Tag Archives: Costa Rica
Ode to Big J on her 30th Birthday…
Oh, my oldest childhood friend who in junior high dubbed herself Big J; (…which my mother swore you’d regret someday…) We’ve known each other since the third grade; and lost a plate in the oven once while Bagel Bites were … Continue reading →
Filed under birthdays, Mississippi
Tagged as apes, Bagel Bites, Big J, Chinatown, Costa Rica, Emerald Isle, Irish Rovers, James Joyce, masks, Mississippi, monkeys, muffin mix, turtles, Ulysses, Valentine, zipline
No Candy Thermometer? No Problem!
I went to high school with a girl named Yoshi Nishibara and today is her birthday. I don’t know why mumble-mumble-mumble years after we graduated, I can still remember this. But I can. (The first boy I ever kissed celebrated … Continue reading →
Filed under birthdays, books, brown sugar, cake, cupcake, eggs, gadgets, holidays, parties, vegan
Tagged as a little Captain in you, baked good carrier, baking as coping mechanism, Big Top Pee Wee, birthdays, book proposal, book signing, cake pan, calm down, candy thermometer, candy-making, celebratory cake, Central America, church ladies, cloves, cornstarch, Costa Rica, cranberry compote, disembodied Santa head cupcake topper, disembodied snowman head cupcake topper, egg whites, eggs, evaporated milk, exercising in public, fudge, heavy cream, high school, holiday baking, holidays, interacting with strangers on the street, interrogation, Joy of Baking, Julia Child, Julie Powell, meat thermometer, meringue, milk, mixer, muffin top, my ingenious solutions, My Life in France, needle in a haystack, Nicaragua, nourishing the heart through food, over-liquefying, Pee Wee Herman, penuche, pie-baking, rum, sawed-off, slurry, soft ball stage, spiritual, sponge cake, sweetened condensed milk, therapeutic effects of baking, travel, tres leches, vegan, vegan baking, vegan chocolate cake, warm and fuzzy, wax paper, yoga, Yoga Journal
Recuerdos de Costa Rica…Or, Ruminations on Similarities Between Costa Rica and Alaska, Among the Usual Anecdotes
Okay, okay…I’ll stop pretending I know anything about Spanish. (Although I *will* say that it is awfully embarrassing/depressing that after six years of studying the language [...seven years ago...], my vocabulary is limited to a few choice phrases…and even *those* … Continue reading →
Filed under Alaska, beer, blueberries, books, Brooklyn, cake, cheese, cheesecake, chickens, coffee, eggs, fish, football, Mississippi, red velvet, wine
Tagged as afraid of heights, African Queen, airport gift shop, Alajuela, Alaska in the winter, Alaskan Similarities, Alton Brown, Anaconda, apes, Arenal, Arkansas, arroz, Art Deco, Asian-style flank steak, banana tree, bat, bat out of hell, benchwarming, Big, big head, birdwatching couple from England, bizarre showerhead, Black Bart, black Lincoln, blackberry juice, blue helmet, blue velvet, blueberry juice, boundary extension, Budget, buenas, bulls are afraid of horses, bus in Denali, butter and lard, Cafe Milagro, caiman, California State Physical Education Test, Cano Negro, canter, capuchin monkeys, car mechanics, car service, Carrie Bradshaw, cassava, Central America, cheese sticks, chicken, chicken of the tree, children's TV, Cleaving, clouds, Coco Loco, coffee, Colorado, Costa Rica, Costa Rican bulls, cowgirl, crapshoot, crocodiles, CU-OSU game, Customs, D, damsel in distress, Deadliest Catch, Denali, Dial 7, Doka Estate, don't feed the monkeys, dos cervezas, Eagle Eyes, Eclipse the Horse, El Avion, El Mirador, elementary school, empanadas, en vivo, encouragement, estamos buscando, estamos llegando, falling, family pie crust recipe, feed a feeling, flashback, fog, foreshadowing, Georgia, girls' basketball, Gran Hotel Costa Rica, green landscape, gritar, guava, hace frio, harnesses, hero, horseback riding, hos in different area codes, Hotel Montana de Fuego, Hotel Orquideas, Houston, howler monkeys, humble apologies, I hope they have parking, iguana refuge, Imperial, Ishmael the Guide, javelinas, Javier, Jeff from Jacksonville, Jennifer White, Jersey Shore, JFK, Julie Powell, Kentucky, La Cantina, la cerveza de Costa Rica, La Fortuna, La Princesa, language skills, Las Chiles, leafcutter ants, limes, lines snapping, little bungalow, longshoremen, lost, lost in Queens, loud Englishmen, Manuel Antonio, Marilyn Monroe, Marilyn Monroe-themed bar, meathead American guys, meters, metric system, Miami airport, Mississippi, Mississippi State Bulldogs, monkey hotel, monkeys, mooching, Mount McKinley, New Mexico, new states, New York, New Yorky, Nicaragua, nightlife, Nissan Altima, off-season, one-way street, orange males, orangutans, otters, oxcart, panic attacks, parents, parqueo, Paseo Colon, perfect pie crust, peripheral vision, pickled cucumbers, pineapple, plantains, platanos tostados, pontoon boat, Prince William Sound, private taxi, Puerto Rico, puffins, pull-ups, purse, Quepos, queso palmito, raccoon, rainforest, rainforesty, rainy season, rappelling, rappelling down a waterfall, recollections, red pants, red velvet cake, red wine, relax and enjoy the scenery, rental car, rice and beans, Rio Frio, ropes course, sailors, San Jose, San Ramon, security, si, sixth grade, skeevy, sloth, Spanish, spider monkeys, still more monkeys than people, strange intimacy, sunset, supermercado, surfing, swimwear, Swiss Family Robinson, tadpoles, tapas, Teatro Nacional, Texas, Things To Do Before I Die, Ticos, tilapia a lo macho, Toucan Sam, toucans, tours, Toyota Corolla, tres leches cake, tropical, Twilight, typical Costa Rican dish, typical plate, upper body strength, vacara, Vancouver, Virginia, Volcan Arenal, vultures, water lilies, waterproof pants, what fats bond to, yellow pants, zipline, zipline through the rainforest, ziplining, Zoo Ave
