Smith & Wollensky

As I hinted at yesterday, Becky and I both took the day off work today. Call it a one day "staycation." We did this in honor of New York's Restaurant Week, which has become a bit of a tradition for us. During Restaurant Week a large selection of participating restaurants offer three course meals, with lunch for $24.07 and dinner for $35.00. They offer a limited menu and if possible pack the tables a little closer together. But at the nicer restaurants that price is a steal for that much food. So, you might think that our tradition would be to try out a selection of different restaurants that would otherwise be inaccessible to us. That was actually our original intention. But then the first time we tried it (in 2008) we abandoned thoughts of going elsewhere. Our restaurant? Smith and Wollensky.

For appetizers, Becky enjoyed fried calamari (which she proclaimed to be the best she's ever had) and I ate split pea soup (not exactly my favorite, but theirs is good and I didn't love the other options). Mostly though, during this course we enjoy the bread basket. It is piled high with four different types of bread, plus some crispy chip-like deliciousness. I'm a sucker for a good bread basket. As best I can describe, the options are pretzel bread, sourdough bread, crunchy delicious oatmeal bread, and strange fruity bread.

For main dishes, we pick the obvious. Do I even need to tell you that it is the 10 oz. filet mignon? Well, I probably do because I haven't actually linked you to the menu yet. But nonetheless, obvious. Since becoming my significant other, and being influenced by the uncooked steak love that runs rampant in my family, Becky has been on a slippery slope towards ordering rare steak. Today she took the plunge and, for the first time, ordered a rare steak in a restaurant. When she did this the waiter questioned, "would you like a warm center or a cool center?" It turns out there is a super secret "extra rare" option, which of course Becky passed on (she's still on the slippery slope after all) and I of course gleefully accepted. Steak verdict? Delicious. We also enjoyed adding some hash browned potatoes and some white wine on the side.

For dessert we again selected the same option. Chocolate mousse cake. Rich, creamy, chocolaty deliciousness for the win.

One of the things I like about this restaurant (and other similar restaurants) is that all of their stuff is personalized with the restaurant name. As in, the plates say "Smith and Wollensky" and the silver is engraved with "Smith and Wollensky" and the napkins have a woven likeness of the restaurant facade and even the mints have "Smith and Wollensky" candied right in.
To justify the price (even with the deal this is a lot more than we would usually pay for a lunch, once you consider wine and side dishes and taxes and tips!) we called it a late joint birthday celebration, despite the fact that they were both about a month ago. A very happy birthday to us! Long live the Smith & Wollensky tradition!

Still one day left!

While all of you suckers (er, loyal blog followers...) are preparing to go back to work tomorrow, Becky and I are still lounging and enjoying the weekend. One of us will update you on that tomorrow, I promise. But I figured in the mean time you need something to tide you over, seeing as how for you the weekend is over! So what kind of adventures did Becky and Carrie have this weekend?

Overall it was a pretty uneventful weekend. We watched both our Netflix movies: Love Happens and The Informant. The Informant sucked. Seriously, don't waste your time. I guess maybe it was supposed to be kind of a spoof, but we found it neither funny nor interesting. Becky actually asked me if we could turn it off, but I hate turning off movies once they're started. Love Happens was at least worth watching.

Saturday we spent almost two and a half hours outside digging my car out of the snowbank. We didn't actually want to move it (and in fact were afraid to move it, since we'd risk not having a parking spot when we came back, due to snow covering so many parking spots) but we were afraid that if we didn't put some work into uncovering it that we'd never see it again. We managed to anger two different neighbors in this process, who both accused us of trying to put the snow into their driveways and an empty parking spot. Yes, we were guilty of putting the snow in the empty spot (because it has to go somewhere!), but seriously, we were working so hard to be polite and not put the snow in other people's way. And what did we get? Neighbors yelling at us. Apparently snow brings out the crazy. We both really like people to like us and have strong Midwestern Nice streaks, so having the neighbors yelling at us was really stressful.

