December 29-30 -- NYC to finish out the month!

Saturday morning we drove to New York City to see a matinee and have dinner at Colicchio and Sons (can you guess that this is my new favorite NYC restaurant??).   The weather was supposed to be bad, but we had no trouble on the roads and even in the city.  We found our parking garage, a block and a half from the hotel, and left our bags at the hotel to have lunch and see Golden Boy, a play recommended by Scott Rudin.

Because we had time, we decided to get a latte at Pain Quotidien and then have lunch at the Union Square Rosa Mexicano  - excellent choices, as it turned out!

Bob modeling his velvet jacket

And reading the Pain Quotidien cookbook

After enjoying the best latte in town, we walked over to the restaurant, which was nearly empty!  Our server was a lovely girl who had moved to NYC from Hawaii - she was a one-time lacrosse player (at Temple!!) and coach.  She and Bob chatted about their lacrosse experiences, and we had a delightful meal.

How cute is he!!

A little of the tropics in Rosa Mexicano

Beautifully decorated

And the killer pomegranate margaritas!

Then it was a quick subway ride to Times Square.  We still had some time, and it was ugly outside, so we stopped at Un, Deux, Trois for more -- beer, of course.

Too many choices - I'll have a Bud...NOT.

The Belasco Theater, a beautifully redone space, was right next door.  Although they had some problems with their moveable set and the show was delayed about 10 minutes (NEVER have we experienced a delay on Broadway), once it started, it was riveting -- so well done.

After a quick stop back at the hotel, we braved the snow and cold to walk and take the subway part of the way to the restaurant.  We re-introduced ourselves to the beer expert/manager, and our dinner was again delicious.

Pork belly

Pancetta-wrapped venison

The server was also quite nice as well as being efficient, so we enjoyed another special evening at Colicchio and Sons; even though we tried to leave without ordering dessert, the beer expert/manager sent us a selection of ice creams and sorbets -- on the house!   We also brought home their usual parting gift: homemade muffins.

I wanted my after-dinner drink at Eataly (for some limoncello!), which was on the way home if we took the L and then 4 subways.  As we were getting on the L, a lovely young girl asked us for help in making sure she was taking the right subway.  She had just arrived from a beach town in Mexico, and the directions to her friend's home were written on a napkin!  We got her safely onto the L and then going in the right direction waiting for the express 5-6 -- the next day we were talking about it, and Bob said we should have gotten her a cab and given her the fare; I was thinking that we should have taken the subway with her and made sure she got to the right place... But we didn't say anything to each other at the time...paths not taken.

So we reached Eataly with ease and found the limoncello stand.

Enjoying our limoncello

Cool geodesic dome near Eataly - it changed colors every few seconds

After a successful evening excursion, we went back to our hotel, which was just three blocks north of Eataly!  We had some terrific views during the course of the evening.

Early evening - Empire State Building

Bob catching up on his Kindle Fire!

Later in the evening - an Intstagram edited view of the Empire State Building

The next morning we had some coffee at the hotel and then drove down to Jack, a bistro in the Village where we had brunch.  It was empty - we found out that alcohol can't be served in NYC until noon, and we were there at 11AM.  By the time we finished, the place was starting to fill up - guess most New Yorkers want a mimosa with brunch!!  We were back home by 2PM and had some pizza for dinner at the local pizza place.

The Holiday Break - Bob's home!

Bob arrived at about 4:30 on Sunday afternoon - yay!!  We celebrated by going to Cantina Feliz, our new favorite Mexican restaurant.  The next day, we started our movie marathon: first stop, Life of Pi in 3D, a book that I teach to my sophomores.

The movie did not disappoint - it was visually beautiful and really followed the storyline in a good way.  The only down side was that Bob, having read the book and seen the movie, now comments whenever I'm in a tizzy over something, "What would Pi Patel think; how would he feel about this?"  Grrrr.

Bob in his 3D glasses enjoying a HUGE container of popcorn

Afterwards, we headed to Iron Abbey Brewpub, yet another great place for good beer!  We chose some really interesting types of beer and had some yummy brussel sprouts with chorizo and duck sausage.

The draft beer selection - awesome!

The menu

Me with my Kwak beer - fabulous glass, no?

And then some Dupont beer.

We arrived back home early evening (we'd gone to a matinee) and enjoyed some Wallander on Netflix before going to bed.  Oh, and guess what happened before we fell asleep!

Snow!

The next day was Christmas - we chose to celebrate with Chris and Frank by going back to the same theater to see The Hobbit in IMAX 3D and then have dinner at NaBrasa, a Brazilian steakhouse.

