Apple Caramel Cake

Mini Me

Just your normal friday night winter commute. We take the metro north train from Grand Central...a flask with cocktails...yummy sandwiches for the ride... a good dvd to watch...nice drive from the Poughkeepsie train station...podcasts playing to keep us amused... and then we pull in the driveway. There are two gy-normous snow glaciers at the end of our driveway from the snowplow. We have to climb over these snow mountains like baby seals to walk up the hill to our house. I take pride in my 5'-6" self but I manage the mountains only to land thigh deep in the snow behind them. Tim starts laughing at me because I can barely lift my legs out of the snow. I am carrying an L.L. Bean tote bag and a shopping bag and can't lift them off of the snow. I drag them up the hill as my feet search desperately for what was the shoveled walk from last weekend. I have snow everywhere and am not happy. I am wheezing from the cold. The back storm door is iced shut and we have to dig almost four feet of snow off of the Bilco door to get in the basement to turn on the water. This is crazy. I know I was cast as Bilbo Baggins in "The Hobbit" in high school but I feel I have gotten past that and my height has not been a disadvantage until now.

We get up the next morning to grocery shop and as we are walking down to the truck - Tim makes the comment - "Look, it's like there were 'shopping angels' here last night." I look down and see my footprints in the snow with these shopping bag "wings" that run alongside the foot tracks in the snow. I am only slightly amused. Where the Hell is spring?

Snowglobe Weekend

Despite the amount of snow we have had, we can't help but love being inside and watching it fall. It snowed all day and Tim and I sat in the living room reading, crafting and watching it fall. It was like being in our own perfect, private snowglobe. We never left the house and finally finished leftovers that we had in our freezer from New Years week. We almost finished tiling the kitchen. We watched an incredible movie Saturday night - "I Am Love" with Tilda Swinton. It has been a long time since I have added a new movie to my favorites movie list along with "Pillowbook," "Before Night Falls" and "Chop Suey Club" but this one goes on the list. The love scene in the garden was filmed so beautifully - run don't walk!

New Years Eve 2011 Dessert

GPS For Our Personal Lives

Tim and I had this long conversation about how different our lives were from normal suburban lives. People in the suburbs get in their cars and drive to work and one day isn't too different from the next. They just plug in their GPS and it tells them where to go. However, when we leave our apt, we have no idea what to expect. We have no GPS. We have no idea if the subways are running properly or if we would be hit by a brick by a homeless person on the street or be killed by a jumper as we walk to the corner. We laugh about it but this week was a little too close to home.

This week, I get a call from my mom that a guy jumped from a 9 story apt but failed committing suicide because he fell into a pile of garbage that was piled on the street as a result of the snow from last week. It turns out that it was our building and the apt below us. It freaked me out and I keep playing the NY Post coverage on-line. It's bad enough that my mother calls me about every bedbug incident in the city, that she has to tell me that there's a car bomber parked a block away from our apt. However, when she calls me about a jumper on the floor beneath us and I don't have a clue - I start to wonder - am I so desensitized or oblivious or is this just one of many Seinfeld moments living in NYC? Do I really need to be more aware and concerned?

I think this is why I love Bovina so much. Despite Burricanes, the worst I can imagine is deer getting into the garden or stepping on a frog. I don't want a life where I need GPS to guide me through the pitfalls. I want a normal life. 2011 is not getting off to a good start.

Burricane or The Best New Years Ever!

After weeks of Christmas stress, Tim and I drove upstate to get away from it all. Just the two of us and our two cats. However, we weren't prepared for the blizzard of snow that awaited us. We got upstate just in time - because on Sunday - it was a wall of snow outside. We already had 4-5 inches of snow on the ground but by Monday, we had over 2 feet of snow outside. Tim and I had grocery shopped and we had tons of food in the freezer so we decided to wait out the weather and just cook and eat our way out. Tim made one amazing meal after another. Beef Braciola, Chicken Marbella, Chili, Gnocchi, and Beef Bourguignon. We ate, drank, crafted, cleaned and waited for our plow guy to show up. A full stomach, Tim and our cats all curled up in front of the TV watching all the crazies in Times Square - perfection. Happy New Year!

Don't blink it's Xmas

Am I insane or is this December 2010 already and Christmas is upon us? What happened? It was just a few months ago that I was crazy for tadpoles and tomatoes. Now, I am barely managing what I have to shop for - gifts, cards, stocking stuffers and my anti-anxiety meds.

Thanksgiving came and went. I usually spend the day with old friends but this year, I was obligated by my lover/partner to spend the day with him and his family. Don't get me wrong - I love Tim's family. His parents are amazing and have a beautiful home and I love spending time in their garden any time of the year. However, Tim morphs into a different person when you combine a family holiday with cooking. Tim and his mother both turn into these scary uber cooks. I blame Top Chef, Martha Stewart and Splendid Table for creating these hyper-sensitive, ingredient crazed, food processorized pod people and it's deadly when they inhabit the same kitchen space.

I feel completely intimidated by Tim and his mother in the kitchen. They live to cook. They have a secret cooking language and frown upon others entering their secret cooking world. I always wondered why Tim's Dad seemed to disappear whenever the stove turned on but now I know. I tread lightly and am afraid of using the wrong knife, wrong cling-wrap or inappropriate recycling method. Tim and his mother chat non-stop in their own world and I stand around their huge kitchen island waiting for them to throw me a stagiaire bone. I silently chop brussel sprouts, peel carrots, ice cupcakes and set the table. With every move, I hope to avoid notice of my less then worthy skills. At one point, Tim's mother threatened to kick me out of the kitchen if I didn't chop the carrots properly. They made me toast marshmellows over the gas stove and I knew I was going to burn the house down. I nearly cried. I was so stressed out. I got through the evening without mishap and crawled into bed Wednesday night exhausted and humbled.

Thanksgiving morning arrived too quickly and I continued to assist the uber cooks without an incident. Other then the inappropriate response to "What am I thankful for" dialog over dinner - ( I guess table humor has it's place and it wasn't my moment) - I managed to get through the day unscathed. When Tim and I stood at the train station that evening to head upstate, he transformed back into the boy I love. Relieved, I looked forward to a 3 day weekend - just the two of us in our own kitchen where I am happy to play the role of stagiaire to his chef.