November 30, 2014

TMZ Alert: Scrooge Seen Shopping in Wilton

While looking at a Christopher Radko display at a New England-y Christmas shop, I gazed over my shoulder and saw this:

I didn't want to stare, but damn ... was that Scrooge eyeing the same Santa Totem ornament? And wait ... did Scrooge actually have TINY TIM on his shoulders? (How brazen in a shop full of fragile Christmas decorations. I could imagine Scrooge saying, "Don't worry about walking around this tight space, Tiny Tim. I've got you. Here, jump up on my shoulders. I'm ony 94 years old. There you go. Keep your right hand up for better balance, but I've got you, little guy.")

Being that I am perfectly cool around celebs, I didn't wince and continued looking straight at the holiday display of stockings and ornaments. After a long moment, I realized, though, that Scrooge and Tiny Tim did not move, blink or twitch. (This duo definitely earned their SAG-AFTRA cards. They were excellent.)

How did they do it? They were wax figures!! A hefty price tag dangled from one of Scrooge's elbows.  Not to be Mrs. Bossypants, but would you really want these guys hanging around your house over the holidays?

Too strange.

November 24, 2014

HUFFINGTON POST: "Thanksgiving Turkey: Let's Get Fresh"


Why am I so panicked about hosting at my house? My brother and sister are major foodies. One Thanksgiving I didn't put the bird in the oven long enough. Outrage/hunger/panic/self-loathing ensued because it was after 6:00 p.m. and the bird still wasn't finished.

Then there's the part about one guest inhaling a giblet and a run to the ER on Martha's Vineyard. Share my angst.

 Click here  for my Huffington Post

                                 "Thanksgiving Turkey: Let's Get Fresh"


November 19, 2014

Do you "Serve from the left, clear from the right?" -- Here are 10 Helpful Tips for Thanksgiving Dinner

                                                      Maren Caruso via Getty Images
It's almost turkey time. 

Conversations abound with, "How many guests are you having for dinner?" and "What sides are you serving?" and "Are you brining/marinating/smoking/deep-frying/steaming/grilling/rotisserie-spinning your turkey?"

Feeling pressured?

Check out my Huffington Post, "10 Thanksgiving Tips for Turkey Day: Keep it Real."
(Click here.)

Have any Thanksgiving tips you'd like to share? And is it gauche to make more than three pies if you have 10 guests or less at the table? And do you know how to break it politely to someone that they've got a stray glob of mashed potatoes on their chin? Read on.


November 17, 2014

Multilingual à la Google

If you scroll down the right-hand column of this blog, you will see a google translation gauge that looks like this:

There are 84 languages. At the flip of a switch, you literally have the key to breaking down world communication barriers.

I have always wished I could write in Japanese. Now I can!  (私はいつも、私は日本語で書くことができます願っています。今私はできる!)

I have had a life-long yearning to be able to write in Icelandic because I like the "o"s and "umlaut" is one of my favorite words. (Ég hef haft að ævilöngu þrá til að vera fær um að skrifa á íslensku því ég er hrifin af "O" s og " Umlaut " er eitt af uppáhalds orðum mínum.)

Norwegian is cool, too. (Norsk er kult, også.)
I also feel a calling to Kannada. (ನಾನು ಕನ್ನಡ ಒಂದು ಕರೆ ಅಭಿಪ್ರಾಯ.)

So many choices. (So many choices.)



November 15, 2014

Grilled Cheese please



Is there anyone in the world who doesn't LOVE melted grilled cheese sandwiches? (If so, I don't think I can be friends with them.)

The Big Melt is happening every weekend at Plum Plums Cheese on Westchester Avenue in Pound Ridge. I usually slap together some American on white and throw it in a pan until it sizzles out from the bread. Plum Plums does it with much more refinement.

In one bite, Plum Plums owners Gayle Martin and her husband, Michael Riahi, take you to the rareified Land of Gourmet Grilled Cheese. Try their Prairie Breeze cheddar and 12-month cave-aged Gruyere, with a dab of Bonnie's Peach & Ginger Jam.

Say what???  Say, real cheese please.
This bonified frommagerie serves cheeses from around the world. In their prime. Want some more?  Check out Gayle on her recent TV appearance on FiOS1 (click here). 


November 13, 2014

November 12, 2014

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You


A friend and I were chatting today about thank you notes. As in ... it takes exactly three seconds to write the two words, "Thank you."

Get primed for the upcoming holiday season. Do you have note cards? Something simple on which to write ...
(and I'm counting ...) "Thank you." (Whew. That took a good three seconds.)

