Dear NYC

WE CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU!

central park. the highline. essa bagel. friends(old & new). sister. food. celebrations. wedding. where every weekend is someone's birthday. ny heart. sheep's meadow. hailing cabs. chopped. picnics in the park. bundling up on a cold day. sunday fundays. halloween. hot chocolate. football sundays. weekend getaways. fire island. the hamptons. 34th and 3rd. 5th avenue walking and shopping. Garretts popcorn. the subway. west village walking. Benihana. celebrity sightings. nyu med school living. soho saturdays. and so much more.

(and eat you)

What is your favorite part about New York?

Fresh Frozen Dinners

As I mentioned in a previous post, I like to save things in the freezer, because you never know when you need dinner in a pinch.  Dallas does not offer the convenience of delivery that New York does.  While living in New York, I knew I  could have whatever I wanted delivered from wherever, whenever!  Any food, any place, any time.  It truly is the city that never sleeps, delivery men included.

In Texas, as far as delivery goes, it's pretty much to pizza and Chinese food.  Doctor J and I had just returned from a weekend out of town and we were STARVING.   There was no fresh food in the house, but we did have fresh food in the freezer.  Here is our make-shift freezer meal.

2 Frozen Essa Bagels

Frozen "Mom's chicken soup"

In to the pot it goes

  In 10 minutes we had two steaming bowls of chicken soup and two toasty essa bagels.  Not bad for a frozen meal.

Just Another Manic Monday

Did you have a wild weekend? Need to get your week/eating habits back on track?

Here is my breakfast of champions: Cream of Wheat with raisins.  It is good for the soul and easy on the tummy.  Below are two shots of my pure breakfast in our everyday china.

When people think healthy breakfasts: egg whites, wheat toast or Fage yogurt often come to mind.  I have tried Fage multiple times and I just can't get my taste buds to accept the sourness.  I have even added honey, but I still find I am force feeding it to myself like a child being made to eat their veggies.  As a"grown-up"no one can put me in time out for not eating my veggies so I say, no Fage for me!

If you don't have any fresh groceries in your apartment and don't like Fage, give Cream of Wheat with raisins a shot.  It provides you with 5 grams of protein, 9% of your daily fiber, is only 250 calories and has NO FAT!

Here is a quick 5 minute recipe:

• Combine three tablespoons of cream of wheat, 1/4 cup of raisins and          1 1/4 cups of cold water
• Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer
• Stir constantly until thickened

Newlymed Note: Add a pinch of salt and that way you don't need to add butter or anything else for flavor.

Considering the amount cheese and chips that were a part of my weekend I welcomed my healthy breakfast with open arms.  Your body will thank you, mine certainly did.

How the West was Won...or Not

Cowgirl K and Cowboy J went on a mission this weekend. Our quest: to find out if the promotions we received in the mail were real.

We received a letter saying we had won a free trip to Vegas or a cruise, all we had to do was come check out a timeshare! I asked Cowboy J "Is this for real?" He said probably not, but we decided to make it our mission to find out for ourselves and pass along our knowledge to all of the other suckers out there.

So...We saddled up (the car), put on our road-trip finest and set out on our journey to East Texas.

We pulled into the property to see a full parking lot.  Bad sign #1.  First we sat down with a sales person for a 30 minute discussion and a 60 minute tour of the property. PAINFUL.  We did our best to go along with the sales pitch and act interested, all the while having the urge to blurt out we have absolutely NO interest. Next came the sales pitch.  Of course, we said we were really interested, but it just wasn't the right time for us.

This made him bring over the heavy hitters with a "better" deal for us today only.  This new guy went back to talk to his manager to "put together" the best offer.  We had to wait for what felt like an eternity  during this CLEARLY planned pause for one final pitch.  After we gave our final answer (NO) they begrudgingly dismissed us to the reward lodge to wait in line for our promised reward.

Did we win big?  Well, We did win a trip to VEGAS!!! But it can only be taken during the week, with 60 days notice and we have to give them three possible dates from which they will choose when they will send us.  So with Doctor J's, I mean Cowboy J's, schedule we can go...NEVER!

BUT on a positive note we still had a spankin' good time.  We spoke in western accents the whole 1.5 hours there, the 3 HOURS we spent on the property and the 1.5 hours back.  (Yes, we are HUGE dorks) We saw some of the Texas countryside and I had the best grilled cheese of my life! The journey unfolds below...

We stopped in the town of Canton...

 And went to an adorable 50's style dinner called the Soda Jerk.

We parked our buggy by Circle B Western Wear.

and mosied around town.

So, did we take the West?  No.  Our East Texas adventure may not have ended up in gold, but at least there wasn't a shoot out and we definitely made some golden memories.

Luck of the Irish

This weekend ye Newlymed's celebrated Saint Patty's day.  Doctor J was on call, so while I drank the green beer, he drank an energy drink...which made him feel a little green.  He received a few pages throughout the day, but luckily didn't get called in until 3:00 AM, so he could partake in the days festivities.  I guess Doctor J had a little luck of the Irish.

What a beautiful Saturday (70's and sunny) filled with boozy friends, any and all green foods you could think of & live music.  We noshed on jambalaya  green cupcakes, green chips and green dips while listening to the zydeco band.  Here are a few snapshots from the day.

