The eye of the storm

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Looks like we have another storm coming in this morning, the skies are cloudy, snow is falling, and this, just after what happened with Winter Storm Pax last week.

We went from this on Wednesday morning….

To this on Thursday morning….

I woke up early on Thursday, and as with any snowstorm, was eager to get outside and walk Jackson through the snow. Must be my Canadian roots, I love the snow.

We walked over to the dog run in Madison Square Park, in the shadow of the Flatiron building. It was dark and cold, but at the same time peaceful.

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NYC

Central Park in winter

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

“Around my feet, even my soul, just as you please.”
– from “Early Fall in Central Park” by J.D. Salinger

Giant trees….

Icy freeze

Bridges, arches…

…and scuffed up knees

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Family

Hitting the streets + a 7 A.M. Enfant giveaway

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Sam had a test last week. A standard issue Kindergarten prep test, a necessary evil, on par with a trip to the dentist. There’s only so much you can do to get a 4-year old ready for something like this. All you can do is hope is that your kid is in a good mood, well rested, and has eaten breakfast.

I did what I could to check the boxes. Starting the night before with a trip to 16 Handles. Sam clowned around, pretending to be a lobster and seeking attention. Emma was an easy target and was more than willing to pet him in between each bite. “Good lobster…”

Fortunately, he did sleep well that night and ate a big breakfast in the morning.

“Sam”, I said, “what would you like as a treat when you’ve finished with The Puzzler?” The Puzzler of course being the Scary Test Lady, but those words are never uttered. We opened the door to the school.

“A donut”, he said.

When you’re a kid, the most highly coveted prize in the world is a donut. It’s an 89 cent wonder. But it was well-deserved, the frozen yogurt, the donut, all of it. The little guy had tried his heart out.

Lucky for Sam, I had one more surprise in store…..

“I have something special planned” I said as we wandered back home. “We’re going for a scoot around the city.”

Once home, I pulled out the pair of black and neon mittens I’d hidden in my room. “These will keep your hands warm.”

“They strap onto my scooter?!” Oh yes they do little man…

So off we went on our scooter adventure, heading down 7th Avenue.

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Blog

Welcome to the vegan vortex

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

We’re three weeks into our vegan cleanse and I thought it would be a good point to update you on what we’ve been eating. Full post-date wrap-up to come next week, but to give you a snapshot, here goes….

Fake cheese and lots of it. Not Velveeta of course. Treeline nut cheese has a faintly acidic taste, but overall it isn’t too bad. I have yet to try the White Alder that I bought after seeing a rave write-up in Food & Wine magazine, but will crack open that package this week.

Assuming that any vegan worth his or her salt eats plenty of salad, we jumped on the bandwagon and have been eating our greens. This was the best use for nut cheese so far; a little goes a long way and you don’t have to give up creamy salad dressings. Loved this version with butter lettuce and pomegranate seeds.

As you might have read in this post, I’ve been trying desperately to get my hands on anything that resembles steak, from mushrooms to eggplants, to big fat slices of cauliflower. Meat love dies hard.

Hummus has taken over as a major food group – my favorite combo being with tomatoes and pickled onions. So now instead of 3PM dairy bloat, I have a pregnant belly from too many legumes. Either that or somebody hasn’t told me something…

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NYC

Liberty Science Center

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Last weekend we visited the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City. Although it’s not one of the museums on everyone’s Must See list when they visit New York, it’s definitely worth checking out.

Rodney thought it would be funny to dress up as a 6’6” elf for our visit.

That’s actually one of my Christmas gifts to him. A perfectly slouchy hipster hat from Urban Outfitters. Rodney has taken to calling himself Harry Styles when he wears it, but if I were to give people a multiple choice test, the answer would most likely be B or C. Am I right?

Besides Rodney’s experimental hat, there was so much to explore at the Science Center. First up was the suspended Rubik’s cube, which is visible from every floor. Although impressive in size, it gave me vivid flashbacks to the 80s when I stood at 4’9” with crimped bangs and jelly bracelets and would launch the cube across our living room in frustration.

As to be expected, the Bob the Builder exhibit was a hit. Emma convinced me that although she’s on the young side, she’s ready for drivers’ ed. Which would be convenient since Rodney has suggested that I take my backseat driving tendencies to the next level by installing a secondary set of brakes into the car.

We explored the Energy Quest exhibit and learned about the Earth’s natural resources, from wind and solar to nuclear power. But the favorite exhibit of the day was Our Hudson Home where we checked out all of the creatures that live in the Hudson River. The big draw was the tank of horrendously ugly bearded fish.

To be honest, I’m not sure whether the fish are inherently ugly or just seem angry because they now live in a small dark tank in the middle of Jersey. But whatever the reason, we loved them.

Other animals included turtles and fake birds.