Our Trip Out West, Day 7: The Rocky Road to…

We started out the day exploring the sites at Kelly Place: in-ground kivas in various stages of excavation, two of which had been fitted out for visitors to explore, cliff storage, and the remains of some small pueblos. There were also sites where the settlers of the late 1800s had set up shop, even using some of the old pueblo walls as the foundations for their own buildings.

An example of pueblo-style architecture - still in the open,

before the Ancestral Puebloans moved to the cliffs

(though there was an early in-cliff granary on the site,

so they must have been starting to think about it). 

This kiva was redecorated in traditional style.

Next it was off to Mesa Verde—no time for a tour of a ruin (the one we might have seen is closed because of the potential for falling rock), but Areg and I agreed by the end of our visit that doing the mesa-top loop road, which is set up to guide visitors through the Ancestral Puebloan’s architectural development and provide views of all the major cliff dwellings, was a much better experience than getting tantalizingly close to ruins on a tour without being allowed to go inside them. 

The last time I visited Mesa Verde, a wildfire had just swept 

through and burnt this whole hilltop. It's green again, 

but I was surprised that it hadn't grown back more. Guess

that's deserts for you--the east has spoiled me!

Okay, I didn't scale this photo down like I did all the others, 

so if you open it in a new tab you should be able to see the 

tiny little people down there doing restoration work. Pretty cool! 

Areg was wishing all day that he'd brought his binoculars on the trip, 

but especially at this overlook.

This place sparked my imagination as a child and still stirs

my spirit of adventure as an adult. But then, don't always act

like an adult. For instance, I'd totally call top "bunk" if I lived here.

We had fun discussing the mysteries of why the Ancestral Puebloans had chosen to move down onto the cliffs and then, not very long after, leave the area entirely, with Areg arguing for aggressive neighbors and me putting most of the blame on a drought.

Next it was up, up, up the mountain—time to head high into the Rockies on our way to the mile-high city. What better way to do it than on Route 550, known as the "million dollar highway"?We played Areg’s epic music on the way, a perfect accompaniment to the steep sides where the now-familiar smooth red sandstone gave way to jagged mountain ridges. 

Mugging with the mountain.

It's a bit hard to see in the lighting, but there's some

old mining construction down at the bottom of the picture.

If you look closely, you can see that this waterfall

runs down over the petrified ripples from what was once

the bottom of an ocean.

I spotted a whole bunch of old mines along the way and we stopped at one old major quarry, as well as taking a rest in Ouray, a lovely mining boom town that had managed to survive on tourism after the ore lost its pull. Another place I would have liked to stay, to take in the architecture (mostly) of the gold rush era and perhaps do a mine tour. Say it with me: oh well.

The old courthouse in Ouray. 

A very tall waterfall...and you can see right through that

metal deck below us! Not for those with a fear of heights.

We pose with the mountains we conquered. 

By the end of the day, we came down from the hills into Montrose for the night.

[I will finish posting these soon, darn it! It's almost a month now since we got back...]

Our Trip Out West, Day 6: Mittens, Vulcans, and the Two Towers

Anywho, on Monday we headed off toward Monument Valley. Unlike the day before, when the spectacular cliffs kind of shrank into the earth until they were just impressive bluffs, today the cliffs started breaking off, standing on their own—forming mesas and, eventually, buttes. (Alas, I had forgotten the difference and had to look it up.)

Before we got even that far, though, we had to pull over on a random turnout on the side of the road for…the eclipse! At first we were worried that we’d miss the whole thing because of cloud cover, but just as the eclipse was starting the clouds cleared right up for us. We whipped out the eclipse glasses we’d brought, leaned against the car and lay on the asphalt, and watched the wonder. The moon covered about 70-80% of the sun where we were, and we saw almost the whole thing.

Back on the road, we made it out to Monument Valley to eat our lunch while overlooking some of the most spectacular buttes in the west.

I couldn't bear to crop this one because of that beautiful sky.

Mittens! 

We’d have loved to get a tour of the back country, but had to press on across those wide open spaces. We saw a ton of “watch for cattle” signs but very few cattle, and land became flatter and flatter as we took turns onto smaller and smaller roads.

