Svenksa Smorgasbord

We had everyone over for the usual Swedish smorgasbord dinner for Christmas. I'm probably missing things but we consumed

• herring in mustard sauce
• herring in wine sauce
• herring in cream sauce
• sardines
• gravlax
• salmon pate
• pickled beets
• pickled cucumbers
• carraway akvavit
• saffron akvavit
• prinz korv
• potato sausages
• many kinds of Swedish dry flatbreads
• stuffed grapeleaves (taking the place of stuffed cabbage!)
• Jarlsberg and other Nordic style cheeses
• Goat Cheese and a stinky (very) washed rind cheese
• Swedish meatballs
• Lingonberries
• Johannsson potatoes (some made without anchovies)
• a giant bone in ham
• green beans
• Rutmus (rutabaga and turnip casserole)

I'm forgetting all the stuff for dessert too, but by then everyone was full anyways. I'll post pictures, even though it was done in stages. We had a lot of people over, so that was good too.

Condos booked for Keystone & Breckenridge

As mentioned via email I have booked our housing for the Keystone and Breckenridge trip. You can see the Keystone house here and the Breckenridge one here. Here's the first one we are staying at to the right. And here's the second one below. We went through central reservations and got a much better deal than through individual landlords, which is a break from the purchasing pattern I have used for the last decade. Unusual, but smaller firms have not adapted to the New Normal as well.

Christmas Lights

We had a holiday cocktail party at our home, with some of my work colleagues and local friends. The Christmas lights looked nice on the house, although many of our neighbors (in the 40's area) have gone quite overboard. Entire streets are lit up, with strings of lights criss crossing the entire block. Our get together was pretty well attended, which was a pleasant surprise.

We put up the family tree, which is already preinstalled with lights, but it actually takes a lot of time to connect all the lights. And then we got all the ornaments down from the attic to place on the tree. The cats like to sit under it and look at the shiny globes.

At the party, we announced to everyone that J. is due with twin girls, sometime this spring. The timing is for April, but with multiples its not as predictable as regular single babies. So we are excited, and getting ready for a house full of craziness.

Unfortunately, both cats are ill, refusing to eat or drink along with being listless. We've been at the vets for hours each day, where they are get fluids and medicines transfused and are force fed. They have something that is viral and bacterial, although we are unaffected. They are sitting here sitting in front of the fire on their (now early) Christmas present - an animal heating pad. It's a foam pad that has a pressure sensitive warmer underneath. It turns on when they are resting on it, and even then, only on the parts under them. This Amazon dispatched item goes to a mellow 102F. They love it, especially when they are not feeling well like now, but I think it will be good for their arthritis in general.

[Addendum - after a week of IV infusions twice a day and 4-5 other random medicines - the feline nation is feeling much better]

NYT article about Stowe

The NYT has a very sunny article about Stowe, VT. Definitely worth the click through. The mountain is going to undergo tough times the next few years -- it was late to the expansion game, and in a new value concious America, what they offer versus what they cost is not fitting in with the new social mores.

Waiting in long lines for their Quadrunner lift will cure anyone of thinking the development monies went into the on hill product, rather than unsold condos. It is still worth the visit -- we loved our trip a while back -- but look for package deals to lighten the hit to your wallet.

This does not surprise me

 

The Sundial Bridge in Redding

On the way home from Mt Shasta, we stopped in Redding to see the famous Sundial Bridge, pictured above. Shasta was beautiful, but snowy and cold. Winter has arrived there.

Getting settled in

We are preparing to have family over for Thanksgiving. It will be our first "party" here so we are looking forward to that. Things are mostly put away -- we hung many of my vintage Art Deco prints last week -- but we still need to sort out our books.

This weekend we are heading to Shasta for a wedding. I have never been up there so am interested to see this mountain town. I heard it is already snowy there.

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De-Icing Required Before Take Off

This is an old picture of Lena, back when she could still fit her girth into the red coat.

 

If only the runway was longer she could have attained liftoff...

Speed Checked By Radar

It was not a good weekend for the Corvette, which inexplicably decided to start having lunging problems while driving.

 

We pulled off Fair Oaks, and called Hagerty's RoadSide Assistance, which sent a flat bed truck to take the car home.

 

I am baffled, as I have never had this issue before with the car.  Typically when it acts up, its usually electrical gremlins at work, which I know how to deal with.

 

So next on my never ending list of things to do is to find a good classic car mechanic nearby.

