We seem to be having a heatwave. We’ve officially had 90 degree temperatures for a couple of days now and we’re supposed to get up near 100 degrees on Wednesday.
I’m not enjoying the heatwave. While it’s normal in July and August, it’s just plain bizarre in June. June is supposed to be a transition month- the gentle balmy spring gives way to the more aggressive temperatures of the summer. June is NOT supposed to be summer. Not yet.
It’s odd, really. In April and May, we had near-record rainfall. We haven’t had rain in quite some time. Well, that’s unless you count the odd shower we had on Saturday when I’d just put my nice furniture outside so I could work on the floor project. The sun was shining, the skies were blue and then…it rained. It was most bizarre. I’m pretty sure if I hadn’t put the furniture outside, it wouldn’t have rained. It’s that whole Murphy’s law thing.
So, it’s really dry at the moment and hot. It’s also quite humid. It makes it hard to be outside for any real length of time. I try to still walk the dogs every night but I have to plan our route carefully. Rory lays down in complete protest whenever she’s hot and tired. It’s a little embarrassing when I’m walking and then, suddenly, I have a dog laying horizontally on the ground, refusing to move. I almost carried her yesterday but then I realized that it would be a little ridiculous to carry a dog when we were on a walk.
The neighbourhood seems to be suffering the heat too. There are less people out and about and more people sitting in lawn chairs. My neighbourhood seems to be very big on putting chairs on the front stoop and watching the rest of the neighbourhood. I feel as though I’m doing something wrong by sitting on my back patio in private when every other house has someone sitting outside.
The lawns are also suffering a little. Two weeks ago, there seemed to be an unspoken contest to see who could keep their lawn the shortest and tidiest. I didn’t compete. At best, my lawn looks ok but I can’t be bothered to try for those diagonal lines that seem to be in fad. Also, there seems to be a certain height of grass that the Meticulous Mowers aspire to achieve whereas my mower seems to mow on short, shorter or very short.
Now, the lawns are being left a little longer because mowing is a bit more of a challenge in this heat. In my case, I have to mow tonight because the grass is getting long and it’s inconvenient for my low-lying dachshunds as they run their normal path. I find it interesting that dogs have a regular path, by the way. My girls have a very set pattern when they get outside. The grass has a track built into it from their constant runs in this pattern. My parents’ dogs are the same way.
In this heat, the girls start out running but within moments, they become more sluggish, their tongues start lolling out of their mouths and they only give it a short time before they run inside to the cooler air conditioned shelter. Sookie will splay out on the kitchen floor which is cooler than the carpet. Rory will gorge on water and come away from the bowl still slurping so that the floor gets rather wet and drippy. Then she’ll inevitably come and try to lick me which is rather a wet experience.
Still, I’m trying not to let the heat deter me from doing stuff outside even though it’s hotter than it should be. I did plant some flowers yesterday. I need to plant some vegetables too althoughmy seedling harvest this year is pathetic. For every pack of seeds I planted, I think I got maybe 5 plants at most. I’m not sure why. I’m hoping for some zucchini, at least. I can get tomatoes and peppers from elsewhere.
It’s just that when I do garden, I come inside all sweaty and crotchety. Even when I’m working inside, that happens. My un-tiling project this weekend was in the one room of my house that wasn’t air conditioned. As a result, I’m quite glad I didn’t have anyone around to snap at and bark at- I wasn’t very pleasant. Unfortunately, during one of my waspish periods where I was very hot and rather sick of scraping tiles, Son of Dog Whisperer and his little friend rang my doorbell. They wanted me to buy a bottle of warm water for $1. They had their lemonade stand again and were trying to solicit from me. Normally, I might have been more polite but given their behavior last time combined with my rather crotchety frame of mind, I firmly told them I was too busy to mess around and they needed to not ring my doorbell again. They wanted to know what I was doing and when I told them I was redoing the floor, they started asking questions. I was a little rude, I know but I closed the door and said, “not today, sorry but I have to get back to work.”
I feel a little bad because I know I was quite mean to them but, honestly, if I didn’t tell them straight, they’d probably have started begging for money again and I was not about to indulge them. There’s a line between being cutely enterprising and being downright obnoxious and they far crossed the line last time.
Besides, it was hot and I was grouchy.
I’m trying not to become too grouchy on a regular basis even though it’s hot. I find that it doesn’t do to stay out too long in the heat. Regular air conditioning breaks are a good way to make it tolerable. Besides, this is only the start of the Dog Days of Summer and I better get used to it.
Still, I can’t help but wonder if maybe, just maybe, Spring will back for a little while and we’ll get our 75 degree days with a light breeze.
I’ll keep hoping as the thermometer begins to climb. It doesn’t hurt to hope…right?
Happy Tuesday!
Monday, June 6, 2011
Sunday, June 5, 2011
A Tile-Filled Weekend...
This was a very productive weekend for me.
Well, I suppose I should say that if you consider spending a total of 15 hours on your hands and knees pulling up vinyl tile productive.
It's a weird form of productivity. I think it's all about goals. In the grand scheme of things, peeling up old vinyl tile piece by tiny piece does not seem like it's really that significant. However, there were 384 tiles altogether.
You might wonder how I know that but, well, I did some math and I don't think I'm far off. Also, the room is 384 square feet. The tiles were one foot square each. The maths isn't THAT hard.
However, after I spent my entire day on Saturday peeling up tiles, the last couple of hours on a Sunday where I could actually count the last few remaining pieces of evilness seemed like a triumph. By the time I got to that very last tile, I had found a new definition of the word "overjoyed."
My tools were the following: A tile scraper, my Wonderbar, knee pads and gloves.
I have to admit, last weekend was WAY more fun. I'd much rather have been eating at Babbo that eating the microwave Lean Gourmet pizza for dinner that I had on Saturday night.
Still, I triumphed. The evil old vinyl tile is gone and I have a clean, even concrete floor upon which I can lay my new tiles. As I said, in the grand scheme of things it may not seem like much but, well, to me, I may as well have conquered Mt. Everest.
As a result of my tile prying, I have a grand total of 9 blisters on my hands. I have bruised knees and an aching back. I also feel slightly awesome because, well, I set my mind to do it and I did it.
I feel a little bad for the dogs though. Many times, Sookie tried to climb into my lap because she wanted a cuddle and since I was just sitting on the floor, why shouldn't she climb into my lap? It was nice to have a cuddle but, unfortunately, it wasn't condusive to tile prying.
It's sad, really. Last weekend, I spent a wonderful three days wandering around Manhattan with my good friend, eating good food and enjoying nice weather. This weekend, I enjoyed 93 degree heat and quick food while spending almost the entire weekend in my Tuscan room.
On the bright side, I do feel quite pleased that I did it by myself. I also learned a lot about vinyl tiles. I also feel that now that I've stripped that room down to its bare bones, it's really my room and it's really my project.
On the downside, I didn't do very much else this weekend. Next weekend will be dedicated to putting down new vinyl tiles. I'm hoping that if I ever move and the person who buys this house doesn't like my tiles, they won't have quite so hard of a time pulling them up as I did.
Being a homeowner definitely leads you to do some interesting things, that I will say. Nevertheless, with a weekend like last to fuel me, I really am not complaining. A project like that leads to plenty of meditative thinking because there's not much else to do while prying tiles. I learned that a) I'm a little obsessed with HBO's "Game of Thrones," b) I can't wait for "True Blood" to come back and c) I really should edit some of my earlier novels and think about self-publishing them...
There was a lot of other thoughts too but most of them were about food which, really, isn't a surprise, is it?
Now, on Sunday evening, my aching back and tired bones are ready to relax for a couple of hours before its back to work tomorrow. In a way, it actually feels nice to know I worked hard today.
If only I didn't have to work hard tomorrow too...ah well, you can't have everything! :)
Thanks, as always, for reading and Happy Monday!
Well, I suppose I should say that if you consider spending a total of 15 hours on your hands and knees pulling up vinyl tile productive.
It's a weird form of productivity. I think it's all about goals. In the grand scheme of things, peeling up old vinyl tile piece by tiny piece does not seem like it's really that significant. However, there were 384 tiles altogether.
You might wonder how I know that but, well, I did some math and I don't think I'm far off. Also, the room is 384 square feet. The tiles were one foot square each. The maths isn't THAT hard.
