School started this week. Neither day was particularly intense; they were mostly how-do-you-do’s. But I did submit 34 pages of a new (eek!) book I’m working on, so I’m looking forward to having that workshopped. It’s exciting to be bringing something entirely new to class instead of the fantasy novel that’s been on my plate for five years. Not that I’m shelving the novel forever. I know what I need to do to fix it, but I’m burnt out on it and would rather work on something I’m currently excited about. And so it goes.
In other news, I saw a woman walking a leashed iguana through the park the other day. Neat.
We’ve been in the new place for a few weeks now, so I thought it was time to put up a quick post along the lines of “Brooklyn is awesome. Especially compared to Jersey City.” Though I suppose “The area of Brooklyn in which we have settled is better suited for our needs than Jersey City was” is more appropriate/accurate. In sum, all is well, most of our stuff is unpacked, and we like it here. There are trees, I don’t get hooted at by creepy strangers, there are great bagels, our neighbors are quiet, the climbing gym is easy to get to… good stuff!
I’ve also been pretty productive since moving here, writing-wise. I’m working on a new piece that is exciting and getting positive early feedback. It’s a nice feeling.
A slightly less nice feeling–I’m trying to break my caffeine addiction. Andrew did it and I’m a copy cat. I consumed a very limited amount yesterday. Today is supposed to be day one of none. So far so good. I feel sleepy but my head doesn’t hurt. Yet?
A friend of mine (Hi, Lynn!) recommended America’s Test Kitchen cookbooks to me a couple of months ago. She explained that the authors experiment with recipes trying to come up with the best variations possible, and that there’s an introduction discussing this process prior to each recipe. It sounded neat, so I put one on our Amazon wedding registry. And what do you know, we got it!
It is fantastic.
It’s called Cooking for Two: 2009,The Year’s Best Recipes Cut Down to Size
and so far I’ve only made a couple of the recipes (Pan-Roasted Duck Breasts with Dried Cherry Sauce*, Blueberry Crumble) but they were fun, easy to follow and delicious. Best of all, the book is interesting to read. I’ve spent a good chunk of time thumbing through not only looking at pictures, but also reading notes about brining pork chops and substituting peanut butter for sesame paste. The voice of the book is conversational, easy going and very, very readable. I like it, and if we weren’t moving on Monday, I probably would have made more recipes by now (we’re trying to get through all our frozen food right now… so sick of ground beef!).
Some recipes I am particularly excited to try post-move:
1. Individual Beef Wellingtons with Madeira Sauce
2. Ricotta Gnocchi with Browned Butter and Sage Sauce
3. Pasta with Sauteed Mushrooms, Peas and Camembert**
4. Herb-Roasted Prime Rib
Yum.
Now I better go start packing so this move can actually happen!
*To be fair, I didn’t follow the sauce aspect of the recipe to a T. I combined it with advice from the duck lady at the farmer’s market. So my sauce was made with fresh cherries and I substituted Sherry for red wine. Delicious, but I feel confident that making it by the book would have been just as good, if not better. Regarding the recipe I was mostly thrilled by the directions for cooking the duck breast, which has always intimidated me.
**What is Camembert? Cheese? Google to the rescue! Yes, cheese. Looks like brie to me. Yum.
We’re leaving New Jersey! Forever! Well, we’ll probably drive through and visit people in the state, but chances are we’ll never live in it again, and that’s good enough for me. This isn’t to say that I’m on board with all the Jersey-bashing out there. The state has its merits, it’s just not my cup of tea and I’m excited to leave smelly, smelly Jersey City for Brooklyn in a couple of weeks.
There’s a tricky intersection near our apartment. One major street crosses another, which leads to the Holland Tunnel. The area tends to be heavily trafficked by people in a rush, many of whom must turn through incoming traffic to head towards the tunnel. They have a turning lane, but no special turning light, so they’ll be focused on the cars coming towards them and when an opportune moment arrives, they’ll gun the accelerator and zoom through the turn. Problem is, this intersection is also a major one for pedestrians, and cars often seemingly make this hectic turn without checking for hoofers. I’ve often had to make deliberate eye contact with a driver to slow him down, and I’ve also had to run out of the way of turning cars, despite my having the walky man signal. I’ve seen a number of close calls at this intersection, and am honestly surprised that I’ve never heard of it being the site of a real accident.