We also managed to make some progress on the kitchen reorganizing project. Part of this project is so that we can actually take some of our wedding presents out of the closet and put them somewhere accessible. We now have PopTop containers, a coffee machine, a hot chocolate machine, cutting boards, steak knives, champagne flutes, and a bunch of other random stuff! Woo!

For probably the first time ever we saw an ad on an internet TV show (Modern Family on Hulu, in case you're wondering) that we were actually interested in. Vittana is a non-profit that provides micro loans to students in developing countries who are completing college or vocational schools. Theoretically anyways you loan the students money and a year (or so) later they repay you. At which point you probably roll your money back into another student. Becky and I are both intrigued by the whole micro loans to individuals in developing countries concept, and of course we both support higher education. So there you go, we're helping sponsor a young Nicaraguan woman in her pursuit of education. Check it out.

Snow Day!

Apparently this January has been the snowiest January on record in New York City. I honestly never imagined we'd see this much snow here. It is the snow of our childhoods in the Midwest, which even they haven't had for many years. I'm definitely one of the first ones to jump on making fun of New York for considering itself a cold place, or a place capable of handling snow. But, especially considering they have no where to put the snow here, this is pretty crazy.

We woke up this morning to Becky's phone ringing with an automated message letting her/us/the neighborhood know that her work was closed. This noise was followed by the siren alerting us that local schools were closed. Now seriously people, the siren? That is supposed to go off when meteorologists have spotted a giant spinning funnel cloud. It tells you loud and clear to grab your battery powered radio in one hand and your cat in the other hand and run to your basement. It does not tell you to go out and play in the snow! I don't even know how to describe the siren or the noise without describing it as a tornado siren. In the absence of much tornado risk, I wouldn't have even guessed that northeastern cities would have them. But our town does, and apparently they use it to announce school closings. I knew my work would be open, so I didn't even bother getting up, despite the fact that my annoyance kept me from falling back asleep.

But then, at the normal time, I did get up, and found that our busses were not running. Which of course makes it less than easy for me to get to my annoyingly open work. After much conferring with the appropriate powers-that-be I determined that I could in fact use some leave time and reschedule my appointments. And hence, a snow day was born.

That's each of us with snow piled up over our heads! Unfortunately, my poor car is also piled up well over its head.

Yep, there's a car under there. And it belongs to me/us. If we ever find it again that is. I joked about it before, but I'm now a little bit concerned that we might actually not be able to move it again for a while. Especially because we're supposed to get more snow this weekend!

We decided we needed some delicious snow day dinner. So, we pulled out the awesome cookbook that we received as a wedding shower gift and selected a Cheddar Ham Soup. The cookbook was a project headed up by my sister (and Matron of Honor). She sent out blank recipe cards to all of the women who were invited to the wedding and asked them to submit a recipe (and a memory too, if they chose) to include in a cookbook for us. So at the shower we received a cookbook full of the favorite recipes of a whole bunch of our friends and family members! We thought it was a really neat way to include all of our long distance friends and family who weren't able to attend the shower, and now it's a fun keepsake. I can happily report that Becky's aunt's soup is delicious! So we'll be eating soup and enjoying this lovely view out of the windows, possibly for months to come.

Computer Lab Nostalgia

I read some huge exciting news today via the little birds on Twitter: Facebook versions of Carmen Sandiego and Oregon Trail will be released in February!

Someone mentioned in the comments on this article that she remembered playing these games 20 years ago. Which caused me to realize "Holy crap, it really HAS been 20 years! How is that even possible?!" You see the problem here is that someone who can clearly remember things that happened 20 years ago must certainly be a grown up, and I am certainly not one of those.

But this realization got me to thinking about the good ol' days in the computer lab at my elementary school. My school got a computer lab when I was in 3rd grade, and let me tell you, it was a BIG. FREAKIN. DEAL. I think some PTA members may have sold organs on the black market to fundraise for that thing or something. It was awesome--each of us got to use a computer at the same time. And the computers had games! Two of them! Those games were Oregon Trail and....something else. I think maybe it had dragons? And something about designing your dream bedroom? Anyway, Oregon Trail was clearly the superior choice. I have such fond memories of watching my little green oxen plod across my tiny black monitor, and my incredible inability to shoot anything in my efforts to hunt. Seriously, that buffalo could stand right in front of me and stare me in the eye, and I wouldn't figure out how to shoot it.

