Monthly Archives: December 2008

Beauty in the ‘Burbs

I don’t have pictures, but I wanted to post that since we are staying, CT has been more beautiful than ever. As I walked to work on Thursday, it was one of the most beautiful mornings I can remember. All of the grass was encased in layers of frost — not quite ice, but a thin, stiffening glaze over individual blades of green. The sun shone brightly, refracting off of each grass leaf.

When I first came out of the house, I thought is was particularly pronounced on our lawn because we hadn’t cut it, but that wasn’t the case. Each subsequent lawn was expertly outlined in this frosting. As I approached school, I could see each individual blade of grass on the fields. I went into my office for a bit but came outside again soon to run some errands in other buildings on campus. It was a cold morning, yet not painfully cold. But even these twenty minutes later, it was up a few degrees. The rays of the sun began to warm the encrusted grass, and in the otherwise silent school landscape — kids taking exams — it crackled as it warmed. Because of the silence, this array of pops and cracks filled the campus.

I thought about what this may have sounded like before the ‘burbs had arisen, when humans may have lived in simpler ways. It made me miss living at Bennington, living in a rural area. It made me appreciate the beauty that surrounds me, both on these rare occasions and every day.

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It’s Official — We’re Staying!!!

So I haven’t wanted to write about this publicly until now. Sujal lost his job at Fanzter in November, which is a pretty scary thing considering he is definitely the breadwinner of our family. He interviewed with Newsweek in New York City, where he would have had a very attractive position working on their website. We went to NYC several times, but I just really did not want to move. I’m not much of a city gal — I really value space and quiet, to items that are at a premium in NYC and its environs. So to make a long story short, he turned down the position.

He was also interviewing at ESPN, and I am thrilled to say that he will be starting back at ESPN in January! Woo-hoo! While I have always maintained that I don’t love Connecticut, apparently, I do! Truth be told, I prefer small towns, but over NYC, I apparently love the suburbs. I love suburban Connecticut. There I set it. I truly am The Connecticutian. I love our house. I love our life. Could there, be improvements — of course, but things are pretty damn great. I’m also very happy at my school. It’s tough to begin at a new school. It’s like being a first year teacher all over again, and I like what I have established at my school.

The bottom line is, Connecticut, you can’t get rid of us! I am the Connecticutian: Hear me bore — I mean roar!

On a side note, Sujal found this great song by Jesus H Christ & The 4 Hornsmen of the Apocalypse.

Sayers in Noida

My sister and her family moved to Noida, which is just southeast of New Delhi, on Monday! They are keeping blogs about their experiences. My brother-in-law is writing the blog Swimming in India, and my niece and nephew are writing a blog called R.E.Lee India. Enjoy!

Bombay Olive in West Hartford

When the focus has recently been on businesses springing up in the center, we cannot forget the Elmwood area.  Last night we went to Bombay Olive for the first time.  We had a great time dining there.  We were a anxious to see what the decor would look like in a former IHOP building — and once you get inside, it is so lovely! I loved the detail work — especially the pressed tin ceiling. The paintings of Everest or various Himalayan scenes are also lovely.

We began with samosa, which were light and fluffy — really good.  After reading that they cook with olive oil (hence the name of the restaurant), I can see why they tasted a little different than I was used to.  It was a nice change.  Sujal and I had the black dahl and the paneer tawa masala with roti and paratha.  It was all very good.  The dahl was creamy and perfectly spiced.  The paneer was a new dish for us.  The veggies in the dish still had some crunch to them — perfectly cooked.  After dinner, I ordered the masala tea.  It was not quite like the masala tea (chai) I’ve had in the past.  It did not contain cream, but it was still good, even though I am partial to an authentic masala chai.

The service was friendly, yet they seemed to be forgetful of our tea and dessert order (our friends had dessert).  This was fine because we were with good company, but that could be an area for improvement.  On the way out, I grabbed a bit of mukwas — it was an interesting mukwas.  I can’t say I loved it — I’m partial to green mukwas — but it was decent.

Finally, I’d have one suggestion for the  menu.  Sujal and I recently ate at the great Indian restaurant in NYC (though they threw away our leftovers, a crime for which I shall never forgive them), and they had tandoori paneer tikka.  It was so tandoorilicious!

I recommend Bombay Olive.  They have a mix of indian, american (western), nepalese, and persian food.  They even have breakfast — which I’d love to try someday.

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The Wire

This is a post I wrote over the summer but somehow misfiled.  Since then, Sujal and I saw David Simon, the creator of The Wire speak at The Connecticut Forum.

form 6/22/08

The past few weeks, Sujal has gotten me hooked on the HBO show The Wire. It’s a pretty gritty show set in Baltimore, and it follows several police and various police “targets.” It’s pretty addictive. One of the things that drives me a little nuts is that there is so much product placement. Being that the show focuses mainly on cops, you can imagine there is a lot of coffee drinking, and there are no shortage of front and center Dunkin’ Donuts coffee cups. Once they showed a junkie eating McDonald’s food, again, name prominently displayed. The cops are often drinking — the show must have contracts with Jameson and with Miller Lite.

I just started watching season four, and a kid buys a nail gun (for all the “wrong” reasons, I might add) in a large home improvement store. But Home Depot seemed unwilling to give the okay (or perhaps the cash), because the storefront had a very similar style sign — same colors — called Housewares Barn.

The show has some great character development as well as good storytelling.

“Green Lightning”: A Controversial Piece of Art I Vaguely Remember from my Buffalo Childhood

Once in a while, I get hits from internet searches from people googling about the Buffalo dancing penis sculpture I mentioned in a blog post more than two years ago. At the time, I couldn’t find anything online about it, but I just did, and I’m not crazy. It really happened.

Here is a clear photo.

This artist, Billie Lawless, made this installation sculpture in a Buffalo public space, and here is the Buffalo News article about it. And here is an article from the New York Times. Since this all happened in 1984, I would have been eleven. I seem to remember my dad talking about it as he read the story in the paper. I also pictured the neon penises as green, but perhaps this was because of the title of the piece. Finally, here is Wikipedia’s two cents.

I also found this really fun page, The Guide to Buffalo English, a sort of guide for outsiders. Especially great is the “The List.”

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