Wednesday, December 30, 2009

wooed by wegman's



Like the siren wooing sailors to their destruction, Wegman's seduces me to destroy my bank account. This year I bought most of my Christmas gifts along with my groceries in just a few hours at this store racking up my biggest Wegman's bill ever. Today Wegman's lured me to buy more. I bought this CuisineLite magazine and more groceries than I really needed.


Peppered steak with spinach and tomatoes with potato galettes


my version

I didn't use peppercorns. Instead I used Penzey's Chicago steak seasoning. The bourbon mustard sauce turned out delish. The spinach is flavored with lemon juice and garlic.


As I was checking out I noticed this display of suitcases. My suitcase is on it's last legs and is such a nondescript color that I don't always recognize it at baggage claim. For just $29.99 I bought this suitcase which seems to be fairly well made and will be a stand-out at baggage claim.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

day out



The day after Christmas B needed to exchange a pair of jeans at Old Navy and we wanted to stop at Best Buy to pick up a web cam. We went to Walden Galleria. I was able to avoid this busy mall during December except for getting stuck in mall traffic a bit every night on my way home from work. This mall was already big and has expanded a lot in the last few years by adding on a new wing with upscale stores and four or five restaurants. Also several more big anchor stores. They have built several new parking garages and we still had a terrible time finding somewhere to park. I think everyone in Buffalo and Canada turned up for the sales.

So we are in Old Navy, the line is fifty people long. I've lost Bill. I call. I text. No response. I pick up a couple camisoles in colors I don't already have and a cute gray tank top because I can't resist anything in that sweatshirt gray color. You can never have too much of that. I get in that line. It moves along quickly because there are eight cashiers. I have a clear view of register 8 from my place in line. There is a little flurry of activity at register 8 so I look and see a poor little maybe three or four year old boy standing in a puddle of puke that he had just barfed up all over his sneakers. He just stood there looking so sad that this didn't bother me as much as I would have expected. Watching the clean-up gave me something to do while standing in line. After my purchase I stood around the front of the store waiting for B. I finally spotted him way in the back of the store. He was heading to the dressing room to try on his jeans. So then we stood in the line again.
We followed up with dinner at Bravo, a trip to the Verizon store and Sherlock Holmes at Transit Regal Cinema. I spotted L'Occitane on our walk to Bravo. I didn't even know we had one in our mall. I had bought this honey and lemon cologne at L'Occitane in Scottsdale a couple years back and loved it. I ran in to buy another bottle and was delighted to get it on sale and in this precious bag. Plus I had a nice chat with the sales girl who noticed I was wearing an NCCC hoodie and she had just finished up a semester there and thinks it's a great school which pleased B to no end when I told him.

feed me


awaiting Christmas dinner

Since there were only three of us celebrating Christmas and no set time to eat, I had plenty of time to put together a nice dinner. I made whole wheat yeast rolls the day before.



Beef tenderloin, twice baked potatoes, corn and broccoli casserole, red, white and green beans and beet salad with walnuts and Emmenthal cheese the day of.


Also found the time to make this chocolate log which turned out perfect and perfectly delicious.

christmas kitties


Smudgie under the tree with the other animals. I have taken him to the vet for his allergies and his eyes are looking much better now.


Brody with elf...or is it Tess? Who knows?


Tess under the tree...or is it Brody? Who knows?


Brody and Tess getting chummy with Uncle Sam


the Brodster


Uncle Sam


the Tess monster


Poor Uncle Smudge never did warm up to the kitties and retreated to the guest bedroom where he spent his Christmas

candle, candle burning bright



Candle, candle burning bright,
shining in the cold winter night
Candle, candle burning bright
Fill our hearts with Christmas light

The single creative thing I did this holiday season was put together this arrangement on Christmas Eve. I lit it Christmas morning and blew out the candle late Christmas Day. There, I guess that was Christmas.

account of a visit to medina


Rosemary in her office

On the 14th I made a trip to Medina, NY to meet Rosemary, the office manager, for a doctor client of mine. I have talked to Rosemary on the phone for ten years but have never seen her face. As a goal of our work motto, Exceeding Client Expectations, I decided to meet face to face with clients I have worked with over the years. Rosemary did not look anything like I expected her to look like. She probably thought the same about me. She was, however, just as nice and wonderful as she is on the phone. I installed a new version of Quickbooks for her and taught her how to use the bank reconciliation feature. After we got her up-to-date it was lunchtime. She gave me a choice of restaurants and even though one of them was named Avanti's, it wasn't the same Avanti's from my college days. So I choose Zam Bistro.


Medina exceeded my expectations. I was in awe of this old fashioned adorable town. Rosemary, her sister, Margaret, who also works in the office, and I walked down the street to Zam Bistro. They pointed out to me that every merchant had posted a sign with a stanza of the poem An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas better known as "Twas the Night Before Christmas" in their window. All the windows were decorated for Christmas. This little town made me so nostalgic for similar looking towns in central Illinois where I grew up.


