The Windy City

Today one of my coworkers asked if I had packed yet for our trip to Chicago. Little did she know I had a suitcase packed alright...uh, full of dirty clothes from New York. yeah.

I'm really looking forward to visiting Indiana (of all places). My aunties and uncles and cousins all live there. Super added extra bonus: my brother, my sister, my niece and parents are all flying in as well. I'm hoping to spend a night out on the town in Chicago with my sister while we're there, and maybe see some sights.

On another subject, the food nerd in me can't contain itself any longer:

Last night I made some awesome burgers with dried mint, minced garlic and onion, greek seasonings, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, and grill seasonings. when i put them all together, i stuffed some feta cheese inside in the middle and threw those babies on the grill. they were insane. I can't believe how much i missed bbqing. I just want to cook every meal on the grill now. Watch out, the summer is just starting.

okay fine! i'll start doing laundry and packing.

Yoga Progress Report

I get a big fat F. I went to yoga twice -it was hard work, yet refreshing and energizing and relaxing all in one. Unfortunately, I haven't been back since. Last week I went to a conference with evening activities and then we went to NY, to see Keane, and tonight - my first chance to set things straight, I decided to just come home. boo. Friday we go to Chicago/Indiana and we don't get back until Tuesday. Talk to me after then, and maybe, hopefully, by then I will have gotten my yoga on again. cross your fingers.

Is it Any Wonder?

This is the only song they played with a guitar. Otherwise they are drums and keyboard only.
I was crushed when I learned tickets for Keane were sold out, only days after they went on sale. I had this wonderful plan to secretly purchase tickets and take Lane for his birthday, but no. Enter Craig's List. I love Craig's List. We found a new home for our bbq grill when we moved *sniff*, found our first apartment here, and now tickets for Keane. Yahoo! Only a couple weeks before the show, I bought two tix for just a tad over what many people were selling individual tickets for. (nevermind the fact that i felt super sketchy meeting a guy at the subway stop and handing him cash for goods)...Let me just say the show was worth every penny!

The 9:30 Club is a really small, intimate place for a concert, in contrast to the huge theatre where we last saw Keane. Since it was general admission, we ended up right in the front and enjoyed every moment of the show. The singer was really apologetic for not coming back to DC sooner. The band had to cancel part of their tour last year because he found himself in rehab. They played bunches of songs including their hits - crystal ball, somewhere only we know, everybody's changing, is it any wonder, it's a bad dream - which is written about soldiers in Iraq and how they must feel... and tons more; i loved 'em all.

Anyway, it was a totally awesome night. When we last saw Keane, I had won tickets on a radio-winning binge . The show was fun, but we didn't really know the band so well - it was our introduction to Keane. And just so you know, the concert is WAY better when you know all the songs!

Loved it loved it loved it. Can't wait to see them again.

The Rest of NY

Check our all our weekend NY pics at www.laneandelena.shutterfly.com

One of my favorites is of a random old lady with a *bright* yellow plastic grocery bag. It's so awesome, because (even though it's hard to tell in the pic) her hair is the exact shade of yellow. Not blonde people, YELLOW.

Ah, what the hell. Here she is:

:

Mesa Grill

Mesa Grill totally lived up to my expectations. We were seated right away, the food was succulent, and the service was great. We started out with Raw Tuna Nachos with Mango Hot Sauce and Avocado Crema. Yum. They were so smooth and creamy.

We had deliciously refreshing mojitos and I was so excited that all the plates were different colors - blue, red, yellow, and the menu was red. Loved it.

Sixteen spice chicken with red chile peanut sauce and butternut squash tamale with hazelnut cinnamon butter
New Mexican Spice Rubbed Pork Tenderloin with bourbon-ancho chile sauce and sweet potato tamale with crushed pecan butter. This dish was absolutely incredible. It was like a crescendo of flavors... they just kept intensifying. I was inspired to try making a similar pork tenderloin at home. Wish me luck!

This was a momentous occasion that had to be photo-documented. Lane almost ALWAYS finishes my dinners. This was the first time (I think, ever) that I actually finished his dinner.

Unfortunately, Bobby Flay was not in the house. David was planning to challenge him to a throwdown.

Later that night, we met this guy named Anthony from Ireland. He had this very Irish accent and was just hilarious. When the bar was closing, the bartender said she could only serve shots. So, of course, he asked for a shot...of Heinekin, in a very tall glass.

