Archive for November, 2011

{Thankful November} 7: Information

November 7th, 2011 | Rachel

Join me in the comments or on your own blog as I give thanks every day this month.

Today, I am thankful to be connected to the world and to have free access to information.  This is an easy one to take for granted in the United States, but I think it is important to remember that not everyone has such unlimited access to such a wide variety of information sources.  I was reminded of this fact during my travels through China this past winter.  For example, social media has revolutionized the way that information is shared, and a lot of it is still blocked in China.

Its amazing what a difference information can make.  Throughout history, parties in power (or trying to get into power) have limited information as method of control.  Just look at the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia in the late 1970s.  Even in the United States today, many politicians and other persons in positions of power carefully choose which information to share in an effort to sway viewers and voters to act in a certain way.  Sadly, this is an effective tool because many people are either too busy or too lazy to seek out the other sides of the story.

One of my favorite quotes is from the movie The Elephant Man.  John Merrick, the “Elephant Man” is having tea with a socially prominent man and his nervous wife who is terrified by the sight of Merrick.  As she sips her tea with a trembling hand, John calmly states, “People are frightened by what they don’t understand.”  Merrick says that even he has a hard time understanding why he looks the way he looks because his mother was so beautiful.

For many of us, our instinctual reaction to something new and different or perhaps contrary to what we are used to ranges from distrust to overt hostility.  Most of the time we don’t even realize that is what is happening.  However, as my latest business book suggests, “Don’t get furious, get curious.”  In Merrick’s case, anyone who took the time to get to know him discovered that he was not only very well-mannered and kind-hearted but also very intelligent and interesting to talk to.

We don’t have to accept anything at face value because we have the resources to investigate what is deep below the surface.  We can connect with people with alternative viewpoints to see why they think differently and we can find hard facts and figures to help determine the reality of the situation.

For these reasons, I am thankful to have such an open access to information.

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{Thankful November} 6: Sleep

November 6th, 2011 | Rachel

Join me in the comments or on your own blog as I give thanks every day this month.

Sneaking off and falling asleep at Carey’s birthday party

I stayed out late last night singing karaoke in honor of a co-worker’s birthday (and rapping, I should add).  Then I had to wake up at 5:30am this morning because I had to open the bakery.  After a very  busy day of work due to the New York City Marathon spectator crowd, I attempted to take a nap at my friend Arthur’s house.  The nap never happened, but Arthur and I did plan a menu for our jointly hosted “southern-style” Thanksgiving dinner for all of the orphans in the city who can’t go home.  I’m actually scheduled to work on Thanksgiving, so unfortunately I will not be spending it with my family this year.

Later this afternoon, I remembered my former co-worker Amelia was running the marathon and having a little celebratory get together afterward.  Despite my increasing exhaustion. I drug myself back to the bakery to pick up some cupcakes for Amelia.  Afterward giving her my congratulations in person, I went back to the east side for church, and then grabbed dinner with a friend after that.

All of that on four hours of sleep, and I suspect the night before was similar.

Right now the only thing I can think about is lying down on our fancy tempurpedic bed and instantly falling asleep.  It is going to feel so good.

Whenever I am living alone, or in this case when Steve is on the ship, I develop terrible sleeping habits.  I fall asleep on the sofa or sit and waste hours on the internet.  This past week my average schedule involved sleeping on the sofa from about 1am to 4am, attempting to be productive from about 4am to 8am, and then finally putting myself to bed a few hours before I have to wake up.  Even right now I am fighting the urge to lie down on this sofa and sleep for a few hours.

I’m so tired I already forgot what the point of this post was.

Oh, right, sleep.

Sleep is essential to being a balanced, sane person, and we could all stand to get a little more of it.  I’m thankful for the bliss of lying down on my soft bed after a hectic day and the refreshing feeling that comes after getting a good night’s sleep.

On that note, good night and thank you sleep.

Join me in the comments or on your own blog as I give thanks every day this month.

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{Thankful November} 5: Coffee

November 5th, 2011 | Rachel

Join me in the comments or on your own blog as I give thanks every day this month.

Photo by Valerie Schooling

Last Saturday, New York City had a freak October snow storm the morning after Steve and I returned from our trip to California.  We didn’t have plans until that evening (a black tie masquerade, since it was Halloween weekend), so we plugged in the Christmas tree*, put a Christmas jazz record on the player** and brewed a French press of fresh ground coffee from Verve Coffee Roasters while Steve cooked breakfast.

Is there anything better on a snowy, lazy morning than lounging on the sofa with a cup of coffee?

I submit that there is not.

As with pies, coffee represents different things for different people.  For some, it means a lazy Saturday morning reading a book at home.  For others, it may mean a rendez-vous with an old friend to catch up on life.  For others it may represent late nights finishing a semester’s worth of homework.  Sometimes I drink coffee when I’m tired, but mostly I drink it when I have a place to sit and time to daydream or write lists.

When I was in college and later law school, I was a regular patron at coffee shops in each of my respective university towns.  In Athens, Georgia, it was Hot Corner Cafe, which was conveniently open 24 hours a day.  I distinctly remember sitting down at a table around 6:00pm one evening and starting a 10-page paper that was due the next day.  In law school, it was Open Eye Cafe in Carrboro, North Carolina.  Open Eye wasn’t open all night, but it did have a smartly dressed goth barista that I had a crush on despite the fact that he was considerably younger than I was.

