Three unexpected things among others

Knowing I'd be here for four months, mostly wintry, I brought more clothes than I have for my 2009 travels. But it's still just a fraction of my entire wardrobe. So it amused my friend Nancy greatly that I chose to pack my (1) ice skates. I bought them back in 2006 when I frequented Kate Wollman rink in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. (I have lifetime sharpening from Paragon.) Well, I put my skates to use on Martin Luther King Jr. Monday and it was worth the cargo allotment. At City Ice Pavilion in Queens, I ran into an acquaintance of mine from church. We spent the rest of the day together skating, going to see True Grit at the Ziegfeld, finishing off the evening at Five Napkin Burger.

(2) Jar of canned peaches from Stacey. I finished them off this week with my new favorite breakfast: yogurt, granola and peaches. The washed jar sits on my shelf. Overall, I've been cooking more. In fact, my roommate asked me the other day, "Do you always pack your lunch?" To which, after I stopped laughing, told her, "No." This is new for me. But indeed, I can see why she was misled: I've grocery shopped every Saturday with a list and reusable cloth bags and the whole shebang. Lots of fun salads: black beans, goat cheese, avocado, tuna. My mother was so proud when I told her. Tonight I made a little stir-fry (ala mom) and vegetable curry couscous from Shana's Mayo Clinic cookbook.

So it's been snowing about every fourth day here. The most recent one was 'how silently, how silently' and debilitating to the city. Several of my colleagues worked from home. My 'M' train is so perfect, I arrived on time. I joined a gym around the block that has a 20 yard swimming pool. I've gone three times so far and weighed one pound less every time. Must be a fluke. But it is amazing the caloric burn swimming is. For me, it's more than running, that's cuz I run so slow. ;)

(3) Is the place mats and cloth napkins. I was thinking of hosting another dinner party this coming weekend but I haven't been organized enough. The place mats I got in Bangladesh and I've been looking forward to using them. They're made from recycled foil wrappers.

Long Island City Home

Per Kristie's request, here are some pictures of my lovely apartment in LIC/Astoria, in the order you would walk through the apartment were you to come visit in the flesh. It is a railroad apartment meaning one room goes into the next, into the next. (I hate the auto-formatting on this, cannot figure it out.) Anyway, you can tell they have chosen lovely colors for the paint. When I saw the yellow kitchen for the first time, I was sold. :)

Entry way

Living Room

Living Room again

bathroom

in lieu of a mirror, there is this textured window over the sink.

Across from the bathroom, there is a built in china cabinet.

Kitchen

Kitchen looking south

dining room

dining table

So you see, the dining room isn't really much to speak of from a West Coast vantage point but for The Apple, it's a bit of a marvel.

night stand

bedroom

Snowy funny

For the past two days, on my way from the train to the office, I've crossed paths with a man in a fedora playing the ukelele. Very Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Today, I didn't see him. Maybe because there was a car being towed and traffic was all backed up and the honking cars made him choose another route. I have to say I missed him. The first day I smiled. The second day I said, "Every day?" And of course today I didn't say anything because I didn't see him. Maybe our relationship will be like the one I have with Clyde--the long-haired retiree who bikes all over Richlandia. I'll see him once in a while. Or maybe only on snowy days. I wear a big red puffy coat on especially cold days: read below 40. If I pass [whoa, the carbon monoxide alarm just went off--smart that the noise is so piercing as to wake one from artificial slumber] Mr. Ukulele on a warmer day, chances are he won't recognize me outside of my large tomato sleeping bag.

Tonight I'm eating rice porridge Chinese style, ie savory with chicken, ginger, and I threw in some daikon radish for good measure. It is a sort of Dad meets Mom method as she's the chicken rice maker and dad swears by daikon during the colder months to stave off sickness. Again, no pictures, it's yummy but not pretty.

Ok. I'm still awake. Hopefully the CO monitor will keep me from any real danger but I've opened both windows for cross ventilation in my room even though it's below freezing tonight.

Shout out to Windy!