Thursday, July 2, 2015
Friday, July 24, 2009
Did You Say Sale?
Ah, let me tell you! Yesterday late afternoon, my cousin invites me to her job to take advantage of a sample sale her company's having. It was only going to be for 2 hours, from 4-6. She sends me a list of the prices they'll be charging. $15 for a duvet set. $15!!!!! Can you imagine that???? No sane female in full shopping mode can ignore that! I call my mom and she says she'll split the bill with me. I'm all set.
Now, the place was way over on the West Side. I get out at 5:00. No one has ever seen me run so fast. I couldn't have gotten there any sooner had I wings to fly. After all, every minute spent getting there was a minute less I had to shop. Oh, and I should mention. When I left the office, I thought, "Self! Bring a couple of bags for the stuff!" And so, I brought two little boutique bags. How naive. When I got there, my cousin thrusts a GARBAGE SIZED bag at me and tells me I'm late.
It was an open, white office space with boxes scattered all over. And wading through these boxes were women very intent on finding whatever they could. There was little chatter. I couldn't help but notice how focused they all were, digging through piles of stuff, picking up and discarding like they were old farmhands picking the crop of the season. Enough observation, I had boxes to go through.
I went through each and every box I laid my hands on. None escaped my scrutiny. Tossed aside empty ones, rummaged through prospective ones. Soon enough, I had fallen into the same rhythm all the other ladies had established. Pick up, examine, shove into the bag, pick up, examine, cast aside. Every so often, my cousin would come by and give me yet another garbage bag. Some time during all this, I unconsciously decided to just grab first and sort later. By the time a gentleman had announced it was 6:00, I had three very full bags, from bathroom accessories, to bath rugs, to towels, to pillow shams, to duvets, to quilts and pillow cases galore. Not bad for 40 minutes. My cousin helped me fold and stuff everything into two bags.
Mission accomplished. I must have I broke a record! The next hurdle for me was the actual transporting of all my goodies. That's where I gave pause. My loosely strung plan was to just walk back to Penn Station. It wasn't a far walk, but it never occurred to me I would have this much stuff to carry home. Nothing for it, I had to get a cab. And finding a cab in NY when it's raining is like finding the Holy Grail, impossible. Still, the Fates were kind and my cousin snagged one for me. By the way, WTF??? The prices for cabs are outrageous! Where do they get off?????? But I digress. :)
I weathered some hairy moments. Little old me lugging two huge bags of bed linen booty, descending into the depths of Penn Station, nearly losing my balance on the escalator several times as the bags threatened to take me down. Images of a broken me at the bottom of the steps wrapped around bags of linens kept popping into my head. Not a pretty way to go, I think. Waddling towards the next set of escalators, I quickly glanced at the monitor to note I had less than 15 minutes to buy a ticket, run to the platform and board before the next train departed. I then heard the announcement of the track for my train. Track 19. I was by track 13. Yikes!!!! Normally, it's no sweat, but when you're hauling about 100 pounds of linens, well, you get the picture.
But, made it I did. I even managed to find a spot where I could stash the goods and get a nice seat. As I settled in with my trusty iPod, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. It was only then I noticed that my aching hands were all a-tremble from the unaccustomed effort I forced from them. I smiled as I thought it was well worth it.
Would I do this again? Heh. If you need to ask, then you don't know me. :)
Now, the place was way over on the West Side. I get out at 5:00. No one has ever seen me run so fast. I couldn't have gotten there any sooner had I wings to fly. After all, every minute spent getting there was a minute less I had to shop. Oh, and I should mention. When I left the office, I thought, "Self! Bring a couple of bags for the stuff!" And so, I brought two little boutique bags. How naive. When I got there, my cousin thrusts a GARBAGE SIZED bag at me and tells me I'm late.
It was an open, white office space with boxes scattered all over. And wading through these boxes were women very intent on finding whatever they could. There was little chatter. I couldn't help but notice how focused they all were, digging through piles of stuff, picking up and discarding like they were old farmhands picking the crop of the season. Enough observation, I had boxes to go through.
I went through each and every box I laid my hands on. None escaped my scrutiny. Tossed aside empty ones, rummaged through prospective ones. Soon enough, I had fallen into the same rhythm all the other ladies had established. Pick up, examine, shove into the bag, pick up, examine, cast aside. Every so often, my cousin would come by and give me yet another garbage bag. Some time during all this, I unconsciously decided to just grab first and sort later. By the time a gentleman had announced it was 6:00, I had three very full bags, from bathroom accessories, to bath rugs, to towels, to pillow shams, to duvets, to quilts and pillow cases galore. Not bad for 40 minutes. My cousin helped me fold and stuff everything into two bags.
