Turning Thirty: Buffalo Chicken, Meatball Shop-style

I'm turning thirty years old on July 6th so for the next five weeks, I'm embracing life and trying to do at least one new and/or enjoyable and/or spectacular thing per day. Click here for more Turning Thirty posts.


I'm never home for daytime television, but last week, I randomly caught ten minutes of the Rachael Ray Show and since then, I've been obsessing over the recipe that the dudes from New York's Meatball Shop were making with her.  I've been dying to go there, and apparently, these buffalo chicken meatballs are one of their best-sellers.  After dreaming about them for three days and then finally making a batch, I can see why.  Anthony and I gobbled them up so fast, and I can't wait until lunchtime tomorrow when I get to eat the leftovers in a sandwich.

And they were easy to make, too.  My least favorite part was heating up the Frank's Red Hot with some butter in a pan before you add it to the other ingredients.  When hot, the mixture has an intense odor and will definitely make your eyes tear.  It actually reminded me of when I clean our coffeemaker with hot vinegar and the stench invades my nose and the apartment for days. 

Sidenote: Anthony seems to think that the reason the meatballs tasted so great was because I used hot sauce that expired in September 2010.  This was not deliberate but it wound up being the secret weapon because it really fortified the flavor. We may be on to something.

Also, it's worth mentioning that I made an out-of-this-world lemon poundcake for my grandparents' 62nd(!) wedding anniversary.  In fact, it was so good that tonight, I made another one to bring to work.  I'm happy to not only use up the rest of the buttermilk (I hate wasting ingredients) but also, to find a lemon pound cake that so closely resembles the slices that are sold at Starbucks (you know which ones I mean, right?  They have thick white icing on top and are delicious).  This recipe from Fine Cooking really exceeded my expectations, considering I came across it by googling "lemon" AND "buttermilk."

I hope you all had a lovely weekend.  One of the highlights for me was when I was at a Starbucks this weekend with a couple of friends and did my absolute best to ignore the middle-aged man meowing like a cat from a table in the corner.  Yes, he was meowing like a cat.  I love people.  Happy Monday! xo

Turning Thirty: Casual Friday

I'm turning thirty years old on July 6th so for the next five weeks, I'm embracing life and trying to do at least one new and/or enjoyable and/or spectacular thing per day. Click here for more Turning Thirty posts.

Sometimes, it's okay to eat dino nuggets for dinner.

And it's always okay to make a batch of blondies the night before a lunchdate with a few of your favorite people.

If I had to use a hashtag to describe tonight, it'd be #casualfriday.

Turning Thirty: Re-Watching Felicity

I'm turning thirty years old on July 6th so for the next five weeks, I'm embracing life and trying to do at least one new and/or enjoyable and/or spectacular thing per day. Click here for more Turning Thirty posts.




There have only been a few television shows over the years that have really struck a chord with me.  No show has more closely reflected my life than Felicity, the Keri Russell-led drama about a girl from California starting college in New York City that ran from 1999 through 2003.  Felicity coincided with my own college years almost perfectly, and I was hooked after the first episode.  I saw so much of myself in this leading fictional character, this young woman who was scared but brave, smart but not always the best decision-maker.  Her hair was curly and frizzy like mine; she had been shy and kind of lonely throughout high school like me.  But most importantly, she was living the life that I wanted for myself in New York City.

I didn't wind up going to New York University like I had dreamed, but I still had a poignant college experience.  Coincidentally, I was pre-med like Felicity but by sophomore year, I had dropped that and really fell in love with fiction and English literature.  I felt myself growing and changing almost daily during those years, but every week without fail, my roommate and I sat down to watch Felicity together.  When the finale aired,  I was sad but hopeful. I had so many expectations for my college years, and so many for my future, and I was excited for what was to come.

I started rewatching Felicity during my lunch hours last fall.  It took me much longer than I thought it would to finish the series but I wound up savoring each episode. This time around, I cried when Felicity graduated from college. I knew the emptiness she felt when she said goodbye to all of her friends and headed back to California. And I finally understood why she wound up with Ben in the end (I was a staunch Noel supporter for years). 

I'm grateful for the extra time with Felicity though.  It reminded me of how far I've come in the past decade, even if it doesn't always feel like that.  And if it was up to me, I still would have picked Noel. xo

Turning Thirty: Wedding Details

I'm turning thirty years old on July 6th so for the next five weeks, I'm embracing life and trying to do at least one new and/or enjoyable and/or spectacular thing per day. Click here for more Turning Thirty posts.


For our wedding, Anthony and I are hoping to have lots of small personal details to really make the day feel like ours.  We took a ride (a looong ride) to New Milford to the Elephant's Trunk Flea Market to see if we could find some antique bottles for the centerpieces.  Once there, and surrounded by hundreds of old milk jugs and glass jars, I got a bit overwhelmed.  Did we want tall bottles or squat bottles?  Do they all need to look the same? After a couple of hours of walking around under the warm sun, we got back in the car and headed home empty-handed.   I thought I'd be upset that we didn't find anything but we still have time to figure it all out. It was just nice to spend a Sunday morning together.
 
