In the time since I last wrote, quite a bit has happened. Not necessarily to me, since I've pretty much just been working, but such is my life. Steve had his last day of work on Saturday, which was not entirely voluntary, since the fish company he worked for is nearly bankrupt, but we're optimistic about it. He's going to take a week to write and meet with his manager, and then he's been offered jobs managing a couple of different fish companies. So, basically, it's like a vacation.

Commerce has been crazy busy lately. We got written up in New York magazine, Time Out New York, so we've been fully booked thursday through saturday. I've got some really fun new spring dishes, which I really enjoy. I've been cooking a lot of asparagus, morels, spring onions and garlic, ramps (it's a wild leek type thing). Basically, lots of green. And we had a duck special this weekend, which Mom will tell you, sells really really well. And David Schwimmer has come in for dinner twice.

Other than that, the highlights of my week were pretty much the yarn I got from Rachel, which is absolutely beautiful, and the warm weather we had on Saturday. I can't wait to find a pattern that will really let the yarn shine.

Hopefully in a week I'll have much more interesting news and maybe some photos to show.

Pheww! Today is my second day off since I started work. And work is going well. Very well. I'm working the entremet station, which I may have mentioned last time. I'm cooking vegetables like I was when I left Blue Hill. the difference at Commerce is that the vegetables are not being covered up with sugar. I'm again glazing about 5 different kinds of vegetables, carrots, rutabega, celery root, green celery, salsify, parsnips, tiny turnips, and sometimes sunchokes. but I only have something like 2 real purees, spinach and garlic, which are only used as components and, of course, potato puree! Which is slightly a pain in my butt, because it takes ages to dry out, but which tastes pretty much exactly like heaven. there are certain garnishes which are especially challenging for me, but I really feel that I'm learning from them and with them as opposed to just working around them. I don't think I can stress enough how much I'm loving this job. The hours are long, but not impossible and there is such joint goal and mission and drive. It's very inspirational.

I have Tuesdays off, which is bittersweet. I'm glad to have a set day off so I can look forward and plan, but Steve's days off are Sunday and Monday, so I don't get to see him much, which sucks. But I've been keeping busy, basically just running errands and that sort of thing. It's been a bit too cold lately to do much else anyway. Hopefully by the time it warms up I'll have two days off. Well, I'd better go finish my laundry. I'll write again next week!

I'm officially employed! Starting Monday, I'll be working. I went in three days this week to get the kitchen cleaned up, scrub pots and receive in our first shipment of food. There is something wonderful about filling an empty walk-in refrigerator with lovely fruits and vegetables.

I also got a chance to meet the other people I'll be working with. They've pretty much all worked together before at March, so I'm referred to as 'the new girl'. They're all quite a bit more experienced than I am though. As I'm nervous already about starting, this doesn't exactly serve to boost my confidence. Harold and Snir keep telling me how very hard it's going to be, asking if I'm ready. They're saying it mainly in a joking way, since Snir has faith in my abilities and Harold trusts Snir's judgment (and I wouldn't have been hired if they really thought I couldn't do it). I'm trying to keep this in mind. I also felt similarly when I started at Blue Hill and even back at school, yet I did well in both places. I'll do fine. It's just going to be very hard and I'll go down pretty spectacularly several times, I'd guess. But I'll learn. and remember what it was that I love about cooking in the first place.

I've been trying to prepare for the other side of my working life, which is basically sleeping and eating breakfast. I've been cleaning and organizing like a mad woman, so there's less to do once I don't have the time anymore. I'm also going to make a huge grocery run soon here, stock up on late-night snacky foods and cereal. and of course, before I start working here for real there is the super bowl. Several people are coming over to watch it tomorrow, mostly boys (story of my life), but thankfully our friend Carlos is going to be here too, so he'll help by making some food so I won't have to do all of it. and I think Liz is coming over, so I'll have someone to talk to while the game's on.

It's been a while, I know. I'd gotten rather a bit discouraged with lack of readership, because, really what is the point when no one is reading? But I'm back. And still unemployed. Although we do have a name! I think it's going to be called Commerce, after the street it's located on. And Snir has assured me that I'll be employed in 2008, although a line in the NYtimes yesterday said that we were supposed to open next month some time. There is still a little bit of red tape to work through first though, so no definite date yet.

