Still Alive

Okay, so yeah, I've just been in a big ol' funk lately, as evidenced by my disappearance for over a month from here, and eating my way up the scale by several pounds. (I've also taken a hiatus from WW, since it's not about "how do I stay within my points budget?" but rather "need to straighten out my head first"!)

Slept for about 16 hours the other day, and have taken to napping on Sundays before bracing myself to watch the Giants after halftime (and yesterday's loss to the Eagles was truly appalling: giving up 28 points in less than 8 minutes during the 4th quarter! WTF?!)

But thanks to a relaxing dinner and long talk with my friend A who reminded me that I am not my job, and comfortable evenings with my knitting buddies, and time with a remarkably mellow Mom (!!!), I'm gradually regaining my equilibrium. (My home still almost looks like an audition set for HOARDERS, but I am slowly throwing out bits of crap. Note the key word "bits" and not, say, dumpster-loads.)

But really, that sensible comment from A (which I should perhaps tape to my bathroom mirror as a useful reminder) was tremendously helpful. Perhaps I was just ready.

And then I found out that one of my friends just buried his mom today. She had been suffering from stage 4 pancreatic cancer so it was not unexpected but still...

(As an aside, this just reinforces my determination to continue waging war on How Too Spoil Mom -- buy her stuff like a new winter coat, she tries them on, spends a long time considering the pros and cons [now I know where I get my indecisiveness from], then tells me to return it the next day -- lather, rinse, repeat. Eventually I'll find something that she really likes.)

So yeah, there's a light at the end of this particular tunnel, and it's not an oncoming train.

Oh, and the ceramic octopus shown above (which I think is FABULOUS and fabulously fascinating) was made my my friend Diana at the pottery studio. Sooooo lifelike, doncha think?

Back in the saddle (again)

It had babies! Dunno if you remember my previous post about the quirky porcupine cake at one of the gourmet delis near my office, but apparently mitosis occurred, with almond sliver quills sprouting on the babies just like the "parent". Hee! And this photo has absolutely nothing to do with anything except the fact that it amused me.

At this rate, if I see the babies again, I may have to just break down and buy one out of curiosity. However, the thought of having to figure out the correct number of points is distinctly offputting...

Yes, I finally rejoined WW this month. I am back in the saddle again, since the last year's events have wound up back in MY saddle again! So far, I have lost 3 pounds, which I visualize as half a sack of sugar (or flour). One sign of progress: going up the concrete steps in the subway station near the office no longer hurts my knees -- hooray!

So when I visit my sister on the weekends, I look forward to her lightly dressed, super tasty salads with fun ingredients, like this one, see? Last Friday, I also (even) managed to steer myself away from the black holes of WW points in the Grand Central Station food court, and instead got a really fabulous Greek salad with: stuffed grape leaves, kalamata olives, red onion, feta, mixed greens, cucumbers, grape tomatoes, and spicy chicken kebab chunks. It was quite flavorful, so I will have to keep this place in mind for future commutes to CT.

If I've been quiet on here lately, it's not so much from any BAD reason but just the fact that I am busybusybusy these days. Last weekend, for instance, I attended a triple baptism in CT: my newest grandniece, and her two newest girl cousins. (Three cakes! Yum!) I also visit and stay over at my mom's every week. (Come to think of it, it's a wonder I managed to lose any weight this past week!)

I've also rejoined the ceramics studio in LIC, and decided to mix it up by taking a handbuilding class instead of my regular wheelthrowing endeavors. My first project was this gigantic planter. (Keep in mind that everything shrinks about 10 pct after firing.) However, once they told me that it was going to cost $51 to fire (!!!) I decided that the experience of constructing it was sufficient (i.e., I didn't love it $50 worth) and cut off to cylinder, smoothing the base into a nice platter instead. Heh.

When hearing my laughing about this experience, one of my classmates commented that it was good that I had a sense of humor about it (some students would have been freaking out in distress) but hey, I try not to take most things too seriously these days. Refinancing my mortgage? Serious (and avaoidable while my rate is 3.0 pct -- score!) Throwing out an unfired piece? Not serious.