However, after I spent my entire day on Saturday peeling up tiles, the last couple of hours on a Sunday where I could actually count the last few remaining pieces of evilness seemed like a triumph. By the time I got to that very last tile, I had found a new definition of the word "overjoyed."
My tools were the following: A tile scraper, my Wonderbar, knee pads and gloves.
I have to admit, last weekend was WAY more fun. I'd much rather have been eating at Babbo that eating the microwave Lean Gourmet pizza for dinner that I had on Saturday night.
Still, I triumphed. The evil old vinyl tile is gone and I have a clean, even concrete floor upon which I can lay my new tiles. As I said, in the grand scheme of things it may not seem like much but, well, to me, I may as well have conquered Mt. Everest.
As a result of my tile prying, I have a grand total of 9 blisters on my hands. I have bruised knees and an aching back. I also feel slightly awesome because, well, I set my mind to do it and I did it.
I feel a little bad for the dogs though. Many times, Sookie tried to climb into my lap because she wanted a cuddle and since I was just sitting on the floor, why shouldn't she climb into my lap? It was nice to have a cuddle but, unfortunately, it wasn't condusive to tile prying.
It's sad, really. Last weekend, I spent a wonderful three days wandering around Manhattan with my good friend, eating good food and enjoying nice weather. This weekend, I enjoyed 93 degree heat and quick food while spending almost the entire weekend in my Tuscan room.
On the bright side, I do feel quite pleased that I did it by myself. I also learned a lot about vinyl tiles. I also feel that now that I've stripped that room down to its bare bones, it's really my room and it's really my project.
On the downside, I didn't do very much else this weekend. Next weekend will be dedicated to putting down new vinyl tiles. I'm hoping that if I ever move and the person who buys this house doesn't like my tiles, they won't have quite so hard of a time pulling them up as I did.
Being a homeowner definitely leads you to do some interesting things, that I will say. Nevertheless, with a weekend like last to fuel me, I really am not complaining. A project like that leads to plenty of meditative thinking because there's not much else to do while prying tiles. I learned that a) I'm a little obsessed with HBO's "Game of Thrones," b) I can't wait for "True Blood" to come back and c) I really should edit some of my earlier novels and think about self-publishing them...
There was a lot of other thoughts too but most of them were about food which, really, isn't a surprise, is it?
Now, on Sunday evening, my aching back and tired bones are ready to relax for a couple of hours before its back to work tomorrow. In a way, it actually feels nice to know I worked hard today.
If only I didn't have to work hard tomorrow too...ah well, you can't have everything! :)
Thanks, as always, for reading and Happy Monday!
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Wunderbar Wonderbar....Cupcake
I have decided that it’s quite hard to get back to work after a rather nice little mini-break. Even though this week is shorter because of Memorial Day on Monday, time seems to have slowed down.
It doesn’t help that things are a little slow in the office either. It’s the type of week where people are sliding out a little early each day and going home. It’s also been a nice week, weather-wise. Since we’ve had so much rain lately, the rare treat of a warm week with sunshine and no rain makes it a little hard to focus.
I didn’t sneak out early yesterday but I did leave on time. I’ve decided the best way to not be sad that my trip to NYC is over for a while is to throw myself into some projects I haven’t been able to get to because of the rain. The number one project is finishing my pesky Tuscan room. I’ve had the floor tiles for ages but because the room is an add-on to the house, it’s the only way out to the back garden for the dogs and for me. This means that trying to do the floor while it’s raining would be a little silly because it would constantly have wet dog footprints on it. Also, I have furniture in there that needs to go outside while I tile the floor so rain doesn’t help that matter either.
Fortunately, this weekend is going to be dry and hot. I figured I wouldn’t get another opportunity for a while so I decided that this is the weekend the floor goes down.
This means that the carpet in the room had to come up. Since it was rubbish day yesterday, I wanted the carpet to get pulled up and taken away immediately. Thus, last night, I spent the evening pulling up carpet.
I do not enjoy pulling up carpet. It’s not so bad cutting the actual carpet up and getting rid of it. It’s just that around the edges there are these nasty little things called tack strips. Since these look somewhat like one of those weird bed of nails that people sometimes lie on in order to get attention in a public place, they’re not a good thing to leave sticking up. I know they’re there so I wouldn’t accidentally step on the but try explaining to two dachshunds that they should watch where they walk.
So, I had to pull up those tack strips. Fortunately, thanks to Google, I already knew the best method of doing so was to buy something called a Wonderbar pry bar from Lowes. So, last night, I stopped off at my neighbourhood friendly Lowes and bought one.
I have recently discovered that it’s quite nice to pretend I don’t know what I’m doing in Lowes. I actually do know where most things are there and, even if I don’t, I’m quite good at locating them. Until very recently, I got annoyed that as soon as I walked in, I’d be asked if I needed help by some male employee of the store. I know it sounds sexist but that’s the way it was- I think they assumed because I was female, I needed help. This used to annoy me.
However, recently, I’ve found it quite fun to pretend I need help. It sounds silly but it’s rather nice to have someone make sure I find exactly what I want. Even though there are times when I know where I really need to go and the employee doesn’t, it’s actually quite fun to watch them get a little stressed until they help me locate my item.
Yes, yes…I know. I’m betraying feminist strength all over the place. The thing is, I’m a single woman and I do find that being very independent is rather intimidating to men. It’s a stereotype but it’s a stereotype for a reason. Thus, I’m trying to be less intimidating. Hey, you never know.
Anyway, I did finally get my Wonderbar last night and I’m rather glad I did. That thing is a bloody marvel. All I need is my handy dandy hammer and the Wonderbar and the tack strips came up with just a few taps. I like that.
In the end, I actually did get the carpet up and all the tack strips removed. I also removed these evil metal things that may or may not be called bullheads that were firmly fastened to the floor near the entranceways.
The room is looking better. Under the carpet was a nice thin layer of vinyl tiles that is smooth enough to provide a good surface for my new tile. All I have to do is finish pulling up a few stray nails in the floor with my Wonderbar. I’m very pleased with that purchase. I’m actually amazed at the things I now own that I’ve discovered are quite useful. For one, I now own a hacksaw with a blade for cutting both metal and tree brances. I also own a nifty screwgun that is WAY easier than using a screw driver for things. Also, I own a pipe wrench. Now I own a Wonderbar. Who knew being a homeowner would inspire me to own such an interesting collection of tools.
Of course, the problem with the Wonderbar (and I realize this is a highly personal problem) is that every time I write it, say it or think it, it reminds me of something you’d get out of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. This, in turn, makes me suddenly want something sweet which, thanks to Saz and Magnolia Bakery’s introduction of good cupcakes into my life then makes me want a cupcake quite badly.
As I said, I realize this is a highly personal problem. Only I could turn a prybar into a cupcake in my mind. I don’t know what’s more annoying: The fact that I’m now craving lemon cupcakes with buttercream frosting even though I’m not a cake person or the fact that I can’t have one.
Ah well, maybe finishing up prepping the floor for the new tiles will help take my mind off cupcakes. Of course, I will be using the Wonderbar so maybe not.
Crap, I did it again. Now I want a cupcake.
Happy Thursday and thanks for reading!
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Things I Learned on My Vacation...
As a follow-up to yesterdays blog, I decided I’d still write about my trip today since it was worthy of a couple of entries. However, rather than provide nauseating details about everything we did, I decided to just share some details and observations about everything because, well, I like to make lists. Lists are fun.
Things I learned in New York, by Captain Monkeypants
1) Babbo is a near perfect restaurant because not only is the food spectacular and the wine just as stellar but they play Guns n’ Roses while you’re eating. Personally, I find this awesome because few songs make you want to rock out like “Paradise City’ and, well, I like things to have a twist. Nothing has a twist like an upscale, fancy, well-staffed Italian restaurant that blasts G n’ R while you eat. Seriously.
2) Tourists in New York are annoying. Yes, I was a tourist myself but there are certain common sensical things that you do to make sure you’re not an annoying tourist. When in the throng of Times Square pedestrian traffic, it is not a good idea to stop and stare up at the billboards without moving out of the MIDDLE of the sidewalk. People will crash into you. Really.
