Catch-up recap

Oh boy, having a social life is exhausting. So are the holidays. So is rain. And so is jet lag. And cookies. Well, maybe not cookies, because cookies are not exhausting per se, but you get the jist. I am munching on them cookies now and they are sublime. Cookies are awesome. 

So far, this visit to the home turf has been quite kind to me. I have mostly gotten over the jet lag and the weather is supposed to improve tomorrow. Christmas is over, so half of the madness is in the past already. For which I am quite thankful. As much as I love Christmas strictly as a family holiday, it is stressful. So booyeah that it only comes around once a year. Other than the big holiday being over, let's see what have I been up to since coming back. I have hardly had any time for myself or not-yet-alotted for some reunion/visit/errand/nap. A bit mad, yes, I agree.

The "getting shitfaced with my girl M part" on my first evening back, which was awesome, was already mentioned. Gin tonic was good, not having to get through a hangover was almost as good. I have this superpower, you see, I am hangover-proof or something. My liver might start objecting at some point, but for now my head and my stomach are being great sports if/when I decide that one drink is just not enough.   

The next day (Sunday) did not exist. I literally slept through it, woke up around 6 pm and went back to bed a few hours later. Which means I can scratch "sleep deprivation" from my list. Yay!

SOTD: R.E.M. - Daysleeper

On Monday, I went for a very much needed haircut and I love the very subtle, but cool change. Feels awesome. And yes, there are plenty of hair salons in NYC, but I still feel reluctant about changing my hair person yet. Maybe someday, but not just yet. After the pamper session, lunch with mother and roadtrip to Ljubljana to catch up with some lovely friends from there. The reunion, the beer and later the mulled wine on the bank of the river all felt so familiar and good. The day ended with a dinner and a bottle of wine at an old friend's (and I do not mean she is old, it's just our friendship that is a senior citizen already) house. 

Tuesday was Christmas Eve, a day meant to be spent bickering with my mother, laughing with my brother, making cookies (duh!), trimming the tree while eating said cookies, having a delicious fishy dinner and having a good time. Oh, and we watched Home Alone for the umpteenth time, all three of us sprawled on the couch. Talk about family time. 

Christmas day was spent in the countryside visiting relatives. As usual, it was tipsy, loud and yummy. And there was a visit to the movies later on, since The Hobbit is in town. It was way better than An Unexpected Journey, which felt like a bloated bore, although my man Gollum was in that one (thumbs up for Chapter 1!) and absent from this one (Booooo!). Smaug was a good enough drama queen, but no one beats Gollum at I-do-alone-crazy-in-a-cave-like-a-boss-so-I-am-a-better-crazy-than-you-precioussssssssssssssssssss.  

Thursday was another holiday and another rainy day. And another day of meeting good friends. I could easily get used to that. Lively chitchat, catching up with life events and developments, drinking coffee (from an actual cup!!! It still fascinates me how much I missed actual cups!!!) with a view of the sailboats. I did some work in the afternoon, since I had to submit a peer review of a paper. Which also made me fish out the huge stack of papers I brought from New York. Time to start catching up with my reading as well. Oh. I love science. I love science. I love science. I love science. I love science...

Regardless, I miss New York.
This one is from 72nd & Madison. UES at it's finest.

There's still a lot of people I want to see and a lot of things I want to do and A LOT of papers I HAVE TO READ, but I am being quite efficient, so I am confident there will be time for a siesta and for doing my nails at some point. 

Cheers to manicures!

Jules

Textless Thursday (26)

This year's tree at Rockefeller Center.
Just because.

Ocean? Re-crossed!

Roughly six months after crossing the Atlantic, I did it again. 

Sunrise over the Atlantic in Miami.
Next stop? Africa. Close enough to Europe, I guess.

Touched down in Venice around noon yesterday, had a lovely catch-up with my brother, then lunch with the fam and a nap. Then I managed to get shitfaced with my girl M. All in all, first day back was successful. 

SOTD: Chris Rea - Driving home for Christmas

Sunday felt victim to jet lag and a bit of unpacking. The weather sucks anyway. 

Here's to reunions!

Jules

The best cocoa for snow days.

There are not many things cozier than a steaming cup of hot cocoa. Agree?

Well, let me introduce you to the best cocoa "recipe". I am aware that obtaining a cup of hot cocoa can be really simple - hot milk and a spoonful of Nesquick or some similar instant soluble powder. Done. 

But boy, with a bit more time, more effort and a bit of preparation, this simple treat can really be taken to the next level. Because THIS is the cocoa you didn't even know you were missing in your life.