Sad(der) Lisa and the Case of the Missing Books
I’ll preface this by saying I know everyone is sick to death of hearing about the Bartender. And I know I need to figure out a way to finally, officially let go and move on with my life. And — … Continue reading →
Filed under Alaska, baseball, birthdays, books, Brooklyn, cheesecake, feminism, Iowa, Javy, Palin, pie
Tagged as 347, Amazon, Andy Pettitte, bar, bartender, birthdays, cat, catharsis, change your life, cheesecake, comic timing, conservative fervor, Costa Rica, delete messages now, Denison, dinner, Donna Reed, food blogging, freakishly small door, Greeting Card Emergency guy, hair, Hideki Matsui, Iowa, J-school, Javier Lopez, little red couch, makeover, McCain/Palin, meatpacking plant, memory low, Midwestern town, moving on, National Pie Day, new lease on life, New Lisa, new stadium, New York, oldest childhood friend, olive branch-y, pie, politics, protect the heart, Republican, rice and beans, social dynamics, strong opinions, stubborn, texting, traditional, wholesome, World Series, worrying, writing, Yankees, young urban liberal hipster archetype
Idle Hands…
Everyone who is getting ready to start another work week tomorrow will hate me for this and they will have absolutely no sympathy for me — and I readily admit they have every right to feel that way — but…here’s … Continue reading →
Filed under blogs, books, Brooklyn, clothes, entrees
Tagged as 529 college savings plans, agents, asset management, book proposal, books, broken records, Brooklyn, copywriting, Costa Rica, customer relationship management software, Dale Maharidge, David Ellis Dickerson, deadlines, eggplant parmesan, fax machine, Fodor's, Greeting Card Emergency, House of Cards, jobs, Luxury Spot, makeover, movies, pitches, Plan B, projects, Rock of Ages, Trader Joe's, Where the Wild Things Are, work
The Great Pizza Fiasco of 2009, Entirely New Apples…and Binging Throughout Manhattan (and a Little Bit of Brooklyn, Too).
I haven’t been SO focused on self-improvement lately that food has slipped *entirely* through the cracks. I have been meaning, for example, to blog about the Great Pizza Fiasco of K’s recent(-ish) trip. You see, she had never been to … Continue reading →
Filed under birthdays, books, Brooklyn, frying, gadgets, Martha, pizza, Uncategorized
Tagged as 'wichcraft, alma mater, apple tarts, apple-picking, apples, Artichoke, baked donuts, Billy Elliot, Blue Smoke, Bobby Flay, Brooklyn, bucolic, Buddy's Burritos, Buttermilk Channel, cake platter, California Taqueria, cardamom, Columbia, Costa Rica, donuts, Dumbo, Dumbo General Store, Epicurious, F train, Grand Central Oyster Bar, Granny Smith, Great Pizza Fiasco of 2009, Grimaldi's, guacamole, Havana Central, Hecho en Dumbo, Lucali, Macoun, Mario Batali, Martha, Mesa Grill, New Jersey, New Jersey Transit, New York, oysters, pizza, power outages, Princeton, Red Hook, revolving singing cake platter, rudeness, Sandra Bullock Clarity, Shake Shack, tart pans, tarts, The Journalism School, The Spotted Pig, Tom Colicchio, Trader Joe's, Yelp
Bad Boyfriends and The Lone Wolf: Or, What I’ve Learned from Amy Adams, Sandra Bullock, Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Whitney Houston, Theodore Roosevelt and the Wizard of Oz.
I’ve already more or less shared my Bad Boyfriend Theory of Freelancing…but since some time has passed, it may be worth revisiting (…at least briefly)… Let’s say for the sake of argument that I got a call a few weeks … Continue reading →
Filed under Alaska, birthdays, books, Brooklyn
Tagged as Act Like a Lady Think Like a Man, Alaska, Amy Adams, Augusten Burroughs, Bad Boyfriend Theory of Freelancing, Bad Boyfriends, bad juju, baking, birthdays, Bogota, book proposal, books, Cedarburg, Colombia, Columbia Alumni, commitment, Costa Rica, David Sedaris, Didn't We Almost Have it All?, Drew Barrymore, editors, embarrassing quotes, England, epiphanies, Fabulous Thunderbirds, Good Boyfriend, gravy, haircuts, happiness, Harper Collins, Harry Truman, horse pucky, I Didn't Know My Own Strength, I'm OK You're OK, Jennifer Aniston, juju, London, lone wolf, Lonely Girl Image, Madrid, Mr. Wonderful, neighbors, New Lisa, Oprah, Oprah.com, Pearly Gates, People, protect the heart, relationships, Sandra Bullock, Sandra Bullock Clarity, Saving All My Love For You, Say Anything, sequins, Sloane Crosley, snow machines, snow mobiles, snow shoes, Spain, Steve Harvey, Sunshine Cleaning, tattoos, the buck stops here, The Greatest Love of All, Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Harris, tragic spinster, trashy celebrity magazines, travel, Tuff Enuff, Us Weekly, weddings, Whip It, Whitney Houston, Wisconsin, Wizard of Oz, zen