We go home tomorrow. Hoping to spend more time at Central Park. Our weekend has been nice and relaxing so far.

Mid Weekend NY Report

We went straight to Mangia e Bevi, my brother's favorite NYC restaurant, as soon as we arrived at 10pm. This place is usually cah-razy. Picture a nice little italian joint with friendly staff, delicious pastas, a wood burning pizza oven. Now add pounding club-esque music (a la Shakira), customers dancing on their chairs, waiters passing out tambourines, and grabbing diners to dance, shall we say a little freaky with them and you have the typical Mangia e Bevi experience. It was actually quite mellow on Friday, with only one b-day party going on.


Saturday morning, we spent some time in Central Park. It was so relaxing. We chilled by this fountain and just people watched. We saw this guy playing guitar, another guy rocking out to drums. He put a bunch of hula hoops out so people could hula to drum beats.




We saw Wicked that afternoon. It was a fabulous show. Everything about it was amazing - the vocals, the set, the costumes. Definitely was worth our while.

Afterwards, we met up with my brother at a bar. David got there a while before we did. He told us how this totally drunk guy (it was only 5 pm) came in asking for a job. When the bartender broke the news that they weren't hiring, he asked for the next logical thing... uh, the restroom. He was in there a while, so the bartender asked how he was doing. This guy opens the door as he's peeing and explains how he just had 5 pitchers of beer, but not to worry, he was okay. They had to shoo him out of the bar as he tried lighting a cigarette inside... So we had our drinks, leisurely ate our appetizers, had some good conversation. As we were leaving Lane and I noticed this guy passed out on the steps next to the sidewalk. David immediately noticed him as the guy who had asked for a job. Check him out: Notice his cigarette is still totally burning.

We had an interesting night on the town. We hung out with a friend of David's from work and her friends, including Gino and Vinny from Jersey. We were going to go dancing at some Cuban place but somehow ended up at a hookah bar instead. Crazy Nueva York.


Being the Food Network nerd that I am, I made reservations for tonight at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill on 5th Avenue. Hopefully his food will taste as scrumptious as it looks on TV. I'm such a sucker.

Great Succeeeess! (Lane says, "high fiiiive!")

When we were in California I lived off the bbq grill in the summer. I cooked every part of every meal outside, quickly and wonderfully, and all the while kept my house at a decent temp. Bbq food is comfort food to me. I'm not talking hotdogs and hamburgers i'm talking medium rare steaks, grilled eggplant, corn, potatoes, grilled pizzas, marinated chicken, grilled garlic bread. mmm. We would have massive bbq fiestas with my family, bring out the guitars and play and sing. In fact, when we went back last month and my mom asked me what i wanted her to make, there was no question: bbq madness, of course!

You can't imagine how devastated I was to learn that we weren't allowed to use bbq grills at our first apartment in VA. Or worse yet, that we were moving to a 12th floor apartment with NO balcony, so we had to get rid of the grill all together. Don't worry, we found a wonderful loving home for it.

Well, there are two small grills in the patio of our two building, 12 floors each apartment complex. We tested the grill and I couldn't have been happier! Foil pouches of pesto potatoes and new york steaks cooked to perfection. We brought down some fresh pineapple and bread and cheese to enjoy while we cooked on the grill. It was getting dark, warm, with a gentle breeze, and the birds were still chirping. The only thing missing was a glass of my dad's wine.

my one concern now is securing a grill spot on one of the two grills as the summer season kicks in over the next few weeks. Wish me luck, as I plan on re-mastering the art of grilling.

better get back to packing for our trip...

The big Veinte y Nueve

Happy Birthday to Lane :) Here's Lane and our 1 1/2 year old nephew, Andrew at my parents' house. Andrew called us yesterday (with some assistance from his mommy) after he had been picking up the phone saying, "hello, 'lena? lane?" He wished Lane a happy birthday in cutesie one year old style: "birffday, lane". Too precious.

No big plans tonight, other than testing out the bbq grill 12 floors down on the patio. Tomorrow we head to Nueva York for the long weekend, where we'll catch Wicked on Broadway. Tuesday night we are going to a Keane concert. Talk about a b-day weekend celebration. love you lane XOXO

Yay, Reading! 2007

I decided to keep track of my reading so far this year.