I've been keeping busy though. I've been cooking a good bit. Making stocks every other day it seems. I've made bread, mornay sauce (that's a cheese sauce) to go with Steve's Hot Browns (a casserole of sorts from Kentucky of bread, roasted turkey, cheese sauce, roasted tomato, and bacon), macaroni and cheese with tomatoes and spinach, roasted chicken with potatoes, carrots and onions, chicken noodle soup, and braised lamb shanks with creamy white beans and gremolata (I even have a picture of that!). So we've been eating well. I also now have two FOs (finished objects) that I've knitted and am actively working on two more, with at least one tumbling around in my head. I've pictures of the FOs too.

I'm particularly happy about one of the scarves I've finished. I saw a similar scarf at the Gap when Jodi and Kelli were here last. I think. I didn't really like any of their colors, and the pattern seemed simple enough, simple ribbing with a cable pattern at each end to cinch it in and create architectural interest. I also just happened to have three skeins of this beautiful medium gray alpaca wool in my stash, just waiting to be used. It's curling a bit, as you can see, on the edges, so I'm going to try blocking it (wetting and lying out to dry while pinned in place) hopefully that will straighten it out. And then I'll send it on to Dana in Denver. No reason really, it just really seemed like her scarf from the beginning. I really hope she likes it.

The bright colored scarf I've been working on for what seems like ages now. I started it last summer while I was still living in Pleasantville, but I ran out of yarn and had to have it ordered from Wales. Which took a very long time. And the colors aren't exactly the same, but I don't think I really mind.

Happy New Year everyone! I'm finally kind of getting up and around. I've eaten a fabulous sandwich from across the street and am now lying down to finish watching Sabrina and then to move on to Emma. Steve's gone back to bed to take a nap and I suppose that sometime I'll have to get up again to find dinner. That is what happens when you don't get home until 5am. But we had a great time last night. We stayed with Liz, Josh, Libby, Phillip, Brent and his girls at a bar in the West Village until a bit after midnight, then headed over to the lower east side to meet up with Carlos and some of his friends from college at a horrible bar. We soon left there to find relative peace at the hi-fi (lovely little bar with a great jukebox) and didn't leave there until they kicked us out. Very fun, but now I don't want to move for the rest of the day. So I think I won't.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I had a great day. Josh and Liz and Carlos came over for dinner, which went really well, dispite the fact that Liz had brought over pomegranate cocktails and we were both rather tipsy, to put it mildly. And that was before I had even put the roast into the oven. I had everyone decorate cookies while we waited for dinner, which was fun, and for dinner we had roast rib eye of beef with a horseradish and Hawaiian sea salt crust, creamed spinach, corn with herbs, and a really wonderful crispy/creamy mashed potato bake.

I've been trying to adjust my sleeping schedule, staying up late, sleeping in, by going to see very late movies and drinking coffee at 9pm. So far, so good. I've seen Sweeney Todd and There Will Be Blood, both quite good. Sweeney Todd was really great, as only Tim Burton and Johnny Depp Movies can be. Steve and Carlos even enjoyed it, despite the music, although they both wished it were a straight film and not a musical and I enjoyed it despite all of the blood and killing. There Will Be Blood, however, was mindblowing. It's been called one of the most important films ever, compared to Citizen Kane and Stanley Kubrik films. And this is completely deserved. The cinematography is stunning, Johnny Greenwood's score is breathtaking, even if you're not preoccupied with the fact that it was written by the same person who wrote Idioteque. Paul Thomas Anderson manages to maintain constant tension, and built complex relationships throughout. While the acting is not necessarily the most subtle, the characters don't call for it. Daniel Day-Lewis is sublime as usual, and Paul Dano definitely lives up to his earlier promise. Tonight we're going to lighten it up and go see Walk Hard. Enough serious films for one week. Bring on the sushi and low-brow comedy.

