FF Segment #6: In Which I Eat Homemade Pasta For the First Time

Homemade Fettucini with Basil Walnut Pesto, Mushrooms and Chicken Sausage

This weekend I took a seat at my kitchen counter, sat back and relaxed, and watched as homemade pasta was made before my very eyes. SO COOL! Kimberly and Joe came home from the CIA to treat us to a happy home-cooked meal and good company. My humble contribution? A bottle of Californian Chardonnay and a Tanzanian Riesling from Nancy's Wines. Yep. Clearly this meal would not have been possible without my extensive help and assistance.

FF Segment #5: Cookies and Reflection

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

These were absolutely fantastic, warm and chewy in the center, and much easier than I initially anticipated. It's strange to think that my month of baking and frolicking and tippling and yoga-ing is almost at an end. Truth be told, I haven't once looked at my resume, or at a job posting database for that matter. Even when I'm sitting alone on my sofa, reading a book in silence, or when I'm standing in the kitchen, waiting for cookies to cool. The thought of doing so is always at the back of my mind, like a little blue post-it with my own handwriting scrawled on it, but I haven't been prepared to address the task just yet. 

A friend of mine recently likened unemployment to the "Five Stages of Grief," which made me laugh at first, but now I can definitely see the parallels between the two. This month has been a slow process of coming to terms with the situation: what happened (how and why), how I've dealt with it, what my next course of action is, etc. I believe a lot of people tend to fall into illogical patterns of thinking, assuming that it was their fault, their failure. I never once saw it as a moral failing on my part. The situation simply was what it was, and it was time to move on. For me, the scariest aspect of this entire process has been the part where I ask myself what the next step in my professional game plan is. That part is coming up now, but I thought I owed it to myself to have a little fun before I returned to being an adult again.

Anyways, I think I'll finally take a look at my resume tomorrow and make some adjustments to reflect what I've been up to in the last eleven months. But that can wait until tomorrow. First I need to play a few rounds of bingo and get myself piss-drunk tonight!

FF Segment #4: In Which I Bake Cookies

Ginger Cookies

Who has two thumbs and just made these dericious (yes, that was on purpose) ginger cookies from scratch? This girlllllllll. Awww yeahhh. After they cooled, I brought a plate of them over to my neighbor's apartment where I sat and played with his dog while he devoured them with a glass of milk. We talked iPads, Parkour (he's been doing it for years), having a job you look forward to every morning, yoga (I'm teaching him balance), and the perfect cookie texture (mine were thankfully up to par!). A great night to cap off the perfect afternoon spent reading and people-gazing along the Hudson River. All in all, I'd say it was a decidedly solid Thursday.

P.S. Yes, that is, in fact, a heart-shaped dessert plate. I have a set in all different girly colors. No shame!

P.P.S. If you read my blog and enjoy the nonsensical things I talk about, 'Follow Me' on Google (to your right)! Do it! Go ahead! I know you want to. Don't be scared, I won't bite. Or at least leave me a comment to pique my waning interest. Yawn.

FF Segment #2: Things That I've Been Up To Lately

1. Professor Thoms - Every Wednesday between the hours of 9pm and midnight, you will find me, without fail, at Professor Thoms. You want to know why? Because Wednesday night is BINGO NIGHT! And also $3 draft beers night. And, coincidentally, heaven-sent-nachos night. Employed or unemployed, my friends and I have been upholding this fine tradition ever since we discovered it last summer. 

2. Shake Shack - I have a friend who is the restaurant manager at the original location in Madison Square Park, and she comp-ed our entire order. Because she's amazing. Need I say more?

3. Spin NYC - Andrew and I stumbled upon the most unexpected place recently. Tucked between some bodegas and a Subway was a nondescript door with a duck on the front (???). Being the curious cats (read: nosy) that we are, we ventured inside and walked down the stairs to find, lo and behold, a PING PONG STADIUM! Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration. It was more like a swankier version of Fat Cat, but with ping pong tables and an attractive after-work crowd, presumably from the nearby Credit Suisse headquarters (also known as D-Bag HQ). Happy hour + ping pong = epic win. We contemplated walking around with a sign-up sheet for a possible beer pong tournament, but decided it was probably in bad taste.

4. New York Cares - About a month ago, needing to make a return to my volunteerism roots, I registered to become a member of the city's biggest volunteer organization, New York Cares. And now I'm an SAT English tutor for a group of high school sophomores at a bilingual school in Manhattan! I went to our training orientation this weekend, and they gave me this workbook to serve as my lesson planning guide. I'm thinking I'll probably complement it with other tools and resources as well, though. Like my brain. And donuts. Kidding (Not kidding?). Jokes aside, I'm admittedly very nervous about this whole commitment and my ability to teach anything, let alone a major component of the SAT. But I guess I'll take things as they come. Details to follow, of course.

My head hurts from all the funemployment I've been having.

P.S. Thoughts on this new font? Does it hurt your eyes or no? If so, speak now or forever hold your peace!

Modern

The Private Dining Room at The Modern

Just taking a break from the typical melissamusings post to show you some of my sister's handiwork! As some of you may know, my younger sister Kimberly's been working (read: slaving away) at The Modern this summer. She took some pictures of her work to bring home and show us, in case we (actually uhh...mostly me) didn't really believe she was working eleven-hour workdays, six days a week. No lie. The fun part about having this hook-up into the culinary world is reaping the benefits whenever I stop by for an impossibly decadent meal. Glasses of wine, pork belly galore, a la carte dishes prepared by the sous chef for us, and countless plate upon plate of pastries and ice cream. Free food and booze? Yeah, I'm down with that.

Melting

metromix

The recent flood of torrid weather has left me with a severe hankering for ice cream sandwiches. Ice cream sandwiches are like the best of both worlds. You have a generous scoop of smooth, lush, and supremely cooling ice cream cozily tucked between two soft (but never soggy!) freshly-baked cookies of your choosing. I mean, c'mon. C'MON! What is there not to like? The texture contrast between the cookies yielding to a fast-melting plop of ice cream is just magic. Sublime. Also, a huge part of the fun is the speed with which you need to gobble these babies up before they melt all over you. And even at your quickest, you're still bound to be left with sticky fingers.

Can't you tell that I really and truly love Summer? Here's a list of some of the best places to find some solid ice cream sandwiches here in Manhattan. Summer + Manhattan + ice cream sandwiches = HappyMelissa.

Cottage!

Cottage cheese with golden raisins, chopped walnuts, dried apricots and a drizzle of honey

The yummiest breakfast these days.
On another note, how is that mothers know everything?