a list

1. I start school tomorrow. I’m uncharacteristically nonchalant about this. I’m prepared and ready to go back, but not nervous in the slightest. Have I, dare I say it, grown up?

2. I made a friend today! Actually, one of Andrew’s friends. Is that weird? One of Andrew’s friends from high school found me on Facebook, started reading my blog (yay!), then emailed me. We really hit it off and met for coffee today, then the BOGO shoe sale at the local running store. She and I are very similar (which makes sense, I suppose, since Andrew and she were good friends) and are looking forward to a dinner date with our respective spouses.

3. Speaking of running shoes… I bought two pairs for what I paid last summer in Carmel for one. Sheesh. Good running shoes, for me, are akin to air, water and peanut butter, so at the end of the day, I’ll pay a pretty penny if I have to. But, scoring a good deal for your pair of choice online isn’t always easy, so I was jazzed that the shoe sale today yielded another pair of my current style and a trail runner with support for me to wear in the snow. SWEET!

4. All I wanted to do this winter break was cook and bake, but with three trips in as many weeks, I didn’t exactly have the free time I’d anticipated. However, I’ve been making up for lost time these last couple days! I’ve made two loaves of sourdough, a giant batch of sourdough waffles to freeze, pumpkin granola, ham stock with the leftover Thanksgiving ham bone (destined for ham bone soup tomorrow), pumpkin-cranberry rolls and a menu for the week chock full of new recipes, to include cod and mung beans (not together). I. CANNOT. WAIT.

5. I made the best kale ever tonight–Andrew said it was a ‘Top 10,’ which is saying something since he’s so picky. It’s a recipe I replicated from something I got at Earth Fare this past week in Ohio. I’m blogging about kale this week for the co-op, so be sure to check it out there for my recipe!

6. I also made some great cauliflower (Andrew said “he’d eat it again”) tonight using a recipe a gal we met while in Canandaigua sent me. It’s a Cook’s Illustrated recipe. In terms of cauliflower, it was fantastic.

7. I was reading the Jan/Feb issue of Cooking Light on the elliptical this morning. Mistake. EVERYTHING in there is awesome. (Except that I can’t make half of it due to Andrew’s dislike of cheese.) Sad.

8. This month’s Cuisine at Home is also a winner. Between the two of them, I found recipes for Pad Thai and Tom Kha Gai soup–my two favorite things to order when we go out for Thai food.

9. I’m trying to figure out a new gym schedule for next semester that includes a yoga class… All the good ones are at times I’m unavailable! It’s either going at night (not my first choice) or cutting it close between the gym and class. Decisions, decisions.

10. There is a pair of boots I’ve been drooling over since before Christmas, and I’ve been itching to order them ever since. Theoretically, I have the fun money to do it, but after all Hadrian’s trips to the vet, our traveling (gas, food, Starbucks…), random impulse buys (ahem, the shoe sale and those $20 LOFT pants that fit like a glove), I feel like I need to keep waiting. Again, I ask, does this mean I’ve grown up? (No, probably not, since I’m also daydreaming about this awesome J.Crew dress I found to wear to not one, but TWO occasions this year…)

one-of-a-kind new years…

Last night just might have been the most interesting New Years for all nine individuals in our party…. (Actually, maybe just eight of us; Jen–our 9-month-pregnant nurse friend who was a cop in a previous life had to work today so retired early–I am sure has seen crazier things between the two professions.)

But for the rest of us, let’s just say it will be memorable.

Our night started off normal enough; we arrived at Chez Diercks and were greeted with warm hugs and snacks. We hadn’t put a plan together and with a group of nine this late in the game, I had no idea where we were going to go or what we were going to do.

Where in the world were were going to go for dinner without reservations? After a little calling around, I got us a table at an asian place at The Greene for an hour later.

We’d done some pre-trip emailing and the feeling was that the girls wanted to do some dancing (with or without the guys), so we all got gussied-up and headed out.

We’d been to Cheo’s once before we moved and liked it; it’s great for a group. The sushi-lovers were able to indulge, Jen went light with salad and lettuce wraps, I tried a coconut-curry duck and the non-ethnic-food-inclined at the table could still get General Tso’s or Sweet and Sour Chicken.

After some walking around and a quick taste at Yogurt Mountain, a yogurt place with the best toppings bar EVER, we piled into our cars and headed out to the Oregon District.

Our options were a bit limited; one of our party isn’t yet 21 and no one wanted to pay an arm and a leg to get in anywhere, so we headed to the first place on the list, Pulse.

Upon arrival, Emily did a bit of scouting and hopped back in the car with a thumbs-down. No dancing and it looked shady. Well, this is Dayton (no offense) and everything downtown is a bit shady, so I knew our expectations might have been a bit high.

Nonetheless, Dan knew of a place in Centerville that might fit the bill, so off we went. The Yellow Rose is a country line-dancing joint that switches to hip-hop later in the evening. We had no idea what we were in for…

The parking lot set the scene: beat-up trucks with Stetson hats on the dash, and cowboys (of all ages) sauntering in told us we weren’t in Kansas anymore. We entered, paid our cover, and found ourselves in the middle of the biggest country-western bar we’d ever seen. The dance floor was flooded with girls in denim and cowboy boots, line-dancing away. We scurried to the sidelines to wait out the twangy stuff.

