Snowmen!!

Ok, so I will admit just right off the bat : these Christmas cookies are a little (a lot) SandraLeeSemiHomemade-ish. But they are incredibly adorable, and as obviously a once-a-year highly processed indulgence, I think they are a-ok.








Easy as pie, they are all fun and festive and zero mess or hassle. They're totally awesome! You really don't need a recipe, all you do it melt some white chocolate and dip nutter butters in it. Decorate. Repeat. Heck, I don't even recommend that you eat them!



See, I even committed the cardinal sin of chocolate - I put them in the fridge! Then again, white chocolate is considered by many to be the cardinal sin of chocolate, so maybe it's a wash.




All I know is they're adorable and bursting with Christmas Cheer. Maybe you might eat one, it'd taste pretty good with some whiskey-d up egg nog....

Lately

Thanksgiving, last minute, with friends. Macy's parade, coffee, turkey prep (David's handiwork), long walk...



Excellent wine (thanks Morgan!)



Low key, tasty, fun.



gingerbread cookies with Jessica + boatloads of Christmas music, after a bloody mary & a trip to the Lower East Side's infamous jungle of sugar, Economy Candy...



CANDY destined to become little gingerbread men buttons and cookie tree lights.



We had a christmas party! It was very necessary to have a party this year of all years. A bad year calls for a really good party, so I decorated my heart out, as best I could.



Made plenty of food, with reckless disregard for health or moderation.



Those cookies again! They were gleefully devoured, much to my - and I'd venture the cookies as well - great delight.



I would have taken a picture of the vat of velveeta dip on the stove but it was sort of hard to get a good picture with all the people constantly crowding around it/ having velveeta dip fights...David and Stephen I am looking at you.



But all was quickly forgiven. After all, there was plenty velveeta to go around, as is always the case with cheese products at Miranda&David hosted events.



OH! And I made Mai Tais, from SCRATCH! Which means I spent a large portion of the afternoon juicing limes! I'd complain, but this is what underemployment means - and I accept that. Plus they smelled really really good.



I encouraged people to take drink umbrellas. I believe that drink umbrellas are a really essential element of a Good Party. They're so cheap they're almost free, and they are absolutely no work at all to put out. They're INSTANTLY festive and make people happy. They are a must, in my opinion. Lots of partybang for your buck. Umbrellas!



Final Product!




Yummmmmmm

So I messed around a bit with a few different recipes and ended up with these proportions :

Miranda's Mele Kalikimaka Mai Tai!

2 parts Rum
1 part Lime Juice
1/2 part almond syrup (I just put a little bit of almond extract in simple syrup)
1/2 part cointreau
1/4 + part Orange Juice (to taste)

i don't need to tell you that this is a strong drink, as are all properly made tiki drinks, so FILL those cups with lots of crushed up ice. Enjoy!

Fool me once....

Shame. On. You.


Fool me twice, shame on me. And indeed, I am ashamed, embarrassed, and yesterday when I accidentally purchased this abomination, I was So Hungry.



This deceptively un-friendly product tastes like chunky, sneakily funky, highly processed vanilla pudding in the best of circumstances. The Best of Circumstances Being when you Know and Expect that there is pineapple in it. In the worst of circumstances, you grab this at Duane Reade when you're short on time and you're starving and you run down to grab a healthy bite. You want something quick, desk-edible, cheese-ish, but healthy. "Oh goody goody I'm back at my desk and I'm going to dig in!" you think, returning to the office, spoon procured, seated and ready to eat! "Yum yum big spoonful!" and then it hits....

What are those weird globby yellowish chunks? It doesn't taste right, it's vaguely sweet, not really salty at all, but it wouldn't really hit a sweet tooth. You search for an expiration date, assuming it's a year old or some such.

Then you see it. The miniscule 'with pineapple' scribbled at the bottom of the label taunts you with its tropical smugness, and it's there-ness. I'm pineapple, and I'm here to RUIN YOUR LUNCH. Hahahahahahahahahaahhaha.

