Rink Love
The holidays serve up some spectacular date-night material.
My favorites this week:
Inhaling an entire batch of freshly-set Fleur de Sel Caramels.
(nothing else, just us and candy)
And a spin around the rink.
xo
Heather
Camels, Fast Cars and a Conundrum
In a few, sure-to-fly-by weeks Nigel and I will be boarding Emirates Airlines for our holiday travels.
It all starts here:
[Dubai, UAE]
And ends here:
[The Seychelles]
It’s a trip of a lifetime, you might say. That which honeymoons and mid-life-crisises are made of. While we’ve been calling this the honeymoon before the wedding and scarily, I suppose, we are approaching ‘the middle’, it really is neither. Just our wanderlust doing what it does.
And in doing what I do, I have cooked up a number of spreadsheets to help ‘produce’ the trip (as seen here). One of them is documenting our activities including those we’ve booked in advance and the things we might want to schedule when we land. If all goes as planned we’ll be sailing the pirated seas, dune bashing and sand boarding in the Arabian desert and hiking in the Seychelles with a local guide named David who will prepare lunch with a machete, the nearest mango tree and a banana leaf.
Travel planning with Nigel is a breeze. For the most part we like and dislike the same things, for example, likes = fois gras and backgammon; dislikes = football and drinking ice-cold water. But this week presented us with our first trip-related debacle. The question is this:
Do we spend three of our fourteen hours in Abu Dhabi here?
[Ferrari World]
What, you didn’t know about Ferrari World? You weren’t aware of the largest indoor theme park on PLANET EARTH? That it boasts the fastest roller coaster known to man? And who cares about Ferrari, you ask?
Bite. Your. Tongue.
Insert. Sarcasm. Here.
I love a good roller coaster as much as the next guy and Ferris Beuller and his hookey playing antics did tempt us all. But I really couldn’t be less interested in this this Ferrari business (no offense the good people of Ferrari). It’s just that we’re from the West. We LIVE in a themepark. If it’s adrenaline we’re after we can be strapped into a roller coaster at any one of three Six Flags within ninety minutes of home. We will be in the Middle East. There are mosques to visit, souks to descend upon, magic carpets and camels to ride. Really babe? Ferarri World?
After some negotiation we concluded that meeting half way and compromising is what partnership is all about. Sacrificing my inner brat for his pre-pubescent thrill-seeker is part of the drill. I get it. Ferrari World it is. Yaaay.
And in addition to the roller coasters, there’s all of this:
At the end of the day our inner children and outer grown ups are all excited.
Our first holiday together.
The best ride, ever.
My Day Job
I just love when we harness the power of technology for good.
Lots of talented folks were involved with eBay and Toys for Tots
in making charitable donations easy and entertaining.
If you’re not in San Francisco or NYC you can go here to donate to a child in need.
Pics ‘o Plates
It’s only Monday but I’m already reving my engine for the photography workshop that I’ll be attending on Saturday. In preparation I’ve been critiquing my work and appreciating that of others. In this age of the blog many fancy themselves food photographers but one of the first, real masters that caught my eye and inspired me to explore the field more seriously is Kyle Drier. Not only are his photos beautiful there is a charm in his work that comes through in every shot. This character that he exposes in his photographs seems to be very authentic to who he is as an artist, if I dare to conclude. While many can take a lovely photo Kyle takes lighting, styling and story to a very different level.
A very high bar, indeed.
(photo credit: www.dreier.com)
A New Routine. I Like It!
Chef Boyfriend burns some serious midnight oil at the restaurant. How he does it, I’ll never know. Be it as it may, sister here spends most mornings before work solo. But I’m tickled to say that all of that changed a rough three weeks ago. You see, Groupon and one of its extraordinary yoga deals got the best of my better half. You know the ones, $25 for a month of unlimited yoga, savings = 80%! We’ve all been there but few of us actually make the most of our bargains. Nigel on the other hand has been getting up early every single morning to pigeon and crow. He even gets up a little earlier than need be to make himself a smoothie. P.S. – he adds “weight-gainer”. The nerve! I can’t believe I grant such a substance real estate in my kitchen.
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