New Girl quote of the week -- 12/4

CC to Schmidt: "My mother is going to hate you. You're Jewish, I mean she really hates them."

Schmidt: "Everybody hates the Jews. Your mom is in the majority."

30 Rock quote of the week -- 12/6

Jack's mom, after suffering some kind of ailment: "If this turns out to be a stroke, you're in charge of plucking my chin."

New Girl quote of the week -- 11/27

An episode about uteruses and fertility. Very funny, although it hit a bit too close to home. (and that's about as personal as I ever get on this public blog.)

Jess, talking about her uterus: "It's The Grapes of Wrath in there. "

Jess: "Being a woman sucks."
Nick: "Preaching to the choir. Women are the worst."

Jess: "Who's gonna lay a flag down on this sweet, sweet continent?"

30 Rock quote of the week -- 11/29

Liz's dream wedding... oh, so brilliant!


Kris:  "Liz, it's okay to be a human woman."
Liz Lemon:  "No, it's not, because it's society."

 

30 Rock quote of the week -- 11/15

Liz Lemon: "Why are my arms so weak? It's like I did that push-up last year for nothing! "

New Girl quote of the week -- 11/20

Hilarious episode.  Jess's divorced parents come over for Thanksgiving and she is trying to get them back together.  Once he figures it out, Jess's dad says:  "You're doing the Parent Trap thing again."
Jess:  "Dad, I have a master's degree, I'm not Parent traaaaa......"

 

New Girl quote of the week -- 11/13

Jess, after bombing her job interview because she was PMSing:  "I was betrayed by my baby box."

30 Rock quote of the week --10/31

Tracy talking about Obama: "I forgot about that half-nerd."

Liz: "You know Jenna's a liberal, Jack. She's a slut monster and one of America's top hags."

And this:

New Girl quote of the week -- 10/30

CC to Schmidt:  "You need to go home and change, Schmidt.  I know you have more costumes in your closet."
Schmidt:  "Those costumes are for Purim.  And Purim is in March."

I don't know why that one made me laugh, but I guess Schmidt having costumes for Purim just strikes me as funny.  And there wasn't much to choose from this time. 

Half of my Heart

Just watching some YouTube videos and found this one, and thought I'd share.

 

RUSH take two

My friend, Kevin, came from Norway to visit me, and to see Rush perform at the new Barclay's Center in Brooklyn.  This was my second time seeing them, and his .... well, I don't know how many times he's seen them, but it's a lot.  As I said in 2011, if I had the chance to see them again, I'd want to be in better seats, and we were and it made a big difference in my enjoyment level.  The Barclay's Center is also an amazing venue.  We had Cuban food (they even had the corn, but we didn't get it) and afterwards, freakin' Junior's cheesecake (I got the carrot cake/cheesecake).  A far cry from the normal crappy food I was expecting to get there.  AND, once again, NO line for the ladies room.  That's my version of heaven! 

This was my favorite number of the night...

 

And this was his... If you care enough to actually watch, guitarist breaks a string or something and does a little dance while waiting for a replacement guitar. 

30 Rock quote of the week -- 10/25

Welcome to Tina Fey is a genius edition of my blog.  So many great quotes in this election themed episode!!  Here they are...

Liz:  "My boyfriend and I aren't married, but we might have a baby together anyway.  And I hope it's gay!  Male gay... since with the ladies, it's too much hiking."

Jack:  "We have to spend all of our wonderful money and help my hair mentor, Mitt Romney, become the `11th legitmate president of the United States."

Jack to Garrett Romney:  "Garrett, I would slap you if I didn't know you were going to get your own planet when you die." 
I don't know why that means he can't slap him, but it's still funny. 

Tracy talking about the election: "North Carolina goes to Romney.  I worked there this summer and they are not on board with a black man lecturing them.  I don't care if it's Obama talking about healthcare, or me talking about white butts.  They are different than black butts."

New Girl quote of the week -- 10/23

Nick reaches down and grabs a hunk of birthday cake with his hands...

