These are golden, stolen days.

I was very productive this weekend. I raked the leaves in the front yard and the back yard, even though I have a blower I prefer to do it the old fashioned way. Jeremie and I went to the farmers market, likely for the last time until next spring, and I bought almost 8 pounds of apples. I opened all the mail, tidied up the house, got all the laundry done and baked for Pregiving. The chocolate mint brownies were a hit.

I hate being inside when it’s so nice out and I know that in a couple of days the weather will turn very, very cold and stay that way for many months.

After a whole month of rain, also known as October, November is off to a lovely start. The trees outside my window are a mash of gold, red and green. The sun is shining bright and it’s about 62F, making it hard to imagine that in just a few short weeks we will probably have snow and the endless grey skys of winter.

I’m off to the airport in a bit and my stomach is well aware of that fact. We’re heading to Brussels for a couple of days for a family birthday party and general hanging-out. I’m sure my suitcase will return heavy with chocolate.

I think you’ll really like this

The good eats keep on coming! Jeremie and I went into the city last night to see Mike Doughty’s Band at Webster Hall and we went a wee bit early so we could grab some dinner. It was windy, rainy and bitter cold but that didn’t stop us from getting over to Momofuku on 1st ave between 11th & 10th. I’d been wanting to check it out and it did not disappoint.
The hit of the night was the “chicken bun” – not quite like your traditional chinese bun but I liked it better. Instead of being a closed packet with a little meat inside, the outside part was oblong-shaped and was folded over the delectible filling. Ours contained a wonderful plum sauce with thin slices of cucumber and the most tender, yet crispy, chicken meat. The second favorite was the spicy chicken wings, followed by our noodle dishes. It’s not that the noodles weren’t fantastic, but the chicken buns were so out there that they skewed everything else. We’ll definitely be back.
We got to Webster Hall on the early side, which was fine because we were able to find a seat. Our friends were not far behind us and fabulous conversation was had by all. Then came the opener, Orenda Fink. Oh my dear. If you’re looking for music to inflict-bodily-harm-on-yourself to, she’s your gal. We were very ready for her to stop singing not too long after she started.
Thankfully she only did like 6 or 7 songs and then we got Mike Doughty and his band. They played a very good show, lots of fun, a variety of stuff. I could sing along and I could actually *see* for once, which was very very nice in my book.

I am hungry. Breakfast time.

This may be some of the best gelato I’ve ever tasted. The details:
gelatissimo (artisan gelato)
26 Forest Street
New Canaan, CT 06840
203-966-5000
they’ve reserved the url www.gelatissimo.net but there’s nothing there yet.

I learned about this place on Wednesday from a friend. He was able to tell me where it is, though he couldn’t remember the name, and we found it without much trouble. You should go find it too. It was a rainy and cold morning but Eric, Jeremie and I decided to head over there anyways. The shop was warm and charming and all of the gelato looked very good. Eric had some sort of cherry flavor, Jeremie had mint chocolate chip and I got half cappuccino/half lemon. Everyone liked what they got, but I think mine was the best. The lemon was to die for and the cappuccino wasn’t far behind.
For now, they’re open 12-10p every day so you should go get yourself some as soon as you can. You won’t be sorry.

I’m restless. I believe it’s a combination of not getting enough sleep last night and not really leaving the house today. I wanted to leave the house. Yesterday I went on a nice long walk… up Weed Hill, down Newfield a bit to Vine Road and then almost all the way to High Ridge and back.
Today I planned on taking an even longer walk down Newfield. I laced up my shoes and even put on a fleece hat so that I wouldn’t get an earache from the wind.
Not 5 minutes after I left my house, I was chugging up a hill and the next thing I knew there was a pit bull, with no tags, pretty much on my toes. He was in front of me and then he was behind me and I was just trying to figure out where I could walk to get away from this dog, when with no warning he darted out into the street and into the path of a black sedan. There was no way the driver could see the dog in time, much less stop. The dog was hit in his hindquarters and was thrown to the other side of the street. The sound of the impact was sickening. The dog pulled himself up to the sidewalk and wailed for a few seconds and then ran behind a house. I was not the only bystander; I think there were three other people who witnessed this. No one knew who owned the dog. The man driving the car got out to see if the dog was okay and poked around the house a bit but no one was home. After a few minutes, I decided to resume my walk. I made it no more than 50 feet before I was stopped by a woman in a purple car asking if I’d seen a large tan dog. “Is it a pit bull?” I asked. Of course. I told her what happened and asked her why the dog had no tags, to which she had no good answer. I pointed out to her which house the dog was hiding behind and she started driving down the hill. She slowed down in front of the house, then kept driving on. The whole thing was so disconcerting. I walked around the block once to try and convince myself to carry on with my walk but I decided just to go home.

I did a lot of big cooking this weekend. I made vegetarian chili, mushroom barley soup, roasted vegetables and delicious ginger pear muffins. The fridge and freezer are happily full.

I got up early this morning and instead of going to the gym, like I intended to do when I set my alarm last night, I made kreplach. Seriously, I’m nuts.

I’m sitting at my desk. Can’t keep from glancing out the window. It’s just a little too bright outside and I’m just a little too under the mental weather to enjoy it. I could go outside and maybe I’d feel better but I’m going to stay inside, read a book about Ruby (the programming language – not the jewel) and think about how much I want a dog. The weather is perfect fall play-outside-with-the-dog weather. Where is my little dog?

I want someone to come and make a nice Shabbat dinner for me. I don’t feel up to putting together a whole, peaceful meal today.

Or, I Am A Big Idiot Part Two. At the gym this morning I kept my purse with me so that I could have a bottle of water and a bottle of gatorade and not have to juggle two bottles, towel, fleece, etc. All is well. I drink some water, I sip a little gatorade and put the bottle back in my purse before switching machines. Later on, I grab the gatorade bottle for another sip and I notice – hey – shouldn’t there be more in here? Captain Disaster, there is half a bottle of gatorade in the bottom of my bag!

I dumped out the gatorade at the gym and put the bag in the washing machine before I left for work. Hopefully it will be ok. Thank goodness I’d left my cellphone at home. Palm pilot is a little… sticky. Hopefully it will actually work. I took everything out of my wallet and most of the paper cards are soaked but I think they’ll dry. I fear that my wallet is not salvageable, which means I’d better find a new one fast since I’m leaving for Ann Arbor on Sunday.

Will I ever learn?

It’s the middle of September and I’m still trying to figure out what happened to August. The weather was unusually hot and humid the past couple of months and I stayed inside so much that I feel I got cheated out of Summer. This morning we had crazy, angry rain so I decided to wear jeans, a heavy sweater and boots to work. Now it’s a disgustingly muggy 82F outside.

Delicious lemon pound cake with coffee. This summer sloth needs to turn into some kicking of butts back into shape. The month+ of not exercising is over.

Here’s what I’ve been up to: We went to Minneapolis over labor day to visit family & go to the Minnesota State Fair (very fun), my Mom came to visit & we saw The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (funny, I highly recommend) and she helped me with some wedding stuff and a lot of gardening. That’s pretty much it. I’m gearing up for the recruiting season and looking forward to a little quality time in Ann Arbor.