My apologies

My apologies for my recent lack of blogging! The last month has been very hectic! I meant to blog about the corn maze we took Norton to but that hasn't happened yet. I would have had a great blog post because we almost went to a rally in Scranton, Pa today with the Bidens and the Clintons! But Eric and I were both feeling a bit under the weather so we opted to stay home and relax today.

Last weekend, we celebrated my thirtieth birthday! Woo hoo! We partied with friends on my actual birthday and the following day, Eric took me to New York to see Mamma Mia and have dinner at Candle 79. The show was great and dinner was amazing.

Yesterday, we used up some of our wedding gift cards to buy a Breville juicer. So we spent our lazy Sunday making juice, napping, and making matzah ball soup.

I owe you guys a real blog post one of these days with actual photos and all. Excuse my laziness as of late.

Fajitas, Margaritas and Chocolate Soft Ice Cream

It was a wonderful weekend. This was the first weekend in ages where we didn't have 500 things to do! Friday was my last day of school and it was a happy day! I will miss my third graders who "graduated" and will spend the next four years at the middle school. It's nice to see them grow up in front of my eyes--some of these kids I worked with since the beginning of first grade. But it's sad to see them go.

But now its summer. Saturday morning, Eric and I ran errands. I was eager to check out our local farmer's market now that the season has started. However, there was only one farm stand open. We bought some local blueberries for an astronomical price but did get a good deal on a humongous head of red leaf lettuce! After that, we did our weekly food shopping.


Saturday night, we decided to go with a Mexican theme. I tried out my new cast-iron skillet and made portobello mushroom fajitas. They were yummy! First I marinated the mushrooms, onions, and peppers with a spice marinade that I found here. In our fajitas were mushrooms, onions, peppers, avocado slices, tofutti sour cream, and salsa. With our fajitas, we had some brown rice and deliciously spicy pinto beans. I found the recipe on Fat Free Vegan, though I modified it some...the beans came out too liquidy, so I drained some of the liquid, added some cornstarch and extra spices.



After dinner, we had margaritas. I combined fresh lime juice, agave, water, tequila, and shook. Then we drank. Then we drank some more later that evening--wine for me and Bailey's for Eric. We decided to walk over to our friends' home a couple blocks away to play some board games after their four children had gone to bed.



Sunday morning, we met with the rabbi for a final meeting before the wedding, then picked up a couple wedding-related items at the Judaica store, and got Eric fit for his tux. Fun stuff! Then we got to the spend the rest of the day at home--organizing, relaxing, and playing video games. Oh and chasing a mouse. We have a bit of a mouse problem. This was the 6th mouse we've found in over a month. Pumpkin killed the first three. We chased the last three out of the house. Not an easy task, mind you.

Dinner was some of Veganomicon bbq tofu (I cheated and used store bought sauce cause we already had it) and a big salad. Then we decided to use Eric's favorite shower gift that he begged his mother to buy me--a soft ice cream maker. We made some soy chocolate ice cream. It was pretty darn good!

Six weeks and six days

Yup, that's how long it is until Eric and I tie the knot. We had a very productive weekend as far as the wedding checklist goes. We ordered groomsmen gifts. Check! Ordered yarmulkes for ceremony. Check! Picked up toasting flutes and cake cutting set. Check!

Saturday, I spent the afternoon with my mom and sister. We had lunch at Chipotle, which was very good. Similar to Baja Fresh or Q'doba but everything is fresh! Then we went to see Sex and the City which we all enjoyed.

Saturday night, I made some raviolis I picked up at Whole Foods not too long ago. The brand is Rising Moon organics and we had the artichoke olive flavor, which was also vegan. However, they also have regular cheese ones too. They were delicious and pretty low in calories!

Sunday, we celebrated Father's Day with our families. Eric and I took our parents' out to lunch to Krogh's, a local bar and grille with yummy food! They have an awesome bean taco salad, which I love! Plus, its right across from Lake Mohawk, so we enjoyed a beautiful walk after lunch.

After our delicious lunch, we weren't very hungry for dinner Sunday night. So I made the marinated home fries from the Made From Scratch cookbook. I wrote more about that cookbook here. Sorry, no pic but they were delicious. Diced the potatoes, then boiled, then marinated with tamari-oil-mixture with onions, then sauteed with lots of garlic and onions and peppers, topped with FYH soy cheddar. Delicious!

Hot Hot Hot

I just love the near 100 degree heat, especially when we've got no air conditioning at home or at school. (Technically, we do have window air conditioners for the bedrooms, but we haven't had time to put them in yet. And, where we live, by the time we go to bed at night, the heat isn't quite as unbearable.) This is the third day of this horrendous heat wave.

