The Misadventures of a Native New Yorker

I started writing a post yesterday to update everyone on my latest happenings, but it was totally saturated with wedding shit. So I toddled over to Offbeat Bride and dumped it there, and will probably cross post to weddingplans at some point. But that shit just isn't interesting, unless you're me. Suffice it to say, things are going well.

I just did some organization in the kitchen, and a little bit of cleaning up as well. I'll soon be on my way to doing the same in the living room. My only problem is Doctor Who.

See, I was stuck in the Tennant movie portions of the DW-verse for awhile, and honestly, they're no great shakes. Other than the Christmas Episode that featured the Blackpool reunion (OMG! Tennant and Morrisey! Together again!) and the two-part one that ended Tennant's Tenure, it was kind of meh. So I got behind. But, I finally finished them off the other day and started on Eleven and Season 5.

OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD YOU GUYS. I LOVE.

Matt Smith is fabulous. I love how off-the-wall he is, as it addresses the fact that maybe this bloke isn't all there, but rather than suffering from madness, he's enjoying every last second of it. And Amelia Pond! Amy! <3 I didn't know I could love someone more than Donna, but there you go. I'm in the middle of the third episode of s5 and I'm all *chinhands* with this season. That's not a problem, per se, but I only have these on my computer, and the way my living room is set up it'd be quite a bit easier if I could stream them on my tv, but netflix is being a big old poophead and not offering them. I'm going to have no problem catching up in short order, and will likely be able to pick up S2 in an episode or two more. (I have the Christmas special and the first two episodes of S6 downloaded and waiting).

As much as I enjoyed Tennant, this really gave the show a much-needed shot in the arm. Kudos to all, and I can't wait for more!! (Especially with all the non-spoiler squee I've been hearing about Series 6).

Justified, Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries also continue to rock my world. And I'm very much liking Deadwood, which I've been getting from Netflix, one disc at a time.

I'd say I'd be watching DW on my ipod to and from work, but the only problem there is that the Brooklyn Public Library delivered unto me the newest Charlaine Harris Sookie book. That is priority over most things, so that will be hogging much of my commute time.

Otherwise, things are pretty good. I'm trying to find a balance where I say social but don't ruin myself financially, mentally or emotionally. I'm a person who needs her downtime, and a little bit of solitary time to stay on an even keel. I always forget and must remind myself that it's Okay to Say No. If you need time to yourself, if something isn't good FOR YOU, It's Okay to Say No. And save yourself for truly awesome occasions. Like last night - j_bkl and I headed to Gleason's to see blergeatkitty fight (and she was excellent, btw) and then we had a marvelous dinner with Blerg, kip3f, teany & selftoken. All told, it was a lovely evening. I have to remind myself to get off the treadmill and take more time for me, and make sure I have more down time. My mental state isn't great when I am so busy running around that I don't have time to tidy up, make food, or just be still and quiet. As much as I love my friends (which is a lot), I'm no good to anyone if I'm on my last nerve.

And one last thing to add- I made a fabulous batch of arugula pesto just now! I was faced with a nearly-deceased and under-utilized batch of arugula, and rather than try to eat it all or despair, I simply threw it in the food processor with some olive oil and garlic, salt and pepper, and PRESTO PESTO! \o/

Today started with me oversleeping, and just continued on with a series of wacky misadventures from there. Work email was down for an hour plus, things that don't normally take time for me to do wound up taking forever because of all the tiny fuckups that kept happening. The new girl at work (who replaced my beloved partner in crime New Orleans Girl. quasisonic and I have decided to refer to this new girl as Gisele, after the character from the movie Enchanted. This is because they are essentially the same person.) was singing to herself all day. And humming. ::stabbity:: I can tune out conversation and radio chatter and music with no problem, but for some reason this girl's propensity to sing/hum/whistle is the most distracting thing EVAR, and driving me just a little north of crazy. I've spoken to her about it before, she said she doesn't realize she's doing it half the time, and I honestly didn't feel like getting into it today.

But tonight was so the clincher. Tonight, I managed to make a beautiful tuna casserole, yet forgot to add the tuna.

You read that right. No tuna. In a tuna casserole.

I didn't even realize this spectacular feat until speaking to j_bkl on the phone when he expressed glee over the night's meal selection. I was able to add some in after the fact and it wasn't a complete disaster, but it's totally going to be my favorite "I can't believe I did that" story for a few months.