Disclaimer: I actually like country music, but not knowing the line dances (on top of the fact that I’m not really a ‘dancer’ to begin with, was a bit intimidating.) At least I fit right in–I’d chosen a dark denim shirt-dress and paired it with a black long-sleeved shirt and tights with tall boots. All I’d had to do was trade my necklace for a hat and I’d have been golden.

Anyway, the country music wasn’t ending when we thought it might and some of our party were getting a bit antsy, so Emily and Dan headed out to the dance floor to fumble their way through some of the dances. Not that anything they do would be fumbling; they’re both incredibly musically inclined, so at least they LOOK like they know what they’re doing. I, on the other hand, took a quick sip of Andrew’s beer, put on my bravest face and marched myself out onto the dance floor to try my hand at it. I attempted to two-step, all the while keeping an eye on anyone who knew what they were doing. At least it kept us entertained until the music switched over…

…and boy, did it! Actually, for a minute there we were a bit frightened; the hip-hop music started and they were line-dancing to it, too! We found a spot near the TV and watched the ball drop and danced to Auld Lang Syne, which (apparently) signaled the change-over for the night and all of a sudden, the dance floor was mobbed and the music started thumping.

And this is where the story takes the interesting turn… Let’s just say we’re a bunch of sheltered young adults and that dancing sure has changed! Now I know why the preacher in Footloose made such a stink about dancing… The country-line dancing Yellow Rose had turned into a full-fledged dance club with a pole! The line dancers had vacated in a hurry to make room for a slightly, um, ‘diverse’ crowd. There were barely-there dresses. There were averted eyes.

We formed our own little group of well-behaved dancers and boogied for a few songs before calling it a night. Hey, at least we all got a good laugh on the way out to our cars!

a list

1. Long time no type. Buried in schoolwork and life. Not necessarily in that order. Attempting to force myself to come up for air.

2. Chemistry is hard. Like, fail-out-of-class hard. (Not me, but you know what I mean.) I knew there was a good reason to fear it back at Penn State! Anyway, I’m doing alright, but a recent bombed quiz has shown me I need to devote more time to Chem and less to Anatomy.

3. In all my busy-ness today, I decided I needed to make bread. That’s so like me. Why? I had to “revive” my starter that’s in the fridge. And have I forgotten about the GAJILLION things of bread we brought home from our Thanksgiving trip? (No fewer than 1.5 loaves of rye bread, 10 bagels, 8 onion rolls, plus crackers.) Our house is carb central!

4. My Thanksgiving pumpkin pie was the ugliest thing ever (thanks to my impatience with store-bought crust), but tasted great. Get the recipe here.

5. Speaking of recipes–I just managed another blog post for the co-op. It’s about cranberries and I included the cranberry brisket Andrew loves so much. Read it here.

6. I am now “officially” a New Yorker; I took care of getting a new license and registering the car. License should be here in about a week! It’s kind of exciting, in a really anti-climactic sort of way. I think if we’d moved into a house we were excited about, everything would feel different. Instead, everything still feels very temporary. But, nonetheless, it’s still neat to see the Pilot with its new yellow and blue license plate.

7. We named our plants. Well, I named our plants. Andrew just went along with it good-naturedly. My dear friend, Emily, inspired me. She has such beautiful, healthy, vibrant house plants. I am so jealous. She and I recently traded some plant clippings and she mentioned one of them was named ‘Stella.’ Now, I’ve heard of people naming their plants before, but I just never have. I mean, mine don’t normally last that long…it was never a good idea to get attached. However, I do have one that has lasted FOUR years now! Andrew and I were in disbelief when we realized it. So, on the way home from our Thanksgiving holiday, I used my phone to look up names and their meanings (again, such a ‘me’ thing to do–we’re talking the significance of the names of HOUSE PLANTS) and we decided to call the big, four-year-old one “Gerard” which means ‘hardy.’ (We’ve been calling it ‘hardy’ since I hadn’t killed it yet, so we figured why not?). I have one other plant, an orchid Andrew bravely got me for Valentine’s Day this year. (I don’t know what he was thinking.) Anyway, it did alright for awhile, then the blooms fell off, then I panicked until I found out that was normal, and just when it was growing another stem and bloom, one of the movers bumped into it on our table and broke it off! I was heartbroken. I looked up ‘long-suffering’ and ended up with “Patience.” She’s been through a lot, that one, and just the other day I noticed a tiny bud getting ready to sprout from the moss–hurray! And now, I have Emily’s purple one to re-pot, who I have been calling “Stella 2.” Between the animals and now anthropomorphic plants, we have one full house!

8. I’m supposed to be working on psychology homework. Must hurry!

9. Hadrian has been down for the count all day today–GLORIOUS! I’ve been so productive. (In case you’re wondering, any time he returns from ‘puppy camp’ he sleeps 24/7 for about two days. Totally normal.)

10. We have 7 pints of ice cream in our freezer, plus the remnants of two Jeni’s that Emily and Dan brought us, plus a tiny bit of homemade Jeni’s vanilla. SEVEN unopened Graeter’s and Jeni’s pints. That’s like $45 in ice cream (hey, don’t judge my expensive taste in ice cream!). My brilliant plan: tiny scoops, both to make it last and keep it off my hips. I’ll let you know how it goes, but I’m not terribly optimistic…