Found My First Blog!

I rediscovered my very first blog! I forgot that I had started one in May 2006. I didn't like the format of the blog so I stopped posting to it.

Let's see... I had two postings about wrapping up my MBA life. Wow! It brought back memories - sleepless nights and midnight cramming. Has it already been over a year? But, must say, it was worth all three years of my life. Can I ever do it again?

Check It Out: My Lost Blog

Miss American Pie

Apples, Anyone? Our backyard neighbor's apple trees decided to mass produce this year. There were apples on every branch - almost more apples than leaves! The neighbor lady poke her head over the fence every weekend offering neighbors apples. They were small but very delicious - crunchy, sweet with a light touch of tartness. Neighbor lady credited Dad for the harvest. He told her to cut back the trees last year. She did and that did the trick.

In return, I baked her a pie with her apples. She brought back my pie dish the following day along with another bag of apples. She said the apple pie was sooo good that her family ate it all in one day. I told her it was her apples.

Hmmm...was the bag of apples a hint for another pie?

Spread the love: I also baked an apple pie for the neighbor across the street. She rang the door bell one night at 1am asking if we were OK because the garage door was open. Being a good neighbor, she came to check us out. So sweet! One pie for you too. Dad brought it over fresh out of the oven. I heard a happy squeal across the street when she opened the door. Dad thanked her for her neighborhood watch but was also curious what the heck she was doing peeking out the window at 1am in the morning... She yet to return my pie dish. Was the pie that bad?

Carli Pie: Jason said she asks for my apple pie day and night. Wow, my biggest fan! So, here's one pie all for Carli.

Think Art

Third visit to NYC in 10 months: this time I got to visit the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan on a gallery tour on 10/02/07. Do you know that Chelsea has the highest concentration of art galleries in the world? 300!!! I didn’t count. The walking tour took us to 8 art galleries and my feet screamed uncle.

Note to self: wear walking shoes; boots hurt.

Eye Opening: abstract paintings, self-portraits, computer animation, computer art, video art and sculptures. It was quite a mix of art forms. Some were confusing and some just didn't connect with me. Overall though, they were interesting and I walked away with admiration for those who have the imagination and the ability to express their thoughts and feelings.

One exhibit was all self-portraits of the artist, Julie Heffernan, wearing dead animals. What’s up with that? I thought it was kind of morbid yet the paintings were rich and colorful at the same time - very bipolar.

I really like Ugo Rondinone's 9-feet sculptures and there were 12 of them - EACH being sold for $200,000. Want one for your garden?? Want to guess what they were made of? Clay? Mud? Try aluminum. Would you have guessed? Complexity disguised in simple form.

Sol LeWitt's 3-D sculpture was giantic and powerful. It stood alone – grandly - in an empty exhibit room and what a visual impact!! The cube art was sketched with ordinary pencils on 4 large building sheetrock. It took 12 artists over hundreds of hours to make the art. Mr. LeWitt passed away in April 2007. He instructed to have this art be destroyed after the exhibition. Huh? Do you have to? They make beautiful room partitions. Wouldn’t that be more meaningful (for me anyway)???

Yes, I Made Them

Japanese Mackerel boiled on a bed of sea salt with a squeeze of lemon - perfect with a glass of fume blanc. Many thanks to Andrew for his generosity.




Morning Pastries baked with help from the Pillsbury's dough boy, so can't really claim this as my creation. No time to play with yeast. I'll try making them with my bread machine next time.

Everyday Quiche made with leftover crab meat, spinach, and mushroom. Helpful hint: always keep pre-made pie doughs in the freezer. They come handy.





Dutch-Oven Roasted Pork Stew slowly roasted in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour.







Edible Gifts are ideal to show appreciations - made from the heart.







Mussels with White Wine Sauce easy to make yet looks and tastes totally gourmet.







They're actually pretty good, believe it or not.

So We Like to Drink and Eat

Dummies for Wine: Thanks to Sandra's generosity, we always have plenty of new wine tastings at our parties. But, nope, we have never become sophisticated wine drinkers - heck, we don't even know how to describe the tasting properly, just good, yummy, woo, wow, ahh, light, buttery, cool, this is soooo good, and give me more - but we always have loads of fun and that's what counts.

Just Desserts: Julie always signs up for bringing desserts and she always goes all out. She did good again this year (summer party, 8/25/07). THREE fabulous looking desserts to complete the fun. No surprise that the cakes were all gone, not a scrap left. What do you expect with 30 tummies that somehow stayed hungry even after shrimp cocktail, smoke salmon and cheese, french breads, garlic breads, pot stickers, egg rolls, chicken nuggets, fruits, salads, hot dogs, meatballs, 15 pounds of BBQ meat, 1 huge red snapper, 2 dozens of krispy kreme donuts, shaved ice, sodas, beers, coffee......

Thank you Sandra, Julie, Sandy, Julia, Linda, Patty, Robert and families!!! This is the good life.