Don't you wish you had 70,000 people per square mile?

 

 This is my life.

So. Many. Lines.

There were actually three more turns of this line that are unpictured.

NYC is filled with a lot of people and that means a. lot. Of. Lines. It also means that you will probably spend the same amount of time parking as you do driving.

These pictures are from Port Authority Bus terminal and they were taken before the hurricane. (The three pictures at the end were taken POST hurricane.) It has only gotten exponentially worse since the hurricane. After two bad days in a row I have abandoned traversing midtown and reversed my commute to get a ride home with Kit every night. It takes a little coordination from us, but only takes an hour and I get to spend half of it with my wonderful husband instead of strangers standing too closely, talking too loudly, and smelling too strongly.

Plus giving me the stink-eye for no reason.

I really like NYC and think it's a great city.
HOWEVER.
Here's to the glories of the west: wide open spaces, large road shoulders, expansive parking lots and a reasonable population density. And perhaps the biggest plus: no one leaves/smears their dog's poop on the sidewalk.

(Nothing ruins your day like non-chalantly traipsing through someone else's dog's poop. I mean COME ON.)

Pickin' up what I'm layin' down?
Are you smellin' what I'm steppin' in?

Getting back to normal--Post Hurricane

As I write this, I'm sitting on my comfy bed, in my warm apartment with the overhead lights on and my laptop plugged in--isn't electricity wonderful? Here's a little recap.

Sunday night. We topped off our gas tank. Turned out to be very smart!

Hurricane Sandy hit on a Monday night. We watched the coverage on the news, made some treats, and enjoyed working from home on a stormy day. Tuesday night around 8:00ish, the storm came ashore. We felt the house moving in the wind (it feels creepy) and cuddled up to watch "Dial M for Murder." We could see the blue and white flashes of transformers exploding in the distance. About five minutes before the end of the movie, we saw a flash close by and our power went out.

Kit around 5:00pm on Monday. It was almost too windy to walk.

Tuesday was spent assessing the damage and waiting for news from the outside world. Since the power outages were so extensive, a lot of the cell towers were down and our phones didn't really work. (So THIS is why they tell you to get a battery powered radio...) Our computer and phone batteries made it most of the day. We played Scrabble. I took a nap. We taped our freezer shut so we'd remember not to open it. Our neighbors  about 1/2 a mile away never lost power. They invited us over and we took a casserole in our power-less fridge to bake. They let us shower and charge up. And play with their kids.

We got home and the power came on for a few hours, then strangely went out again.

Wednesday, we really needed to get some work done. We got up early, drove to a McDonald's inside a Walmart and camped out for a few hours. Then we went to the Weehawken library for a few hours. Too many people on the Internet--it was extremely slow. Then we went to Kit's manager's house (who never lost power) and worked through the evening. We went back to our neighbors with power that night. Watched the 'Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin!'

Thursday. It was impossible to get into the city, but Kit's office in Englewood Cliffs had secured a generator and was open for employees and employees' families. We jumped at the chance to go to work! Almost every person at Kit's work was out of power. We got a full day of work in and got to charge our cell phones and be in a heated area to boot. That evening we drove over to NYC (took the bridge) and spent time with Brent and Hannah, Kit's colleague and his wife. That night we arrived home to electricity! We were incredibly fortunate.

 Kit putting his arm up to the high water mark on River Road. We are at least 150 yards from the river's normal banks. You can see all of the debris that the flooding brings behind Kit. You can also see that any cars in the parking lot behind would have been flooded.

 Hard to see, but the high water mark goes halfway over the Weehawken track. 

 Our neighborhood suffered no flooding, only damage from wind. This downed line was still there four days after the storm. Shows how busy city and power crews were.

Hard to see, but a huge piece of scaffolding and a canopy off of one of the apartment buildings flew off and landed on two cars. This is why you don't walk around during hurricanes!

We saw several large trees that pulled up the sidewalk. Luckily this tree didn't really damage the house--not even the glass globe ceiling in the sitting room.

Downed trees everywhere. 

