Christmas postponed

After the snowfall we waited a few days before heading up to Betty's for Christmas.

Santa Travis

Peggy and Beth enjoying gifts

The men snuggling up together

Betty with her spread of food. I created the lovely vegetable tree to the front left. Beth and I wanted to make the most fantastic veggie tray ever. Did we achieve it? We used a styrofoam cone covered in tin foil, soaked the veggies in ice water after cutting and attached with toothpicks.

Christmas Blizzard 2009

Starting Christmas Eve we started getting sleet... then snow... then wind... and more snow. The weather didn't start to improve for a few days, but we found time to play in the snow on Saturday.

Travis getting ready to ride down the hill (the sleigh didn't look so small 10 years ago)

I'm ready to go!
Beth and her snow monster

The farm covered in snow (and the road)

Where's the front steps?

Christmas Eve party

We had a lovely Christmas Eve at Nancy and Sue's... until the Blizzard hit. Well we had a lovely time after it hit as well. A lovely meal was followed by hours of board games and the evening was topped off with the opening of our "envelope exchange" gifts.

Sue and the two headed dog

The entire group sitting down to eat

Jon and the Christmas tree

Some of my lovely cookies I took over

Jon, Diane, and Kristen sitting by the tree

The birds that followed

The past few days, especially after it started snowing, we have been having a parade of cardinals, blue jays, a woodpecker and some little birds eating in the front yard. They have completely cleared the cobs below of corn.

Pumpkin pancakes and pinecone bird feeders

SNOW

Us and the snowman... little snowman in the background. (Oh and the Midtown skyline)

Mini snowman, chillin'

Snowman ready to play some football

Morning after

During the storm.

O' Christmas Tree

Moral of the story, most things in New York City are in fact better on TV.
What you may see on tv

What I saw the night of the lighting ceremony

I prefer this tree. A four and a half foot beauty.

Martha Stewart Craft Show

Last weekend, my friend Carrie and I went to the Martha Stewart craft show. It was in her headquarters in Manhattan. The ad said that many of the crafters were members of Martha's staff. Once we got to the building we went up the elevator only to find a line to get in and a coat check. Once we got inside it was pretty cool. All the vendors had a lot smaller space, but very high quality goods. I ended up making a few purchases, but we'll have to wait till after Christmas to talk about them...

Hill Country BBQ

I don't usually write about places I eat for a few reasons: 1. I don't eat out that much 2. The amount of restaurants in NYC overwhelms me 3. I like food, but I can't really describe why I like a certain food and finally4. There are a lot of food blogs out there and they do a pretty darn good job.

But while Matt was in town I took him to Hill Country BBQ a place modeled after a Texas BBQ in the vicinity of Austin and well Matt is a Texan from the vicinity of Austin. I had been there once before and thought it was a good experience

My first time I got the brisket and man it was good. This time both Matt and I got the BBQ beef sandwich. I didn't think it was quite as good, but who can refuse a huge mason jar of Diet Coke? The Coke was very delicious (oh yes fountain soda can go very bad). The way this establishment works is you get a ticket (card) when you come in. Then you go to the carvery station and get your meat, next to the side station and get some sides, there is also a drinks and dessert station, but your lovely waitress will also get those for you. As you acquire food they mark it on your card, which you present at the cashiers upfront to pay on your way out.

All the sides look pretty good, I got green bean casserole (b/c we didn't have any for Thanksgiving) and Matt got creamed corn. I think we were both satisfied with our sides. For dessert- two scoops of blue bell.... yummm.

There is also a bigger space downstairs where they host bands. I haven't been there for a band yet, but I may give it a try. I hear they have live band karaoke....

The High Line

I'd heard references to the High Line here and there and occasionally saw pieces about it on the news, but I didn't exactly know where it was besides that it was on the West side of Manhattan. My friend Matt was in town and he wanted to see the West Village so we walked from there to Meatpacking where... I saw the High Line! So of course we climbed the stairs and saw what all the buzz was about. The park is built on old elevated rail lines that operated from 1934 to 1980 and according to the website the rail cars carried meat to the meatpacking district, agricultural goods to the factories and warehouses of the industrial West Side, and mail to the Post Office.

Old rails and landscaping

From Gansevoort Street

Thanksgiving Day

My first ever attempt at pecan pie with homemade crust. It was amazing.

Matt toasting our meal

We weren't able to get very close at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, but could still enjoy the balloons

Elf

Snoopy

Mickey

Fireman

Doggy

SANTA!!!!

Looking down Central Park West after the Parade had ended for us

Rih an my way to work

Jello update

I have started seeing boxes of jello everywhere... Duane Reade, Food Cellar (they were lying!), deli down the street... however none of them had lemon jello so my trip to Brooklyn was still needed. There has been a request for the recipe...

Grind on pound of cranberries and mix with a cup of sugar, let set for several hours
Mix two boxes lemon jello with two cups boiling water till dissolved, add two cups cold water, pour in dish and set in refrigerator to begin to set.
Grind (or chop, I used a food processor, mom uses an old fashion grinder with a crank) three apples (peels on) and one orange (peeled) add to this one cup of drained crushed pineapple.
Once jello begins to set (this is the tricky part) add all the fruit (and chopped nuts (optional)) and mix in well. Make sure you get the corners and if the jello has set too much, make sure you mix it all the way to the bottom.

That was all from memory, so please correct me if I missed something. :)

Socrates Sculpture Park

On my way home from the game I cycled past the sculpture park, which I've been wanting to visit for awhile now, but had only recently figured out where it was located. The pieces were interesting and it was a nice park. You could tell a lot of locals came there a lot and the dogs seemed to love it as well. A few highlights:

Tiny resin buildings

Dogs love art.

Ouch

The bird on top and the accompaning droppings are part of the piece...

Cake!

Fun with rebar

Follow the yellow brick road?

And this little guy is some of my own art. He was walking along the path when I noticed his shadow before I saw him.