I only have two days left working on the farm and while I'm very excited to start working in the kitchen again, I'm really going to miss the people I work with here. They're some of the nicest, sweetest girls, and it's been great actually hanging out with women for a change! So after a year and a half, I'm leaving StoneBarns. But I'm leaving on an eventful week. Yesterday we had our holiday party for work at the Rockefeller's playhouse. By "playhouse" I mean a mansion built as a place for the secluded Rockefeller children to play. When you first walk in, it looks very much like a beautiful old house you would pay to tour. There are portraits of the family lining the walls of the main room where we had cocktails and hor d'ouerves and gathered around lovely crackling fires in the huge fireplaces at either end. We were encouraged to explore the building, which we totally took advantage of. There's a 2 lane bowling ally, a racketball/squash court, an indoor pool that is how I would picture a Roman bath, men's and women's locker rooms, a gym with basketball hoops, climbing ropes and rings, and a full sized indoor tennis court. With a cozy little seating area complete with it's own fireplace. Between each of these are beautiful hallways lined with art and sculptures. Basically, it was beautiful, opulant, and extravegant in the most classical, early Depression-era American aristocracy. The fireplaces were all brought over from Europe where they were being salvaged from old manors, and much of the construction on Rockefeller property, including StoneBarns, was done as a work project during the Depression.

Everyone at the party loved my new dress. Mom got it for me when she was here the other weekend, so I was really excited to wear it. I'll post a picture as soon as I get one.

Jack and Shannon had their baby! He was born yesterday morning at 5:34, was 8lbs, and 20 1/2 inches. I don't know his name yet though, because Jack won't tell us what it is. We were all very excited, and took half the day off to cook them food. She had the baby at home, with the help of a midwife, Jack, and their son Sedge (who's 2). Hopefully we'll get to see him soon.

We're kind of in the middle of what is supposed to be a big storm, but so far it's just snowed a bit and then melted. So this could get nasty. Stone Barns was closed today, so I'm home from work, but I kind of have a bad feeling about tomorrow. If all of this melted snow freezes, then the drive tomorrow is going to suck. This is what I love about the city. Even when the weather sucks, and the roads are awful, we can still get around. I'm going to go see a movie soon, and then tonight I'm suposed to meet Steve and Zac for sushi and maybe a midnight movie.

This weekend I had a rather impromptu visit from Mom, Kelli and Grandma Davis. Kelli called me saying they wanted to take a roadtrip and was I busy the next weekend? So, they drove over on Friday and we took the train down to the city. It was probably the best executed visitors weekend I've had yet. There wasn't really enough time to think about it so we were pretty much just winging it. Mom, Grandma, and Kelli were pretty much just coming to visit and shop, so that's what we did. Kelli made me take everyone down to Ground Zero, which as you should all know by now, is not someplace I enjoy going. But there is a beautiful little church down there that I think is the oldest in the US. and Century 21, which is like a really really good Filene's Basement where I got a lovely little blue dress for an upcoming holiday party and maybe, hopefully for New Year's Eve. I'll post pictures soon. We soon discovered why, exactly, Rockefeller Center is avoided at all costs this time of year. After being literally moved down two city blocks by what amounted to a mob of package-crazed consumers, we crammed ourselves into the American Girl store, where they ran out of the doll Sammy wanted, and then Mom bought too much stuff, and then I was pretty much completely overwhelmed by it all.
But other then that, it was a thoroughly enjoyable time.

Winter is here! We had almost an inch of snow on Sunday, which was beautiful. Steve had a bit of the flu, so I had to go out early to get him some medicine. And let me tell you, people do not venture outside at 9am on a Sunday morning around here. At least not enough to mess up a pristine snowy sidewalk. Sunday was also Shannon's 30th birthday. (that's Jack's wife) So Emma, Jenny, Julie and I went over tonight after work to wish her a happy birthday and ended up being entertained by their 2 year old son Sedge. I don't think I've met a more natural entertainer since Zach was tiny.

One good thing about the cold, we've been working in the greenhouse lately, which also means that we get to let our bunnies out to scamper around while we work. They tend to nibble a bit on the greens, but don't do too much damage. Some bad things about the cold, my car is in the shop right now getting a complete tune-up and a new radiator fan, my time is running out on the farm as we run out of work, and, well, it's just cold out.

I've posted some pictures here for you all. Some of the people I've been working with this past summer, and then some more of this beautiful farm I've been working on.

