Valentine's Day Weekend Eats

I've never been a huge fan of Valentine's Day. In many ways, I would say that M. is far more romantic than I am. He has been aware of this since we first began dating though and he would commemorate anniversaries that I would, quite frankly, not remember. It was a busy week. I had my first debate for my law class and felt completely out of my element, I listened to about a million off key adolescent singers audition for the school talent show, I had a bunch of applications due for *fingers crossed* opportunities I hope come my way, work was crazy, as usual, and I am helping to plan a really cool event (more on that another time) for an organization that I am in, and, as we all know, planning takes time! My point is, it was another busy week, but M. found a way to get me to slow down for a bit on Valentine's Day.

Since we go out to eat quite a bit, he decided to eschew the traditional Valentine's night out and make dinner. I came home to a lovely glass of red waiting for me on the table, candles lit, and a delicious home cooked meal. I sheepishly passed him my card and a Snicker's bar--hey, he LIKES Snicker's bars! It was really cute and completely thoughtful. 

The rest of the weekend continued to adhere to my winter theme of eating entirely too much. We had dinner at Jones Wood Foundry on Friday- a favorite neighborhood joint and my Valentine's Day treat to M. On Saturday we headed down to the East Village to The Mermaid Inn on recommendation from a favorite local blogger, and it was delicious. Seriously just the warmest, most inviting place I have been in a long time. I will definitely be back. On Sunday, I hopped on the earliest train to Old Saybrook, CT where I met my mom and sisters and went to see family. We ended the day with drinks and dinner at The Oyster Club, a farm (and sea) to table restaurant that was excellent--and not just because they had a favorite Virginia Woolf quote prominently placed in the lobby. Yum. While it was cozy in the winter, it has an awesome elevated deck behind it that will be relaxing and delightful come warmer weather. 

I spent all day yesterday up at school, since I had the day off, doing work and helping a professor plan for a film screening we are having at Columbia in March. The film looks incredibly moving--it's about breast cancer through the lens of the loss of hair during chemotherapy. Since hair is so inextricably linked to sexuality, beauty, and identity, losing it is often one of the most difficult parts of battling cancer. The director beautifully and powerfully documents this process by following the people who gain strength and community at their hair salon, which offers free haircuts for those who have to make that ultimate, and difficult sacrifice of shaving off their hair. Mondays at Racine is up for an Oscar and I hope that it wins. 

After a quick stop at the local bookstore, M. and I met for a leisurely dinner at a neighborhood favorite, Beyoglu, where we chatted about our days and dreamed of summer. See? I wasn't kidding when I said that I ate a ridiculous amount this weekend!!

And well, since this is also supposed to be a book blog, here are a few of my latest reads...

Just finished reading: Beautiful Creatures by Garcia and Stohl. With all of the advertisements peddling a book I had never even heard of, I quickly downloaded this book to check it out, but I was disappointed. The writing was cheesy, the plot fragmented in places because of weak use of flashback, and, overall, it was not a favorite. My students, however, will probably love it, so if you are connected to the adolescent set, definitely check it out!

Another YA book that I just finished was Sever, the third and final book of The Chemical Garden trilogy. My students are going to love this book! While it did not have the romance that propels Hunger Games, it was well-written and brought the series to a satisfying end. 

Currently reading: Home by Toni Morrison. I once took a class entirely devoted to the writing of Toni Morrison and I am of the opinion that she is one of the most incredible contemporary writers out there. Love her. I am hoping that Home is as good as I anticipate it will be...  

Happy reading and stay warm!

Pro-Procrastinator

I have a paper due for my International Human Rights Law class, so I am procrastinating. It's what I do. Sigh.

I haven't written in awhile, since I have been busy with classes and work and trying to have some fun along the way.

To catch you up...I have pretty much just been eating a lot. It's January and it's cold here, and since it's so cold, all of my recent meetups with M. and with friends have been to restaurants to eat and drink in effort to stave off the misery of single digit temperatures. My favorite recent venture was to DBGB, where we met friends last Tuesday, and that I completely recommend should you find yourself in the East Village of Manhattan. M. and I also headed to the museums last weekend where we saw an awesome exhibit on WWII in NYC.

In an exhausting attempt at furthering my own karmic evolution, I also chaperoned the senior trip a couple of weekends ago. 55 seventeen-year-olds out in the middle of nowhere. Yup. Like I said... exhausting.  After three full days of horseback riding, snow tubing, manhunt playing, rock climbing, archery, lifeguarding, and a nightly dance chaperoning experience that made me fearful of days I ever have teenagers I am responsible for fulltime, I was in awe of all of the parents I know. The students were in confined quarters for the weekend and by hour number three, they were on each other's nerves, resulting in an added need for therapy services. We also had to tape their doors closed each night so that they would not sneak out, which did not prevent them from sneaking out the last night and leaving a note that was taped to our door using the same tape we used to seal them into their rooms. Pretty sure I will not be signing up to chaperone trips anytime soon.

This weekend was the winter storm Nemo, which was pretty, but that left much of the east coast buried. M. and I were all too happy to head out this morning and get brunch, since we were going a bit stir crazy after being cooped up yesterday.

I'll tell you one thing...this weather has inspired me to look for tickets to somewhere warm. I am sensing a trip in the near future. Miami? Curacao? Aruba? My pasty skin needs some sun...

Stay warm everyone!