3) Cupcakes that have a soft, whipped buttercream frosting are enough to turn a non-cake eater into a cake eater. I thought cupcakes were like those ones you get from Kroger or Albertsons where they have the primary coloured nasty sweet frosting and some type of pick thing stuck in them to indicate a holiday or birthday. Apparently real cupcakes actually taste good. REALLY good.
4) There are a lot of people who drink wine who really like to do that swirly, sniffing, sipping thing. I get it. I know there’s a point to it. However, it still makes you look horribly pretentious when you do it.
5) Tom Colicchio’s restaurant, Colicchio and Sons, has pens with their restaurant name on them that you use to sign the check. Yes, I stole ours. Yes, that’s not good to admit but it’s kind of awesome. Sorry, Tom Colicchio but, thanks for the pen. Also, thanks for pretty decent ricotta frittata with caramelized onions, arugula and honey. Quite tasty. Not sure about the cheddar grits though. I’m glad I tried them since I’ve never really had grits before. I’m sure lots of people liked them but, to me (and to Saz,) they kind of reminded me of a warm tapioca pudding with more butter.
6) Lying in the Hudson River Park on a warm spring afternoon, drinking prosecco and listening to Mikey Doughty’s “I Hear the Bells,” with my best friend is one of the best ways to spend time ever.
7) Sometimes, I miss city life but I don’t miss the urine/sewer smell that rises up when it gets hot.
8) When you pick up a dress that you like in a discount designer store, $800 is considered a bargain when it originally cost $2200. It’s a bargain I can’t afford but it was a nice dress.
9) When you can afford to pay a little more for a hotel room than you could when you were 23, it means that not only do you get a decent sized room but you also get a TV that is not balanced on top of a closet and Aveda products in the bathroom.
10) Aveda conditioner did not seem to condition my hair at all. I’ll stick to my Pantene for now, thanks.
11) When in a shuttle from the airport with a driver who is trying to maneuver around Manhattan in a ton of traffic, it’s best to close your eyes and not look because otherwise it is entirely possible for motion sickness to make you feel…well…sick.
12) Times Square has a lot of chain restaurants. People eat at the chain restaurants. There is a Red Lobster. Red Lobster is fine when you’re in, say, Ohio or somewhere else but if you’re in New York….really? Red Lobster?
13) There are lots of dachshunds in New York. I noticed. None were as cute as mine.
14) When there is a lot of traffic and a police car is trying to get through, motorbike riders will literally hold onto the police car so they, too, can get through the gaps that other drivers are forced to create for the siren-blasting police car. Other cars will also try to get through said gap but they do so at the risk of other drivers hitting them for even having the nerve to try it.
15) There is a Home Depot in Manhattan. I suppose it makes sense but this is not the type of store you expect to see in Manhattan. I asked Saz if she supposed they sold lawnmowers because, well, there is very little grass in Manhattan that is not part of a park.
16) Jack Bauer would have made an excellent addition to the plot of the play, “That Championship Season.” I would like him to have had a hacksaw and a gun. Also, I think that cool choke-hold he has would greatly have improved matters and livened things up.
17) Just because famous actors are in a play does not mean they should be in a play. Also, next time we think about choosing a play because it has famous actors in it, we should go see “Mary Poppins, The Musical” instead. At least it might have dancing penguins and chimneysweeps.
18) Funk music= the song that never ends. Ever.
19) Having phones with GPS make it a lot less obvious that you’re a tourist than standing around with a giant map.
20) Tribeca is called Tribeca because it stands for the “Triangle Below Canal [Street]”. Also, Soho is called Soho because it’s “South of Houston [Street]”. Thanks, Saz!
21) When you have a subway card in your bag and then you switch bags, it is smart to put the subway ticket in the new bag. Otherwise, you have to buy a new one. You also feel like an idiot because you already have a ticket.
22) Wear comfortable shoes. I did. Mostly.
I could probably go on for several hours more but, for now, I think that’s it. In a nutshell, it was a fabulous trip and while I wish I could go back and do it all over, it was one of those that we’d never be able to recreate because you never can. Instead, I think I’ll just enjoy the memories until it’s time to make some new ones.
Granted, I might get a craving for Babbo before then but, well, at least I have the cookbook.
Happy Thursday.
Things I learned in New York, by Captain Monkeypants
1) Babbo is a near perfect restaurant because not only is the food spectacular and the wine just as stellar but they play Guns n’ Roses while you’re eating. Personally, I find this awesome because few songs make you want to rock out like “Paradise City’ and, well, I like things to have a twist. Nothing has a twist like an upscale, fancy, well-staffed Italian restaurant that blasts G n’ R while you eat. Seriously.
2) Tourists in New York are annoying. Yes, I was a tourist myself but there are certain common sensical things that you do to make sure you’re not an annoying tourist. When in the throng of Times Square pedestrian traffic, it is not a good idea to stop and stare up at the billboards without moving out of the MIDDLE of the sidewalk. People will crash into you. Really.
3) Cupcakes that have a soft, whipped buttercream frosting are enough to turn a non-cake eater into a cake eater. I thought cupcakes were like those ones you get from Kroger or Albertsons where they have the primary coloured nasty sweet frosting and some type of pick thing stuck in them to indicate a holiday or birthday. Apparently real cupcakes actually taste good. REALLY good.
4) There are a lot of people who drink wine who really like to do that swirly, sniffing, sipping thing. I get it. I know there’s a point to it. However, it still makes you look horribly pretentious when you do it.
5) Tom Colicchio’s restaurant, Colicchio and Sons, has pens with their restaurant name on them that you use to sign the check. Yes, I stole ours. Yes, that’s not good to admit but it’s kind of awesome. Sorry, Tom Colicchio but, thanks for the pen. Also, thanks for pretty decent ricotta frittata with caramelized onions, arugula and honey. Quite tasty. Not sure about the cheddar grits though. I’m glad I tried them since I’ve never really had grits before. I’m sure lots of people liked them but, to me (and to Saz,) they kind of reminded me of a warm tapioca pudding with more butter.
6) Lying in the Hudson River Park on a warm spring afternoon, drinking prosecco and listening to Mikey Doughty’s “I Hear the Bells,” with my best friend is one of the best ways to spend time ever.
7) Sometimes, I miss city life but I don’t miss the urine/sewer smell that rises up when it gets hot.
8) When you pick up a dress that you like in a discount designer store, $800 is considered a bargain when it originally cost $2200. It’s a bargain I can’t afford but it was a nice dress.
9) When you can afford to pay a little more for a hotel room than you could when you were 23, it means that not only do you get a decent sized room but you also get a TV that is not balanced on top of a closet and Aveda products in the bathroom.
10) Aveda conditioner did not seem to condition my hair at all. I’ll stick to my Pantene for now, thanks.
11) When in a shuttle from the airport with a driver who is trying to maneuver around Manhattan in a ton of traffic, it’s best to close your eyes and not look because otherwise it is entirely possible for motion sickness to make you feel…well…sick.
12) Times Square has a lot of chain restaurants. People eat at the chain restaurants. There is a Red Lobster. Red Lobster is fine when you’re in, say, Ohio or somewhere else but if you’re in New York….really? Red Lobster?
13) There are lots of dachshunds in New York. I noticed. None were as cute as mine.
14) When there is a lot of traffic and a police car is trying to get through, motorbike riders will literally hold onto the police car so they, too, can get through the gaps that other drivers are forced to create for the siren-blasting police car. Other cars will also try to get through said gap but they do so at the risk of other drivers hitting them for even having the nerve to try it.
15) There is a Home Depot in Manhattan. I suppose it makes sense but this is not the type of store you expect to see in Manhattan. I asked Saz if she supposed they sold lawnmowers because, well, there is very little grass in Manhattan that is not part of a park.
16) Jack Bauer would have made an excellent addition to the plot of the play, “That Championship Season.” I would like him to have had a hacksaw and a gun. Also, I think that cool choke-hold he has would greatly have improved matters and livened things up.
17) Just because famous actors are in a play does not mean they should be in a play. Also, next time we think about choosing a play because it has famous actors in it, we should go see “Mary Poppins, The Musical” instead. At least it might have dancing penguins and chimneysweeps.
18) Funk music= the song that never ends. Ever.
19) Having phones with GPS make it a lot less obvious that you’re a tourist than standing around with a giant map.