 

We still had a very busy weekend, unpacking the house and shopping for essentials.

Pi Lam Ski Trip: Jan 23-30, 2010 (Keystone, then Breckenridge)

Here's the ski plan

Jan 23 - 30 , 2010

• Sat Jan 23 - Travel / Arrival day to Keystone


• Sun Jan 24 - Tues Jan 26 - Ski at Keystone


• Wed Jan 27 check out of Keystone, drive to Breckenridge am, Ski there all day, Condo check in late afternoon.


• Thurs Jan 28 - Fri Jan 29 - ski at Breckenridge


• Sat Jan 30 - Travel / Departure day at Breckenridge

Those of you who want may be able to squeeze in extra skiing at Keystone/Breck on arrival and departure days, as Keystone has night skiing, and depending on if you take a late flight out, you might cram in a little on the Saturday. These are all Summit County resorts and a few hours from Denver; the resorts are about 45 minutes from each other.
Keystone's character is more condos / families around the mountain. Breck's more of a party town with a ski area attached. Both places are large, enough to keep us occupied for the time allotted, but not as large as Vail or the Aspen complex. I would characterize them as perhaps Sun Valley in size/sprawl. I've been to both, but not in a dozen years, so they have improved their amenities since then.

Next Steps and Time Table

If you are interested in joining us for either the full trip, or one leg, please reply. I would suggest booking some kind of travel/flights during the month of November. Once we have an accurate handle (by booked flights) on how many people will be at each point, I will work on getting condos for each end. Key/Breck both have very good shuttle service from the local airports (both Eagle/Vail and DIA) so we may be able to get by with a smaller rental car/truck. I will research condos during the month of November. I still also need to get my Epic pass, and a pair of new ski boots. NB if you will be out West for the full week, or possibly two trips, the Epic pass works well cost wise. Both of these resorts are more middle market priced (if there is such a thing in the expensive sport of skiing) rather than top tick like Beaver Creek etc.

I will put this up on the blog, and also send a note to the PiLam list in case anyone else is interested.

I look forward to seeing you all. The villainous Shot-Ski from Vermont has followed us out West.

We have arrived

After a wonderful pitstop with friends in Incline Village, Nevada we arrived yesterday in Sacramento. Our cross country trip averaged 29 mpg, 59 mph and covered 3554 miles in about 60 actual driving hours. The real travel time was longer of course, those stats are from when the engine was turned on.

The last third of the drive across Utah and Nevada was tiresome, just cold high desert with little scenery or things of interest.

The Acura handled things well and with the GPS, satellite radio, and mobile PDA internet we didn't have to do much planning. Most things could be arranged on the fly, whether rerouting for a traffic jam or changing plans for a hotel night.

Today I picked up the Corvette and brought that home. It will probably need to be retuned for the altitude here. It was calibrated for about 1000 feet of elevation in Vermont; we are lower here. The old carbureted systems cannot adjust automatically the way electronic fuel injected cars do nowadays. I am mildly thinking of getting transitorized ignition too -- it would make things more reliable. Although we should be able to use the vehicle more out here given the sunny warm weather most of the year. On the East Coast I had to put it away between Thanksgiving and Easter basically.

Snowing in Park City

We overnighted at the very nice SilverKing in Park City, arriving in a light snowfall and blustery winds. It was quite a difference from 80F Denver yest morn.

They gave us a big suite with a fireplace and jetted tub so J was able to relax a little. There are good deals to be had in ski resorts
before the season starts although the hotels are empty.

Thoughts of The Shining were not far from my mind walking through the empty lobby.

We hit the road for Incline Village in a few minutes.

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At the Chuckwagon in Laramie, Wyoming

We overnighted with family in Colorado and are now in Wyoming. The plan is to spend tonite in Park City, Utah. We had to make a few pitstops this morn but are making ok time.

The high plains here (8600 ft) are beautiful.

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A night out in Omaha

We have a room at the old fashioned Magnolia Hotel in downtown Omaha, not far from the historic cobblestone street district. After checking in, we walked down there to the Upstream to get some dinner, which was ok but nothing special. On the way back, we took a horse drawn carriage ride with Thunder (horse) and Xander (dog) and a taciturn drover. Happily -- since we could not find a place to get dessert -- they had cookies and milk waiting in the hotel lobby upon our return.

It was a long drive today, and tomorrow promises more of the same. But we are about half way across the nation. It has been interesting seeing all the various crops grown across the heartland.

