NYC city got a bit of snow yesterday and we're in the 30's. Niel said snow doesn't come when its any colder and he was right. The weekend was nice and relaxing. Did a little bit of cleaning and Niel did laundry. We basically just vegged out and watched lots of tv saved on the DVR. In particular Battlestar Galactica. Which we are all caught up with. We also found the beer cheese at Trader Joe's. It is quite strong. I looked through the freezer and cupbards to see what quick stuff I could make for our meals during the weekend. We enjoyed wings, shrimp dumplings and scallion pizza pie. Saturday evening we went out to dinner with Niel's mom at the Hispanic diner in her neighborhood.
I've only seen one of the movies nominated for any of the awards and I never thought Little Miss Sunshine would. Steve Carell was amazing in the film. I find him very good in serious roles as well. The last new episode of The Office, I think a couple of weeks ago when he was sad about Dwight being fired I thought was some of his best work. So I hope Little Miss Sunshine wins and Judy Dench. Although I think Helen Mirren will. Niel purchased some handsoap that I want to recommend. It is Soft Soap's Morning Mist. It smells so delicious I wish there was a perfume with that sent. I forgot to mention Fabio was doing some promotion piece out side my office building. I took his picture on my cell phone.

Hey everyone. Hope you all had a good weekend. NYC finally got a smattering of snow and mighty winds. Both were only for a day. Supposedly we will have more of both though. Brrr. Niel and I did our usual errand running and cleaning. Had my parents over for dinner. We went international. For the appetizer started off in Italy with Giada De Laurentiis' Red Pepper Cheese Cake(savory with a hint of sweet). The main course was a French dish by Ina Garten, beef Bourguignonne and side was also by Ina Garten and also French, zucchini Gratin and dessert ended in Greece with a raspberry Cloufouti. The dessert was deceiving. You would think a dessert with fruit, and custard would be tasty but was a real disappointment. But it did look pretty. My favorite dish and the most surprising was the Red Pepper Cheese Cake. I wasn't sure about this particular sweet and savory combo, but it was good. Next time I will try red pepper jelly for the topping instead of apricot jelly.

We also caught up on our new favorite show Battle Star Galactica. Never thought that would happen. Liking the show and catching up. LOL. Psych also came back to TV woo hoo! Whoever watches Ugly Betty did you have a what the hell moment during the last scene? I like being kept on my toes though. I get bored when I can figure out a show. I seriously thought it was going to go another way. Heroes and Studio 60 is back on tonight! Woo hoo!! I know I am late but did anyone watch the Golden Globes? What the hell is wrong with Angelina Jolie and Maria Menounus? Otherwise I like the show in general. Lots of drunk celebrities dressed up not caring if they are appear drunk. Looking forward to the Academy Awards and Grammy's.

We also did some minor furniture rearranging by moving the loveseat away from the radiator near our living room windows to ensure maximum heat for the room. We like the loveseat in front of the windows but we figure for the winter warmth wins over style. Plus Niel boarded up the windows and the air conditioner in the bedroom also for warmth. It helped. Plus Niel found a Chinese take out place that sells better Lo Mein than our usual place.

My shop is also finally up! Thanks to Niel for all the help!

Hope everyone had a nice weekend. Ours was good as good can be. My stomach virus has turned into a hacking chest cold. Sounds much worse then it actually is. Visited with friends and family. Niel and I were invited to a post holiday party at our friends Craig and Isabel's new place. We got the invite a few weeks ago and it was nice to get out of the house. Finding the new place was fine just a lot of little roads. Getting back was easier because Niel got a different set of directions from Craig to get on a highway. As usual Craig and Isabel were great hosts and served yummy food. They're new place is really nice. They're other friends had traveled from Albany, Massachusetts, D.C., and Southern Connecticut to see them. Which I thought was nice and that they stayed in touch even after college. Before heading over to Craig and Isabel's, Niel and I went to the new mall and took a look at the mini skating rink they had set up. Despite the drizzle there were some kids having fun skating. Niel thinks once all the stores open they will have better luck. The mall is still new and is struggling a bit. But they always seem to manage to come up with ways to try to get visitors. They're Amish market finally opened and it is amazing. Prices in comparison are reasonable. They had such variety in everything but especially flour, pasta, cheese, olive oil. Great for wine and cheese or olive oil tastings. We even found some squid pasta. Heh heh. Sunday we visited with my parents and caught up with them. It was a nice visit. A funny story about what happened on one of our errands. We went to the bank. This particular chain has a drive through. I think most banks have this option though. But you do need a car to use the drive through, right? Well there was this man with his dog just standing there waiting to be served. The teller yelled at him for being on the drive through line on foot. He held up his little dog to show her why he was outside. She said that they allowed dogs and to go inside. People have lost their minds.