20) Tribeca is called Tribeca because it stands for the “Triangle Below Canal [Street]”. Also, Soho is called Soho because it’s “South of Houston [Street]”. Thanks, Saz!
21) When you have a subway card in your bag and then you switch bags, it is smart to put the subway ticket in the new bag. Otherwise, you have to buy a new one. You also feel like an idiot because you already have a ticket.
22) Wear comfortable shoes. I did. Mostly.
I could probably go on for several hours more but, for now, I think that’s it. In a nutshell, it was a fabulous trip and while I wish I could go back and do it all over, it was one of those that we’d never be able to recreate because you never can. Instead, I think I’ll just enjoy the memories until it’s time to make some new ones.
Granted, I might get a craving for Babbo before then but, well, at least I have the cookbook.
Happy Thursday.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
(Food) Adventures in New York City
Sometimes, it’s a wonderful thing to take a vacation from everything and just be able to do exactly what you want.
This weekend, I had that opportunity and I have to say it was perfect.
I spent the weekend in New York with my friend, Saz. We haven’t been on a trip together in years and after being friends for 20 years, we figured it was time again.
So, off to Manhattan we went.
The beauty of going back to a place you’ve been to before is that, most likely, the touristy stuff is out of your system. That was true in our case. While it’s nifty to see the Empire State Building and Times Square, we didn’t feel obligated to go up to the top of the building, see the Statue of Liberty or take a tour in one of those buses with the open tops.
Instead, we did exactly what we wanted which, I find, is the best way to experience a city.
We both arrived late Friday morning and we spent the first part of our day wandering towards NYU, stopping for New York pizza for lunch and enjoying a beautiful spring day. Then we decided to get half-price tickets to a show since we both like Broadway and it seemed like a good idea.
We had trouble deciding on which tickets to get. Saz and I are both fans of musicals and there were several we were open to seeing. There was also a play we’d both heard about that had Kiefer Sutherland, Chris Noth, Jason Patric, Brian Cox and Jim Gaffigan in it. It was called That Championship Season and was supposed to be good. Since the show was closing two days later, we finally reasoned that tickets to that would be our best option since casts like that don’t come along too often whereas musicals are always around.
Well, I think that maybe a musical would have been our best bet. While it was interested to see the actors live, it wasn’t a very good play. For one thing, there were two intermissions which was weird because the play wasn’t even two hours long. Also, while it was nice to see the actors working so hard to be stage actors, I felt a little tired to see how hard they were working. In all honesty, I felt like I was back in college watching actors try to be very serious and show their craft instead of, you know, just acting. It was a little painful at times. Also, there was a portrait of who I think might have been Teddy Roosevelt over the fireplace that was part of the set and I couldn’t help wonder through the entire play why they had a picture of Ricky Gervais hanging up because from our seats, eleven rows back, it REALLY looked like Ricky Gervais. Also, the play was rather…boring. It was all talk. At one point, I started actually hoping someone would die. Then, as things got a little duller, I started to fantasize that Kiefer Sutherland would morph back into Jack Bauer, grab one of the hunting rifles they had as props and liven things up.
Nevertheless, I’m glad I saw the play. I would always have wondered. I think Saz enjoyed it a little more than I did because she’s a little more forgiving.
Our next day, we had another low-key start. We did some shopping which is always a lovely way to spend the day. We did head over to where the World Trade Centre had been because there was a store we wanted to go to there but, also, having last been to NYC when the Twin Towers had been there, it felt right to go back. The site is under construction and it’s nice to see a new building going up.
During a break from our shopping trip, Saz and I discussed other things we could do in the city. At one point, we thought we might try to see another show on Sunday. Then we started talking about food since, you know, I’m a bit of a foodie. We finally came to the conclusion that we’d rather pay the money we’d have spent on theatre tickets on good food so, within minutes, we had a Sunday lunch reservation at Tom Colicchio’s restaurant, Colicchio and Sons, and a dinner reservation for the following night for Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill. As I’ve previously blogged, we already had reservations for that night at Babbo, Mario Batali’s restaurant.
I could probably blog for weeks about Babbo, honestly. It’s an unassuming little place, close to NYU. It’s crowded when you go in. It’s busy. You need reservations at least month before. Many a group was politely turned away by the concierge while we waited for our table.
When we finally sat down, the service began. It was flawless. We ordered the traditional tasting menu with the wine pairings and each course was introduced and the wine pairing explained. There were separate people to replace silverware, wine glasses and scrape crumbs between each course.
Then there was the food. As a Mario Batali groupie, I was expecting good food. Instead, I got great. Really great. Quite possibly the best thing I’ve ever eaten.
Here’s the menu for the foodies out there:
Course 1- Copa with Pickled Chili and Meyer Lemon
Course 2- Pappardelle with morels and thyme
Course 3- Duck Tortelli with “Sugo Finto”
Course 4- Pork Tenderloin with Asparagus, Cipolline and Grilled Lemon Vinaigrette
Course 5- Coach Farm’s Finest goat cheese with Fennel Honey
Course 6- Toasted Sesame Panna Cotta
Course 7- Salame di Cioccolato with brandied cherries
Course 8- “Torta di Orzo” with Malted Milk and Honey Gelato
Each course wasn’t huge- it was just enough to make you want more until the next course came along and wowed you. I’d be hard pressed to pick a favourite although the fresh made pappardelle with morels and thyme might one of the most amazing things I’ve ever tasted. However, the pork tenderloin and the panna cotta course might give it a run for its money.
This is not to say that everything else wasn’t fabulous. It’s like comparing a BMW to a Mercades: Both are excellent and have their merits but they’re not the same car and they can’t really be compared.
he wine pairings were perfect and each glass was enough sips to make you appreciate the pairing without being too much.
In short, if I could hug Mario Batali, I would do it right now for creating food that made me stop, think and truly appreciate how things are composed and presented. There’s a reason while he has the renown he has and I’m very, very thrilled that his food tasted as wonderful as I expected. When you’ve seen as many episodes of Iron Chef America as I have, there’s a certain level of expectancy and hope and I am very happy that Babbo exceeded my expectations.
Like I said, I could probably write a novella about Babbo but, well, I’m not sure anyone but me would read it.
After Babbo, we were too happy and keyed up to go back to the hotel. We wandered over to Bleeker Street to a music club a friend of Saz’s had recommended. The band that was playing when we arrived were very good- very Long Beach, California type of music. Unfortunately, they ended an a funk band took over.
I’m not a huge fan of funk. This band were good but they’re one of those bands that believes in jamming which means their songs went on and on and on. I think one of them lasted over ten minutes.
We left and headed back, exhausted, full and very happy.
On our last day, we headed over to Chelsea to have brunch at Colicchio and Sons. We were a little disappointed that they only had a brunch menu rather than their full lunch but it was pretty good stuff. I had a ricotta frittata with caramelized onions, arugula and honey. It was tasty but, well, it wasn’t Babbo. We ate in the Tap Room which is the more relaxed area of the restaurant. Maybe if we’d have gone in the dining room we’d have been more wowed. This is not to say it wasn’t good food. Saz had a burger that she said was one of the best she’d had. It…just wasn’t Babbo. It’s really like apples and oranges though and to compare the two really isn’t fair. Babbo is a special occasion, very very rare sort of experience. Colicchio and Sons is a place you go for a high quality lunch and a really good beer.
We spent the rest of that afternoon exploring the fabulous Chelsea Market and laying in Hudson River Park, drinking Prosecco and enjoying the beautiful day.
When we finally got up and moving again, we headed to Eataly- the Italian marketplace/eating place that was set up by Mario Batali, Lidia Bastianich, Joe Bastianich and Oscar Farinetti.
Eataly made me wish I had a kitchen, right then and there. It is a store filled with ever Italian ingredient you can imagine. Within the store, there are areas that serve food, all made from the same ingredients you can buy. There are meats, cheeses, produces, pastas, olive oils….aisle and aisles of them. While I could have spent a fortune, I restrained myself. The practicality of air travel is that it’s not practical for transporting fresh ingredients home and keeping them fresh. Still, I wandered, fondled a few ingredients and generally felt like I’d found my mothership.
During all this time, Saz was very patient. She enjoys good food but isn’t as into cooking as me. However, she indulged my foodie love with patience and laughing at how I couldn’t help but fawn over the mushrooms and 25 year-old aged balsamic that was being sold for $220.