New York City doesn’t have the same kind of coffee shops as those college towns, which I suspect has something to do with the egregiously expensive real estate.  When I do feel the urge to leave my apartment and read a book over a cup of coffee, I usually head to Stumptown in the Ace Hotel or Cafe Grumpy in Chelsea.  Both have amazing coffee and interesting baristas with cool tattoos.  Most of the time I just get my coffee fix at the bakery where I have free access to an unlimited supply of freshly ground coffee and espresso.

Now that the weather is getting colder, coffee is getting that much more enjoyable.

Thank you, coffee!

Cappuccino and cookie from Stumptown

*This particular Christmas tree has been up since my first Christmas with Steve… two years ago.  Steve does not recognize an end to the Christmas season, however up until this week I had the tree hiding in a dark corner.

**We are celebrating the Christmas season a month early because Steve is going to be on his ship most of December.

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{Thankful November} 4: Pie

November 4th, 2011 | Rachel

Join me in the comments or on your own blog as I give thanks every day this month.

Mini Apple Pies

I started making pies back in 2007 during my final year of law school.  Although I wasn’t a pie connoisseur growing up and do not have a history of pie-making in my family, I was drawn to the American tradition, visual simplicity and endless versatility of making pies.  Plus people seemed to think it was hard, and I like a challenge.

I started out with Pie: 300 Tried-and-True Recipes for Delicious Homemade Pie by Ken Haedrich, which is a great resource for getting started in this realm of baking (except for the fact that it is so heavy and all of my colored photo pages fell out on the first day).  Focusing initially on the innards of my pies, I made the first several using store-bought pie crusts (the ones that come in rolls and are found either in the dessert area of the freezer section or the butter section of the grocery store).  Honestly, if you have limited space or time or just don’t like cleaning up floury messes, I think the pre-made crusts are a perfectly decent substitute.

My first pie was an apple pie, inspired by the cover of that month’s Martha Stewart Living.  I made four or five of them before moving on to cherry (mostly because I wanted to use a cherry pitter), caramel walnut, maple custard, port and plum, fig and grape and many others.  Like I said, the versatility of pies is endless.

I briefly dreamed of opening a pie shop, particularly after watching the movie Waitress, but I don’t think I enjoy eating pie enough to have it be my sole focus.  That being said, my absolute favorite thing at Three Green Ducks is the cherry pie, and I am about 10% finished with a pie recipe book I want to publish (I’m also 10% finished with a book about my first year dating in New York, City but that is for another day).

Pie represents a lot of things to a lot of people.  For many, it reminds them of their grandmothers who made the best apple pie in town.  For others, it means summer picnics and the Fourth of July.  For others, it is a sign of apple-picking season or family reunions or the end of an amazing home-cooked dinner.  Whatever it is, pie is good, and I am thankful for it.

Here are some favorites I’ve made in the past few years:

Caramel Walnut

Blackberry Sour Cream

Classic Cherry With Floating Crust

Triple Strawberry

Apple Pie (replica of cover of Martha Stewart Living)

What does pie mean to you?

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{Thankful November} 3: MAC Lady Danger Lipstick

November 3rd, 2011 | Rachel

Join me in the comments or on your own blog as I give thanks every day this month.

I know, it seems trite in the wake of my previous post about my family to be writing about a lipstick shade, but I consider it to be one of my greatest finds over the past five years.  It is timeless and versatile, and anyone who likes looking a little bit glam should have it in your arsenal.

I think red lipstick is one of those magical things that has a greater effect psychologically than it does physically. I’ve seen it happen with other people, and I feel it happen to myself when I put it on.

I don’t know when or why I first started wearing red lipstick.  It was some time after I moved to New York.  I started experimenting with different brands to see which one actually stayed on, and one fateful day I stopped by the MAC counter at Bloomingdales to see what they had to offer.  The makeup artist immediately directly me to a classic shade of red called Russian Red.  She said it was the color used the most in magazine spreads and advertisements.  I decided to give it a go.

Russian Red should have a cult following.  It is the perfect shade of red — not too orangey, not too purple — and stays on all day.  On more than one occasion I have been eating dinner with someone who stopped halfway through to comment on the fact that the color was still on my lips and not on my glass.  Its a matte, so some people might find it to be a little dry, but that is what helps it stay on so long.

After two years of Russian Red, I returned to the MAC store this past spring to see if they had something a little different to try.  I told them I loved the timelessness of Russian Red but wanted something a little more funky.  That day I was introduced to my newest love, Lady Danger.

Lady Danger is a much brighter shade of red with a distinct orange hue.  I’ve had random people on the subway and in stores and even customers at work ask me what the shade is.  For anyone out there who is already a lover of red lipstick, Lady Danger is fun way to mix it up.

Lady Danger on the red carpet

Lady Danger at the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island

Lady Danger on Cinco de Mayo

Lady Danger on everyone!

Perhaps you think red lipstick is too bold or conspicuous for you.  Perhaps you have a negative connotation associated with red lipstick.  Whatever your hang up is, open your mind enough to try it just once.  I think you are going to like what you see.

Thank you MAC Cosmetics and thank you Lady Danger!

 

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