Perhaps that is why I found this new subgenre entertaining: monster mashups of classics. Since Jane Eyre is my favorite novel of all time (I've even re-read it more than once, unusual for me) I couldn't resist this when I had a hefty Borders coupon. I mean who HASN'T wanted to put a stake through Blanche Ingram or the Reed family? Heheh. Now I may go and reread the original again. Next up: either Pride and Prejudice and Zombies or The Girl Who Played With Fire, probably the latter, as I want to see the Swedish films of the trilogy with my knitting buddies.

Also, I started volunteering for English language tutoring at Sanctuary For Families, a domestic violence shelter/counseling organization. I know how hard it is for my my to access services without English, and it's little enough for me to do (since I'm not doing any of the heavy duty stuff). Right now we're in the organizational stage where they're screening me (they asked for references!) and setting up the tutoring schedule.

The photo shows a donation event for SFFNY organized by the Princeton Women's Network of NYC since many of the women and their children arrive at the shelter with nothing but the clothes on their back.

Big and little

I think Cinderella is a sweet and pretty (not to mention superfluffy) cat, don't you? Ironically, I have not seen her this weekend, as I have been at my sister's new home, a cute little 2 BR, 1.5 bath cottage in town (I walked from the train station! woohoo! and even made a detour along the way to the LYS here, which is closing on the 30th: the Greenwich branch of String). This weekend has been dedicated to setting up her new network and upgrading her PCs.

In fact, that's where I am right now, waiting for some software upgrades to finish downloading. While the wifi router (which I had never gotten around to installing at home, so I gave it to my sister -- heh) is working fine (finally) with her cable modem, Microsoft is -- as always -- being a pig: you know Windows XP service pack 2 is 266 MB? And since they are ceasing support of SP2 on July 13th, I figured I might as well download SP3 as well, but since THAT is 316MB, it's taking quite a while for both to finish chugging through.

The reason this is so pressing is that (a) her old Dell (not her new netbook) is just impossibly slow -- in fact, the day is coming shortly when either she or I will be throwing that thing from the roof -- and (b) my old Acer laptop has been working fine before I gave it to my big sis but none of the new antivirus software programs will work with SP1. Not a problem when it was sitting in my closet, but kind of key if my sister is going to use it as her primary PC. (HEY! My sister now wins for having the most PCs in the family: she has THREE! HA!)

Ooh, the download for SP2 just finished. Time to go!

But I will leave you with a photo of the pieces I just finished at the other ceramics studio: a giant coffee mug to replace my the one still (and at this point, now and forever) left at my ex's place, and some tiny soy sauce cups for my mom, who broke the one I made for her -- she wants to put them INSIDE her plates of food, a la chips & dip, so they are as small as shot glasses (or sake cups, depending on your point of reference -- heh).

Ding! SP3 just finish downloading. Okay, ciao for now!

Crafting Triple Crown

Though I did not watch The Preakness this weekend, I have been busily trundling along on my own personal crafting triple crown: ceramics, cooking (and lots of eating), and knitting.

The platter above had some really funky runs which I liked and could not recreate if I tried. I was also supposed to attend a glazing workshop this morning, but switched to next Friday morning's session (the 21st) instead, as I desperately need a mental health day and have yet to take the second of my 2 discretionary days for the year. So Friday, I will spend the whole day at the pottery studio, ending with a dinner visit with my mom.

This weekend also saw my first attempt to create my own baby sweater pattern, and lemme tellya, the pattern math is killing me. However, I think baby Olivia is worth it :-) and I am highly amused by the Easter egg colors I have chosen: green, pink, and yellow. The pattern is a mixture of Little Bubbles and eyelet rows (see what I mean about math?) with banded stripes of color, knitted top down with a round yoke. I am also varying the sizes of the Little Bubbles boxes on Olivia's sweater (more math). The end result could be dizzying, but it'll keep me occupied, and hey, I can always make another sweater for Olivia (girly things are so much fun to knit!) Photos and pattern will be forthcoming once I am further along.