(accidentally hitting aforementioned fiance in the face while trying to hug him? Not so much. But at least he thought it was funny.)

I'm going to go to bed before anything else goes haywire.

Most people who know me know me as something of a foodie. I have the kind of palate that enjoys all kinds of interesting foods, ranging from spicy to more subtle flavors. I've never met a cuisine I've completely balked at.

And that's what's made this past week so frustrating. While I'm over the bulk of my cold, I'm still the proud owner of a hideous hacking cough and all its trimmings. Needless to say, my appetite has been nil. I can barely even feign interest in food. I'm kind of glad I had the forethought to invest in a few sleeves of ramen, it's kind of just about my speed right now. And for me, that's definitely saying something. I nearly swore it off entirely after freshman year of college, but I kind of came back to it during the Stomachpocalypse of 2007, when being able to eat anything seemed like a miracle. But yeah, that's about how I'm surviving, combined with the awesomeness that is the Weaver chicken patty. (Do not deny the power of the patty, okay? The chicken patty is mighty). The ramen isn't so bad when you only use half a packet and mix in some frozen veg.

But yeah. That's my week. I somehow also bit my tongue during a coughing fit today, so that's making eating extra fun.

However, in positive health news, I learned some very important things on Tuesday:
1. I have a hyperplastic (hypoplastic?) goiter next to my thyroid.
2. Said goiter is mostly harmless, but needs to be monitored.
3. It's big, but not dangerously so.
4. It's NOTTA TUMA.
5. It's possible to have a biopsy and have it be relatively painless. (Unlike last time. Jesus Christ. My new doc even said, "Who the hell sent you to THAT hospital?! They're terrible!!)
6. My new doc is awesome.
7. New doc says I shouldn't even want surgery on this thing, because it's not worth the risk. SO yay for that. The past month or so I've been really anxious that even though we were all sure lumpy was benign, I'd need to have it out anyway, and nothing says fun like throat surgery! Thankfully, there'll be none for me, thanks.

Once I get rid of this stupid cold, I'll be fine. And able to enjoy some awesome Jens Lekman in concert tomorrow.

I've done a few things this weekend:

I've finally finished S3 of Doctor Who (the reboot, that is). And I was quite pleased. I also procured "Voyage of the Damned" to watch on my ipod, so I can get back on the horse with some S4.

I made it back to Corner Bistro. And I have to say, with the right people, the right night, and the right bartender, there are far worse places to grab a burger and a beer. (They have McSorley's on tap for $2.50. Yes, you read that correctly.) The Bistro burger is a succulent pillow of meat, topped with crispy bacon and American cheese. I got an appreciative smile from the bartender as I tried to stretch the last few bites Friday night. They really know what the hell they're doing over there. Why do I never remember to go during summer hours? (I've been watching several hours' worth of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations. Can't you tell?)

Saturday I got a chance to do something I've never done before: go to the Jersey Shore. katiebea invited me down, and I got to take in the sights of Asbury Park and Red Bank for the day. It was an excellent time - I finally had some good onion rings, and got to spend some time in, of all things, a pinball museum. A++. Asbury was a beautiful combination of new development and recovering blight. And as someone who on occasion finds decaying buildings beautiful, I was really taken with the buildings we saw. Red Bank is an adorable little town - filled with appealing eateries and shopping (and I finally got to make my pilgrimage to Jay & Silent Bob's Secret Stash. I bought a comic. It was smaller than I was expecting, but I've finally been. The guy behind the counter was watching Mystery Science Theater 3000. If I lived nearby, I'd be back.) We finished the day at a great Mexican place called Carlos O'Connor's. I only wish my stomach had been equal to the challenge, but it was still delicious, and a day filled with good company, too.

Sunday I spent the day watching movies, eating donuts, and drinking wine with airspaniel. Now that was aces. Except I think we overdid it on the crap food after a rather nice home-made brunch of eggs, sausage and a potato-onion-Worcestershire sauce combo airspaniel suggested that I am SO making next time I get my hands on some potatoes. Hot damn. Mostly it was just fun to chill at home.

Today J and I spent some time with my folks, which was also very nice. I was relieved to discover that it is indeed possible to get good whole wheat pancakes outside of the home, as I feared I couldn't after a visit to a Hoboken pancake house earlier this summer. Then we came home, finally watched the last two episodes of Friday Night Lights, had a snack, and just took it easy. I needed that so very much. So very much. I honestly felt really worn out - I don't know if it was due to a specific cause or several causes together - I was just exhausted.

