the journey...in a mexican minute

In taking a 6:00am flight out of New York, one is forced to wake up at some ungodly hour...and by ungodly, I mean an hour where flocks of intoxicated people are still fighting the beats on 3rd Avenue at Joshua Tree. Having to arrive two hours prior to take off, my alarm is set for 2:30, followed by meeting a taxi with Kim in it at 3:30 on the corner and feeling pretty confident we would be the only ones at the airport. Well, it was packed. Fast forward 2,412 miles, 6 hours 15 min in the air, 2 time zones, 1 stop over in DFW, an egg sandwich with hash brown at 5:30am (ET) in LGA, a McDonalds hash brown and tea in DFW at 8:45 am (CT) and finally those wonderful words anyone traveling for a long period of time loves to hear:

"Ladies and gentleman, we are now making our descent into Los Cabos International Airport....blah, blah, blah."

Having been asleep most of the flight...I open the window shade and see this from up above:

...it looked like an aerial view above Siberia during the summer months.  There were no palm trees, no pristine ocean water, so white sandy beaches...no life.  Barren. Clearly there was something wrong.  Had the plane been hijacked? Had I boarded the wrong plane?  Was Danielle really getting married here!? 

Well, upon landing, retrieving the luggage, going through Mexican customs, pressing the red button, and getting into Mr. Teddy's car...we drove off for about twenty-five minutes and arrived here:

While checking in, we were welcomed with a frozen pomegranate margarita and hugs from Danielle and Paul.  This place was a far cry from what I had seen from up above.   

Below are the treasures waiting in the rooms for each of the wedding guests.  Yes, there lay a bottle of tequila, Pringles, and eye drops.  

...we quickly changed into our bathing suits, but it wasn't before long...after a dip in the pool and a few drinks...all that traveling and lack of sleep caught up on my fellow flyers.  I couldn't make time for such naps. I was in Cabo.  Danielle was getting married.  And I...I was ready for another drink.  

an eating tour, two legends, a new stadium, and a silent game

WHO: new york yankees, goldie & myself representing the 9-1-4

WHAT: a baseball game.  america's pass time.  a commemoration of yankees announcer bob sheppard and franchise owner george steinbrenner.  two new patches on the uniform and a silent game.  literally....silent.  all versus the tampa bay devil rays.

WHERE: the new yankee stadium...slightly offset from the former, non-existent yankee stadium.  161st street and river avenue...you can't miss it. upper deck

WHEN: 7.16.2010

WHY: goldie scored tickets. she asked me to join her.  i had never been to the new stadium.  we have a soft spot for cheap beer at the cost of premium beer + $3.  we appreciate concession stand vittles within the price range of gourmet food.  one can never "high-five" too many times.  there are bound to be some good characters sitting around us.  singing "new york, new york" like a fool is completely acceptable and highly encouraged.  i'm a met fan, but i find it perfectly okay to go to  yankee game and cheer for them.  pato gets in for free.

swisher hits a few runners in during the bottom of the ninth.  yankees win.  swisher gets a pie to the face.  everyone is high-fiving.  everyone is singing. if only the mets could do this.

the south rose again...for a few days anyway

There has always been something about the South. Maybe it is the mild winters and the early springs or that I don't feel guilty eating fried chicken and biscuits while there.  I have always been a sucker for the accents and continue to have a love hate relationship with the slower lifestyle. Regardless, after spending four years of college in North Carolina, I still find myself heading down there once in a while to visit friends, enjoying a lazy afternoon, and indulging in some fried chicken and carolina barbeque.

This particular trip was not planned ahead of time, nor did it need much thought. After a short conversation with Jason on gchat, a text sent to Lauri and a bbm to Kimberly the trip was set only a few days in advance.  I packed a lunch, some bottled water, a few snacks and went to bed. The alarm went off at 4:00am, I was in the car at 4:45am and driving past Newark Airport within an hour.  Speeding? Hardly.  By 9:30am, I had was past Washington, DC and for some unknown reason at 1:00pm my phone was dead with no way to communicate with anyone. I knew I was in the south when the billboards were sponsored by  Chick-fil-A and Bojangles. Getting directions to Lauri's was simply impossible at this point.  Luckily I knew the exit off the highway and found the local chamber of commerce to charge my phone for a little while before I was able to get Lauri to tell me proper directions.  

 The entire trip focused around eating.  Some of my favorites were the Chick-fil-A nugget platter, Bojangles supreme combo and Mac's barbeque. All of this going against my attempts to not eat fried food, but how can one pass this up?  .....we've gotten a little older, went from dorm rooms to houses, we are slightly more mature, added a few babies to the mix and can still laugh about the good old days. Not really much has changed...we just go to bed earlier. I am not sure when I will make my next visit, but I know this past visit was a great, spontaneous addition to summer-time fun. It's great to know that every time I go to this place I used to call home, it feels like I never left.  

It is always great to see this crew...

and this polo pup cooper marmaduke...

and some graffiti art....

all while eating and drinking this stuff. 

Check out just some of the fun we had here.

roommate's version of fun

Considering I have music on all the time, my collection of tunes on my iPod is not very reflective of what I actually enjoy listening to. Thankfully Pandora and roommate have opened my eyes to new artists as well genres of music.  Some time ago on a Friday night, roommate made a play list on my computer.  Perhaps she did not realize she was on my computer.  Maybe she was thought I was in need of some desperate help with my musical selections.  She may have been lazy to walk to her room to get her own computer with her own music.  Regardless, on my computer sits one of the best playlists...better than the Top 25 Songs Played, DJ AM's compilations (gym and party mix), and Brawn (study mix).  It rivals with The 6:04 Train to GCT and Oldies but Goodies playlists.  

