Planning ahead

Now is the time to start thinking about Thanksgiving. That is, unless you are house bound with no electricity due to the horrendous storm over the weekend. I just heard on the news that Millbrook, NY got 21 inches of snow. That's a lot of snow! If you are in this category my heart goes out to you and I hope you know someone with a chain saw to take care of all of those fallen branches.

So, if you're one of the lucky folks who has not been set back by the storm you can begin a bit of planning ahead for Turkey Day. Check out the linens you are planning to use. Now is the time to work on those pesky stains and make sure all is ready for the big day, be it place mats and napkins or a tablecloth. Paper cocktail napkins will do unless the Queen is coming to your house, which I doubt very much.

Make sure all of the silver is polished and put it away in flannel bags so it won't tarnish.

Get in a supply of candles. You might want to take Christmas into account when doing this so that you'll have plenty to last through New Year's. I know it's frightening to even mention New Year's but the more you consolidate your errands, the better.

Buy your stuffing bread mix, your cranberry relish (Williams Sonoma has a great cranberry-orange relish which is delish), brining mix and brining bags, rice and potatoes, chicken stock, Kitchen Bouquet or another demi-glace that will add color and flavor to your gravy. All of this is non-perishable and easier to collect over the course of a few weeks as opposed to, say, Wednesday of Thanksgiving week.

Buy club soda, tonic, mineral water, some soda (for the die-hards among your guests). You'll need cranberry juice and orange juice as well.  All of this stuff is heavy so bring L.L. Bean bags to the market to carry these things home or have them delivered.

Mulled cider is a good offering. Williams Sonoma sells the mulling spices in a neat little cheesecloth bag and the cider in a concentrate so all you do is add water.

If you insist on making your own pie you can make your own crust or lay in a supply of Oronoke Orchards frozen pie crust. Already in the pan, ready to bake and with no preservatives. Check it out. Ina Garten has a great recipe for Apple Crostata which is very tasty.

Wait until the week of Thanksgiving to wash all of the glassware you'll be using. If you wash it now it will only look cloudy in a few weeks. Put the music on really loud and sing along while you take care of this task.

Get out Julia Childs and study how to carve a turkey - she has the right approach. I am sure you can find something on the internet to help you figure out carving.

As I said I believe it's good to spread out these tasks over a few weeks' time. If, however, you work for a meanie and won't be free until Wednesday night do not fret. You can go to market on Thursday morning and find everything you need and no people shopping. I've done it on more than one occasion and it really does work out. Remind yourself that the meal is not the most important part of the day. It's the getting together of family that makes the memories.

Re-reading this does make me sound like Betty Crocker but planning does help the process!

What a wild day Mother Nature sent us yesterday! The trees still have their leaves so the weight of the snow was snapping limbs left and right. A lot of roads were closed due to fallen trees and branches. I went out with a rake and shook the snow off of my precious Home Depot tree so that I would not lose any branches. 


The Home Depot tree has a bit of history: it was bought for $30 and hauled home with most of it hanging out of my sunroof. I treasure it as it gives my terrace much needed shade and adds height to the garden. I wish I could take credit for the idea but the brilliant Mary Liz Campbell came up with that one.

Elton John's Crocodile Rock is on the radio now, so I am feeling a bit more chipper about having to go to work. I saw Elton at Madison Square Garden last spring and would give anything to go see him again sometime. 

I am anxiously waiting for two movies to be released: The Descendants with George Clooney and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with Rooney Mara. I have been told Clooney's movie has a good message. I am fairly obsessed with Stieg Larrson's trilogy. I loved the books and I loved the Swedish movies. It will be interesting to see the American version.

I have finally found something to read: Carry Yourself Back to Me by Deborah Reed. It has opened with a murder having been committed so it's right up my alley.

Today looks as though it will be lovely and all of that icky snow will melt. I'll be at work demonstrating pie-making.

Still hanging on to summer!

Photography

Well, well, well. I thought I was taking great pictures before starting my online class with New York Institute of Photography. No, no, no, I was making lots of mistakes. So I am busily trying to learn the tricks of the trade. I have to admit I fell asleep while listening to the tape of the teacher. I am hoping I'll do better today. 

Learning how to take better pictures is a bit like taking a tennis lesson with the pro and he gives you a new forehand stroke that will make you almost as good as Chrissy Evert. However you take that first forehand in your weekly doubles game and it goes way out. So, if you're like me (highly unlikely), you immediately revert to the forehand you've been using for years and, while not pretty, it usually goes in. Well, so far photography is like that for me. I was doing fine on my own. Then I find out about all these f-stops and shutter speed and I take an awful picture. I changed the setting to automatic and got my shot lickety-split so I could list my item on eBay. Hopefully I'll learn more today during my online class or at least I'll learn to be more patient (highly unlikely) with my camera.

