New Hampshire - the Land of Forests & Mountains

My experience was amazing. I enjoyed the vacation a lot, I had plenty of fun time spending with friends and relatives, skiing, being away, and plain old relaxing. No computer, or internet , nobody bothered me, it was a fantastic get away. If I didn't injure myself I'd say it was close to perfect.

Saturday:
For one of the days I figured we should have an activity that Andrew Michelle and I would enjoy together. Visiting a Tuckerman a local microbrewery (with incredible bacon pizza) seemed like a great idea. The tour was free, so was the samples, so was the pizza the staff treated us to. Amazing, tasty and fun. Needless to say we purchased few cases of their Altitude beer.

We came a little early and needed to kill 30min before the tour. Michelle was driving and we ended up finding a tiny library sale. DUN-DUN-DUN! All three of us love reading and do it every day so this was a no brainer. but 15min was NOT enough to browse and sink in between shelves. The lady received a promise of us coming back to her after the tour, which is exactly what we did. Before entering, I reminded us to keep a certain limit in mind (20$, one series, two books): Andrew got himself a series of  sci-fiction, Michelle purchased a few random fictions and I was proud to go away with two non-fictions.
On our way back home we stopped by to purchase more than few bottles of wine and a local gift shop. Both were success!

The evening progressed into a Scrabble game with Jenya, Andrew, Michelle and I which was intense and fun! We then proceeded to laugh at online auto correct bests by the fire and later read some books in the same area. Jenya reads books all the time too! She's our gal!

Sunday:

The day finally came to do some winter activities - skiing at Wild Cat Mountain. I was a little nervous as I haven't skied in few years and Michelle strapped her fancy snowboard (that she won in a Mountain Dew contest - obviously). After getting on the top and finding out the green paths are closed the blue was the only choice. Andrew and Jenya tried a diamond. Because it seemed like a good idea at the time. Michelle wasn't able to ski much at all because she injured her knee defending us from a pack of wild bears as she was exiting the lift, before she even made any single stride on the snowboard. Yeah it was painful, and slow, and sucky, but eventually we made it to the bottom and she strapped her skis. But that was the beginning and the end of her ski season. The knee is more than a discomfort :(

Since we failed to help with cooking the night before (gift shopping and wine browsing took much time) French Onion Soup was promised and delivered that night. It was a huge success and everyone praised Michelle for her excellent skills. I felt so proud :)
The evening culminated with Sauna that we had, hmmm, 10ft away from our room downstairs. This is not the opportunity I would miss. Relaxing after skiing and general tension was excellent!

Monday:
More skiing for Andrew and I, at Brett on Woods Mountain. Mi madre joined us on few blues, few diamonds and all that. I gained a ton of confidence and even did few jumps that landed successfully. Once I even did three jumps in a row. Wow me! Of course I'd want to do it again. Of course, I'm invincible  Or so I thought as I continued jumping until I ate some snow with my whole face and couldn't breathe for few seconds. Das right - a little injury on my side gave me a reality check of jumping and skiing in general. Now both Michelle and I are injured :) At least it wasn't too bad and I am able to function almost as I typically would but I took a break from working out and stressing my body unnecessary

Michelle and Jenya went shopping instead of skiing and we met at Hillbilly Southern BBQ for a dinner before dinner (that was awaiting us at home upon our arrival) I stuffed myself with food. I wish i knew why :) There was lots of goodness at home.

 
The game of the night was Boggle where Andrew (another one, we had two) demolished us by far, but it was still a blast! I took another session of Sauna and went to be relatively early only to find out that - Santa visited us at night.

Cookies for Santa plus whole shenanigans with snow in the fireplace, and Andrew chasing Santa, as couple of younger kids were awakened and were coming downstairs, only to find out half eaten cookies and milk that has been sipped. The little ones were mesmerized by abundance of presents. 'Tis was a good time.

Tuesday:
Morning was left for packing and breakfast. We said our goodbyes and ventured into the snowfall weather. Of course, we grabbed a bunch of Left Overs including wings, kebabs, kotletki, sauces, few veggies n berries to keep us full for the next 6 hours of driving home.
Drive
Not one Wendy's is open on Christmas day :), or anything for that matter to stop and have for lunch (Of course, it makes sense if we just took 2 seconds to think about it, but that was not our forte), so left overs were promptly used as an energy source. Pomegranate as a snack works well in the long car ride, if prepared for properly.

We planned and scheduled a couple's massage for Wednesday which was exactly what both of us needed after a long weekend. Success yet again, as Michelle masseuse was stuck in traffic but made it just in time!


Little Reflection:
Naked Juices: I forgot how much I liked them. Andrew reminded me that while working in Balducci's I'd always buy one - Naked Mighty Mango and Michelle mentioned I'd always get a Mango Tango Odwalla juice at BC. This is a clear reminder of several things: I love mango smoothies, I forget that I love them and need people reminding me about it. Funny how I'd forgotten such little things about myself. It's always so great to share experiences with other people because they see it and remember it differently - but still truthfully.


