Blonde Things

A Girl’s weekend…

30Jul
Categories: Blonde Things Comments: 1

Two hours on the New York State Thurway and three hours on the Garden State Parkway, we arrive in Cape May, New Jersey. A historic town with 200 year old Victorian Houses painted every color of the rainbow with gingerbread and cookie-cutter trim. My mom’s cousin, Karen, whom we will call “Aunt Karen” is working at the Cape May Art Gallery for the summer, and she gets to live rent free in the cozy apartment above the Gallery.

For our extended weekend in Cape May, we opted to save $800 bucks and not rent one of the quaint Victorian Bed & Breakfasts and stay in my Aunt’s apartment. With the extra cash, it was “Christmas in July” or one big shopping spree. I purchased a new sun dress with earings to match, a cute new bag, Kimono Rose perfume, a Swedish horse, and my Aunt bought me two new paintings from her gallery. [Yes, I'm spoiled.]

The apartment over looked Washington Street with hundreds of little shops, boutiques [plenty of shopping], and restaurants. My aunt treated us to the Lobster House, where my little cousin, Ryan, ate king crab legs [he was extremely excited, as he has been waiting all summer for crab].

He said and I quote, “crab runs through my blood.”

Aunt Karen with her Lobster and Ryan with his king crab

Lobster House with my new dress and turquoise earings
Since it was a girl's weekend, we turned Ryan into a beautiful mermaid I think we're going to make it a summer tradition....hopefully next year my cousin Heather and her son, Noah will be able to come.


			
            
        	    A visit to the Bronx
            
            29Jul
            
                Categories: Blonde Things
                Comments: 0
            
    		
    		    New York City, the day was filled with everything fun and exciting that you would expect on your typical summer day in NYC- an over crowed, dirty, disgustingly hot day.
Well, maybe that’s just the country-bumpkin talking in me.
So, after forty-five minutes of looking for a cab in NYC [Yes, 45 mins].
Just as an FYI….taxis aren’t necessarily bright yellow, like in the movies.  Some are actually white, tan, or black Ford’s that blend in with the rest of New York’s 100 million drivers.   The only difference I could find is that they have GPS and their license plates read “T&LC.”
Anyway, we arrived at the Bronx Zoo and ventured around free of charge, since we arrived just in time for the Zoo to close.   The monkeys were our first stop…
 
 that’s another monkey’s tail he’s swinging from 
Nothing else was worth mentioning, since the lions, tigers and bears weren’t around.   However, the group was all smiles when we reached the game and purchased our ice cold beers, warm pretzel with spicy brown mustard, and the infamous Yankee Stadium sausage and peppers.  Yumm.
 
 I even drank my once-a-year-beer 
 
Last Yankee Game in the old Stadium 
 
Meg and Justin 
 
 Sam and I
To top off the day the Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins 11 to 3.
Two 24 oz. Foster drafts:     $25

Three Sausage and peppers, one pretzel, two 12 oz. Foster drafts:     $50

One bottle of water:   $5

Seeing  Derek Jeter in his pinestrips hit a home run:      priceless
    		
            		
			
            
        	    A summer night in Albany
            
            22Jul
            
                Categories: Blonde Things
                Comments: 1
            
    		
    		    Every Wednesday night at the Empire State Plaza , there is free live music and everyone flocks downtown with their lawn chairs and six-pack in tow.
Sam and I heard discovered that Robert Randolph and the Family Band were playing, a favorite of our friend Ryan.  For dinner, Sam and I enjoyed a delicious grilled steak, which I had left on the grill with the top down.  Apparently you are not supposed to do this….  Sam discovered the grill and the steak bursting with flames.  Not good considering there was an extra propane tank sitting next to the grill, if they exploded the two tanks could have easily taken out our entire neighborhood.
Ooops. 
After we devoured the scrumptious steak…….which ironically turned out to be a perfect medium rare, Sam, Molly, and I walked across the street to our favorite grassy knoll, laid a blanket out, and drank Mojitos [minus the sugar].  The R&B melody echoed throughout the city, and the sound was pleasing to our ears. We watched people run from the sprinklers that mostly watered the side walk and several intoxicated city patrons. 
  
 Our grassy knoll…. 
  
Our little city 
 
 Mojitoooos 
After the show was over, we ran into Ryan and his friend Adam, who enjoyed front row seats of the concert in the Plaza.  They joined us on the blanket, and we passed around our smuggled open container of Mojitos 
Minus a few mishaps, I would say the evening was quite enjoyable.
  
 
    		
            		
			
            
        	    Summer love
            
            13Jul
            
                Categories: Blonde Things
                Comments: 0
            
    		
    		    Mint tea, sun dresses, ballet flats, Mojitos, our herb garden, dog walks, vanilla yogurt with almonds and strawberries, the front stoop, my MINI cooper, sun tans, Happy Hour, deck parties, fresh cut flowers, bare feet, thunderstorms
    		
            		
			
            
        	    4th of July
            
            08Jul
            
                Categories: Blonde Things, Sam's Recipes
                Comments: 0
            
    		
    		    
  
Sam and I spent the long Holiday weekend on Cayuga Lake in Seneca Falls with his dad, and we drank scrumptious wine and devoured an array of perfectly prepared meals.  His dad recently bought a grill called the Big Green Egg, the “World’s Best Smoker and Grill.”  The grill is derived from an ancient ceramic kamado-style cooker, and the fancy smoker really looks like a big green egg.
The menu for the weekend:
Wednesday night:

slow roasted hickory smoked ribs

fresh tomato, basil and mozzarella salad with balsamic vinaigrette

Thursday night: 

smoked/roasted chicken

spring green salad with avocado and homemade dressing

baked potatoes

 
 What came first the chicken or the egg? 
Friday night- 4th of July: 

grilled shrimp coated with white wine and bread crumbs (Molly Khoury’s grilled shrimp appetizer)

grilled NY strip steak with chargrill seasoning

and at my request, another fresh tomato, basil mozzarella salad
Thursday it rained, but we went wine tasting at some infamous Finger Lake wineries. Sam and I even bought a couple bottles of red wine.  On the way home we saw an albino deer, eating quietly amongst several other brown deer.  But we forgot our camera, so we have no proof of our albino deer, so you will have to take my word for it. 
Friday was a beautiful day- Sam, Ben, Betsy, and I spent the entire day out on the boat.  Foolishly, Sam and I didn’t apply enough sun screen, and we became red like lobsters.  Ben and Betsy were already extremely tan, applying an SPF 4 was sufficient enough for them.  SPF 30 wasn’t enough for Sam and I, even after several applications.

 
 
  
  
 Overall it was a great weekend. 
    		
            		
			
            
        	    Sam’s Porsche has a new home
            
            08Jul
            
                Categories: Blonde Things
                Comments: 1
            
    		
    		    Almost five plus years with his 1986 Guards Red Porsche, the farewell was bitter sweet.  The constant hassle of repairing the 20 year old beauty, storing it every winter, and lack of air conditioning were easy to part with.  However, the red Porsche’s natural eye candy and temptation to speed will be greatly missed.  Not to mention, three years ago Sam picked me up on our first date in the flashy chick-magnet….obviously the rest was history. 
 In the end, he did gain $5,500 in cash, which he spent paying off the outstanding loan and his credit card bill.  I’d say it was a success.
 
 Sam took very good care of his Porsche