Oldies, rap, French tunes, classic rock, alternative, pop, ....

...81 songs, 4.7 hours, 278.6 MB...

...most played artists: beatles, o.a.r., c.c.r., the killers and rolling stones.

I recently played this incredible list of songs at a bbq and I could not help but notice people enjoying the musical selection by singing along, tapping a table and an occasional, "oh my god, I love this song."  And to think roommate does not have this playlist on her own iPod.  Absurd.  Sooner than later My Roommate's Version of Fun will be transferred to Macie. I promise roommate that much.  

mrs. mccrum, her lad and their day

On this special day.....

we gathered and ...

...a lovely bride wearing white, walked down a white aisle, in a white church nestled in Greenwich Village...the same church, I can only assume, where this village kid wore many beautiful white dresses for other religious sacraments. 

After two masters degrees from New York University, I can finally grace the university's Torch Club for this affair...worth the wait.

Gifts were plenty, but none as special as a Ms. Goldy's original painting depicting where this Irish lad popped the question to Maura.

"You've got a way to keep me on your side.

You give me cause for love that I can't hide.

For you I know I'd even try to turn the tide.

Because you're mine, I walk the line."

"hello, bon jour, buenos dias!
g'day, guten-tag, konichiwa...
ciao, shalom, do-brey dien,
hello to all the children of the world!"

...and something sweet to go home with.
The only thing missing would have to be our lovely sixth graders.

emerson

two childhood friends, a train-ride conversation and a shower

Once upon a five-twenty something train leaving Grand Central Station after a hard day's work almost a decade ago....two friends....one coming from her midtown, corporate office wearing her usual business attire and the other just making the train in her flip-flops and t-shirt having spent the day at the water park with her campers....talked like they always did for the entire sixty-three minute ride as they ventured to a place known as home.

On this particular day, it had been a while since these two friends had seen each other.  So there was a lot to catch up on...naturally.  One friend, we shall call her Danielle, mentioned that she ran into a certain boy from this place they call home and phone numbers were exchanged.  She didn't seem too interested in the prospect of this boy calling her.  The other friend, let's call her Liz, knew this certain boy came from a good italian family...so it was worth giving him a chance. No one really remembers, but chances are this conversation lasted about four minutes...not too long, because these friends only had fifty-nine minutes remaining on their ride to cover their important conversational agendas.  

Today, on this special day in July, these two friends met again in that place they call home to shower Danielle with gifts because at some point she became interested in that boy that came from a good italian family....so much, she agreed to marry him.  And like so many parties dating back to their childhood...there were friends and family giggling, endless amounts of food and drinks, children splashing in the pool, and unlike those train rides out of Grand Central, the essence of time was disregarded.  

Like all the wonderful times that brought these two friends together...whether it be for class, caulking the bath tub, a student council meeting, sweet sixteens, lunch, a drink, soccer practice, the births of their nieces and nephews, planning a prom and a ten-year reunion, getting tea, fixing the computer, filing papers at that midtown-corporate office, having a bottle of wine, birthday & graduation parties, crashing at each other's place, cooking dinner, installing wireless internet, catering gigs, key west vacations, "oh my god, how do I fix my iPod" tech support phone calls, happy hours on an expense account (something teachers know nothing about), learning about the anatomy of the eye, and those sixty-three minute train rides to that place they call home...they all must come to an end.  As this beautiful day fell into night, one friend hugged the other good-bye cherishing the past, looking forward to the future and thinking about Jean-Jacques Rousseau's words:  the more things change, the more things stay the same. 

The entire collection of Danielle's shower photos.

pup sittin'

The moonlight was shining as we caught fire flies.

Brother and sister showing some love.

Trying out some new tricks on the new bike.

Kisses for nanny.

Determined to ride.

finally

a day at the beach on this thing we call summer vacation

modern art for a day

I spent the day at MoMA recently and looked at the works of Picasso, Pollock, Van Gogh, Warhol, Jasper Johns, Kandinsky, and Matisse.  All of these pieces are part of The Collection.  

Also some pieces from the Shaping Modernity: Design 1880 - 1980. This exhibit was composed of a variety of interesting things from a Vespa, to a bubble chair, to lighting fixtures, to an antique car.  

an interesting perspective

check out the rest of the photos

angel hair and asparagus

I recently started reading memoirs having to do with travels in Europe, food and love.  This week I finished Lunch in Paris by Elizabeth Bard...the most compelling aspect of this book are the recipes that come at the end of each chapter.  I am now interested in adding a little french flair to the day to day culinary adventures in 3D.  

After a trip to the New York Public Library, I have moved onto I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti by Giulia Melucci...I am a few pages in but the author writes about all of the meals she cooked for her former boyfriends.  And like Bard, Melucci includes all of the recipes.  

I made one of the recipes for lunch today.  Asparagus sauteed with garlic, crushed red pepper flakes, white wine and angel hair pasta topped with grated pecorino romano.   

1 lb. of thin asparagus

olive oil

hot red pepper flakes

garlic (calls for one clove, I used four)

salt

1/2 c. of white wine

1/2 lb. of angel hair pasta

freshly grated parmigiano/perorino

freshly ground pepper

Cut asparagus into 1-inch pieces.  Saute garlic and red pepper flakes in olive oil until golden, then add asparagus, coat pieces with olive oil.  Cook for 5 minutes, then add white wine and cook for another 10 minutes, until asparagus are soft to your liking.  Cook the pasta in salted water.  Once done, add the pasta to the skillet with the asparagus and cook for about a minute on low heat.  I added some of the pasta water to the skillet to increase the liquid volume. Serve with grated cheese and pepper. Time: 20 minutes. Serves 2.