29 Dec 2013
by wifemothereventplanner
in Brave New World
Tags: cookbook, cooking, Family, food, Gifts, Holiday, humor, Life, Photo
I got a lot of great gifts this year – I’m a lucky girl. Last night we did the final gift exchange with my family – there is absolutely no more gift giving and receiving after this. It’s over. Done. No more I tell you!
My little bitty sister gave me this really cool book I thought I’d share with you. It’s less of a cookbook and more of a nonfiction book about chefs. Right up my alley!
It’s full of beautiful photos and recipes, but it’s really storytelling about the chefs. What they do, why they do it and how they do it.
It’s written with a sharp biting wit and doesn’t take itself too seriously, look at these hilarious quotes…
The other cool thing about this book is all the wacky food the chefs make. In the world of Instagram and 24/7 food trucks – where everyone’s a foodie and Harissa and truffle oil are almost old school – I love reading about unusual food. Lebnah… Tasso … This is no everyday kimchi cookbook. There’s actually a line on page 267 that reads, “This is not a traditional baba au rhum, so purists, stand back!” Wtf?
Will I ever make it? Probably not. But I will sleep better knowing that there are people out there that do.
Ok – gotta go source some Kajmak cheese.
27 Dec 2013
by wifemothereventplanner
in Brave New World
Tags: Chinese Food, Christmas, cooking, ER, Family, Holiday, humor, love, Movies, Music, NYC, Photo, Saxophone, Shopping, Trampoline
So whatcha been up to? Hope you’ve been having some Christmas fun. Here’s what we’ve been doing – non sequitur.
- Started my Christmas shopping in September hoping to get ahead of the game, but the game won. I am still not done and it’s 2 days after Christmas.
- Went to the ER the day before Christmas Eve (long scary story with a happy ending, all is good).
- Made 12 dozen cookies. 12. Dozen. 144 cookies. Know what I learned? Even after making 144 cookies I still want to eat cookies.
- Headed to NYC on Christmas Eve and came home with tons of great gifts and happy memories (and saw a truly ugly sweater, thanks Aunt Stacy).
- Hosted a neighborhood gathering at our house a day after finishing my first week at a new job. It sounds stressful but it was so much fun. It was the perfect way to kick off our holiday fun – and I learned how to make eggnog. And I also learned that you can only drink about 2 cups of eggnog before wanting to throw-up!
- Had some killer Chinese food on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Fa ra ra ra ra, ra, ra,ra ra.
- Decided to cave in and get the kids a trampoline for Christmas. Look for future posts titled, “Why did we buy a trampoline?” and “Were we nuts when we bought the kids a trampoline? Yes!”.
- Dropping off my girl for a session of winter camp today, sniff…sniff. It’s only 4 days but I really don’t like it when she’s gone.
- Went to see The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Don’t listen to all those Rotten Tomatoes. It’s a sweet, visual, musical movie. Does it have anything to do with the short story? Nope. But it does make you want to visit Greenland and Iceland – so there’s that.
- Only watched A Christmas Story 3 to 8 times, much less than last year.
- Santa brought our son some more inappropriate Xbox games. What can you do, that Santa is a crazy mofo.
- My girl wanted a saxophone for Christmas and we decided to go for it. Instead of buying it outright (incase she changes her mind like the guitar. or the ukulele. or the harmonica. or the…) we decided to rent it from a music and arts store. What happened next was a tragedy of errors that resulted in us going to that store 4 times. I have only one thing to say to the 8 dudes that work there,” dudes, wearing a skinny tie and having a hipster beard only makes you look smart if you aren’t completely incompetent and stupid. You morons.” Sorry. That is all.
- After we drop off my daughter at camp, we head directly to my parents house for Christmas Part Deux. Time to push aside the figgy pudding and make room for the garam masala.
To go with the bullets that make no linear sense – here’s some random photos from the past few days! I’m sorry the boy has no shirt on – but that’s how he rolls in the house. Just keepin’ it real. xoxo
Here’s me wrapped up in a blanket reading my new cookbook (Pioneer Woman!) and my son looking like an angel playing a killing game. I have guilt. Can you tell?
Can you guess which plate of food is mine? Hint: it’s the one that burns going down.
Even in her “ugly” sweater she looks beautiful!
Here’s my two favorite men. I think next year they can switch places in the picture :-).
She loved her saxophone, no thanks to the dopes at the music store. Sorry.
This is my kids exchanging gifts they bought for each other. Is there anything better than that?