When we were keeping an eye out for Mexican Hat, 

I was expecting it to look like a right-side-up hat, 

not too different from the other buttes we'd seen. Instead...

And here's a close-up since it's a bit hard to see in that picture.

I also found a butte that looked like the Vulcan salute

(my thumb is pointing at it),

so I did the polite thing and gave it back. 

Live long and prosper, Monument Valley!

(Bonus: the oft-seen open-range cattle warning.)

Our destination required some light off-roading but was really in the middle of nowhere: Hovenweep National Monument. Amazingly, the site hasn’t had much archaeological investigation (perhaps because it’s so far out from anything), but that’s probably a good thing given how close you can get to the ruins—which was pretty darn cool.

These are "the two towers." It was a pretty geeky day, wasn't it?

Being so close to the buildings was awesome.

The ruins at Hovenweep were mesa-top pueblo structures, unlike the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde, with one exception: A boulder fallen halfway down the shallow valley had eroded into a “C” shape, and some enterprising member(s) of the tribe had built a pueblo into the missing section. Hey, it’s totally what I would have done!

The boulder with the building in it is in the top middle third--

--though it's hard to see the stones in this picture, I'm afraid.

This is a view up one branch of the Y-shaped canyon. 

There are at least four in tact ruins in here--can you spot them all?

(You'll need to enlarge the picture, obviously!)

Finally we worked our way out of nowhere into a beautiful, winding river valley and to our stop for the night: Kelly Place.

Oh my gosh, you guys. If you’re looking for a place to stay near Mesa Verde, look no further! This awesome retreat was like summer camp for grown-ups—a bit rustic, but plenty of charm. It’s an active archaeological site that frequently hosts activities to teach people about the life of the Ancestral Puebloans who lived at Mesa Verde: blanket and basket weaving, pottery making. Areg and I stayed at the same time as a group of grandparents and grandchildren, and we got to sneak into a presentation about the geography of the area, which came in super handy the next day. The only thing missing was, well, actual American Indians to offer their perspectives and ensure that everything was handled with respect. That fact was a bit uncomfortable for me.

To my extreme regret, I was so busy being impressed by Kelly Place that I completely forgot to take pictures of the compound. Grr… At least you can check it out on their website, if you’re interested.

Take a look at Areg's Facebook page for even more photos. 

Our Week Out West, Day 4: Water, Water Everywhere

We started out with an easier hike to warm up: the Emerald Pools. I was honestly a bit surprised to find that after more than ten years, this is easier trail is still probably my favorite hike in Zion (of those I’ve done, obviously). It did show a little more wear and tear than others, since it was accessible to many more people, but it was possible to find quiet spots and actually hear a bit of nature around you. Plus the pools are just beautiful.

The waterfall at the lowest of the three pools

The view up from my favorite little clearing, 

which had a little 12"x6" channel cut into the rock 

where the water ran out of the second pool and, eventually, 

over the waterfall. Erosion in action!

This is, however, one place were the disadvantage of letting someone else take most of the pictures becomes obvious, because Areg apparently didn’t take many pictures at all here. Sigh. Well, that’s what I get, I guess. Still, there was one odd occurrence: the last time I was there, when I was maybe 11 or 12, there were gigantic icicles falling off the cliff wall onto the stones around the pool. This time, there was a huge crack and the sound of falling stone. I think that cliff has something against me, even though I love it.

Maybe the cliff doesn't like us,

but now we don't like the cliff.

Beautiful view down Zion canyon.

Next we hopped the canyon shuttle to the very last stop for…the Narrows! Like Angel’s Landing, this is one of Zion park’s most famous hikes, and for good reason. It’s gorgeous the whole way, with surprisingly varied scenery, some greenery up overhead, and towering cliffs on either side. Again, it was busy but not so busy that we were annoyed, even though we arrived later in the morning when more people were headed out. In the early afternoon we found a lovely little side canyon to explore. It required a bit more athletic maneuvering, which we weren’t quite prepared for, so we found a lovely little dry spot for lunch before heading back downstream.