We finally left Eataly with a t-shirt and a need for fresh air. We headed back to the hotel, took a break and then got ready for Mesa Grill.
Mesa Grill is not the same as Babbo. It’s much more relaxed. It’s a lot bigger or seems that way. It was very, very good.
I have to admit, I’m a fan of Bobby Flay so eating at his restaurant gave me a bit of the same thrill as eating at Babbo. Mesa Grill is southwestern in flavours. I decided that I wanted to be daring and finally try rabbit. Until I became a foodie, like so many people, I viewed eating rabbit as eating Thumper the bunny. Then I learned to appreciate food and now try to separate cartoon cuteness with the tastiness of meat.
The rabbit was cascabel chile crusted and came with toasted cous cous, fava beans, smoked red pepper sauce and queso blanco. It was, in short, absolutely delicious. It was almost a cross between pork and chicken. Saz had the green chilli cioppino which she, too, loved.
Our final review of Mesa Grill is that it was tasty. It still wasn’t Babbo but we didn’t expect it to be. Mesa Grill is more of a regular type of place, somewhere you’d go to get a craving fix. It was fabulous food but very approachable. Like with Mario Batali, I’ve seen Bobby cook on Iron Chef America and it was awesome to try some of the food I’ve seen him make. It was delicious.
That was pretty much the end of our NYC adventure. Three days goes fast, particularly when you measure it in food. Saz and I had made a pact when we arrived that we wouldn’t feel bad if we ate non-healthy food. Saz has been exercising and dieting since last year and has managed to lose 60 pounds. She looks great. She’s also been trying to eat well. Me, I’ve lost 15 pounds and try very hard not to eat too badly.
This weekend, we ignored our health-eating inclinations. It was worth every calorie. Granted, it means I’ll be eating lots of healthy stuff for a while but when you’re presented with heaven-on-a-plate like we were at Babbo, life is too short to care about fat grams and calories.
I was sad to come home though it’s nice to be reunited with the pups. They missed me and I missed them. I had a great time in New York. I had a great time with Saz.
However, as is the case with all good vacations, they must come to an end. So, here I am, back to reality and back to work a couple of pounds heavier and a few cares lighter.
It was worth every penny and every moment. How often do you get to say that?
Happy Wednesday!
This weekend, I had that opportunity and I have to say it was perfect.
I spent the weekend in New York with my friend, Saz. We haven’t been on a trip together in years and after being friends for 20 years, we figured it was time again.
So, off to Manhattan we went.
The beauty of going back to a place you’ve been to before is that, most likely, the touristy stuff is out of your system. That was true in our case. While it’s nifty to see the Empire State Building and Times Square, we didn’t feel obligated to go up to the top of the building, see the Statue of Liberty or take a tour in one of those buses with the open tops.
Instead, we did exactly what we wanted which, I find, is the best way to experience a city.
We both arrived late Friday morning and we spent the first part of our day wandering towards NYU, stopping for New York pizza for lunch and enjoying a beautiful spring day. Then we decided to get half-price tickets to a show since we both like Broadway and it seemed like a good idea.
We had trouble deciding on which tickets to get. Saz and I are both fans of musicals and there were several we were open to seeing. There was also a play we’d both heard about that had Kiefer Sutherland, Chris Noth, Jason Patric, Brian Cox and Jim Gaffigan in it. It was called That Championship Season and was supposed to be good. Since the show was closing two days later, we finally reasoned that tickets to that would be our best option since casts like that don’t come along too often whereas musicals are always around.
Well, I think that maybe a musical would have been our best bet. While it was interested to see the actors live, it wasn’t a very good play. For one thing, there were two intermissions which was weird because the play wasn’t even two hours long. Also, while it was nice to see the actors working so hard to be stage actors, I felt a little tired to see how hard they were working. In all honesty, I felt like I was back in college watching actors try to be very serious and show their craft instead of, you know, just acting. It was a little painful at times. Also, there was a portrait of who I think might have been Teddy Roosevelt over the fireplace that was part of the set and I couldn’t help wonder through the entire play why they had a picture of Ricky Gervais hanging up because from our seats, eleven rows back, it REALLY looked like Ricky Gervais. Also, the play was rather…boring. It was all talk. At one point, I started actually hoping someone would die. Then, as things got a little duller, I started to fantasize that Kiefer Sutherland would morph back into Jack Bauer, grab one of the hunting rifles they had as props and liven things up.
Nevertheless, I’m glad I saw the play. I would always have wondered. I think Saz enjoyed it a little more than I did because she’s a little more forgiving.
Our next day, we had another low-key start. We did some shopping which is always a lovely way to spend the day. We did head over to where the World Trade Centre had been because there was a store we wanted to go to there but, also, having last been to NYC when the Twin Towers had been there, it felt right to go back. The site is under construction and it’s nice to see a new building going up.
During a break from our shopping trip, Saz and I discussed other things we could do in the city. At one point, we thought we might try to see another show on Sunday. Then we started talking about food since, you know, I’m a bit of a foodie. We finally came to the conclusion that we’d rather pay the money we’d have spent on theatre tickets on good food so, within minutes, we had a Sunday lunch reservation at Tom Colicchio’s restaurant, Colicchio and Sons, and a dinner reservation for the following night for Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill. As I’ve previously blogged, we already had reservations for that night at Babbo, Mario Batali’s restaurant.
I could probably blog for weeks about Babbo, honestly. It’s an unassuming little place, close to NYU. It’s crowded when you go in. It’s busy. You need reservations at least month before. Many a group was politely turned away by the concierge while we waited for our table.
When we finally sat down, the service began. It was flawless. We ordered the traditional tasting menu with the wine pairings and each course was introduced and the wine pairing explained. There were separate people to replace silverware, wine glasses and scrape crumbs between each course.
Then there was the food. As a Mario Batali groupie, I was expecting good food. Instead, I got great. Really great. Quite possibly the best thing I’ve ever eaten.
Here’s the menu for the foodies out there:
Course 1- Copa with Pickled Chili and Meyer Lemon
Course 2- Pappardelle with morels and thyme
Course 3- Duck Tortelli with “Sugo Finto”
Course 4- Pork Tenderloin with Asparagus, Cipolline and Grilled Lemon Vinaigrette
Course 5- Coach Farm’s Finest goat cheese with Fennel Honey
Course 6- Toasted Sesame Panna Cotta
Course 7- Salame di Cioccolato with brandied cherries
Course 8- “Torta di Orzo” with Malted Milk and Honey Gelato
Each course wasn’t huge- it was just enough to make you want more until the next course came along and wowed you. I’d be hard pressed to pick a favourite although the fresh made pappardelle with morels and thyme might one of the most amazing things I’ve ever tasted. However, the pork tenderloin and the panna cotta course might give it a run for its money.
This is not to say that everything else wasn’t fabulous. It’s like comparing a BMW to a Mercades: Both are excellent and have their merits but they’re not the same car and they can’t really be compared.
he wine pairings were perfect and each glass was enough sips to make you appreciate the pairing without being too much.
In short, if I could hug Mario Batali, I would do it right now for creating food that made me stop, think and truly appreciate how things are composed and presented. There’s a reason while he has the renown he has and I’m very, very thrilled that his food tasted as wonderful as I expected. When you’ve seen as many episodes of Iron Chef America as I have, there’s a certain level of expectancy and hope and I am very happy that Babbo exceeded my expectations.
Like I said, I could probably write a novella about Babbo but, well, I’m not sure anyone but me would read it.
After Babbo, we were too happy and keyed up to go back to the hotel. We wandered over to Bleeker Street to a music club a friend of Saz’s had recommended. The band that was playing when we arrived were very good- very Long Beach, California type of music. Unfortunately, they ended an a funk band took over.
I’m not a huge fan of funk. This band were good but they’re one of those bands that believes in jamming which means their songs went on and on and on. I think one of them lasted over ten minutes.
We left and headed back, exhausted, full and very happy.
On our last day, we headed over to Chelsea to have brunch at Colicchio and Sons. We were a little disappointed that they only had a brunch menu rather than their full lunch but it was pretty good stuff. I had a ricotta frittata with caramelized onions, arugula and honey. It was tasty but, well, it wasn’t Babbo. We ate in the Tap Room which is the more relaxed area of the restaurant. Maybe if we’d have gone in the dining room we’d have been more wowed. This is not to say it wasn’t good food. Saz had a burger that she said was one of the best she’d had. It…just wasn’t Babbo. It’s really like apples and oranges though and to compare the two really isn’t fair. Babbo is a special occasion, very very rare sort of experience. Colicchio and Sons is a place you go for a high quality lunch and a really good beer.
