We’re back! The three sisters took over New York City this week! It was a trip filled with fashion, coolness and silliness.
Check out the trip…in pictures!
TIMES SQUARE! We stayed at the Hilton Times Square…we arrived early in NYC and we didn’t think that Times Square was very busy (at 8am). That changed very quickly.
The ball that will drop tomorrow! It was all pretty and changed colour!
Take a look at that super high pole, that is where Gaga will drop the ball!
The craziness of Times Square…keep your ‘bows up!
The over stimulating Times Square billboards (and Sbarro…the greatest pizza place in NYC {do we all get that reference?})
Atlas Shrug (am I spelling that right?) on 5th Avenue
A’s favourite street, 5th Avenue.
“You’re fired.”
Tiffany’s!
Bergdorf’s
Central Park Zoo…it cost $12 to get in…but the smell of the seals were free.
Central Park, beauty in gross December weather.
A’s boots in Central Park
Conservatory Lake…”lake” is used very loosely.
Central Park…and A’s future condo in the background.
Soho. So beautiful.
NoLita (North of Little Italy). Sooo many fire escapes.
The newest member of my bag family (it has a big sister handbag…future post!)
We went to see a Broadway show, “Mary Poppins”!!!
Barney’s New York. Lady Gaga is working with them (I think…or other artist are using Gaga as inspiration…)
The Metropolitan Club. Where A wants to live (with a killer gate)…roughly $15-$20 million.
The 24 hour Apple Store.
FAO Schwarz…filled with babies.
Bloomingdale’s…and some person’s fur collar.
Serendipity! We waited for 5 HOURS for a table. Totally worth it.
A NYC tumbleweed. A bag filled with Styrofoam.
Menu at Serendipity. “Golden Opulence Sundae $1000.00”. Holy crap.
Frozen Hot Chocolate (the famous Serendipity drink).
M’s order, strawberries and cream and hot chocolate (with cinnamon, orange zest and lots of whip cream).
My order, hot chocolate and New York cheesecake.
A’s frozen hot chocolate. With four straws…which she turned into…
MEGA STRAW.
All in all we had a fabulous time (with lots of stories to go along…maybe you’ll hear a story or two from the other!).
Thanks for a great trip sisters! (And the parents that paid for it!)
Friday night A and the mom gathered around the flat screen at 10:30pm to watch a flick.
There are very few movies that we all want to watch together. I like horror flicks (and more recently…”Lie To Me”), A likes saccharine Christmas movies (I will not watch Jack Frost. No.) and mom likes anything with Queen Latifah (barf).
But there is one film that gets us all excited, “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers”. SBFSB is perhaps, the best musical ever. I remember first watching it in my childhood home when I was sick at home. Eventually all the sisters watched the 1954 musical and we all decided it was tops.
As I get older and watch it with a more critical eye…and the more I do that, the more I just want to keep SBFSB as sacred.
Here’s a brief synopsis:
Adam Pontipee is a mountain man who comes to town to do his bi-yearly business (what does that mean? Selling grain, buying lye? I don’t know). But this trip he has one extra item on the list to pick up…a wife. Yup, Adam wants to get hitched…like, now. He eventually stumbles across the lovely Milly during the musical’s first number where he sings about what he wants (pretty, trim, not to slim, and sassy as can beeeee!). He propositions Milly over top of a cow as she’s milking (she’s good stock, can work the land!) and she accepts out of desperation to get out of the boarding house she works in.
After a quickie marriage, they’re on the way back up the mountain. During the journey Milly pontificates about how excited she is to “cook and clean for one man, just one man” and Adam gets all quiet and waters the horses. BECAUSE HE’S A LIAR.
As soon as the newly married couple gets to the house Milly meets the six neanderthal brothers that live with Adam on the farm. They smoke, fight, leer and act like monkeys at the dinner table. The house if filthy, the laundry is piled up, but now that Adam “got himself a wife” things are gonna change!