Toward the beginning of the hike. 

Everyone seemed to have rented long wooden walking poles/staffs 

and wet suit-type shoes, but we were fine without. 

I guess the staffs might have made slot canyon maneuvering a little easier.

A cool part of the canyon where the water had undercut the cliff.

If Sarah fits into small places, Areg fits into big places!

Getting narrower up the Narrows. 

This was about where we found the first side slot canyon.

I like our power poses here!

Up the slot canyon.

On our way back down, we found that someone 

had built these little stacks of stones.

Areg and I had opted to wear our sneakers instead of our hiking boots, and I also wore the brace I’d brought. My sneakers were toast by the end of the day—but then, I have had them since 2009. As for the ankle, since the water was nice and cool, it was like a day-long ice. The only problem with that, though, was that I probably went further than was wise. Ah well, it was totally worth it.

Fortunately, this was not my ankle by the end of the day.

I have no idea whose ankle/leg it is. Deer, probably?

Finally, we rounded out the day with a delicious, well-earned meal at the Whiptail Grill, which I think has been converted from an old gas station. Cool venue, awesome outdoor seating, and good food with the added spice of hunger—a good end to a good day.

My phone's not the best at pictures in the dark, 

but hopefully it gives you an idea of the setup.

Funnily enough, this was not the only gas station we saw

that had been converted into a restaurant!

For more pictures, check out Areg's Facebook.

Our Week Out West, Day 2: Water and Fire

After saying goodbye to Vegas...

Like most cats, the sphinx outside the Luxor couldn't care less if we leave.

I, however, was devastated to have missed the open hours 

of the Las Vegas Sock Exchange. Probably the tragedy of the trip.

...we headed out into the desert. Not too deserted just yet, as there’s now a major highway crossing above Hoover Dam—one that wasn’t there the last time I visited the site! We took a full tour of the dam, seeing both the engine room and the tunnels built into the dam itself. 

That bridge over the river wasn't there the last time I visited!

All that white rock is usually covered by water. 

Just goes to show the impact that climate change-driven 

droughts are having on the (human-altered) landscape. 

Areg and I were both incredibly impressed with the engineering that went into building something so massive back in the 1930s, and I loved the story of the construction site dog that was spoiled by, well, everyone. Oh, and guides and Areg alike had way too much fun talking about the Dam tourists and the Dam low water level and the Dam everything. Hey, who can resist, really?

Next we headed out to the Valley of Fire, which had been recommended to us by Emily and Rajika. But we’d spent a lot more time at the Dam than we expected and the temperatures were rising as the afternoon wore on. By the time we reached the visitor’s center, the park ranger seriously warned us against doing the completely exposed Fire Wave trail in the 100+ degree heat. We decided to do a much shorter trail—Mouse Tank—which went through a bit of a canyon, so it had some shade.

(These pictures aren't from the canyon, though)

Had to get Areg into the frame to give a sense of the scale of this place.

But it turned out this trail was well worth it: it was chock-full of petroglyphs! I love all things ancient humans and it was so much fun to see Areg also super excited. We hunted down and photographed every single petroglyph we could find—but here are some of the best.

You'll have to click to enlarge this one,

as the petroglyphs Indiana Areg is showing off are a bit faint.

After guzzling all of our water in an hour and refilling at the visitor's center, we hit the road for Zion National Park. We didn't reach the lovely, home Two Cranes Inn until very late, so we went right to sleep in preparation for the big day ahead...and the notorious hike to Angel's Landing!

You can check out more pictures on Areg's Facebook page.

Playing Catch-Up

Why today? Who knows! For whatever reason, I'm finally sitting down to get back on the blog. 


The Family

May was a crazy-busy month. I spent most of the weekends at home with the family, helping them get the house into shape for viewings. This involved:

• painting ceilings
• power washing the deck (wohoo!)
• mowing the lawn
• scrubbing walls
• carefully hammering popped screws back into the ceilings

...among other things. 