Friday, I was able to make it into the city because NJ transit busses were running again. It was good to be at work! However, most of my team was still out of the office. I left early to meet Kit on the other side of the bridge. We didn't have much food and our grocery stores were either still out of power or waiting for shipments of food, so we decided to go out to dinner. The problem was finding a restaurant that had power! We drove west for about 20 minutes and found a mall we heard had power. It was amazing seeing how much of the state was still without power after five days. 

The mall we went to had a staging ground for the local utilities trucks. There were probably 300 basket-trucks and other vehicles there. It was obvious that they were working very hard. 

Saturday we went down to Hoboken to hand out food and hygiene kits to the people there. They were still pumping out water when we arrived. Later that night we made pumpkin pie and BBQ chicken with our friends Aaron and Olga. Sunday we had church in a different location (still no power at our normal building) and then we went to hand out food in Hoboken again.

This past week has been pretty normal except my commute to NYC has been horrendous. Getting to the city is not too bad, but the lines in Port Authority are very long and terribly managed. The PATH train (that normally takes a lot of NJ commuters) will be out of service for several more weeks. 

Our grocery store has meat and dairy again and the gas crisis is pretty much over. Commuting is not as smooth as it could be but it's not terrible.

This week we've gone to lower Jersey City to help take out soaked drywall and other ruined belongings. The people there got around 5 feet of water in their homes. When the storm surge hit, the water started come up through the drains.

The stories go on and on. Our area didn't get hit very hard--just lost power for a few days. Some areas however, (Jersey City, Hoboken, Staten Island, Long Island, the Jersey Shore) all got hit incredibly hard and the cleanup is still ongoing. Tens of thousands are still without power, almost two weeks later. Some of the stories from coworkers about relatives or friends in Long Island, Hoboken or Staten Island are dreadful. 

It was a fantastically powerful storm that essentially shut down lower NYC for a week. What's crazy is that some people's houses were destroyed and some people didn't notice a difference in their lives at all.  It's very sad to see the devastation in flooded areas. Flooding is incredibly destructive--something I didn't completely get until I saw it first hand.

Glad it's over and things are getting back to normal.

Halloween and Hurricanes

Before we move on to the hurricane  halloween festivities, a brief recap of Kit and Lynne's week)

Monday: FHE at home (whew), made cookies to bring to dinner on Thursday

Tuesday: Lynne's Chinese class

Wednesday: Lynne's work poker event

Thursday: Dinner with friend Charles in Guttenberg, NJ

Friday: Ran out of gas because gas gauge wasn't working; Carve Positive halloween party for Kit's work

Saturday: correlation for Kit, Hobooken 5K for Lynne and Kit, Kit got the car inspected, Lynne made enchiladas for the ward party, finished costume preparations, went to ward Halloween party, prepared for "Sandy" and wrote our talks for Sunday

Sunday: Finished talks in AM, Kit meetings AM, went to church, gave talks, hurricane prep.

 

Every year my organization hosts a poker benefit. Guests can purchase tickets (or entire tables) for the right to play poker and win prizes (like lunch with a successful hedge fund investor--which amazingly sounds interesting to most people here).

This year the benefit was hosted at Gotham Hall in NYC, which is an ornate bank-turned-events hall.

Our CEO Eva speaks to the crowd and this year our guest speaker was award-winning journalist Campbell Brown. After dinner, the poker playing began!

 

I helped out at the registration table, then with random things throughout the night. I also learned how to play craps and roulette--both more fun than I expected! (Although, I think it was the most fun because when you were out of chips, you just had to ask the dealer for more--nothing was on the line except your pride.)

 

  

Friday night, we picked an entire patch of pumpkins and made our way to Kit's manager's house for "Carve Positive." Kit and his Lipton teammates carved tea-themed pumpkins in an effort to win "best lipton gourd" and make it on the Lipton facebook page. Kit had a strong contender, stay tuned to see if he wins! 

 

My pumpkin (right) is not tea-related at all, but would probably win if our pumpkins had a throw-down. Also, enjoyed the "shaving" style of pumpkin carving, courtesy of Martha Stewart and some person who came up with a mummy pattern.