Milly resigns herself to her fate and gets down and dirty with the laundry, and in the process decides to reform the brothers. She teaches them how to dance, and how to “court” a girl and the advantages of bathing . All the while her husband laughs at her and ignores her lessons (“I already got me a wife”).
Enter the barn raising (my favourite scene) where the Pontipee brothers find “their girls”. But their girls have fancy-schmancy suitors from town (A believed them to be Spanish for some reason). So, a fight ensues at the barn raising. But it isn’t any old fight…it’s a dance-fight off.
After that the brothers sing a song while chopping wood about missing the women they only met once (“can’t say no vows, to a herd of cows”). And Caleb does a kick ass axe dance.
The brothers mope around and then Adam gives tells them a story about the Sobbin’ Women (note: the real story is “The Rape of the Sabine Women”…yes, rape). About how the Romans kidnapped the Sabine women and force them into marriage (and other situations, I have no doubt). Well, wouldn’t you know it the brothers think this is a fine idea and gather their rope to do some abductin’.
The brothers return with frightened women and Milly chews them out and forces them to stay in the barn “with the rest of the animals”. Adam has none of that shit and takes off for the hunting cabin.
Weeks turn to months and we have an awesome song montage showing the brothers and the kidnapped women falling in love. By the Spring Milly is preggo and Adam returns when he hears he’s got a little daughter (“She had a girl? Figures,” Adam says when his youngest brother brings the news). Adam, after a change of heart (one look at that kiddo and he becomes father of the year) and decides to take the kidnapped women back. Apparently he needed to have a baby girl to know that kidnapping and forcing a woman to marry a man she doesn’t know is not a good idea.
Adam gathers the horses, but the brothers have their guns…the women love them (which is a case of Stockholm Syndrome if I’ve ever seen one) and they “ain’t gonna let any one take them away”. Because someone kidnapping the women twice just isn’t right. Adam convinces them that killing the fathers and brothers of the women is a bad idea and not a good way to start a marriage.
The brothers decide that they should give the women back, so they get ready…except the women don’t want to leave! They want to stay! They love their partnered brother!
Physical comedy ensues and culminates into a fight between the families of the women and the brothers. At the end a father hears a Milly’s baby cry and then all the women claim the baby theirs resulting in 6 shot gun weddings.
The end.
See? So many reasons I shouldn’t love this flick.
Therefore I have a solution…let’s do a remake!
I even have the cast all done.
Adam Pontipee & Milly
Originally played by Howard Keel and Jane Powell:
Howard and Jane
My choices are:
Chris Hemsworth
He proved that he can act like a giant dick, just the way Adam is in the flick.
And as for Milly we go with:
Amanda Seyfried
Amanda Seyfried is blonde enough and can pull off the pioneer woman role.
As for the rest of the brothers:
Benjamin (Liam Hemsworth)
The younger brother to Chris can play the burly Benjamin.
Caleb (Neil Patrick Harris)
Caleb’s role is that of a gangly tough dancer. NPH is both gorgeous and nimble. He could kill that axe dance (but he can forgo the goatee that movie Caleb sports).
Daniel (Fug from Rascal Flatts)
Ok, I think that the actor that played Daniel in the movie is ugly as fuck. So, he deserves an equally ugly looking guy. Which is Fug, the Rascal Flatts frontman.
Ephraim (Rupert Grint)
Apart from actually being a red head, Rupert also fulfills the goofy character of Ephraim (remember when he wants to talk to the girls in town and offers them a char of chewing tobacco? bhahaha!).
Frank (Shia LaBeouf)
Frank’s character needs a scrappy guy but can still dance and be adorable. Enter Shia. And I think he would smell sweet.
Gideon (Michael Cera)
Gideon is the sweet, stupid and most emotional brother. Enter Michael Cera.