We spent the rest of that afternoon exploring the fabulous Chelsea Market and laying in Hudson River Park, drinking Prosecco and enjoying the beautiful day.
When we finally got up and moving again, we headed to Eataly- the Italian marketplace/eating place that was set up by Mario Batali, Lidia Bastianich, Joe Bastianich and Oscar Farinetti.
Eataly made me wish I had a kitchen, right then and there. It is a store filled with ever Italian ingredient you can imagine. Within the store, there are areas that serve food, all made from the same ingredients you can buy. There are meats, cheeses, produces, pastas, olive oils….aisle and aisles of them. While I could have spent a fortune, I restrained myself. The practicality of air travel is that it’s not practical for transporting fresh ingredients home and keeping them fresh. Still, I wandered, fondled a few ingredients and generally felt like I’d found my mothership.
During all this time, Saz was very patient. She enjoys good food but isn’t as into cooking as me. However, she indulged my foodie love with patience and laughing at how I couldn’t help but fawn over the mushrooms and 25 year-old aged balsamic that was being sold for $220.
We finally left Eataly with a t-shirt and a need for fresh air. We headed back to the hotel, took a break and then got ready for Mesa Grill.
Mesa Grill is not the same as Babbo. It’s much more relaxed. It’s a lot bigger or seems that way. It was very, very good.
I have to admit, I’m a fan of Bobby Flay so eating at his restaurant gave me a bit of the same thrill as eating at Babbo. Mesa Grill is southwestern in flavours. I decided that I wanted to be daring and finally try rabbit. Until I became a foodie, like so many people, I viewed eating rabbit as eating Thumper the bunny. Then I learned to appreciate food and now try to separate cartoon cuteness with the tastiness of meat.
The rabbit was cascabel chile crusted and came with toasted cous cous, fava beans, smoked red pepper sauce and queso blanco. It was, in short, absolutely delicious. It was almost a cross between pork and chicken. Saz had the green chilli cioppino which she, too, loved.
Our final review of Mesa Grill is that it was tasty. It still wasn’t Babbo but we didn’t expect it to be. Mesa Grill is more of a regular type of place, somewhere you’d go to get a craving fix. It was fabulous food but very approachable. Like with Mario Batali, I’ve seen Bobby cook on Iron Chef America and it was awesome to try some of the food I’ve seen him make. It was delicious.
That was pretty much the end of our NYC adventure. Three days goes fast, particularly when you measure it in food. Saz and I had made a pact when we arrived that we wouldn’t feel bad if we ate non-healthy food. Saz has been exercising and dieting since last year and has managed to lose 60 pounds. She looks great. She’s also been trying to eat well. Me, I’ve lost 15 pounds and try very hard not to eat too badly.
This weekend, we ignored our health-eating inclinations. It was worth every calorie. Granted, it means I’ll be eating lots of healthy stuff for a while but when you’re presented with heaven-on-a-plate like we were at Babbo, life is too short to care about fat grams and calories.
I was sad to come home though it’s nice to be reunited with the pups. They missed me and I missed them. I had a great time in New York. I had a great time with Saz.
However, as is the case with all good vacations, they must come to an end. So, here I am, back to reality and back to work a couple of pounds heavier and a few cares lighter.
It was worth every penny and every moment. How often do you get to say that?
Happy Wednesday!
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Distracted Brians
It is very hard to focus on work the day before going on a fun trip. Naturally, this means that my day was far more busy than usual which, while having the added advantage of making time fly, also meant that I was a wee bit distracted and had to do a few things over.
For example, I accidentally type an email to a brain today. I was actually intending to type Brian but I accidentally called him brain. This is not good. Also, I was trying to send an email to our IT support person and I accidentally sent it to myself which did me no good at all.
Still, in spite of that, I did manage to actually accomplish something today which I find to be a huge accomplishment. Even more so than usual. Of course, we have a slightly shorter day in the office today due to the fact that my boss scheduled a client appreciation event this evening and we all got to leave at 4:30 p.m.
Normally, I’d be excited about that because the event is a wine tasting and I love wine. However, it’s not the most convenient thing this time around. My smart thinking when I booked my ticket for New York back in February was to fly from my parents’ airport so that I could drive up to stay with them overnight and drop off the pups to spend the weekend with their ‘grandparents’. My flight leaves at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning.
I had planned on leaving work a little early so I could spend the evening with my parents before I left tomorrow. Then when I came home, I’d fly back through their airport, pick up the pups and be on my merry way.
And then my boss scheduled the wine tasting a couple of weeks ago and since it’s a client appreciation event, I’m required to go.
This now means that I will not get to leave for my parent’s until quite late this evening which means I’ll be late arriving at their house and I have to get up at 4:00 a.m. tomorrow morning.
Ah well, the best laid plans…right? The idea to fly from my parents’ airport seemed like such a good idea even if my local airport is Cincinnati and, ironically, I’m connecting through Cincinnati on the way to New York.
Nevertheless, I’m still rather excited and I’m very much looking forward to my trip. I’m going to try not to make it all about food but I think that might be difficult. I like food. Food is fun.
I’m sure I’ll have plenty of adventures to write about in my next blog but, for now, I’m signing off until Tuesday evening before my slightly distracted brain starts getting even more distracted.
And that time I meant to type brain, not brian.
Happy Friday and have a great long weekend. Thanks, as always, for reading!
For example, I accidentally type an email to a brain today. I was actually intending to type Brian but I accidentally called him brain. This is not good. Also, I was trying to send an email to our IT support person and I accidentally sent it to myself which did me no good at all.
Still, in spite of that, I did manage to actually accomplish something today which I find to be a huge accomplishment. Even more so than usual. Of course, we have a slightly shorter day in the office today due to the fact that my boss scheduled a client appreciation event this evening and we all got to leave at 4:30 p.m.
Normally, I’d be excited about that because the event is a wine tasting and I love wine. However, it’s not the most convenient thing this time around. My smart thinking when I booked my ticket for New York back in February was to fly from my parents’ airport so that I could drive up to stay with them overnight and drop off the pups to spend the weekend with their ‘grandparents’. My flight leaves at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning.
I had planned on leaving work a little early so I could spend the evening with my parents before I left tomorrow. Then when I came home, I’d fly back through their airport, pick up the pups and be on my merry way.
And then my boss scheduled the wine tasting a couple of weeks ago and since it’s a client appreciation event, I’m required to go.
This now means that I will not get to leave for my parent’s until quite late this evening which means I’ll be late arriving at their house and I have to get up at 4:00 a.m. tomorrow morning.
Ah well, the best laid plans…right? The idea to fly from my parents’ airport seemed like such a good idea even if my local airport is Cincinnati and, ironically, I’m connecting through Cincinnati on the way to New York.
Nevertheless, I’m still rather excited and I’m very much looking forward to my trip. I’m going to try not to make it all about food but I think that might be difficult. I like food. Food is fun.
I’m sure I’ll have plenty of adventures to write about in my next blog but, for now, I’m signing off until Tuesday evening before my slightly distracted brain starts getting even more distracted.
And that time I meant to type brain, not brian.
Happy Friday and have a great long weekend. Thanks, as always, for reading!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
The Penalty of Kindness
So, yesterday, I blogged about feeling slightly guilty for not mowing Mr. Enormous Trousers’ yard for him and I mentioned that I tend to get taken advantage of for being nice.
I think if I’m going to put that out on the blogosphere, I really should stick by my decision to stop being quite so nice because, well, it happened again last night.
You see, when I got home from work yesterday, I noticed two things. One, Son of Dog Whisperer was running around in the street in front of his house clad only in a pair of swimming trunks and two) he’d set up a lemonade stand with two of his friends from down the street.
The swimming trunks thing wasn’t terribly surprising because it was hot although since there’s no pool too close by and he doesn’t have a hose in his garden, it seemed like an interesting choice of attire but I attributed it to the fact that it was hot. Also, I’d much rather have Son of Dog Whisperer running around without a shirt than Dog Whisperer himself because, well, let’s just say that Dog Whisperer doesn’t exactly have the sort of naked chest you want to see, well, naked.
The lemonade stand was something different. Son of Dog Whisperer had taken his little table and chair from inside the house and set it up outside with a Tupperware pitcher full of lemonade.
Normally, I walk the dogs when I get home but since it’s been so hot, muggy and sticky outside, I was already contemplating not walking them. Rory has taken to just sitting down in protest when she’s hot and she gets extremely irritated when I make her keep walking. Sookie, meanwhile just looks at me with a sulk in her eye and her tongue hanging out in panting protest. Then, when we get home, she spends the rest of the evening sprawling out in various positions on the cool piece of linoleum that’s in my entranceway just to show me she is, in fact, hot.
The trouble is, the dogs think they want to walk so when I don’t walk them, they have this habit of both sitting there at our regular sojourn time and looking at me as though to say , “are we going walking or what?” Every move I make is watched and it just takes one step for them to run to the front door, waiting for me to put their leashes on them.
Still, last night, I hadn’t planned on walking them because of the heat. Also, I’ll confess, I was a little crabby from a not-so-great day at work and wasn’t feeling very social and I knew if I went out with the dogs, I’d be accosted by Son of Dog Whisperer to buy some lemonade. This only aided my desire to not walk.
However, the dogs didn’t seem to like my plan and they went into their traditional “WHEN ARE WE WALKING????” stance. Also, I started to feel a little like the neighbourhood Scrooge. I mean, the kid was just trying to have a little business, right? That sort of enterprising behavior should be rewarded.
It’s just….well, how to say this without being mean….the kid is a little…odd. He often walks up to me, says something random and runs off. However, lately, he’s been becoming a little friendlier. He gave me a signed hockey puck because he thought he might be a famous hockey player on his team. Only afterwards did I find out from Wife of Dog Whisperer, he didn’t really have a hockey team. Still, it was a sweet gesture.
Thus, I began to feel mean for not wanting to give the kid 25 cents for a cup of lemonade. Sighing, I tucked a dollar bill and some quarters into my jeans pocket and then got the dogs ready for walking.
Sure enough, as soon as I stepped outside, I was accosted. “WannabuysomeLEMONADE???” the kids yelled at me. Son of Dog Whisperer’s friends live down the street and the little girl, who is about six, is a little too aggressive in trying to pet the dogs when we see her. She runs up to them “CUTEDOGGGIEEEEE” she yells as she simultaneously tries to grab them. The pups, of course, skitter away in alarm at this little human who doesn’t seem to understand that the dogs might not want to be grabbed. Her brother is a little less affectionate with the dogs. I think they might even be twins because they look about the same age.
Anyway, combined with Son of Dog Whisperer’s enthusiasm, the lemonade stand was definitely not deprived of hawkers. I promised the kids I’d get a cup when I came back around the block with the dogs.
It took a wee bit longer than planned because we ran into Larry the Potential Serial Killer. He was mowing his lawn and was very sweaty but it didn’t stop him from coming over for one of his a-little-too-up-close-and-personal chats.
By the time we escaped, we looped back around the block and I saw Son of Dog Whisperer running in someone’s yard, clearly scouting the territory for me to reappear. As I said, he’s a nice boy but he doesn’t have many senses of boundaries and has no qualms about walking through anyone’s yard, including mine. I don’t say anything because I don’t want to be one of those “GET OFF MY LAWN!” cranks but I find it a little irritating.
I finally got to the lemonade stand and was told it was both 25 cents and 50 cents a glass. The kids had a bit of an argument about how much to charge me. I decided to be nice and gave them a dollar and told them to keep the change. I took my lemonade and headed inside but not before Son of Dog Whisperer ran up to me and asked “So, what have you been up to lately, [Captain Monkeypants]?” It seemed like quite a grown-up question for an eight year old to ask a neighbour but I figured he’d been learning manners so I chatted with him and then he left me to take the dogs inside.
I sipped the lemonade but, as anticipated, it was Kool Aid and was very, very sweet and I couldn’t drink it. I decided to start making dinner so I was just getting my vegetables ready to chop when there was a thump on my door. I opened it. This may seem simple but with two dachshunds, opening the front door involves some quick maneuvering to make sure they don’t run out. Thus, I stepped outside and shut the door behind me. The little boy from down the street had gone and it was just son of Dog Whisperer and the little girl.
It seemed I’d been the winner in a drawing that Son of Dog Whisperer and his little female friend had created and I’d won both a free glass of lemonade and a Mormon pamphlet that I know for a fact and been lying in their front yard for a while during several storms. Thus, it was muddy and mottled.
Surprised, I said thanks. Then Son of Dog Whisperer said, “Fifty Cents, please.” I was surprised because usually ‘winning’ doesn’t involve paying for said prize, particularly when it’s not really wanted but at this point, I still thought it was cute and I handed over the fifty cents I had in my pocket.
With a polite “thanks”, the kids scampered off. I went back to dinner. Then, moments later, there was another thump-thump-thump on my door. They were back. This time with a half-empty can of root beer that I’d also ‘won’ in yet another drawing. This time, I didn’t have any change or dollar bills and I told them that. Dejected, they handed me the can and walked away.
Again, I went back to making dinner. Again, I was interrupted. This time, they rang the doorbell. This time, there was no pretense of my winning a prize. They just wanted money. I was a little surprised and I joked that I didn’t have any more cash since I used my debit card mostly. That was fine. The kids ‘took debit cards.’ I laughed and said, “Uh-huh, sure you do.” The kids wouldn’t let it go. They just kept on and on about me giving them money and my debit card. I finally got annoyed and said I had to go. The kids decided then to steal my cute little dog statue I have in my front yard and run off with it unless I gave them a dollar.
During this time, there was absolutely no sign of Dog Whisperer or Wife of Dog Whisperer and I was starting to get angry that not only were these kids being brats but, also, they were unsupervised brats. Finally, I went inside thinking that if I ignored them, they’d just get fed up and leave and I’d get my statue back later.
This was fine until they both decided to literally plaster themselves up against my front window doing that horrible thing that kids do and stuck their mouths on my window, sticking out their tongues and leaving my window all smeared. I was furious by this point. The dogs were going crazy and I was at the end of my patience. They kept yelling “ONE DOLLAR” and held up my dog statue. Finally, irritated beyond anything, I opened the door and gave them the dollar since nothing else was going to get rid of them. Just as I did, Dog Whisperer stepped out of his house. The kids grabbed the dollar and ran off and Dog Whisperer went inside before I could even mention what the kids had been doing.
I figured that was the end of it. I was just getting the food on the grill outside when my doorbell rang, again. This time, it was Son of Dog Whisperer by himself with some flash cards he wanted me to buy to teach my dogs to read. Fortunately, this time, Dog Whisperer was hot on his heels and I got a very sincere apology.
I suppose it was my own fault. I thought I’d be nice and give the kids the money to help teach them the value of ‘earning’ a dollar. After all, isn’t that the point of a lemonade stand? I shouldn’t have kept giving in to them. I know I should never have given them that last dollar because I was just encouraging them but since ignoring them didn’t stop them nor did it deter them, it seemed like the best option. My next step was going to be MY knocking on HIS door to talk to his parents and I had every intention of doing that.
I’m not ruling that out because I have a feeling that the kids are going to think of me as the sucker who gave them money. I am a sucker. I stupidly thought that being nice would simply be appreciated rather than seen as a ‘ooh, let’s get more money from her.” I know that they’re young but at the age of eight, I’d been taught that asking for money from anyone but my parents was unacceptable. If offered, I could take it but demanding or begging for it was a no-no.
I suppose there’s a lesson to be learned there somewhere. I’m just hoping that there aren’t any more lemonade stands cropping up in front of Dog Whisperer’s house for a while. If so, I will not be buying. In fact, I think I’ll hide in my house until it goes away which is what I should have done in the first place.
Ah well, you learn something new every day, right?
Happy Thursday!
I think if I’m going to put that out on the blogosphere, I really should stick by my decision to stop being quite so nice because, well, it happened again last night.
You see, when I got home from work yesterday, I noticed two things. One, Son of Dog Whisperer was running around in the street in front of his house clad only in a pair of swimming trunks and two) he’d set up a lemonade stand with two of his friends from down the street.