Then, over Memorial Day, we went to the lake and proceeded to demolish two sheds. With two axes and a crowbar Becky and I tore them both apart and hauled the remains either up the hill--to throw in a massive dumpster--or down the hill to the fire pit. So, of course, I got to have a massive bonfire, which was a great deal of fun. I wasn't quite as well-toasted as last time, fortunately. 


The Work

May and June are the busiest months for us. It takes about six months to take a manuscript from submission to final book, so we've been hard at work pressing our authors to deliver their manuscripts on time so that their books can publish in 2014. Unfortunately, most of them submit manuscripts stuffed full of things that they don't realize require permission, so they have to go and get that permission belatedly, and it can be a very long process. My job is to make that process as painless as possible--though you'll hear very different things author by author. 

The biggest buzz around the office? Sometime in late July, we'll be leaving the Flatiron building. Mixed feelings all around--I loved getting to work in a historic and well-known building, but I'm definitely going to enjoy some of the modern conveniences. We'll be joining Nature Publishing Group down on Varick Street for about half a year until we all move to our final, long-term home downtown. I threw together a map with approximate locations: 

Other fun things at work included two author events. The first one was a small presentation that the author gave about their book, which described the lessons about leadership and management that could be seen in Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. One of the authors had actually worked with the television company in Pittsburgh and had worked with Mr. Rogers himself to create educational activity booklets to go with the show. 

The second event was, if you can believe it, a massive wine tasting. Two of our authors have written a book about the economics of the wine market in the EU, and since one of them is on the board of the Chianti Classico consortium, we got to attend the launch of their new elite category, the Chianti Classico Gran Selezione. I didn't know much about wine to begin with, and then to learn that I'd be able to taste 24 different kinds of some of the best wines in the world...well, I was blown away. 

All I can say is, thank goodness for spit buckets! I think I only managed to try a few more than half, though I also got to try out some regional cheeses, salamis, and prosciuttos. Yum!

But I didn't come out any more appreciative of wine than when I went in, and I definitely haven't had a magical conversion into a wine connoisseur. Most of them were pretty harsh, and I can't say any of them would be a first pick unless I had a good meal to help it go down.

Highlights:

• Castello di Gabbiano (2011) - the only wine I gave 3 stars (the rest of these were 2 stars)
• Luiano: Ottantiuno (2010)
• Casaloste: Don VincEnzo (2009)
• Vignole: Créspine (2009)
• Bibbiano: Vigna del Capannino (2010)
• Castello di Fonterutoli (2010)
• Castello d'Albola: Il Solatio (2010)
• San Vincenti: Chianti Classico (2011)
• San Felice: Il Grigio (2010)

ES had to dash, but CC, JV and I rounded out the evening at Veselka, a Ukrainian restaurant in the East Village that I'd heard great things about--though the $15 entrees were a bit out of my price range when I lived there. I had stuffed cabbage with sauerkraut, both of which were absolutely amazing, and I even had enough left over for breakfast the next day!

The Play

In Astoria Park

Becky came to visit for the weekend after Memorial Day. She hadn't seen the apartment yet and I was eager to show her around. We hung out the first night, walking down to Broadway (in Queens) to grab a bite to eat, then headed home to watch a movie for one of her classes. Which is how I finally saw Inglourious Basterds (which would have been a way better movie with Shosanna as the main character...just sayin').

Me and My Pickle!

The next day--well, we tried. The plan was to visit Brooklyn Flea and then hit up the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. First I brilliantly decided to wait for a Q train when there were no Q trains in Astoria that weekend. We took an N and hopped to a Q in Manhattan, then when we finally surfaced in Brooklyn I kept managing to get us turned around. We walked in about four different directions before I finally got us on our way to the market. We had fun poking around, though neither of us bought anything, and set out to find the Botanic Gardens. Alas, there was nothing to tell me that there was not, in fact, an entrance to the gardens via the road that cut through Prospect Park--so my efforts to take us on the shortest route from the subway to to the Gardens just got us spit out at Grand Army Plaza...just in time for a downpour to start! We took refuge in one of two doorways under the Plaza's Victory Arch and exchanged photos with the people huddling in the doorway opposite while we waited out the rain. By the time we ventured forth, we were done with excitement for the day. Instead, we settled in at Ideya for a late brunch (only in NYC does brunch start at noon!) before we headed home. Becky continued my introduction to Tarantino with Pulp Fiction, which I actually really enjoyed.

