Back where I belong

Two weeks. Count 'em. Two whole, long, delicious weeks to spend in the proverbial bosom of my family and luxuriating in the company of friends. Someone asked me what I did in NY while I was there. What did I do? Hmmmm. Nothing, really. Yet I accomplished just about everything I set out to.

First stop on the tour? The fabulous Miss Alli Arnold. Sister-in-law, friend and the best Shirl a girl could ask for. It's impossible for me to not enjoy time spent with my Shirl. She is my sister from another mister, my soul's kissing cousin, the peas to my carrots. I was grateful for two nights there, checking our her new apartment (gorgeous) and her new 'hood (classic) and even heading back down into the old 'hood of Murray Hill for sample sales (bargains!) and diner eats (mmm, reuben sandwich.) We may or may not have gorged ourselves on three episodes of Jersey Shore in the evening, but I won't admit to that publicly and will leave it as a hypothetical scenario for you to ponder.


Somehow I took no photos of La Shirl herself. But I did snap her artwork hanging up on banners all over NYC. So proud! I also got pictures of her dog and, inexplicably, her bookcase. Thought both are lovely, for the sake of brevity, neither will be included here. (After all, it was a two week trip, and I am only on day 2) Suffice it to say, Alli always leaves me wanting more.

Next stop...Albany to see A. (sometimes known as G.) & B. & family. Roll on Megabus!

I got to meet Elena for the first time. And loved her immediately.
Old friend Dave came up to Albany for a visit and the four of us grownups nearly wet ourselves laughing after the lil' ones were in bed. This may have had something to do with the wicked chocolate martinis Ann was mixing. Or maybe not, you never know with this crowd.
Ann and I figured out why I am practically a midget by comparing our legs. Seems I am missing about 4 or 5 inches off of mine.

Also while in Albany, I crowned Miss Eva Diva a princess (merely confirming what she already knows)...
...helped Jonah compose a song, and ate Ann's home-baked bread like my life depended on it. Alas, sadly, after all that it was time to move on. Bring it, Long Island!!

My first night back on the island was a casual affair at the ol' family homestead, affectionately known as 106. So the family gathered and we had dinner and of course, lots of laughs. I never feel as comfortable as I am when around this crowd of wacky yahoos. Love 'em all to death.
Sister Maggie's patients love her so much they send her GINORMOUS gift baskets full of yummies. Hooray Maggie! We all did our very best to put a big dent in it. (You are probably wondering how a lil' thing like Magpie can hold up that massive box. Yoga. I swear, sometimes I just wanna be her.)

In an evening loaded with highlights, on a trip loaded with highlights, nothing warmed the cockles of my heart so much as seeing how much my younger nephews adore my older one. Michael and Luke above, figuring out something electronical or mechanical no doubt.

Here's Michael with the Jake-meister. Jake won't even LOOK at me when Michael is in the room. But that's okay....warm heart cockles and all that. (What exactly is a cockle anyway?)

But moving on, because it's only day 5 of 14 and we'll see more of this motley crew at a later date. Actually this might be a good time to pinch off this post and start again fresh another day. After all, a good blogger knows a cliffhanger will keep 'em coming back for more.

What wonders will days six through fourteen hold?! Only the Shadow knows!! (And also me and the 19 other people in my family, a handful of friends and a big bunch of Chris's relatives as well. Oh and some people on the Long Island Rail Road, the A and L subway trains and anyone who was at the 11th Street Bar on December 22nd and....well...you get the point. Only the Shadow knows!! )

Anyway, I'll leave you with these words of advice, if ever you are in Bellmore and need a place to lay your head, drop by 106...

...they'll give you this much bedding to sleep with.

-k.

Athens

We started 2009 with a January visit to Belgium and throughout the year we got to visit a lot of new places including: Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Scotland, Hungary, Romania, Croatia, Slovenia, Turkey, and Israel.

I don't know what 2010 will bring, but its off to a good start with Greece !

On New Years Day we hopped on the train for a 5 hour trip south through some breathtaking scenery....unfortunately I only snapped one picture in the north of Greece. Once we got to the south I had my nose pressed up against the window, mouth open just staring.
(Kelly was sleeping)

Our destination was of course Athens.
(Another destination we have been wanting to tackle for a loooooooong time.)

above, the Temple of Hephaestus ( Vulcan to you Romans )
(please click on the picture to see a bigger picture)

Incredible. The city is massive and is littered with ruins and remnants of Ancient Greece.

