{Thankful November} 8: Progress
November 8th, 2011 | Rachel
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Recent wedding cake from Three Green Ducks
Marriage equality is an issue that I have been involved with and very passionate about for the last few years. While working at the firm, I wrote my first amicus brief for New York’s highest court in support of recognizing same-sex marriages for the purpose of New York state benefits. The court decided in our favor.
I’m happy to announce that earlier this year the New York State Assembly finally voted to legalize same-sex marriages in this state. I’m even happier to share that I was at a house warming party when this news was announced, and the room erupted in cheers.
Although it feels like it is taking too long, I believe that as the world gets more connected and informed (see previous blog post), people will let go of their baseless biases (“that’s the way it’s always been” is not a valid reason) and focus their passion on issues that really matter. I look forward to the day when same-sex marriages are so common place that no one even makes the distinction.
In other news, look at this gorgeous cake!
Thank you, progress.
{Thankful November} 7: Information
November 7th, 2011 | Rachel
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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.
{Thankful November} 6: Sleep
November 6th, 2011 | Rachel
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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.
{Thankful November} 5: Coffee
November 5th, 2011 | Rachel
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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.
{Thankful November} 4: Pie
November 4th, 2011 | Rachel
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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?
