dinner: cod cooked in butter and sauteed kale with ginger and garlic

something i also discovered: the hot toddy. i'm not normally a fan of whiskey drinks, but this is seriously something to try-- its just hot water (or tea i think), honey, lemon juice, and whiskey.

blueberry and avocado salad

quick indian

last night i made a rather delicious and fast vegetarian indian meal. for hanukkah i was given many of the ingredients, and made this one up as i went along. some bell peppers, garlic, water chestnuts, and onions were mixed with curry powder, red curry paste, olive oil, and salt. i sauteed them for a few minutes till they were soft, then added frozen peas and coconut milk. made some light brown basmati rice and voila!

sabor a mexico

mack captured this moment in the mexican restaurant.... if i were smart i would run and hide... kat's face looks like she is ready to pounce! it's likely we are discussing her rather unfortunate coworkers at the dealership...

scenes from the west

PLEASE TEXT 'HAITI' TO 25383 TO DONATE $5 TO THE INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE IN THEIR EFFORT TO RESCUE LIVES AND PROVIDE MEDICAL CARE, WATER, AND SANITATION TO EARTHQUAKE SURVIVORS.

ALSO TEXT 'HAITI' TO 90999 TO DONATE $10 TO RED CROSS HAITI RELIEF. THANKS.

1932: Port-au-Prince, taken from NYtimes.com

time well spent

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chutzpah and chagrin

lots of updates, but mostly, the sexist republicans (who turns out are not middle aged, but more like 30) found us again at breakfast, after katie and i had spent a good portion of the night, from 3am till 430am, in a tower-esque fire alarm malfunction. we made good friends with google nerds from cali, and a family from puerto rico. the funny encounters just keep coming our way i suppose. this was after a night out in park city with katie's friend (a local) who works at a whiskey distillery in town. everywhere i go i am pegged as "the new yorker", because i guess i seem like one? i do think my skinny black jeans, vintage brown shoes, and black peacoat with faux fur makes me stand out amongst the beanies, flared jeans, hiking boots and northface jackets. i do love the country music here though!

some notes on the past few days of stranger interactions:

breton: french guy i shared a lift with at snowbird, his sister lives in cambridge, mass and he comes to snowbird all the time because he thinks its better than skiing in france. ok then. he made me speak the little french i know which he thought was "so cute".

harry and desi: two 5 year old boys i took the lift with today, because their ski instructor asked me to accompany them. they both had french fries for lunch, but poor little desi didnt have time to eat his string cheese OR the last 4 fries because lunch was over. its a sad world for little desi. harry kept to himself but i had to keep reminding them to "scoot back!" so their tiny bodies didn't slip under the bar and splat onto the slopes. they were VERY excited that we would be taking the same run together.

three (correction: katie informed me that early 30's is not considered middle aged) men at lunch: katie and i ate lunch with three sexist republicans from florida. long and the short of it, their advice to me: "you have to make a choice. being a woman, you have to choose either a career or having kids, because you cannot be great at both." they also didnt understand why katie would be interested in non-profit work, and actually im not sure two of them knew what that was exactly. this was a 30 minute lunch mind you, and it didnt stop there. katie and i left shocked and confused and sad for the world they live in (mostly for their wives and girlfriends).

i told them i was going to be a great doctor and a great mother.

the bird

the best place on earth.

oh, and they were playing 'empire state of mind' at the top of the mountain. classic.

UTAH

i am currently sitting in front of a warm fire, on a big couch, and if it weren't nighttime i would be looking out over the beautiful wasatch mountain range. i have had two great solo ski days so far-- i am really living the life up here at about 8,200 feet above sea level (even higher when i am skiing). its been a nice thing to be on my own up here. i find myself talking my neighbors' ears off on the lifts, telling them all about my life and asking about theirs. coincidentally, today i met a nice couple from san diego, and the woman was from boston, an art history major at conn college, and has a studio on 83rd and central park west. i also met some nice people from mexico, and obviously told them all about my stay in mexico some 7 years ago for a mere 5 weeks.

i wake up to this breakfast every morning, and again, sit in front of a roaring fire.

today i had a quick lunch at the top of the mountain in a small warming hut. i was the only one there to enjoy my turkey chile in peace. this was my view, it was cloudy today but yesterday was sun sun sunny. too bad my 35 mm camera doesn't fit in my pants pocket.