I've been kicking back and watching Bourdain and Buffy, two great tastes that go great together. And I can still say the dialogue along with all of Buffy/Angel scenes in "The Prom," and "Graduation Day parts I&II." No, really. It's kind of disturbing. And still so frigging good. I've been tinkering around with a fic that involves Buffy, Sookie, and Elena from the Vampire Diaries sitting Bella Swan down for an "Oh, honey, NO" type conversation about her relationship. But I'd also really love to write out Buffy and Sookie shooting the shit about all the drama they've endured in their relationships and comparing notes. Because that would entertain me. And Vampire Diaries comes back on Thursday, which positively delights me.

Tomorrow is back to the grind and trivia after! The good part is that we're back to normal hours as of tomorrow. Start by 9, leave at 5. I'm so delighted by this, I don't even care that I no longer get to leave early on Friday. On the balance? This is WAY better. Way better.

And now to make some lunch and get to sleep.

So there's this lunch place in the neighborhood, called Certe. They do catering, and you can also go there and get salads and soup and sandwiches. In the past year, after a Midtown Lunch challenge, they've been making their sandwiches fancier. They've been giving them cute names, using crazy ingredients, stuff like that. I follow them on twitter to hear about sales and specials that only their followers get. I do this with several other eateries, including food trucks. It's useful.

This month's special has been a Bahn Mi called "The Chubby Chinese Girl." I was ready to light my torch and head off for a good and proper protest before I found out it shared the name with a food blog who had challenged them to make the sandwich, and was chuffed that they named it after her blog. Okay, fine. No problem.

The problem came when I found out what next week's new special sandwich debut. Now, I'm not a fan of "fusion" Bahn Mis, I tend to be more of a traditionalist in that respect, but if someone is doing something interesting, I'm happy to give them the benefit of the doubt.

My issue is not that they're doing a Bahn Mi with buffalo-wing-style-chicken. That might be tasty, for all I know. No, my issue?

THEY'RE CALLING IT "THE FALL OF SAIGON."

REALLY?!

::head desk::

I mean, I know when I think of the disastrous end to a war that cost millions of lives, I totally think of a sandwich. This name is obnoxious, poorly thought out, and not at all pithy and funny like they were going for. Granted, you can't make any "Seoul Food" jokes like you can with Korean food, but still, there has to be a less offensive name that's clever. If I wasn't dizzy from my headdesk just now, I'd suggest it myself.

No. Just, no.

Tonight's pre-theater menu at Chez Druber:

Platter of assorted raw vegetables

Grass-fed top-round sirloin, marinated in herbs and balsamic vinegar, pan-grilled and finished with herb butter

Yukon Gold potatoes, roasted with rosemary and olive oil

champagne

assorted chocolate truffles

middle finger, served to all restaurants with inflated prices on this Valentine's Day.

After dinner, j_bkl and I will be heading to BAM for a performance of Shakespeare's The Tempest. I am very excited. I'm also proud of the dinner I have going, although I'm a bit nervous about the steak. I'm not starting it until the potatoes have been in for longer, I like them extra-brown and crispy-like. But I am quite proud of what I've managed to put together here. :)

Some of you know that I'm a huge devotee of Midtown Lunch.com. It was through them that I discovered the amazing Chinese food at Hing Won in Midtown. Food so good, I even braved the touristas during high season to get my fix. They have a selection of your more typical fare, but they also have a marvelous menu of more Chinatown-style items, and for a long time they had a menu written in Chinese on the wall (it's now in Chinese and English, after people like me got wise to some of the specialties thanks to ML.com and started asking for them). I've had some wonderful things here - scallops in garlic sauce and chinese vegetables (my boss was going on and on about how good it smelled), roast pig over rice (crunchy pork belly. And get it with the ginger garlic sauce - you can thank me later), tons of good stuff. Though my standard lately has been their by-the-pound lunch buffet, as it combines the more obscure Chinese dishes I enjoy or enjoy trying (lamb stew, tripe, chinese eggplant, bok choy, stuff I can't identify but looked tasty) along with the guilty pleasures (egg roll, dumplings, a tiny piece or two of the General). Today, though, in addition to a nice lunch, I got a nice bit of reassurance.