Baby Lab puppy. Couldn't have been sweeter

Dancing to the music

S & B

C & B

Dinner is on my Jeans

Tonight Doctor J's jeans picked up the tab for dinner.  It all started about a year ago with a good ol' fashioned bride vs groom wedding diet challenge.  It was not a true diet per se, but it was a chance to be health superstars for the two months leading up to the big day.  While in tip top wedding shape, Doctor J bought a brand spankin' new pair of jeans for our Texas themed rehearsal dinner (see picture below).

Doctor J is from the North, and I have learned that northern men like their jeans tight!  Well, he put on those tights jeans the other day and...RIP!  He was distressed that his favorite pair of jeans, that had only been worn 1 time since the wedding had ripped.

He took them back to the store to see if there was anything they could do.  Although they no longer carried the jeans, the store gave him a credit for the value of the jeans and Doctor J picked out another pair.  The new pair was less expensive than the original pair, so they paid him the difference.  Doctor J was so elated that he told me he was going to take me out to dinner "on his jeans"  So thank you to Doctor J's too tight (I mean "defective") pair of jeans.  I took a night off from utilizing wedding gifts in the kitchen and we picked up a charming dinner from Whole Foods.

#1 Stunner

Thank you gifts for Groomsmen and Bridesmaids always pose a challenge.  You want to be original, you want to give them something they don't already have and you want to them to actually like the gift.  This one gift has to say thank you for all they have done for you in the time leading up to your wedding. (which is a lot!)

You also want to give them something that your friend, that just got married 3 months earlier, didn't already give them.

One of the gifts I choose for my Bridesmaids was a personalized robe.  They were a big hit and made for some great pictures!

Doctor J choose personalized cuff links for his groomsmen.  This is always a classic gift.  He was one of the first of his friends to get married, so he was in luck!  No one had choosen this gift yet.

So what if you are the 15th of your friends to get married?  Have no fear, I have an original idea just for you!   Enter: Stunner of the month.  This website gifts a sunglass of the month.  What could be more fun and fabulous?  You can choose the number of months, depending on your budget.  Then your bridesmaids or groomsmen will receive a different pair of sunglasses in the mail each month.  Talk about originality.  They will think about you each month when they receive their little surprise.

And what if you have no interest in marriage now...or ever! These make a great birthday present/thank you gift/just because gift too.

Make someone a #1 Stunner.

Time to get Cracking!

The Newlymeds decided to spice things up this past Sunday.  It is now crawfish season, so we brought one of our favorite New Orleans past times to our home in the the big D.  We ordered 4 pounds of crawfish to go, cleared off our counter and got crackin'.  Technically we got to pulling since there is no cracking involved with crawfish.

A lot of people "don't get" crawfish.  They don't understand all of the work, for the tiny bite.  Once you get in the swing of it, it's easy!  Don't forget the corn and potatoes, which are often boiled with the crawfish and share that amazing Cajun flavor.  It was a fun and delicious way to end the weekend!  If you are so inspired that you want to have your own crawfish boil.  Click here for recipes and a step by step demonstration of "how to" eat a crawfish.

My little friend

Kisses for the crawfish

Ready for action

And done!

Why are there no pictures of Doctor J you may ask?  My hands were WAY to dirty to touch the camera!

One (wo)man's trash, is another (wo)man's treasure

You know how they say one (wo)man's trash is another's (wo)man's treasure. Well, I am a firm believer in this statement.

I am known for saving EVERYTHING.  My escort card from weddings because I love how they calligraphied my name, a pretty wine bottle from dinner and every camp/school/sorority shirt I have ever owned.  I also infamously like to save food in the freezer!  Doctor J asks me when I am going to eat last year's frozen holiday candy, but you never know when you will need a frozen sugar fix!

Below is a wine bottle that was too pretty to throw away.  It's now a beautiful vase.

Maybe I shouldn't hold on to EVERYTHING, but you never know when a "piece of junk" could be your next treasure.

You know you are a grownup when...

You know you are a grownup when you are at Disney World, the place where dreams come true, and you are working!

Greetings from a conference room at the magical Walt Disney World.  I am here working a convention and staying at Disney's Swan Dolphin on Epcot's property.  I passed Mickey in the Lobby today, and instead of stopping for an autograph and a picture...I just kept on walking.

The Swan Dolphin is a convention hotel, meaning it is specifically designed to host many large conferences and meetings.  They have a business center as well and a huge array of conference rooms and meeting space.

However, this convention had a major anti-GREEN problem!  While setting up our office I asked where we could put our recyclable papers and garbage.  They responded with a brief "we don't have recycling".  My response: SHOCK!

While in the business center later that day I saw maintenance emptying a large trash can filled with water bottles and paper.  I asked if they recycled.  The answer was: NO!

How can a large Convention hotel NOT recycle?  They host hundreds of thousands of people a year, print out hundred's of thousand of pieces of paper (if not millions) and they don't recycle!  I know the amount of paper and packaging materials we went through in a week and I can only image what that amounts to in a year.  SHOCK!  Even worse, I passed good-looking recycling bins in the convention hall, but now I know they are just looking good and not doing good.

So, I did some investigating, I have found out they do in fact recycle, but most people who work at the hotel are not informed.

After living in this hotel for the past 8 days, I have made some friends in high places.  These friends are going to help me educate the staff on recycling.  Be GREEN and carry on.

Next stop....Walmart!

Newlymed note: Day 8- visited the magic kingdom before hoping on my flight.  High fived mickey and felt 5 again --> PHEW