Staycation

Last week we had ourselves a little staycation.  It...was...awesome.  But not because we did anything super New Yorky, because we didn't.  In fact, we went into Manhattan.. one time? To go to Uniqlo, which, I grant you, is a FAB store.  But not very New Yorky.   It's just so nice to have a chance to chillax at home and do things you seem to never have time for and just play.   Here's a list of things we did:

1. BOUGHT A FREAKIN' CAR.    That's right, we own a car. It's a miracle, and a wonder, and kind of scary.  At 6am, Sean flew to Ohio, met with his brother who lives there, drove to the dealership, signed the papers, and drove back to NY-land, arriving just before midnight.   Whew!   At long, long last, we are car-owners.  While I love having a car now, i kind of hate feeling like I have to grow up. I think I have a Peter Pan complex. I don't wanna be an adult!  But anyway, it's exciting.  It's also weird, having a car in a place you've lived for 7 years sans car.  The only times i'd drive one is when we were car-sitting or when I'd go to Utah.  A car has always been part of another world, another life, a life of ease and comfort, which is not the life one leads in New York.  So to have a car here creates a collision of worlds, and I have to make the mental transition from pedestrian to car driver. I also have to learn how to drive--I mean, Brooklyn drive. because the rules are not the same.  Oh no.  Fortunately we've taken many-a car service & cabs to get from A to B, and have paid attention to how one drives to survive, so we're doing pretty well. 

2.  Went to the pool. 3 cheers for the pool.

3.  Drove to the mall!  Twice.   The drive is kind of nightmare'ish due to traffic but I'm sorry, there's a difference between standing on a sweaty, stifling platform in dangerous heat, waiting...waiting...waiting for a subway train that may never come, and you will never know why, and you just have to shut down and wait....until it never does, so you exit the station and try to get a cab or car service or gypsy cab or a guy on a bike.   There's a difference between that and sitting in traffic, in a comfy seat in your AC'ed car.    I am probably telling myself these things so I can stay true to the NYer way, that i haven't sold out.  There's a lot of pride in roughing it. But really, i'm so happy to have a car.

4. Starting making a pinata. For what, you ask? You'll see.

5. Watched Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. As good as it ever was.

6. Started P&P A&E version.    Just as good as Bill & Ted's.

7. Took naps

8. Ate breakfast outside on a bench as we watched the morning commuters walk to the train. Suckers!

9.  Went to the new Brooklyn Bridge Park which reminds me of Willy Wonka's factory. Julian's a bit small for this place but I'm not!

The ground is like squishy spongeland, and there are all these rolling grassy hills. It's kind of a cross between the Factory & the Shire, thus, my new happy place. 

10. Took the water taxi to Governors Island where you go back in time. The contrast from the city is so stark, it's really trippy, actually.  You feel like you are in the woods. It's cool. You can rent bikes and ride around all these old cobbly roads and old forts and houses and buildings and like such as, but it was rainy when we were there so we found some rocking chairs on the porch of an old building and ate our lunch while we watched the monsoon and honestly, it was lovely.  The simple things, i tell ya.  Wasn't expecting to do that when i woke up that morning.

Anyway, this is a mega-boring post, but it was a fun week and yay we have a car.

weekly cereal thought

see?

Gross, Julian!

Julian is so gross. Sometimes he eats things that come out of my nose!!--food things that i stick up there and then rocket-launch out using the ol' plug-one-nostril and blow, trick.    

He is so sick.

tragedy

It's cool when you cut your finger on the knuckle. It reminds me of when my sister tore her knee to shreds when she fell off her bike. After getting stitches, she had to wear a brace to keep her leg straight so she wouldn't pull the stitches out just by walking.  I have a band-aid on my finger, and my typing is one degree slower, so it's about the same.

Friday July

Today Julian and I went to the pool. I strapped him on me and called a car.  We went to a pool that is a community pool. It's free, very basic, but fun. A classic Brooklyn pool, you might say.  Julian loves to swim. I love to swim.  We are a good team. Two boys at the pool were playing and one called to his friend, "Hey Julian!"   And my Julian turned his head.  Ah, his very first name-psych.    I've had many in my time.  These days it takes the person a good 3 tries to get me to respond.  

We had a great time swimming. After we were done, I strapped him back in and called another car at the street corner.  While we waited, it began to rain.  I have forgotten the magic of a summer rain on a particularly balmy day.   Big fat drops on our faces.  Julian's never been in the rain.  "This is rain" i said to him.  And he scrunched up his nose and smiled, and as I spun around and around with my arms out to the side, I almost cried, I've never felt so alive.  And as I looked around at the ugliest street corner in existence, I launched myself into the future, and for one terrifying moment, felt how badly I'm going to miss this place.