Jess:  "Gross!! get  a fork!"
Nick:  "I have two perfectly good forks at the end of my arms. "

30 Rock quote of the week -- 10/11

Liz: "I have to work every night?"
Jack: "say goodbye to your free time. Did you hear that? That's the sound of 'Honey BooBoos' piling up on your TiVo. "


Liz:  "What do you think, I'm an idiot?  I didn't win that argument.  I'm an idiot!"

Falling Water

Here are pictures from my little drive over to see Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water.  As you can see, the fall leaves were glorious at this time of year.  Also, you can probably see that I left my good camera at home and had to rely on my phone.  See better pictures at the website here. 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the interesting things about this home is that it is 7000 square feet, and half of that is balcony/outdoor space.  That is amazing to this city girl. 

 

 

 

 

 

Also in the area is another Frank Lloyd Wright home called Kentuck Knob.  From these pictures, you might be able to see that his plan was to tuck the home right into this knoll, or "knob," so that you almost can't see the home from some parts of the property.  It has all kinds of weird corners and hallways because FLW wanted it to be based on a hexagon shape. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dough Girls

Over the weekend, Kathy and I took a little trip to western PA.  On the way, we stopped at this little restaurant called Dough Girls, where rumor has it they make the best cinnamon rolls ever. Not one to back away from such a claim, we had to see if the rumor was true. So I can tell you that the cinnamon rolls were good, and these had maple flavored frosting, but I've had better.

BUT the whoopie pies were out of this world. 

When we got there, I was asking about the flavors of their whoopie pies and the girl behind the counter said, "I don't know what you're talking about."  After I repeated my question, another woman working there piped up and told me the flavors.  The girl just looked at her weird, and the woman said, "She's asking about the gobs." 

We both just looked at each other, as if to say, "You call them WHAT?" 

New Girl quote of the week -- 10/9

Jess, after hanging out with her new hipster friends:  "I've been up for 48 hours, so I'm gonna sleep off an ass-ton of quinoa."

Chaz to Jess:  "We don't care if you stole your catch-phrase from some low budget web series."
and of course, her awesome catch-phrase....

 

30 Rock quote of the week -- 10/4

Jack -- "It's nice to see you back at work, taking advantage of being in the greatest city on earth... despite our tiny, un-American sodas."

New Girl quote of the week -- 10/2

Nick, building the Ikea dresser -- "I'm building you the dresser.  I love this stuff.  It's like high stakes Legos."

 

Also in Philly....

Whoopie pies! Here's a pumpkin whoopie pie with chocolate filling from The Flying Monkey. I wasn't a huge fan of the chocolate filling but the pumpkin cake.... Delish!

Cupcakes -- Philly style

Here are two cupcakes from a place called The Flying Monkey. I got a little excited when she said the frosting was Swiss cream. But I wasn't really crazy about it-- maybe because it was cold instead of room temperature so it was hard (I guess I could have waited for it to warm up, but didn't). The cake was also kind of spongey and was only marginal. Here is the vanilla/vanilla and the mint chocolate.






The next place we tried was called Brown Betty Dessert Boutique. My friend that I was with knows I'm crazy and was a good sport by walking our feet off to find it. These were better than the first place. We got vanilla/ vanilla, pineapple, and chocolate/ peanut butter.

The cake was pretty good, but this peanut butter frosting was to die for.

New Girl quote 9/25 (second episode)

Schmidt to Jess:  "Are you cooking a frittata in a saucepan?  What is this, prison?"

New Girl quote of the week -- season premiere 9/25

spoiler:  Jess takes a job as a "shot girl."  Of course, this is a culture that I have no idea about, but that means that she gets stupid men to drink shots at a bar.  But since she's an elementary school teacher, she's not good at it, so Nick, trying to help her offers this advice:

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself, kid, and get up on that bar and shake that piece of plywood that you call an a**." 

I love this quote because... well... I can relate.

I love this show!!

Molly's cupcakes

It is my 15th anniversary at NYF and here is the cake to prove it. It. Was. Delicious.