Last night, my friend Jane also organized a goat dinner. Resto's large format feasts serves an animal from nose to tail for groups of 8 or larger, and it was indeed tasty, but I did not take any photos as it just looked like very large platters of meat prepared in different ways. (Maybe my blogging hiatus has made me more picky about my food p*rn.) We pre-selected goat (you have to book ahead and put down a $250 deposit) which is not on their regular a la carte menu, but other options include pig, veal, large fish, etc.

Apparently, 3 courses of goat finished with Belgian waffles were not enough for us (!!!) as Jane, her husband Jim, and I went out afterward for coffee and dessert around the corner at Primehouse.

Jane ordered homemade "make your own" doughnuts which were truly scrumptious. The little squeeze bottles allow you to add your own butterscotch, strawberry jam, or chocolate filling.

I, on the other hand, opted for my first bananas foster, which came with its own almond crunch sugar cookies. Yummm....

Ironically, all of the booze at dinner helped me deal with this morning's noisy walkers streaming past my window: woke up at 6:30 and so was already puttering around when noisy AIDwalk folks streamed screamining past my window for 2-3 hours. Yes, I know it's a good cause, and I've raised thousands for the walk myself, but every charity walk (and there are quite a few during the course of the year) makes me want to just yell out my window on SUNDAY MORNINGS for them to just SHUT THE HELL UP!

Yes, I am always cranky when my sleep is disturbed on weekend mornings, and not just when I am newly single.

Tonight, I made not one but two batches of fruit muffins for my coworker Mike's birthday tomorrow, as I'm a bit ambivalent about how the first batch (carrot) turned out.

Although the low-fat carrot muffins are truly very moist, because they use crushed pineapple (?!) to add moisture, they are actually a little TOO moist (er, perhaps I underbaked them or didn't squeeze out enough moisture from the shredded carrots). I also threw in some chocolate chips and sliced almonds I had lying around.

Therefore, I made peach muffins as a backup. Since I haven't tasted them yet, I'm not sure how good a back up they will be (!) but the reviews online seemed positive, so here's hoping... I used thawed, chopped frozen peaches instead of fresh, and threw on some cinnamon (hence the dark speckles) in case the muffins didn't caramelize sufficiently. The fear of albino muffins was unfounded, but we'll see how the taste factor goes. Wish me luck!

Looking for Mr. Hershey Bar

So okay, you may have noticed that I've been kind of quiet here recently. That's because I've been rather miserable.

As of today, I am officially single again, and I feel much better. Coincidence? I think NOT.

So here's how my dinner with Mom went tonight (timing is everything)...

Mom: What? Your boyfriend is too busy to come to dinner?

Me: He's not my boyfriend any more.

Mom: I knew it! He went on that vacation with another woman, didn't he? [Mom's 2 husbands did not give her a high opinion of male fidelity. Yes, I know my dad was one of those two men.]
Me: No, Mom. That's not it. Remember how I said I was waiting for him to decide on getting married or not? [Note: I am distilling long conversations about our different relationship issues into concrete terms she can relate to. See also: vacations without ME, above]
Me: Well, he said he doesn't want to get married [which is essentially what it boils down to in the end, even if I'm not even sure that I myself want to get married] so I broke up with him. Now I don't want to talk about it anymore.

Mom: Oh.

Mom: Well good. No sense in twisting in the wind any longer than you have to. Best to break it off sooner rather than later in that case. [Mom is very pragmatic.]
Mom: Now that you've broken up, I can tell you I always thought he was very unappreciative. [Why do people never say these things until afterward?! It is true, however, that he did not apparently appreciate ME enough.] I didn't tell you before because you'd just get upset and defensive [true] but NOW, I can tell you how I really feel!
Me: Okay Mom, I don't want to talk about this anymore, remember? [Don't worry, she got to enumerate all his faults after dinner while on the phone to my sister... none of which I could really disagree with. Heh.]

Yes, I am more than a little angry (it's easier to be angry than disappointed and upset) but that's all I'm going to say about the subject (for now).

Tomorrow, I think it will be a fine time to go pummel some clay in the studio. Benchtime awaits.

In the meantime, enjoy the funky "teardrop" drip of glaze in the bowl I just collected from the studio this week. More photos another day.

And now, on to some more angry eating... for some reason, I've been craving Hershey bars lately, even though I normally avoid them.