1. The Arabian Nights - based on the text of the fourteenth-century Syrian manuscript. Edited by Muhsin Mahdi
2. Like Water For Chocolate (again, and in English) - Laura Esquivel
3. A Memoir - God Grew Tired of Us: The Heartbreaking, Inspiring Journey of a Lost Boy of Sudan - John Bul Dau
4. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood - Rebecca Wells
5. A Long Way Gone. Memoirs of a Boy Soldier - Ishmael Beah
6. Love in the Time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
7. Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography - The True Story of a Black Youth's Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa - Mark Mathabane
8. Bergdorf Blondes - Plum Sykes
9. A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
10. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling
11. The Little School: Tales of Disappearance and Survival - Alicia Partnoy
12. Memories of My Melancholy Whores - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

More Africa Pics

I finally spent the time to upload my pics from Geneva, Monrovia and Freetown on shutterfly. Here's the link for the (almost two hunded) pics.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AZt3Dhs2YsmLmw

Happy Birthday Beau!

Our beautiful, ewok-loving, sweetheart of a nephew turns three today. Three years ago today, we got a phone call letting us know Beau had made his grand entrance:

Lane (on the phone to his brother): Dude! He's my favorite nephew! He's born on my birthday!

Elena: uhh, Lane? Today is NOT your birthday.

uh-oh.

Namaste

In the summer of 2005 I learned about a yoga studio in Morgan Hill. I started going and immediately became hooked. I was attending classes three and four times a week. It was wonderful. Then hurricane Katrina happened, and I was working twelve plus hour days, no time to even cook myself dinner, let alone go to yoga class. Before I knew it, I was moving to Washington DC and never got back into the swing of things.

Until yesterday. Several people had recommended a particular yoga studio in downtown DC. I had been thinking about doing yoga for months, and decided it couldn’t wait any longer. So I packed my yoga mat and decided to catch a class after work.

I can't believe it took me this long to start up again. My class was so calming, relaxing, and at the same time, HARD WORK! At the end of class, they give you an aromatherapy spritz, an eye pillow for the relaxation, and even a little two minute massage. I felt great leaving class.

Today I feel energized. I woke up alert, ready for the day instead of sleepy and snoozing. I even rolled out my mat and did a few poses to start my morning off. I am calm and collected, focused and worry free today. I also feel the stretching in my arms, legs and back. It’s so refreshing. I can’t believe I took a two year break from yoga. My goal is to keep it up, and hopefully attend classes once or twice a week. Check in with me in two months to make sure I'm still going strong.

This moring I looked up the meaning of Namaste on a yoga journal website:

The gesture Namaste represents the belief that there is a Divine spark within each of us that is located in the heart chakra. The gesture is an acknowledgment of the soul in one by the soul in another. "Nama" means bow, "as" means I, and "te" means you. Therefore, Namaste literally means "bow me you" or "I bow to you."

Cinco De Mayo Lesson

Last weekend was my first weekend home since the end of March! Lane and I planned to take it easy and just relax. We took his electric guitar to a shop for repairs and then, on that rainy cinco de mayo Saturday, decided to go grocery shopping. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, grocery shopping. That’s when I feel like an old lady, when I grocery shop on Saturday evening.

We got home, arms full of groceries, opened the apartment door and were suddenly bombarded with a sea of loud music in our apartment. I immediately shuddered at our bad neighborship – did we really leave the music on THAT loud? Had Lane left one of his computer video games running? The horror.

But then we realized the sound was coming from outside. Being the resourceful person that I am, I checked online and found that a FREE Gin Blossoms concert was happening right outside our apartment. Shame on us for not knowing what’s going on in our neighborhood! We decided to just enjoy the music from our apartment, since with our luck, the concert would have been ending by the time we got down there ourselves.

We made some kick-ass nachos and strawberry margaritas in honor of cinco de mayo – and learned our lesson too! Stay informed of events in Crystal City!

In my newfound wisdom, I learned of a free art exhibit right around the corner from our apartment. We have to make sure we make it out there!

I had the best of intentions!

I was so excited to create my blog before leaving on my West Africa adventure. The only problem was that I spent most of my time in meetings, and there were only two computers in the whole office with internet access. This was some slow internet, too. I will try to provide a condensed version soon. Here are some pics: