If I Can Make Bagels, I Can Do Anything!

Four years ago my Memere cut out a newspaper clipping of a bagel recipe and sent it along with her monthly letter. I have since had it in my mind to bake my own bagels. Instead over the last four years I've simply memorized the faces of the engaged couples on the opposite side. I decided recently in a symbolic gesture that to really take hold of my life I had to quite making excuses about time and ingredients and go ahead and make the darn bagels. And I'm so happy I did because not only was it fun and delicious but I got the satisfaction of know that it's never too late to do the things you should have done. And who knows, maybe some day I'll open a bagel shop (at the very least I can always impress my friends at breakfast). What's your favorite flavor?

La Vie En Rose

I just finished a cloudy Saturday afternoon in Paris with Edith Piaf. Her voice made me love her and it was hard to watch her slowly destroy herself and her gifts. The imagery, fashion and use of music for telling her life story is exquisite, you wont regret watching La Vie En Rose. The song Non, je ne regrette rien "No, I regret nothing: strongly portrays the fortitude and zest Edith summons up towards the end of her life. Watch her 1961 performance and be amazed!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFRuLFR91e4

Washington the Tiger and Saint Valentine got to the Mardi Gras Parade and left with Ashes.

This weekend has been a whirlwind of little known holidays and the big commercial giant, Valentine's Day. For my handsome boyfriend I crafted a pop-up card inspired by my friend Maria's make-up case from Sephora. Since Alice in Wonderland is his favorite book I figured it was kismet. It was a tricky business but I had fun recreating the Lewis Carroll characters.

From the rabbit hole we toured the strange adventures that Albany, NY has to hold. It was impossible to pass Washinton Park without stopping to skate infront of the beautiful theatre house. Good thing I always keep (forget) my skates in the backseat of my car. It was a very classic 'goodoldtime' way to pass the afternoon with the sun just peaking out of the snowy sky. The rest of the after noon was spent in the NY State Museum which is quite large and windy and filled with slightly creepy mannequins representing the industrial history of my new state. Some gems are the found hidden on the fourth floor, the antique carousel and the rocketcar, two must-sees.

High Peril

There will always be a special place in my heart for Saturday mornings. As a kid that mean cartoons and an escape from grueling academics. That's way I was ecstatic this weekend when I relived that feeling through the Republic Serial King of Rocket Men, a series with 12 episodes, 12 cliffhangers and countless fist-brawls between fight-savvy scientist and fedora sporting crooks. The evil dooer, Dr Vulcan is one of the Science Associates members and succeeds in killing off a lot of main characters even with the constant efforts of Rocketman! Spoiler Alert: even as Rocketman fights his final battle New York City still crumbles to the ground, a bitter ending to a terrific Saturday.

Gone to Fashion Heaven, Alexander McQueen

In homage to the late great designer

Obsession

I make no attempts to hide my obsession for Lady Gaga, I think she's brilliant and constantly pushing the envelope for a performance artist. I am anxiously awaiting the movie depicting the work of Franceso Vezzoli, The Shortest Musical You Will Never See again featuring music by Lady Gaga, Prada fashion and ballet Russes, Italian style. Che fantastico. You can judge for yourself at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW3FIZY4X-I

Shalimar's

A delightful treat to spending the weekend in Burlington, Vermont is Shalimar's indian buffet on a lazy Sunday morning. As soon as you walk in the door you feel as though you've been invited into someone's home and they just finished cooking a feast for you, complete with an eve-full glass of water. I wish I knew more about the magic that went into the making of the food I greedily scarfed down because each dish had a distinct and complicated flavor, and sometimes that flavor was extremely spicy. I'm going to make it a personal mission to learn to prepare authentic Indian dishes, or at the very least find a comparable Shalimar's in every town I'm in.

Life in Albany

I've recently moved to the exotic land of Albany where pedestrians fling themselves across four lane highways and the Empire State Plaza looms over the skyline like a steel hawk. Okay, there are some great things about Albany, like my friend Maria, she lives here, or near here anyway. She's got the know-how, the hook up, the "in" so to speak. So another friday night is no longer just that, it's Long Trail drinks in Yuengling pitchers at Jillian's bar downtown with Civil Twilight performing in the background. Nothing like a free concert to bring out the Napkin art inspiration:

The evening progressed with debauchery and Maria and I perfected our photo-ready-face on an epic journey to the powder room.

Beginning

Sometimes the beginning of something seems overwhelming, so much so that I'd rather put it off for another day instead of facing the big scary monster failure. Well, not today. Even though I have pretty much no idea what I'm doing I'm going to give it a try. After all, its a lot better than wondering "what if?"