 

Our Ward Halloween party included "thriller" by the young women and the YW Pres' 3-year-old son.

 

pure chaos.

 

Adventurers of the last two frontiers. 

 

This isn't the best picture, but we have a cupcake-mom-extraordinaire in our ward.

 

And....Sandy.

Sunday morning I wrote my talk while Kit was at ward council. Kit stopped at Walmart on the way home to get some extra flashlights for ward people --no luck, they were already cleaned out.   

After we gave our talks at church, we spent the second hour calling our region's phone tree and the third hour of church was canceled. We gave a few people rides home from church, stopped by the store to get some produce (you know, to ward off scurvy) and made it home to "batten" if you will. 

We have good windows, but taping them makes me feel about going to sleep in there.

The NYC subways started closing last night at 7:00 pm, NJ transit started closing in phases as well. All NYC schools are closed today, most workplaces are as well (mostly because of lack of transit).

Even though the transit doesn't need to be closed right now, they couldn't close the transit system in the middle of the day because people would be trapped. The only option is in the middle of the night Sunday (early) or the middle of the night Monday (too late).

 

My work-at-home-space. 

 

Kit's work-at-home space. (we rescued our plants from the wind)

 

You can feel our apartment sway a bit in the wind sometimes, but we feel like we are in a good position. During Hurricane Irene, our roof leaked a little bit, but that was all. Our apartment is situated on a cliff above the Hudson river. We have a good view of the NYC harbor and some apartments just along the shore. 

We have flashlights, water, blankets, taped windows, food, games, good company and an adventurous attitude. We are concerned for all of the people in central Jersey who were hit so hard with Irene. We're praying for them and hope things go better this time--we are prepared as we can be! Bring it on!

Peppermint Bark

Only 65 days until December 25th--let the Christmas celebrations begin!

...Too soon?

When I was growing up, every year I would spend the days before Christmas playing with my cousin at my aunt's house. We got to help her get ready for our big Christmas Eve party and that included making caramels. (Post coming later this year...) Last year, I thought I'd branch out a bit in the candy department and experimented with Peppermint Bark. It was a success! (and after going to three stores to find peppermint extract in holiday traffic, I'm going to use it all, dang it!)

The recipe is pretty simple, and the pictures are delectable and fun.

First you smash the candies to oblivion. This part is fun--involve the children if you don't have an problem with them hammering things. (If you don't want your "oblivion" to be messy, make sure to double or triple bag the peppermints.)

Separate the peppermint dust from the chunks by sifting. Save the dust in a bowl for later use.

 

Chip off chunks of both dark and white chocolate. (Not kid friendly--I had to use a big knife. It's pretty similar to chipping ice chips off except more dense and not as brittle.)

 

the chocolate will be irresistible.  prepare yourself.

 

I couldn't tear myself away. 

I used blocks of chocolate from Whole Foods, but any high quality chocolate will do.

Set the dark chocolate and one teaspoon of canola oil over a double boiler. (Double boiler = glass bowl over boiling water. Must be glass)

 

Melt the chocolate slowly, stirring constantly. (If you've never used a double boiler before, this is me telling you it's not that hard. You can do it!)

 

On the double boiler, the chocolate melts slowly and evenly. Once it is liquid, mix in 1/4 tsp of peppermint extract. 

 

Pour the chocolate into a 9x9 pan lined with wax paper. Try to smooth wrinkles out of the wax paper as it will affect the way the chocolate hardens. Sprinkle the top with bits of peppermint. Put in fridge until hardened.

 

Now onto the white chocolate. Douse the white chocolate with the peppermint dust.

 

Put over double boiler with 1 tsp canola oil and melt like dark chocolate, stirring constantly.

Add peppermint extract when melted.

 

Pour over dark chocolate layer. Sprinkle top with remaining peppermint bits.

Harden in the fridge and break into chunks to eat. 

*These pictures were taken last year. I'm not organized enough to make candies this early in the year--it took me ten months to document the process last time.

The recipe calls for 9x9 pan, but I think other shaped pans would also work well. Jelly roll pan, mini-loaf pans, 9x13--I think I will try different shapes this year to vary the thickness of the candy.