The Oracle of Omaha

We are in Omaha, Nebraska now.

But we are not calling on Warren Buffet.

Staying at the Magnolia Hotel and looking for dinner now.

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My own private Iowa

We are in Iowa on our way to lunch with a college ski buddy.

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Just crossed into the Land of Lincoln

And we are getting chicken dinner at White Fence Farm in a little bit. Yum!

We had quite a detour going through Indiana but google maps and
Gtraffic found us a back route through some cornfields. That made things easy and interesting. So far the car map system is underperforming. We will try more
flexible settings so it can solve reroutings better.

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Indiana now

Passing through the flatlands of Indiana now.

Passing into Central time soon.

So far dry but overcast.

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Breakfast in Ohio

And soon we are heading into Illinois.

We are hearing the cats are causing mischief in our absence.

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Slow traffic in West Virginia

And rainy all day so far. Averaging 29 mpg so far.

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In the rolling hills of Western Pennsylvania

We are getting fuel for ourselves and the car here. The farmland out
here is covered with winter wheat, harvested corn, and some kind of
greens. Long drive still ahead of to our rendezvous point two in
Columbus where we are seeing old college friends and coworkers.

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We are on the road in Western Vermont

We are currently driving through the beautiful Vermont mountains on
our way to rendezvous point one in New York.

It was sad to leave on such a pretty blue sky cool and bright day. It
was a blessing to have had the cabin part of our lives this last
decade plus however.

You can track us on Latitude by the way.

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Back from NYC

I just got back from a busy Labor Day Weekend in NYC. I had a range of things to do, some fun and some chores. Here's what we did

• Packed up the last apartment bits & pieces


• Hosted a goodbye party at our place, pleasantly well attended and behaved


• Had contractors do a small job in Vermont, which went smoothly


• Met our new tenant and did the walk through of the cabin, explaining the home's quirks


• Tried the new Scottish pub, where we had "steak pie"


• Went to the American Legion fair, purchasing bake sale cookies and glow in the dark knick knacks


• Watched the Labor Day Fireworks in our village, a nice sendoff on J's birthday


• Dropped the Corvette off for service and shipping to the West Coast


• Flew the (disgruntled) cats back with me, in their own purchased seat (You can see their new carrier up on the right)

It was nice seeing everyone, as well as having a last weekend in Vermont.

But it was tiring.

Found a House

After fairly extensive hunting, Jenn found a suitable home for us downtown. I inspected it twice, and after doing some background checks on the owners, signed a lease for it over the weekend. It's near the UCD Davis Med Center, in the part of Sacramento that is referred to as midtown, downtown, Elmhurst, or East Sac -- depending on who you ask. There are a vast number of houses here for rent (and sale) but only a small number could fit our needs. Going through the process was both annoying, and amusing. Hopefully we will not have to deal with this again soon.

Returning to Sacramento

I have some news to share. As some of you have known, Jennifer and I had been looking to return to the West. After a long set of discussions, I have joined the investment office for a western pension manager this week. I am working for CalPERS in Sacramento (conveniently close to Sierra skiing).

Apologies for the short notice, but due to the California budget issues, I had to get on site quickly. It was sad+hard to leave my prior shop -- which I loved and was thriving at -- but we are excited about my new role, and expect that it will offer a different path for professional growth. At this stage in our lives, it is also important that we be closer to family.

Hopefully I will get back to the East Coast a few times this year so that we can more properly say goodbye to many of you.

Weekend in the City

What we did this weekend

• "Surprise" birthday party for Lauren at Blau Gans, which was pretty good, although not spectacular. The place is loud due to many hard surfaces, and the lack of soft sound baffling table linens.
• A field trip to Queens to visit the Jackson Heights Diner, Patel Brothers, and Costco (they seem to have abandoned couponing). We got lots of idli mix as well as fresh spices.
• Broiled veal chops, topped with a cranberry/garlic relish. Awesome.
• Watched The Dark Knight, with Heath Ledger as the Joker. I'd heard this was good, as well as his acting, and it delivered....although at 2.5 hours the movie was way too long.
• Planted catnip, rosemary, and parsley in the patio garden.
• Got the cats wound up by blowing bubbles for them to ferociously bat.
• Made fresh bruschetta and ahi tuna poke.
• Went to Pinkberries.
• Took a platter of stuffed grapeleaves to church.
• Read The Hi Tech Strategist and ICAP Shipping newsletters.
• Was annoyed by the Food Emporium's low level bait & switching.

