what about the plastic animals?

Saturday at the Greenmarket

Activity at the Union Square Greenmarket really dies out after Christmas.  There were a lot fewer vendors there this morning.  The pickings get a bit slim as well.  Apples, pears, squash and root vegetables will be the produce choices until spring comes around.  Oddly, I didn't get any produce this morning.  Plenty of dairy:  milk, chocolate milk, buttermilk, cream and ricotta.  Plus eggs, leaf lard and apple cider.  The buttermilk, eggs and lard are going into a ginger-buttermilk pie.  Not sure what I'm going to do with the ricotta, it was an impulse purchase.  Not sure why I bought the heavy cream either, but it seemed necessary at the time.

Well on Her Way to World Conquest

Not only is she famous in Denmark, Cheryl, the flown over person and frequent commenter here, also has a store named after her near the big Macy's in New York.

Apropos of nothing above, 2008, only a few days away, is the International Year of the Potato.  To whet your appetite, so to speak, here is The Potato Song.

Holiday Train Show at the New York Botanical Garden

Ellis Island

Brooklyn Bridge

Townhouses

Guggenheim Museum

My father and I spent the morning of Christmas Eve at the New York Botanical Garden's Holiday Train Show.  I went once before several years ago.  There aren't enough superlatives to describe the train show.  If you're ever in New York between Thanksgiving and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day skip Rockefeller Center (it's a big tree with too many lights and people skating on a tiny rink, big deal) and head up to the Bronx.

The holiday train show is more than trains.  The most amazing part of the show is the dozens of New York City and Hudson Valley buildings rendered in various bits of vegetation.  Bark, branches, berries, leaves, twigs, moss, mushrooms, seeds and other plant parts are put to good use recreating well-known and not-so-well-known buildings.  The main building at Ellis Island and the George Washington Bridge made their debut this year.

Most people are just at the gardens to see the train show.  After viewing the trains and buildings we escaped through to the upland rain forest section of the conservatory.  From there on we mostly had the deserts and rainforests to ourselves.  As a bonus, the garden shop has an outstanding selection of (mostly) botanically oriented tree ornaments.  I picked up an acorn and a gingerbread house ornament.

The Holiday Train Show continues until January 13th.

Christmas 2007

Christmas this year was a low-key affair.  My father ventured down from upstate and we hung out together for a few days.  We went to the Union Square Greenmarket, Katz's for a pastrami sandwich, Economy Candy for halvah, the New York Botanical Garden for the holiday train show (excellent, full report tomorrow) and went for a long walk through Central and Morningside Parks.  For Christmas dinner I cooked us up a pork loin, squash-apple soup, green beens and pink and yellow potatoes.  Dad wasn't too sure what to think of the pink potatoes but they tasted just fine.

I had never hosted Christmas before.  The tree above was my first Christmas tree!  It's a five-foot high Douglas Fir.  Perfect size for an apartment.  I slightly underestimated the lighting and bulb needs of the tree so it was somewhat underdecorated, but I liked it just the same.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays everybody!  It's a little known fact that Teddy was crazy for tamales (another view).  I'll be back later in the week. 

"Tis the Season

You know it's almost Christmas when snow is on ground and festive ribbons decorate the garbage cans at work.

I Will be Waiting

I happened to walk right by the taqueria I was looking for on 24th St. in the Mission District on Saturday.  All worked out for the best when the street ended at Vermont and I saw this awesome van.  The appendages covering the front wheels are big pieces of carved and painted styrofoam.  That's Nancy Reagan on the driver's side.  I can't believe I walked around the van and didn't take a close-up of the passenger side.   Then again, after a week of conference-going my mind wasn't exactly working on all three cylinders.

Flaming Mercedes

Well, I'm back from San Francisco.  The weather cooperated perfectly.  The skies were unusually clear for mid-December and the afternoon temperatures were comfortably in the mid-50s.   Much better than the rain/snow/sleet and cold of New York.  My car was encased in three inches of snow and ice.  I bet snow has never touched the Mercedes with the hand-painted flames on the passenger side.  The driver's side was not enflamed.  Perhaps it is a work in progress?

This trip was mostly work.  I had Monday afternoon free and I used that time taking poor shadowy photos in the Mission, eat a delicious super carne asada burrito and delight in a balsamic fig ice cream cone.  To redeem myself, I returned on Saturday to take shadow-free pictures.  And to have another super carne asada burrito (at a different place) and finish the evening with a brown sugar ginger-caramel swirl and lemon ice cream cone.

The week ahead promises to be busy.  I'm hosting Christmas for the first time.  Somebody's apartment needs to get cleaned and decorated quick!

Security Gap

This would explain why the alarm went off as I left the Gap a couple of days ago.  I went back yesterday and had the security tag removed.

If you've tried to call me on my home phone lately you may have gotten a busy signal or a dead line.  Try again as I think I've fixed the problem!  You might want to wait a week though as I'll be away until next Sunday evening.

Smile

Smile, it's Friday and the weekend will soon be upon us.