They got chocolate /chocolate because that's what Mary would want, and they also got a few vanilla /vanilla for good measure.  A new bakery to drool over, called Molly's Cupcakes.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

I'm trying to unload some things from my apartment, for various reasons.  One thing that I wanted to get rid of is old VHS tapes that I haven't watched in a million years/since I got a DVD player.  I decided since I still have a working VCR, I'd keep just my favorites.  But then I barely whittled them down because I love so many of them.  Here's the list of the movies I kept:

Swingers
When Harry Met Sally
Office Space
Annie Hall
Home for the Holidays
Shag -- the movie
You Can Count on Me
Return to Me
Welcome to the Dollhouse
Remains of the Day
Mansfield Park
Stripes
Meatballs
Bridget Jones' Diary
Groundhog Day
Moonstruck
Seems like Old Times
Good Will Hunting
About a Boy
Out of Sight
Next Stop Wonderland
Made
One True Thing (really only because it's filmed in my hometown)
Superstar
High Fidelity
Ghostbusters
She's Having a Baby

Now, you may be asking yourself if I actually got rid of any movies, but the answer to that is yes. 

One thing that I was able to lose, which I forgot I even had, was a bunch of VHS tapes with "thirtysomething" taped from BravoTV.  So, at least that's something, right?

Sons of Perdition

I saw this movie last night called Sons of Perdition.  It is about boys that leave the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, AKA Warren Jeffs' throw-away boys (so that he can marry the teenage girls). 

It was really interesting, heartbreaking, disturbing.  Here's a link to their website and you can watch on Netflix or buy the DVD. 
They are also showing at some film festivals, including one in Norway. 

 

email

If you donate money during an election, you will get at least one or two emails from that person and their people for the rest of your life.

Last week, I got an email from Michelle Obama, and this is what it said:

Subject: Sonya, you're amazing

from: Michelle Obama to: you

Now, I know I only got this message because I gave a few of my dollars (very few) and I know it was only an email asking for more of my dollars, and I know she sent the same email to many other people named Sonya or other names, and I know it wasn't really from Michelle Obama.

BUT, I still really, really liked it.

Searching for Sugarman

Go see it (or save it in your queue)!!

My birthday week

 For my birthday this year, I spent the weekend in one of my favorite places (New Jersey) with three of my favorite people (Jill, Chris and LT). 

The weekend started with a red velvet cupcake from Crumbs, which a friend gave me. 



Here's Jilly Lou making my cake.  I asked for chocolate cake, so she went ahead and made a chocolate ganache.  So rich and delicious.  And three layers!

In the morning, we stopped at one of the many diners for which New Jersey is famous.  This is the Americana.  This photo doesn't necessarily capture it, but I got the most amazing brunch -- Monte Cristo French Toast.  It was so good. 

Overall, a good and low-key birthday.  Next year, I hope to be somwhere listening to John Mayer, but if that doesn't happen, then I hope it's just as sweet as this birthday. 

Sometimes, you just have to eat the whole box

Yesterday, I went to Target.  Anyone who lives outside of NYC is saying, "Yeah, big deal.  I was there yesterday, too."  Anyone who lives in NYC is saying, "Why didn't you tell me?  I need so many things!"  Anyway, I had access to a car for a few hours and we went.  I picked up a few things -- laundry detergent, sponges, what-not, and then I went past the food aisle.  Several things caught my eye, but this is the thing I chose.  I told myself since I was on a roadtrip, I needed some snacks.  Does 35 minutes outside of the city count as a roadtrip?  It does to me.  I didn't look at the calories.  I ate the whole box.  And I liked it.  And I justified it because I need calcium, right? 

Since when?

Two things have happened recently that are sort of bugging me, and they are kind of connected, and I kind of feel like writing about them and this is the only place I can think of. 