We don't suggest giving your cat a bath at home

Some of the things we did this weekend:

• Clambake on the patio - a big pot of corn, clams, and scallops - along with some Seabreezes.
• Went to Central Park and saw the carnival
• Another night we made stuffed pork tenderloin along with some stuffing.
• Washed and groomed the cats, and got the heck scratched out of us in exchange
• Church pot luck
• Planted flowers and cleaned the windows
• Watched "Burn After Reading"
• Made a slow cooker ragu and had that with noodles and a bottle of Barolo
• Went to Bloomingdales and Dylans Candy store
• Cleaned the closets

Memorial Day Weekend in Vermont

We were up in Vermont for the long weekend, which was very pleasant weatherwise -- cool and sunny most of the time. We fired up the grill and made steaks, ribs, and burgers over the various nights. It was sunny enough to use the Corvette the whole time we were up there so after getting an inspection sticker we went up to Springfield to do some errands and found an old time soft serve ice cream place. One day we went into Grafton and picked up some local common crackers, and stopped at the lonely real estate agent's office to get their views on the market. There are a lot of houses on the market up there, with very few sales. Not much different from the national perspective, although prices in Grafton (and Vermont in general) never got as wild as they did in the sunnier states. On the night we arrived, we went down into the village where one place is doing BYOB and serving crepes. The crepes were kind of weak, but it was still fun enough to try.

Heading up to Vermont now

Been a long week in NYC and we are heading out of town now.

Spring has sprung

I've left out a couple of weeks of activity, but we had a busy weekend up in Vermont. On Saturday we switched our warm/cold clothes out, as well as culled the closets and gave the excess to PlanetAid. Then we switched the storm windows for the screens and cleaned/charged up the Corvette. After doing a half dozen loads of laundry we barbecued a brisket, made a fresh endive & orange salad, and warmed up some cornbread for dinner. We had an 01 Clarendon Hills grenache that had the licoricey flavors to complement the brisket which J. had rubbed in fresh ground star anise, cumin, and chili powder. It was good, and quite different than it was in its grapey tannic youth. However we've stopped buying that kind of overripe wines. After that we relaxed and watched a movie.

Today we harvested the daffodils to take back to the apartment/office and then went for a ride in the Corvette. Happily the car was behaving properly and started up well after a few hours of charging at 10 amps. It was too cold to take the top down, so we pulled on sweaters and took it out. We drove down into town and stopped at the farm stand where we got some fresh fiddleheads to saute with dinner -- grilled tomatoes and porterhouses -- along with some mature 96 Clerc Milon. We gave the pestering cats some turkey and started packing for home. (To the left is a picture of Pablo, which I took when I visited home for a few days. He muzzle has turned from brown fur to a silvery shade as he has become a senior citizen. He still has the same spit and vinegar of his youth, and raided my satchel within 20 minutes of my arrival, gobbling the gourmet macaroons that J. had packed for me and running off with an apple in his mouth).

Anniversary at Sugarbush

We celebrated our wedding anniversary with a weekend at Sugarbush, which was a pleasant 2 hour drive up from the cabin -- with an early start -- and had a great spring afternoon skiing their southern Mt Lincoln area. Things got slushy in spots, but other areas were in good shape, and we skiied most of the important trails except for OrganGrinder. Well I skied the bottom part, which was good, but not the exciting part.

The next day it was raining so we went shopping in the charming little villages and did a drive by of Mad River Glen followed by dinner at the Pitcher Inn. The Pitcher Inn is probably the finest restaurant in Vermont, and is in a village not too far from Sugarbush. It was fabulous, and although priced like NYC, it's worth every penny. The wine list is deep, and very well selected, without the typical resort town scam of bad vintages from good houses. Great stemware, service, ambience, and food. You'll need to make reservations, but its worth the effort.

We woke the next morning to a spring storm of a half foot of fresh powder, so we went off to the northern mountain of Sugarbush, Glen Ellen. We got a pretty good deal for skiing here on a Monday, and skiied the whole mountain, including the usual closed Inverness racing area. Near the end of the day, we finished by skiing the fresh snow off the smaller lift on the lower left side. J. really enjoyed that feeling. (if you click on the picture to the right you can see the untracked powder we skiied) Driving home had a little quirk; we changed at the mountain and headed back to southern Vermont to change/wash/eat at the cabin. However we found the road mired in impassable mud about a mile from the house, so we wisely gave up and went into town to eat. We then headed back to NYC and washed up at home. It was such a range of conditions over the weekend: sunny spring conditions one day and cold, snowy, powdery the next.