Long time no write

Sorry it's been so long since I've written. However, I think I've basically neglected to tell anyone about this, so I'm pretty much writting to myself until I get around to emailing you all the address. So, an update is in order. I'm still working on the farm, which is going really well. I didn't find an apartment and had to be out of my old one by the first of Nov. so I'm staying with Steve until everything settles down and I can find myself a place to live. That is actually going pretty well, I'm slowly adjusting to living with boys. So far I've learned that they eat a lot. The Halloween party was last weekend. Jodi and Kelli came to visit with Jodi's roomate Kara, and Richie and Dana came from Denver, so there were tons of people. It was a little crazy and hectic, but very fun. I'd really missed my sisters, so it was great to see them again. and very awesome to see Richie and Dana. I wish there had been enough time to really talk to them, but we only had a couple of days, and those were packed. Steve and I are hopefully going to go visit them in Denver soonish. After Christmas but before summer. Sometime. All very vague. Well, I'd better get going. I'm trying to eat breakfast and type and get my lunch ready at the same time. I've a very busy week this week. There's yoga tonight, followed by a potluck dinner at Jack and Shannon's (they're my bosses). And Thursday is our knitting night, also with food.

Finally Fall

It is finally, and definitely, fall. Yesterday was hot. Uncomfortably, drainingly hot. Then today was cold. Overnight. Literally. We were hunched down between rows of beans just trying to stay out of the wind. I had to run home at lunch to change into something warmer. Once dressed appropriately, however, it was a wonderful fall day. Really overcast, windy, definitely getting ready to rain, but cool, refreshing.

Updating and Consolidating

So, I finally figured out how to combine all of my previous attempts at blogging under this one, easy to remember address. So, this one blog now contains all of my previous posts, from 2 years ago. I got distracted, but hopefully I'll stay better focused this time around.

Apartment Hunting

I've been spending a good chunk of my free time lately looking for an apartment. It seems that no matter how I modify my search, the apartments are always in another area of town. I started looking in Brooklyn again, and then realized that while I like the neighborhood, I dislike it's inhabitants, the commute, and the distance from Steve. So I'm now looking in lower Harlem/Upper West Side around Columbia University. The area's really nice, safe, and right on the 1 line, which is very reliable. However, since I'm looking basically in the middle of term, there aren't many apartments on the market. Also, they're really rather expensive. And I'm also very concerned that potential roommates click. I'm getting a bit frustrated, but as Steve reminds me, I've only been seriously looking for 2 weeks, and I have at least 4 weeks until I have to move. So I shouldn't worry about it too much and I'm still holding out for something that really feels right.

Moving Back to the City

So I did this once before, fairly successfully I think. My goal here: to again keep all of you not lucky enough to be in NYC abreast of what I'm up to. Also, as you will soon know, I am again embarking on a new venture which will take up most of my time. I've had a great laid-back, easy summer on the farm. And now I'm going back into the heat. I'm currently trying to find an apartment in NYC, hopefully in Manhattan this time, as the commute will be shorter (barely). Last Saturday I spent most of the day wandering -although not aimlessly. I had really good maps and a complete game plan and schedule - through Brooklyn. After that, I decided that I wasn't sure if I wanted to live in Brooklyn again after all. I mean, it is filled with hipsters, who are fairly depressing and absurdly disgusting people. those of you not in NY may know them more as 'scenesters' or as 'those trust-find kids who have too much time on their hands and too little to do with it other than think of absurd descriptions of their "style"'. My style, if I move to Williamsburg, will henceforth be known as 'post-apocalyptic pirate Dwight D. Eisenhower unicorn-hunter who wants to be a cosmonaut'. Since that is generally too long to say with any frequency, I will look for housing elsewhere.

In case you haven't heard yet...the House dropped Artic drilling from the budget yesterday! They also dropped drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. For those of us who have seen Alaska know how important it is to preserve the last stretch of "true" wilderness in the United States. I can't even begin to tell you how this has totally made my day.

I hate to keep talking about the weather, but we've been getting some really weird days lately. Yesterday it was sunny and 70. And in November, I find that just a bit too much. It's just weird. Emily and I went up to Rheinbeck, got some ice-cream and walked around town looking at the little shops and such. It was really nice, but just strange, since the leaves are really starting to come down now. Very strange. Also went to see a couple of good movies this weekend. Rachel and I saw Jarhead on Friday night, since Emily was feeling poorly. Really amazing movie. Again, a good bit of language, but a very interesting and slightly different look at wars, and modern wars in particular. Then last night, Emily, who was feeling much better, and I went to see Good Night and Good Luck, which was probably one of the very best movies I've seen in quite a while. In case you don't know, it tells the story of Robert Murrow, the CBS news anchor, and how he took on McCarthy in the 1950's. It's really well made, and very insightful on the role of the news in America, taken directly from transcripts and footage. Here are some of those photos that I keep promising. I should have more when I get my camera back from Steve. this is the fuzzy poster Emily colored, which is right next to our front doorour refrigerator, complete with Nan's "Ariel in Boat"Richie and I in Riverside Park