1.  As the bishop of my ward put in his notice that he's leaving the Big Apple, the usual chatter about who will be called next was happening among my friends.  There were two names being brought up by a few different people. So one of the times I was having this speculative conversation, I asked my friend what she thought about this one person who had been named by other people possibly being called to be the new bishop.  She said, "No, he could never be the bishop.  He's way too patriarchal," and then I remembered that she had a run-in with him once because he didn't like the way she was handling her calling. 

Since when is too much patriarchy a problem in our church?  I mean, it's a problem.  For me.  For my friend.  But not for the organization. 

2.   Recently, someone that I know but don't really know but is still one of my "friends" on facebook, posted something.  Basically, he noted that since the Boy Scouts have banned all gay men and teens from participating in their program, that the church should stop their affiliation with the Boy Scouts.  His point is that a gay man/teen can go to church, can hold callings, can go to the temple, can go on ward camp outs, can pray in public, can pass the sacrament, etc. as long as he is "worthy" to do so.  However, he cannot participate in the one major socialization program that the church offers for young men.  Since the Boy Scouts are discriminating against members in good standing, we should not have anything to do with this organization. 

Since when does the church oppose discrimination?  I oppose it.  He opposes it.  But the organization?  Not so much.  Unless we are the ones being discriminated against because of the religion.  Then it's a huge problem.  Otherwise?  Not really. 

On a lighter note, have you seen this?

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Exclusive - Joanna Brooks Extended Interview Pt. 2
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The summer of Mark Duplass

About an hour ago, someone said, "Isn't summer the season of blockbuster movies? There really haven't been any this year." I was so confused by this statement, I had to ask what the F she was talking about. When she repeated the question, I replied, "I guess you haven't heard of The Avengers, Spider-man or Batman...."

Whatever.

I don't care about any of those movies. This is the summer that I discovered Mark Duplass. (how cute is he?)

 First I saw this one:




Then I saw this one:





I think my mom would like both, but Safety Not Guaranteed is the best bet. 

Sometimes...

This song is one of my favorites on the new album. The words are speaking to me today.

I repent

I decided to give Georgetown cupcakes another try.  Why?  Because it's Matt Cope's favorite cupcake place and I just couldn't believe that I could hate something that someone else loves.  So when I was in Soho on Monday eve, I stopped by and picked up two cupcakes. 

First I discovered one of my mistakes.  They have a cupcake called Vanilla squared, so naturally that's the one I picked on my first visit.  This time I noticed they have one called Birthday cake, so I asked what the difference was.  It turns out that Vanilla squared is vanilla with cream cheese frosting, but Birthday cake is vanilla with buttercream.  So this time I got the *right* cupcake and it was CORRECT. 

The second was Toffee crunch and this one was also delicious.  The cake was so moist and the perfect density and had delicious toffee bits in it.  The frosting was cream cheese with toffee bits, and cream cheese frosting is only good to me if it's on red velvet, pumpkin or banana cake, but with the toffee bits, I can still endorse it. 

I really don't know what happened last time, but I am repenting of my past transgression of dissing Georgetown  Cupcakes.  I hope I am forgiven. 

A cover I can get behind

My sister told a funny story about my super cute nephew and the Bronx zoo that made me laugh, so I'm sharing it over here.

Sorkinisms

In these clips you will recognize some great shows and movies. Who cares if he steals from himself?

My favorite human being talking about my favorite show

Years ago, I read an interview with John Mayer where he said something like this: If you watch "The Bachelor" you should slap a blind person across the face, because you are wasting your eyesight.

At the time, I totally agreed with him. But as the years have gone by, I have succumbed to the appeal of "The Bachelor" and have become a bit obsessed with it, at times. I admit there was a teeny tiny part of me that felt ashamed that if JM ever knew, he'd be disappointed. (I know that it's insane that I think this way, but I can't help it.)

I was so happy to stumble across this video of JM talking about how he now gets it.

Things I love about this clip:
(1) air quotes around "Brad's season,"
(2) his impression of Ben saying "Courtney,"
(3) picturing a producer telling Ben to stand shirtless on the balcony.