Mission accomplished. I must have I broke a record! The next hurdle for me was the actual transporting of all my goodies. That's where I gave pause. My loosely strung plan was to just walk back to Penn Station. It wasn't a far walk, but it never occurred to me I would have this much stuff to carry home. Nothing for it, I had to get a cab. And finding a cab in NY when it's raining is like finding the Holy Grail, impossible. Still, the Fates were kind and my cousin snagged one for me. By the way, WTF??? The prices for cabs are outrageous! Where do they get off?????? But I digress. :)
I weathered some hairy moments. Little old me lugging two huge bags of bed linen booty, descending into the depths of Penn Station, nearly losing my balance on the escalator several times as the bags threatened to take me down. Images of a broken me at the bottom of the steps wrapped around bags of linens kept popping into my head. Not a pretty way to go, I think. Waddling towards the next set of escalators, I quickly glanced at the monitor to note I had less than 15 minutes to buy a ticket, run to the platform and board before the next train departed. I then heard the announcement of the track for my train. Track 19. I was by track 13. Yikes!!!! Normally, it's no sweat, but when you're hauling about 100 pounds of linens, well, you get the picture.
But, made it I did. I even managed to find a spot where I could stash the goods and get a nice seat. As I settled in with my trusty iPod, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. It was only then I noticed that my aching hands were all a-tremble from the unaccustomed effort I forced from them. I smiled as I thought it was well worth it.
Would I do this again? Heh. If you need to ask, then you don't know me. :)
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Nice Meal
Okay. Just gotta get this down because I want to do this again and want to document how I did it. I subscribe to the pinch of this, dash of that, slurp of the other school of thought when it comes to measuring during cooking.
Whole Baked Chicken with Onion Tomato Mix.
Roaster Oven Chicken
The juice of about 4 Tangerines
The juice of about 4 Limes (4 - must be my magic number.)
5 fresh cloves garlic, minced then crushed with a bit of kosher salt
Dried ground ginger
Honey
Fresh Basil, julienned
Basil and oregano flavored rice wine vinegar
Extra virgin olive oil
Ground black pepper and kosher salt
Butterflied the chicken, set aside in an aluminum pan, breast side down.
Whisked the remaining ingredients then poured over the chicken. Left to marinate for about an hour.
Meantime, halved then sliced 2 medium-large onions and chopped 1 large vine ripe tomato.
After about an hour of marinating, tossed chicken into a 350 degree oven in bake setting and left to cook for about 2 hours. Reserve marinade.
Meantime, prepped and cooked 2 cups of rice. I used 2 cubes of chicken boullion, dried parsley, veggie oil, a bit of salt (not too much cuz of the boullion).
Okay, now that the chicken is almost done, tossed reserved marinade into a skillet and reduced till it was syruppy. Tossed in onions - cooked till just this side of tender. Tossed in chopped tomatoes. Let simmer till it was syruppy again. Sprinkled in more freshly sliced up basil.
Served chicken over rice and ladled onion/tomato sauce over all.
Big hit with the family. Definitely will do again. :)
Monday, June 22, 2009
Yes, there really is a blue sky.
It's been a really dreary past couple of months here. Oh, so much rain that I was beginning to doubt I'd ever see the sun or blue skies again. And then, for a welcome, but brief, span of time, they made their presence known last Friday. It was as if Messrs. Sun & Sky were letting me know, "Don't fret, Empress. We are never far away."
Friday, June 19, 2009
Seriously Off My Rocker...............
I was seriously in another world yesterday. I had finished a typing project and honestly thought it was 4:57 p.m. thereabouts. It didn't help that I was chomping at the bit to go home. I was even so bold as to loudly announce to my boss that my day was done and I was leaving. When I got outside, I looked up at the clock and saw 4:50 p.m. I pooh-poohed the hour, thinking to myself they must have messed with the clock. And to confirm their mistake, I hauled out my cellphone. 4:50 p.m. It was right. GASP!!!!!!!
No wonder everyone in the office was staring at me like I had finally snapped! I guess I did!
It's moments like these that I should seriously get on a plane and have some quality me time.
No wonder everyone in the office was staring at me like I had finally snapped! I guess I did!
