New York Diary Part I: A New York Minute Blitz

We're back from our impromptu trip to The Big Apple. Since we saw so much in 3 days, I've decided to do this in parts. Otherwise, you'll never see the end of this blog post. Anyway, we arrived in New York on a speeding Jet Blue flight (4.5 hours! YAY headwinds!) on Thursday afternoon. Here's the breakdown:

The Good: M and I managed to make it into our hotel with little trouble. While the lines at the airport to catch a cab rivaled Disneyland's Finding Nemo ride, we made it to our clean, inexpensive, and quaint Holiday Inn Express hotel room in one piece. Once we grasped our barrings and realized how hungry we were, we decided to take on the NYC Subway system. Penn Station was about 3 short blocks away and was crawling with NY Rangers fans (hockey game the same night at MSG above.) The Station is huge. It took a while to figure out where the actual subway trains were. But we grabbed some MTA cards and made our way to Times Square; one stop uptown. Everything was already lit up for the evening. We swung by the famous Toys R Us, which included a giant ferris indoor ferris wheel, scoped out where we were headed for Spam-a-lot the following evening, and saw a couple of neat candy stores sweet enough to make anyone a diabetic.

The Bad: Did we mention it was spring break? For about every high school on the west coast? The streets of TS were swarming with tweens and teens on school sponsored trips. Now, I don't know about you, but my high school NEVER would have sponsored a trip like this. The cold wind and the bustling crowds I can handle. 50 million screaming teens... not so much. Oh well. We made it through most crosswalks without much trouble.

Our dinner was just okay. Especially for the price we paid. I did some research for nicer restaurants in Theater District for the night of our show. But I figured since we were there now, we might as well check out Sangria 46 and go somewhere else on Friday. Glad we made this decision because I wasn't exactly impressed. The restaurant's specialty was tapas. And since M and I love Tapa the World here in Sacto, Sangria 46 can't be half bad, right. The place was packed so we sat by the bar... which had the clumsiest bartenders. I swear 3 things shattered during the duration of our dinner. The bread was dry, service was slow, and it was LOUD! Dessert was pretty good, but again, not worth the price. Though M swore the $3 iced tea was the best thing on earth. (It better be.)

The Ugly: My cousin told me before we left that Times Square is best seen at night. It's true. It's probably the dirtiest part of town because everyone decides to pile their trash on the side of the road 3 days before it needs to be picked up. No alleys=no trash dumpsters=3 gallon trash bags on the street. Woo hoo. But since we mostly spent our time in TS at night, it really didn't matter much. But we did notice this trend throughout the city.

Also, New York traffic is kind of like LA light traffic. Except everyone is in a hurry. And the pedestrians don't do much to help the situation either. Red lights apparently mean "go faster" in this state. M and I were very glad we didn't rent a car.

Bonus: We saw the Famous Naked Cowboy. If you've never heard of the guy, Google him. Just be careful with your search parameters. Haha.

More tomorrow on Spamalot (yes, with Clay Aiken), Sardi's, and where my 401K goes to work every day.

Hooray for Tax Refunds

I'm feeling particularly verbose today. So I've decided to gloat about our pending tax refund. Buying a house with an interest only loan may not be such a good idea now, but it gives you some sweet tax refund cash. Upwards of $5000 and beyond. So M. and I will probably do the practical thing like pay off our New York trip, or put money in for retirement or savings, or put down another principle payment. But I'd like to outline the less practical things you could buy with $5000+:

1. 1,538 Tall Skinny Cinnamon Dolce Lattes from Starbucks.
2. Approximately 10 pairs of Jimmy Choo shoes.
3. A lot of Rachel Ray cookware.
4. About 1,388 gallons of regular unleaded gas.
5. Oooh, this and this.
6. A new insulin pump, sans health insurance.
7. A budget for about 4 rescued cats from the SPCA.
8. About 16 Coach purses. The real ones.
9. 2 night stays at the Four Seasons Biltmore in Santa Barbara, CA.
10. A vow renewal ceremony. In San Francisco. On a Saturday.
    

Jumped the gun...

Sadly, it's not quite flip flop weather yet. Though the sun outside would definitely tell you otherwise. But I'm getting sick and tired of having this whole stack of sandals to wear and no where to wear them to. I even did a self pedicure for peat's sake. (Note: not attempting that again... ouch.)

Today I did try to wear my Reef's, but failed miserably. I think I'm the only person that would go into Target with flip flops, capris, and a winter coat.

Spring! Get here already!

For the Dogs...

I should preface by saying that Rachel Ray used to feed her dog this recipe. But I happened to have all of the ingredients in my pantry for it, so I figured, why not? It actually wasn't too bad and had more nutritional value than the Blue Boxes, but it was so filling. That said, here is Isaboo's Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese. (Filed under recipes you can feed your pets.) (!)

Ingredients:
* Salt
* 1 pound small ridged tube macaroni, such as tubetti
* 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), 1 turn of the pan
* 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
* 1/2 medium onion
* 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 2 cups chicken broth
* One 10-ounce box frozen cooked butternut squash, thawed
* 1 cup heavy cream or half-and-half
* 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (8 ounces)
* 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (a couple of handfuls)
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (eyeball it)
* Freshly ground pepper

Preparation:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water, then add the pasta and cook until al dente.

Meanwhile, heat a medium heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add the EVOO, 1 turn of the pan, and the butter. When the butter melts into the olive oil, add the thyme, then grate the onion directly into the pot with a handheld grater, such as a Microplane. Cook the onion for 2 minutes, then stir in the flour and cook for 2 minutes more. Whisk in the broth, then stir in the butternut squash and heat until warmed through and smooth. Stir in the cream and bring the sauce to a bubble. Stir in the cheeses and season to taste with salt, nutmeg and pepper.

Drain the cooked pasta, return it to the pot it was cooked in and add the sauce. Stir together and serve.

Temporary Lapse in Sanity

I got an email from a friend who was looking for team members to run (walk) the Nike Women's Half Marathon in October. So seeing as how I haven't run competitively since high school, I enthusiastically accepted the challenge. But I was assured that we'd be walking the entire 13.1 miles... and we get a Tiffany's necklace at the finish line.

Matt thinks our one year wedding anniversary is going to be spent watching me sleep and apply ice to my aching muscles. This... may be true.

Guess it's time to visit Fleet Feet for new shoes.