Ahhhh Athens....how much history can one absorb in 3 days ? The answer is : not nearly as much as one could, if one spends hours lounging in outdoor cafe's eating olives and swilling wine.

Ok, its no secret that the Mrs and I love Mediterranean cuisine, so as you can imagine we put a dent in the local olive supply and drank delicious Greek wine by the jug.

Waiter: Would you like some warm bread ?
Chris: Yes please...and more Olives
Kelly: and another Jug of Wine please.
Waiter: Ok, anything else?
Chris: Did we say Wine already?

Upon our arrival in Athens, we checked into our hotel and headed straight to the nearby Plaka district. We decided to sit, enjoy the weather and get drunk errrr I mean have lunch at an outdoor cafe. What to order? Souvlaki of course!

Kelly had Chicken Souvlaki while I opted for the traditional Lamb.

Mine was dry, hers was fantastic....damn!

Two jugs of wine later, who cares.

We spent the evening walking around and checking out the Plaka....pretty freakin nice.

Photo shoot ! Pretty girl with her new shawl from Jerusalem front and center... Parthenon lit up in background....

Back at our hotel, we sat up on the roof top terrace and sat staring at the Acropolis...we might of also had some more wine.

Beautiful huh?
(This is where I again remind you that you can click on pictures to make them bigger)

The next morning we got our bearings (kind of hard not to know wher you are going when you are headed for the hill in the middle of the city) and struck out for the Parthenon to see what all the fuss was.

As you can see the weather was beautiful and as you get up to the Acropolis the views get better and better.

Kelly was disappointed to find out that there were not only signs telling her not to touch anything but also eagle eyed security people. She only got yelled at once, she was very well behaved.

If you've ever seen the SNL skit about marble columns, there are loads of em up on the Acropolis. Maaaaarrrbbblle Collummnnnns.

Ok its impressive. You win Greeks, ya got some impressive stuff here. Fancy building, good location...very nice.

...but.... Once again, why does everything always have scaffolding on it! When is it going to be done !

You can't even go in the damn thing. No problem, walking around you get some pretty spectacular views of Athens and some other sites...

below, the Theater of something-or-other

below, the Temple of Olympian Zeus

Athens is everything you would expect...fantastic.

On the way down to the Temple of Hephaestus, through the Ancient Agora, Kelly was delighted to be able to pick olives...although she had to jump for most.

The view of the Acropolis from the Agora. Incredible. Breathtaking. All that.

The Temple of Hapheastus is the best preserved Ancient Greek Temple. Built by one of the dudes who built the Parthenon.

After a great morning of exploring, we hit the Plaka for lunch.

You guessed it....Greek salad...bread...olives....wine. The tzatziki dip was especially good.

We lounged at this cafe' for a good long while...when I realized...uh oh

Look at number 53

Another damned Funicular railway! They are everywhere!

Alas, we weren't headed to that particular area of town today, so we went to the Roman Agora to see some Roman ruins.

The picture above was taken seconds after Kelly got yelled at by mean Greek security lady for touching the tiles. Probably a good thing or Kelly would have mailed it off to Kathleen & Michael in Florida.

She was able however to molest this marble block without being yelled at.

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the back streets of the Plaka, and even walked to Hadrians Arch (above) and the Temple of Zeus beyond, but it was closed by the time we got there. We walked through a big park and then back to the hotel to freshen up before dinner.

Our last night in Greece. We sat in a cafe', had another delicious meal, then retired to the hotel.

As it happens sometime, I ate something that didnt agree with me (I think it was the Meat & Rice Balls in Egg & Cucumber sauce I had for dinner, Kelly thinks it was the 700 olives)...I spent the night sitting on the Porcelain Temple but by our midday flight I was ok.

Greece. can't recommend it highly enough.

Mrynn's Kitchen*

What's to be done on a December night in NY...

...when it's doing THIS outside...

...and THIS is accumulating at an alarming rate??

Well the first thing is to go outside and run and jump around. Make snowballs (but not snow angels b/c you are wearing your last pair of clean jeans and your sister is far too slim and trim to be lending you anything but a hat.) Take lots of pictures...

...and make the effort to at least appear as though you are helping your brother-in-law clear a path.
Then get back inside here...

...where the Christmas tunes are cheery, the borrowed slippers are snuggly, the tree is festive, the wine is full bodied (like you, not your sister) and...

...there's baking to be done!!!