In a couple of days this will be an amazing color of red.

A little bit rainy

You'll hate me when I tell you I like rainy days in the spring and fall. In the spring I absolutely adore the look of a lone dogwood in the woods, the first thing to bloom in the season. The rain makes the tree bark look darker and the blooms more white. On a day such as this in the fall the leaves look so pretty when they are wet. I think it adds another dimension to the color.

Right now I am gearing up for a day at WS. I'll bet you a thousand dollars I will be instructed to make pumpkin bread yet one more time. 

And I will do my photography course work first thing tomorrow. I am already so confused. I may have to pop into Rye Camera to ask where are the f-stops on my camera????? So far I have learned that the lower the f-stop number the more light comes into the picture and the depth of field is greater. Oh boy, I'm not even sure I've got that right. I may have to have a tutor.

I love this carpet of fallen leaves .

It's a lovely day

I am off my high horse about living a healthy life so, dear reader, read on. I succumbed to almost every temptation put in my path after my post last week ... so now I am keeping a mental checklist of things done well on any given day.

Today has been a good day. I had a hair event and the weather is beautiful so things are looking up.

I am trying to get through lesson 2 of my photography course. I have to read each paragraph at least two times to even understand what they're telling me. I hope this isn't going to be too difficult without a live instructor.

This is the prettiest array of pumpkins I have come across. In NYC!

Lazy Sunday

I am off to work this morning, instructing students how to use yet another appliance from the store.


I don't have much to say today except try to enjoy the mild weather. This photo reminds me of end-of-summer days, like the ones we've been having. The crickets are still outside chirping at night, but not for much longer.

I took my first on-line lesson in photography yesterday. This shot has a lot of faults now that I have been educated a bit. Oh well, I still love it.

You are what you eat

The beautiful array of vegetables is my way of beginning to tell you my thoughts today. You are what you eat. All of the reminders we hear on the news and read in our magazines preach this same message. Here are some things I have learned along the way:

Dairy, especially high fat dairy, can wreak havoc with your complexion. I had read (yes, in Vogue) that the models all avoid dairy if they have a shoot coming up because of the breakouts that can come from the high fat content.

Fruit is good for you. Learn to like it. Do not pay attention to the fact that it has a lot of sugar in it. It's still good for you and I swear an apple is better for you than a chocolate chip cookie even though they may have the same number of calories. My theory is that fruit kind of plumps up your face - not in a bad way but in a good way.

Vegetables are good for you. If you don't like them, try to. Rather than cooked carrots, have raw carrot sticks. Keep them in the fridge - you can even buy them precut. I have no problem paying the extra money for precut carrots because generally I won't spend the time cutting them up just for me. Leafy greens are really good for you - a lot of iron. Always have lettuce and tomato on whatever sandwich you are having. You'll find you like the crunch of the lettuce and the yum of the tomatoes.  Bananas are good for you - potassium. Have one every day. 

Stop groaning because I am not finished. Everything you put in your body becomes your body. This includes cigarette smoke and alcohol.  If you smoke you squint every time you blow out the smoke, not good for your complexion. Not to mention your lungs. Just try to give it up - you want to be around to meet your grandchildren. I have two friends who quit smoking by hypnosis - it works.

Alcohol kills brain cells. So, decide how many brain cells you would like to kill every day. Moderation in consumption would make sense here. Say goodbye to soda of any kind. Huge quantities of water will make your skin feel so soft you won't believe it. 

I will say that I start every day intending to follow each of these suggestions. I consider it a good day if I have adhered to any of my intentions. I can also tell you that I have been trying to lose some lbs. for it seems like forever. (I never said I was perfect, far from it.) Maybe today can be the beginning of that process.

These are the cold, hard facts of life. Look around at your 50-60-year old friends. Now is when we reap the rewards of a life well-lived in moderation.

Fall in New York

I am beginning to think one of my signatures is pictures taken at an angle. Love them this way.

Excuse me, my ride is here!

Love that this store actually planted fall stuff. Stores tend to go from summer to Christmas.

Good Sunday music not even sure who these folks are. One is Donna Summer, maybe we're on to Annie Lenox now. 

I am off to work to make barley soup and a couscous recipe. If you are lucky and have the day off, get out and enjoy it. Rake your leaves, prune your roses back, clean out the grill, plant grass seed in the empty spots. 


Oh goodness, Nora Jones is sending me off to work with her sultry voice. She's amazing.

These guys should enjoy themselves while they still have time. We know what holiday is almost upon us.

I am fairly certain that given a cape and a nice tiara, I could save the world.