All peppermint bark recipes are fairly similar, just depends on what kind of taste you like. I think the chocolate you use matters more than the recipe.

Peppermint Bark

8 ounces dark (or semisweet) chocolate
8 ounces white chocolate
1 bag of peppermint candies, crushed (reserve the dust)
2 teaspoons canola oil, divided
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract, divided

Melt the semisweet chocolate and 1 tsp of canola oil over double boiler (with simmering water).
Stir constantly to avoid burning the chocolate.
Once liquid, stir in 1/4 teaspoon (or less) peppermint extract.
Pour into 9x9 pan, lined with wax paper.
Sprinkle bits of peppermint over the chocolate.
Put pan in fridge to cool.
Melt the white chocolate, 1 tsp of canola oil and peppermint dust over double boiler
Stir constantly to avoid burning.
Once liquid, stir in 1/4 teaspoon (or less) peppermint extract
Pour over the semisweet chocolate layer.
Sprinkle with remaining bits of peppermint.
Put pan in fridge to cool, break into bits to eat! (and give away!)

Book Review: The Fault in Our Stars

I just read a book about cancer. I didn't choose to read it; I probably would never have read it on my own. (I had to read it for book club.) But I'm glad I read it all the same. 

Now, if you're anything like me, you would say, "who would want to read a book about cancer?" You have an excellent point. However, you need to trust me on this one. While the characters have cancer, the book isn't about cancer. It's about living and loving and not letting the cancer "kill" you until it kills you. It's also very honest.  

The basic story is about Hazel, a 16-yr old girl who was diagnosed with Thyroid cancer a few years before. The cancer spread to her lungs. She was in very bad shape until she was put on an experimental drug that stunts the cancer. Now, as the book takes place, she's not in good shape (she'll never heal), but she's not in terrible shape either. 

She meets a boy at cancer support group. As Hazel describes, Augustus Waters "was a tenured professor in the Department of Slightly Crooked Smiles with a dual appointments in the Department of Having a Voice that Made My Skin Feel More Like Skin.” They have a fun, innocent teenage relationship. Hazel pulls back for awhile because of her condition, but then "[she] fell in love like the way you fall asleep: slowly, then all at once."

Augustus encourages her to follow her dream and search out a hermit author who lives in the Netherlands and wrote Hazel's all-time-favorite book. The book includes Hazel's parents, her mother who treats every holiday (from Bastille day to half-birthdays) as if it were Christmas, and her father who cries too easily. Isaac, Gus and Hazel's friend from support group loses both eyes to cancer. (Bad blind jokes ensue. The first thing Hazel says to Isaac: "I've gotten really hot since you went blind.") Gus's parents fill his house with positive "encouragements" stitched on every pillow and pasted on every wall. I really fell in love with Hazel, with Gus, and with their relationship. The book is a little idealistic about how good and pure their relationship is, but I'm not complaining. I loved that it wasn't a superficial teenager infatuation, but honest love, based on mutual respect, admiration, humor and compassion.

This book will make you laugh (out loud) and it will probably make you cry. (p.s. You probably won't want to read this on a bus/train/public place for this very reason.) However. 

You should read this book. It reminds you that life is beautiful and tragic. 

But mostly beautiful.

Here are a few quotes, to give you a flavor for the writing:

Hazel, when her mother forced her to get up hours before their flight:

“I had a moral opposition to eating before dawn on the grounds that I was not a nineteenth-century Russian peasant fortifying myself for a day in the fields.” 

Hazel, explaining that they discovered her thyroid cancer just weeks after she got her first period. 

"My body was like, 'Congratulations! You're a woman! Now die.'"

Hazel and Augustus: 

“What's that?"
"The laundry basket?"
"No, next to it."
"I don't see anything next to it."
"It's my last shred of dignity. It's very small.” 

Hazel and Augustus:

“We sat out there in silence for a minute and then Gus said, ' I wish we had that swing set sometimes.'
'The one from my backyard?'
'Yeah. My nostalgia is so extreme that I am capable of missing a swing my butt never actually touched.'
'Nostalgia is a side effect of cancer,' I told him.
'Nah, nostalgia is a side effect of dying, ' he answered. Above us, the wind blew and the branching shadows rearranged themselves on our skin. Gus squeezed my hand. 'It is a good life, Hazel Grace.” 

