Hope everyone had a good weekend. Here in NYC the rain finally stopped on Saturday and it was relatively sunny throughout Sunday. So we took advantage of the nice weather. Friday after work I went grocery shopping, Niel picked me up and he went to a scout meeting. Saturday I felt like we were tourists because of the places we went. First we went to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens to see the cherry blossoms. It was opening weekend. They were gorgeous as were the tulips. Niel and I had fun walking around people watching. There were a lot of folks dressed in Anime costumes. The gardens also had various musical and dancing shows. We didn't get to see any of that because it was crowded, being opening weekend and all. I heard a cop on his cell phone complain about how it was so crowded. I though it was funny since his beat was to stand around in a lovely park on a nice day and try to help people. I mean he could have gotten a much worse assignment. People just love to complain I guess. Afterwards we went to get hot sandwiches at Ninos, an Italian eatery Niel used to frequent when he worked in the area. We've been there a couple of times before. They have great bread, sauce and service!! We had dessert at the Brooklyn Ice Cream Company. Stephanie mentioned she went and I thought to myself "Well Niel and I have never gone, we should!" So off we went. We noticed there was a long line for a pizzeria up the block so we have to go back and see what the fuss is about at another time. There was a line for the ice cream too but not much. We walked around the dock looking at all the wedding parties(four total) and once Christening taking photos underneath the Brooklyn Bridge. Then we finished off the day by going to Fairway in Red Hook. Jennifer had given us a gift certificate so we decided to use it that day. Thanks again Jenn. The place is pretty big. Niel scored by getting his favorite sport drink on sale. We then came home and collapsed the rest of the night. Niel watched the game in the bedroom and I caught up on my taped shows in the living room.

Sunday we went to a kite festival for a little bit at a park nearby. I thought this was going to be Saturdays acitivty but I got the date wrong. But then Niel suggested the Botanical gardens. The park gives out generic kites and the kids color them and try to get them to fly. It was funny to see little kids running around and trying to get their kites up. After wards we went to my parents house to celebrate my dad's birthday. And can't believe have to get back to work. Felt like it was just Friday and I was leaving the office. Pics by Niel here.



The rest of the week's posts will be about breakfast.

I signed up at Method's website long ago to receive updates and what not. I never really expected to get samples and Christmas cards. LOL. My recent sample is Method's line of body washes and moisturizers. I got lucky because I am just about out of moisturizer.

I wanted to recommend a book I recently read called Sound Bites by Alex Kapranos. He's the lead singer of Franz Ferdinand. Before Franz Ferdinand made it big in music, Kapranos was a chef. And when the group began to tour Kapranos had a little notebook where he wrote down reviews of all the restaurants he ate in around the world. Makes sense being a former chef and all. This became Sound Bites. The book isn't very long and is an easy read. A perfect combo of food and music. Which I enjoy. Thanks again Niel!

Growing up we never had fried chicken. My mother baked her chicken instead. She did butterfly chicken once, but anytime we had chicken it was either baked, roasted or broiled. And that’s how I cook chicken now. Recently I was watching an episode of Nigella on the Food Network when I saw her make fried chicken and decide to try to make it myself. Nigella made it look so easy. I know its nutty to make fried chicken using a Brit's recipe instead of a southern one, but Nigella has a way of making me try recipes. And the recipe is southern influenced. I think I understand why my mother hardly served fried foods, there is a lot of fat needed and in it. The chicken turned out fine. The taste was not what I was used to but not bad at all. I think next time though I will use a Paula Deen recipe just for the variety of it, but I think I will stick to baked chicken for the most part.

Southern Style Deep-Fried Chicken
Recipe courtesy Nigella Lawson

2 chicken drumsticks, skin on
2 chicken thighs, skin on, bone in
3 to 4 cups milk
2 1/4 cups solid vegetable shortening, for frying
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 egg, beaten

In a medium pan, place chicken and cover with milk. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours to overnight. This helps tenderize the meat, but is optional
In a large saucepan over a medium-high heat, using tongs, transfer chicken into pot, then pour in the milk. Bring milk to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low allowing to simmer until the chicken is cooked through entirely, about 20 minutes. Remove the chicken from the milk, and place on a rack to cool. Allow them to sit until warm about 15 minutes, and then pat dry using a kitchen towel.

Heat vegetable shortening in a Dutch oven over high heat just until it's nearly at the smoking point around 325 degrees F.

In a large zip-lock bag, add salt, flour, cayenne pepper, shake to combine.

In a medium bowl, beat 1 egg.

