One year anniversary

(Spring break Senior year, my first time in NYC. No idea that in a few years I would be walking by here everyday to and from work.)

Today is a special anniversary. No it's not Sean and I's anniversary, but it is our anniversary with New York City. One year ago we rented a large truck, bought some new Ikea furniture and drove to New York. We'd made the drive before a few times before, but it took much longer in that Budget truck. We had a horrible meal at Red Lobster. We listened to 80's and 90's music on radio stations that kept going in and out in the mountains. We stopped for the night in a little PA town and Sean locked the keys in the truck. Luckily Triple A came through in the morning. But only after Sean scratched my brand new blackberry leading to an epic two hours of not-talking-to-avoid-fighting part of our trip.

(Visiting for 4th of July, 2009)

We were really excited when we finally made it to New York. We were less excited to drive the truck across Manhattan with signs threatening everywhere that there was construction and low height clearances. Somehow we made it to Astoria in one piece and found our apartment on roads that we can now easily navigate. The truck made it in one piece too, although the big frame holding Ansel Adams, did not. It was HOT and we didn't have a shower curtain rod to make taking a cold shower convenient. Luckily we had Jocelyn and Cory to help us move and let us stay overnight in their somewhat air conditioned apartment. When Sean had to return the truck at 6am the next morning, he managed to break off the mirror just as he finally found a parking spot. The extra insurance we bought was worth it!

(Thanksgiving Day Parade, 2009)

Now that we're very settled into our apartment, with actual stuff hanging on the walls, a carpet, curtains, and pots and pans hanging in the kitchen it feels much more like home than it did a year ago when we only had a tiny AC unit in the bedroom, no couch, and no internet. We have successfully found the good restaurants around us, the best places for late night snacks, and most importantly the best bagels. While we might not always stay in this apartment, or this neighborhood, we're happy to be staying for at least another year.

I gotta say, I love living in New York. It took a little while to grow on me. It's dirty, there's garbage on the streets and open spaces are hard to come by, but I wouldn't want to be living anywhere else right now.

(Aww look, we used to think riding the subway was fun.)

Now I hope I can remember that tomorrow morning when I'm on the train and somebody's hand keeps slowly creeping down the pole and bumping into mine...

Hurricane Watch

What a week it's been for New York City. First we felt the earthquake in VA which was a big shock for some people, especially those higher up in buildings. I felt our building move a bit, but I'm only the fourth floor so it was minimal. We all thought we were getting dizzy/fainting then realized the lights were swinging.

Now we're preparing for the possibly extreme threat of Hurricane Irene. You can never know how great the impact is going to be until it actually happens so this city is taking a lot of precautions. Some of which, like shutting down all public transit at noon tomorrow, seem like overkill. Luckily, our apartment is outside of the evacuation zone in Astoria on the East River, so we will not need to leave if an evacuation is ordered. However, I might end up spending the weekend at work, given that there's a need for "all hands on deck" and we have already opened evacuation centers and will be opening shelters as preparedness measures so that if people need somewhere to go, we will be ready. Right now, there's probably nobody there, but the Red Cross is nothing if not prepared.

It is definitely an interesting time to be working at the Red Cross and seeing first hand the kind of planning that goes into major weather events!

Why being a vegetarian doesn't have to be boring

Menu for this week:

Lime-Cilantro White Bean Soup (http://ringr.wordpress.com/2011/08/01/cilantro-white-bean-lime-soup/)

Garlic, Spinach & Tofu Pasta courtesy of our vegetarian cookbook

Home made black bean veggie burgers & coleslaw (http://edibleperspective.com/2011/07/the-burger/)

Hummus melts & sweet potato fries

Taco salad (kidney beans, avocado and whatever else we have on chips)

Spinach & full of cheese quiche (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/crustless-spinach-cheese-quiche-recipe/index.html)



We are trying out some new recipes as usual this week and I'm especially hoping the veggie burgers will be good since I haven't found a perfect recipe yet and this one has sweet potatoes in it! It should make 8 burgers so we can freeze a few for later.

Hummus melts are one of the easiest meals ever and you should try them! Put hummus, spinach and any kind of cheese on a piece of toast and bake in the oven (350 is fine) until the cheese melts. I got this idea from neverhomemaker.com and we eat them almost once a week.

