exceeding the speed limit

Getting My Morning Mojo Back

I just made a cappuccino and changed into dry clothes.  Last night I begrudgingly set the alarm for 4:45 a.m. so that I could run with Katie for the first time in three weeks.  And the forecast was calling for a 50% chance of rain at 5:00 a.m.  UUGGHHH.  When you run with a very fit, young, fun Nazi, you tend to do these things.  Coupled with the fact that for the entire duration of my trip I did not even look at a jog bra or wear one of the workout items I packed (which did account for a lot of space in the gianormous suitcase I brought). It was time to run.

As soon as we got to the park it was **pouring** and we went anyway and ran 5.  It felt awesome to be out in the rain, actually.  I love running in the rain.  I just tend to prefer doing it when the sun is up.  

So here's the thing.  When I was away I stayed up until 1-3 a.m. almost every night.  I didn't get up before 7 and one morning slept til 9:30 (and could have slept later but was woke up!).  I really liked being up late and sleeping in.  Having said that, I've been a morning person most of my life.  I think by necessity, mostly.  I used to have a job in school that I had to be at at 6:00 a.m. - not a lot of late night partying when you have to be up (**note to self, get teenagers early morning jobs).  Throw three kids in the mix and sleeping in is a joke.  I've been in sleep purgatory lately, not knowing which side to be on and wanting both.  Until this morning.  It feels so good to be awake, worked out, blogged with coffee before anyone is awake.   Definitely a morning person.

Off to shower and get ready for Halloween.  Yeah, I tend to "wait" to do things like find costumes for myself.  How hard could it be to find an Indian costume?  Well if I want to look like this..

I'm sure I could find it.  That would scare all the kiddies, no?  ha ha.  Have a great Halloween and eat a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup for me.;-)

Cuban Sandwiches

(Cubano from the Pig)

Well it was Wednesday night last night....Sandwich night.  When Kel and I were in New York at the Spotted Pig we ordered the Cubano Sandwich.  It was one of the few meals we ate in NY that I thought I might be able to recreate.  So simple and layered with flavor - shredded pork, prosciutto, Gruyere cheese and sauteed jalapenos.  If you don't care for spicey, you can eliminate the jalapenos.  I left them off my kids'.   We also got the broccoli rabe and shoestring fries, so I made those, too. So we had a Pig reunion last night and Kel and Mark came for dinner.  PDC - pretty darn close to the original.  If you start the Pork in a crock pot the day before, dinner won't take long at all to pull together.  These sandwiches aren't for the diet conscious.:-)  If you're really concerned about the butter and cheese, just don't eat all day! ha ha.

Cuban Sandwiches

For the pork

1 Pork Shoulder Roast about 3-4 lbs.

Seasoning for roast - season salt, garlic salt, white pepper

olive oil

1 sweet onion, diced course

1 can jalapenos peppers (not pickled), drained

about 4 cups water

In a large pan, heat olive oil.  Season meat generously on all sides and sear in pan until golden on all sides.  Place in crock pot and add water, onion and jalapenos.  Cook on high for 4-5 hours, and then reduce to low and cook overnight.  In the morning, remove pork from crock pot and place in a container to cool.  Reserve 2 cups of broth.  Chill broth.  Discard jalapenos and stock.  

For Sandwiches

4-6 long french rolls (or any crunchy crust, soft inside rolls)

butter

Shredded good quality Gruyere cheese

8-10 slices imported prosciutto 

3-4 jalapenos, sliced lengthwise, stem removed

Remove fat from chilled pork broth.  Add to pot and reheat meat.  Shred meat into smaller pieces.  (this will almost happen without much effort).  In a small saute pan melt about 1 tbsp of butter over low heat and add jalapenos.  Cover and cook for about 20 minutes until tender and soft.  Remove from butter.  Toast all rolls in oven until crisp.  Slice in half, leaving hinge.  Butter on both sides.  Toast again until light light brown. Add cheese to one side and melt under broiler.  In a saute pan, quickly sear both sides of the prosciutto, just to heat and brown slightly.  

Assemble

On the cheese side, layer prosciutto, then jalapeno then lots of juicy pork.  Serve hot!

 

Pink Eye Stinks

I'm sitting with my face three inches from my laptop screen right now.  Half of my face is swollen right and my eye is nearly closed from some allergy related pink eye.  I can barely see!  All on the heels of re-entry.  The kids are out of school alllllllll week!  Yikes.  Sorry, won't be cooking much til I'm better.  Helps when you can see what you're cooking.  Hoping for a shot from the doctor for a quick fix.  Maybe I'll beg. This is seriously putting a cramp in my style.

