March!

Hello blog readers!
Well, I'm not sure if anyone is reading the blog anymore - the blog counter was down for a while and we've been back in the US for 9 months, which means the postings have significantly slowed down from one every other day to one a month.

March is almost over, the snow has melted and the sun is up! I almost forgot what warm weather feels like. I just saw in the news that the cherry blossoms are in bloom in D.C. Ahhh, about this time last year, we were busy going to all the cherry blossom destinations in Tokyo, which meant eating lots of street food for me!

Not much has happened since the last posting. I went to Memphis and ate THE BEST fried chicken EVER at Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken. Kind of dingy, not in the greatest location but if that meant I could get the best fried chicken... bring it on. Funny thing is, I'm not even a big fan of chicken, let alone fried chicken, but this was pretty darn good.

Back in Minny, Bill and I went in search of good Mexican food at the Midtown Global Market. It's a cute concept and I hope they are doing well and bring in more additions. Specifically, Bill was craving horchata and the powdered mix was just not cutting it. We found some pretty good horchata along with delicious huraches.

Most important - today starts the week long festivities of Bill's birthday. It was this day, 31 years ago, when little William James was born. HAHA We've gotten in the groove of married life, Bill picked out and purchased his gifts two weeks ago. However, he's only been able to use one and I've wrappeed the others. Funny huh? Each day of the week, he'll get a 'surprise', a magnolia recipe birthday cake, some good eats and a visit from the magical birthday pumpkin.

Happy Birthday Bill!

The best cupcake EVER!

Oh so funny - I was just thinking that it was time to put up a new post. When I logged in, I saw a comment "ready for a new post" This one's for you Mark.

For Christmas, my totally cool friend Shanna bought me a cookbook. She knew how much I loved cooking and New York so she got me the Magnolia Bakery cookbook. Magnolia is famous for their cupcakes and sweets www.magnoliabakery.com There was a digital short on SNL that referenced these cupcakes (Andy Samberg, Chronicles of Narnia). About a week ago, I tried the Caramel Pecan Toffee Icebox Pie - delicious.

Today - I decided to try the classic Vanilla Cupcake with Vanilla Buttercream frosting. In the spririt of Valentine's Day, I colored the frosting pink and used festive red cupcake liners. Not really sure how they would turn out - I was hopefully optimistic. Diligently following the directions and making sure the cupcakes were cooled before icing, I finally gave it a good ol' taste test (shoving half a cupcake with a good dollop of frosting in my mouth). WOW - this thing tastes amazing. I'm not an avid fan of vanilla/ vanilla but this is really, really good.

Although I miss New York and all the culinary deliciousness it has to offer, I'm feeling pretty good right now ... it's like Magnolia came to visit me :)

Hello 2010!

2009 flew by! It's been really, really cold in MN so we decided to head to warmer weather. For the holidays, we went back to CT and had the traditional Christmas celebration with the Camerato's (my aunt, uncle & cousins). You're probably thinking... CT... warmer weather... YES. It was in the 40's in CT and -10 in Minneapolis. I almost broke out my shorts. Okay, maybe not. Christmas was filled with gifts, food, fun and laughter. But, all good things must come to an end - when we arrived in Minny, we were greeted with a foot of snow in the driveway, coated with a few inches of icy rain. MMM, lovely. I felt like I burned off all of the extra calories consumed in the past few days during our hour+ shoveling fiesta, but I probably just burned off enough calories to compensate for 1 out of the 3 cannoli's I ate. HEHEHE

My New Year's Resolution:

Instead of going for those very far-fetched ones (lose 50 pounds, climb Mt Everest). I think I'll try for more realistic goals.

1. Be more open-minded
2. Be more aware of my own bias
3. Try to do a better job at staying in touch w/ friends & family
4. Eat more vegetables

That's all for now. We'll see how it goes :)

Sherman like new!

After my last post about my car, I decided to write a formal letter of complaint to the General Manager and Volvo. Right as I was completing the letter, the General Manager gave me a call. He received our survey and apologized for our last service visit. In addition, he also extended the VIP service to our other car. In about an hour, someone picked up my car, dropped off the loaner and spent two days fixing the problem. Turned out to be both the ECT sensor and battery. I picked it up last night, cleaned, washed and shiny like new. When I started her up - she was her old self. I was pretty impressed with the follow up by the General Manager and they picked up the repair costs too!

I guess it does pay to be a loyal customer and have my car regularly serviced. I plan on driving sherman for another 90k!!

Calling all mechanics

I need to start off this posting by saying - I love my car. I have a 2003 Volvo S40 and bought it off the showroom floor (another long story). Since then, I've religiously brought it into the dealer for regular service. Last month, "Sherman" (named after the Sherman tank) went in for her 90k appt. I mentioned to the dealer that she was having a hard time starting, cranking for a few seconds before turning over. The service rep told me that they ran a computer diagnostic as well as a "visual" scan but didn't find anything wrong. After a little back and forth, which he obviously did not enjoy, he gave me the options of (1) changing everything that is a "could be" factor or (2) wait until it completely won't start and bring it in. REALLY? ARE YOU SERIOUS? I cannot believe this was the response I received. Obviously, my car's health is not life or death but I love my car - I love how it's been running like a charm for all these years.



Just so you know how much I love my car, a few months ago, Bill's car "the beast" finally retired. Being a semi-spoiled brat, I told Bill he can have my car and I can get a new car! We did end up with a new car and after I drove it for a week, I gave it to Bill and asked for Sherman back.



So... if any of you know a mechanic that can problem shoot above and beyond "running an electronic diagnosis" please let me know!!

Are you right handed?

Hello, Hello!

Long time no blog. Well, it's been kind of busy lately and I've been needing as much sleep as I can get - must be old age creeping in...

Anyhoo - I have to blog about a recent observation. A few weeks ago, I somehow injured my left wrist. Don't know how, but there was just a dull and sometimes sharp pain. It was not severe but a bit of a nuisance. I thought I had a very logical argument "I'm right-handed, how could I have injured my left hand? This will be pretty easy, I'll just leave my left hand alone and do everything with my right" HAHA Here is my challenge to all of you - try to not use your left hand for one day if you're right handed and vice versa.

If you can do it with ease - two thumbs up. For me, it was really difficult! I immediately realized that I use my left hand... A LOT. I will never second guess my left hand 'handiness' (Don't worry if you forgot to laugh on that one)

Minnesota's Cherry Blossoms

Anne and I vividly remember how gorgeous the cherry blossoms in Japan were and were really jealous that nothing like it exists in Minnesota. Then fall came and we were reminded how beautiful a fall in the states can be. They may not be cherry blossoms but they are not without their own beauty.