Noodles

Ramen yesterday night. Udon and capellini today. Tomorrow, maybe some rice vermicelli. I'm slowly working my way up the solid food chain after an unpleasant and extended interlude with viral gastroenteritis this week, when I subsisted on an exciting diet of room temperature apple juice and chicken bouillon.

At one point, I had a fever of 101.9 and dropped 7 pounds from dehydration, leading my GP to mutter the words "Emergency Room" and "intravenous drip" if the anti-nausea medication didn't allow me to keep down any fluids.  (Ironically, it was one of the same drugs as I had during chemo, since I blame chemo-backwash for my seemingly unending series of infections this year.) Come to think of it, I was curled up in a ball of misery for a few days, similar to the position of this ceramic, gold-leaf gargoyle made by one of my studio-mates. (Pretty cool sculpture, huh?)

So I've been home all week, as I was both contagious and chained to my bathroom, and put off my vacation to San Francisco (I was supposed to leave yesterday -- not a good idea). Instead, I will go back to work on Monday, and save my vacation for when I am FINALLY FEELING BETTER! (Can you tell that I am sick of being sick... again?)

Wednesday night, my sweetie left for his annual 3-week diving trip to Thailand, so I will not see him until after he returns on the 24th. Right now he is somewhere en-route to Bangkok via Taipei.

And that is all the energy I have for today.

The Kitchen Sink

How is it that after getting it completely empty yesterday, and topping it off with a baking soda scrub no less, my sick is now once again full of dirty dishes? And this, despite ordering in for dinner last night with my sweetie. Like laundry, some fun chores just seem neverending. Sigh.

I guess I'm just cranky with myself because I've done a whole lotta NOTHING this weekend -- despite it being absolutely gorgeous (sunny and 70ish) weather -- and have been diligently avoiding organizing my tax papers so that my accountant can deal with the whole mess before I go on vacation on April 8th. In other words, my aggravation is basically all self-inflicted. Genius.

So yeah, my sink awaits me. Again. But part of the reason it's full is that I made beef fried rice (top photo, in one of my newest bowls back from the kiln) out of an assortment of multi-cuisine leftovers: rice from Thai delivery last night, smoked beef brisket from Southern BBQ doggy bag the other night, along with its accompanying collard greens and pork/ham seasoning, two "new" eggs, and of course, the remainder of my (rather wilted) scallions and some freshly minced ginger, two seasonings I always think of as Chinese even though many countries use them.

I have to say, the end result tastes pretty good (or it could be that I have a weird palate -- either way, as they point out in Alone In The Kitchen With An Eggplant, only *I* have to eat it, so there) even though it is perversely amusing that I had to find instructions for this quintessentially Chinese recipe from The Joy of Cooking!

The second photo in this post is part of my dinner last night from Wondee Siam V. (I don't have any photos of my sweetie's dinner because I didn't think about it till he'd already decimated his meal. Heh.) My yam ped yang salad ( crispy boneless duck with pineapple, green apple, red onion, scallion, cilantro, peanuts, cashew nut, lime juice & chili ) was excellent, and I still have lots left over: a 3-meal dish!

And then we both / each ordered tom sum, otherwise known as green papaya salad, which is the photo with the crushed grape tomato. (Between the peanuts and cashews, SE Asia is a dangerous place for those with nut allergies.)

My engineer also ordered catfish pad pett ( fish sauteed with thai eggplant, lime leaf, basil, bell pepper and red curry paste ) which was tasty and gone baby, gone. I thought I'd give the gui chai a whirl ( crispy chive pancakes wrapped in rice noodle/mochi ) but though tasty, they were not memorialized. Whoops.

We wound up our spicy dinner with some spicy viewing. Now hold on -- I just mean that my engineer found a commercial-free showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show on TV last night, only a few minutes after it had started. So we settled in and watched the whole film (again), with occasional consultation of IMDB to see where various folks were these days. (Yes, we lead a very exciting life here in the big city!) Throughout the film, I kept trying to imagine explaining the plot to my 80-year old mom who was raised in rural, pre-Communist China and... nope. No dice. Couldn't visualize that conversation, nosirree.

