Hanukkah 2008

Happy Hanukkah everyone!



Tonight is the first night of the Festival of Lights, so David and I (and Jerry) lit candles at home and opened a few presents.



Before you say anything about my menorah, I know I lit them from the wrong side. It's supposed to go from right to left- I know now, ok? I wasn't sure, and I took a guess and it was wrong. I'm a little fuzzy on the details with this cold- I promise that I will do a better job tomorrow. So we will have to live with this bad menorah pic until I take another one then.



In the meantime, check out this pic of Jerry. He got into the holiday spirit too. (Actually, he looks a little annoyed, but he was rather playful- you will have to take my word.)

Hills West 10-year Reunion

The Friday after Thanksgiving was my High School 10-year reunion. When I got the save-the-date in the mail earlier this year, I could hardly believe that it had been an entire decade since our days at Hills West. Time has really flown by!

After a little back and forth about whether or not to go or to bring David we both went. While we didn't have the best turnout for the event, I am definitely glad I attended. I loooved high school, and it was great to catch up with people I had lost touch with and see all those familiar faces again.

David was an incredibly good sport and hung in there for three and a half hours of frantic shrieking hugging and picture taking. The man is a friking saint.

Our night began when Hayley came to my mom's house and picked us up. I had not seen her since her wedding and it was great to relax with her before the reunion insanity really began.



We met up with Loni and got drinks at Four Food Studio and Cocktail Salon in Melville. With its four-season design concept, the place not only has different rooms to celebrate the seasons- but the menu changes every 13 weeks as well to feature local and seasonal ingredients.

Then it was time to hit up the reunion.

First of all- big shout out to Allan who is a fan of the blog. Your picture with David didn't come out great, so I'm not posting it. Rachel's picture however, came out great. It is one of the pictures below.



So lemme tell you a few things about my buddy Brad: 1) I've known him since we were toddlers; 2) He is brilliant; 3) He is hysterically funny; 4) I don't see him nearly enough. I was very excited to spend time with him, introduce him to David and catch up for a while.



Another person I was very excited to see again is Stephanie. She and I were the "voices of Hills West" senior year. She is just as gorgeous as ever and a ton of fun to hang out with.



The reunion was kind of a hectic night- it would have been impossible to have a real conversation with everyone there. So I'm very happy Cristina and I had a chance to catch up earlier in the month when she was in Virginia for her sister's wedding. In addition to maintaining her amazing style and wicked sense of humor, she now has a great husband and two amazingly adorable kids.


I wish I had more pictures to post. Here is a nice one of Jim, Loni, Hay and John


Rachel and Kim looking gorgeous as ever.

Like I said earlier- I am SO GLAD I went, but for what we paid (about $85/person) I was hoping for ... a little... more I guess. I would have happily traded in the DJ and about half the buffet for an open bar. I didn't have much time to go to the room where the Hills East reunion was being held, but it was very nice to see some of them again too.

It was great to see Anwar B, Kim B, Selena B, Nancy B, John B, Lauren C, Stephanie C, Janine D, Tim D, Josh E, Danielle F, Elyse F. Brian G, Monique H, Jim M, Michelle K, Rachel K, Cristina K, Justin K, Will K, Eric L, Hayley M, Rob M, Marissa M, Russ M, Marissa N, Anna N, Sharleen R, Jenene R, Brad R, Annette S, Laura S, Carolyn S, Brett V, Loni W, and Jamie W and so many more! If I leave you out of my recap, I'm so sorry. A lot of the night was a blur of hugs and rushed conversations. I wish I had more time to spend with all of you.

Thanksgiving 2008

I hope everyone had a very happy Thanksgiving weekend. I know I sure did. Here’s my recap….



We drove to New Jersey after work on Tuesday. After spending some time with Fran the next morning, we arrived at my dad’s where turkey day prep was already well underway. We jumped right in with the slicing, baking, roasting and brining.


slicing apples for a pie


David and the magic dancing carrots

On Thursday morning we woke up early and got back to work. Mom brought over bagels and helped me set the table while David, Brian and Dad worked on the rest of the meal.


The turkey came out delicious!

My mom’s seven layer salad is something I look forward to all year. It is usually only served once a year after Yom Kippor but since we missed it earlier this year- it was brought back for Thanksgiving.



Leslie accomplished her task of replicating a classic restaurant bread basket




A picture of the whole table

Here is a recap of our extensive meal:
Black Mission Fig and Olive Tapenade on Crostini
David’s Seared Tuna with Cilantro Ginger Balsamic sauce
Pumpkin- Black Bean Soup with optional Sherry Shooter
Judy’s 7 layer salad
Roasted Turkey and Gravy
Chestnut, Mushroom and Apricot Stuffing
Grilled Italian style sausage with red and yellow peppers
Molasses Roasted Butternut Squash
String Beans Almandine
Roasted Beets with Oranges
Rosemary and Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Spiced Maple Syrup Yams
Fresh Baked Corn Bread
Pickled Brussels Sprouts and Red Cherry Peppers
Judy’s Cranberry Relish
Pumpkin Beer
Several Delicious Desserts

I'm tired from just typing it all up! After we ate ourselves silly, we relaxed a bit and (of course) took more pictures!






It was great to see Devaki and Mallika again. Apparently, we all got the "only wear grey or black to dinner" memo. Thankfully, all of their family is safe in India.

On Saturday we went to Chinatown for lunch at David’s favorite restaurant, Joe's Shanghai. No visit to New York is complete for David without a stop at one of their three locations for their famous soup dumplings.



We ate lots of yummy food and walked around Chinatown for a while before heading to Long Island for my Ten-Year High School Reunion.



The reunion was a lot of fun- I will do a separate post about it later.

My mom took us shopping on Saturday for ski gear. Happy early Hanukkah to us! I got new gloves and David got new pants. We are going to be warm and stylin' in Vail this February!

After returning with our new gear, we spent most of the afternoon watching classic game shows on the Game Show Network. We watched a little bit of Card Sharks, Family Feud, Lingo, Who Wants to be a Millionaire and a new one I had never even seen before called Russian Roulette. I could have easily spent several more hours watching this channel but eventually we had to get off the couch and eat.



Saturday night we went out for a yummy seafood dinner with my brother, mom and grandparents at Riverbay Restaurant.

The next morning we said goodbye to my mom and grandparents and drove to Queens for breakfast with my dad and cousins Meg and Steve before the long drive home.

There were lots of good times and even more good food this weekend. We weren’t able to see as many people as we wish we could have- but we hope to make it up to them soon.