Flavors 518

Holidays can be stressful , but I am determined not to feel that way this year. Instead of traveling, going broke, and feeling overwhelmed, how about we remake the holiday season into being all about cookies, television, and pajamas? There is no reason to get worked up about the commercials with the big bow on the Lexus in the driveway. What I like best about the holidays is someone walking up to me and handing me a jar of homemade granola - simple, thoughtful, not expensive. Check out my post about homemade Christmas gifts last year . I also like cookies - lots of cookies. Check out my Edward Hopper cookies I made last year (am I the only person who Googles "art history inspired holiday cookies"? the search results are not impressive). Also, check out my post about the cookie exchange I organized last year at my former workplace . But - enough about last year! We received a Miro sculpture on loan at my new job, and there is something about it I really love. I coul...

We have some freelance photographers at my job who come to shoot the art work who come all the way from Northampton, MA. They bring delicious pastries from Bread Euphoria . It is sort of ridiculous how much the Fruit and Nut scone from this place has over the last two years become a big highlight of my month. Today they brought them (as expected), and I was so excited.... except that my favorite scone seemed now to have the flavor of banana in it. I can't be sure, but that is pretty much the only food I hate. I guess you can't really taste bananas baked into things, but this faint suspicion really took away from the excitement of the scone for me. I HATE bananas to an irrational extent. In kindergarten I ate one and threw up immediately, and since then the mere scent of them can make me completely nauseous. The mushy, sticky texture, the way the smell of them takes over a room - who likes these things?? (Lots of people apparently, also they are apparently high in potassium, ...

We sent away for tickets to the Martha Stewart Show taping in NYC. I can testify that she is very particular about what the studio audience wears during the taping (a lot of "Dress to impress!!!" in emails). The staff is also incredibly organized, more than I ever remember about attending David Letterman tapings when I was younger. Actor Ted Danson was there, and he is associated with an organization called Oceana . We got many free things from the show including his new book about s aving our oceans . We were also given a chart to help us decide which type of fish were better to eat in terms of their risk of extinction in the oceans. There was also a segment on which products to buy that were more friendly to the rainforest, and how to decipher symbols in grocery stores on packages (like organic and fair trade products). Ted Danson and Martha also made a salt-baked sea bass . I haven't used this technique before, but apparently it helps to cook the fish very evenly, a...