(And dogs to be cuddled)

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Maryanne's Cookie Sweatshop. My very ambitious, generous and Betty Crocker-ific sister decided to make Christmas cookies for, oh, EVERYONE she knows. About eight varieties of cookie, dozens of batches each - holy Martha Stewart - that's A LOT of dough.

The poor, sweet girl thought she was going to be doing all of this on her own!! My job (according to her) was to drink wine, keep her company and occasionally taste some cookie dough. Though she had already done an awful lot of the labor and pre-prepared several batches of dough, it's a good thing her husband and I were there to lend a hand. Because making four thousand cookies is a lot of work.

I was a good little cookie elf and I mixed and melted and sprinkled as needed. We were churning out these bad boys at an astonishing rate. We rolled little one inch balls of cookie dough, we chopped nuts with surgical precision, we shaped cookies through a hand cranked press, we shuffled cookie sheets in and out of the oven, we juggled cooling racks and spatulas, we drizzled white chocolate with operatic flair. I tell you people, it was a site to behold.

It might not sound like much, but I was as happy as a clam (and I think we all know how happy clams are.) I was less than halfway through my NY trip, I had already spent time with some of my favorite people, with plans for more of the same. I was cozy, and comfortable (as I always am Chez Maryanne). We klotched over coffee, caught up with eachother and shared more than a few laughs. Spending time with my Mrynn always leaves my spirit refreshed and renewed.

And all on a snowy night in New York. It was wonderful. (And so were the cookies) So how do you follow up on such a perfect wintry evening?

Wake up and start baking more cookies with sister Laura!!

-k.

*A footnote on the name. I don't recall how it came about, but some clever sibling realized if you remove all the vowels from Maryanne's name you get Mrynn and it stuck. Infinitely nick-nameable, Maryanne will also answer to Mr. Ynn, Sunshine, Sorryanne, Mrynny-Herny, Scaryanne, Scurryanne and Sparerib. I can't promise she likes them all, but you will get her attention, and she might just make you a nice cuppa tea.

**Thanks Mrynn for always making me feel so wanted and welcome. I love you.

-k.

New Years in Thessaloniki

After returning from New York, Kelly and I headed straight out on our New Years trip to Greece via Bucharest (more on Romania later).

Our destination was Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece and the largest port in the north. Its a great gateway to the Balkans and you can catch trains to almost anywhere, including the overnight to Istanbul. It is also supposedly the hippest and coolest city in Greece.

After checking into our hotel, we went out exploring. It was late afternoon and all the cafe's and bars were hopping. It seemed like everyone was gearing up for a big New Years Eve celebration.

First stop was to find a restaurant for New Years eve dinner, which we accomplished in record time. Then we walked along the waterfront and soaked up the sun. It was nice and warm, 65F, a pleasant change from the weather we had left in NY and Vienna.

Then it was time for a quick snack before our pre-New Years eve celebration nap.

It came as no surprise that Kelly ordered....a Greek Salad.

I gambled, and lost, when I ordered the mussels in white wine sauce. It was delicious but the mussels themselves were gigantic...which kinda grosses me out. Also, Kelly and I had watched two shows on TV the night before in the hotel....Fear Factor (where they ate cow eyes) and a show on the Sea Slugs of Palau. The combination of these three events lead to me not enjoying my meal....but the beer was good.

above, Giant Greek Mussels

After a short rest and nap at the hotel, we headed out for dinner at 9pm.

Our New Years Eve dinner was a several course affair at a charming little Greek restaurant with live music to boot.

Our first course was a delicious mushroomy-peppery soup


Second course was a salad, garnished with pine nuts, oranges and pomegranate


and then the main courses...

I had Beef, potatoes and rice
Kelly had the Giant Pork Leg !

We threw back a couple bottles of yummy local wine, and we were primed and ready for Greek New Years ! (or tripping and smashing our faces on a curb)

We left the restaurant at 11:30pm and made our way to Aristotelous Square, where there were crowds gathering. People were singing, banging on drums, dancing....New Years approaches!

Then nothing.....

There is no official countdown, no fireworks....nothing.

At around Midnight you see people start kissing and hugging....and leaving.

We were like, "What the"

So we headed into one of the Cafe's along the square, where there were loads of empty seats (weird) and got some Champagne.

We had a good laugh and a very good time in Thessaloniki. It really is a great city with lots to see.

No time to dilly dally though, the next day we were heading off to Athens !