The swimming trunks thing wasn’t terribly surprising because it was hot although since there’s no pool too close by and he doesn’t have a hose in his garden, it seemed like an interesting choice of attire but I attributed it to the fact that it was hot. Also, I’d much rather have Son of Dog Whisperer running around without a shirt than Dog Whisperer himself because, well, let’s just say that Dog Whisperer doesn’t exactly have the sort of naked chest you want to see, well, naked.
The lemonade stand was something different. Son of Dog Whisperer had taken his little table and chair from inside the house and set it up outside with a Tupperware pitcher full of lemonade.
Normally, I walk the dogs when I get home but since it’s been so hot, muggy and sticky outside, I was already contemplating not walking them. Rory has taken to just sitting down in protest when she’s hot and she gets extremely irritated when I make her keep walking. Sookie, meanwhile just looks at me with a sulk in her eye and her tongue hanging out in panting protest. Then, when we get home, she spends the rest of the evening sprawling out in various positions on the cool piece of linoleum that’s in my entranceway just to show me she is, in fact, hot.
The trouble is, the dogs think they want to walk so when I don’t walk them, they have this habit of both sitting there at our regular sojourn time and looking at me as though to say , “are we going walking or what?” Every move I make is watched and it just takes one step for them to run to the front door, waiting for me to put their leashes on them.
Still, last night, I hadn’t planned on walking them because of the heat. Also, I’ll confess, I was a little crabby from a not-so-great day at work and wasn’t feeling very social and I knew if I went out with the dogs, I’d be accosted by Son of Dog Whisperer to buy some lemonade. This only aided my desire to not walk.
However, the dogs didn’t seem to like my plan and they went into their traditional “WHEN ARE WE WALKING????” stance. Also, I started to feel a little like the neighbourhood Scrooge. I mean, the kid was just trying to have a little business, right? That sort of enterprising behavior should be rewarded.
It’s just….well, how to say this without being mean….the kid is a little…odd. He often walks up to me, says something random and runs off. However, lately, he’s been becoming a little friendlier. He gave me a signed hockey puck because he thought he might be a famous hockey player on his team. Only afterwards did I find out from Wife of Dog Whisperer, he didn’t really have a hockey team. Still, it was a sweet gesture.
Thus, I began to feel mean for not wanting to give the kid 25 cents for a cup of lemonade. Sighing, I tucked a dollar bill and some quarters into my jeans pocket and then got the dogs ready for walking.
Sure enough, as soon as I stepped outside, I was accosted. “WannabuysomeLEMONADE???” the kids yelled at me. Son of Dog Whisperer’s friends live down the street and the little girl, who is about six, is a little too aggressive in trying to pet the dogs when we see her. She runs up to them “CUTEDOGGGIEEEEE” she yells as she simultaneously tries to grab them. The pups, of course, skitter away in alarm at this little human who doesn’t seem to understand that the dogs might not want to be grabbed. Her brother is a little less affectionate with the dogs. I think they might even be twins because they look about the same age.
Anyway, combined with Son of Dog Whisperer’s enthusiasm, the lemonade stand was definitely not deprived of hawkers. I promised the kids I’d get a cup when I came back around the block with the dogs.
It took a wee bit longer than planned because we ran into Larry the Potential Serial Killer. He was mowing his lawn and was very sweaty but it didn’t stop him from coming over for one of his a-little-too-up-close-and-personal chats.
By the time we escaped, we looped back around the block and I saw Son of Dog Whisperer running in someone’s yard, clearly scouting the territory for me to reappear. As I said, he’s a nice boy but he doesn’t have many senses of boundaries and has no qualms about walking through anyone’s yard, including mine. I don’t say anything because I don’t want to be one of those “GET OFF MY LAWN!” cranks but I find it a little irritating.
I finally got to the lemonade stand and was told it was both 25 cents and 50 cents a glass. The kids had a bit of an argument about how much to charge me. I decided to be nice and gave them a dollar and told them to keep the change. I took my lemonade and headed inside but not before Son of Dog Whisperer ran up to me and asked “So, what have you been up to lately, [Captain Monkeypants]?” It seemed like quite a grown-up question for an eight year old to ask a neighbour but I figured he’d been learning manners so I chatted with him and then he left me to take the dogs inside.
I sipped the lemonade but, as anticipated, it was Kool Aid and was very, very sweet and I couldn’t drink it. I decided to start making dinner so I was just getting my vegetables ready to chop when there was a thump on my door. I opened it. This may seem simple but with two dachshunds, opening the front door involves some quick maneuvering to make sure they don’t run out. Thus, I stepped outside and shut the door behind me. The little boy from down the street had gone and it was just son of Dog Whisperer and the little girl.
It seemed I’d been the winner in a drawing that Son of Dog Whisperer and his little female friend had created and I’d won both a free glass of lemonade and a Mormon pamphlet that I know for a fact and been lying in their front yard for a while during several storms. Thus, it was muddy and mottled.
Surprised, I said thanks. Then Son of Dog Whisperer said, “Fifty Cents, please.” I was surprised because usually ‘winning’ doesn’t involve paying for said prize, particularly when it’s not really wanted but at this point, I still thought it was cute and I handed over the fifty cents I had in my pocket.
With a polite “thanks”, the kids scampered off. I went back to dinner. Then, moments later, there was another thump-thump-thump on my door. They were back. This time with a half-empty can of root beer that I’d also ‘won’ in yet another drawing. This time, I didn’t have any change or dollar bills and I told them that. Dejected, they handed me the can and walked away.
Again, I went back to making dinner. Again, I was interrupted. This time, they rang the doorbell. This time, there was no pretense of my winning a prize. They just wanted money. I was a little surprised and I joked that I didn’t have any more cash since I used my debit card mostly. That was fine. The kids ‘took debit cards.’ I laughed and said, “Uh-huh, sure you do.” The kids wouldn’t let it go. They just kept on and on about me giving them money and my debit card. I finally got annoyed and said I had to go. The kids decided then to steal my cute little dog statue I have in my front yard and run off with it unless I gave them a dollar.
During this time, there was absolutely no sign of Dog Whisperer or Wife of Dog Whisperer and I was starting to get angry that not only were these kids being brats but, also, they were unsupervised brats. Finally, I went inside thinking that if I ignored them, they’d just get fed up and leave and I’d get my statue back later.
This was fine until they both decided to literally plaster themselves up against my front window doing that horrible thing that kids do and stuck their mouths on my window, sticking out their tongues and leaving my window all smeared. I was furious by this point. The dogs were going crazy and I was at the end of my patience. They kept yelling “ONE DOLLAR” and held up my dog statue. Finally, irritated beyond anything, I opened the door and gave them the dollar since nothing else was going to get rid of them. Just as I did, Dog Whisperer stepped out of his house. The kids grabbed the dollar and ran off and Dog Whisperer went inside before I could even mention what the kids had been doing.
I figured that was the end of it. I was just getting the food on the grill outside when my doorbell rang, again. This time, it was Son of Dog Whisperer by himself with some flash cards he wanted me to buy to teach my dogs to read. Fortunately, this time, Dog Whisperer was hot on his heels and I got a very sincere apology.
I suppose it was my own fault. I thought I’d be nice and give the kids the money to help teach them the value of ‘earning’ a dollar. After all, isn’t that the point of a lemonade stand? I shouldn’t have kept giving in to them. I know I should never have given them that last dollar because I was just encouraging them but since ignoring them didn’t stop them nor did it deter them, it seemed like the best option. My next step was going to be MY knocking on HIS door to talk to his parents and I had every intention of doing that.
I’m not ruling that out because I have a feeling that the kids are going to think of me as the sucker who gave them money. I am a sucker. I stupidly thought that being nice would simply be appreciated rather than seen as a ‘ooh, let’s get more money from her.” I know that they’re young but at the age of eight, I’d been taught that asking for money from anyone but my parents was unacceptable. If offered, I could take it but demanding or begging for it was a no-no.
I suppose there’s a lesson to be learned there somewhere. I’m just hoping that there aren’t any more lemonade stands cropping up in front of Dog Whisperer’s house for a while. If so, I will not be buying. In fact, I think I’ll hide in my house until it goes away which is what I should have done in the first place.
Ah well, you learn something new every day, right?
Happy Thursday!
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