What's been on my mind lately? Read on...
I was part of the First Night procession/parade last night as a member of the Dino Man team. We manhandled a few inflated dinosaurs through the streets of Boston, wreaking havoc left and right (okay, only the really little kids were scared).
Gil’s New Year’s party was a blast, and I’m thankful not many pictures were taken – sufficeth to say, no one at that party will be running for office anytime soon.
Happy 2003!
I spent some time earlier this week in Arlington, VA visiting my folks. It was my first time back to DC in about two years, though I see my parents quite frequently in New York and elsewhere. On my way home, I had some time to kill at the train station, so I took these pictures at Union Station.
En route to Laguardia Airport in Queens from my aunt & uncle’s place in Manhattan, I saw a city bus pull a u-turn (granted it took quite a few backings and forthings) on 96th Street. I thought I’d seen almost every crazy traffic trick in the book, but this one takes the cake. No picture of that, though – sorry.
I’m an action hero! Okay, not quite, but I did have an action hero moment last night.
I was trying to head out to Lowell to meet Simone & Danielle for our regular Thursday night climbing, but the ever-so-slow Green Line wasn’t helping me at all. It took almost twenty minutes to go 8 stops, and by the time we got to North Station, the departure point of the commuter rail to Lowell, it was time for the train to leave. I sprinted down the stairs from the T and through North Station, arriving at the platform in time to see the train pulling away. Putting on my best action hero face, I booked it down the platform, and the conductor at the end was nice enough to open the door for me and catch me as I jumped from the platform on to the now speedily moving train to the cheers of other passengers.
I was ready for my big break, but sadly there were no prominent directors or agents on the train to see my moves, so I’ll remain undiscovered for a while longer.
The duck-speriment was a great success. This recipe worked wonders, and our Super 88 duck was delish. Why a duck in the first place? Read on…
My grandmother – my mom’s mom – used to make us duck when we’d visit. She’d take me shopping with her to buy the birds, and always observed the same ritual when selecting her ducks. I never thought about it then, but given my trials just trying to find a single duck recently, it’s surprising that the local supermarket in Manhattan had enough ducks to require a selection process.
In any event, the game went like this: first, she’d feel up the birds a bit, remembering which ones she liked. Then, to make the final choice, she’d take her keys – apartment, mailbox, whatever – and cut open the package, right there in the duck aisle. She’d give me a little wink, as if to say, “Don’t tell anyone, David,” in her wonderful Hungarian accent, and wore a devilish grin as she dug in. There was something she was looking for, clearly, that couldn’t be found without opening up the plastic wrapping, but she never told me what it was. There were definitely occasions where the now opened duck was returned to the pool of rejects, just waiting for some unsuspecting duck-buying customer to take it home before realizing their error in selection. We’d put the two lucky birds that passed the rigorous examination process in the cart, and proceed along giggling to ourselves.
Anyways, it’s been about 10 years since she’s made us a duck, and I was nostalgic for the rich smell and unmistakable crackling sound of a duck in the oven, so I made one. Turns out my mom made one for her & my dad this week, too. Had I the authority, I’d declare it national duck week. But I don’t.
Katja posted some more pictures from Get HoHoHo – check ’em out here.
I ended up needing to buy a duck (dead, not alive) yesterday – it turns out it’s not that easy to find a duck in Boston. Plenty of places (even Star Market) had frozen, sorry looking ducks, but I wanted something a little more fresh. Dan & Marcie suggested (and provided transportation to) the Super 88 Market in Allston/Brighton (right where North Beacon splits from Comm. Ave). Not only did I find a fresh duck (with feet & head still attached!), I found they sold these great ginger candies I’d had in New York City. Score!