Month: February 2007

Our Belated Valentine’s

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I just realized that I was so caught up in the snow storm that I never talked about Valentine’s Day at Chez Carol. The day itself was obviously low-key. I gave the boys little Dora boxes with yogurt-covered raisins. They were super excited about them because they both adore Dora. Later on, Jake and I made chocolate-covered strawberries. Surprisingly, he didn’t like them! But that just meant more for me (Hey, it’s fruit!).

As I mentioned, Drew was stuck in Westchester, so it was Thursday night when he gave me my gift — a huge box filled with teas from Adagio, including a box of blooming tea and a big, clear tea cup so I can really watch it unfold! Needless to say, I was very surprised and excited. He chose two different samplers: the rooibos and the white tea, and he also gave me jasmine tea, and two boxes of gourmet tea bags (green pekoe and English breakfast). Additionally he bought me some scrummy truffles. I just love that he gave me things we can share. We cracked open a bottle of Prosecco and had a nice, quiet evening.

So all said, it was a nice holiday. I’m no Valentine’s scrooge. I think you can have a lot of fun with Valentine’s Day. It’s all what you make of it!

So You Don’t *Really* Hate Me

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I admit that over the last few days I’ve stupidly felt down about the lack of comments on my blog. I began to think that Lisanne was the only person still reading. Little did I know that Spam Karma had filtered out a ton of legitamate comments. I’ve fixed that, so hopefully comments will normally appear now.

And thanks to Dara’s comment in my post yesterday, Jake is playing with a tote full of snow in the kitchen. He’s happy because it’s snow. I’m happy because I’m not outside. Noah is conflicted about the snow. He wants to play with it, and yet he hates how cold it is (he keeps taking off his mittens).

Best $30 I Could Have Spent

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As if the cruddy weather yesterday wasn’t bad enough, dealing with the clean up today has been even worse. There was somewhere between 12 and 18 inches of snow piled onto our very long driveway (and even more at the end of the driveway thanks to the snow plows). And Drew was stuck down in Westchester yesterday because the weather was too bad to drive back up here, so I was so stressed out about clearing out the driveway. Even with the Jeep in 4-wheel drive and having shoveled down the mass of snowplow runoff, getting out of the driveway for Noah’s well-child visit this morning was difficult, at best.

When we got home from that, Noah was sleeping so I scarfed down half a sandwich and set Jake up with Noggin and his lunch and went back out to try to clear at least enough for Drew to get the car off the road when he gets home today. While I was struggling, I was secretly hoping someone with a plow would drive by and stop and lucky for me it happened. This guy who happens to live up the road offered to plow it for $30. I’m sure Drew would not have paid to have it done, but I have been majorly stressed out between three of us being sick (though we are now all better) and the snow and our realtor being a pain in the rear and… well, to me it was a small price to pay for just not having to worry about it. I happily forked over the cash when he was done and came inside with enough energy to start working on cleaning the inside of the house now.

Old Man Winter can go away any time he feels like it. Man, I miss those balmy temperatures we had in early January, even if they were weirdly unseasonable. I like the snow less and less with each passing year. Living somewhere that doesn’t get a lot of snow sounds mighty good right about now.

Why Must Vacation End?

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Although we’ve been home since Thursday, I haven’t had the chance to write about our amazing vacation until now. This is going to be a long one, so you might want to get a cup of tea or something 🙂 As you might remember, at Christmas, Drew surprised me with a family vacation to Woodloch Pines Resort in the Poconos (that’s in northeastern Pennsylvania for the unfamilar 😉 ). Originally it was planned for Monday through Thursday, however it was only a little extra per adult to add on Sunday night, so we opted for that, and it worked out *so well*. The drive was only a little over two hours for us, which wasn’t bad at all. We got there around 3 on Superbowl Sunday and our room was ready, so right away we checked in and then settled into our suite in the Mountain Laurel building. Wow! It was gorgeous: kitchen, dining area/living room, bathroom, bedroom. We had a view of the lake and were in the same building as the pool, which proved to be a good thing since it was so cold outside (I wouldn’t have wanted any of us walking around with wet hair).