It's moments like these that I should seriously get on a plane and have some quality me time.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
On a rampage again...........
So yesterday, I sidled over to 8th Ave. to get me some Red Mango only to discover that the doors were locked and the lights out. Not only that, but two of the employees were standing by the door looking bewildered. There was an official looking document pasted to the glass from the Marshal and it said something about it being Landlord owned, legal blah-blah, and more legal blah.
Well, I was flabbergasted. How could they shut down the location closest to me??? What happened???? I thought they were doing well! How could they do this to me???? What the heck am I supposed to do now for a decent fro-yo fix? Don't they realize that this is the next best thing I can have in the frozen dessert category - the first being Hagen Dazs, but we all know why I can't anymore. What did I do to deserve such cruelty? (See how I make it all about me?)
Back to the office in a huff. Mind you, I'm feeling crappy as it is getting over the incredibly potent baby germ cold my niece was darling enough to give me. This little incident just broke me.
Shot off an e-mail in the comments section and stomped off to finish a project.
After returning to my desk, you could imagine my utter surprise when I picked up a voice message from a live human based at the local corporate offices of Red Mango!
Returned the call this morning and conveyed my surprise to Maureen. She was very sunny and pleasant and asked what had happened. I quickly explained. Well, she explained to me that no one knew what was going on at that location and she made a series of phone calls to find out what happened. Without going into too much detail, she assured me that the matter is being resolved and the Theatre District location will reopen very soon. She also thanked me very much for taking the time to send that e-mail, without which no one would have known what was going on.
Well, the conversation ended with her taking my home address in order to send me coupons in compensation for the inconvenience I "suffered". Oh and a few minutes later, I get another message from Maureen letting me know that 8th Ave. location is now open.
Hee-hee! It's a good day. :)
06/16/2009: Got a letter apologizing for my "inconvenience", along with coupons from Red Mango. Three. Get any size yogurt with up to three toppings. Hee-hee-hee! Color me happy. :)
Well, I was flabbergasted. How could they shut down the location closest to me??? What happened???? I thought they were doing well! How could they do this to me???? What the heck am I supposed to do now for a decent fro-yo fix? Don't they realize that this is the next best thing I can have in the frozen dessert category - the first being Hagen Dazs, but we all know why I can't anymore. What did I do to deserve such cruelty? (See how I make it all about me?)
Back to the office in a huff. Mind you, I'm feeling crappy as it is getting over the incredibly potent baby germ cold my niece was darling enough to give me. This little incident just broke me.
Shot off an e-mail in the comments section and stomped off to finish a project.
After returning to my desk, you could imagine my utter surprise when I picked up a voice message from a live human based at the local corporate offices of Red Mango!
Returned the call this morning and conveyed my surprise to Maureen. She was very sunny and pleasant and asked what had happened. I quickly explained. Well, she explained to me that no one knew what was going on at that location and she made a series of phone calls to find out what happened. Without going into too much detail, she assured me that the matter is being resolved and the Theatre District location will reopen very soon. She also thanked me very much for taking the time to send that e-mail, without which no one would have known what was going on.
Well, the conversation ended with her taking my home address in order to send me coupons in compensation for the inconvenience I "suffered". Oh and a few minutes later, I get another message from Maureen letting me know that 8th Ave. location is now open.
Hee-hee! It's a good day. :)
06/16/2009: Got a letter apologizing for my "inconvenience", along with coupons from Red Mango. Three. Get any size yogurt with up to three toppings. Hee-hee-hee! Color me happy. :)
Friday, June 5, 2009
The Empress' Twitty-ness knows no bounds.................
As initially posted in an e-mail to friends:
Put my little card wallet in what I thought was my pants pocket.
Went to the little girls' room to do what no one else can do for me.
As I tidy myself up, I noticed that something was floating in the Porcelain Throne that had no business floating in the Porcelain Throne.
The humiliating part - explaining the reason why to the nosy parkers who saw me rinsing off my wallet and credit cards.
Sigh……….. I have hit a new high - or, better still, low - that I thought could never be reached. :(
Put my little card wallet in what I thought was my pants pocket.
Went to the little girls' room to do what no one else can do for me.
As I tidy myself up, I noticed that something was floating in the Porcelain Throne that had no business floating in the Porcelain Throne.
The humiliating part - explaining the reason why to the nosy parkers who saw me rinsing off my wallet and credit cards.
Sigh……….. I have hit a new high - or, better still, low - that I thought could never be reached. :(
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