BTW, I usually don't dress up for Halloween....I'm usually gluing together (I don't sew) a costume for someone up until the last minute.  This year is different.  When Miss Kelly and I were driving we decided she should be a Pilgrim and I should be an Indian.  Not clever, but certainly fitting.  And she bought her entire costume in Intercourse, PA when we visited the Amish.  Except her boots.  Her's are way sassier than what they wear.  Sans new boots myself, I've gotta find something that screams sassy indian!  Ha!

Sit tight, I'll be back soon.  Maybe even tonight!

xxx

Re-entry

When I go to a spa or have a massage I actually end up getting anxiety.  Sad but true.  If the chick (never man hands, that would be AWKWARD) is stupid enough to tell me what time we are starting and what time we are ending that is where it begins...but usually it's after I flip onto my back, she's done my feet and massaged my fingers and her hands go to my shoulders.  Then my shoulders are clear up around my ears again.  I know it's all going to end and I can't relax.  I want time to to go to sleep on the heated bed.  Or pay more for another half hour.  And that's how I felt about our trip.  As much as I really focused on being in the present and enjoying every minute, I knew it was all going to be over far too soon!

Re-entry started out ok.  Came home, got hugs, the house was clean, aahhh.  I slept like a rock.  And was up again at officially 6 a.m. ready to make lunches and breakfast and do hair.  Got everyone to school and enjoyed a few hours of quiet.  Time to finish uploading pics and catching up on email.  I physically couldn't cook.  And so depressing, we went to Willow Street, which is JUST FINE normally, but a serious food downer after our week-o-eating.

My friend Judy once said she never does things like spa treatments when she is out of town for a short time since she could do them at home.  Sage advice.  Although we passed by a spa in NY every time we walked to Time Warner Center, I learned to stop salivating and knew I could get a good rub when I got home.  Which leads to Wednesday.  Jody invited me to go with her to Burke Williams.  Lovely way to re-enter and she had a coupon for $20 bucks off and a $20 gift card to come back.  I was losing money if I didn't go.  Yeah, we had a drink, too. :-)  My laundry could wait, right?

The guilt continues...I also went to a daytime matinee of The Secret Life of Bees.  I won't critique, it's a chick flick and it was good, but I left completely sad!  Cry cry.  I did make dinner tho...nothing blog worthy, but I'm getting my mojo back!

When I went to Italy 13 years ago I was "allowed" to bring one suitcase for ten days.  We brought a few more for our 11 days.  It was a joke, really, taking all this stuff in and out of each hotel every night.  And I forgot my coat.  Freezing!  Literally didn't wear half of what I packed!  Will be better packer next time!

I'm officially done being selfish.  At least for this week.  Basta!

Next week, I will begin teaching myself how to cook Thai style!  Check in for Red curry something or other.  My ahi last week has left me with a taste for it....

Anxiety, Depression and Brilliantly Crafted Food

"Screw them if they make fun of me, I'm leaving today and this place has great butter..." - D.C.

There is an air of sadness today.  Somehow we've managed to scream thru 10 days and now it's a 6 hour (not-so-bad) flight home.  Home.  That has a nice ring to it, but we still have like 30 something states we could see.  And the northeast is so painted with color right now.  And.  And .  And.

We headed out for a walk thru Central Park.  It was warmer today and perfect for singing Enchanted songs as we went.  Ok, maybe it was just me singing.  Big shock there.  I had planned to run Central Park, but I would have done that without Kel-Kel, and these were our last hours and I wanted to finish strong together!

Our BF bartender, Eric and our wine pal, David recommended David Burke & Donatella on the upper East side.  I knew of them from Food Network - she's a frequent judge on Iron Chef and I think she has a new show.  Anyway, sad, depressed, a little hungover (not bad) and tired we cabbed it over.  Kel Kel immediately perked up.  It was all orange and white and modern and cute. (I have counted, I've used cute 1700 times in the last ten days).  V. thoughtful details like all of the white, riveted barstools angled the exact same direction at the bar.  Unique art.  It was a good scene.  Every woman that walked in had a shopping bag from Barney's or some boutique from 5th Avenue.  Monday - must be a huge shopping day.

I've become quite comfortable in my skin taking pictures and looking touristy.  What I love most about NY is all of the visual inspiration - in the shops and restaurants and how all the size zero models dressed.

DB&D had a tasty, prix fix lunch menu that was actually not that expensive considering what you got.  Our waiter, was the gay-latino Mr. Bean.  I couldn't stop watching him it was cracking me up.  And not because he was funny.  

I expected a good meal.  What I didn't expect is for the food to be so well thought and creatively executed.  Pretzel coated crabcakes to me, was a bunch of smashed pretzels, right?   Ya, no.  These are the moments I wish I was a better photographer...

No this was crab cake deep fried with Israeli cous-cous, pretzel sticks with a orange confit on one side - poppy seed honey on the other (hot/sweet) with a thin, thin, thin slice of balsamic fig macerated tomato on the bottom and fig on the top.  OMG.

main course....