Fortunately, Becky's last day with me totally made up for the previous one. Everything went off without a hitch: After stopping at Brooklyn Bagel for some really delicious breakfast wraps (and a pumpernickel everything bagel for me--who knew such perfection existed?), we headed over to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to catch the Charles James exhibit. It turned out to be perfect for us--James's designs were heavily inspired by historical dress, involved elaborate architecture and detailed planning, and many mixed colors beautifully. The upstairs room was definitely the more "modern art"-ish section. All the dresses had been worn, but they often looked uncomfortable or even absurd. A second room downstairs had more of the things that people might actually wear--some of which I definitely would try!

 

 

After that we wound our way through Central Park to the Zoo. Becky had wanted to go for ages, and I was certainly up for it. The entrance fee was surprisingly reasonable, and I was impressed with how much fit into that little park. We also got lucky in that a lot of the animals were out and active--we got good sightings of monkeys and birds, and the sea lions were having a blast rocketing around their tank. 

 

The only bummer was that when Becky went to get her souvenir magnet at the end of the day, they only had ones showing animals we didn't see--snow leopards (well hidden), baby penguins (none this time of year), and a polar bear (recently deceased). (I appalled Becky by asking a park attendant what they did with the body of the dead polar bear. They didn't know.) We also stopped by the children's zoo, which was totally worth it. There were plenty of new animals to see that weren't in the zoo proper and some great places to take pictures. 

Another weekend I went with Neline and a couple other friends to visit some art galleries in Brooklyn. I'd never done it before, but apparently we just walk into a building full of studios and pop our head in any open doors. Unfortunately, the landlord had evicted the galleries the previous weekend, so there were only a handful open. One of them, though, gave us some bang for our buck with a display of seven artists' paintings, all modernistic. One had tiny, smaller-than-a-post-stamp paintings on the walls--we had to pick up magnifying glasses to walk around the room and see them. We hit the jackpot on the third: the artist was going to have a demonstration of his awesome printer later that day, so we got to chat a bit. This thing was a silkscreen printer! You could scan in an image to create a plate and then print a bunch of images in a single color. The artist was interested in small-print-run publishing and his friend was interested in publishing more generally, so between art, books, and Brooklyn, the six of us had a good talk. They sent us away with a recommendation to try the nearby Tortilleria Mexicana Los Hermanos, which is a tortilla factory and Mexican restaurant. 

I only had a small (delicious) snack before hopping on the subway to meet up with Dad and his parents in Astoria to show them the apartment. We tried to get into Taverna Kyclades, which is apparently famous, but they were already busy early in the evening. Instead, we headed across the street to Okeanos--which is a fantastic Greek seafood restaurant where Mom and Dad and I ate the evening that they moved me into this apartment. I don't like fish much, but I've twice had delicious fish dinners. And their potatoes...I think they do something with lemon. They're delicious, though I've never had room to eat them at the restaurant, only as leftovers! They sent me home with most of the veggies, which went into that week's dinner, a vegetable-heavy couscous salad.

And, finally, for those of you following me on Twitter and Facebook...what is "sex croquet"? I went with KB (EA) to a Young to Publishing hangout in Central Park. We were going to play frisbee/"flying disk" (it came from a dollar store) and such, but we got distracted when an Australian stag party started playing party games nearby. There were two teams, blue and white jerseys, and they started up with tennis ball egg races, boot throwing ("welly whaling"), and sack races before advancing to the events that caught our attention. Sex croquet (which the literarily-inclined YTP group called "crotch croquet" until informed otherwise) was a relay race in which two contestants tied ropes around their waists to dangle the ball attached to the end between their ankles. They had to bend their knees and swing their hips to get the ball going and then knock a tennis ball on the ground the 10 feet to the finish line. It was pretty funny, but difficult enough to be a bit slow. The more popular event (for the YTP group, who started cheering for the teams) was the sock wrestling, when two guys each put a sock on their right foot and then tackled each other in a ring to get the other guy's sock off first. 

