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December 26, 2006

Merry, Merry!

Merry Christmas!
It wasn't as festive as Christmases in the past since my in-laws weren't here. My father in law didn't want to come to the cold from Jamaica but the funny thing is, it's been unseasonably warm here. But we made the most of it. When we woke up, we went out to the store to get bagels and things so we can come back and relax and open presents. Yves got me a waffle maker (YUM) and wireless headphones so I can watch TV in bed and hear it while he is asleep. And a gift card to AC Moore. Can't wait to use it! I got him the gorillapod, which he was using all day, and a new drill set that came with a flashlight and some other thing and a bag.

The Chopards came over around 2ish. I made Jamaican beef patties with the pie crust instead of homemade crust like I did last time. I wanted to make homemade crust but I couldn't find Crisco in the market. Note to self, look in the oil aisle instead of the baking aisle. It seemed to have gone over pretty well tho. For dinner I made chili (a big hit), baked ziti (store bought sauce so it didn't taste as good), broccoli, salad, bread, and rice for the kids. They brought over dessert, pecan pie and cupcakes. I never had pecan pie and to be honest, I was a little disappointed when she said it was pecan pie since I'm not a big pecan fan, unless it's dipped in chocolate. Well, it turned out to be delicious!! The filling was apple. I also made chocolate covered pretzels as well.

Yves used his gorillapod to mount the camera on top of the china closet to take this dessert shot. See Skippy sitting next to me? They gave Yves pajamas and a gift card for Old Navy/The Gap, me a gc for AC Moore (YAY!) and a gc for baby. They ordered other stuff from Amazon but it hadn't come in time. All in all it was a pleasant day!

My patties!

Maia and the toy we bought her

Eli and the toy we bought her

Skippy and Rozee waiting for everyone's return from viewing the "studio"

Posted by luluvision at 12:21 PM | Comments (0)

December 21, 2006

Foodgasm continues

It seems like my blog has become a food blog of late. It's no wonder my blood pressure has gone up a tad lately. The doctor upped my meds a slight bit but I'm convinced it's because of the food I've been eating and not because I'm going into my third trimester.

Last Friday, I met up with Brenda and Richard for brunch at Clinton Street Bakery. They are known for their pancakes and biscuits and for a long weekend brunch wait. There was actually a slight wait at 2 pm on a Friday but Brenda and Richard were late anyway.

I almost went with eggs when I got there but since I was drawn to the place because of their pancakes, I got the pancakes. Blueberry...

I have to tell you they were only ok. I think I should have went with my mood at the time and gotten the huevos rancheros because I'm still thinking about them. HA. I also got the buttermilk biscuit, also only ok. Maybe because it was so late in the day?

Brenda got a spinach and goat cheese omelette and her potatoes were awesome!

Richard got the Angus burger since burgers are all he eats now and he said it was the best burger he ever had. I ate up his homemade potato chips and they were really good!

I'll have to go back and try their eggs and get it out of my system.

Posted by luluvision at 04:11 PM | Comments (0)

December 20, 2006

Getting all domesticated

I like to bake cookies but I never made 6 different kinds before. And the numbness in my fingers from pregnancy was more evident after I was done baking. It was fun, tho! From top left to right, Peanut M&M cookies, double chocolate chunk with walnut, chocolate chips with walnut, carrot cake cookies, oatmeal with butterscotch and white chocolate chips (Yves' favorite) and pistachio and dark chocolate M&Ms (my favorite). I had a bunch of left over yogurt containers and was given the idea of filling them up with goodies and to give them away. Originally I was going to make chocolate covered pretzels (which I still plan on doing) but somehow talked myself into doing something more time consuming by baking cookies. I decorated them and gave them to Yves to give to his co-workers.

I thought they came out really cute! They don't hold as many cookies as I thought they would but I also gave some to our first floor neighbors (but not the 2nd floor since I hate them)and brought the cookies out to karaoke last Tuesday and also gave them to my brunch guests that I had on Saturday and Sunday. Which I also cooked for! See how domesticated I got? I picked out 2 recipes from Everyday Food, a ham and potato bake and buttermilk biscuits. I also made Spinach-Artichoke dip but I got that from Rachel Ray Cooking magazine. They were all big hits on Saturday that I just made the same thing on Sunday! They were all so easy to make. Now to pull out the magazines to figure out what to cook for Christmas!

Posted by luluvision at 04:49 PM | Comments (0)

December 13, 2006

Sing it sister!

Tuesday night we had our CDMOM holiday mixer and voted on karaoke. We went to iBop, a private room BYOB place and it was super fun and cheap! I didn't think I would have as much fun as I did since I was sober but it was fun singing and laughing at everyone sing. I only did a couple of songs, Crazy by Gnarls Barkley, Living on a Prayer by Bon Jovi (must do some cheezy 80s!) and of course karaoake wouldn't be complete without me doing a Smiths song, There is a Light That Never Goes Out. They really had a big, wide selection including new songs from Interpol, Death Cab for Cutie and Franz Ferdinand. We had so much fun we may go back.

My mix for the month was a straight up Christmas mix.