Would You Rather Thursday!

It's been a while! Time to bring 'em back.

Ahem.

Would you rather be distracted all night by a dripping faucet sound -OR- by a drop on your head every hour?

Are you kidding? Isn't the 2nd one a form of water torture?  So the question would be, would you rather be distracted or tortured? Hmmmmm.   Although, if I hear a repetitive sound, i tend to turn it into rhythm, which then switches my brain on to a song, and it may not stop until the beat does, which is kind of torturous in and of itself.  Tricky!

If you were stranded in the woods, would you rather have a corkscrew with you -OR- a spoon?

This is difficult.  The corkscrew is pointy and I could kill game with it.  On the other hand, I could eat game with my spoon!  So what do i do??  Impossible to decide.

Would you rather dress for one year like Spock from "Star Trek" (including the ears) -OR- like Superman?

Please.

Would you rather have to wear dish washing gloves for a year with no explanation - OR- wear a big blue wig with no explanation?

I'd rather wear a big blue wig. I've been wanting an excuse for that anyway.

 After being shipwrecked in the middle of the ocean and waiting to be rescued, would you rather see land the whole time, but know it's 10 miles away -OR- not be able to see land but still know, somehow, that it is 5 miles away?  

Alright, i have a question. Do i know in which direction the 5-miles-away land is?   Because i feel like that's pretty important.  And if i can't see it, why? What's obstructing my view? And if something's obstructing my view, why don't i just go to that? Since obviously it's closer.   Maybe fog.  Otherwise, I really wonder how far i could swim before i drowned.  Something i'll always wonder and never know, i hope.

Would you rather be attacked by 3 guys hurling walnuts -OR- by 3 baseball players maliciously swinging whiffle ball bats?

I think I'm gonna choose the whiffle bats. If they're baseball players, they are probably used to a heavier bat, and then they will over-swing, and probably fall, and I will laugh.  And then steal a whiffle bat--or 2, one in each hand--and beat them with it, because i am not a baseball player, and could probably do some real damage. Plus, i feel like walnuts could hurt me bad. 

Would you rather suddenly appear as a cowboy about to begin a bull ride in a rodeo -OR- have the protective lap bar unexpectedly rise halfway through a roller coaster ride?

Ha ha. Oh man, this would freak me the heck out.  I think i'll choose the roller coaster ride.  It seems that would be more predictable than a bull, and at least i'd have some fun for a while.  Except if i was on a bull, i could just let go at the first buck and sail down to the ground and start rolling like blazes before I'm stampeded to death, if that were to happen.  So i change my answer. I have a feeling i'm going to think about that one for a while.

yet another sean quote

Partially open trash bag on the floor in the corner starts to slouch and things start falling out of it.  Sean runs to the rescue and sits it up and we notice a gross dark mass of sludge oozing on the inside.

Jen: Gross, what is that?

Sean: Uhh.. that would be leftover marinara sauce.

Jen: Did the lid come off? 

Sean: ... i will take care of that.

Jen: Did it not have a lid?! You just put it in freestyle?

Sean: It was upright when i set it in!

Jen: Eww, that's disgusting! What's wrong with you?

Sean laughs quietly, then finally says: How does one answer that question? "What's wrong with you?"  

Jen: Ha ha.. i don't know.

Sean: It's either too profound or too insulting. I don't know which way to go or what to do.

Toothpaste

On the tube of my Crest toothpaste, it has in the corner in red:    

For best results, squeeze tube from the bottom and flatten as you go up.  

Curious.  What is this saying?  For best results.  What is my goal when i use a tube of toothpaste?  What is the desired result? To expel the toothpaste from the tube as efficiently as possible, so the least amount as possible remains inside?  If that were my goal, then yes, that would be way to get the best results. However, i actually want to clean my teeth and ultimately prevent cavities, when I brush my teeth.  Is using the tube this way going to make that happen? Huh? Will it?!?   Because i could just squeeze the tube from the bottom and flatten as i go up, squeezing it all right into the trash and not even brush my teeth at all.  Maybe Crest doesn't think people read the back of the tube. But I do. Oh, i do.

Fail, Crest.  Try again. 

post script:  What the, i just read this as a bulleted advantage to using Crest: 

• Tastes good without the salty aftertaste.

Alright.  

a)  salty?? What on earth? Is this a common side effect the whole world knows about except for me?  What are people using? Salty?  

b) who's to say salty isn't what tastes "good."  What is a "good" taste, Crest.   Maybe i like salty toothpaste, even though i've never had it.  You don't know.   