On Friday, I decided to try out the indoor grill we got as an engagement gift several months ago. It was easy to use and great fun! I grilled up some chili lime corn, portobello mushrooms, and yellow squash. I will definately be using the grill some more this week!

Note: The photo of the grill came from the Williams-Sonoma website and I doubt those are vegan sausages!

Norton cuddles!

This weekend, Norton decided to sit on my lap for a good cuddle.  In some photos, Norton doesn't look that big but I think he looks like the big dog that he is in this photo!

A Big Day

Well, today was a big day. Not JUST because the Giants won tonight's Superbowl.

Today marks the one year anniversary of my first date with Eric. One year ago today, I never would have believed it if somebody had told me I was going to marry that guy. It was a good date. I liked Eric's sense of humor. He seemed like a nice enough guy and we got along well.

The next day was Superbowl Sunday, but instead of watching the game, I was spending the day with a girlfriend. We made pizza and brownies and watched a movie instead. While I was there, I had gotten an email from Eric asking me out for another date.

I asked my girlfriend what she thought. Should I go out with him again? She and I decided, why not? First date went well. Might as well give it a try.

Tonight, I want to thank that dear friend. That first date turned out to be the love of my life.

And six months from today, we'll be married.

And wedding plans are moving along...yesterday we had our second premarital counseling session with the rabbi AND we picked out our wedding rings! We've found a new videographer since the whole Celebration Studios nightmare. And we've contracted somebody to design custom invites for us! Yippee!

End of Weekend...

Another busy weekend. Saturday morning, we all woke up bright and early in the Munkee household. Norton and I headed to my folks' for the weekend and Eric flew off to Green Bay soon after for a Raiders game.

It was a busy Saturday--my sister-in-law's baby shower in the afternoon and then a visit with my friend Susan in the evening.

Sunday, my Nana and I went to a special Chanukah concert at the temple. We went to see Craig Taubman and his band perform. It was a such a joy to see this guy live after listening to his cd for a couple years now. Not only is his music really joyous and upbeat but he's a funny and energetic stage presence too.

TGIF!

I'm so happy it's almost the weekend. It's been a hectic week. We had Back to School night on Tuesday. On Wednesday night, I helped out friends in need and babysat their four (mostly sleeping) kids. This weekend, I'm just looking forward to spending time at home and relaxing. Getting stuff done around the house. We've got a Christening on Sunday. Maybe we'll make a trip to Trader Joes or Wegmans at some point over the weekend.

Eric said to me yesterday, "You know you're getting old when your idea of a fun Saturday is a trip to Wegman's."

I'd heard about the website Etsy and I checked it out for the first time yesterday. It's really a great site. An online marketplace of handmade things, all kinds of things from handmade jewelry to baked goods.

California Here We Come!

In a little while, we are leaving to catch our flight from Newark to San Francisco (with a layover in Charlotte :( .

Our main purpose of our weekend in the San Francisco area is to go to a Raiders game on Sunday. There's also some tailgating involved with other Raiders fans that Eric knows and a Raiders party Saturday night. Its my first football game too. Ever.

We're also going to Wine Country tomorrow. We'll spend Saturday exploring San Francisco and Sunday is the game.

Then Monday we'll fly home!

A Birthday Celebration

We wrapped up Eric's vacation week with a trip to Skytop Resort on Sunday to spend the day with Eric's parents and family friends as well. Not that we needed a special occasion to get together--but we did have a very special occasion! It was Liz's (Eric's mom) birthday!

The Poconos are a lovely place to spend the day. And a lovely day we had. We had lunch and lazed around on rockers.



Then we acted real goofy playing putt-putt golf. (Eric is goofy 90 % of the time as you can see below.)


Then a rainstorm chased us inside.
So we played a "no holds barred" edition of ping pong.
Luckily the weather cleared up. That made for some nice pictures! See?


We did some walking. Look. Kindred spirits live here.



I like this resort. They even have tea time.

After dinner, it was time to go home.

A Great Weekend

It really was a perfect weekend. I think the best part of it was knowing that I wouldn't have to wake up at 6am for work this morning!

Friday evening was spent in--at my parents' home, relaxing, and enjoying some quality time with Norton, Pumpkin and Mom. My dad had an overnight visit at the Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia, but this was for a good reason! He finally was able to get his tracheotomy out and he's doing wonderfully!

Saturday afternoon, after paying a visit to the Hong Kong Supermarket (for Sunday cooking essentials), I had lunch with my family at Cafe Colore, a delicious Italian restaurant in South Brunswick.