The Brides:
Dorcas (Mila Kunis)
The most unfortunate named bride “Dorcas Gayland” was played by Catwoman herself, Julie Nemar. And those pioneer dresses were not able to hide Julie’s physical beauty.
Ruth (Jennifer Lawrence)
Ruth was blonde, and she was the angriest when she was kidnapped. Made me think of Jennifer Lawrence.
Liza (Anne Hathaway)
Liza is pretty, loud and thinks she’s the best singer. Ta da.
Martha (Kirsten Dunst)
Liza is the ugliest bride. Case closed.
Sarah (Anna Kendrick)
Wholesome Sarah, played by my new favourite.
Alice (Taylor Swift)
Alice is by far the stupidest character in the film…truly slow. I’ve seen Taylor’s acting chops, I think she can pull off stupid.
Alright, there you have it…now will someone please make this happen (and perhaps make the storyline a little less offensive?!).
A random Thursday night has me visiting a prison and my beautiful friend, Hilary.
Side note: Those were two different events. Hilary is not in jail.
I found a couple of videos that made my night!
First, is a video from Jimmy Kimmel. If you caught it in November, Jimmy Kimmel (the late night talk show host) challenged parents to tape themselves telling their kids that they ate all their Halloween candy. And it was hilarious.
Now, he’s charged parents with a Christmas themed prank. It may be evil, but relax. It’s also AWESOME.
And another Jimmy Kimmel piece (that guy is on a roll!). He recently had Tom Hanks on, and he did a spoof of “Toddlers & Tiaras”. And it was awesome sauce.
Ooooh, looks like In Style gave a bunch of designers the task of sketching their interpretation of Katniss’ dress in The Hunger Games.
The book says:
“I am dressed in what will either be the most sensational or the deadliest costume in the opening ceremonies. I’m in a simple black unitard that covers me from ankle to neck. Shiny leather boots lace up to my knees. But it’s the fluttering cape made of streams of orange, yellow, and red and the matching headpiece that define this costume.”
– Zooey Deschanel has a new album out with “She & Him”. They do a cover of the date rape classic, “Baby It’s Cold Outside”, but they reverse the genders. Read this review about the contentious song and “She & Him’s” take on it.
– People need to wake up. Omnibus is closer and closer to being passed.
– One of my favourite books, The Purity Myth, of the past few years has turned into a documentary. Check out the trailer here. (Those purity balls are sooo creepy).
– A beauty of an article from rabble.ca about the colonialism and Attawapiskat.
– December 6th came and went…did we all remember? Check it out .
– Now, we’ve all checked out this blog (on the blogroll)? Now check this shiz out.
– I just made these. I call them “Santa Hats”. And they are delicious.
As I’m starting to get into my vacation I am doing what I usually do- keeping busy. Over the weekend I went on a cleaning rampage and organized our family’s kitchen and pantry. It was totes awesome because I got to organize everything how I like it, and I got to see all the yummy stuff we have in our cupboards that has been hiding under half used bags of risotto rice and cans of tomato paste.
One of the treasures I found was quinoa. When dry it looks like any other grain, like this:
Dry Quinoa
But when it’s cooked it looks different. It also smells like vomit.
The first person to cook this and eat it must have been very hungry.
And then I learned a tip. Rinsing your quinoa will take away the bitter taste that un-rinsed quinoa can give off. OMG.
So, when I found a jar of quinoa that had been sitting in the back of the cupboard for a while, I thought I would give it a go.
Quinoa is loads good for you. Quinoa has a crap load of protein in its little itty bitty grains. In fact, not only does it have lots of protein, it is also a complete protein…you can get all you need from just eating quinoa! Woot! It’s also gluten free and has some of those kick ass amino fatty acids that people get so excited about. Quinoa is such a super human food that NASA has it on the list for “Controlled Ecological Life Support System”. As in, scientist will grow it when the world blows up and we refer to this planet as “Earth That Was”. (And you can support the Peruvian economy by chowing down, as they are the largest suppliers…let’s cross our fingers that cutting down the rainforest/violating indigenous rights/free trade agreement doesn’t fuck those farmers over!).