Its great to be able share a sport you love with people you love.

March 1 at Okemo

We had a nice day skiing at Okemo, although the ice was bad the day before, but they had done some snowmaking and grooming that made conditions better. We took J. over to the Jackson Gore side of the mountain for the first time, which she enjoyed, and I tried the new trail they had cut, called White Lightning I think. It was barely groomed, and does not appear to have been destumped, nor have snowmaking, but was kind of interesting to try.

Snowy Day at Okemo

We went to Okemo today, and it snowed all day. We probably got a half foot of snow during the time we were there, and it made getting home a little stressful. But there were few people at the mountain, so we had great conditions with no crowds, which made it fun to ski some of the trails we have not been on much this season. J. skied most of the mid range trails today and given the conditions was handling them well. Some of the narrower ones like Jolly Green Giant are only worth doing on powdery days like today. We started around the Green Ridge triple, then went over to Solitude, back up to the top, and then had lunch at the peak, followed by a stop at the Loft afterwords.

Both driving back, and leaving the cabin, was tricky. There was a lot of snow on the road and we were lucky than we'd just put new tires on the car, and that the town plow truck did our road about 5 min before we had to leave.

Lots of fun stuff over Presidents Day weekend.

This is at Bromley, on a very sunny day.

These are the girls at the top of Okemo.

Here we are in Chester, after a horse drawn ride around the village.

This is at the top of the Yodeler run at Bromley.

Warm but Icy Conditions at Okemo over Weekend

On Sunday we went to Okemo to ski on an unseasonably warm February day. It was pleasant in temperature -- Colorado had been colder -- but because of a windy, rainy night beforehand the conditions were scratchy and icy on the top part of the main mountain. At the base area, things were slushy and unpleasant, and things were nothing at all like the advertised "packed powder" the website so cheerfully was claiming as of 6:44am. So after getting tired of having my skis fail to bite into the trail, I made my way down to the tuning shop where I had the edges sharpened up.

While that was happening I checked in on my sister and her friend who had decided to take lessons. It looked like they were having fun and making progress in gaining new skills. Afterwards we took them to Mountain Services to get them ID cards, although the new cards don't have as many of the special perks they used to give in previous years. Hopefully things will be colder for the big coming holiday week, they need to blow some snow to improve the trail conditions.

Back from Colorado

I returned from Colorado late this afternoon, having enjoyed a wonderful week of skiing with college alumni at Beaver Creek and Vail. We mixed it up between the two resorts, but I think most of us enjoyed Vail more. The snow was fantastic at both areas (4 feet over the week!) but was even better at Vail. I also like the trails there better, and its hard to compare anything to their sunny backside. We spent a whole morning riding the Orient Express up and down, enjoying the wide open expanses. Despite the large amount of visitors they get -- 20,000 a day I'm told -- there is enough mountain space to scatter them out except for a few choke points, like Two Elk at lunch or the bottom of Born Free at days end.

I've visited Colorado off and on over the last dozen plus years, and this was easily the coldest and snowiest I've experienced it. The temperatures were more like frosty Quebec than the sunny Rockies. Above is Eagles Nest viewed from the top of the mountain, at approximately 11,000 feet, and cold and windy. I had to take the battery out of the camera and warm it up by rubbing it on my fleece to get the camera to register the voltage! I have put a few more pictures here.

First Day at Beaver Creek

We had our first ski day at Beaver Creek this morning, after fueling up with breakfast tortillas and baked beans. It was about 40F at the base but after we took the Centennial lift up to the mid mountain area it got cold and snowy quickly. It snowed 4 in or so during the course of the day, and we are forecast to get another 6-12 in tonight. From the the top of Centennial we took Harrier down to the Red Tail area. There was a lot of soft fresh snow, but the trail was a little hairier than we needed for the first run of the week -- still we got down eventually.

