Whale Tongue Tales

• learned that my plastic life doesn’t work everywhere. when in new york, have cash
• visited the highest attended movie theatre in the country
• with friends, had three drinks (total)….threw up a little when we paid the $50 tab
• stayed in the tiniest non-japanese hotel room i’ve ever seen…150 sq. ft at the hudson hotel
• waited for a cab with the highest volume of uber-hipster twenty-somethings i’ve ever encountered in one spot and felt extremely out of place with *gasp* my jeans not suction-cupped to my body and, heaven forbid, worn outside my boots
• walked from lincoln center to empire theatre stopping almost every block to do a 360 degree turn & soak in all the sights
• ate delicious malaysian at penang
• ate not-so-delicious tasty delight. ok, so it’s “tasty” i guess but just for a split second then it totally disappears in your mouth leaving no hint of taste at all. bizarre actually. what did taste very delicious were the crushed up andes mint she rolled my cone in. yummy!
• saw tavern on the green lit up beautifully for christmas
• hung out with a new yorker in her 800 sq. ft. apartment that was purchased 15 years ago for $160k and is now worth over $1MM. fascinating and it was everything i hoped a nyc apartment would be
• did not pass a single h&m
• did pass about 50 hotdog stands, 500 starbucks, 382 theatres, 47 “new york style” stores whatever they are, 89 europan deli’s, 12,000 mommies pushing babies in plastic-shielded strollers
• ate a bagel. it was the best damn bagel i have ever put in my mouth and i have no idea why
• by accident, saw yankee stadium, giants stadium and shea statium
• got totally screwed by a cabbie who charged us $20 more for the cab ride back to the airport than the one that took us from the airport to our hotel. doh! what can one do about that?
• did not see shannon, keeva, tammy o., heidi, mike, joanna or any other friend/acquaintance in the area
• did see a car with “happy hanukkah” flags and a massive menorah adhered to the roof
• learned from a jewish friend (with the $1MM apartment) that one should never call said car a “jew mobile” as that is highly offensive
• shopped in a cute little make-shift market on the edge of central park
• squealed in times square
• squealed again at what i called “the center of the universe”… i have no idea where i was but i’m pretty sure the earth revolves around that very spot
• learned that gloves & comfy shoes are essential when hoofing it mid-december
• altered my ability to call myself a “city girl”…we have a yard and a car and 1,200 massive sqare feet of living space, who am i kidding? we might as well be bumpin’ in the burbs!
• fell in love with an amazing city

obviously i didn’t even scratch the surface…didn’t have a new york hotdog, didn’t take the subway, didn’t stroll thru central park, didn’t catch a show….but still, what an incredible city.

She’s alive!!! Needless to say, it’s been a crazy month. A couple new posts on the way, stay tuned.

Well, folks….believe it or not, Mr.Simmons and I pulled off Thanksgiving dinner at our house for 12, count it, t-w-e-l-v-e of our nearest and dearest (including us, of course). Choosing to host Thanksgiving, I’ve learned, is a pretty big deal. I didn’t realize the full weight of what I had done to myself until about 2:00 yesterday afternoon with a 3:00 meal time looming ahead of me.

I went through my usual pre-party panic cleaning frenzy only to discover with 1 hour before our first guests were expected to arrive (at 1:00) that our vacuum had decided to omit an intensely foul smell…close your eyes and imagine singed hair and burning tires. Yum, eh? Especially right before you are hosting your first ever Thanksgiving dinner for TWELVE people. So, I borrow a vacuum from a neighbor that works exceptionally well on the 1/3 of Tal that is laying on the living room and dining room rugs. Vacuum, check! Now I just have 2 pumpkin pies, roasted vegetables, stuffing, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, crescent rolls and cranberry sauce to get on the table by 3:00.

It was about 1:00 by this time and my brother arrived dutifully on time with mac ‘n cheese and sweet tea in tow. Surprising quickly I was able to whip up the pumpkin pies and get them into the 425 degree oven. Now, food prep and timing are things I have absolutely no experience with at all. In fact, most meals that I am in charge of tend to be eaten in rounds as things always end up taking me off guard by cooking either much faster or much slower than I expect. I had given a little thought to the fact that I had four things that require the oven at three different temperatures and cooking times, but the reality of the organization and maneuvering didn’t really hit me until that 2:00 mark. I have never moved so quickly and expertly in my kitchen. With a flushed face and dish towel thrown over my shoulder like a pro, I was shifting pies, setting timers, chopping veggies and rolling delicious crescent rolls out of a can like I had entertained for TWELVE people a thousand times before.

Miraculously, at precisely 3:00pm TWELVE Simmons’ & Tarr’s squeezed themselves into our cozy (read: freakin’ tiny) dining room and feasted on:

• fried turkey courtesy of Papa Tarr
• ham courtesy of Mama Simmons
• roasted garlic mashed potatoes - a Martha Stewart recipe via Charles
• mac & cheese from my brother
• apple salad thanks to my sis
• roasted vegetables a la me…this was a truly gorgeous dish of acorn & yellow squash and radishes & carrots from Wendy’s hippie farm coalition all simply seasoned with salt & pepper and lightly drizzled with olive oil
• pan-fried brussel sprouts from charles and his mama
• stuffing from a bag but gussied-up with fresh celery & onion
• glory collard greens
• cranberry sauce
• turkey gravy
• and crescent rolls.

Delicious! Somehow earlier in the day I had a panic that we weren’t going to have enough food. Luckily, I was WAY wrong. Our fridge is now bursting with post-Thanksgiving grub and I have no idea how we are going to get rid of it. We already utilized some of it with a hearty ploughman’s lunch this afternoon of leftover turkey & ham, crescent rolls, branston pickle and mac ‘n cheese.