I've got another book review coming, because I read two books in the past two weeks. (Not sequentially, but simultaneously as a result of library due dates , book club scheduling and poor planning on my part.)

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

This weekend, we broke down and scrubbed the inside of this baby.

If you look closely, you'll see the messiest part of our house. 

Disgusting, splatter-y, caked bits of all the delicious things we've cooked over the past 13(?) months. 

Did I mention the best part about the microwave? You can shut the white door and the microwave looks marvelously clean. 

Speaking of out-of-sight out-of-mind items...let's call this post my return to blogging. 

I'm embarrassed about the dearth of blogposts at this URL. 

Unbeknownst to the world, we have been doing things and going places, we just haven't been adequately documenting for the blog-o-sphere. Not that it helps, or that it makes it okay, I have compiled a list of excuses (seen below). Feel free to use these excuses when you are in the valley-of-no-blogging. 

At the U.S. Open in Queens. We about died on our drive out there and we sat (literally) on the back row, but it was so much fun! 

We got to see Federer and Venus Williams play (not each other).

1. Overuse of computer-y things during the day. I am on my computer for at least nine hours a day. The last thing I want to do when I get home is hunch over a macbook and type for another few hours. Also, I had a bout of painful tendonitis earlier in the year and I'm not 100% recovered. (I'm mostly better, but let's just say I won't be using my finger/wrist muscles to climb El Capitan anytime soon.)
2. My free-time is devoured by my commute. It takes me an hour to get to and from work. Luckily, I don't have to drive, which means I can do other things, like nap, people-watch, read, or study. However, my phone is way too small to use to draft verbose blog posts. I don't even like texting on that thing. (I miss the old-fashioned buttons that make texting 5 times faster!) 
3. I like to cook. Let's recap, get up at 7 am, leave at 8 am, get to work at 9 am. Leave work between 6:00 and 7:00. Get home between 7:00pm (at earliest) and 8:00 pm. Even if I bust out of work at the earliest second possible, I don't get home before 7:00pm. Which usually means that dinner isn't ready before 7:30, 7:45 unless we're having frozen burritos or something. I try to cook quickly, which means that the kitchen often looks like a war zone when I'm done. (I'm getting better, but I still probably use four pans, when one would do.) SO, after dinner, we do the dishes and clean the kitchen. With no dishwasher, this is about 30 minutes.  So we're done with dinner around 8:30, at the earliest. Often later. 
4. I (attempt) to like to run. On the nights when I'm not cooking, it usually means I'm trying to jog. If you include changing and showering, my runs take (at fastest) 1 hour.
5. My computer battery doesn't work unless it's plugged in. As pathetic as it sounds, this is probably the biggest barrier to my blogg-I-ness. I dislike working at a computer on a desk/table because it reminds me of work. The tether of my cord makes lounging on my bed typing away impossible and thus, blogging unappealing.

This lack of prolific-ness is only made worse by the fact that I LOVE reading my friends' blogs (and occasionally strangers' blogs) so much. I'm a blog-stalker extraordinaire. 

Even if I pretend I don't read your blog (because it might be embarrassing to know everything that's going on in everyone's lives), if you post semi-regularly, I probably do.

Anywho, this is not much, but a few pictures from the last few weeks.

We went out to the Hamptons and I ran (my second ever) half marathon.

Proof. Look at those rippling muscles. 

We are successful gardeners! I really enjoy these purple flowers by our window.

Yes, many people have hoop earrings larger than our prize bell pepper, but that doesn't diminish our love for it. And we showed our love by chopping it up and eating it in a delicious Indian dish.

We had our friends Alli and Travis over to make caramel apples to break in the fall weather. 

The only mistake? Waiting until after Fast Sunday to eat ours! 

(we should have partaken immediately, those apples are devilishly good looking)

If you haven't tried rolling caramel apples in crushed butterfingers, you should. RIGHT now.