Something to look up:
"Half Full" - Stamford Brewery (as suggested by one of the people who was at the tour with us at Tuckerman. He lives in Stamford and Michelle gladly had a conversation with him.) Always nice to notice the little things that happen in life.

The Onion Challenge, New Year's Gifts

Our good friend Art (his parents I'd say) has a membership to Restaurant Depot, where food is sold in very large portions. One thing Michelle and I eat all the time is onions, so we have asked to get us a large bag of onions. Very large, 50lbs! 

Some have an unusual love to these veggies.

Challenge accepted!

Proper tools to tackle the onions

Let the cooking and caramelizing begin 

This year I didn't want to buy expensive wrapping paper so i figured I will wait until after the holidays to get my 90% discounted crap. Turns out I didn't even need any wrapping paper. I went online and searched for alternatives, scanned our household for unwanted paper related things and stumbled into several art magazines that I used to flip through to get some ideas about painting months ago. This is my result  and I'm quite proud of it!

The Hobbit and other Unexpectedness

Ngoc had visited us and it was a lot of fun. In the morning we went to Chips and had yummy cinnabun pancake, traditional, and egg white omelet for me. We waited in line for 5minutes on Saturday morning and got our food relatively quickly.

Later in the day, we ventured to rent skis for the next weekend - excitement! New Hampshire house with 15+ people (young folks too). It also turns out we'd be cooking a dinner once in 5 days for everyone. Mi madre is on our team (or, I guess, Michelle and I are one her team). I think it shall be super fun.

Our household now drinks soy milk. Just one carton made a transition for us. It has more good stuff and less bad stuff and a nice nutty aftertaste that I enjoy. Michelle likes it too, which is a huge progress, because she doesn't normally drink milk (except if its heated up with some honey).

Andrew is hanging in CT these days. We saw Joseph, and Art, and Shawn and few people in the bar. He keeps comparing it to his Colorado and other fun places which makes sense, but Greenwich is such a small town nothing major really happens there. Even Stamford has a little more life, with clubs and whatnot. No fear, fun is about the company, I believe.

Shopping Spree in GoodWill

Went shopping at Goodwill for a few presents for people. Sounds a bit odd, but you can find all kinds of good things there, from small to medium size :)
Ngoc is stopping by for one night this upcoming Friday. It's always nice to see BC grads after graduation. Same day we will all go and see "The Hobbit". Michelle is super pumped, and I know few people are in the same category. I'm looking forward yet another trilogy, since LoTR was fantastic. Andrew is also coming to CT this Friday. There shall be craziness!
Last night, Michelle dragged me into New Heaven for a hospital crew gathering celebration at this place called "Bar". We thought we came fashionably late, but as it turns out, we were quite early. At least the entertainment of a tweet-age birthday party was appropriate. One free large salad, a pizza, and small 5beer sampler later (also free) we we're in the other room socializing. As I walked by the crowd of people, I noticed a familiar face - another BC grad - Johnny. He's studying forensic science and sometimes hangs out at the bar. Quite a random yet fun meet. Though we weren't really close or anything at BC<, we chatted for few minutes, it was a simple connection to our early fun days.

Tuesday was another get together of Michelle's people :) It was in "Roberto's" which was phenomenal. The food was amazing, open bar, and we didn't stay too long. Michelle and I almost forgot about the whole thing until half hour before it was about to begin. We came a little late but sat down at the table that good food first. Fantastic!

The4HourChef, DECEMBER 2012

The 4 Hour Chef is my newest obsession. I purchased the book and read it every day on tips for cooking as well as few recipes such as Rump Roast Beef slow cooked with onions. Yeah, mouthwatering goodness.


The very first time I cooked eggs Mediterranean style - parsley + lemon juice. Tasty and very different texture because I  slow cooked them, on low heat with grape seed oil (tasteless so allows the clear flavor of the dish to flourish). Basically the book is a gem of great ideas.

Life coaching is going well. I will soon begin coaching a client through Skype, as she has moved to DC to pursue her vocation. All the power to her.

Became a massage envy member AFTER receiving an hour massage. As I was driving with Michelle I was convinced I would not be signing up with them, but wrong I was. To treat myself for a massage once a month is nothing short of acceptable, after all, I don't treat myself to many things.

I have signed up with Kelly Services agency and all I need to do is get fingerprinted and I will be able to substitute in no time. I don't know why I have an uneasy feel for it. Perhaps it is somewhat of a drive and the job is unstable. Future will present itself up in the meantime.

My wisdom teeth are going to be removed. The surgery will be one of the first things I will 'do' in 2013. Two thousand thirteen, and to think that some are just starting their college paths. Time is a crazy thing :)