You know me by now. When they start predicting heavy amounts of snowfall I get excited. Yesterday it snowed some. It didn’t really stick until last night (about two inches of heavy wet snow) but it came down in what looked like snowballs and not snowflakes. Not many birds were out and that’s a good thing. Those flakes were big enough to knock a bird out of the air!
You can see the size of the flakes here on the dogs’ backs. Each blob of snow is one flake!
Today is our “quiet” weather day of the week but I understand we may be in for a somewhat wild ride tomorrow and Friday. Here is what Accu Weather online was predicting yesterday. The first one was their predication as of yesterday morning, then last night’s monumental forecast, and last what they are thinking is going to happen as of this morning.
It would seem that they don’t know what the weather is going to do! Is this my dream coming true of getting snowed in??
Today I am thankful that there is a lull in all the commotion as we are going into NYC to watch CHOPPED being filmed. We picked a good day this time!
While talking to my sister yesterday, she remarked that I hadn’t been doing much blogging lately. She’s right; I guess it’s been a while. It’s not that life has been boring, quite the opposite, but I just haven’t felt the need to write things down. So, this entry will be all about catching up with lots of things.
The dogs enjoyed the big snow last week. Here is Hailey being silly, tunneling in and eating snow.
Alex thinks snow is tasty too.
Of course, Bella and Hailey have to play.
We had a long weekend with Rick being home for four straight days in a row, as Monday was a work holiday for him. Over the weekend we really didn’t do much. We walked the dogs, played many hours of Super Mario Brothers on the Wii (a multiple player game), caught up on all our TiVo’d programs, and had a wonderful Valentine’s Day dinner out with some friends.
On Tuesday he took a personal day off and we went into New York City to the Westminster dog show. Since moving here we’ve wanted to go in to watch our breed, Bernese Mountain Dogs, show and possibly see some old dog show friends. We took the train in (which was a good thing because it was snowing) which is so convenient since Penn Station is right there at Madison Square Garden. Get off the train, walk up some stairs and you’re there!
Did you know that Rick and I used to be into showing dogs? Well, we were. We had a dog, Indy, that was ranked in the top ten Bernese Mountain dogs in the country in 1996 and 1997. In fact, we brought him to the Westminster show in 1997. He didn’t win anything but it was an experience we’ll never forget. We did have a handler but not a big name one, just someone local. Rick did show Indy himself quite a lot though. Here they are:
Showing dogs is kind of an addiction, especially when you have a dog that wins. I think it must be like having a child that is a football or soccer star. It’s an ego rush and very competitive. I do miss the whole dog show thing from time to time but what I don’t miss is the political side of the sport.
Anyway here are a few photos I took at Westminster. This is the benching area where you can view all the dogs. It’s a very packed and crowded place! Thankfully there aren’t too many benched shows anymore. I much prefer to go to a dog show, show my dog at the appointed time, and go home instead of sitting around all day!
We walked down the Mastiff aisle because we think they are cute. Look at the size of those heads!
This one was trying to stay cool, calm and collected in the midst of chaos.
I liked this sign.
And this was the view from where we were sitting looking down on to the rings.
We did manage to meet up with some dog show folks we hadn’t seen in a long while, so that was good too.
It hadn’t really snowed that much in the city, but on the train ride home it was obvious it had been snowing all day further north. A virtual Winter Wonderland passed before our eyes! Here is what we were greeted with on our drive home from the train station.
A wet, sticky snow that clung to all the branches. We could barely get into our driveway because the plow had gone by a few times and really stacked up the snow. So the expected 1-3 inches turned into 5-7 inches!
Other things that are on my mind include deciding which country to move to if Sarah Palin ever becomes President. Mexico or Canada? I need to write all the pros and cons of each country on my hand ...
And the Olympics. I live for the figure skating events, and this year the men’s is on fire! I can’t wait until tonight to see the battle play out for the medals. Will Plushenko get the Gold after his comeback? Or will one of the other two men hot on his heels take it? Then there is the ice dancing to come in three different nights ... can’t wait!
See? Lots of nothing about somethings. I’ll try to do better next time ...
Yesterday Rick and I had a planned dinner date in New York City. He goes in fairly often to meet with a business associate and inevitably ends up in the evening commuter rush which isn’t too much fun. We decided to take advantage of the fact that he needed to be in the city anyway, so why not have me go along and have dinner afterwards, thereby avoiding the rush? Works for me!
It was cold and blustery. (Don’t you just love that word? That’s what the weather guys called it: blustery. Really, they meant downright frigid with a nasty, biting wind!) I thought I would be warm enough with what I had on given that we weren’t planning on doing much walking. (We were taking the train in and cabbing it from place to place.) But I was freezing!
You would think that all those tall buildings would shield the wind from you. Oh, no quite contraire mon amie! Those buildings act like a giant wind funnel, collecting the wind and sending it straight down whatever street you happen to be walking down. Brrrrrrrr!
We arrived at our destination and the sign by the elevator said “Louie auditions, 7th floor.” I don’t know what “Louie” was but we rode up in the elevator with a few hopefuls clutching a piece of paper. We got off before them so I have no idea if the line looked like American Idol try-outs or not. Probably not, although one child looked like he had an instrument with him. I took a book and sat in the employee break room and read while Rick conducted his business. I wasn’t bored since being in the industry there were plenty of issues of Entertainment Weekly laying around. I grabbed the issue with Avatar featured on the front and pretty much read it front to back.