A year or so later, my family got a computer at home, and in addition to Oregon Trail, we acquired several different versions of the Carmen Sandiego games. Each of these games of course included about 7 installation disks (and I seem to recall a fair amount of swearing from my parents when the computer didn't seem to want to recognize them in the right order) and a world almanac or similar reference, which was of course absolutely necessary for answering questions in the game. Oh, life before the internet. (I admit, I do sort of miss those pages in the middle with the pictures of all the countries' flags.) I'm curious to see how they've modified the game to make it a little more challenging in the age of Wikipedia.

Do you have any fond memories of early computer games or experiences? Are you as crazy excited as I am for these games?

Groceries

As a follow-up to Carrie's weekend post, our groceries from Fresh Direct arrived last night. It was pretty sweet that someone else packed them and hauled them up the stairs for us, but it's a little strange to get groceries in boxes. The service is great, the food looks fresh, but they don't sell many of our staple items (and only have name-brand options of many products) and their regular prices really aren't competitive with what we usually pay for the same foods.

Plus I just really LIKE grocery shopping. I used to be obsessed with reading grocery store sale flyers, looking for the best deals, but my lust for that has dulled with time. Admittedly, our usual grocery-shopping routine probably sounds a little crazy to some. We do a big shopping trip every 3 weeks or so. We plan out meals for the upcoming few weeks before we go, and make our grocery list based on that. The Target store near us has a pretty large selection of groceries and some of the best prices around, so we start there for a lot of our staples. We then head to the Trader Joe's that's about half a mile past Target and stock up on produce and most of the other items that Target doesn't sell. This does tend to leave a couple of specific products that aren't at either store (we're picky about tortillas--go figure), so one or the other of us will walk to the grocery store that's a couple blocks away to fill in any remaining gaps. The whole project takes a couple hours, but we get most of our food at the best prices we can find, we get good quality meat and produce, and by planning our meals ahead of time, we don't end up wasting much food. Having a plan also makes us less likely to come home from work and say "I'm tired, let's just order take-out, eat mac & cheese, etc." It works for us.

But since I view the Saturday grocery shopping every few weeks as a sacred activity, I'm even less likely to be sold on Fresh Direct's services. But thank you for the $50 coupons--we do appreciate them!

piccadilly-cat sez "ur soda runned away"

O hai, NFC Championship

In case you haven't heard yet, THE PACKERS ARE GOING TO THE SUPER BOWL!!!

Alright, I admit that I am no die-hard fan and that I only watch the games that happen to be televised here, but the Pack will ALWAYS be my team. Fortunately, one of my co-workers is also from Wisconsin and IS a die-hard fan, so I get to hear all about what I missed and what's new in the world of the Packers. Said co-worker is also a regular at Kettle of Fish, the best Packer bar in NYC. I'd been saying for years that I was going to go watch a game with her, and somehow this game, against Da Bears, no less, seemed like the perfect candidate. But there's something you need to understand about the patrons of this bar, and Packer fans in general--we're crazy.

On Sunday, the game started at 3:00 p.m. The bar was opening at 1:00. This naturally meant that in order to be guaranteed a seat to watch the game, we needed to get there and line up early...just after 10:00 a.m. In case standing outside a bar in the West Village for three hours on a Sunday morning doesn't sound crazy enough to you, keep in mind that it was only 20 degrees outside. But I put on all the warmest clothes I had, packed my thermos of hot chocolate (after nearly scalding myself checking to see if it leaked. It did. I responded by wrapping it in a plastic bag and keeping it upright. It worked.) and trekked into the city while Carrie stayed in our warm, cozy apartment.

Fortunately, the wait passed relatively quickly, and just as I began to fear that I may never feel my toes again, a kind stranger appeared with extra hand/foot warmers. Hallelujah! To give you an idea of the scope of the line (and the craziness of those in it), here's a picture I took shortly before the doors opened.