Thanks for the well wishes! Hope your weekends were better. The post will be a little long and a little gross. Warning!

Friday was a miserable day. I caught whatever nasty bug poor Niel, my brother, his girlfriend, and a few of our coworkers had. I went to meet a client in the morning and felt fine. I got to the office around 1. I wasn't hungry but since I hadn't eaten since 7 I thought I should have something. So I got a fried Tofu Udon(Japanese soup). I told my friend Stephanie I was feeling funny. She suggested I should have toast instead. I so should have listened. The soup was my last meal for the rest of the day. And the thought of food the rest of the day was vile. I kept running to go to the bathroom. I had a bad case of.... well you know. Then nausea started to set in a bit after. Niel knows really well that intense nausea for me is the worst. I can't cope with it. I hate the feeling. I couldn't get comfortable in my chair. Then I get up to walk to the kitchen for some water. I didn't make it. I ended going into production and using one of their trash bins to throw up in. They were all very nice about it. Felt bad for whomever had to clean it up. Cause I sure forgot to. One of the designers ran to get me a trash can cause first he thought I had passed out, then he heard the barfing sounds and didn't know if I had a trash bin. Another designer ran to get me water. A sales person went to get me wet towels. One of my bosses got me a soda. Everyone was very nice. I threw up one more time. And then lay on the floor a mumbling Our office manager gave me plastic bags for the cab ride home. I immediately threw up in there too. Thanks goodness for those bags. I continued to either throw up or use the bathroom till 11 that night. After each upchuck I became very thirsty. Water and Ginger Ale never tasted so good.

Friday I stayed home and caught up on sleep. I couldn't sleep well the night before. Niel worked from home. He was a little sore from his own ordeal. I was a little sore Friday myself, but I wasn't up much. I need the rest. The few hours I was awake I drank water, had a tiny bit of rice and a toad in the hole and sat on the couch catching up on TV. Thank you DVR. Honestly I really didn't eat much the entire weekend. My eating and sleeping habits were out of wack. I didn't go to the bathroom normally till Saturday.

Saturday was a unnaturally beautiful day in NY and I believe most of the East Coast. I was feeling a little better so we went to the beach. Man it was unsurprisingly packed. But we walked around, Niel dipped his feet in the water and we met a two dogs. A two month old puppy named Bombay and his older "brother" Joey. I believe their owner said they were a mix of black Lab and New Zealand Maremmas. Man was that puppy ADORABLE!!! He just loved Niel. Nipping at his ankles. I think it was the salt water. LOL. Bombay the puppy came bounding towards us and then his much larger full grown brother wanted some attention and bounded toward us too. It was funny! I wish I didn't have allergies. I love animals.

Sunday there was light errand running, cleaning and laundry to be done. Now back to work.

Happy 2007! Hope you all had an enjoyable weekend and are still having one. Whether it is nursing hang overs, eat overs or just jumping into some cold waters. That's what Niel is planning to do this afternoon and I am taking pics. More on that tomorrow.

I'm looking forward to watching two new shows on Wednesday evenings on ABC, starting at 9. The Knights of Prosperity and In Case of Emergency.

I'm starting 2007 by taking part in the Weekend Cookbook Challenge 12: Stews. The founder of the Weekend Cookbook Challenge is Sara from I Like To Cook and the host for this month's challenge is Shaun from Winter Skies, Kitchen Aglow.

I made Donna Hays' Red Thai Beef Curry. But I added a bit more liquid to make the recipe stewier. I hope to participate in more Weekend Cookbook Challenges.