Neither can I visualize what I an going to do about any future cookbook acquisitions, since my "foodie" bookcase has now been filled to the gills. (You knew that had to happen sooner or later, right?)

While most recent items have made their way into my home via PaperBackSwap, I bought The World Encyclopedia of Cooking Ingredients on Friday, which coincidentally has Thai eggplants on the cover, which were in the catfish dish.  I thought a visual encyclopedia would be handy the next time I ran into some baffling cooking ingredient (and less than a day later, I did), plus it was in the bargain books section at my local Borders, AND with this week's 30% off coupon, the grand total (WITH tax) was $3.80! A reference book on food on SALE -- how could I resist?

Blink is indeed via the swap club, and kept me company on the subway on Friday (just started it). Picturing Hong Kong: Photography, 1855-1910 came out of the dumpster at work: our office is moving in a few months, so we have been vigorously purging (if only I could apply that discipline AT HOME!) and both my engineer and I thought this book was interesting, especially since we've both been there (separately).

Coincidentally, my book club is currently reading The Piano Teacher, set in midcentury Hong Kong, but since I have developed a dislike of said teacher, I am having a hard time progressing with it. (British colonialist attitudes, while historically accurate, tick me off to no end.) One can only hope she will become less annoying as the book goes on, otherwise I will not have a lot to say at the next book club meeting (i.e., it will remain unfinished).

Horse trading

One of the things I find most amusing / fascinating about my ceramics buddies is how everyone has completely different tastes and styles. Now while that may sound obvious, it can be demonstrated more viscerally in several different ways.

For example, a sample of different potters' works at one studio I frequent gives a small idea of what I mean. (I will have to scan in some other samples to give you an even broader range so you REALLY see what I mean.)

Unsurprisingly, this occasionally leads to some spontaneous horse trading, when one person finds their finished, glazed work just viscerally revolting, while another one is "oooh-ing" and "aaah-ing" with admiration over the very same piece(s).

This happened twice to me, albeit on opposite ends of the transaction, once a few years ago and then again last month.

One bowl (I think -- or maybe it was a vase -- this was quite a while ago) came out of its second firing (the glaze firing occurs after the wet clay is first fired into bisqueware, similar to terracotta) and I immediately disliked it. A LOT. I can't even remember what combination of glazes it was, but I knew I'd never want to use it, or even want to give it as a formal present. Meanwhile, one pal (whose work is for sale here) thought it was great. I promptly gifted it to her.

Last month, the reverse occured to another pal, who found a particular shade of grey-blue revolting, whereas I admired the glaze mix tremndously. Guess who wound up with a pair of FABULOUS mugs? :-D (Noriko, one of the associate artists, was very jealous. Heh.) Plus, these are my favorite size: very large, holding 16 ounces of liquid each!

It's all a matter of perspective, kind of like these electric pottery wheels, turned on their sides. I thought they were turbines or something at first (!) but then I realized that no, they were simply moved aside, prior to the December holiday sow and sale.

And it's funny, because frequently, the hated objects are not intrinsically ugly (as these mugs certainly demonstrate) but rather, just not what was intended by the creator.

I joked with Diana, the mugs' maker, that it was like an adoption, where I immediately gave the mugs a loving home, even though they were rejected at birth. She promptly replied that it was not going to be an open adoption, so I was not to fear that she would come seeking them out years later, and in fact never wanted to see them again. Heh.

My pottery buddies crack me up sometimes. ;)

P.S. I forgot to say...

... that part of the revelation for my lack of joy in ceramics was that I missed Sara, and all of my other pottery friends, all of whom are now gone from the class (career change, in Ireland for grad school, stationed in Malawi with Doctors Without Borders, just plain busy, etc.)

The people in the class now are perfectly nice, but they're just not my buds.

So after I finish my current semester at Brickhouse Ceramics (in Long Island City) in late March, I will start taking classes at Earthworks (in the Upper East Side).  For those of you not from NYC, neither of them are remotely near my home / neighborhood (heh) which does have a nearby studio, Mugi Pottery.

All of which goes to show that in pottery, as in life, it's not the STUFF (facilities, equipment, etc.) which is really important. Nope.

PEOPLE are what count, and I am blessed in my friends and family (but not in my time management skills... bye!)

