America - Year 1

Christmas makes me strange

Last night I decided to make gratin dauphinois. Today, after delicious brunch at Seed kitchen and bar & a stop at Lenox, I came home and made cinnamon and rum cookies and eggnog. This is possibly more cooking than I've done all year.

Buon Appetito to me!

When good hotels go bad

So the St. Regis had some sort if meltdown yesterday. On the coldest night of the year the valet wait was 20 minutes, 30 minutes, sometimes more. The entrance was overcrowded with people sitting on the stairs. It looked more like a stadium.

The upstairs bar had a separate crowd which seems some sort of mix between Jersey shore and real housewives.

Odd.

Thank goodness for Dante's. Fondue, alligators and a good crowd. What more do you need?

Christmas Traditions

In Italy, the Pope we hear speak*
The Brits will pull crackers all week**
But in the US of A
When Noel comes our way
We put on our best Christmas chic***

* The Pope gives the Ubri et Orbi address with a Christmas blessing in several dozen languages
** It's not Christmas in Great Britain without the constant boom of Christmas Crackers
*** Ugly Sweater Parties: apparently it's a thing

The Perfect Christmas Gift?

It sure is!

The Perfect Christmas Present

Ocean on December 11, 2012 — Leave a Comment

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With Christmas right around the corner, we know you are all wondering what to buy your loved ones (and not-so loved ones) for this holiday, so we wanted to make that search easier for you. In fact, we will just tell you what to buy and provide a link, so you don’t need to spend any more time on it and can go on to other things, like decorations and caroling.

Since this is personalized, we are using Cookies, tracking software, biometric information and Google satellites to determine what presents best suit you and your loved ones. Once this is processed, we post the result here below:

…And, it looks like your shopping has just become much easier! The one and only present you should buy for everyone on your list is Bringing Sexy Back to Economics! This is an excellent book, which we have recommended in the past. Entirely not due to the fact that I wrote it.

So go ahead and buy it now here, so you can start drinking eggnog.

Botanical Gardens festive lights

We waited for the coldest evening of the year, but had a fun night at the botanical gardens last night.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Best Sunday breakfast ever. Listening to Christmas music and chatting with the family sharing Christmas tree photos over What's App. Gebhardt cheesy never fails.

Now my Sunday morning Skype meeting just got canceled, So I can run by more decorations. Yay

Beezee beezee beezee

Five parties over three days, prepping for Christmas (yes getting a Christmas tree) and possibly a very big week at work. Stay tuned.

But should I worry that I spent the morning listening to Christmas music and doing housework?

Explaining Ayn Rand

Cathy Young explaining Ayn Rand.

"One major misconception is that Rand worshipped the rich and saw moneymaking as life’s highest goal. In fact, most wealthy characters in her novels are pathetic, repulsive, or both: businessmen fattened on shady deals or government perks, society people who fill their empty lives with luxury."

"To Rand, being “selfish” meant being true to oneself, neither sacrificing one’s own desires nor trampling on others."

"she is right that the knee-jerk habit of treating altruistic goals as noble has aided evil—for instance, blinding well-meaning Westerners to communism’s monstrosity."

Football and Domestic Violence

I was surprised to hear that the former outweighs the latter.

Truth be told I know nothing of what occurred during the murder of Kassandra Perkins. Other than that she was shot repeatedly. Which doesn't sound accidental.

But to somehow say the "violence" of football may have had an influence? Violence?? It is not a violent sport. It is a sport, with very specific rules of what can and can not be done and why. And they wear padding for goodness' sakes!

If we expect any bias in athletes it should be a better understanding rules and boundaries.

If you truly believe football caused this murder then you also believe football should be outlawed. And all footballers should be jailed a priori. And you're not smart.

Birthday's are fun

For the record: I still was up at 8 this morning and I did make it to my marketing seminar this (Saturday) morning.

For Giuseppe's birthday he received, from me, a surprise dinner at the Olive Garden, so he can finally have some authentic Italian food, and an evening at the Korean Karaoke bar. And a day at the zoo today.