Let's see, the reading you get updates on through Goodreads (apparently a lot more updates than I'd realized!), which just leaves

The Writing

The story I've been working on graduated from the handwritten journal to the computer. Unfortunately, that means it kind of stalled. My morning subway rides were my dedicated writing time, and I need to readjust to start working in the afternoons, when I'm usually fed up with looking at a computer. 

I like how it turned out, mostly, though it needs some serious editing. The main issue is the end, which it doesn't have yet. I've written about five quick drafts of an ending but I don't like any of them. *Sigh*

In other news, I'm rereading King of Worms. Yes, that old thing. Kind of surprised how good it is. I mean, Lavardia would need a lot of help to bring it up to snuff, but KoW is pretty good, if I do say so myself. Maybe once I'm done with this read-through, I'll print out another copy and get work on the massive cutting that needs to be done. Fortunately, I've been seeing lots of places where little extraneous words can hit the highway. Verbal efficiency and economy, those are my goals. We'll see how that goes. 

Goodgrass...heh heh. Still a dream project. Tumblr's been a great source of inspiration, but I'm too heavily invested in the world and not enough in the characters. So yeah, character exploration needs to be happening. I'm also struggling because I'd really like to show off Tam's matriarchal society, but the whole point is that he's a fish-out-of-water, man-in-a-woman's-world thrown suddenly in a patriarchy. Granted, that society doesn't really see him as a man because of his culture, so maybe that's my way in. Just doing a lot of thinking still. 

And Last but Not Least...

I need to give a shout out to another poorly named but really excellent movie, Dirty Pretty Things, which Neline and I watched on an impulse purely because it had Audrey Tautou (Amélie) and Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) in it. It's about immigrants, legal and otherwise, and refugees in London trying to earn enough money to survive and, eventually, pay their way to the next stage of their life. 

And that's it! Hopefully it won't be so long between posts next time. 

April Fools All Around

This week started out pretty darn good, took a spectacular nose dive, and then wobbled back to approximate equilibrium. Fortunately for you folks, the bad parts were at work, which I won't talk about in detail...just to say this: authors, read your darn handbook. You will save yourself (and me) so much pain. 


April Fool's Day

Now, I'm not usually gung-ho for April Fool's Day, though I do think it can be a fun holiday if done correctly and not maliciously. I had been plotting two pranks for months and I was excited to finally put them into action. 

First: CC* hates sticky notes. I've known this since my first week of work, when she had me pull the sticky note flags off a contract and put them directly in the trash. (Most of us stick them to our computers or desks for reuse until they wear out.) So, since I'm always at work a good ten minutes before everyone else, I snuck into her office and decorated her computer monitor and keyboard with sticky flags. 

Fortunately for me, ES had just gotten into work before CC, so when she came over, laughing, to ask who dunnit, she actually thought it was him at first! Then I fessed up, got an incredulous laugh, and even more laughter when I insisted I could clean up the stickies for her. "It's okay," CC said, "I'll just be careful and only touch the not-sticky ends."

Second: This one was even more devious and involved the collusion of HJ. The editorial team keeps track of all the books that we expect to publish in one year on a single, shared spreadsheet. Unfortunately, only one person can edit the spreadsheet at a time. Woe betide the E.A. who opens the spreadsheet to mark that a book is in production, or that a manuscript will be delayed for three months, only to find that someone else is already there. Fortunately, a little pop-up names the culprit, so if they're in there for two long, you can shoot them a polite email asking them to please get the heck out of the spreadsheet already. Unfortunately, ever so often someone unknown sneaks in--"user1", "test" (usually the newest person in the office), or even the rare and mysterious "6." When that happens, we have to send an office-wide email to all eight E.A.s asking whoever the heck is in the spreadsheet to either identify themselves for public shaming or get the heck out of the spreadsheet already. 

