The Yankee Girl Cooks

And boy, did she cook!

This weekend, I celebrated with my family a group birthday for me, my mom, and my "ant". This was the first time my family has come down to Davishire since the big move, and I was excited to show off all the great things we've done to the house. Plus, it was a blatant reason to show off my cooking skills.

My laundry list of cooked items included:

• Roasted Eggplant and Tomato Pizza
• Chicken Enchilada Soup
• Spring Rolls
• Chocolate Pasta with Raspberry Creme
• Chocolate Ganache Cake
• Olive Oil Muffins with Lemon and Thyme
• Restaurant Style Salsa
• Guacamole (which I forgot to put out...or did I? hehe)
• Pear Crisp
• Spinach Dip
• Almond Ricotta Creme (yet another item I forgot to take out of the fridge!)

NukeBoy made his specialty: Sausage/Pepperoni Pizza, and Uncle Buck enthralled us with his eye-poppin' chili.

All in all, it was a total success, and we'll have enough leftovers for supper for the week. Which is good, because my cooking desire has now waned at least for another month or so.

Yankee Doodle Dandy,

-TYG

Overworked YankeeGirl. . .or just mentally challenged?

Has anyone out there lost/gained a day or two in their life? You know, you wake up thinking it's Friday, then around 3:00 PM you smack yourself in the forehead because, doh, it's Thursday? Or how about waking up late on Monday, sleeping in, only to realize it's not Sunday?

Well, I've taken that to the extreme last week. Thursday morning, I jumped out of bed at 5:00 AM realizing that it wasn't the 25th, but the 18th.

Yes, I said the 25th, not the 18th. You'll notice the 7 day difference there.

I had been working the entire week with an agenda to close the accounts payable system and get the billing in, because it was the last week of the month. I had emailed all our vendors for their invoices and spoke to all the project managers about getting everything in my hands for Thursday so I would make the overnight that night for Friday delivery.

I even freaked out on Thursday night when I got home. You see, the mail man still hadn't delivered my commuter voucher for March. How was I suppose to get my much needed train pass for Monday when I don't go to work in the city on Friday to get it? What if the mail man still doesn't deliver it Friday? Needless to say my Lenten promise of no expletives flew out the window.

I was in a full alarm emergency and panic.

After a night of fitful sleep, that's when I jolted out of bed smacking my forehead with the heel of my hand. "Oh no!" The guilt of emailing all those vendors overtook me. I had to get up and rectify the situation immediately. I frantically signed into my work computer and apologized for my idiocy hoping they'd understand and not cast me off as a complete frazzle-brain. Even though I am. Can't let everyone in on that secret. I have an image to maintain.

So, yes, I've lost a day here and there in my life, or, if I'm lucky, gained one. BUT A WHOLE WEEK? I don't know what to say for myself.

I also don't know what to say to all my co-workers that kept supporting my delusion by not correcting me all week. Sick joke on their behalf, or maybe I'm not the real frazzle-brain here.

Yankee Doodle Dandy,
-TYG

I Choo-Choo-Choose You!

Ah, St. Valentine's Day...

I've been remembering back to grade school when my class was required to make heart-shaped construction paper pockets to hang on the front of our desks in anticipation of getting those cheap, tiny Valentine cards that usually had some sort of superhero theme. Who can forget Wonder Woman's You've Lassoed My Heart, or Spiderman hoping that my Valentine's Day is Super Amazing. I never understood this school tradition. It seemed to be yet another way to keep Hallmark in business, the popular kids popular, and the losers, well, losers.

Once in high school, Valentine's Day had a bit of a different meaning. It still kept the popular kids popular, and the rest of us, well, you get the point. But now, love and the possibility to fall in love and have a Valentine became a reality. My school participated in passing out Val-O-Grams: a carnation with a hand-written note from your sweetheart. I remember those days (well, those four days since I was only in high school for four years) with anxious anticipation hoping beyond hope I'd get one. I lucked out two of the four years, if I'm remembering correctly. (I don't want to insult my ex's by not remembering correctly, but I'm finding that high school has become an extremely distant memory that has faded pretty quickly. I mean, it was 17 years ago, so forgive me.) So for two of the four years I didn't feel like a total loser not getting a Val-O-Gram during morning homeroom.