We arrived at our choice of restaurant, craft, right on time for our reservation. craft is one of Tom Colicchio’s restaurants. You know Tom—Mr. Top Chef host? We had eaten here once before but not in the main restaurant (in a private dining room) at a business function. We were considerably impressed with the food, so decided we should go back by ourselves. Here is a somewhat blurry shot taken from our table. I took only the baby camera with me and trying not to look like a tourist, did not use the flash.
Upscale and elegant, yet not stuffy in atmosphere. Food here is served “family style,” meaning your plates don’t arrive with your food on it, but in a serving dish placed on the table. Everyone can help themselves if you care to share. Which we did. We ordered two appetizers and shared them, and one main entree to share with two side vegetable dishes and a shared dessert. We had plenty to eat without feeling stuffed and with our “diet” in place it worked well. We want to keep the momentum going with our weight loss (so far I’ve lost 3 pounds; Rick has lost 10, but men always lose weight faster, don’t they?) so we are still watching our portions and what we eat. I can’t say we ordered the least caloric or fat content of any of the items on the menu though. Let’s just say I am a foie gras fanatic (I know! Not very PC, is it?) and their roasted foie gras was just to die for! Probably one of the best I’ve ever had, and I’ve had my fair share in its country of origin. It was a lovely dinner. And sadly, Tom did not make an appearance. Probably out filming the next Top Chef or visiting his restaurants in other parts of the country.
I snapped these photos in the Seacaucus train station on our way home as we had some time to kill to catch our NJ Transit connection. This sculpture is new since the last time I was through here.
Since Seacaucus is located in what they call the Meadowlands, this cattail sculpture is very fitting I think. To me the surrounding terrain looks more like marsh land than meadow land, but what the heck. Going in to Seacaucus from the North the train runs alongside a canal where herons can usually been seen looking for something to catch. A little further along, the land is marshy with lots of little tributaries winding around hummocks of grass, and more herons and water fowl.
The cattails changed color. Very soothing.
I happened to catch a fellow traveler in one of the mirrored bits of the fronds. See him? You can also see part of my coat and scarf in the bottom one.
The bottom of the sculputre was just how it should be, and kind of like I described the terrain above. A winding rivulet of water around the base of the cattails. A very cool sculputure.
Alas we missed the express train and it took forever (or at least it seemed like it) to arrive home. I was worried about the dogs a bit since they were alone for about eight hours straight at a time of day when they are not used to being left, but they did great. It’s probably not something we’ll do all that often, but we hope to take advantage of the city more than we have been. It’s still unreal to me to step off that train in front of Madison Square Garden and have the whole of New York City spread out before me. It’s a heady experience!
Addendum: I almost forgot! They gave us these delicious looking muffins as we left the restaurant for our breakfast. Of course, we forgot to eat them today!
Anybody out there watch the Food Network’s CHOPPED with Ted Allen as the host? Rick and I watch religiously. Mostly because we just like cooking competition shows, but also because this one is different. When we first started watching we weren’t sure we were going to like it. I mean, really, they take bizarre ingredients and have to make something out of them. They start with four chefs. If you don’t make it through the appetizer course you get chopped. The next three chefs move on to the entree and another one gets chopped. The last two battle out the dessert course, and finally one chef reigns supreme. I honestly don’t think I could figure out how to incorporate the things they get in their baskets into something edible!
Did you know it’s filmed right here in New York City? It’s actually filmed in a studio of an industry related friend of Rick’s. I’ve been to the studio before for a gallery event (the reason the little gold dress was purchased!). They mostly do food commercials and Rick has loaned him cameras for various shoots. You’ve probably seen some of his commercials.
Anyway, why am I telling you all this? Because, dear readers, Rick and I have been invited to watch a segment of CHOPPED being filmed in a few weeks! Yes indeed! I am so excited!!! It will be so much fun to see what goes on behind the scenes, and of course to meet Ted Allen in person. I hope that Alex Guarnaschelli is on the judging panel that day. She’s such a ... well, you know ... let’s just say she doesn’t exactly hand out compliments.
Can’t wait!!!!
Everyone around us is on snow alert. We got up early this morning to do some Christmas dinner shopping at the Fairway Market in Paramus. At 9 o’clock in the morning the store was jammed with shoppers rushing to get done before the snow starts. Snowplows appear on the front of nearly every truck you pass. Sand trucks stand at the ready. On Skyline Drive the Road Closed Snow Emergency signs are already up and waiting. (Skyline Drive is high in elevation and is always closed during bad snows. From the top of Skyline Drive you can, of course, on a clear day see the Manhattan skyline. Hence it’s name.) But will the blizzard really materialize or will the whole thing pass us by?
Let’s see how we’re doing here at home.
Salt and snow shovels? Check.
Wood split? Check.
Bolognese sauce cooking on the stove? Check.
Ingredients for baking cookies? Check.
Anticipation and excitement? Check.
We are all waiting. The stage is set and the players are ready to spring into action. All that’s left is for the star of the show to really and truly show up for her big performance. Mother Nature, bring it on!
Right now at noon it’s 20 degrees, the wind has picked up and the air is raw and damp. Stay tuned to this blog for further updates.