Enough already

Last week's cover of EW

This week's cover of EW

Oslo, August 31

If you are up for a really depressing movie, I have the perfect one for you.  I went to see this movie this week and it was great.  It takes place in Oslo, where I lived for four months when I was 21/22 years old.  Just watch the trailer... it's really stunning. 

Portland treats

Our first stop in Portland was Voodoo Donuts, and we split two donuts. #1 was the famous maple bar with bacon and #2 was the Memphis Mafia fritter (fritter w/ banana chunks, chocolate frosting, peanut butter and chocolate chips). Both were ridiculously good and ridiculously sweet and I ate until I wanted to gag.

Even so, I planned to go back and try some other flavors, but take a gander at the line...

Across the street from the B&B where I stayed was this little treasure, called Pix Patisserie. They had the most amazing macarons. I have found that the small ones are not very good because the texture is not quite right. However, these macarons were perfect.

I ate two and then went back for one more.

Below are the Fleur de Sal and the Apple Pie.

One day I was on my way for brunch. Why was I going out for brunch when I was staying at a B&B? The answer is that place had the worst breakfasts of any B&B I've ever stayed in. On the way, I passed one of the many food cart pods around Portland and decided to try Blues City Biscuits. I got a biscuit sandwich (yum) with molasses butter and ham. I never drink real Coke, but this was a "Mexican Coke" so I went for it and it was delish!

The next day, I finally made it to Broder for brunch. I had a delicious meal of Aebelskiver (Danish pancakes) with lemon curd and lingonberry jam.

And last but not least of all the treats was this yummy pecan pie from the The Pie Spot .

I have a good friend in Portland, and I met up with him and his cute family a couple of times. My last night there, Jeremy and I went to the Viking Soul Food food cart. They sold something sort of Norwegian but not really. Basically it was a wrap with some Norwegian-ish food inside -- lefse, meatballs, gjetost, cabbage.  Not very authentic, but it feels authentic if you wear the hat. 

A successful trip was evidenced by the pound I gained while I was away. There were other places I wanted to try but didn't have time for, so I guess I'll have to go back someday.

Portland cupcakes

I found two cupcake places in Portland. The first stop was Cupcake Jones. Julia and I split a German Chocolate cupcake. It was average, but I did like the chocolate coconut filling. In addition to having mediocre cupcakes, the people that worked here seemed to be brain damaged or something. We weren't impressed.

From there, we walked over to St. Cupcake Galore and this was the jackpot. We got two mini-cupcakes each. I got the vanilla/vanilla and the vanilla/cream cheese, and Julia got vanilla/coconut and vanilla/chocolate. I tasted Julia's chocolate frosting and it was so good, I got another vanilla/chocolate for the next day. Not only were these cupcakes delicious, but the people working there (I think they were the owners, actually) were not of borderline intelligence.

YUMMMMM!!!!!!

New Girl quote of the week -- 5/8 season finale

Winston interviewing the new roommate:  "Neil, tell us about yourself.  Anything we should know, besides the fact that you responded to our Craig's List add with a fax?" 

Jess, trying to scare Neil away from being the new roommate:  "I hope you like feminist rants, cause that's kind of my thing."

30 Rock quote of the week -- 5/17 season finale

 Criss:  "you know what kind of women in their 40's have never been married?  Uggos, Crazys, and Bailers."  

Jack:  "Any child would be lucky to have you be the mother it loves, then hates for a few years, then loves again, then half-heartedly defends to a spouse, then puts in a home." 

Another one from Jack:  "Don't overthink the names.  Stick to kings and queens of England. There will never be a President Ashton or Dr. Katnis." 

30 Rock quote of the week -- 5/10

Liz:  "Feminism promised us two things, fatter dolls and an end to traditional gender roles. "

bridal shower

Check out this cake from the bridal shower I attended over the weekend.  And yes, it tasted as good as it looked.  Seriously.  Delicious.