There were a few activities going on, but we decided to just hang out in the room for a while. There was a Superbowl party going on in the Nightclub at 5:30 with a dinner buffet (wings, nachos, typical party food), or else you could still have dinner in the dining room. Now, when you stay at Woodloch, it’s all-inclusive, so you don’t pay for anything. You have a table in the dining room where you eat all your meals, and there are typically three options, plus a kids’ menu. Since the boys were tired (dinner was at 6, much later than they are used to), we thought the party would be too much for them so we opted for the dining room. There were only six or seven tables of people (most people obviously opted for the Superbowl party), so it was nice and quiet and a perfect way for us to kind of soak everything in. Dinner was delicious! There was soup and a salad, and Drew and I both chose the scallops casino that were on the menu that night. There were also mashed potatoes and vegetables served family-style. Everything was fantastic, and you can eat as much as you want. I won’t rattle off every meal (though it’s tempting!), but the food was excellent. It’s hearty home cooking, and I loved that every lunch and dinner started with soup and a salad. There was a featured dessert every night along with an assortment of ice creams, jellos, and puddings. The breakfasts were fantastic, too. Woodloch ruined us for bacon. The bacon there is the best bacon we have ever had anywhere! We also had Scandanavian pancakes one morning which were just out of this world. I could go on about the food, but I’ll restrain myself. I *will* come back to our last dinner in a bit, though.

Now every morning at breakfast, the day’s schedule would be waiting on our table. There were certain events that happened pretty much every day, such as snowmobiling, ice skating, snow tubing, and so on. And then there were special events that would happen on that day only (though I am pretty sure they repeat weekly), such as the cooking class I attended, a Winter Carnival, the Festival of Lights hay ride, contests, and more. So we were able to plan out our day very easily. Well, it wasn’t always easy because there was so much we wanted to do! Of course, some of the events (such as some of the board game tournaments — oh Lisanne, you’d love it!) weren’t really toddler-friendly, so we had to pass on those.

There was plenty to keep us busy with a four year old and a one year old, though. Not only is there an open arts & crafts room for the kids, but daily there is a craft activity at a certain time. Jake loved it! One day he made a bee door hanger with his name on it, another day he made a shaker decorated with crepe paper and markers, and the third day he made a fish puppet. The staff is so good with kids! There was also Woodloch Forest, which just opened a month or two ago. It’s an enormous (and I mean ENORMOUS) indoor play structure with slides, a rope bridge, lots of climbing stuff. It was very popular as you can imagine! There was also bumper cars, kiddie Jeeps, and at every meal characters were there to greet us and they walked around the dining room saying hi to all the kids.

Wednesday night was “Theme Night.” They request that you dress up for dinner and there’s entertainment. The show going on right now was written by one of the staff and is called “A Tribute To American Icons.” There is actually a full-on show in the nightclub after dinner (we didn’t attend because the boys had to go to bed), but during dinner you get a taste, and there’s live music and it was really nice. They had a table set up with three featured drinks (drinks from the bar are the only thing you have to pay for), and since it was our last night we splurged. I don’t remember what the names of the alcoholic drinks were, but Drew’s was peach schnappes, champagne, and cranberry juice. Mine was Stoli blueberry, white creme de cacao, cream, and whipped cream, and Jake’s was called “Captain America” (I remember because he was totally excited about the name being that he loooves his superheroes) and it was layered — a Shirley Temple on the bottom, maybe lemonade in the middle (not sure on that), and then raspberry slush on top. All three came with these little light-up blinking sherrif badges with the theme night logo. I guess some people might think it was a little cheesy, but I love that stuff so I was totally into it! Jake got his photo taken with both Batman AND Spider-Man that night so he was in 7th Heaven.

I really can’t say enough good things about the place. I’m sure I’m forgetting things I had wanted to write about. The staff is so professional and so nice. You can just tell that they love their jobs and they actually care if the guests are enjoying themselves. We all were so sad to go. Jake was crying in the car 🙁 We’re going to see if there is any way possible to swing another few days before the rates skyrocket in the summer when it’s crazy expensive. But now, during the off-season, we found it to be very reasonable. Even more so now that we’ve been there and know all there is to offer. My photos are right here if you want to see them. I can’t wait to go back!!!

I’m Here

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This is just going to be a quick entry so you know I haven’t disappeared off the face of the earth. Our vacation was so much fun, and I plan to write up a lengthy entry on it later. But unfortunately, yesterday morning, bright and early, I came down with the stomach flu and I’m still pretty sick. I have to say, though, that I am *so lucky* to have my parents — they drove two hours here to pick up the boys and are keeping them until tomorrow so I can get through this and rest. I am appreciative beyond words because Drew had to work yesterday after being out all week, and there was just no way I could take care of the boys in my condition. I certainly owe them one. So I’ll catch up with you all later.