Yumminess.

"Recipe" is a bit of an overstatement - it is very simple and as tweakable as you want it. 

You'll need:

• real cocoa powder (instant soluble sugary crap is just not in the same league as the real stuff),
• whole milk + a dash of heavy cream (that's optional),
• teeny tiny pinch of good salt, just enough to give it a kick,
• sugar,
• peppermint syrup (very easy to make, I used this recipe, although I swapped white sugar for brown),
• peppermint candy canes for that extra festive touch and to use as stirrers.

Soon to be minty creamy chocolatey heaven.

Adjust all quantities to your taste and, of course, to the number of cups you are making. Also, keep in mind that both the syrup and the candy canes are quite sweet, so do not overdo it with the sugar. 

The secret ingredient for the bestest cocoa:
 pepermint!

Combine the milk with the cream and add the salt. Warm slightly. Either in a pot on the stove or in the microwave. Having the milk warm will help the cocoa powder getting into the mixture.

Mix in the cocoa powder. Stir vigorously to get all the cocoa into the milk and crush all the lumps. Real cocoa powder (as opposed to soluble powders) is a pain in the butt to mix in, but the end result is really worth it. Once the brown stuff is inside the milk and not floating on top of it, add the syrup and mix a bit more. Finish off with adding enough sugar to make it perfectly sweet.

Warm it up, but not let it boil. Right before serving, stick a candy cane (or two) in each cup. They will slowly start melting and releasing the pepperminty goodies into the cocoa. Awesome.

Enjoy it while it lasts.

You might want cry a little when it's gone, trust me. Of course, you can always make another cup.

Bonus tinsel: The tree at Rockefeller Center.

A message for Holden Caulfield

Last Monday, when we got back from Miami, a freezing and foggy New York welcomed us. On Tuesday, it snowed for most of the day, but the snow, fortunately, didn't really stick on the streets. The Park, well, was another story. 

Central Park last Wednesday, a mere day
after the first real snow of the season

And it's been snowing all freaking day this past Saturday. All. Fucking. Day. This time around, the white frozen water, to my sheer annoyance, stuck. Not to mention that by evening, snow turned into frozen rain, so the freshly deposited white fluffiness, that by the way looked kind of cute from the safety of my blanket-wrapped-hot-cocoa-cup-in-hand vantage point, suddenly turned into a soggy icy slippery mess. Nice.

I have a love-hate relationship with winter. Having grown up on the Mediterranean coast in a sub-mediterranean climate, snow days were few and far in between. Instead, our winters were either foggy and soggy or batshit crazy cold thanks to the burja, but that's another story.

Although I have remarkable thermoregulation,  I hate being cold. And I hate cold wet stuff falling from the sky. Sure, snow is awesome on the ski slopes up in the mountains, and yes, forests freshly dusted with snowflakes look pretty, but come on, snow is cold, slippery, impractical, and entertains the habit of turning into ice on the sidewalks and makes you fall on your butt. Not cool.

SOTD: Florence and The Machine - Landscape. 

This is my first winter in New York (here's to many MANY more!) and I am mentally prepared to plenty of sore butt instances and frost-bitten fingers. I actually like the sunny days, although they come at a price (= frostbitten fingers). During those freezing days, I like to take a longer lunch and go for a stroll in the park while the sun is still up in the sky. And guess what, every single time I do that, my mind drifts to one particular character from one particular book. Yup, Holden from The Catcher in the Rye. 

The Angel of the Waters and a frozen Lake in the background.
What's not to love?
Oh, yeah, I know, having your toes amputated 'cause they froze!

And in particular, his endless yammering about the ducks in the pond in Central Park, is looping in my brain during those walks. He talks about the ducks that usually hang out at the Pond down at the southern edge of the park, but kind of get chased away once the water freezes over. And poor angsty Holden wonders where they might go. 

The Lake and Bow bridge this morning.

Well, Holden, buddy, I found them. They move just a tad north to the Lake. Mystery solved, Holden. 

Ducky hangout in a non-frozen pocket of the Lake.

Dear Holden. Here are your ducks. Next time,
just walk from one body of water to the next, dude.

All of a sudden, I have this craving for re-opening The Catcher in The Rye. It's been about 8 years since I last read it...