Jingle Bells Andrew Kunz
Winter Wonderland Phantom Planet
When I Get Home For Christmas Snow Patrol
Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer Jack Johnson
Jingle Bells Barenaked Ladies
Last Christmas Jimmy Eat World
Have Yourself A Merry Little C Coldpay
Happy Christmas (War Is Over) John Ondrasik
Christmastime Smashing Pumpkins
All I Want For Christmas Is You My Chemical Romance
Jingle Bells James Taylor
Yule Shoot Your Eye Out Fall Out Boy
The Christmas Song The Raveonettes
That was the Worst Christmas Ever! Sufjan Stevens
Jinglebell Rock The Arcade Fire
Come On! Let's Boogey to the Elf Dance! Sufjan Stevens
Christmas Party The Walkmen
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) Death Cab For Cutie
Angels We Have Heard On High Sufjan Stevens
I Was Thinking I Could Clean Up For Christmas Aimee Mann
Jingle Bells Diana Krall & The Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra

I made an announcement at the end of the mixer about being knocked up for the few that still didn't know. Laura and Carrie started talking to my stomach and then Carrie joked that she couldn't believe she sang Afternoon Delight in front of the baby. HA!

Posted by luluvision at 07:27 PM | Comments (1)

December 12, 2006

FOOOD-gasm

I was very exciting when Joy told me she had off from work. A playmate! Yay! I knew I didn't really have to do much convincing to get her to come with me to check out some restaurants that I've been reading about. Thursday's plan was to check out The Smoke Joint. I've been on the lookout for real great BBQ in the NY area. Dinosaur doesn't count, it's so far up north, it might as well be in Jersey! But alas, when I got to the front, the doors were locked. A quick phone call and I found out they weren't opened for lunch, only dinner. Maybe after the New Year. Sigh... But not to worry! I quickly came up with a backup plan! Ruthie's! Joy had mentioned wanting to try this place on a friend's recommendation (I don't know why it only got an 8.6 on citysearch). I'm sad that I didn't have my camera but take my word for it, it was fantastic! (Not that pictures will tell you how good it was). It's just a little hole in the wall place on DeKalb, it has about 5 tables. I got smothered pork chops with rice and a side of mac and cheese. Joy got fried chicken with potato salad. WOW! My pork chop was perfectly cooked and the gravy....oh my goodness...the gravy was AWESOME! The mac and cheese was good but not as creamy as I usually like it. Joy's fried chicked was great! I am not a big fan of fried chicken but I ate the whole piece she gave me. The potato salad had a nice zing to it. And the service was great! The woman was super nice.

So since we were only down the block from Juniors and since I haven't had their cheesecake in ages and Joy agreed to eat half of a slice with me, we made our way over for dessert. Half an hour later, roll me outta there! Joy didn't keep up with her bargain of eating half of it (tho she claimed she never agreed to eat half of it) and it was thicker and heavier and richer than I remembered. Well, I think I filled my quota of Junior's cheesecake for the next 15 years.

Ok, now I got pictures! Friday we were going to try DiFara's. A place that I've been wanting to try for awhile and recently won #1 pizza in TONY. We ended up waiting 45 minutes for our sausage and mushroom pizza but it was worth it. It was fun watching him work. He grates parmesan cheese fresh and cuts the mozzarella fresh for each pizza as well as the toppings you want. He takes the pizza out of the oven with his bare hands and cuts basil on top with scissors. Take a look, doesn't this picture make you drool??

I didn't take pictures of him working. I felt like it would distract him or something. Me and Joy finished the whole pie and she was feeling as stuffed as I did yesterday but I felt fine.

Posted by luluvision at 10:03 AM | Comments (0)

December 07, 2006

Ryan and his patent leather boots

photo by Joy

Tuesday night Joy and I went to see Ryan at Town Hall. This is the first show I've seen since September!! It's a seated venue and we got the orchestra section, it's the only way to go with these kind of venues. I didn't bother with a camera cuz I knew TH checks and since Ryan always keeps the stage too dark to get a decent shot, I didn't want to bother. Joy brought her big ass camera tho. The Little Willies opened up, Norha Jones' side project. Ryan came on around 9:15 wearing his Black Sabbath concert jersey and his 8 inch (at least) patent leather platform boots. Tuesday night he wore silver glittery boots! It was a good show even tho it did not make my top 5 Ryan concerts. It was pretty mellow and he played mostly stuff from his recent albums and I mostly prefer his earlier stuff. He was very chatty too. He took a break around 10 for a few minutes and then continued playing up to the 11 o'clock curfew.

Posted by luluvision at 08:58 PM | Comments (1)

December 05, 2006

Gimme FOOD!

I managed to get out of the house on Friday evening to go out to dinner for Joy's bumblebee birthday. We went to Roberto Passon in Hell's kitchen and it was delicious!! Now that is Italian food!! I forgot to take pictures of the appetizers but we had one of the artichoke specials (YUM!), fried calamari with fried zucchini (good but my least favorite of the apps), Crab Cakes in Warm Shiitake Salad and Spicy Red Pepper Sauce (MMMMM!!!) and Caesar salad that was fantastic!!

Here are the entrees. Sorry for some blurry pictures, I'm not used to Yves' new camera.

I got Salmon with spinach:

Dee Dee got grilled chicken stuffed with cheese:

Joy got one of the specials, something like veal osso bucco:

Ruthie got striped bass with broccoli rabe:

And for dessert we got Profiteroles with Hot Chocolate Sauce:
I didn't think I would ever say this but I believe they put too much hot chocolate sauce because it melted everything really fast.

Needless to say I only ate about a quarter of my salmon but happily took it home to have for lunch on Sunday.

Posted by luluvision at 12:18 PM | Comments (1)