There was this fantastic looking dish towards the end of the buffet that involvedl lots of beautifully steamed vegetables and octopus. Now, I don't know if you've ever had octopus, but it's delicious. angelicillusion and I were served roasted octopus as an amuse-bouche in a sushi restaurant eons ago, and I've been a fan since. So I was all set to add a big portion of this to my buffet container when I noticed that there was more than just octopus in it.

See, I have a weird problem with seafood. I can eat fish with fins and scales, I can eat things with tentacles, and I can eat things in hard shells until the cows come home. I can't, however eat shrimp, lobster, prawns, or anything in that family. (Don't talk to me about crab, I'm in denial but I may have to come around to the fact that we're not friends very soon). So I asked the guy at the counter who usually weighs my container and rings me up if there was shrimp in the dish. He said there was, and immediately asked if I was allergic. I told him I was.

Me: "Weirdest thing. I can eat other seafood..."
HIm: "But not shrimp or lobster, right? Me too."
Me: "Really?"
Him: "Yup. No crustaceans, but everything else is cool."

I bablled a little bit at him over excitement, but as the place was insanely busy I had to hustle along. Still, it's nice to know I'm not the only one in the world with this bizarre reaction to crustaceans only. Now I have to find someone else out there who is allergic to avocado, and I"m all set.

(Speaking of food, there's a great post on blergeatkitty's journal about sandwiches that I highly recommend you check out.)

The usual case with me is that I never realize I'm tired until I stop moving. Score one for inertia, that.

But the last 3-4 weeks I've felt like a hamster on a wheel. Never stopped moving once. It's been stressful, too. Work was nuts, and school was kicking my ass hard. Of course, as is the case with these things, I ALSO had a ton of social obligations (granted all ones I was looking forward to, but still) fall on my head as well.

By Thursday? I was a crispy critter. I think it's kind of why I fell asleep before 11 on Friday. But this weekend? Aside from a brunch? I've done NOTHING. And it's been really and truly what I needed.

At the moment I'm taking a break from studying for tomorrow's income tax law exam (barf). But yeah, I'm still here, I've just been barely able to say anything longer than 140 characters. To pretty much anyone.

I'm still proud of myself for fighting through like a Winchester, and also remembering that sometimes it's really, truly okay to have a weekend where you really don't do much of anything. In fact, sometimes it's even important.

A few things, in brief, because I'm not sure if I'm going to get the chance to write more:

- I was really excited to get to see U2 with the people I saw them with. However, the show itself didn't impress me nearly as much as the first one I saw on the Vertigo tour. It felt a tiny bit like the band was phoning it in, but then again, I felt the exact same way about the most recent album. (There was a terrible, terrible, terrible dance remix during the set, too. Just awful. Bad. It sounded like one of the cheesy mixes WKTU plays late at night on the weekends. Blah.) I also could not believe that they didn't do Pride. I was stunned, really. What's a U2 set without Pride? It was also the end of a rather crazed and exhausting week, so by the time I got to the concert I was close to wiped out. Still, they played Mysterious Ways, and the Unforgettable Fire (which is one of my all-time favorite songs of theirs), a beautiful version of Stay and an awesome version of Until the End of the World. I would have preferred fewer songs from the new album, that's all.

- OMG YANKEES. I'm loving the ALCS so far, particularly how the Angels have been best described by the instrumental known as "Yakety Sax," best known for being the theme to Benny Hill. The opposing team's errors are grand, but even more grand is watching my boys come together in the post season like gangbusters. It's been SO exciting, and gratifying, because I know in my heart that this squad has it in them to go all the way. I know it. There feels a good combination of talent, chemistry, and enthusiasm that I haven't seen since the 90s Dynasty. I'm just trying not to let it stress me out, though. In my world, the post season is SRS BZNSS.

-Teevee: Ugly Betty returned on Friday and the writing is the strongest it's been since the first season (finally). I'm continuing to love new shows Glee and The Vampire Diaries (oh, great cracktastic fun!) But Eastwick is losing me, hard. I want more magic, and less bumbling. Everything is cliched and silly, and I can see coming from 10 miles away. I'm not caring enough about the characters, and some of them flat out annoy me (the journalist especially. I kind of want to smack her, repeatedly, at least once an episode). Still, Sara Rue is awesome, and she will keep me hooked for a little while longer. New-to-me show Big Bang Theory continues to severely rock my world. I started mainlining episodes Labor day weekend, and I absolutely fell in love with the show (Sheldon!! I love me some Sheldon. But the other characters fail to be stereotypes, and continue to be likeable. Plus, the writing is marvelous.)

