love brooklyn love

  

 Wouldn't you follow this arrow?  

This place had the best Chinese food!  Bad joke.  This wee random sign for Otha's gave us a delicious cup of coffee and the prettiest doughnut.    

Umm, yes I was going into this shop.  

I've got a lot of love for this borough right now and for my bosom buds who I shared it with over the weekend. :)

our marathon monday

Nothing awful is supposed to happen on a day when you can watch Paul Revere, with a police escort, retrace his ride beginning in the North End and ending on the Battle Green of Lexington.  Nothing bad is supposed to happen on a day when people from all over the state come with their cow bells to watch people from all over the world run a grueling 26.2 miles.  But, today something awful did happen.  And, I'm so sorry.  How I hate to see it.

My sister and I ran the race in 2005.  On that day it was 80 degrees at the starting line.  The noontime sun beat down on us, scalding our heads and smearing us into the black tar.  Our feet were burning after mile 1, but neither of us said anything.  We could feel the blisters at mile 5, but neither of us said anything.  At mile 13 in Wellesley we could see Boston's skyline, but neither of us remarked on how far away it looked.  At mile 18 we missed our friend who was stationed with supplies and encouragement, but neither of us said anything.  And at mile 21 just after we had completed the devilish climb and had begun our five mile decent to the finish line, our victory lap, my sister when down.  And I mean down.  Heat stroke.  Sorry, Em.  An hour and a half later we emerged from the medical tent in sweats.  What was there to say now?  And then there is mom telling us that we had to finish the race, that if we were to walk away and leave it incomplete, we would regret it.  Oh, mom.  Of course she was right.  So humbly we walked, waving wearily to the sypathetic cheerleaders.  And, we talked the entire way.

butterfly therapy

I'm trying to be peppy for the mere fact that I have pizza dough rising in my oven.   Because there is no easy way out of this week.  It is one of those times when you realize that you were trying to do a good job at exactly the wrong thing.  And the good job you were doing was good enough, but then you turn around to find out that you were doing the wrong good thing.  Do you like my riddle?  Maybe you've had to learn this lesson too?

Random enough, needle-felting is my latest form of therapy.  If, like me, you can never remember how to cast-on, give it a go.

Shaved asparagus is going on our pizza tonight, taking another one from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook.  And there is a Whole Foods pie that is as good as homemade sitting on our counter serving as a needed midweek treat.  :)

April

APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.                           -T.S. Eliot

To Be Full

I'm stealing ideas left and right today.  For dinner I'm making black bean burgers after a friend posted about her burger night.  On top of the black bean burger there will be a mango salsa taken from my sister who made that last night.  And, on top of the salsa will sit some guacamole.  Can you tell that I'm in desperate need for some flavor?  And calories!  For the past several nights we have eaten our dinner and then two hours later we have eaten our bowl of cereal.  Not fun.  But, tonight it is all going to change!  :)