Place each piece of chicken, 1 at a time, in the bag and shake to coat the chicken. Then dip chicken into the egg to coat. Place the chicken back into the flour to coat for a second time. Repeat this method on remaining 3 pieces of chicken.
Gently drop each piece of chicken into hot oil, allowing the skin to crisp and turn golden brown in color, about 1 minute per side. Remove from the oil and transfer to a paper towel lined plate. Serve immediately.

Often I am late to the party. I don't like things until long after they are popular. I didn't watch Battlestar Galactica till three years after it was on.

What I'm getting at, is I don't really know much about what is popular in music right now. I know what's out there but I like to stay in my comfort zone. Then I heard a recent song from the Scissor Sisters, "Kiss You Off" and I gave them another chance. I heard one of their older songs a while ago and although I loved it, I hated all the attention the group received. Though they rightfully deserve it. It is just a bad quality I have not to like something because it is so popular. (I still won't watch Titanic and I almost didn't watch Ugly Betty.) But I do know most of the music I do enjoy so do thousands of other people(U2, The Cure, The Beatles, Depeche Mode). What can I say I'm a "little weirdo" as Niel likes to point out from time to time. Anyway I spent much of Friday night listening to the Scissor Sisters. I think they're brilliant.

I will never forget.

Hope everyone had a good weekend. The weather was so lovely in NYC this weekend. And it may continue into this week. Niel and I did our usually errand running, cleaning and organizing. But we did manage to enjoy the lovely weather too. We walked around the park a bit enjoying some ice cream and icey's from Rita's. Also went to see Hot Fuzz. We hadn't been to a movie theater since Borat! It is about an overachieving police officer Simon Pegg who is relocated to a sleepy hamlet because he's making the rest of his department look bad. He think his life there is going to be boring but he is in for a surprise. There are very few movies which I think are perfect and Hot Fuzz certainly was. I've enjoyed the comedy work of Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright, since Shaun of the Dead(also another perfect film) so I said to myself anything they would create together again I would see. And I couldn't really wait for Hot Fuzz to come to Netflix. We laughed so hard and enjoyed the adventure but it was also a nice movie about buddies. Much like Shaun of the Dead was. Another biggie for me was they're British. Heh heh. It's going to be one of those films I could watch over and over again. And just because it is a spoof, also like Shaun of the Dead was it isn't stupid such as a lot of satire's are. I highly recommend the film.

Also saw Dick and Jane on cable which stars Jim Carrey and Tea Leoni. The ending was nice but I would guess the original would be better. Caught the orignal Ocean's 11 on cable as well. Really good film. Kudos to the current producers of Ocean's 11 for trying to keep the coolness of the original film intact but also for adding modern touches to it.

I really don't care for the show Thank God You're Here but I really like Dave Foley so I bare through it. If you are a fan of Kids In The Hall you would understand. But honestly can't think I can take much more of it. Poor Dave Foley has to resort to being a judge.

Accidentally purchased some maple flavored bacon. I really don't like. I prefer bacon salty.

Yesterday our new oven was installed. I almost kissed it. I realized that now all of our large appliances match. They're all white. We didn't intend for that to happen. I am so happy to have a working oven again. There are only so many things one can cook on a stove top and slow cooker. But the best feature of all is its self cleaning! Because it was a semi festive occasion I thought Christening the new oven by baking dessert was the way to go. I chose brownies and they were perfect.

I just read on Baking bites, formerly named Baking Sheet, that Baking Soda is going to be available in limited supplies. This is because Baking Soda is an ingredient in crack/cocaine. So if you are in the restaurant or baking business apparently you can't buy large quantities at once. My friend Elaine joked saying there will be a black market for Baking Soda. LOL.

I love grilled cheese sandwiches. It is one of my favorite sandwiches, if not the favorite sandwich. Although an Arepa comes close. It has my very favorite ingredient in the entire world, cheese. I like my grilled cheese sandwich with cheddar cheese on either whole wheat or white bread. No butter. Niel likes his with butter. There are a lot of different grilled sandwiches out there. Such as:mozzarella, basil and pickled red pepper panini. It is oh so delicious but, there is something about just cheese and bread together that does it for me. But I want to share an article Niel sent me about other grilled sandwich recipes in case you like a variety to your grilled sandwiches. And on a side note I have been accidentally linking to Niel's old site for weeks now. His new blog site is www.niel-xxx.blogspot.com. The old one is now a porn site. Ahem.


Photo from Kraft Foods

Maybe some of you know of the site Organizing Junkie already but besides having super organizing tips, you can also find crock pot recipes.

Although I think I am pretty organized this site showed me some tips for improving. So right now Niel and I are now doing ALOT of purging and reorganizing. But for the entire apartment. It won't be a one day project, but an ongoing one.