Then a visit to the A & P for whatever essentials I couldn't buy at the Asian market.

I already mentioned that I brought Norton here for good this weekend. Once I got him settled on Saturday, Karen and I met Katie and Mike in Princeton for dinner. (Eric was enjoying a boys' night out.) We ate at the Triumph Brewery. Yummy! And, of course, enjoyed some beer, as well! Next to Ricky's for ice cream and candy and a walk around the Princeton campus.

Sunday was a nice day spent with Eric. We took Norton to Duke Island Park for a walk and a swim, ran a couple errands and spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning and doing work around the house.

Sunday dinner was home-cooked Thai cuisine--Tom Yum Soup, pineapple fried rice and Eggplant with mint and chilies.

Eric kicked my butt at Battle of the Sexes (the board game), then we watched Bridget Jones' Diary, which he actually enjoyed!

Holiday Weekend

Hope everybody enjoyed the nice weather this holiday weekend! At least, the weather was nice in our area! We did get a lot done around the house. We moved some furniture around, bought a new dresser and bookshelf at Ikea, enjoyed a barbeque at my parents' on Sunday and assembled a couple of our new pieces. However, there is still so much more to do!!! I have a busy week ahead of me and a jam-packed to-do list! And, I really have nothing else exciting to blog about right now.

Burning Love

When trying to think of a witty title for today's blog entry, I decided to borrow the title from "The King's" hit song. Saturday morning, my love and I made the 2 1/2 hour voyage to Bloomsburg, Pa to visit with his parents. You've probably never heard of Bloomsburg before. I hadn't. It's a small town--in fact, the only official town in the big ole state of Pennsylvania. Bloomsburg is home to a state university in which Eric's father taught at for many years. Bloomsburg lies on the Susquehanna River. Look! A pretty picture of Eric with the river behind him!


So we had a lovely overnight visit at Eric's folks' home. Thanks so much for having us again! We attended a Thai dinner party at the next door neighbor's home and spent some quality time with a friend of the family visiting from Denmark. I even learned a few phrases in Danish to add to my repertoire!

Sunday morning/afternoon, after breakfast, Eric and I headed to our next adventure--hence, the title of this blog entry--Centralia, Pa. I've blogged about Centralia before. So I was finally going to visit the town thats been literally burning up for 45 years! Unfortunately, it really is a ghost town! There are some houses that are still occupied. There are a couple cemeteries that are still there with open gates and all. Is that supposed to be metaphorical? Not sure! But there's plenty of abandoned buildings too.



The main thoroughfare that used to go through town, Rt. 61, has since been diverted away from town. Huge mounds of earth have been formed to create roadblocks over the old highway. However, it doesn't stop crazy folk from driving right over the piles to satiate their curiosity.





For the record, I am crazy enough to have driven through. But my fiance--well, he is not! But, we drove on any roads we came to. I got to see some smoke coming out of the ground.


Looks can be deceiving...




I'll do some more research before I go back. Maybe get myself an off-roading vehicle and a helmet too.

Read this sign!



And this one too!


Look! I found a clip of a news story! In case you can't get enough!

A Great, Great Weekend

Sometimes, the weekends when there are no time for sleep are the best ones!

Saturday night, Eric and I went to the Ellarslie Open XXV's opening reception at the Trenton City Museum. This was an art museum that I had known of but had never had a chance to visit it. And, it was impressive. There was a lot of great work displayed. And the best part? No, not the free wine. My good friend, Amber, had some artwork displayed in the show--a painting and a framed photograph. Here's a picture of her and her painting.


And one of Eric and I from the art show--


After checking out the art exhibit, Eric and I had dinner at this awesome Asian restaurant, Elements. It was my second time there and the food does not disappoint. Its an eclectic mix of Chinese, Thai and Japanese.

Sunday, Eric and I headed to Baltimore for the day. Our main reason for going to Baltimore was to see the screening of the documentary, Blood, Boobs & Beast, about indie horror director, Don Dohler. Dohler happened to have been the director of Eric's film, Dead Hunt. It was an interesting documentary which ended unexpectedly and sadly. Dohler passed away of cancer this past December.

We decided to make a day out of our visit to Baltimore. So we had lunch at the California Pizza Kitchen at the Inner Harbor and paid a visit to Eric's "fifth favorite place," The Baltimore Aquarium. It was a lovely day and here's a couple more pics. Enjoy!

Eric and I enjoying the sunny, breezy day!

Horror Man Terrified of a Shark!

Sunday with my Sweetie

Busy, busy week! I've been on Spring Break all week and Eric came home on Saturday from his trip to Scotland! I missed him lots and I'm glad he's home now! Being off all week makes me really excited for summer!