I knew I was in the right place when I saw cheeseheads.

Once inside, there were drinks, plates of summer sausage and cheese, and Usinger's bratwursts to help us warm up. I was sadly lacking in Packers garb (a situation my mom is remedying as I type this), but fortunately my co-worker brought me a spare jersey, and another kind stranger was passing out green and gold beads (and cheese curds--yum!)

Anyway, I would describe both that game and the bar as somewhat ugly but awesome. The bar was seriously a little trippy--with the wood paneling, ceiling tiles, and several people in very un-ironic plaid, I could have sworn I was in someone's basement in Wisconsin rather than in the West Village. But it was also refreshing to just be able to give the name of a town in response to "Where you from?" And I think the last time I was surrounded by such enthusiastic sports fans must have been in the student section at a UW-Madison football game. The air in this place was electric.

Oh yeah, and did I mention SUPER BOWL?!?! I am already scheming plans for green and gold foods to make for that day. Suggestions are welcome. And so far the list of attendees at said party includes Carrie, me, and our cats--so if you're going to be in the neighborhood, please feel free to stop by!

After I got home from the game, Carrie and I feasted upon leftover homemade chili in homemade bread bowls. The bread didn't turn out quite like I'd hoped--all four bowls mysteriously shrunk just before I put them in the oven, but they were delicious nonetheless.

On home ownership and New York

Well, I had Becky all lined up to blog for you tonight, but then she got busy with other things and couldn't do it.  So I guess you're stuck with unprepared me!

A few weeks ago Becky apparently decided that she was sick of feeling impoverished and decided to take a whole pile of personal finance books out of the library.   She has since been methodically making her way through them, while I occasionally pick one up and page through in a sign of support.  I certainly got a few laughs out of Suze Orman of 2005 waxing on about the wonders of investing in home ownership.  But despite the change in circumstances since 2005 I hear it's still a pretty decent investment.  And it's something we aspire to do someday.  But not here.  Gothamist illustrates plainly and easily why not.  Why is New York so strange?  It is at the same time a cultural capital of the United States and not in the slightest bit quintessentially American.  And apparently it's become the city I love to hate (okay, and just plain old love too, despite its crazyness and insane cost of living).

While I was browsing over at Gothamist I also came upon this Walk of Shame, which has a similarly favorable outlook on the great New York experience.  Woo-hoo longest commute in the nation!  Of course I'm not sure if they calculate this based on where you live or where you work, so I don't know whose commuting average we're driving up...either way I think we're clearly hurting someone's average.  Does that make me a New Yorker yet?

So I hope that wee bit of mappy goodness can tide you over until tomorrow night!

Depths of January

I know I'm a wimpy Minnesotan, I know that the weather in NYC/NJ is nothing compared to what it has been in the Midwest, but I'm officially tired of winter. And I didn't even stand outside in it for 3 hours today like Becky did. But I'll let her tell you about that insanity. This has probably been the snowiest and coldest winter since we moved here (and this is our fifth, believe it or not!) Something about the combination of the snow strategy here (pour an ocean of salt all over everything, let the cars create huge slushy puddles to get rid of snow bulk) and our lifestyle here (walking to public transportation, on-street parking, me walking all over the place for my job) makes the tropical NYC winter still feel unbearable.

Friday night we hung out at home and watched Inception from Netflix. I liked it a lot, but probably not as much as I thought I might, based on descriptions I've read referring to it as a mix of Memento and Eternal Sunshine. I've been thinking about it since then and I still don't understand why Cobb and Saito end up in the same place in the end, nor do I understand how they managed to get back to "reality." And pretty much the entire winter wonderland 3rd level scene confused me. But I love both Leonardo DiCaprio and Ellen Page, so two thumbs up from me.