The move was 2 hours and 40 minutes long -- and two more movies follow this one!!  I think Peter Jackson has gone a little off the deep end.  I mean, I loved reading the book, but NINE hours worth???  The movie was good but not great.

Bug 3D glasses.

The family looking kinda weird in their 3Ds...

The steakhouse was an experience - somehow I thought we could order off a menu, but I was so mistaken.  It was a set price for dinner; Bob was not happy.  However, he made the best of it by eating LOADS of food.  The "boys" like the place; so did I.  We may end up doing this again next year; hopefully, Bob will be reconciled to that by then....

On the 26th, I was supposed to see Les Miserables with Nancy and Rudi; however, the weather was too uncertain, so we cancelled.   They dropped by for a visit, though.

The very regal Mrs. B.!

 So it was a relaxed day of getting ready for the crowd on December 27 - we brined the turkey (which was a very lengthy and arduous process) before going to bed.

The morning of December 27 found me cooking - yams, green bean casserole, stuffing, turkey, and, later on, potatoes.  We had 13 people at the dining room table and 6 people at the kitchen table.  

Blurry view of a room full of presents!

After dinner we opened a myriad of presents.  We had decided to give Kelsey Sam's autographed Redskins shirt (autographed by Art Monk compliments of Lynne Holmes) -- and she and I both cried, something which she assured me she never does.  The Rybicki family stayed over so that we could sign documents for Dad's estate the next day.  We had a really great time with the family!!

On December 28, the Rybickis and Cassels drove to King of Prussia, and what was supposed to be a 30-minute event turned into 2 hours.  We didn't realize that the estate was finally being distributed, so we had to go to the bank (after the lawyer was 1/2 hour late with no apology!) to finalize the checks.   So Connie and Steve got stuck in horrible Friday afternoon traffic back to Virginia while Bob and I hand-delivered the checks to Judy and Fran.  We got back home by 5PM and had delicious leftovers.

Mid-December

After the New York trip, it was time to get my students through the last part of A Tale of Two Cities.  I feel as though more of them at least appreciated the book - they certainly enjoyed it more than they had enjoyed reading Great Expectations.  I also proctored the newest permutation in standardized tests: the Keystone Exams.  Passing these tests will be REQUIRED for graduation by the year 2017, I think.  Another teacher and I proctored our two "homeroom-ninth period" classes -- don't ask!!

As the month slipped by, it was time to get ready for the English Department holiday party at my house.  It was totally casual; I just had to get minimal food and drink because everyone was bringing something.  I also facilitated a number of GIEP meetings, all of which were successful in bringing the parents into the high school loop - always a good thing.

Annual SGA tradition of individual Christmas light bulb for each student and staff member -- kinda cool.

The party, held at the end of the last day of school before the break, consisted of a small group - I think the date I picked was just too late, but I didn't want a conflict with another party given by a classmate of Sam's and fellow English teacher.  Also, December 7 was out because of the trip to New York.  Oh well, it was okay.

The next night was Frank's concert with the Mendelssohn Club -- and this concert was with the Philadelphia Orchestra! Before the event, I met my niece Nicole and her boyfriend Charlie at the Dandelion Pub -- a Stephen Starr restaurant billed as an English pub.  Great food and selection of beers!  And then it was on to the concert -- it was the BEST holiday concert I have ever seen.  The conductor was British/Canadian and hilarious.  The choice of pieces was excellent: many variations on the typical Christmas songs.  My niece and her boyfriend along with Frank's partner Chris all agreed that this concert totally rocked.  Afterwards we walked to The Farmer's Cabinet, another place with an excellent beer list - and good food, too.  Can we sense a theme here in December???  I got home around midnight - what a lovely evening.

December 7-8, 2012

This blog is getting to be a monthly post...hmmm.  Guess I must be really busy or too tired; the correct answer is usually the second choice.

Anyway, I began December by traveling to New York City to have dinner with Swanna, Sarah, and, from LA, Amanda!  An annual pilgrimage to New York, this particular trip is to remember the anniversary of the terrible accident that took Sam and Rhiannon's lives.  And what better way to remember it than to reminisce with his friends from the tracking group where he and Rhi met (I feel as if I know her well enough now to use her nickname).

The two days I was there were kind of yucky weatherwise - misty, but enough that I had to use an umbrella or have flattened hair.  After checking in to the Affinia Shelburne (a really nice hotel), I walked to Macy's, thinking that shopping on a Friday rather than a Saturday in December would find less crowds. Wrong!  However, the crowds are much less on the 7th floor and also in the Eileen Fisher section, where I found two lovely sweaters to take home - yay!  I also had lunch that day at Artisanal, where I had a delicious croque monsieur as I watched the soggy people enter the restaurant.  I also bought some prettily wrapped chocolates at Li-Lac Chocolates in Grand Central Station Market to take to dinner.  I do love being close to Grand Central Station! 