Mustard seared tuna with red curry sauce and honshemeji mushrooms, silver needles and Bok Choy.  (and some big worm like noodles that were tasty!

And don't forget dessert..Mr. Bean recommended the cheesecake lollypops since we were taking pictures of everything....smartass, but it was really, really good.

served with a side of bubblegum whipped cream, which sounds gross, but complimented the cheesecake v. well.

So we left DB&D and headed for our v. last stop.  Do you know where we went???  J Crew.  For my boots.  The culmination of our travels.  The Italian western wear.  Oh the symbolism. 

We got there.  Preppy, nice, gay boy with a great smile from Texas brings the boots.  I slide them on.  They fit!  They also look so dumb with jeans.  OOoohhhhh I can't believe how sad that moment was.  No boots.

No boots, no mechanical bulls, no daredevil stunts, no SNL tickets, no celebrity packed restaurants, v. little sight-seeing.  And It was the best trip I've ever taken.  

European Roadtrip 2013?????

In case you were wondering...

In case you were wondering why there are no photos of Miss Kelly, Corn Tassel or Kel-Kel, it's because she is camera shy.  So you're stuck with photos of me with random people we have met - I'm really not that vain.  

ok, I am a little bit.

Campagnola

 

(me with off-duty Pepper Boy, aka Leno)

There hasn't been a single moment of this trip that was an accident.  It's almost eerie.  The places we've stayed, the people we've met.  The food we've eaten.  And without exception our last night out was another 'AMAZING" (last time I'll use that adj! ;) funny experience.  My pal Jill told us to go there and how when she was there with her family, Bob her hub handed back the menus and told them to just bring out food.  Worked for me.

Campagnola is old school Italian.  Allow your tired mind to go there and you could be convinced that a few people from the Godfather had been there.  Several times.  We weren't too tired, just hungry and happy to see a huge wedge of parmesan and olives put in front of us.  Our super Italian waiter, Leno, from Rome, with his heavy fabulous accent, came to our table.  "Would you like-a some water maybe with the bubbles, maybe-a still or maybe froma-the-tap?"  Everyone had these thick funny almost overacted, but completely real accents.  All I could think of was Pepper Boy from Saturday Night Live.  I'm near sure that this is where the inspiration for the skit came from.  So fun.  We told him we wanted to order Bob Malone style.  No, I really didn't say that I just told him that we wanted him to tell us what to eat.  I told him we hadn't eaten in 10+ hours and this was our last night so bring it on!  So off he went into the corner and was chatting with some other waiter and then into the kitchen and then back out to our table...."Are u shure-a you don't have any food aller-geez or other diet-ary restreections?"  No.  No allergies or restrictions!  he he.

Pepper Boy brought first brought out a plate of three pastas and that wasn't enough so he brought us gnocchi in basil cream sauce.  Then came dinner.  Seared Sea-a Bass with Arribiata sauce and Broccolli Rabe (twice in the same day) and Chicken with Sausages.  OMG could we have been more happy?  Sea Bass Arribiata could not have been more perfect for us!!  I was full to the gils, but out came dessert and who was I not to eat it!  Napolean cake and a cappucino.  Oh so happy and full.  And by this time all of the waiters were coming around and chatting with us and pulling out the chair for Leno to sit with us and offering to play the guitar.  

The Big man, Frankie D who did look a bit like Frank S. moved us over to his table and bought us vodka on the rocks, which is, "quite frankly" scary, cuz neither of us had ever had it that way.   He's worked there for 24 years and the place was owned by Russian Jews (hhm, Russian Mafia Jews????? interesting note to self)  Frankie D was recently divorced and he told us about his kids and life.  It was great.  Kel got to help another waiter engineer his house, since he didn't want to get permits....

We left happy and tired...

Bits n pieces of our last days...

 You never know what it’s going to be like traveling with someone until you travel with them. – Dawnielle Chaney he he he, brilliant, eh?

Here’s a thought.  Maybe I can survive on 4 hours of sleep a night.  Ok, maybe five.  All week we’ve been doing things and going at a pace that I didn’t think I could do.  For our last night in New York our dinner reservations were at 10.   I haven’t had dinner before that all week!  Haven’t gone to bed before 2 all week.  And we only ate lunch once this week.  I can officially go 10 hours without food. As long as I’m distracted or shopping ;-).   It’s not a matter of budget.  It’s a matter of time and we don’t have much!