Tonight I made quinoa cakes and I think that it’s safe to say it was a hit. As with anything I do there is a bit of a learning curve.
Here’s what I did:
Cook 1 cup of quinoa…but remember to rinse those little grains for 30 seconds under cold water! Let the quinoa cool.
In a bowl combine:
2 cups (rounded) cooked quinoa
3 eggs
3/4 cup shredded cheddar
2 green onions (I used 2 shallots, worked like a charm)
1/2 cup cottage cheese
3 tablespoons of flour
1/2 teaspoon of Splenda
1/2 teaspoon cumin (I used a little chili powder…as I threw out most of our spices in my cleaning frenzy)
1 medium carrot, grated finely
Salt and Pepper
Mix it all up!
(Tip: Mix this up and let it rest for a while…according to my mama you gotta let the ingredients sit together…makes for a better batter 😉
Mixin' it up!
Once you get it all mixed up, turn on the frying pan. The original recipe called for olive oil for frying, but I just used a few squirts of Pam.
Get that pan super hot, and put a 1/4 cup scoop of the deliciousness into the pan. Using the bottom of your spatula, flatten until it’s about 1/4 inch think.
Frying Time!
Tip: Don’t touch the damn things for a few (maybe 3 or 4) minutes. I made this mistake and the first couple of attempts looked like quinoa hash.
Flip after 4 minutes a side, you’ll know when they’re finished. Or just find my mom, she’ll tell you.
And then…ta da!
Quinoa Burgers!
I made an aioli to go with the cakes…it sounds fancy but it was super easy:
1/2 cup light mayo
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
Salt and Pepper
Mix that good.
These were awesome. The recipe ended up making about 13 or 14 cakes, so my lunch is made for tomorrow.
They will definitely be repeated! Even dad ate one. Although he suggested that I add “sausage” next time.
Per burger: Calories 132; Protein 8 g; Fat 5 g; NET Carbs 12 g; (Fiber 2 g); Sugar 0 g; Sodium 200 mg
‘Tis the season! For the first time in years, I’m going to be at the family Christmas tree decorating soiree! In discussing my excitement with my peers, I’ve come to realize that this type of tradition isn’t a big deal to all families…especially families with children all over the age of 23. Leave it to little A to hold steadfast to our rituals; without her, they might be lost.
Generally at our parents’ place, tree trimming includes the following:
-J and mom bake yummy things
-the biggest, tallest, best smelling, most symmetrical tree is chosen
-the Christmas decorations get hauled out of storage
-hot chocolate is served
-carols are played
Once the stage is set, the decorations are unwrapped one by one, and hung from the branches according to the following attributes: weight (heavy play dough lion needs to go on a low, thick branch), sentimental significance (prime real estate goes to the Lion King ornament from Florida, circa 1994, that once slipped from a careless adult’s grasp but was saved from certain doom by an agile sister of mine…I can’t remember which), and aesthetics (ugly yellow-orange paisley Christmas ball is relegated to rear of the tree, year after year).
Before the (NON TWINKLING) lights are plugged in, the tinsel happens.
I will now describe the tinsel technique, with Beyonce’s help (as tinsel technique photos are lacking on the internet). First off, J has a very strict, rigid method of draping tinsel: one strand at a time, evenly distributed. It hangs like so:
Meanwhile, I prefer to fling chunks of tinsel, like so:
This gives a more realistic, drifts-of-snow appearance.
Little A tends to drape tinsel evenly, but has been known to fling a chunk or two in the past (if memory serves me right?).
For future reference, Beyonce also enjoys tinsel hair…
…and tinsel shades…
…but I digress.
The tree trimming madness takes place later this week. Will post results soon.
Oh! And just for good measure, this puppy loves tinsel too:
Weyward Sisters 