And that's what i have to say about my tube of Crest.   For today, at least.

Sean Quote

Sometimes when i reach for a measuring cup, i remember Home Ec. class, which I really enjoyed, quite a lot.

L'orange

• I'm beginning to think that the orange started it all, and that the color was named after the fruit. This changes everything.
  

• It's a common thing: What to do when you have more to say after you've already added a post script. Many people say p.p.s. or p.s.s. which makes even less sense, but that's fine. I've been thinking it over for some time now and I think the right way to do it, for me at least, is like this:

best,

Jen

p.s. have a good day

p.s. p.s. no, have a great day.

A post script to the post script. But wait, what if I remark on something in the second post script that has nothing to do with the first one? Dang, I'm back to square one. Thoughts?

• At the park recently, I was watching a group of 9 year old boys playing some kind of game and I heard one of them singing, "video killed the radio star...." and i thought, maybe there's hope for the future after all. (<-- this one makes me sound like a creeper. "At the park recently... through my binoculars, i was watching...")

• 

spent the holiday weekend doing the following things:

• sitting in the park
• surviving 95 degree temps by playing in the fountain and going to the pool. ALso, abusing my authority over the mini-spray bottle. The baby didn't mind. He loved it. "More in the face! Again!" he was telling me, I know it.
  
• eating my weight in Italian ices. "Hey... yeah, me again. Yep, just 5 minutes ago, yep. So, I would like..."
• not seeing one firework
• watching Young Victoria (lovely), Alice in WonderZzzzz... (so boring) To Kill a Mockingbird (has been bumped up to my all time favorite, and Atticus Finch as the hottest movie dad) and Coco Before Chanel
• eating pancakes several times with fancy syrup and mountains of whipped cream & strawberries. You know how sometimes you just can't get enough of a thing and you eat it repeatedly. I think i'm satisfied... for now. I have a pretty killer recipe if anyone wants it.

Happy Tuesday!

confession

When I am invited to a friendly gathering of friends these days, I rarely offer to bring something. This is not because I forget, though sometimes i actually do, but it's more often due to the fact that I grow lazier by the second and just don't want to bring another thing. Amazingly, we still sometimes get invites. ha ha. (dear friends who invite me: i think you're swell.)

Alright, give me one of yours you've been thinking about lately. Let it out.

cereal thought

click here for an apparently identical post. nice.

blog games

Standing in my favorite place--the Target check-out line, and there was a card game tantalizing shoppers as a last-minute purchase. I looked on the back to figure out the rules and there was a message to persuade me even more:

"Play this game with your family and friends!"

What?? What a great idea!! Games would be so much more fun if i wasn't playing them with ________ and _________.

Fill in the blanks! Give me your funniest answers that are the opposite of who your friend would be. Winner gets a blog noogie from me.

gorgeous farm animals

Watching a girl on TV:

Sean: To me, she's like sheep or cow kind of pretty.

Jen: ha ha, harsh...wait... you mean literally, don't you.

Sean: Yes, literally. I mean, obviously she's pretty, yes... in a wide, low-eyed way, like a sheep or a cow.

For the record, Sean really does think cows are beautiful so it's totally not an insult. Just makes me laugh.

tree?

The other day, Sean and I were discussing African trees (the night before, the topic of choice was Eunuchs-- but that's a post for another day) and were thinking of that classic Savannah-y tree, that has a big fan of branches and a flat top. This:

We were like, "Oh... what is the name of that? i don't know." And then a minute later, i said, "... man, i am pretty sure i know it. I think I could remember it. I'd definitely know it if I heard it." And then several minutes later: "... what is that? It's like...parabola. aaaabracadabra... tarantula..."

We tossed out a few more back and forth and then finally I had to consult google to tell me the answer.

"arrgh, I know it, I know it!"
I typed it in and found out: "Ahh! Baobab! It's baobab!"
Sean: "Not... even close. Tarantula?"
Jen: "What? I said parabola. So many of the same letters.... abracadabra?? see? ha ha ha..."
Sean: "Don't I even get credit for Bilbao?"
Jen: "Bilbo? what?"
Sean: "Bilbao.. i at least had the ao."
Jen: "Bilbao? that's not even a word."

But yes, yes he does get credit, though I would never say that to his face. I just thought this exchange & my word ideas were funny. Good ol' brains. So entertaining, they are.

Ok, so the story is not over. (this totally hilarious story worth telling) I thought it was. So I realized, " wait.. i can just put in a picture. They can see what it looks like." Because i struggled up there to describe the tree. So I went up to the google box to type in baobab:

Jen: "whoops...not---" *delete delete delete*
Sean: "Bilbao???"
Jen: "hahaha! shhh-shutup." And then i typed in the correct word & clicked on google images and up came all these other trees.