On that fateful morning, I figured out how to change my username from "SarahL" to "LordVoldemort," opened the spreadsheet before 9AM...and waited. Mwahahaha! I would surrender at 11 AM or an amused/annoyed mass email--whichever came first. 

On April 1st, I thought this prank was a failure. No mass email was sent. GB was annoyed at first, but stopped fussing pretty quickly. HJ sent an email in an attempt to stir up a response, but there was none. I'd actually forgotten I was squatting in the spreadsheet until an E.A. from the other seating area came by and complained, jokingly, about it. At that point I realized it was 11:30 and time to call the prank quits. I sent a mass E.A. email of my own, expressing my scorn for the lackadaisical attitude with which everyone had accepted "LordVoldermort"'s extended stay.

On April 2nd, I found out that my prank had actually been appreciated. Several members of the Production team, who never use the spreadsheet, had opened it just to laugh at the pop-up. One of the editors made a screen capture of the pop up his desktop background. There had been periodic rounds of half-hearted cursing "LordVoldemort" in the other E.A. seating area. I was vindicated!

Of course the most amusing thing about both of these pranks for me, is that once again no one suspected me at all--in fact, a couple people didn't realize that I was "LordVoldemort" even after I sent my "the gig is up" email! This despite the fact that I had already impressed the other E.A.s by absconding with a bowl of peanuts from the bar at our holiday party. Clearly I am an underground rebel with very good camouflage. 

* See my Stupid Name Code to (sort of) figure out who these people are.


Wednesday Night Trivia

Wednesday was KB's birthday (another E.A.), so she invited me and some friends from the Production team to trivia, which I'm told used to be a regular thing, though it had fallen by the wayside. After some confusion over which trivia night to go to, we wound up at Dempsey's, a pub in the East Village/Lower East Side (depending on who you ask), mostly because it was the only place where trivia would start relatively early at 7PM. 

After eating the best buffalo chicken wrap I have ever had in my life (and I have had A LOT of buffalo chicken wraps!) we settled in for trivia. Luck wasn't on our side, though we did end up in the top 20% of way more groups than I expected. Probably the best part of the evening was the first score announcement, when we got to hear all the team names. Two of the best were "Game of Pwns" and "Putin on the Ritz," the latter of which made us laugh each time.

We rounded out our evening with a stop at Red Mango, a chain frozen yogurt shop that I'd never been to. The sign on the door said it closed at 10, but they let us in at 10:10...and then let in some people right behind us. I was glad they did--I got to try taro root flavor, which was amazing, as well as some sort of nut medley and white peach. And for once, I didn't mind that it was priced by the weight--the serving size I wanted came in under the average that was posted on the board!

We all had a great time and are hoping to do this again soon.  


Adventures in Cooking

Thursday night was baking night. Last week I made lasagna, adding lots of veggies to my mom's simple but delicious recipe. I wanted broccoli, but the only way to buy it was in two heads...so I went for it and figured I'd cook it this week. 

I got really adventurous, combining two recipes (both of which I improvised) and using both of our kitchen toys. First I broke in Neline's food processor by blending red pepper, carrot, and the broccoli stalks (which was so much fun--I am definitely using it again!), then I used our mixer to beat in cream cheese and yogurt. The combination reminded me of the cold raspberry pie I made a few weeks ago; this was also a filling, though I used it in place of tomato sauce. 

After sauteing the broccoli and onions, I mixed up the rest of the polenta mix in my cupboard, left over from my attempt at polenta-dumpling soup.  (In the dumplings' defense, I'm pretty sure I was supposed to eat the soup right away, not let it sit for up to a week.) Half the polenta went on the bottom of the pan, then went the veggie sauce, then the broccoli and onions, then a layer of mozzarella cheese, a second layer of polenta, and (because I am a cheese fiend) another layer of mozzarella. 

Because our oven doesn't work, I resolved to bake the dish until the cheese browned. An hour and a half later, Neline asked what kind of cheese I'd used and I immediately remembered that mozzarella cheese doesn't brown, it just melts. Fortunately, an hour and a half seems to have been the perfect amount of time. My invented dish is delicious--it's the third night in a row I've actually looked forward to dinner, instead of just being satisfied when it rolls around. 