A Snowy Date Night

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Last night Drew and I had a little date night, which was really nice. It seems like every time we attempted to go to P.F. Chang’s over the last few months, one of us was sick, so when Drew said he was starting to feel some sinus pressure, I thought for sure we’d have to cancel again, but we didn’t 🙂 I’d heard mixed reviews of the one at The Westchester, so I wasn’t sure if it was going to meet our expectations (his mom and aunt love the restaurant). I’m glad I thought ahead and called for reservations because when we got there around 8:30, the place was absolutely packed and there were quite a few people waiting for tables. But we were seated right away! I ordered an Asian Pear Mojito (Bacardi Limon with a hint of pear), and it was fabulous! It wasn’t too strong, but I could tell they didn’t wimp out on the alcohol. For an appetizer, we shared an order of the Vegetarian Lettuce Wraps, which were just delicious! If I could make tofu taste that good at home, we would eat a lot less meat, I can assure you! Then we shared a bowl of hot & sour soup. I had no idea how enormous the bowl was going to be, though! We each ate a cup and took the rest home. I thought the soup was really yummy — nice spice, not too thick. I enjoyed it.

We picked two entrees to share (knowing full well we’d be taking leftovers home because we planned on ordering dessert — how often do we actually get to go out alone). The Singapore Street Noodles were better than I expected — shrimp, chicken, vegetables, and rice noodles in a nice curry sauce. When they set the plate down I was a little off-put by the chunks of tomato, but they actually were lovely in the dish, absorbing some of the spice. We also order mu shu pork, because I’d never had it before. We both enjoyed that as well. For dessert we shared the banana spring rolls. The pineapple-coconut ice cream was the best! The spring rolls, however, we both found a bit on the greasy side. That was probably my least-favorite dish of the night. Honestly, we both would have enjoyed some warm bananas over ice cream more than the spring rolls, but that probably wouldn’t sound as intriguing on the menu.

One thing I can say is that even though the restauarant is a bit pricey, you get much more food than you can (or, should, rather) eat. I really had to watch my portion control because I’ve lost 5 lbs since Christmas and I wasn’t about to let one meal completely undo it! For lunch I’ll enjoy a little of the leftover soup and one mu shu roll. I’m sure I could make those mu-shu rolls at home, though. I have the hoisin sauce, the cabbage, the pork… I just need to find a suitable pancake. I suppose I could use tortillas, but if was motivated enough, I think that crepes would work better and be tastier. The restaurant was a little loud, but as I said it was packed. I would go back, though. There are a few other dishes that sound interesting (the Coconut Curry Vegetables for instance), and I’d like to give them a try someday.

It was snowing when we were leaving and it seemed that as soon as we hit Ossining (we stayed at Drew’s mom’s) there was a whole lot more snow on the ground than in White Plains. It’s like 15 minutes away! How is that possible? Getting up her driveway, which is a hill, sucked, and I slipped on the snow and fell. It still hurts 🙁 But all in all it was a great night, even if I am going to have a huge bruise on my heinie!

Big Mac Attack

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book.jpgI am not ashamed to admit it: I love fast food. Well, some of it, anyway. I know that these days everyone claims how much they hate it, and while I do hate the fat and calories, I can’t say I hate some tastey burgers or tacos. Then, earlier this week I heard about the book “Fast Food Fix” by Devin Alexander. It sounded like a cook book I would really enjoy so I ran out and got it. The first recipe in the book is a makeover for my favorite sandwich, the Big Mac. (I found the recipe online too, if you want to try it without buying the book.) So last night I was depressed about my laptop and I decided to give the recipe a try. Oh. My. Goodness. It really tastes as good as the original! I was stunned… stunned! I can now make healthier Big Macs at home (and they are so easy!). After all, it’s all about the sauce, and her recipe totally is it. I also made up and froze some tiny square burgers to make Slyders (Drew’s favorite) when we get back from vacation. The other made-over recipe I can’t wait to try is the one for Wendy’s Spicy Chicken Sandwich. I am going to have a lot of fun experimenting with recipes from this cook book! 

Prognosis: Negative

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This has been a crappy week all around. I thought it couldn’t get worse but, as usual, I was wrong. This morning my 18 month old child spilled water on my laptop. I fear that it is fried. I turned it upside down on a towel on the bed to get all the water out. Drew said to just leave it alone and let it dry completely. I am going to freak out if it’s totally a loss. (I’m now using the crappy computer in the basement which is good for nothing, really, except the occasional e-mail check). I had high hopes for 2007, but so far it sucks just as bad as 2006 and 2005. I must be marked, or something. I am so sick of this. Why can’t something go my way?