Happy Salinger-ing,

Jules

p.s. These pics were taken on this particular Monday morning on my way to the American Museum of Natural History. After a 60+ work week that ended yesterday around 11 pm, I decided to play hooky for the morning and go check out the whales exhibit. It was amazing. Beautiful. Fun. And heartbreaking. Did you know that the blue whale's aorta is actually big enough for a toddler to crawl in it relatively comfortably. And did you know that sperm whales got their name because early whalers thought the white slimy stuff in their (ginormous) noses was sperm. Turns out, it's semiliquid that helps them do that sonar thing they do to detect prey. Mind? Blown! More than just twice!

21 things a december trip to Florida taught me

1. Fake boobs exist to be displayed. Wide open. 

2. Key lime pie is overrated. 

3. Coconut patties are severely underrated. 

4. A mojito made with Haitian rum is infinitely better than a mojito made with Bacardi. 

5. Mild jellyfish stings shall never stop you from frolicking in the waves of a surprisingly warm Atlantic ocean. 

6. Shrimp are awesome.

SOTD: Amy Winehouse - Fuck-me Pumps. This song IS Miami!

7. Christmas lights, palm trees and flipflops make a strange combo. 

8. I want to eat Creole food for the rest of my life. 

9. I want to move to Martinique to eat Creole food for the rest of my life.

10. Sunscreen is always a good idea. 

11. Long barefoot walks on a sandy beach are a cool and efficient alternative to a pedicure. 

12. Watching the sun rise from the ocean instead of setting into it is weird. 

13. South Beach is a surprisingly short flight away from winter. 

14. Next time, I shall definitely pack my meanest fuck-me pumps. Flats, no matter how cute, do not cut it. 

15. Sand gets fucking everywhere, which is fucking annoying.

16. The Everglades are not a swamp, but a very lazy weird river.

17. Orchid blooms as cocktail garnish make girls swoon, especially if said cocktail is mixed by a hot barman.

18. Lavender syrup, Bombay Sapphire gin, lime and fizzy water make a GOOD drink. Especially with an orchid bloom as garnish.

19. New York has better coffee than Miami. And better bagels.

20. Chicks in Miami wear better shoes than chicks in New York (BLASPHEMY!!!)

21. I will be back!!!

Miami Bitch*

I spent this past weekend in sunny Miami working on a tan, swimming in the Atlantic and finishing off copious amounts of coconut water/mojitos/lavender-gin cocktails. 

In the meantime, there was an ice storm (don't even know what that is exactly, but sounds cold) all over New York. 

South Beach. AKA Exactly What I Needed.

The best mojito I've ever had. With Haitian rum.
Yum!

Time to snap back into work mode. It's Monday.
Yuck!

Jules

* In reality, it was Miami Beach, bitch.

Textless Thursday (25)

Go to hell, winter. I'm off to Miami!

Isa Genzken at MoMA

After the most awesome installation ever and Magritte, another slam dunk exhibit opened recently at the Museum of Modern Art, and again, I took advantage of the membership perks and saw the Isa Genzgen retrospective during member previews. And, 10 days later, I went again during regular viewing, when it was considerably more crowded. 

It is the first US retrospective of the multitasking German artist and, well, it is seriously cool. 

6th floor at MoMA: 50 % elegant, surrealist-but-so-very-belgian Magritte,
50 % multi-everything Berlin-in-your-face Genzken,
100 % awesome. 

There is so much to love:

Mesmerising mirror mosaics to discover your pixelated self.

A fantastic tryptich to totally fit my geeky sciency wine-y bill. 

Badass concrete and glass blocks. Substance & form. 

Snaps from Ur-metropolis on the floor. Crush the thing with your own
weight!

To be honest, I know very little about contemporary art and, more often than not, staring at certain pieces triggers a huge "WTF, Jasmine?!"*. But sometimes, contemporary art is just plainly cool and all I can really say about it is that I liked it. Or didn't. On a personal, purely aesthetic level. 

This particular exhibit is beautiful. And I do not really care about how serious conoisseurs, critics, art historians or art nerds interpret Isa Genzken's pieces. All I care about is that they are cool. 

This whole MoMA membership thing is one of the best ideas I've ever had. It seemed like a splurge when I signed up almost six months ago (it was actually one of the first things I did when I moved to the city), but it is well worth it. 

Genious reminder of how cool it is to be a MoMA
member. In a MoMA restroom.

MoMA does an amazing job at reminding us that, despite everyday unpleasantries, SO MUCH BEAUTY can be found, if only one takes the short trip to Midtown ;)

Cheers to that,

Jules

*inside joke from our lab. Long story short: "WTF, Jasmine?!" is just like "WTF, dude?!", but taken to the next level.