Oh right…forgot to mention the SEVEN dessert options available including: pumpkin pie, pumpkin spice cake, pumpkin ooey gooey cake, pumpkin bread, mince pie, pecan pie and vanilla ice cream!!! I like pumpkin a lot.

Aside from the success of the meal, it was so wonderful to have both of our families with us yesterday. I think both sets of parents were proud that their kids are finally grown up enough to host Thanksgiving and attempt to begin making up for the years and years and years they have taken on the responsibility with very little thanks from the kids. I also think they were a little excited not to have to cook themselves this year. Sitting at our make-shift twelve-seater dining room table and watching our families enjoying an enormous meal in our house and interacting like one big unified family was better than anything I could have asked for and for that, I am so thankful.


Right, so now I’m an expert and all, feel free to hire me next year for all your Thanksgiving needs. Ha!

for pumpkin flavored EVERYTHING and I love it! Last night after a delicious Rusan’s date night with Charles, we happened upon a Coldstone…curious. Actually, I planned the whole night around Coldstone, Charles just doesn’t know it. Anyhow, I had all intention of getting my standard cheesecake ice cream with graham crackers and oreos but when I looked in the case, a bright light shone down from the heavens and a holy host of angels sang out “pumpkin ice cream is glorious!”. Upon further review, I noticed the pumpkin pie combination recommendation of pumpkin ice cream, graham crackers, caramel and whipped cream….appropriately named “Pumpkin Pie in the Sky”. Needless to say, it was freakin’ delicious.

I have a cute little pumpkin on my front porch and I’m contemplating whether or not I should attempt to prepare the meat to make a pumpkin pie from scratch. My spidey senses tell me it will be a disaster given my previous records in the kitchen. We’ll see.

‘Tis also the season for morning tea in bed. When I am being a sweet wife, I sneak out of bed before Charles wakes up and make us both our morning tea. It is so much more delicious when it’s cold outside.

I’ve definitely been enjoying the amazing weather and cooler temperatures but we need rain so desperately. We were watching the best show on tv last night and it was raining in a couple of scenes…I realized I can’t remember the last time I have heard rain, one of my favorite sounds. But how can you complain about day after day of gorgeous blue, cloudless skies? I feel like I am living in Denver again. Drought in the fall is weird.

Oh, so the girl who loathes entertaining (that would be me) has decided that she should host Thanksgiving for BOTH families this year. The decision was mostly selfish as Charles and I don’t necessarily enjoy driving all over Atlanta Thanksgiving day. I thought buying the November issue of Martha Stewart Living would be the perfect answer to all my decorating/cooking/preparation needs but by the third page I realized she is way out of my league. I think I’ll stick with Real Simple…or is there “Thanksgiving Dinner for Dummies”? Luckily my dad’s bringing the fried turkey, the mom-in-law’s bringing ham so if I can just whip up some sides and desserts and manage to set the table, I’ll be a-okay. I actually think it’ll be fun. If any of you Atlanta transplants find yourself with nowhere to go that day, feel free to join the Simmons/Tarr clan, the more the merrier…I think.

I don’t know if you are experiencing the same, but work continues to get more and more unbelievably busy. Just when I think I can’t take another project or task, 5 more are piled on. The only thing getting me through at the moment is the thought that this is that last minute pre-Thanksgiving push when everyone is attempting to get as much done as they possibly can because they know they won’t be able to in that odd time at the office between Thanksgiving and the new year. So, good luck to everyone this last week and a half of insanity before the festivities begin.

Bye bye. Go dawgs.

I love Charles’ dog*. I really do. Most of the time his dog is so cute and so cuddly and all I want to do is give Charles’ dog lots of hugs and kisses. Then there are other times….times I like to get sleep and times I realize maybe I’m not ready for children, when I would like to put a gun to Charles’ dog’s head and pull the trigger or drive to the middle of nowhere, drop-kick him out of the car and speed off without ever looking back. I kid, I kid, I joke….ahem.

I will be civilized and not post the disgusting pictures of what Charles’ dog did to himself, but I will post these super-embarrassing, tal’s-never-making-it-to-cuteroverload.com pictures for you to enjoy. When your husband’s dog likes the taste of his own flesh and blood, you might want to have an appropriate sized “i can no longer chew my ass” collar on hand. And about $300. Dang!

*of course, he’s “Charles’ dog” when he does stupid stuff, he’s 100% my dog, or maybe “our dog”, when he’s doing all the cute stuff.

taliesin patrick (aka “Dumbass“) - front view

I’m not a movie critic so, instead, I will share my reaction to the film….

As the movie ended:
“That was really good.”

As we were riding down the escalator to the parking deck:
“That was really well done.”

As we were getting in the car:
“That was really heavy.”

Then I silently cried all the way home.

Sean Penn did a beautiful job adapting John Krakauer’s book to the big screen. It was lovely. It was heartbreaking. It moved me. Go see it if you have time.

Thanks to Chris, this guys blog* was introduced into my life today. His post is genius on a thousand levels. I loved every second of it and would be a bad blogger if I didn’t share with my throngs of readers. The 1962 Atlanta Daily World newspapers we found in our attic weren’t nearly this hysterical.

No write-up yet….maybe it will happen, maybe it won’t. For now, please enjoy some of the photos from our trip. I will try and provide the link to the remaining pictures soon.

grandma & me

the pirate club - camden canal

side street in bath

charles & a pint at our favorite pub in primrose hill

4 burns road, charles’ childhood home

bath abbey relief

delicious food offerings at the camden lock market

ceiling of the bath abbey

light fixture outside the national gallery