In keeping with the wedding theme, here's a confession: I'm a sucker for wedding/proposal YouTube videos.  After a suggestion from Anthony, I watched and then fell in love with this sweet, unbelievably well-orchestrated proposal set to Bruno Mars.  Happy Sunday!
 
 

Turning Thirty: Sundaes

I'm turning thirty years old on July 6th so for the next five weeks, I'm embracing life and trying to do at least one new and/or enjoyable and/or spectacular thing per day.  Click here for more Turning Thirty posts.


When I think of Friendly's, I'm instantly reminded of high school.  Let's start from the beginning: Throughout junior high and high school, I was in the school band.  I was one of the dorky kids carrying a flute case around all day, one of the kids who dressed up in a polyester blue and white uniform every Friday night from August to mid-November to perform a field show on the astroturf during halftime at football games.  It was kind of embarrassing but I generally enjoyed it.  I felt like I was part of something important, like if we weren't there to represent the school, the spirit police would find and punish us all.

After every football game, the band would disperse from the basement choir room after changing back into regular clothes and reconvene at the local Friendly's to gossip and gorge on sundaes until the disgruntled employees kicked everyone out.  It was a tradition that began way before any of us had even started kindergarten, and it was a treat that everyone looked forward to all week after making it through long days of boring classes and lots of marching practices.

Except not everyone was invited to Friendly's for ice cream.  Even though the band members were super geeks, there was a social hierarchy within the band and I never made it above the 'invisible' level.  I was the girl who showed up every day and knew every note of every song, but I never had any band friends to sit next to on the bleachers. I was painfully shy with unstylish clothes and frizzy hair, and I didn't fit in with the 'cool' kids in band.  Back at home on Friday nights after the football games, I used to watch television with my parents and wish I was at Friendly's with everyone else.  I would have given anything for just one invitation.

Now that I'm older and wiser (ha!), I know that I wasn't missing anything by not joining everyone for dessert.  I know now what it feels like to have close friends, friends who you would do anything for no matter what.  Real friends who don't care what you are wearing and who would invite you everywhere. People who are so great and special that you can do absolutely nothing together and have the best time ever.

Tonight, Anthony and I grabbed dinner at Friendly's for the first time in years.  We joined the young families with screaming children and sat at a sticky booth and ordered ice cream sundaes after our meal.  It made me realize how happy I am to finally be an adult, and how lucky I am to have someone as wonderful as Anthony to spend my Saturday night with at Friendly's.  (In case you were wondering, I always order a Reese's Pieces sundae with black raspberry ice cream.  The perfect combination of flavors!) xo

Turning Thirty

I'm turning 30 in about five weeks, not that I'm counting.  To be thirty years old seems daunting, not because I feel old but because it makes me realize that I've wasted a lot of time.  I got a job as soon as I could at age fifteen, I worked through high school and college, and I've been at my current job since I graduated.  Other than getting my Master's degree two years ago (I took night classes part-time), I feel as though I've accomplished very little.  I know that this isn't spectacular in any way but all of those years of working in an office have made my days monotonous. I don't like when people say that they feel like one day rolls into the next, but lately, it's hard to distinguish one day from another.  However, I've decided that it's never too late to make a change and it's important not to forget that.

So here's my plan of action: make every day from now until July 6th different and/or special in some way.  Maybe one day I'll try a new restaurant.  Maybe another night I'll start watching Downton Abbey.  There are hundreds of recipes I want to try (Anthony can attest to this since there are piles of pages ripped out from magazines all over the condo), and dozens of museums to visit.  I'm making a conscious effort to do at least one enjoyable thing per day, and honestly, I'm excited about it.  Nights when I come home from work and zone out in front of the television to Big Bang Theory reruns are a thing of the past, at least for the next month.

To start, today I watched Morning Glory, the movie with Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton.  It was cute and enjoyable, but not great.  The second half was way better than the first half, and I loved the cameo by Morley Safer.  Then tonight, Anthony and I went to my brother and sister-in-law's house for dinner.  It was a good night.  And I think it's going to be a great month, too.

A Night of Wonder

Last night, I saw Ann Patchett at the New Haven Free Public Library.  Yes, that Ann Patchett.  Simply put, her reading was one of the best I've ever been to.  She was sweet, charming, intelligent and funny.  Actually, she was very funny.  Ms. Patchett spoke for a solid hour about everything from marriage to her new independent bookstore in Nashville, from her writing process to the time she met Rhianna.  And she truly appreciated that we had all turned out on a Tuesday night to hear, which was my favorite part of the night.

I stayed after to have my books signed (yes, I brought two: her new book, State of Wonder, and my favorite book, The Magician's Assistant) and was able to speak with Ms. Patchett for a few minutes.  She took her time at the signing (there were only a few people who actually wanted to talk with her while she signed their books; most people just wanted her signature so they were delegated to the 'express line') and she was more than happy to take pictures and answer questions on a one-on-one basis.

Here I am posing with the great Ann Patchett (please excuse my appearance--I kind of look like I just rolled out of bed but this is merely what happens to me after a stressful day at work).

 
Also, I just love the way she signed The Magician's Assistant:

 
Now, I'm headed off to finish State of Wonder, which has been beyond captivating so far  Has anyone ever attended an Ann Patchett reading? What's the best reading you've ever been to?