I have binders for everything and I plan out our meals weekly. There are still ways I could do better though. Such as the cabinet in my bathroom. Need little containers for all the cleaning products I store there.

I will also need to go through my cookbooks and see what I want to keep and others I will ebay.

I went through my magazines and tore out the recipes and tips I want to keep and put them in binders. There are a few magazines I won't toss and once I clear some shelf space I will put them in holders.

Going to organize a notebook of all the places we want to see and what we want to see instead of saving the brochures.

Now that I have a copy of Everyday Foods cook book I am going to go through the magazines and see which I want to keep and other's donate.

I need to also make a list of my books. I will decide what I want to ebay and the rest will keep for sentimental value.

Don't have many people that live very close to us anymore so we don't entertain large crowds at once. This means I have to give away stuff I have never really used. But it will clear up a lot of closet space.

Another site for more crock pot recipes is Family Corner. She posts them on Thursdays. The rest of the blog is neat too. Interesting facts about various destinations.

Today is free cone day at select Ben and Jerry locations.

Wow the weather this weekend could not be any more different. But it was good because it gave Niel and I a chance to be low key.

Friday it was bitterly cold and windy. After we came home from work we watched Rocky 6. Better than I expected. Recieved some more lovelies for my birthday. Thank you again!!

Saturday was a beautiful day so after our morning cleaning, we went out and ran a few errands, enjoyed a delicious Cuban lunch, puttered around a flea market and came home to watch some stuff we had taped on our DVR.

Sunday we had a Noreaster so we stayed in and did lots of organizing. Will have a post about that tomorrow. The rain was the second worst NYC ever had. The first was in the 1880's. I guess that is when they started to keep records. Some places are flooded and it is still raining, but not as bad as yesterday. We supposedly got two months worth of rain in one day. But that doesn't mean much because New York doesn't really have a rainy season.

Suzanne, Stephanie's sister sent me the below video. It made me laugh so much. I hope it does the same for you. It is hysterically funny.

http://funnyordie.com/v1/view_video.php?viewkey=3efbc24c7d2583be6925

Don't have much to say. Actually not true. Just don't feel like writing it. Mostly due to laziness. So I will leave you with YouTube videos of The Office with Battle Star Galactica's theme and Battle Star Galactica with The Office's theme. Ok besides Niel and I don't know of many people who will have a love of both shows. Thanks to Niel for showing me the videos. It's interesting how music really does make a difference on how a person views a TV show or movie. Have a good weekend all.

Over the weekend Niel and I decided to try to see how big the Peeps would get in the microwave. The Peeps got pretty big and it got messy. Below are some of the pictures. As you will see they stuck to the microwave pretty well. That would explain the brown stuff in the back. Ewww.

I love marshmallows and coconuts. I think they go great together. But then I spotted a few bags of TOASTED coconut marshmallows over the weekend at Target. It looked so delicious. Think of all the dessert options that could come out of this combination. Of course I would probably end up just eating it straight out of the bag and not make any desserts. Luckily for my waist line I didn't purchase any bags.



Photo from:www.foodandfundeli.com

When I was looking for candy to fill my Easter baskets with I came across Hershey's Kisses that were stuffed with other sweets. You know what Hershey's Kisses are, those solid little pointy chocolates that come in a variety of flavors from dark chocolate to milk. Later on they were also available with nuts in them. Now they also fill them with vanilla, cherry cordial, coconut creme, truffles, peanut butter, Dulce de Leche and caramel. I prefer them with nuts, caramel, nugget or mint. Kisses are so popular they even have their own stamp. That post should have been for Valentine's Day.




Photo from: www.sfgate.com

Hope everyone had a nice weekend whether it was celebrating Easter or Passover.

Friday my friend Stephanie's had given me an early birthday present. A set of Ina Garten's products. Her BBQ sauce, chocolate chip cookie mix and waffle/pancake mix. We're both Ina fans. Thank you again Steph!
After work I went to run an errand, then Niel picked me up and dropped me off to get a haircut. He was in the area. Then we met up at home where we finished watching Half Nelson. Niel and I tend to sometimes start watching a film and not finishing it in one sitting. Half Nelson was a very good movie. Ryan Gosling is a terrific actor. The movie was about a teacher struggling with his own demons while trying to be a mentor to his students. Afterwards we went out for sushi with Mike and Mandy, came back and ate the pastries they had brought over while watching a little bit of Wedding Crashers. One of those movies that if its on cable that ends up being seen again, even though you've seen it before.