Blue is the new grey

So lately, I've just been feeling kind of BLEH, you know -- the lovely midwinter blahs, especially with the delightful weather we've been having this season, where below freezing and wet were the norm. Speaking of which, we are due for -- yes, you guessed it -- another winter storm this week. (The above photo is from our LAST storm. I couldn't take any photos this morning because my screens had frozen solid against my window frame. Whoops. So I could open the windows, but not remove the mesh, and shooting through a fine grid is really not conducive to a sharp photo, eh?)

I don't know if the whole lack of coordination, concentration, and motivation is just the usual winter woes, or I am just learning to readjust to my post-chemo, post-amoxycillin, tamoxifen-for-5-years world.

My attention span these days has definitely suffered, since I barely read anything longer than a magazine article, blog post, or the free newspaper. Apparently, this is not so unusual, according to one of my books, Your Brain after Chemo: A Practical Guide to Lifting the Fog and Getting Back Your Focus, which was co-written by an oncologist and a health science writer who, ironically, became a breast cancer survivor.

(Speaking of which, I discovered Monday that a former coworker has passed away this weekend. She had been a breast cancer survivor for several years. After a life-threatening battle with advanced beast cancer before I knew her, she and her husband had drastically changed their priorities and appreciated the truly important things in life (e.g., seizing any travel opportunity they could, not letting the turkeys get them down, etc.). Her attitude at work was always helpful in reminding me how to balance dedication with perspective. I had not know her cancer had recurred, andnow I'm sorry that I can never tell her how valuable her sense of perspective was to me when I worked with her. I will just have to tell her husband instead, via a card -- all that I can do now...)

So yeah, I know that I have many things to be grateful for, and I regularly remind myself that if losing my last 10 pounds of chemo/treatment weight is my worst problem, life ain't bad.

Having said all that, I will now return to my whining. ;-P

For example, although getting out of my nice cozy bed is usually a half hour process every morning (at least), this morning I woke up at 4:55 AM (that is just SO wrong) and realized I had turned on one of my bedside lights in a bizarre autopilot mode.  While pondering that oddity, I had an excruciating cramp in my left calf.  So much for rolling over and going back to sleep. (Ironically, I had made the decision to NOT stay up late watching ladies figure skating on the Olympics... so I wouldn't be tired!)

On the bright side, that means I had time to make myself some McCann's oatmeal (with currants and honey) from scratch this morning, not usually a feasible task on a workday, considering it takes over 30 minutes. (Yes, even when mopey, I can be perky -- are you getting mental whiplash yet? [heh]) Oh, and to watch BBC World News while ensconced on the Green Monster in my robe, while eating said oatmeal, which gives me a pleasantly nostalgic feeling for my trips to Asia (the watching, NOT the oatmeal!) now that it's been a few years.

In any case, not even my beloved ceramics classes were giving me joy.

I thought that meant that I was just being droopy, as with everything else, but then I took a slip decoration workshop at my friend and former teacher Sara's new studio on the Upper East Side, Earthworks. (The studio and shop has been there for many years, but she is now the [new] owner.)

What a revelation!

As you can see, I really dug learning about different slip decoration techniques (just a bit) which gave me a whole new appreciation for the multifaceted uses of infant nasal aspirators! (That would be baby snot remover bulbs to us childfree folks. Ladies -- you too can recycle 'em for craft projects! Hee!)

My favorite technique was the feathering / feather combing, as evidenced by the predominance of my attempts. (That link was to the definition, while THIS link shows a truly crisp example.) The designs remind me of Florentine marbled paper, but there are so many other feathering / marbling techniques to try too!

Just remember when looking at these photos of the unfired tiles that the grey blobs will actually turn blue after partying with the kiln fire.  Then, after its bisque firing, it's time for choosing the flaze colors, which will have a significant impact on the tints of the final results. These disk-shaped sample tiles below, for example, are all exactly the same slip colors, but underneath different glaze colors.

Okay, time to get dressed and trudge off to work through the multiple inches of snow.

Duck season

Wabbit season! (Sorry, have been seeing that Elmer Fudd Geico ad too often lately.)