Now that I'm married, Valentine's Day has morphed, yet again, into something a bit different. I do find it strange that we pick only a couple days a year to overtly celebrate the love we feel towards our spouse (i.e. Valentines, Anniversaries, Birthdays), and why we need to overtly celebrate with trinkets and chocolate and flowers, I don't understand. Since I do love and cherish my husband all the days of the year, this would get a bit expensive, so maybe narrowing it down to just a couple times is more cost effective. And in this economy, I'm all about the saving of money.

On this Valentine's Day, I felt the need to show NukeBoy how much I care for him by making heart-shaped food.

I started the day with heart-shaped pancakes and toast, and completed the day with heart-shaped brownies sprinkled with heart-shaped candies.

He, in turn, got me a delicious box of handmade chocolates from our local chocolatier, and a much needed massage at the spa.

My box of chocolates even contained some chocolate Budhas. What better way to achieve total zen than by eating a chocolate Budha.

You must lick his belly before consumption to get the full zenness out of the experience.

So, for a holiday that has no connection to anything romantic (since the actual two St. Valentine's were martyrs of the Catholic church and even the church doesn't know why they were martyred) it was still Super Amazing. I'm so glad I Lassoed me a wonderful husband so for the next forty years I can prove to the world that I'm not an unattached loser incapable of getting my own love match.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Yankee Doodle Dandy,

-TYG

A Busy Little NukeBoy

My NukeBoy's been busy this weekend.

First mission was to install one of his Christmas gifts from the ceiling. Not a bad job! Now look at all that Farberware shining in perfect unison; erect little soldiers. They love their new home.

Next mission: install another one of his Christmas gifts: Our house's name tag.

Just perfect!

Oh, and BTW NukeBoy, I'm loving my house-warming gift. It's taking the most amazing shots!

Yankee Doodle Dandy,

–TYG

Christmas is in the Air!

Now we can put all the pumpkins aside! Christmas has gone into full effect at my household as of Thanksgiving Day thanks to Santa rolling into town on his sleigh-float with animatronic reindeer. Now all's right with the world.

I do find it a bit odd that NBC had to scroll his name across the screen. As if we wouldn't know who he is!

But, I guess the big guy deserves the same treatment as other big stars that showed up for the parade, like say, John Stamos.

Yes, I'm being sarcastic, but I should be careful. You-know-who is watching!

The ambiance was set the day after the Turkey induced coma subsided and the trim-a-tree process began.

First, the tree gets assembled, then I start on the lights. We opted for the fakey this year since we won't be around for Christmas.

It looks like this is the last year for this set. I couldn't get all the strands to work. Fourteen years is long enough to keep a set of lights, I think. We had a good, long run together.

Just need to add the finishing touch...

Voilá!

Second, we headed down to NYC to partake in the window displays and shopping frenzy.

Saks never disappoints with it's snowflake display.

Radio City did a great job, too, with it's gigantic, color changing tree.

Then there was this window. Christmas got sick and apparently threw up all over this display.

And it got sick from these window displays with the scary albino snowflake with it's pink, blank, jewel encrusted eyes staring through you. The children that night probably had nightmares. I know I did.

I have to say that Macy's and Saks really did disappoint this year for window displays. The most we got was a huge laugh at the 300 lb lady taking a spill on the ice.

The Christmas season will continue this weekend with a trip to Providence to see "A Christmas Carol" at Trinity Rep. Then, it's on to O-H-I-O for the big event!

Yankee Doodle Dandy,

-TYG

It's Still Pumpkin Season, Folks!

It's not over until Santa comes rolling his jolly butt down Broadway tomorrow. I love the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. It's a rite of passage into the holiday season. I refuse to listen to holiday music or even look at the holiday paraphernalia in stores until the Parade is over and Santa has officially taken his seat at the most majestic of all stores: MACY'S.

With this being said, take a look at these fantastically carved Halloween pumpkins. I was passing them one evening on the way to the train down Union Park.

They are all beautifully carved scenes from Harry Potter.


Here, you can see the kids arriving to Hogwarts by boat.


I believe this scene depicts Gringotts, but I could be wrong. When it rains, the water comes rushing down that PVC piping. Very ingenious.


This one, out of focus, is of the Great Hall with floating jack-o-lanterns.


Our beloved Hedwig! What I love about these carvings is how the artist scraped inside of the pumpkins in order to create thinner walls in certain areas to allow really eerie and effective lighting variances.


This one had me stumped until Uncle Buck finally realized it was the Sorting Hat.

So, Happy Hauntings everyone, and Happy Turkey Day!

Yankee Doodle Dandy,
-TYG

New England Porn

aaaahhhhh,

-TYG