Sunny Days

Yesterday was gorgeous--bright, sunny, clear, just a bit breezy. I decided I needed a nice, long walk. That was one thing about moving to Astoria in November--I hadn't wanted to go exploring much. So I set off after lunch, following Ditmars to Astoria Park...until I thought a side street looked pretty, so I veered off. There are some truly lovely areas of Astoria, with beautiful brick buildings, row homes with little gardens out front, boulevards lined with trees. Lots of people were out doing yard work in the nice weather, and of course I appreciated every sight of a dog or cat. Once I hit Astoria Park, I went down to walk along the water.

My plan was to follow the river down to the Queensboro bridge and then turn inland to catch the subway home, but this was far easier said than done. Unlike on Manhattan, there's hasn't been an effort to make the waterfront completely walkable, so while there were plenty of parks with waterside walks, I did have to go around a few hotels, a dump, and several storage facilities to keep to my course. 

Along my way, I was in and out of my coat several times--mostly in when I was by the water and out when I wasn't. I saw people out in everything from full winter gear to shorts and t-shirts (all runners and ball game players), enjoying the weather. One dad was out jogging while his two kids biked on training wheels--certainly a good workout for him! Unfortunately I also ran into my nemesis...MISTER SOFTEE! Alas, with fine weather comes the incessant tinny jingle that worms into my brain when I'm trying to sleep or work or function as a human being. 

One of my favorite finds was the Socrates Sculpture Park. I'd been interested in this since I saw the name on a map, but I had no idea what to expect. The park's relatively small, but it's actually an active sculptor's studio with sheds that, I think, serve as private studios, and a big pile of scrap metals that, I assume, artists can look through for inspiration or use. In the park itself there were two artists building a giant reclining woman with found/"found" materials (I doubt that many people have lost their fauxdoras), their work accompanied by a man on what looked like a cello (though it seemed a bit too small) who looked so much like a cellist I knew at Muhlenberg that I made no attempt to be subtle as I got a look at his face. Nope, not him, but the resemblance was uncanny. 

I was amused to stumble across what looked very much like a college film production...then I reached the Queensboro bridge and saw a big filming setup. Given the location, I figured it was probably a crime show, so I took a quick look for Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu from Elementary, but between the odds that I would recognize anyone and my refusal to stand and gawk, I didn't figure out what was filming. A nosier person might have asked some of the people walking from the trailers to the riverside, but I always figure I'll just wait and see if I ever have a pleasant surprise while watching something. 

Once I turned inland I found MoMA PS1, though I decided to go back another day. I got a bit lost looking for the subway, though I did find it without actually getting turned around...but when I did find it, I found that the subway wasn't running between Queensboro Plaza and Astoria-Ditmars. Now, that's a long way--six stops, not exactly nothing. I was torn between catching one of the complimentary buses or walking. Ultimately I decided to walk in order to keep enjoying the day and to see what my route looked like from below. 

I can't say it was that interesting. Quite a few of the houses along the elevated subway line were just abandoned and boarded up, though there were a few interesting sights, like a halal live poultry shop and some dollar stores. I stopped in one for some basic household repair supplies--velcro to keep our bathroom cabinet door shut, spackle--as well as peanut butter for lunch and olives for a snack. 

I was bored by the time I hit Broadway, so I followed it to Steinway and then followed Steinway up to my apartment. Broadway was hopping--lots of restaurants down there to try, let me tell you! There's also quite a bit more shopping than I realized. This is probably going to be a better place for clothes than picked-over Manhattan. Steinway itself had a very strong Arabic presence (I say Arabic entirely based on the writing--though a Moroccan cafe did jump out at me) and more hookah cafes than I would have thought could survive in such a concentrated area. I'm amazed half of them are still in business, there are so many! 

Around 5 PM I finally reached home, my walk just a little less than twice what I'd expected it to be, with very sore feet. 


Aaaand I think that's about it for this week. Hopefully this coming one will be a bit less of a roller coaster.