Jen: "wait a second... that's not..."

And we realized we had the wrong tree all along. It is an acacia tree. Acacia.

And thus concludes this story about I don't know what. You know how you come sit down to blogger with a story to tell, a post to make, and then you realize it's not even blog-worthy at all, and you desperately try to make it into something it would never, could never be? I don't. All of the things I do (in life) are blog-worthy.

Happy trails.

post script to pudding dreams

I sat down here with a dish of chocolate pudding and entered "dreams" into the search in my blogger for Jen's Log, and about 27 posts came up that have that word in it. Funny, i would think there would be more. Anyway, I decided to click on the post called "I love..." a list of things I, in fact, love. Or at least loved 4 years ago when I wrote it. I wanted to see if they were still true, if I still loved the things on the list. And so when I got to item #3 on the list, I smiled.
Yep.

Chocolate Pudding Cups of Your Dreams

You didn't know you dreamt about this but I'm telling you you have. And your dreams are my reality, my friends, and now your dreams can be your reality, and I, in turn, will be dreaming about your reality that used to be only dreams you didn't know you dreamt.

This weekend Sean and I made pudding cups out of chocolate and they came out PERFECTLY.

As usual, in the Jen's Log style, a tutorial for CPCYD:

1. First, steal an idea from bakerella.com.

2. Make it completely different by making tiny chocolate cups! Using a small bike pump, spend an evening blowing up 80 water balloons. Keep them small. Mold them to accidentally look like peanuts. Fill the sink with soapy water and wash the balloons. Pat dry. Get out some cookie sheets or whatever and put some parchment paper on it, or whatever.

3. Melt some good chocolate. Make it dark, the only form chocolate in which chocolate should exist. Don't burn it. Let the melted chocolate cool a bit. This will help it adhere to the balloons.

TIP: Sean says to boil the water in the double boiler and turn off the heat before adding the chocolate to the bowl. Don't even have heat on chocolate. It'll melt.

ANOTHER TIP: melt a substantial amount so you can dip at your leisure, and not have to worry about getting enough chocolate high enough on the balloon.

4a. Spray some nonstick on the balloons, or wipe butter all over them. Sit on a chair while you do this painstakingly while your spouse stands the entire time and even painstakinglyer dips the balloons into the chocolate.

4b. But FIRST, place a blob of chocolate on the paper, and then rest the chocolate-dipped balloon on that, to make a stand.




5. Admire.



6. Put them in a fancy 2-level cardboard carrying device constructed by a packaging wizard and cool them in the fridge for a while. We let it sit overnight. Probably unnecessary. I'm pretty sure chocolate hardens in like 10 seconds.



7. Pull out the balloon cups. Pop balloons with a pin!



8. Look at all the dead balloons.



9. Realize some of them are sticking to the cups. Figure out why and tell me. (Use more non-stick?) Pretend to play an awesome game of Operation that's more like real life, and standing whilst hunched over, use tweezers to delicately pull out the balloons. Try not to mash the cups with your hands or let any part of your lava-skin touch them.



After I did an entire tray of this, Genius Sean brought out some wooden chopsticks to hold the cups in place (they don't stick to the parchment paper very well) which worked like a dream. Oh look, I took some video of that.



TIP: If you have some holes on the bottom of some cups, add some chocolate pieces from a dud cup on the bottom to cover the hole. You'll be just fine.

10. Admire




11. Now fill them up! We used some Kozy Shack pudding for one tray. For the other, we mixed whipped cream with lemon cream, and added dollops of lemon curd on top.

Video of the lemon:





Video of the chocolate:



12. Drizzle some more melted chocolate over the chocolate pudding chocolate cups of chocolaty chocolateness.







13. Add mint leaves in the lemon ones for fanciness. Realize you made them look just like eggs. Consider that these could also be used as an Easter treat.



14. Throw them back in the fridge.

15. When they've chilled for a while, or when you have to go, take them out and put them in the awesome carrying case of wonders.




16. At the event, stand casually nearby the dessert table so as to be easily spotted by admirers, to hear their compliments. Try and fail to come off as humble. "I know, right???"

17. Almost forget the most important part!!! (but don't) Get 500 mini-spoons online because that's the smallest amount it comes in. How awesome are these?? You bet I'll use every last one. I eat everything with them. everything.



to show the scale of the tiny spoons...


arrggh, i love them so much; i feel like Lenny.

And there you have it! A fun recipe for a fancy treat in 17 easy steps! Make them today and wow all your friends.