While you consider the importance of TY notes (not to mention keeping alive the United States Postal System), thought you might enjoy my Huffington Post, "Parenting Adult Children: When to Stop Nagging and Let 20-Somethings Grow Up."  (Click here.)

Writing thank you notes was ingrained in my children when they were 3-years old. They had their own note cards and would dictate to me what to write. (Hint: I wrote upside-down to make it look like they had written the note.)

Gratitude is the attitude. For the simplest gift, show your appreciation for the time and thought someone put into y-o-u.
Your graciousness will shine.

Thank you.

November 11, 2014

Break Out the Muffs

Let me see ... how can I break this to you easily. AccuWeather has forecasted that this delightful mild weather is just a big fat tease for the Northeast.

Right now, daytime temps are mild in the low-60s but by Thursday there will be a steep drop. "Warm coats, gloves and scarves should be kept close by. A December-like chill is expected to settle in across the region by the weekend."

And the next paragraph actually mentions ARCTIC AIR followed by the chilling words, "... steadily surging south as the POLAR VORTEX dips toward the north-central U.S." 

Followed by something about an air mass "... usher[ing] in the lowest temperatures of the season so far in the Northeast."

"Usher"? Are we trying to be polite?  

This is all making me feel good compared to a weather report of 1987 in Washington, D.C. where an early season snowstorm clobbered the area with 17-inches of snow, accompanied by thunder and lightning.

Time to face the facts. It's November. No if's, and's or but's. It's time to bring out the muffs.







November 10, 2014

In Honor of Veterans Day

On Veterans Day, we honor the men and women who served our country so valiantly. 
My Uncle Stanley fought in the last World War II battle in Okinawa and is buried at National Memorial Cemetery in the Pacific in Honolulu,. 

Whenever you see someone in uniform, please take a moment to stop and say, "Thank you for your service to our country."


November 9, 2014

November 8, 2014

Diana Vreeland: A Surfer Wannabe


While watching Diana Vreeland in the documentary, "The Eye Has to Travel,"  I was rivetted by her stunning sense of self, originality, her timeless razor-edge style and the brilliance she brought to the pages of Vogue. And though she was a legendary arbiter of fashion, art and culture, there was one quote related to surfing that I adore:  

"I'm really only envious of one thing, and that is a surfer. I think it's the most beautiful thing. See I'm mad about water. I think water is God's tranquilizer. To be in it, to drink it, to look at it, and to be a surfer -- oh, between the sky and the water -- would be to me, the most wonderful thing."
                                                            ~ Diana Vreeland
                             
I, too, love surfing. Not to do it, but to watch it, learn about it, write about it. (Anyone remember my "Subway Surfer" project for the music video?)  

If in doubt, paddle out. But before you goclick here to experience the thrill that DV and I share about surfers and surfing. 

Oh, to be a surfer and standup to a wave as it carries you back to shore.  



November 3, 2014

Winter's Visual Perk: Gorgeous Amaryllis

Clocks turned back. Sweaters unpacked. Temperatures dipping into the 40s. Amaryllis planted for holiday-time bloom.

Winter is surely here.


November 2, 2014

Daylight Savings: Turning Back Time


I know that The 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded jointly to Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs), which has enabled bright and energy saving white light sources, but I just turned a new leaf  to put down all LEDs and computer screens after a certain hour.

For years I have been using my iPhone as an alarm clock. Every night I would set it within a few minutes of 7:00 a.m.. On Mondays, I might "sleep in" a little and set it for 7:04.  But whatever I set it to, I always managed to check a little email before going to sleep. Even though I promised myself, "No email. Just set the darn clock."

"Maybe just one email," I'd say to myself. And before I knew it, I had gone through 10 of them and was once again jazzed up from not only the bright light of the screen but the content of the emails and the mostly call-to-actions they communicated, e.g., "Let's meet tomorrow at 9:30 to discuss," or "Can you take photos at the event?" or  "When will the Table of Contents be finished?"

All very relaxing messages. NOT.

So I took a step to turn back time. I bought myself a 1931 Big Ben alarm clock. It has no bright back light and makes no swishing sounds. It emits a gentle low volume ring that is reminiscent of waking up in 4th grade to go to school. Rather than keep me nervewrackingly awake like my iPhone screen does, the Big Ben lulls me to sleep. It's a silent sweep to Dreamland without all the tones, beeps, and cu-ca-racha.

Today, you, too, fall back in time with or without Big Ben. Remember to turn back your clocks one hour. It's Daylight Savings Time. Good luck to the NYC Marathon runners! (I heard they can trim off an hour of their running time because the race takes place on Daylight Savings Day.)

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