Jasminy at all. I put the allotted 1 and 3/4 cup of water it that was instructed and let that come to a boil. But instead of putting in a cup of rice I dumped the entire box of rice. I panicked and added 4 to 5 more cups of water. I lost count really. In 15 minutes I had nice and fluffy rice. Bahahahahahaha. I can't even make good rice when I try but here I go and mess up and the rice turned out fine. We had a lot of rice though. Heh heh.

Niel has been very handy lately. He fixed our leaky shower and put a Brita filter on our faucet. Just wanted to give props to where it was due!

A few TV shows I happy about coming back, Gilmore Girls, Scrubs and the Barkers(they're baaaaaaaaack). New Shows that I am very interested in: Roller Girls and The Book of Daniel. Two shows I am somewhat curious about Love Monkey and Courting Alex. One show I am so not curious about is Emily's Reasons Why Not.

Song Stuck In My Head: "Calling All Angels" by Train(blech)

Happy Armenian Christmas and Three Kings Day!!

Teriyaki Boy was my choice of fast and inexpensive Japanese cuisine for lunch. My favorite foods to order were the fried chicken strip rice bowl, shumai and eel rolls. Then they closed down. Recently I discovered Yoshinoya. They don't sell Sushi, but they do have rice bowls:beef, shrimp, chicken teriyaki and vegetable; as well as miso soup, kimchi and American foods. Such as various green salads, clam chowder, macaroni salad and American cakes. For under $7.00 I enjoyed a beef bowl, kimchi and miso soup. So if you don't have much money, are in a tourist trap area like Times Square and want something warm in your belly I do recommend Yoshinoya.



Song Stuck In My Head: "Original Gangsta" by Ice T

When I was California I was introduced to the wonders of Big Lots. Another discount store I am happy to say I found in the New York area also. Big Lots has all sorts of neat items. One thing I purchased was Talking Toast. Apparently how it works is you press down the plastic words (I brought the one that said "I Love You") on a piece of bread and when it toasts the words appear. Well I guess I must have not pressed down hard enough or had a too thin piece of bread because it didn't work. The idea was neat though. And it only cost me a dollar.



Song Stuck In My Head: "Boys in the Hood" by Dynamite Hack(redone)

This is the third time this month I have purchased these lovely bundles of dough and pork. The first time I did I was coming out of work late and I knew dinner would take a while to prepare. I wanted an appetizer to tied Niel and I over. I was near the Asian market and decided to see what I could find there. And did I get lucky when I spotted these dumplings across from the cashier. They looked so welcoming. They were the perfect tied me over food.



Song Stuck In My Head: Theme song to the Griffins in Las Vegas

My coworker Elaine returned from her trip to the Carolinas with a bucket of Marshmellow Cream. She knew to bring back food. The stuff is quite thick. And although I don't ever remember trying it before, the taste sure was familiar. I think I am going to make fudge with it.



Song Stuck In My Head: "Push It" by Salt N Pepa

The holiday weekend was good. It's always good to be home and not at work. The three-day weekends trick me into believing that I won't have to go back to work. Like some vain miracle will happen and I won the lottery. I imagine I am puttering away at my keyboard all day writing. I would get in breaks to clean, make food, or watch some television. Maybe sometimes even pop out to see a movie, or go shopping. But that is just a fantasy. Don't get me wrong I am happy I have a steady long term job and I hope it stays that way but if it weren't for my coworkers who I see more during the week than I do my hubby I would be dead. It's just hard to come back to work is my long winded point. I guess those are the feelings of most folks though. Anyway on to the weekend. Spent New Year's Eve at my mother in laws. We watched mostly the Dick Clark special. And my God does he look frail. Strokes are so merciless. Thankfully Ryan Seacrest (I can't believe I typed that) did most of the hosting as did local anchorperson and Niel's celebrity crush Marisol Castro. Who I believe is pregnant. Sometimes they would show the LA celebration with Hillary Duff who would perform some song in her squeaky voice or ramble on while looking skeletal. Eat girl eat!!!! It's ok to eat. And no I don't say that because I would be happy if all the ladies in the world had a bit of extra lumps like I do. That twit Fergie has no idea what she is singing about. She has NO lumps! Before we trekked over to my mother in laws we spent Saturday in New Jersey. Specifically in Paramus where the most wonderful place out side of Disney World exists. The Christmas Tree Shop. It is my new favorite discount-shopping haven. There is one in Spring Valley, New York. But we have no idea where that is. So we went to Jersey. I didn't even go to the Ikea or the Bed Bath and Beyond that was adjacent. All my energies were spent on The Christmas Tree Shop. I found some stuff I couldn't anywhere else and started on my gift shopping. It is never too early. I am trying to convince Niel to take me back there this weekend too. Next we went to Campmor next because Niel wanted to find a Neoprene hat and boots. Afterwards we dined at Red Lobster. We hadn't been there in a while. They're getting stingy on the garlicky cheesy bread. It's the only reason I go really. Ok the seafood is pretty good too but come on the bread is a slice of heaven! It is worth the trip alone. I then napped before heading over to my MIL's for some fried pork, garlicky shrimp and a very alcoholy tasting non alcoholic beverage. Sunday Niel joined the Polar Bears for his second year of jumping into the waters of Coney Island. It was a very enjoyable environment. Niel was excited and happy. There was a band. Families. Dogs. Food. It was a good time. After we came home Niel napped and I did some housework. In the evening Kelvin and Shawnda who were in town came over with Niel's brother. We watched Anchorman. Side note that movie has been circulating with some others for months in our house. I can practically recite the film line by line. I could do an off Broadway show about it. We had a good time by torturing Niel's brother and having him drink a bit of the left over holiday flavors of Jones Soda. Mike didn't like the soda either. It is basically fizzy bile! We then watched Myth Busters. I luuuuuuuuuuuuuv that show. Adam and Jamie are very funny. Today we went to the Museum of Natural History to see their new dinosaur exhibit. It was disappointing. We felt robbed. We drowned our sorrow with burgers at Uncle Nick's on West 71st Street. Mmmm Uncle Nick's the jewel of the Upper West Side and some discount shopping at Barnes and Noble. The evening was spent yelling at Fox because they cancelled Arrested Development. We also joined Netflix. For so long I resisted because of different reasons but now with a new gadget in our house. It's a good and cost effective idea. Two new blogs I am enjoying lately Not So Virtual Homestead(I want to live on a farm too), Robyn(I love her way with words) and a blog who I've read for a while now my Gifty/bloggy friend Enid has a new home. Check them out. I also was inspired to craft. I did some knitting, and scrapbooked(three albums). I hope I can keep it up. I felt a bit blaah in 2005. And even with all the rain, a wee bit of drama with my tummy, I still had an urge for some creative release in early 2006. So hopefully I can put some stuff(I will work on some more this week) up for sale on my site. Please also check out the January edition of All Things Girl. As always it's great. Pictures here.


Song Stuck In My Head: The theme song to Welcome Back Kotter.