Red velvet cake with raspberry swirl, vanilla frosting with a fondant over that.  The cake was so moist and the frosting was the perfect sweetness, and I love fondant.  I wish I could have a bridal shower just so I could get this cake.  Yummm...
The shower was at a Chinese restaurant, so I knew there would be tons of to-go boxes, so obviously I asked them to bring me piece of cake to go. 

Georgetown cupcakes

There's a new cupcake place in town, but they might not be new to you. This place started in DC and it's called Georgetown Cupcakes. Apparently there is also a TV show about it and its' owners, called DC Cupcakes. The outside is clearly still under construction, but it's in a cool part of the city and it's a nice space.

These cupcakes were not my favorite. I tried the vanilla/vanilla, as usual. The frosting almost tasted like it was from a can, and the cake part was just okay. I also had the urge for the key lime, which was better than the vanilla/vanilla, but I didn't love it. Jill got the chocoloate peanut butter swirl, which looked great and which I will try if I ever go back.

30 Rock quote of the week -- 5/3

Tracy:  "I love my wife.  I want her to be happy.  But more than that, I want to do nothing.  It's hard trying to have it all. "

30 Rock quote of the week -- 4/26

This was a great episode with tons of guest stars, like Fred Armisen, Amy Poehler, Jon Hamm and this guy...

Quote of the week is from Jack, after telling Liz that TGS is no longer going to be live: "From now on, you write and shoot the whole season in two weeks, like 'Wheel of Fortune' or Fox News."

...cuz I love a good dis on Fox News!

New Girl quote of the week -- 5/1

CeeCee's 'Bubbe' to Schmidt:  "If you hurt her, I will let myself die and then I will haunt you."

I loved all the references to Winston's earring, but this was my favorite, from Jess:  "Take it easy, black George Michael." 

30 Rock quote of the week -- 4/19

Jack to Liz, before she goes out with Kevin, the guy that he set her up with: "You are dressed to impress. You look like a substitute teacher who just got her AA chip."

btw, the restaurant where she meets Kevin is the one near my office :)
They have really good ropa vieja.

New Girl quote of the week -- 4/17

Sara: "Your life's like 'Gossip Girl,' only everyone is old and poor."

30 Rock quote of the week -- 4/12

Jack, talking about the couch factory that they are opening up: "Factories provides three things this country desperately needs. Jobs, pride and material for Bruce Springsteen songs."

Jack's mom: "Jackie and I know how we feel. We don't have to say it out loud, like a couple of gays getting married in jean shorts at their wedding in P-Town."

30 Rock quote of the week -- 4/5

Dr. Spaceman: "You should start regaining sensation in less than an hour. But, a newly regained sense can be a really powerful thing, even overwhelming. So if you do have an extreme reaction, please try to get it on video for my nephew's funny website."

Jack: "You've crossed the line."
Liz: "Since when do you care about any line other than the bottom line? Sorkinesque repartee!"

Happy Endings quote of the week -- 4/4

I don't know if I can take on another show to blog about, especially because this week was the season finale, but there were many quotables this week.

Dave: "You have your whole life planned out."

Brad: "yeah, bank a hundred mil, then become the first black sherriff on Mars. Or Arizona. Whichever comes first."

Dave: "Come on, man. Mars."

Also, this one:

Max: "All weddings are pretty gay, when you think about it. If you want to know what else is gay, you can look at my website, www.thingsthataregay.biz. "

And, yes, you can click the link, although I wish there really was a list.

O - Hi - O

A couple weeks ago, I went to visit Val, Greg and the kiddos. My nephew was the lead in a little community theater play, Mr. Popper's Penguins, so I decided I should go see his stage debut. It was pretty hilarious to hear a 9 year old boy talking to his 13 year old "wife," calling her "my love" and "Mama." Here he is with his on-stage wife and two kids, on an improvised couch.

When I arrived, I was happy to see everybody, but the baby was not happy to see me. I wanted to take a picture of him on the way home from the airport, pouting in the back of the van. My niece can't resist the urge to insert herself into any camera situation.

Here's the hipster baby.

And the big kids during our Sunday walk.