Saturday we avoided moving the car, and hence dealing with the aforementioned annoying weather and parking situation. How did we do that you ask? A seemingly too-good-to-be-true coupon from Fresh Direct! Fresh Direct is one of those grocery delivery companies, which of course we are usually way too cheap to consider utilizing, even on frigid days. Apparently they are hard core trying to push their service in this area, because they sent us a coupon for $50 off a $125 order and free delivery - and we can use it two times within 60 days!! So I spent way too much time on the eternal grocery list and now some poor Fresh Direct shmuck has to carry our milk and soda and 8lbs of meat through the cold and up the flights of stairs. I'm sure they anticipate I'll get addicted to these amazing benefits, but between the extra cost and not having a lot of the exact products we like, I think we'll only be using it for the two awesome deals.

We went to see The King's Speech on Saturday night (go indoor entertainment!), which was also fun. I'm glad none of my clients are royalty; that sounds hard. Scenes of the commoners when the air raid sirens were going reminded Becky and me of the children of war exhibit that we both loved at the Imperial War Museum of London.

Today I'm relaxing as a bachelor with my Sam Adams blackberry witbier, my pizza rolls, and my televised football game. Yes, that's right, I am watching a football game alone. I know this sounds seriously crazy to any of you who know me. But I wanted to know what happened! Sorry for the lack of live blogging, I know how you all love a good live blog!

The one where she comes home late

I start blog posts in my head all the time about work. And then I remember how dangerous it is to write about work. I have all of my clients' stories bouncing around in my head all of the time. I feel like I should write about poverty and intergenerational trauma and systemic dysfunction and transference. But I don't know how to talk about any of these topics without telling you pieces of their stories. Even sanitized of names and personal details it feels too dangerous to talk about.

In the marginally safer world of offline conversation, my work stories sound different outside my office walls. At work, stories that include drug abuse and incest and suicide attempts and prison and foster care sound normal. Outside they sound a lot more intense. I think there's a certain amount of desensitization necessary for doing this type of work. Sometimes though I fear that it holds me back from providing everything that I should to some of the families who need it the most.

This post isn't flowing the way I want it to flow. Perhaps I should have stuck with my original topic: exhaustion. Sometimes it feels like the exhaustion is related to the stories bouncing around in my head is related to the desensitization. Or maybe it's just the 1am bedtimes. Either way, it has been a long week (despite only being four days!), after a few other long weeks. Monday we did the drive back from MA, Tuesday evening we had an insane rendezvous with a lawyer and two other lesbian couples (more on this some other day), Wednesday I worked late and then we socialized at Kara's until much too late, Thursday I worked late again, and now it's finally Friday.

Another worker said to me tonight "I just can't fight anymore," regarding trying to summon the energy to argue with a supervisor about whether to indicate a case. We spend enough time dealing with exhaustion from our own lives and exhaustion from the intensity of the clients' issues. Why do we also have to fight with the system itself to get anything to work right?

Home again home again

We're back from another voyage to Massachusetts. After picking the car up at the car repair shop (and a whole fiasco where they lost the car's proof of registration. gr.) on Friday night we left late and arrived even later. Saturday we slept in and then spent the day hanging out at home with Jen and Sean and Matthew and Thomas. They're adorable as always, but apparently hanging out there is enough like hanging out at home that we completely forgot to take any pictures. Sorry. Saturday night of course was the famous yellow pants game, with the fondue and the wings and the champagne and the chocolate cake.

Sunday the family went to a multiples playdate while Becky and I hung out at home and then went to get haircuts. One of our oddities is that even though we get super cheap haircuts, neither of us ever gets our hair cut at home. Apparently living in the land of ridiculously expensive haircuts means that cheap haircuts are exceptionally bad. In the afternoon we went to family swim at the Y (Thomas is amazingly close to learning how to swim considering he's still under 2!), dinner at Olive Garden (sorry Italian food purists, it was convenient and someone had a craving), and home for baby bedtime and Despicable Me.

This morning we packed our car full of our wedding presents (which my parents brought from Minnesota at Christmas) and did the long trek back to New Jersey. Suffice it to say that I am sick of that drive. This afternoon and evening we've been much too lazy, and now the week is about to begin. How do we always end up back here, at the beginning?

I hope your weekends were refreshing and maybe had a bit less driving and/or car drama than ours!