Well, Hallowe'en is over, so now I have to focus on other upcoming holidays. We had a lot of fun this weekend though. Steve and his roommates had a lively party Saturday night. The costumes were wonderful (I'll post pictures soon), I went as a witch. Emily was also able to make it, which was really fun. We didn't really get a chance to talk to some of the people we really enjoy talking with, though, so Steve wants to have a dinner party in a couple of weeks so we can get together with Josh, Liz, Joe, and Catherine (as well as Brent, Halley, Richie and Dana). I really want to talk to Joe and Catherine some more, since the times I see them we usually don't get to talk all that much and they are both very big foodies. Which I pretty rarely find, so I'm pretty pumped when I do. Baking is going really well. You guys would really be jealous. Yesterday we make e'clairs, cream puffs, cheesecakes, and fruit tarts, and the day before we worked on puff pastries, danishes and croissants. Today we're doing sponge cake and an Italian buttercream frosting with chocolate decorations. It's actually not all that hard not to eat it during class though. After being around that much sugar, all I want to eat is something very simple and clean, Asian preferably. Emily and I just discovered the most fun thing in the entire world. We've started taking this class called Latin Rhythms at the Rec Center on Tuesday nights. It's basically some type of aerobics class where we just follow one of our chefs dancing around to Latin music. It's basically the most fun we've ever had. And a super-terrific workout all at once.

I'm writing this from my new job as a tutor. Since it's the first day of classes in the block, there really isn't anyone to tutor, so I'm just sitting here reading Understanding Baking. Quite a good read if anyone wants to know the science behind baking and ingredients, or really even wants to learn a bit more about them.The weather is crazy right now. According to the Weather Channel, Hurricane Wilma has been traveling up the Atlantic and met up with a Nor'easter that was already there, so we're really getting hit right now. It's been raining straight through since last night, and doesn't seem to be slowing down, and the wind is pretty strong. I heard a rumor that it might even snow a bit tonight. But since I really have nothing to do until Friday, I'm alright with that.

I didn't realize it had been so long since I last posted. Last week was a very short week at school since we didn't have class on Monday or Thursday, and this weekend just flew by. Emily, Rachel and I went out to dinner at a nice Chinese place in Rhinecliff, a small town about twenty minutes north of us, and then went to see Elizabethtown, which I loved. We get $2 tickets through our rec center, so we've been trying to take advantage of that. As most of you know, my Mom, Jodi, Kelli, Rachel, Jane, Wendee, Pam, and Ellen came to visit the other weekend. It was a very fun weekend. The ladies got to do plenty of sightseeing, and, of course, shopping. From everything I've heard, the weekend was a success, and I'm hoping that everyone will post or share their photos. Although I'm generally more interested in people pictures than city pictures.

I can't believe it's Thursday already. This week has gone by pretty quickly. Last Sunday Steve and I went to the M.Ward, the Shins, and White Stripes concert in Brooklyn. Coney Island actually. But since it's after Labor Day, and rather late in the day at that, it was dead. But the concert was a lot of fun. All of them are really good live. I've seen the opening bands before, but this was the first time I'd gotten to see the White Stripes, and they did not disappoint. Classes have been going along just fine, if a bit boring. I have two quizzes on Friday, so I feel like I should at least look over my notes a bit. The highlight of my week so far was hiking at the Vanderbuilt mansion yesterday morning. Most of the lawn is really well cared for, although still a bit brown since we haven't gotten much rain this year, but there is a thick strip of woods between the bottom of the hills/cliffs and the river. There's a dirt road running through it for park service vehicles to run between their headquarters and Bard rock, which is where the Vanderbuilts used to dock their boats and such. You can get right down to the river there, and it's quite nice and peacefull. Beyond this, there are also some footpaths through the woods, which I wandered down. Really cool.Other than that, it's been a pretty chill week. Got up to do yoga this morning at 9am, which is always nice, and tomorrow Emily, Rachel, Katie and I are going to Olive Garden because Katie loves it and Rachel's never been. I'd rather not go, but whatever. I can handle it for one day. I'm going to try to make a 7pm showing of the Corpse Bride tonight, so I'll let you know what I think.