On Sunday, Eric and I enjoyed an adventure in New York. I decided to drive in--our first stop was Union Square. We first had lunch at Cafe Spice, an Indian restaurant part of a local chain. I'd eaten there once before at their Philadelphia location. The food was good--though I've had better Indian for sure! (I live almost right in the heart of New Jersey's Little India!) Our adventure continued at the Strand Bookstore--home to 18 miles of new, used and rare books! The Strand is one of my NYC favorites! You can easily spend hours there perusing their 3 levels of books and spend a ton of money on half-price and $1 sale books. Just about everything there is half price with the exception of some new bestsellers and rare books. I got away with spending only about 27 dollars and I came home with 5 books! I did get a copy of the book I'd been eying for a while. It's written by none other than Amy Sedaris, sister of one of my favorite authors, David Sedaris.

Lunch at Cafe Spice

After our visit to the Strand (Eric's first!), we hopped back in the car and headed uptown to Zabar's, "NYC's gourmet epicurean emporium." It was my first visit to Zabar's--but guess what? Remember the scene in You've Got Mail where Meg Ryan's character, Kathleen Kelly is grocery shopping and ends up in the cash only line when Tom Hanks's character, Joe Fox helps her out. Yup. That takes place at Zabars. So Zabars is a place which is not only way too crowded (and therefore can be stressful) but is filled with lots of yummy and expensive foodstuffs. Specialty coffees and cheeses and chocolates...making me hungry...(hmm...we have a fridge full of their yumminess!)

Munkee and Monkey!

So that was our day. We almost ran out of gas on the GWB because foolish me thought I had enough gas to get us into the city and back. Sigh. Eric was right. But we made it out just fine for me to get gas in NJ. And we survived our first NYC outing together.

Joyful Week End

Well, it was certainly a delightful weekend even with the snowstorm we got on Friday! For the record, I love snow but after the balmy temperatures in the 70s we had last week I am ready to officially pack away the mittens and scarves for the capris and tank tops!

Saturday, we took my mother out for a birthday dinner. There were 13 of us--immediate and some extended family--and Eric met 'em all! I knew they'd all like him and I was right! And, the best part, my wacky family didn't freak him out! Eric has posted a pic of us from that dinner--see his blog for it...later on, I'll post a couple myself.

Eric and I enjoy a busy Sunday--we made a quick run to the Cherry Hill Mall, at lunch/dinner at the Olive Garden and bought some home essentials (including four pairs of chopsticks, wine charms and windchimes) at the Pier One Imports Outlet Store. Next we'll need to buy some wine glasses for the wine charms!

Our Sunday evening was spent at the movies--Eric wanted to see 300, so we went. It wouldn't have been a movie I would have chosen to see, but I still enjoyed it. The visuals were amazing and there were only a few parts where I had to close my eyes!

(Oh yeah. And for the record, I'm still working on the layout of this blog! I'm going to try using Photoshop to create a custom header. Keep checking back for a newer and improved blog!)

A Good Weekend

Did I mention that I love weekends? Did I mention that I love four day weekends? I'm so happy that I'm off Monday and Tuesday for Presidents Day/Winter Break! It's been a good and interesting weekend thusfar.

Friday, I went to the gym and stayed home and chilled!

Saturday, I slept in and ran errands, did laundry, etc.

Saturday night, I had a third date, which in my opinion, went quite well! We had dinner at a delicious restaurant called Coccola, a trendy and energetic eatery. We met at eight and sat, eating and eating and drinking, until after eleven. I started off with some kind of strawberry-rum type drink with lime! It was sweet, but not too sweet, not too strong, just right. I followed that with a glass of white sangria, which was served in a gigantic sized wine glass! My appetizer was the Asian spring rolls--crunchy and tasty! Dinner was the eggplant ravioli, minus the lobster! The raviolis were wonderfully flavorful and the sauce was yummy and tangy! I ordered one of my very favorite desserts--the tiramasu--a perfect way to end the meal! After dinner, the rest of the evening was spent talking...many hours of talking about every and any topic imaginable. We were sorta baffled by the fact that we get along so well even though we have such different interests.

So, if you're a regular reader of my blog, you'll notice this is the first date I've blogged about in quite a while. In the past few months, I've been on many first, second, and even one other third date(s)! But this is the first one that I felt was worthy of a posting.

So today's Sunday. I may just linger in my pajamas all day. That sounds good to me! Monday night, I have another date. And Tuesday night, I'm having dinner with my brother and his wife. Wednesday, I'll be back at school. Then 2 more days to another weekend! I love weekends :)