But really, there's a reason for my duck-luv-fest, in preparation for which, my sweetie and I each had hearty servings of McCann's steel-cut Irish oatmeal on Monday morning.

He observed (without much hope) that perhaps the cholesterol-fighting properties of the oatmeal might help us prepare for the onslaught of duck fat headed our way that afternoon. (Please -- snorting in derision is so undignified. I can hear you all from here, so stop that. ;-P)

There were 8 of us so it seemed only reasonable to order to ducks to prevent any unseemly squabbling over the squab. (Okay, they're not really squab, but hey, poetic license.)

After presentation of the goods, the chef came tableside to carve 'em up for us. We kept him busy with our platters of poultry, but boy he was FAST!

Et voila! Platter # 1, which died a quick death at one end of the table. Platter #2 did not live much longer at the other end of the table either.

Afterwards (I am completely skipping over the platters of: sauteed spinach with garlic, salt and pepper shrimp, Grand Marnier shrimp, and vegetable lo mein [long life lo mein] which we also devoured) we wandered around Chinatown, as it was a pleasantly warm --for February-- and sunny holiday Monday. Here is some dried seafood, which my mom and I are not fans of, as we both think they merely bear a passing resemblance (when reconstituted) to the deliciousness of FRESH seafood.

And of course, no trip to Chinatown is complete without a gluttonous descent to one of the Aji Ichiban locations (a/k/a Munchies Paradise -- literally). I managed to snag one snap before one of the clerks told me there were to be no photos (?!)

My sweetie and I discovered another outpost of our dearly departed Hong Kong Supermarket, but neither he nor my Mom (for of course she has already scoped it out) feel that it compares to the original location in selection (or price). Sadly.

Still, it was entertaining enough to wander around and find veggie duck shelved right next to seasoned pork stomach in the refrigerator case. Heh.

Finally, I just had to stop and take a photo of this restaurant's signange. Notice the amusing oxymoron here?

And now, lunch time (back at the office) is OVAH!

Running a blitz

So I've discovered that probably the least painful way to "watch" the NY Giants lately (when I remember) is to put it on TV on mute, and listen to WNYE-FM (currently playing The Brazilian Music Hour, after an hour of Putamayo World Music, and shortly to be starting Mo'Glo) or WNYC (vicarious food thrills on Sunday nights with The Splendid Table, where Thomas Keller was the guest tonight). Of course, if they're on during the afternoons, I have to find other audio wallpaper to cover the car wreckage.

But no, I didn't spend all evening on the couch covering my eyes. Actually, I finally cleaned out my fridge tonight, since there were items in there that were older than my niece's children. (You think I kid, but some of the expiration dates were truly eyebrow-raising. Trust me.) There are now visible areas on the shelves. Shocking.

I also made some turkey spinach lasagna for tomorrow night, when I will feed my friend Sam "a home cooked meal" (vs. his usual quick meal a la Trader Joe), complete with some previously frozen dough I made from King Arthur Flour's chewy chocolate cookie recipe. (Bonus: I managed not to have a serving of the lasagna, despite the yummy smell, since I had already had dinner!)

As I may have mentioned before, I once asked Sam's sister Sarah what foods he may prefer. She responded wryly that as a bachelor he will like anything I make for him. Heh. Nonetheless, I did check with him that the turkey spinach combo was acceptable. The lasagna also was the impetus for the fridge cleaning, since I needed room to store it overnight!

Between the frosty (9 degree windchill) and/or wet weather lately (rained 3 out of the last 7 days), and going out for some veal lasagna with Sam last week (yes, I am an unreformed carnivore AND politically incorrect) at Lasagna Ristorante (tip to my NYC pals: don't order anything else except what the place is named after and you'll be much happier) I had the overwhelming urge to make lasagna tonight.

Our comfort food cravings were also satisfied when I treated us to dinner last night at Skinner's Loft in JC where my sweetie had strozzapreti with pork ragu, and I had apple cider-brown ale braised pork shank. Oooooh... SO. GOOD. And both were gigantic enough to feed both of us again today.

The evening was also enhanced by the grown up atmosphere at the restaurant -- subdued jazz music in the background, with a fireplace insert, exposed brick, and good service -- which invariably also has delicious food. You can see why it's one of our favorites in his neighborhood.