Anyway, I don’t normally cross there during the AM rush hour, but today I had to, and the drivers were predictably terrible–no one would yield. The time of the walky man was dwindling, but my choices were wait or be mowed down. It didn’t bother me too much at first since it’s what I’ve come to expect around here, but then a police car approached. Finally, I thought, someone who will respect the rules of the road. I tentatively stepped into the street. But instead of yielding, the cop sped up and zoomed through the turn, crossing slightly into the other lane to avoid hitting me but otherwise making no concession to my right of way. A cop! Usually they are the only drivers around here I can count on being polite. I made an “UGH!” shrugging gesture at him, which he probably didn’t see and I afterwards regretted slightly–who wants to antagonize a police officer?–but it was instinct; I was, and continue to be, disgusted. I mean, come on, cops are supposed to be enforcing the law and keeping people safe, not frightening us and making us write annoyed (and probably annoying) blogs about their rudeness. And if this particular officer is going to be driving like that, he should at least turn on his flashing lights and pretend to be doing something important.
The deed is done–I’m a missus! Consequently, I renounce my shoes and my decision-making capacity (which was pretty limited to begin with, so no big loss there).
The wedding itself was fantastic. There were dozens of snafus, but since I was expecting hundreds, I felt relatively little day-of stress (at least once it stopped raining… an hour before our tentless outdoor ceremony). Everyone had fun as far as I can tell, and the wedding was in line with our values, so I’m happy. Beyond happy. Thrilled. Ecstatic. Super-pleased? Not to mention the obvious–that my little Ali-claws are now fully sunk into my perfect match. I declare success!
So far married life is a lot like unmarried life, but now I get to wear two pretty rings on my left ring finger instead of one. And, if I can’t decide between ice cream flavors, I can now make a batch each in two different ice cream makers. Nice.
Many thanks to the oodles of folks who helped make our wedding the wonderful event it was.
I don’t go to work everyday, but everyday I go to work, I cross the intersection at Fifth Ave and 14th Street, usually from the southwest corner to the northwest. Yesterday, I stopped at this familiar corner, turned left and waited for the light to change. I felt it immediately–something was wrong. People were murmuring confusedly, and though I couldn’t place the cause, I too felt dismay. Then it hit me–the foot-traffic sign with its friendly walky man and strident fluorescent hand was gone. Gone! And not just the sign, the entire pole! It was like being inside one of those “Find the Missing Things” pictures.
In the end I crossed the street southwest to southeast to northeast, with the same net effect as usual, and from the northeast corner, I spotted an orange cone over the frayed remains of the pole base. Oddly, it wasn’t until I saw those remains that I was fully confident that the pole had ever existed. Not sure what that says about my psyche.
On a different note–Tomorrow’s my birthday! My last as an unmarried woman. Whoa.
April 20th, 2010 in
Peripherals | tags:
14th street,
birthday,
cone,
fifth ave,
missing,
new york,
nyc,
orange,
psyche,
puzzle,
sign,
traffic,
walky man |
1 Comment
Less than two months to go! The major stuff is taken care of, but we’re getting close enough to the big day that I’m starting to worry about all the little things. Suddenly they seem like a lot–a matter of perspective, I suppose. We’re going to start the wedding band (as in ring) search this weekend. Fingers crossed! But well, not really crossed, b/c that might make trying on rings a bit tricky.
In other news, Andrew and I started a crazy new fitness program, P90X 
, and have been getting up early most mornings to exercise before work. It’s a series of different workouts that you do in a certain order–an order than changes every few weeks to encourage “muscle confusion.” It’s tiring but great–I had the best climbing day of my life last week directly after an intense chest/back workout. Of course I could barely move the next day. The only down side is that it’s a 90 day program, but we didn’t start it in time to finish before the wedding. I’m less concerned about not having the full effects by then than I am about having to take a break. I feel really committed to the program (or at least I do after each workout) and it’s going to be a shame to have to stall so close to the end
The best part about getting up at 5:45am? Lunch at 10:45am!
Yum, turkey sandwich.
I’m working on a new piece right now–just a short story, I imagine it’ll end up being ten or so pages long–and it’s very different from what I typically write. It’s heavily influenced/inspired by what I’ve been reading in my literature seminar (Beckett, Kafka, Nabokov…) and completely new ground for me. Because it’s so new for me, I’m having trouble trusting my instincts regarding whether or not it’s any good, but I’m finding the whole process ridiculously exciting (I’m pretty sure my heart rate increases when I’m toiling away on the piece). It’s reminding me of why I wanted to pursue this whole writing thing professionally to begin with.