After a brief respite, it was off to Colicchio and Sons Taproom: Amanda knew the manager and so preferential treatment was part of the deal!!  Amanda and Sarah were already at the bar as I walked in.  When I ordered a beer ("I like Belgian style, sweet, higher alcohol content"), they both remarked on how specific I was, and so I became the beer expert for the evening!  When Swanna arrived, we were seated and began a lovely time with good food, good beer and good friends.  What we talked about I can't really remember, but these dinners are NEVER depressing - we share our good times and good thoughts about our Sam and his Rhiannon.  We were all excited to hear about Swanna and Christian's new house in the Catskills - what a lovely place they have.  Amanda's friend came over and chatted with us for a while, and we shared lots of food and drink.  It was decided that we should all try some flights of beer, so we chose a holiday sampler and some lighter wheat-type beers.  The service was so good that we kept having to tell them to let us keep our small beer glasses and not take them - we each had an empty glass and poured 1/4 of each of the flight beers into each glass.  And then we shared multiple appetizers and entrees - awesome!  The girls are such good friends with each other after 5 years - so wonderful.

Swanna and Sarah

All of the girls!

 After the beer tasting, the girls said that I should start a beer blog -  wow!  Guess I sounded pretty knowledgeable, but then again the place WAS serving a lot of Pennsylvania beers, and I had tasted most of them and knew the places of origin.

 We decided to try one dessert, but of course Amanda's friend wouldn't hear of that, so we had numerous desserts to try - all delicious. And we got muffins to take home.  I shared a cab back with Amanda after a truly wonderful evening worthy of Sam and Rhiannon's memory.
 

Where's November??

Yes, one might be asking that question...just look at the Bella Roma blog for one of the weeks in November.  The week before the trip: a stomach bug for three days.  The week after the trip: a nasty cold and cough, from which I'm still recovering. 

Today was kind of awesome -- Bob and I managed to get the printer we've owned for at least 4 years and never been able to use to work!!!! YAY!!!  The printer was older than my laptop, so I had to go online to get an update in order to get everything to work.  There were a few glitches along the way, but I can now print things using our wireless connection -- no more plugging in to the computer.  Are we at the forefront of technology or what???

Tomorrow begins the first week of the new Pennsylvania State Exam, the Keystone.  Algebra 1 is first, and of course I'm proctoring...  Actually, most of us are because this time the 11th graders are taking it and the 10th graders are taking benchmark exams on these two days.  Never a dull test-taking moment for our students.

Still slogging through A Tale of Two Cities through Sandy and through my health issues -- we'll finally finish it on December 10, I think.

Sandy has come -- and gone.

Sandy's effects involved some tree damage, 5 hours without power, and 2 days with no school.  We heard late Sunday afternoon (after just about every other district on the East Coast) that school had been cancelled on Monday.  After doing a load of wash, I filled both the washer and the bathtub with water - we have well water and a septic system, so we need extra water in order to flush the toilets -- ah, the perks of living in an old house.  

I watched TV in the evening and caught up on all the Upstairs, Downstairs episodes, including the latest that aired on Sunday night.  Bed at 10:30 - so not me on a Sunday.

Next morning, the power went out at about 7:15 AM, not due to the storm but to an idiot who hit a telephone pole during a state emergency.  Power was restored by 9:30, but I got to try out my Jetboiler -- worked like a charm!!  The rest of the day, I posted and read on Facebook while the TV was tuned (minus the sound) to the Weather Channel. I also kept taking pictures of the creek level.

Good moment of the day: Frank called from Henning's, our local supermarket, and asked if I needed anything, which he then brought to me!  Bad moment of the day: while watching Netflix, the satellite went down and then came back on, and somehow I lost first the sound and then the ability to get onto Netflix at all.  I then watched an old NCIS since the power was still on and went to bed.  The power went out just after I turned off the light to go to sleep.  I awoke at midnight and moved all the stuff from the refrigerator to the cooler in the side porch.  Just as I fell back to sleep, the power came on and has been on ever since.

 This morning I got up, made coffee, and moved all the refrigerator items back. Oh, we didn't have school again today. We had some tree limbs down, but nothing too serious.

Biggest branch, same old dilapidated barn

It's 12:15, and I'm getting ready to finally read the paper. I just took another picture of the creek to prove to the flood plain police that our flood plain has not moved significantly...this for Bob.

It's still raining a bit...

Look at me, I'm Sandra Dee...waiting for Sandy.