Of course this could all go out the window because I've had a sore throat the past two days and am likely getting sick which will quickly turn the menu into "crackers and can of alphabet soup". Hope not!

Being Tourists

This past weekend we had a lot of touristy fun with Theresa and her Mom who were visiting New York as a celebration for their collective graduations .

On Friday night we tried out the Dos Camino’s location near their hotel. The guacamole, chips, salsa, and entrees were excellent. Also, the margaritas were strong, which is how we prefer them. Also, this restaurant was really big! But in true NYC fashion we were still seated within inches of another group, despite the many open tables around us. After a few margaritas, it didn’t matter! I am looking forward to trying other locations of Dos Caminos around the city.

Saturday we were determined to go to the Met, only to find a huge line going back a few blocks and into Central Park. It was the last weekend of the Alexander McQueen exhibit and apparently this was a big deal. We decided not to wait 3 hours in line and instead headed all the way down to South Street Seaport to take a boat tour of lower Manhattan. Theresa and Judy have both done this before, but Sean and I had not, and it was very entertaining to hang out with the Ohio tour groups and various other tourists. The actual tour provided a unique view of the city and the Statue of Liberty. Also the cool breeze on the water made the heat much more bearable. Saturday night we had a delicious dinner at Vesta and a quick stop at Sweet Afton so they could experience our Astoria favorites.

On Sunday we decided we were willing to brave a long line to try and get cheap theater tickets. Waiting in the TKTS line in Times Square was actually not that bad, and we were able to get Billy Elliot tickets for half off. The show was excellent once I got over my annoyance at the really long bathroom line, the super tall men in front of me, and the man who had to constantly clear his throat sitting next to me. I’d definitely recommend it for anyone looking for a great musical!

After the show we stopped at Junior’s for some authentic New York cheesecake. As someone who doesn’t usually like cheesecake, I have really enjoyed the plain from Carnegie Deli and Juniors was almost as good.

It was quite the New York weekend!

Watermelon and Goat Cheese

Yes, another salad recipe. This one was sooo good. Sean said "restaurants could make some money with this". I said "then it's officially your turn to menu plan next week".

I got this recipe from http://www.boulderlocavore.com/2011/07/simple-food-watermelon-goat-cheese.html while browsing on foodgawker.com. If you have never been to foodgawker, I don't recommend going while hungry! But it's a great place to find new recipes and food blogs you haven't seen before.

The salad is super simple and I "adapted" it so instead of making a big bowl I just made two small side salads to go with our black bean quesadillas. If you love watermelon and goat cheese, try this now! Summer will only last so long.

1. Put a couple handfuls of salad greens into a smallish bowl. I used baby spinach and spring mix half and half from Earthbound Farm.

2. Put chunks of watermelon on top. As many as you want, althougha bout 1 heaping cup seemed to be enough. Normally this would invole chopping, but we have been buying pre-cut watermelon from our fruit and veggie stand and it's wonderful because you don't have to eat a whole watermelon.

3. Crumble goat cheese on top, as much as you want. I used about 1 ounce per bowl.

4. Drizzle with about half tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. Mix it up, taste it and maybe add some more.

It's really too easy and too delicious not to make!

24 List Updates

You may remember my 24 things to do while 24 list from a while ago. Now that I've been 24 for about 2 months, let's see how I'm doing...

Items that are going well:

7. Continue watching True Blood even though we don't have cable or obviously HBO. (YES!)

12. Start other photo albums instead of keeping them all on the computer (I printed some photos, but have not put them into an album, does this count?)

15. Beat Sean at Yahtzee (Officially done, I was so proud)

19. Stop giving my curly hair such a hard time (It hasn't been straightened in over one month, even though I can't say I always love the way it looks. This is mainly due to the fact that I can no longer take a nice drive in an air conditioned car on my way to work and instead step into the humidity and my perfectly straightened hair turns wavy....so why bother?)

24. Eat a whole wheat everything bagel at least once a week. (I didn't get one the weekend of Miriam's wedding, but otherwise this has not been a problem)


Items that are not going so well:

20. Conserve water by not taking my sweet time in the shower every morning

No defense for that one, other than that I'm not fully awake and moving slowww in the morning.


The rest of the items haven't even been touched although some of them probably should. Like having a wedding album and framed wedding photos by our first anniversary. Hey, at least our parents all have wedding albums that I made!