I'm still waiting for How I Met Your Mother to stop being painfully lame. The episode last week about the couple dating was just terrible - although the Sexless inkeeper part had flashes of the old genius to it. When a Jason Siegel song can't save the writing? Trouble. I hate hate hate what they're doing to Marshall & Lily. Granted, there are moments where they remain fun and cool (the Lily Stripper especially), but why the hell have they turned into these lameass, trying-to-hard, bland-as-crap, typical sitcom couple? Bring back the Marshmallow and Lilypad we know and love! Not these pod people that book B&B weekends with their couple friends without asking, but the ones who blew them off to sit at home, order takeout and watch cheesy tv marathons ("Zip Zip Zip"). You know, the ones that would rather throw themselves out a window than have a wine-and-cheese night. (And literally did, in "O.K. Awesome") Please bring the real Marshall and Lily back, okay? Thanks.

(Otherwise, still loving Castle, NCIS, Gossip Girl, Bones, Supernatural [duh. this is on the way to be the best.season.ever!!], Dollhouse [though I'm two weeks behind!] and Mad Men)

-Cooking: Not getting to do enough of it lately. But I've had some good moments:

1. This curried shepherd's pie was such a big hit that I'm going to make it exactly as written next time, instead of just making one. I'm either going to invite others over to share, or I'm going to to freeze one, as written. We shall see.

2. Last Sunday, we had a lovely day with J's parents. We went to the Walkway Over the Hudson (which was so, so awesome), and had a lovely day in general. In the evening, we dined at a charming little old-school Italian place in Dobbs Ferry. His mom gave us her leftovers, some kind of sausage-and-peppers dish. I took that home, and a day or two later, added more peppers, spinach, and some rotini pasta and came up with a rather tasty re-imagining of the leftovers. It wasn't anything special or complicated, but it was delicious, and those usually wind up being the meals I'm proudest of.

3. Yesterday, I made a tuna casserole, my mom's recipe. We have plenty of leftovers for the week. Score!

4. Tonight I'm finishing other leftover items (another head of spinach, some sweet potatoes, some other leftover veggies) we have and making chicken cutlets to go with them. Also debating making some cous cous, which would go nicely with all of these things and be something nice to have in the fridge as well. I may have just talked myself into it, since it's so damn easy to make! Also, more leftovers = good things.

Speaking of, it's almost 6:30, and time to crank WRXP (the best station in NYC right now) and get cracking.

So, I have a lot of things to post about. I've been to a U2 concert, and a division-clinching Yankee game, and caught up on the new fall tv I'd wanted to catch all in one weekend. And, I also caught one beaut of a cold. :P

So, even though I have plans to write about at least one of the other three things (no! really! I swear), I wanted to put up a poll in the meantime for fun.

[Poll #1464053]

And now back to work. Here's hoping the right side of my neck will stop hurting sometime today.

Firstly: Happy birthday to blergeatkitty and laughingirl!!!!!

In addition to her (and kip3f's) generosity in letting j_bkl and myself have their CSA share for the week, blergeatkitty was also nice enough to suggest a recipe involving fennel, one of the things in that week's share. (Although, by and large, it was the craziest-looking piece of fennel I have EVER seen). I made it last night, and it was delicious.

blergeatkitty had already suggested that I substitute boneless, skinless chicken breasts for the cut-up chicken pieces in the recipe, which worked brilliantly. My favorite thing, though is that the recipe called for a 28-oz can of WHOLE tomatoes, chopped up, undrained. 0.o Now, I've used canned whole tomatoes for years to make sauce, and lemme tellya, my kitchen would have looked like the scene of a homicide had I done it their way.

Me: You know they have cans of chopped tomatoes in the same size.

Recipe: Well, I don't care. This recipe only exists to plug this brand of tomatoes, so that's what I'm going to do. Chop away, bitch!

Me: Ha! I am not so gullible anymore. ::buys can of chopped tomatoes::

Recipe: Curse you!!

Me: Oh, hush. I have to chop an onion, okay? You still get to torture me.

Recipe: *sulks* Oh-kaaay. *sigh*

Results were delicious. Recipe is below for the curious. I have lots of nice leftovers to bring with me for lunch, too.

( Recipe follows here: )
More on Provincetown and my first reactions to school later.