October 28th -- wow.   The days are again flying past.  This month I facilitated a BUNCH of meetings with gifted parents and helped my colleagues navigate the often-challenging waters of IEP Plus, the program that we use to document said meetings.  Bob was home two weekends in a row, which was fabulous!! 

The first weekend, we headed for one of our new favorite restaurants, Cantina Feliz, a place in Fort

Washington started by one of Jose Garces' former employees.  Kick-ass happy hour -- $5 margaritas and small plates - so good and so cheap!

We arrived on a Saturday, so no happy hour, but still worth the extra few dollars.

Wild boar tacos!

Bob looking a wee bit scary with his brussel sprout huarache

We watched a HUGE party arrive for a birthday party...

The next day we went to Chestnut Hill's annual craft fair - had a great time and bought some interesting things for gifts.  On this day, we had our meal at Iron Hill.

Enjoying some Belgian style beer on the avenue in Chestnut Hill

After a week of working with my lovely students, it was time for yet another great meal, this time at the happy hour at Stella Blu, another great deal: $5 drinks and half price small plates.  This time we splurged and had pumpkin cheesecake for dessert.

That Sunday was Frank's first concert with the Mendelssohn Club - quite enjoyable.  The group is much bigger than the choral society he used to sing with - they also perform with a chamber orchestra, which makes the sound balance so much better than it was in previous years.

 Afterwards, Chris and Frank joined us for some food and drink at Bridgid's.  

And then - Sandy formed.  Hurricane Sandy is bearing down on our area; landfall in Atlantic City area tomorrow night.  It's supposed to be a superstorm...whatever.  Anyway, Bob was back in New Jersey after dropping off a trailer, and he came home to bring home the Civic from where it was parked in Jersey.  He arrived home early Saturday morning.  Judy and her friend Cindy were due to visit, and we embarked on a trip to Sanatoga and the outlets -- a very productive trip, I might add.  Bob stayed home and started storm preparations for me.

With Cindy at lunch!

Judy very kindly volunteered to drop Bob off in Paulsboro to pick up the Civic - he had brought the tractor directly home.  So off we went to New Jersey and back.  On our way back, we found a camping thingie that boils water and uses propane to do so.  I cannot do without my coffee.

 

 

What I will do to avoid a caffeine headache.

 Upon our return, we had yet another really enjoyable meal.  Sense a theme here???  We headed to Parc Bistro, a great place where one can always get a table, even on a Saturday night.

Foie gras and pear in amazing sauce.

Sated, we returned home and went immediately to bed - up early the next day to make final preparations for storm control and Bob's leave-taking.

It's been a long, been a long, been a long, been a long time...

Wow - the month of September has flown by!  Since I've begun posting separately for our trips, I've neglected my everyday blog.  Now that school is in session, I'll continue to use it for day to day activities until our next big trip - to Rome for our 40th wedding anniversary!

Gifted stuff has taken over my time at school.  With four new GIEP writers, I've been spending my time teaching as well as preparing documents for my own case load.  We're far more aligned with the special ed. IEP than we ever were before - and it's actually a good thing. 

My classes this year are again really nice.  One new thing to add - when studying the Rubaiyat, I paired them to explain in one sentence the meaning of a single rubai.  Worked well. 

I also have a new projector in my room - the lamp on the old one died on Thursday morning, and by the end of the day, I had a new one - yay!!

Bob comes home a week from Monday, and the following weekend we'll go to see Frank in his first concert with the Mendelssohn Club - a big step up from the Choral Society, which is no longer in existence.

Blog for our road trip

Here's the website for the Big Ten road trip I took over the last two weeks.
http://bigtenroadtrip.blogspot.com/

Home with Bob.

This is the only week this summer where Bob is home and we're not on our way somewhere!  It's the nature of my time off, I guess.  June was Europe; August will be California.  We've already made our plans with the Northwestern and tracking group people, and we'll spend the first 4 days in lovely Santa Barbara.

This week, however, we've been working on the third floor "office" -- really a place for all the junk we've accumulated in the attic since Sam's death.  This is how the room looks after 3+ days of hauling stuff out of there and going through things.

We haven't moved anything back in yet....

Now here's what's out of the room sitting at the top of the third floor steps.

And we've gotten rid of more than half of what was in that room!!

Yes, we might have been candidates for "Hoarders" -- maybe still could be if someone looked at the contents of our barn.

So we'll be taking clothes to the Salvation Army and leaving furniture for Purple Heart.

And I've finally figured out how to post pictures from my stupid Blackberry without them coming in sideways.

Here are some food pix from our dinner last night at Parkside Grill.

The top is Szechuan chicken; the bottom is fettuccine Alfredo with shrimp, crab meat, and avocado.  Yum!