Winter

I'm a Miami girl. I may not have been born there, and I may have moved away a few times in the past, but when in comes to the climate I'm most comfortable in bring me 90 degree weather all the way.  This has been a hard adjustment for me to make in New York. As much as I love the city and all its many activities in winter I just want to hibernate with some warm soup and good books.  There aren't many good reasons to venture out, in my opinion.  However, in the interests of being an optimist, here are a few things that are not completely horrible about winter in New York City.

1. The Christmas Fairs (or holiday fairs, if I'm being politically correct).  I love them.  There is no similar semi-permanent market during the winter months in Miami that I'm aware of.  And even though it's an outdoor market and therefore completely freezing, it is just what I pictured Christmas and winter to be like when I was still basking in the warm sun of Florida.  I do a lot of my Christmas shopping here because I am a total sucker for these kitchy homemade craft things, and it is one of the few things that will get me to voluntarily spend an hour or two outdoors in winter.

2.  Ice rinks are pretty cool too. I actually even wrote an article about them on Associated Content.  I only end up going a couple times each winter and I'm very very bad at it but it is, again, one of the pictures I had of winter in my head back when outdoor ice rinks were more of a theoretical issue.  I feel very New Yorky when skating around the rink and the cheesy Christmas music they blare only adds to that.

3.  Winter clothing is cute for the first couple months. But then again, so is summer clothing. I'm maybe calling this one a draw.

4. Snow. I'm enough of a southerner to still get a little excited by it, though the first flush of new love has  passed.

Aaannndddd...that's all I can think of for now. I'll try to come up with a few more, if only to chant them to myself in February when ALL I WANT TO DO IS DIE and the cold feels like it will never, never end.  So.  Yay winter?

Rolling my way into the New Year

I love Christmas. I love buying gifts (not the financial part so much this year), I love getting gifts (oh yes I do. I am five when it comes to opening gifts), I love the food and the good will and getting to see friends and family.  This year has been wonderful. I spent Christmas Eve cooking.

I made:
Chicken.
Stuffing. Lots of stuffing. I mean I lifted the skin of the chicken and stuffed it there too. There's more stuffing then chicken.
Mashed Potatoes
Wild Rice
Spinach
Stuffed Mushrooms
Cornbread
2 Key Lime Pies
Cheese and bread and salame to start off with.

This was all for me and my boyfriend.  We did not get to the pie, which was fine because I planned to bring one each to my friend and my boyfriend's family.  I also made baked cucumber, but am not counting that because I thought it was zucchini.  Oops. My boyfriend just about fell off his chair when he realized, and he got an inordinate amount of enjoyment retelling this to family and friends. Just one more little Christmas gift for him, I guess.

I also did not really get around to decorating the tree, since my bf brought it over on the 23rd and I was busy shopping and cooking. It is still really cute though.

There were eventually a few more gifts under it.  The large package, a bread maker for my bf, did not end up going over well so we're going to go exchange it at some point this week. I knew it was a risky gift but he does like to bake his own bread...oh well. Not every gift can be a winner.

Christmas itself was spent with a great friend, a former college room mate, at her mom's house. Which I love because it is just so cozy and comfortable.  They know how to do Christmas right, too. We had a big brunch, with liberal applications of mimosa added in. Then we went for a walk to make more room and continued on to pie and wine. Then more wine. Then beer. Then drinking games (with more beer).  The drinking game, by the way, accompanied what is perhaps the worst movie ever produced, Saving Sara Caine.  Oh god.

In between all this we exchanged gifts (I got a belated birthday gift and more wine).  Then we staggered back to the train to get back to NY after a wholly satisfying day.  The next day we were back on the train to head to my bf's family.  I slept on the train, and also on the armchair after a large dinner at a nearby Chinese restaurant (one of those places where the chef sets the table on fire and flings hot food towards your face.  Fun, but a little daunting if you know yourself to be, say, just slightly klutzy).  There was a good deal of wine on offer here too.

So, basically, I have taken the first steps to a lifelong problem with alcohol this holiday season. Ok, not really, but how do recovering addicts do it? If any more alcohol had been flung down my throat I would have had to swim home instead of taking the train.  Which is just how I like my holiday celebrations.  Lots of food, drink, friends and family.  So Merry belated Christmas (and Hanukah and Kwanzaa and etc.) to everyone and I hope everyone had as good a time as me.

Chocolate and Caramel covered popcorn

I am exhausted. I don't know why, since all I did was clean a bit today and make the aforementioned popcorn (and send out a resume or two), but I could fall asleep now and not wake up until tomorrow.  However!  For your viewing pleasure, here is the finished product:

The picture, as usual, does not do it justice. I need a digital camera.

It was pretty easy to make too, though kind of time consuming.  I made the popcorn first, obviously. I made it on the stove, not microwave, because otherwise it would have already been seasoned and the caramel and chocolate would have tasted funky.

Then I made caramel. This is just melted sugar, with a little water poured on it to make it easier to melt. Once the sugar is melted watch it carefully as it starts to brown, stirring occasionally.  As soon as it is golden take it off the heat - it burns easily and tastes terrible if burned.

Sugar melting in the water. I put too much water, so it took a while to caramelize.

Then I poured that on the popcorn and stirred it all around with a wooden spoon.  WARNING: Melted sugar is HOT.  Do not touch it. Be careful stirring and pouring it and use a spoon or something to mix it into the popcorn.

Then I melted some dark chocolate and drizzled that on.

Viola! A nice Christmas treat. I'm thinking of making a bunch of this and handing it out to friends instead of gifts, along with maybe some cookies.

Santa's little helper

I spent the day doing my Christmas shopping.  I'm pretty pleased with my purchases, though it's hard to shop on such a tight budget and still have gifts I'm really happy with. I got a weird look when I asked a vendor advice about my half sister's gift ("I need something for a Portugese speaking 10 year old I've never met. Do you think she'd like this?").  A couple of gifts I'm a little worried about now, though they seemed fine when I got them.  My mother, primarily, once pitched an enormous, crying fit over the color of a sweater my siblings and I had gotten her. Gift buying for her has been a bit fraught ever since.

I love Christmas shopping in New York though. I was at the little street festival at Union Square today and it's nice knowing that everything I got could only be got in New York, right there. It's not a chain, you can't go online and order it; you have to be in New York, in Union Square, if you want it.  Plus, walking around and being able to browse such a huge variety of home made, craft, or just cool little things was fun, money or no money. I had to resist buying several unneeded items, but I made it and only went over budget (so far) by a few dollars.   I was literally staggering under the weight of everything I was carrying today, and sheer exhaustion (and back pain) finally sent me home.

Tomorrow I'm venturing out again to try to get the last couple gifts I need, for my bf (boyfriend) and my bf (best friend). :-).  They are the hardest, because it is important they like what I get them.  After the holidays are over I'll post pictures of everything I got and gave.  I love Christmas.
I found something great for my bf, but didn't buy it as it was almost twice the budget we set. I'm considering going back for it though, as I think he would like it and I really want to get him something he likes.