Last night after we ate we headed back to have a closing time drink at The Ritz Carlton, per our friend Joni.  It was right across the street from where we were staying and our new BF bartender Eric made the best Belvedere greyhound I've ever had.  And, they have what we now refer to as our "model snacks" - three different kinds of nuts!  Eric introduced us to Dave.  Yeah, we had a lot in common.  He was the CEO of Opus One.  Now I love good wine.  I love great wine, but my wine adjectives are yummy, super good, and big.  I can't talk wine shop, especially not the $200/bottle stuff.  He was nice and told us about the epic $95/plate macaroni and cheese his friend had that day at Waverly.  Our lives were so paralell!  Ha!

 

And every time I see Central park and the horse drawn carriages all I can think of is the movie “Enchanted”  I keep singing “How will I know he loves me?”  So stupid, so funny! 

 

Yesterday was the last full day of our trip.  We were headed to Greenwich Village to shop, and then going to try to catch a show and have dinner,  My friend Amy recommended we start at the Spotted Pig where we had an epic Cuban Sandwich, shoestring fries piled high with fried garlic and rosemary and broccoli rabe!  I just love broccoli rabe.  Yum.(btw, I had no idea until I just now found this link that Mario was an owner..hhmm)   Certainly that would be enough fuel for the shopping we needed to do.  I wish we had more room to spare so we could Christmas shop – you know there’s only two months ‘til Christmas!  And, Seth Meyers from SNL walked right passed me.

Kinda hard to get a pic and not look like a frigtard.

As we winded our way toward Broadway we went through a pretty sketchy area.  Turning rings around.  Slipping my handbag over my head now -  I’m sure no one will notice. ;-)

We were going to see Wicked, but they only had a show at 3 and that wasn't going to happen, so we made it to Broadway and bought tickets for Spamalot.  Usually Clay Aiken is in the staring role, but he was off that night.  We laughed so hard.  Love those Brits, so witty.  It ended with "Always look on the bright side of life" and Kel-Kel and I were teary again....next post...dinner!

The Dropoff

There is nothing sadder than parting with something you really love.  Our Ford Fusion was ugly, but it was the vessel.  The mothership!  We clocked just over 4,000 miles in it and the check engine light was on the entire time.  We removed Dashboard Jesus from the dash…he had been with us thru California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey!

I actually didn’t mind being the driver of the Green Meanie II.  It gave me something to do.  Driver chooses the music. I preferred it to being the passenger,  The passenger sits in the passenger seat with Google Maps, an atlas and three cameras all on their lap.  As soon as you are supposed to be finding something on the map you’d get yelled at to take a picture of an entering_____ state!  It was funny, but it’s not like you could flip thru a magazine or anything.  And although our iPhones have been indispensable, we could have used the 3G and the GPS feature of the new ones….

Steve Jobs is sick.  Can you believe this, Kelly has no service, I have 4 bars and we're sitting next to each other.

After dopping Green Meanie II in Newark, NJ, (which is not a family destination btw) a driver picked us up to drive us into the city.  That seriously was a highlight.  No maps, no driving.  I could get used to having a driver.  V. civilized. I thought I’d make friends with our driver so he wouldn’t take us to Harlem or get us killed.  “How long have you been driving in NY?” I asked him.  “6 years.  I was a security guard at the World Trade Center and they fired me after 9-11”  Yeah, he was from Pakistan.  Oh comfort and joy!  We weren’t going to die in Harlem, we were being driven by a Pakistan-ee terrorist.  Super. 

And finally, we arrived at our friend’s apartment.  It is in one of the Trump Towers and it overlooks Central Park.  Wow.  Our 7 suitcases barely fit in the cute old elevator!  (have I mentioned that with all of our clothes we have managed to have all of the wrong clothing?)  Let’s just say we were well dressed but freezing. 

Tomorrow is going to be action packed…where the heck are we going to eat?

Quirky Day in Intercourse, Pennsylvania

I do wonder if the name Intercourse, Pennsylvania is a bit of sick Amish humor..."Let's call it a sex name, but not talk about it!"

What can I say about the Amish??  Kel-Kel (the nickname Marco gave her) feels that these are her peeps.  I guess because they are private?  I really need to pinpoint what aspect she relates to because I found the whole experience part sweet, part odd.

 

I will say it was a thrill seeing our first horse drawn buggy in the middle of a touristy two lane road.  Randomly we would see people and take their picture, which we had heard they didn’t like having their picture taken, but they didn’t mind (at least the ones we asked).  Did you know that the Amish introduced Americans to the pretzel?  Now I don’t know if the shop we ate at owns the original recipe, but I’m pretty sure Aunt Annie’s stole their franchise idea.  These boys were the same ages as Jules and Mac, so cute with their hats and dimples.

 

It smelled like horse poo everywhere, and again, we hadn’t had lunch.  Fortunately, we did eat breakfast!  For the first time on our trip there was a Starbuck’s that had spinach feta breakfast wraps.  Yay!  Our goal was now to get to New Jersey, drop off the car and heard into the city.  Dinner by 10:30 – not impossible!