Saturday was my birthday and it was a neat day. Niel and I had fallen asleep on the couches again and when I got Niel to sleep in bed he in his sleepy stupor wished me a happy birthday. In the morning Niel gave me my lovely gifts (thank you again sweets) and had made plans for us to go take a little road trip to go to the Waffle House and to Reading for some outlet shopping. On the way out one of the presents Niel had ordered was in the mailbox. It was very very cool. A belt buckle from the 80's Battle Star Galactica! Which we caught on Sunday, on some strange network. It is entertaining enough and gives us our fill of Battlestar but we prefer the modern one better.
We got to the Waffle House much easier since we had been in the Winter and Reading was on the same road so it was easy to get there also. And some so many snow flurries! It was nuts. We went to the VF outlets. A couple of big buildings and a few little ones. There are a lot of good deals for kids clothes there. We didn't find much. But we did find a Chick A Fla on the way back. Niel and I shared nuggets, waffle fries and a lemonade. It was all good. When we got back home in the evening for dinner we had pepperoni pizza and for dessert Niel brought me a vanilla birthday cake. It was a very nice day! I am a lucky girl. The entire day was very thoughtful!
Thank you also to everyone who sent me card both my mail and email, as well as left comments and sent me a little something something! It is very sweet of all of you to remember.

Sunday morning Niel and I exchanged our Easter baskets for one another. I go peeps, M&M's and such pretty seeds for flowers: Alyssum, Astor, Bachelor Buttons, Gypsophila, Shasta Daisy, Marigold, Cleome, Perennial mix, and Forget Me Nots(I love the name). I've been saving all the seeds I have received, so someday when I have a back yard I can plant them.
In the afternoon on the way to my parents house we saw more snow flurries. Luckily none stuck. Niel kept saying how wierd it was that his birthday in December it didn't snow but on mine it snows. We celebrated Easter and my mom and my birthdays. My brother and Nie's mom were already there when we arrived. Mike and Mandy dropped her off before heading to the airport. Hopefully Mandy's trip back was better than getting here. I wish we knew ahead of time about the time of flight, so my mom would have been able to make lunch earlier so we could all have Easter together. My mom made them a little care package for their ride though. Unfortunely our oven is still not fixed so we couldn't make anything to bring to my parents. Not that it was a problem because my mom cooked for 20 people. Even though we thought there would be 8 or 10. But we only had six. So we just brought her birthday gifts and tulips for Easter. Orthodox Lent is different than Catholic Lent where you don't eat meat on Fridays and give up something during Lent. Orthodox Lent you give up meat, dairy and oil for all of Lent. Then Easter you break the fast. My mom made a feast: mushroom and mozzerella casserole, easter bread, savory crepes, salad, mushroom and bean salad, cheese turnovers, mini meatloaves served with rice, the best roast beef served with delicious gravy and mashed potatoes, hummus and a crudite platter. We had two cakes, of course, jello, peeps and easter eggs. Niel's mom brought some meat pies. All yummy! We all also played the egg cracking game. My dad won but gave his egg to me. The egg cracking game is something my family has been doing as long as I can remember. It's an Orthodox Christian custom. It symbolizes Christ breaking through the tomb and who's ever egg is unbreakable, has good luck for the rest of the year. Other countries and sects of Christianity have also used this custom. We then sat around and chatted before cleaning up and opening up presents. Dropped off my mother in law and my mom gave us food to go and (now we have food for a few days). At home we finished off the weekend by watching The Sopranos. Last season. Sniff.


Niel photo

Happy Easter!! Look at some of the neat ways people have dyed their Easter Eggs.

Today I am 32 years old. Wow can't believe it. When I was a little girl thought that people who were in their thirties were so old. Now that I am finally here. How did that happne? I don't feel so very old. I hope 32 will be a little better but as long as I have Niel and our health I am ok.

In 1975 (the year you were born)

Gerald Ford is president of the US Evacuation of US civilians from Saigon as Communist forces complete takeover of South Vietnam FBI agents capture Patty Hearst, who is indicted and convicted of bank robbery Teamster Jimmy Hoffa disappears without a trace Marines rescue the crew of the American ship the Mayaguez near Vietnam First Lady Betty Ford says in an interview that she thinks her children have tried marijuana Natalie Imbruglia, Drew Barrymore, David Beckham, Enrique Iglesias, Angelina Jolie, and Tiger Woods are born Cincinnati Reds win the World Series Pittsburgh Steelers win Superbowl IX Philadelphia Flyers win the Stanley Cup Production begins on Star Wars Jaws and The Rocky Horror Picture Show are the top grossing films Soul Train premieres on television in the United States "The Way We Were" (performed by Barbara Streisand) wins the Grammy for best song Saturday Night Live and Wheel of Fortune premiere

What Happened the Year You Were Born?