And during those periods when I'm not crying like a NFL player on the team that loses the Super Bowl, I can occasionally have some sane moments. Thank g*d. So tonight my engineer and I had another Talk (we had one last weekend too) and that also helped both of us defuse some stress.  Hooray!

So I can now retroactively rationalize, er, I mean -- justify my purchase recently of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1 which was on sale at Amazon for US$20 last week.  At 50% off,  I couldn't resist ordering it. (By the way, it is now $19.00 or 53% off! Holy...!)

And the other book is a cookbook from the pottery studio formerly known as the NYC YWCA Craft Students league, which has since morphed into the Brickhouse Ceramic Art Center where we've just wrapped up the last week of classes for the semester. I think the studio director was cleaning house before this weekend's holiday show and sale, so there was a sign on the counter last week: "FREE!! Take one!" Offering me a free cookbook... how could I resist?

Okay, long past time for bed!

Potato power!

Happy Hanukkah! Or happy Chanukkah! Or... well, pick a spelling. Last night was the first night of the Festival of Lights and I REALLY want some latkes... yum! Mmmmm... potatoes. And then: FRIED potatoes... ooooh! Well, what other reaction can you expect from someone who went on solitary vacations to Ireland -- twice?

So yes, the other weekend, my friend Ellen and I saw this spectacularly, um, eye-catching menorah during a walk on the UWS (there is a tiny, old-school toy/stationery shop on West 72nd Street that had this in their window) and I thought, "Well, hey -- gotta grab me a photo of THAT! Words won't do it justice." Yes, you too can own this "Musician Menorah" as the box calls it.

Or you can buy a handcrafted set like this cute grouping of animals that is being sold at the holiday show at my pottery studio (i.e., the place where I currently take classes -- it is SO not owned by me) which is going on this weekend.

There are many more photos linked to my Facebook page. Those of you who know my name can go there. Those of you who don't have a FB account, I can send you a link if you ask, that does not require you to join to view the photos.

Gotta run, hop in the shower, and head to JC in a few minutes because my engineer is driving us down to the Delaware water gap for dinner as a treat: there is a restaurant he knows that [I think ] is set in the woods and faces a salt lick, so while humans dine on cooked food, the deer come graze at the salt lick (and no, I will NOT be ordering venison -- even if they have it on the menu -- for those sickos who've asked! but then, that's why you're my friends *snarf*)

Bye for now!

All the trimmings

Lots to tell you all, but I'm way too tired and it's way too late.

So here's the Cliff Notes version... on second thought, even the Cliff Notes version makes me tired, so I'll just show pretty pictures instead.

And no, it's nothing horrible (as in: DANGEROUS) but it is rather complicated (welcome to my medical life this year).

The title of this post is a pottery pun: "trimmings" refer to the shavings from the wet (okay, leather-hard) clay which has not yet been fired. Trimmings are generally removed from the foot area of each piece; they are "trimmed" (hence, the term).

And since it is Thanksgiving weekend, well, the pun amused me.

Examples of leather hard greenware (i.e., unfired) clay are shown below.

Once they are fired, but before they are glaze-fired, they are called bisqueware, examples of which I have shown previously.



The example below is a bowl that was well shaped, with interesting glaze patterns, but I found the color too dark for my taste. However, my sweetie found it pleasant enough that he took it home with him. Hooray!



As you can see, I have many, many (so much more than enough) pieces at home in any case, from the pieces I had left unglazed when I abruptly disappeared from the studio before surgery and treatment, etc.



This bowl is actually a combination of 2 glazes and warped slightly during glaze firing. You can't tell from this view, but if you look at it from above, it looks like an egg-shaped ellipse (is that redundant?) instead of a round circle. (Okay, I know that is redundant.)



Okay, since it's now INSANELY late, it's a good thing I am taking Monday off from work, so I can go visit my friend Margaret and her husband and baby out in Long Island. (They are back east visiting his family for a few days.) All I have to do in the morning is go meet the doctor first, for a consultation regarding some questions I have, and then not sleep past my stop on the Long Island Railroad.