19 Dec 2013
by wifemothereventplanner
in Brave New World
Tags: Happiness, humor, Husband, joy, kareoke, Life, marriage, Photograph, Song
I’m going to get in major trouble for posting this pic. But I can’t help myself. In real life, my husband looks like a serious dude. Sometimes his frown does not turn upside down – know what I’m sayin’?
But I think deep inside – he’s always smiling. Look at him doing karaoke with his aunt. Not only did he belt out a tune (Sinatra I think), but then he busted a few moves to make her laugh.
The pic is blurry so I’m hoping he won’t be too angry. He’ll be smiling on the inside when he sees this. Ahem.
16 Dec 2013
by wifemothereventplanner
in Brave New World
Tags: Carly Simon, City, Family, humor, Job, Let the river run, Life, Movies, Music, NYC, Photo, Photography, Tess McGill, work, Working Girl
Day one of my new gig. Here’s the view from my office.
I almost broke out into my favorite Carly Simon song, the one from “Working Girl”. The one I think about every time I see the Staten Island Ferry cause I’m a dork. Anyway all went well and I didn’t get fired. The commute wasn’t that bad and my family did just fine back home.
On the other hand, I’m exhausted. So I’ll keep this short and sweet. Gotta get up tomorrow and do it again!
12 Dec 2013
by wifemothereventplanner
in I need to tell you about this right now
Tags: food, humor, Life, Lunch, Pepper, Photo, Photography, Pizza, Shopping
What would be your last meal? Steak? Lobster? Caviar? Nope. Not me. This would be my last meal.
Cheese. Bread. And a long, hot, pepper! It’s very ethnic of me. I can’t help it. It’s in my blood. It’s of my people. I went out shopping this morning and rewarded myself with this beauty for lunch. Do you know how happy I get when I see a pepper like this? The kind that’s so big it doesn’t even fit in the frame. The kind you find in a pizzeria, laying on top of a pile of garlic knots and waiting for a lunatic like me. Waiting to be sprinkled with sea salt. Waiting to be devoured.
I’m hard pressed to find something that I love more than this combo.
Happiness is a slow, salty burn after your meal. Really.
11 Dec 2013
by wifemothereventplanner
in I need to tell you about this right now
Tags: humor, Life, Photography, Photos, Scenes, Snow, Weather, work
We all had a snow day yesterday.
Don’t these pictures look like they are black and white? They aren’t .
What’s this post about really? I dunno. I took 3 pretty pictures and wanted to share them with you? I’m trying to kill time while waiting in line at the bank? Who knows.
I’m off all the week. It’s my transition week. My I-don’t-work-anywhere week. My I’ll-just-sit-here-and-stress week. Why can’t I luxuriate in my freedom and enjoy the days? Why am I imagining every worse-case scenario? Cause that’s how I roll. My brain is like a chicken with its head cut off.
The snow storm was a nice diversion from all this free time. It was the perfect amount of snow, just enough to feel like a storm but not so much that we are trapped for days. It started at 7am and ended by 3pm. Then the sun came out.
The weather can be so thoughtful sometimes.
03 Dec 2013
by wifemothereventplanner
in Brave New World
Tags: Events, Family, humor, Life, Opportunity, Photo, Quitting a job, Sheldon Cooper, Starting a new job, The Big Bang, travel, tv, work
So I’ve been keeping a secret for the past few weeks. It’s been a monkey on my back – in a positive, happy kinda way.
After 7 years with a company I thought I’d spend the rest of my life at – I resigned. The 5 weeks before my resignation were a whirlwind. I wasn’t job hunting – even though I wasn’t happy. All I did was join LinkedIn – and in the words of Sheldon Cooper – !bazinga!… someone reached out. Things moved quickly and I was offered a really cool job.
As with all we do in my little unit – we talked/obsessed/freaked it out. Can we do it? Do I give up the holy grail of working from home for a long commute? Can we do it? Are we crazy? Yep.Yes.Yep. And of course we are.
We decided to jump in head first – as is our habit.
The saddest part in all this excitement and happiness is my team. It’s been a long, funny, hard, frustrating ride – and I’ll miss every moment of it. Well…not every moment. But I’ll miss them.
So in a couple of weeks – right before the holidays – I’ll start my new adventure.
It feels good to talk about it. To not hide it. It makes it feel real (because I’m a true product of the times and things don’t feel real until they are on social media. There. I said it).
Phew. That felt good to get out. Wish me luck. I’m stepping in. Going for it.
wifemothereventplanner 