The dish is quite easy to make, flavorful and the winter squash and coconut pair well with the curry. I was worried it may be too sweet with the coconut, squash and pork, but it wasn't. The meats and squash came out tender. The best part was I only had to use one pot for cooking. Heh! I will definitely make this dish again. It really is a perfect anytime meal and not just for rainy winter days.

Red Thai Beef Curry-Donna Hay(Classics, Book 1)


2 teaspoons peanut oil
1/4 cup red curry paste(I used Aroy-D)
20 oz. blade or round stake cubed. (I also added some precooked pork bits.)
1 cup coconut cream
3/4 cup beef stock
14 ounces butternut pumpkin/squash, peeled and cubed. (Adding more is fine.)
2 kaffir lime leaves shredded. (I couldn't find but the dish was fine without.)
2 tablespoons small basil leaves. (I didn't add but the recipe was not lacking.)

Heat a large sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add the peanut oil and curry paste and cook for one minute or until fragrant. Add the meat and cook until browned. Add the coconut cream and stock and simmer, covered, over low heat for 30 minutes. Add the pumpkin and lime leaves and cook for 15-20 minutes or until meat and pumpkin are tender. Stir through the basil leaves and serve in bowls with steamed rice. Serves 4.

Even with extra days the weekends still flies by too fast. Drats. But it was a nice one. Thursday I had a nice lunch at Junior's with some coworkers and one of their sister's. The Christmas episode of The Office was so good! Friday night I met up with Niel so we could go to an art exhibit at his brother's school. Before we met I looked at the holiday shops in Union Square, then Niel showed me the light show Target had set up. Very pretty.
Saturday evening we went to a 1st birthday party for friends of my husband's family. The party was very well done. They thought of everything down to the littlest detail. The party favors were ornaments they made themselves. They even had Santa Claus visit the children. They're Disney fanatics like us so they had a two tier Mickey Mouse cake. One tier was Vanilla and the second chocolate. All the food and desserts were home made. They served roast pork, meat balls(my mother in-laws)fried potato balls stuffed with meat, mixed with yellow rice with lentils and olives, potato salad, a green salad, chicken, pigs in a blanket, empanadas, and ziti.
Sunday Squilky who was in town visiting his family came over in the evening to watch football with Niel. I'm glad they're able to remain friends after all these years. Plus got the usual cleaning and errand running done.
This week we have Niel's birthday to look forward to, a cookie exchange with some of my coworkers(I made peppermint bark, chocolate peppermint truffles, and chocolate coconut cookies), I ended up making snicker doodles for Niel's office cookie exchange, will make cookies to any guests we have like Squilky, and three office parties. I love the holidays.

Hope everyone had a nice weekend. Still feeling that winter is close by even though we have a few days of autumn left. But with the lack of leaves and the Christmas decorations saying "hello" at every turn it feels definitely more wintry. Niel went camping this weekend so I ran some errands and cleaned but also got to have some fun. I baked sugar cookies and I hung out with my friend Jennifer and her sweet little girl for an afternoon. Her daughter is a genius at the ripe old age of two. It was good to see them both.
I also went to hang out with my parents. I made a ginger bread house with my mom. We used the Wilton brand. It's not something either of us have done before. But we had a good time. My mom works hard and doesn't have much time for creative pursuits (except in her cooking), although she is artistic. So I thought the gingerbread house would be fun for her. I knew she'd want to do it alone and I just helped assemble the piping and the house but she decorated it herself. I went to hang out with my dad and we watched Deal or No Deal. After my mom was done she joined us.
At home I watched the holiday specials on the Food Network(Nigella Lawson(my favorite), Paula Deen and Ina Garten.) As well as the reunion special of As Time Goes By. I adore that show. Niel came home sicker then before he left. But I think he had fun. He took a nice hot shower and napped for a bit. After Niel woke up we watched Beer Fest which grew on me by the end. I had forgotten to mention last weekend we had viewed A Prairie Home Companion. It was a quirky movie even though it had a lot of big names. I'll be making more cookies but for Niel's department for this Thursday. I better figure out what to make!