Over eleven million Americans claim Scottish or Scotch-Irish roots in the US, making them the eighth largest group in America. To commemorate all they have contributed to the US, April 6 is National Tartan Day. There are events happening nationally all week. In New York City there is a Tartan Village in Grand Central Station, museums are showing various historical movies on Scottish immigration and there will be a parade on April 14. To learn more about Tartan Day and events in New York City click here and here.




Image from Tartanday.org

It is almost Easter and you know what that means Peeps everywhere. Actually Peeps have become pretty popular for all holidays now. But I associate them in particular with Easter.

Some interesting facts about Peeps for you which I got from my local paper, The Metro:

*Peeps eyes are made from Canauba wax. The same kind of wax for your car. Ewww. Got that information from Niel.

*Peeps have fans around the globe. 72,000 of which are enrolled in the official fan club www.marshmallowpeeps.com. Other peep clubs www.lordofthepeeps.com, www.peepresearch.org, and www.peepshow.com.

*Peeps are born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. I am so lame. I aslo know Bethlehem is also the hometown of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Heh heh.

*Peeps have a shelf life of 24 months.

*Some folks like me prefer to eat them fresh, others aged or frozen.



Image from: futility.typepad.com/futility/images/peeps.jpg

I was clearing piles and piles of magazines over the weekend when I noticed there was an article on the different types of hot dogs served at the various baseball stadium. It is baseball season and the hot dog is the (if not one of the) ideal foods to eat at a ball game. Of course there are other popular foods consumed at ball parks: popcorn, cracker jacks, pretzels, beer(duh), and so on. Niel and I enjoy sausage and peppers at games. Other types of foods are also becoming more and more popular at ball parks: pizza, cheese fries, sushi, as well as picnic areas and upscale dining options. But the hot dog still remains the top choice and each stadium serves it differently. Of course it all depends on how your particular city serves it. For example in New York City mustard with sauerkraut is pretty popular on a boiled hot dog. While in Boston a steamed hot dog is served with either ketchup, mustard, relish, piccalilli, and chopped onions. In Chicago they sure do love their toppings too, and prefer to eat a Vienna beef hot dog topped with chopped onions, diced/wedged tomatoes, a dill pickle spear, pickled hot peppers, relish, mustard, and celery salt, served on a poppy seed bun. Some day I hope to see the Oscar Meyer hot dog car. I think that would be cool.
Here is a neat site that gives you tons of more information on hot dogs, such as how to say them in different languages. Mmm now I am hungry for one.



Photo from www.thumanns.com

I was at the supermarket when I spotted (to me) the strangest "toys". Though it's appropriate because it is Passover after all. I saw a Passover Bag of Plagues. After doing a bit of research I realized they're educational toys used for the holiday. To show examples of the 10 plagues inflicted upon Egypt, so children can better understand Passover. Learn something everyday.

Hope everyone had a good weekend. Was looking forward to the weekend all week. As most do I guess. I like having a lot of activities planned and I just didn't know what we would choose to do. One thing for sure was, Friday after work my mom and I went to see an Anne of Green Gables play. An off Broadway show based on the popular book, turned Canadian series by Lucy Maud Montgomery. It is my mother's birthday on Wednesday, and we both loved the series so I thought it would be nice for both of us to see it. We'll be having lunch on Sunday to celebrate Easter and both of my mom's and my birthdays. Niel all on his own did the laundry during when I was out and picked us up. I don't go by a day without thinking I lucked out. The Squilkys sent me my birthday gifts early. That was one of the highlights of my weekend. Thank you guys. Saturday Niel and I planned on seeing Blades of Glory, then the boiler in our building which is supposedly only four years old, died. But something was wrong with some of the radiators too because the one in my office was shooting out water. But this gave us an opportunity to clean both of our offices. We'll try to see the movie next weekend. If not it will end up on our Netflix list. So what we ended up doing was clean and run errands. Supposedly were getting a new oven this week and the landlord is going to take care of the boiler and radiator. Niel really lucked out by finding the cover for the Ektorp chair I gave him a few years ago. It took a while but Niel never gave in, to buy a overpriced cover. He was very proud. Niel also made some really yummy chicken and mashed potatoes. Since the oven being kaput we have to use our range a lot more. Yay the Mets won their first game, and of all teams against St. Louis. Heh heh. Hope it goes well the rest of the season. Like to see Niel happy. Glad Mind of Mencia and Reno 411 have returned.

Hexagon shape found on Saturn.


Burger King will start to use free range meat and eggs in their meals. It's a start.