yum.

On Saturday night, I got a little bold and decided to throw some things in a big pot and wish for the best. I do admit, I was inspired by my good friend Holly at Zucchero Zucchero. Ever since her soup post I had been craving chicken tortilla soup. I read a few recipes and took a bit from each one but mostly added for taste as I went. Main ingredients were chicken, corn, cherry tomatoes, garlic, green onions and a variety of spices. I added the avocado, tortilla chips and cheese after it was done. I was extremely pleased with my results, as was my man! He ate a huge, hearty helping. Let's hope I can recreate it again soon.







p.s. I have to admit that the avocado left a little something to be desired :( I guess you can't compare to California produce!

From the page to the screen.

I love reading books. I have a sister who is three years younger than me, and we always shared books growing up. Authors like Alice Seabold, Nicholas Sparks, Jodi Picoult and Emily Giffin. Books like Go Ask Alice, Smack and The Tribes of Palos Verdes that were passed between my schoolgirl friends that warned of drug use and disfunction and made me feel normal. This was years before the Twilight series when I used to stay up late and read under my covers and read my books.

These books were part of my adolescence and every time they announce that the script has been developed and they're putting faces to names and characters I've loved for so long, it's a sacred thing.

The Notebook. ahh... The Notebook was amazing and beautiful and powerful. I. Still. Cry. every, time, I, see, it. It's so cheesy but I do think Nicholas Sparks captured the spirit of love in his novel and Rachel McAdams and Ryan Goseling did it complete justice. And that's only of of Nicholas Sparks's masterpieces. I don't know how he does it, but he writes so well I think it's just easy to transfer it over.

Then there were the failures. Memoirs of a Geisha was pretty bad. The book is amazing but the film failed me. When I read My Sister's Keeper it tore me apart. When I read it, I could not put it down. I read it in a day or two straight. The book is heartwrenching and beautiful. I could not wait to see it in film, but when I did, I was completely and utterly disappointed. It is not okay to come in and completely change my book! It was even more of an insult because I really do think Cameron Diaz and Abigail Bresnan are amazing. There was just nothing that could be done to salvage the butcher job.

I've also caught a few books-to-Lifetime-TV-movie that have also left me sorely disappointed. Oh well.


The Lovely Bones.

When I heard this book was being made into a movie, I freaked out. When I SAW the preview, I was stunned. I cried. I was soooo excited!! I think Peter Jackson did a brilliant job with the cinematography. The music is haunting, the imagery is stunning. I mean, whether or not you believe in the afterlife and heaven and hell, the idea of the Inbetween is captured perfectly.

I also luckily live in the tri-state area and got to catch an advanced screening. Usually the placement of a familiar face is distracting, but Mark Wahlberg played the part of a grieving, lost father perfectly. And my boyfriend didn't even recognize Susan Sarandon. But I loved how she swept in and took over.

Susie, she was so sweet and beautiful. I felt so connected to her. The sense of longing between her and Ray, even after her death was so innocent and tragic. Every actor was well cast. Every role was well played. I was sooo relieved at the completed piece. Right on the heels of the My Sister's Keeper disaster, I couldn't take another disappointment.



This is a film I highly recommend. It's a beautiful piece of art. It's a really sad story but it's inspiring at the same time.

feliz navidad

From our house, to yours :)


Yesterday we got up and ran errands, picked up a few last minute sale items and then settled in and started watching old Christmas classics... Home Alone and Home Alone 2. In the middle of watching movies, we had a delivery.



My family (aka my sister) sent some beautiful flowers with real Christmas tree in the arrangement! It's just about the best smelling bouquet I've ever gotten. Def made my night :) We enjoyed a delicious candlelit meal and went to bed early. I heard Eric wake up around midnight and knew something was up but stayed put when he said he had to "go to the bathroom." The longer he took the more suspicious I got. WELL! What a devilish boyfriend I have. I got up and went to the bathroom and noticed all these weird colors bouncing off of the deck. I thought the NY city lights were Christmas colors and then I realized the colors were coming from INSIDE the living room!



Santa Claus was pretty good this year.



MERRY CHRISTMAS!

11/09

This month was my birthday month. My birth DAY is November 9 but it was 11/9 all month :) it was an insane whirlwind of fun and madness and emotion. I was fired on the 3rd day of the month and proceeded to have 2 days of depression, until my best friend flew in from North Carolina and I was forced to put it aside in my mind.


the coolest bar in brooklyn, where you win tickets for free beers!


Then, my old job asked me to fly home to LA to help them with a huge, crazy Neiman Marcus order. So the day after my birthday Eric dropped me off at JFK at 5AM and I had a day to hang out with my dog, lunch with my parents, and trek 2 hours with Melissa to see 311 on their fall tour opener. I saw a lot of old friends at that show, celebrated Mel and I's mutual birthday week... just had a ridiculous amount of fun.



The next day it was back to work and I crammed in long days and got tons and tons of stuff done. I finished my work load and didn't have to work Saturday so Friday night I went to see my Lojic boys. It was a great show, great bar, great night. The next night we went out in Long Beach for my sister's boyfriend's sister's birthday (a grand family affair) that ended with a late night stop at Wockano.



Sunday was my cousin's baby shower, which I was very happy to be in town for. Got to hang with the family and the kids and eat some crazy good food and play the rice, tp and all the other random games.



That rounded out the middle of November... I didn't do much the other days I was in town other than work. Flew back to NYC on the 20th and I'll blog about that week tomorrow :)

skype

what a great tool! Just wanted to share a pic from last nights video chat with the fam :)

Bonefish Grill

On Friday night, I had a mini-meltdown because we had nothing to cook for dinner and when I get off at 9pm, I am hungry, tired and cold crossing the Hudson River. So we decided to make it a night out. We're still new in the area so we don't know where all the good places to eat are, so we decided to try something new.



We waited about 5 minutes versus the hour and some change wait Olive Garden had at the same time. The walls across from the windows our booth was attached to had a beautiful stream light fixture on it. I will try to snap a pic next time we make it in... because there wiiill be a next time.

All of the food was amazing. I ordered scallops and shrimp and everything melted in my mouth...seriously. Eric ordered steak which was really undercooked (but he ordered it that way!) it was still good though. The food was great and the prices were not bad. We ordered higher end meals, aps and a drink and spent right around $50. I thought we'd be spending a lot more.

My favorite about the entire experience were these two things:


Calamari and $5 sangria. mmmmmmmmm! There was a sweet sauce for the calamari that I've never had before and just thinking about it is making my mouth water. I will highly recommend it to anyone that will listen.

If you have a Bonefish Grill local to you, plz check it out :)