As one of many victims of these malicious and frankly sick tubs of dairy product, I move that we pull these from the shelves IMMEDIATELY! WHO IS WITH ME!?

In other news, this pops up when you do a google image search for "Cottage Cheese with Pineapple, Friendship" . So that's pretty funny, and sort of a palate cleanser for you. God knows you need one after pineappled cottage cheese.

The Hurricane Report

Preparation, Bunkering Down, Aftermath. A Photo Essay.

Friday, 3pm. Raiding the wine room, Morgan trollies through the office, aiding fellow Food & Wine worker bees in their last minute preparations and saving them a trip to the liquor store.



A last minute Saturday morning jaunt/supply run around the East Village leaves us well stocked and prepared to bunker down.



A long night. Many movies. Too many potato chips. Far more Anderson Cooper than is healthy - which is to say any at all. NY1 and the soothing sounds of crazy New Yorkers calling in to complain. Sleep comes around 3am.

9am - Bloomburg has tweeted "The eye of the storm is upon us. The worst of the storm is here. Do not go outside." or some such nonsense. It appears to be simply drizzling. I go back to sleep.

A 12pm walkabout. People begin to trickle out of their buildings, the city awakens, and it is thirsty. Many bars kindly accommodate.



We survived Hurricane Irene (such as it was)! Lucien is open and brunch is on the way! A toast was certainly in order!

Trying to Think of a New Way To Say it

Summer in the City. What else is there to say?


Great walks. Long meandering, frozen yogurt fueled days.
Plain with rainbow. No compromises or substitutions.




Coffee from Ninth Street keeps one going as well.





If you're hanging out on the Highline,






Chelsea Market, and all the delights therein,



are awfully convenient.



Champagne with friends is another good fueling option.



If you have a rooftop, enjoy the bubbly there. It is so choice, if you have the means, I highly recommend it.




New York City offers a myriad of rewards for the curious wanderer. I have been taking this moment of freedom in my life to walk and absorb the city and I've been rewarded a million times over. These pictures capture a fragment of the fullness of my days lately.























Embrace the underemployment. Such is MirandasMantraàlaMoment. Take a walk.


Eat a Wasabi Pickle on a Stick.



Go to Central Park.




go to Tiffany's...







and let that bright summer sky just blind you.

Why Yelp Is Awesome

Sure, it's tempting to say that Yelp sucks because in so many ways it does! Dubious business practices, shady synergistic relationships with the 'unbaisedly' reviewed restaurants and bars on their site, generally creating buzz often about formerly awesome places that because of yelp become overcrowded and stupidly busy/impossible to enjoy. It's a morally ambiguous site that ruins once-awesome hangouts. Yes, ok, granted.

HOWEVER, the witticisms, the gems, the WORDS people. Unpublishables have a home at yelp, where aspiring gourmands can anonymously and lightheartedly pontificate about their favorite gustatory joys and gleefully BASH any establishment that dared to give them less-than-stellar service. I've started a little collection of some of my favorite phrases and opinions, and I'd like to share them with you - a little piece of Monday morning candy to take the edge off. I find that these particular starlight mints are best enjoyed out of context, but if you just HAVE to know more about the person/place, let me know and I'll fill you in.

In the meantime, unwrap and enjoy!

Droplets Of Wisdom from Yelp.com

"Let me just first say that I love rum...I'm basically a rum connoisseur."

"Will I be back? Yeah, probably, if you want to hear some good music while creepily grinding up against random girls, there are worse places to do it."

"this place is a toilet."

"As far as cocktails themselves, both were finely made, leaving very sophisticated after taste. This is probably where I see they use most ingredients to create cocktails."

"The best way to have a very New York experience is to live in the city and discover secret places"

Great stuff, huh?

And here you go, a refreshing palate cleanser as seen on my morning stroll this morning. He doesn't need to yelp, he just speaks his mind by wearing a sign on his head ;