I lifted this right off of a set of paper napkins (I think) somewhere but I love this sentiment. I guess you would have to know me to know that there is a lot of truth in it. In addition, I'd like to be wearing those long, long gloves like Jackie Kennedy wore to White House dinners.

However, I'll have to work on changing the world one thing at a time. I am trying to be more outgoing and pay more attention to what people are saying instead of interrupting. I am almost as bad as Chris Matthews, who is the king of interrupting (I love him anyway). This won't exactly save the world but it will make it less frenetic.

I woke up in the best mood today and I am not sure why. I think it is because I enrolled in an on-line photography course last night. In a way it is good I have been snapping away without having taken a course. Now I will be able to relate to the course in a practical manner. Kind of like cooking school. Best to go if you have a few years of cooking under your belt than if you only know how to boil water.

I literally can't wait for the course materials to arrive in the mail. It's been forever since I was so enthusiastic about something.

I have reconnected with some family and that does make me feel whole again. We are lucky to have a great generation coming up behind us (nieces, nephew, my boys) and it is thrilling to see the different directions their lives are taking. 

I am attaching a photo taken by my friends, either Becky or Tom. It is so great.

Happy Tuesday

I am off to New York today for a photo shoot which is very exciting for me. I am trying to keep my fingers in as many pies as possible. It keeps it interesting.

My cousin said she loves my blog because it is so uplifting. It helps to look at the everyday and enjoy what we are lucky enough to have in our lives.

The light is different at this time of year. So pretty.

It's such a beautiful day and I am a bit down about having to go in to work and make stew. So I thought I needed a boost. I opened i-Tunes, said a little prayer for Steve Jobs, and put on a Beatles oldies playlist. Wow, music can really turn around your outlook. It always amazes me how you can remember exactly where you where and with whom after hearing just the first few bars of a song.

Please Mr. Postman, Twist and Shout, Imagine, Hey Jude ...

I did put my garden to bed yesterday and while it was a bit sad I am glad to have that chore done. And I planted some grass in a few bare spots. Let me tell you, grass is the most gratifying thing I have ever grown. After a couple of days the little blades will start to sprout and then more and more.  

A new day begins; hope yours is a good one.

Pretend It's Summer

Saturday and Sunday are supposed to be fabulous warm weather days. I am planning on ignoring paperwork and indoor projects and am going to focus on putting the garden to bed for the winter. It's way more fun to do this while the weather is pleasant than when it is ugly out there. Alas, I am sad to say goodbye to the garden until next spring but it's one of the sad facts of October.

Hopefully someone will suggest a good book for me to read so when the weather turns nasty I can be cozy inside.

You can still see summer if you look in the right place.

Creatively done by Hong Kong design student Jonathan Mak, age 19

Beautiful Weather

Get your outside chores done this weekend while it is still pleasant. Better than waiting for cold weather to return. Once you're done go out and enjoy the weather. Go for a bike ride, a walk, anything you want, but get outside.

I had an interesting week. I photographed some New York terraces which were spectacular but, truth be told, I like mine more.

We're making stew this weekend at Williams Sonoma. One will be in the pressure cooker and the other in my favorite Le Creuset big, big round pot.

Steve Jobs 1955-2011

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life,” Jobs said. “Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Keep this thought with you as we say good-bye to a brilliant man. So sad and definitely not fair.

It's a beautiful day

Make sure you send some time outdoors today. It is supposed to be a great one! I'll be in the city, which should be glorious.

"House" was on for the first time this season, or rather the first time for me because who knew they'd changed the time to 9:00. It was like catching up with an old friend, although he seems to have gotten himself into a predicament yet again.

I am doing something sort of exciting this week. I am going to photograph some city terraces and gardens which I think will be totally cool.


Still selling on eBay and am now a Bronze Power Seller. Imagine that!

Fall in NYC

Feeling fallish

Nice enough fall day here. I bonded with my pressure cooker yesterday in preparation for a cooking class tomorrow. Actually it was a good experience overall and I made pasta fagioli soup in about 40 minutes which is quicker than soaking beans overnight and starting from there. I cut up the carrots, celery and onion but in a dice, rather than minced. I like to be able to identify what I am eating rather than have everything minced so fine you really aren't at all certain what's in there. I actually won't add pasta to it because I want to keep it gluten free. With all of those capellini beans in it there is no need for pasta.

It's a good thing I practiced because when you release the steam from the cooker you really do jump a mile high, no matter how you prepare yourself. And that steam is HOT. I gather the premise of the pressure cooker is that the food cooks more quickly and thus retains more nutrients. Those beans are full of protein.

Just about to jump on my indoor bike. And going to an art show later this afternoon. So, a nice enough day ahead of me. 

Isn't this fabulous? I've been waiting a year to use it.