Spinach and calamari salad

Everything on the menu looked too good. I had such a hard time choosing. Thankfully Margaret had the same taste as me and we choose to split the Spinach calamari salad and the pulled pork sandwich.


Pulled pork sandwich with homemade potato chips


Rosemary suggested we all have Espresso creme brulee for dessert. It was an excellent choice.




'Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro' the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,



While visions of sugar plums danced in their heads,
And Mama in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap —
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.



Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters, and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow,
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below;
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,



But a minature sleigh, and eight tiny rein-deer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and call'd them by name:



"Now! Dasher, now! Dancer, now! Prancer and Vixen,
"On! Comet, on! Cupid, on! Dunder and Blitzen;
"To the top of the porch! To the top of the wall!
"Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"
As dry leaves before the wild hurricane fly,



When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of toys — and St. Nicholas too:
And then in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.


As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound:
He was dress'd all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnish'd with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys was flung on his back,




And he look'd like a peddler just opening his pack:
His eyes — how they twinkled! His dimples: how merry,
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry;
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;



The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face, and a little round belly
That shook when he laugh'd, like a bowl full of jelly:
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,



And I laugh'd when I saw him in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And fill'd all the stockings; then turn'd with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.
He sprung to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew, like the down of a thistle:
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight —
And laying his finger aside of his nose
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.
He sprung to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew, like the down of a thistle:
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight —
Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

december is when christmas is



A little hard to see. Note the date...19 years ago today. My boy wrote this and I post it on the fridge every year at Christmas.

December is when Christmas is
When people get and people give
Santa gives to girls and boys
candy and little toys to play
with on Christmas Day. The
girls and boys shout Ya Ya!
December is oh so much joy
when girls and boys play
with pets and toys.

friday in the mall



I spent a few hours Friday afternoon in Eastern Hills Mall. It is a nearby small one story mall. I like it because it is easy to get to and you don't have to fight the crowds or walk miles to get from one end to the other unlike Walden Galleria. It has recently been remodeled and is very pretty inside. I always find everything I want here. I hadn't been there in a while, or any mall for that matter. I found myself having a pleasant time and got a fair amount of Christmas shopping done.



One year, many years ago, I bought my mom a calendar with frame. Every year since I give her a calendar for the frame. So many choices.



This was a new store I hadn't seen before. A cute little luncheon or snack place.



But this is what I really wanted to be doing. Daddies were entertaining children here outside of The Bon Ton while mommies shopped.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

drying lavendar



Every year I grow a big pot of lavendar on my patio. When I walk past it, I pinch off a piece just to hold to my nose and sniff. I have never done much else with it. This year I decided to cut it and dry it to make little lavendar scent pouches for dresser drawers.



I have loved the scent of lavendar ever since I was in junior high. Twiggy and Jean Shrimpton were very popular models and Yardley of London was a very popular cosmetic company. I went through many tubes of Sunrise and Sunset lipstick and bottle after bottle of Oh De London...a cologne whose primary scent was lavendar. My family still gives me lavendar soap, candles etc for gifts and I have never tired of this scent. At this time of my life, my grandma and aunt also introduced me to finer colognes. L'air de Temps, White Shoulders, Shalimar (which has always smelled sweet like candy to me). Colognes come and go and I have found others that I like a lot - Eternity and Covet among them, but I always come back to these.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

2009 gingerbread house



Last Sunday B took advantage of the unseasonably warm weather to put up the Christmas lights. He used to perform this feat by actually straddling the roof until he bought this longer ladder a few years back. I wait in the house ready to call 911 if I hear a crash.



Hansel and Gretel...stay away from my house.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

ramsi p tick concert series


Nichols School Dining Hall

B and I purchased tickets for the 2009-2010 Ramsi P. Tick Concert Series - a series of four concerts. Ramsi, a Buffalo native, was passionate about the arts and committed himself to many projects including founding this concert series totally supported by the concert patrons.

We attended the first concert in the series last night in it's new venue, the auditorium at Nichols School. Nichols is a private high school located near Delaware Park in Buffalo.

The concert was the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra featuring the world renowned German oboeist, Albrecht Mayer. Orpheus is an orchestra that performs without a conductor and rotates musical leadership for each work they play. This very same concert is being performed this evening in Carnegie Hall in NYC. The performance was flawless. My favorite piece wasn't even on the program. Albrecht played an encore of a Bach piece in F sharp that was written for harpischord.



We were invited to a reception following the concert in the dining hall. The second B and I walked into the dining hall we looked at one another and said "This reminds me of Harry Potter".



Yes, Nichols Dining Hall looks just like I imagine Hogwarts Dining Hall to look - complete with Gryffindor flag.


This musician was one who assumed a leadership role in conducting. The facial expressions he used to conduct kept me entertained all evening.


another group of musicians


Albrecht Mayer


Albrecht and his friends posed for me. Not really, they posed for someone else but I took advantage of the photo op. I think the one dude thought he was posing for me.


Albrecht's pretty wife who he promised to take to Niagara Falls.