From there we took Larkspur up to the big broad trail off the top of that lift. It was choppier than it would be normally after grooming, but we enjoyed it so much that we repeated it. The fog was getting heavy now, so we took the Birds of Prey lift up to the top of the Mountain. We enjoyed all the easy trails at the top for an hour or so, before our legs started getting rubbery, and it was time to start planning a route home. The top runs here are blessed with good snow and gentle pitches, but the Cinch lift does accumulate a lot of skiiers.
We eventually took the Gold Dust trail all the way back down to the base, which was probably something like 3000 vertical feet, so it was a nice long ride. It was challenging in parts, and reminded me of Canyon at Sun Valley or Silver Queen at Aspen, although not as steep. But with the soft fresh snow here it was easy to turn on anything even if was steep, most unlike icy Vermont.

Once we got home we piled into the hot tub and then lit up a roaring fire while we baked a pan of potato au gratin and grilled some skirt and flank steaks, paired with a 91 Anderson Conn Creek and a 90 Grand Mayne. It was a nice way to close a good day.

Bromley MLK 2009

We spent the official Martin Luther King holiday skiing at Bromley, rather than our usual mountain. There had been a half foot of fresh snow the day before and we felt like trying something different. Bromley is south facing, unusual for most ski areas, and does not have as much snowmaking as Okemo, so I like to pick our spots to go there when the weather has been cooperative. A perfect day there is cold, sunny, and has recent snowfall. Because it is south facing, when it's sunny you get the remarkable combination of skiing with the sun shining on your face which is great. You also pick up solar gain which can warm you up as well.

It was subfreezing and snowy although cloudy but these were still fantastic conditions. Every run was open and all lifts were running so we buzzed all over the mountain. J. wanted to start skiing some of the signature runs of this mountain so she went down the main run under the lift line (Twister) a few times. With the perfect snow conditions it was quite manageable for her; when it gets icy / bumpy I am happy to avoid it but the conditions on Monday were perfect. I took a few runs at high speed (for me) without stopping to get ready for next week.

Ending the day exhilarated and exhausted is the perfect last run.

MLK Weekend - 2009

I have been serving jury duty the last few days, and am really hoping that the case is resolved by the time I have to leave next weekend. If it's not, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I started on the 14th and we were told by the clerk that 10 days was enough of a margin of safety to not request a postponement. Given the free time on my hands, I wanted to get it done with anyways.

We were at Okemo yesterday, with the temps ranging from -2F through 12F, although there was no wind but clearly it was severely cold. The cashiers even gave us a few discounts for future lift tickets since it was so bitter. Afterwards we met some of Jenn's co-workers for apres ski, which is one of the few times I've done that at my own home mountain, since I was normally in a hurry to get back so that Lena could get walked etc. It's weird not having to hurry back home now. One kind of interesting thing we saw was that J's cousin Kim and her family are being used for the the Okemo Mountain Photographer's sample family shot in the main lodge. It's an excellent photo of them, but I think it was Photoshopped a little to make the colors more vibrant.

The mountain was totally open with all the lifts running, and although conditions were putatively "packed powder", I would have characterized them as more machine groomed with lots of crunchy man made snow. We buzzed around the main mountain and J. got introduced to many of the more interesting intermediate level trails including the bigger ones like Chief and Boomerang. We got home and made a pot of fondue with the one we had brought home from Gstaad. Today it snowed about 4 inches so we stayed in doing chores and loading the wood stove while we baked brined chicken breasts and potatoes au gratin.

Christmas Decorations on Steroids

This was kind of an unusual weekend, since we stayed in the city during ski season, and we went out to dinner a few times. On Friday night we went to an Alsatian restaurant, Cafe d'Alsace, where we had some traditional dishes of that French region. Jennifer and I shared a bowl of bouillabaisse -- a saffron infused fish stew -- and then had some charcoutrie which is a sauerkraut and sausage casserole. It went well with the winter storm that rolled in. Then last night we met one of my prior coworkers for dinner at Rolf's, which is a traditional German restaurant. The food there tends to be underwhelming, but the decor is festive for the winter season, and the main reason to visit. You can see from the pictures how overboard they go with the holiday decorations.
Today we dropped a few things at my sister's apartment and then went shopping on the Upper West Side afterwards since we had the car out. We stopped at Zabars, Fairway, and Citarella for groceries. After coming back home, Jenn made chicken tortilla soup, good on a cold day. The snow storm was only a few inches, not the half foot or so that seemed likely on Friday. Hopefully the drive up north this weekend will be clear.

Cassique Obligaire !

We just got back from Mont Tremblant where cassique obligaire (helmets mandatory) seems to be the rule of the day on many ski runs. That's probably a good thing.