Rolling: Side Effects

A provocative look at the side effects of antidepressants.

H. and I saw this thriller at the movies tonight. Completely engrossing, if a little complicated to follow @ times. Catherine Zeta-Jones was really good. Lots of intricate twists and turns. Don't have too much wine before or you might not be able to keep up ;)

Good night.

TCOY

1. Boot camp in the soccer dome. 
2. Met a friend and fellow mom for coffee and chat. Felt like true TCOY.
3. Productive work call and resume/writing samples drop-off.
4. Read, took nap.

I See the Light

Everything you ever wanted to know about window decorating trends and how to keep your shades clean. [Hint: They might even need a bath sometimes.] My latest pieces on goodhousekeeping.com:

• TOP 10 WINDOW TREATMENT TRENDS
• HOW TO CLEAN BLINDS AND SHADES

Thank you for reading. And all praise to Carolyn Forte in the Good Housekeeping Research Institute, who truly knows everything about everything when it comes to home care and textiles. No fooling.  

TCOY

1. Private Benjamin with H. Productive and hopeful.
2. Walked Sug around block with H.
3. Made chili--turkey chili and veggie chili.
4. Listening right now to my "Mamma Mia!" movie soundtrack CD on my laptop--as I tackle a boring work project. The music is so uplifting.

A Recipe Makes the Rounds

I learned from my friend Nancy, back in high school, that this makes killer brownies.

My friend and fellow writer Kim [whose great blog inspired me to start blogging three years ago] posted this awesome recipe from L.A.-based master Joy the Baker on February 5: BROWN BUTTER ROSEMARY ORANGE CORNBREAD.

It is SO GOOD. Thank you, Joy, and thank you, Kim. There's a stick of butter, but it's spread out over a lot of servings. The cornbread is so moist and rich, and uses only one-third cup sugar, flavored with aromatic fresh rosemary and grated orange peel. I got a big juicy orange and went to town, adding more than the recipe calls for.

So fragrant, so delicious. I made a pan last week and a pan this week. I put a wedge in Figgy's lunch for a snack--feeling somehow like I was packing a pail lunch for a farmgirl. I'm making vegetarian chili tomorrow night to serve with it and while I'm avoiding sweets except one day a week, I allow myself this because it is not too much sugar per panful. But I won't lie: It is particularly hard to resist with butter.

For me, the most time consuming step is snipping the fresh rosemary into tiny pieces.

Good night. I really love Joy's site; the Chocolate and Peanut Butter Pudding is on my radar for another sweet day.

TCOY

1. Boot camp in the dome.
2. Walked Puff around block once.
3. I broke through a weight plateau.
4. Liked the sight of snow falling tonight when I took Puff out front just now.
5. Baked two pans of Baker's One-Bowl Brownies just now for Valentine's Day, with walnuts, vanilla extract, freshly grated orange peel, espresso powder and a little coarse French sea salt. Topped with dark chocolate chips before baking and scattered after with tiny red sugar hearts. Packing most up for Figgy to bring to school tomorrow. But the point is, if I'm making brownies, I'm making the finest ones. I also love the recipe from Baked cookbook, but they call for chocolate I didn't have. To save money, made the recipe with the Baker's unsweetened chocolate I had.

The Buzz @ NYFW Stone Rose Lounge

I zipped into the city [bus and subway] to lunch with two of my friends who are editors at Good Housekeeping. I had also gotten an email about the New York Fashion Week style lounge on the fourth floor of the Time Warner Center, right near GH. The lounge is a busy hub--with D.J.--for bloggers, press people and fashion editors today and tomorrow from noon to 6.

I interrupt this notice to tell you that the Tory Burch fashion show was @ 9 A.M. in NYC today. So even if didn't have a coveted invitation to attend at the Pierre Hotel, at least I'm in the city on the same day. Good fashion karma. Check THIS LINK for a photo of Tory and her rich and retro fall 2013 looks. I love what she's wearing and overall, a lot of the details and fabrics.

What can I tell you? I have a great view of Central Park, just as the press release promised. I'm sitting on a hip, wide, golden-cushioned chair with metal frame. I have a black totebag from the Illy Issimo coffee booth, where I picked up a sample can of no-sugar CAFFÈ. I also stopped at the Yoplait Greek 100-calorie yogurt stand, where the pleasant young lady had some toppings--almonds, coconut and chocolate chips--on display in stemmed cocktail glasses.

Since I had just enjoyed a Japanese bento box, I bagged a yogurt to try later. But being a sucker for recipes and recipe cards, I took the one for Chocolate Cherry Mini Lava Cakes, which calls for a small container of Yoplait's black cherry flavor and 12 cherries with stems. On closer look, I don't think I would make the cakes, though, b/c they also call for "fat-free egg product" and I don't use that, preferring real eggs and butter. Still, the photo looks good.

The crowd pulsating around me fits the style lounge name. The men look like they stepped off the pages of Details--in well-fitted suits, or tailored jackets with straight jeans and sneakers. Also: bold color, in jackets and wintry scarves/mufflers. On the women: Gold James Bond nail polish, hip eyeglasses [Flutter Eyewear also has a space here], cool, netty hosiery, skintight black leather pants and strappy high heels. The top fashion accessory is the iPhone. But the best-looking man I saw was the one with the "cigarette girl" who was handing out NJOY electronic cigarettes. He was young, preppy, handsome--and nice--in a clean-cut, collegiate kind of way. [I took a pack b/c I'm curious--Figgy recently told me some high school classmates are into them.]

People--presumably stressed between fall fashion shows--are getting free back and neck massages and also sipping Disaronno amaretto cocktails like the Skinny Sour and Fashionista di Sarrono. Ima try one before I head for the bus, and back to suburbia. I will return home an ounce or so hipper than when I left.

On my way. Enjoy your day.

Postscript: I got a Disarosa, served in a Champagne flute. A mix of fresh-squeezed OJ, prosecco and Disaronno amaretto. Yum.

TCOY

1. Good tooth care. And actually took time to apply makeup and set hair today.
2. Healthy breakfast. For snack, delicious Dannon key lime Greek yogurt [in blue cup]. Rich and satisfying. On sale @ ShopRite now, 4 generous cups for $3.99.
3. Did get some subway walking in, but not much, due to slush, high heels and winter sluggishness.
4. Breathed in my beloved New York City air.

Sweet Retreat

I'm trying something new--skipping sugar but allowing one "sweet day" a week. I'm watching to see how this change affects my energy level, whether it prevents mood spikes and if it helps ease self-loathing, and feelings of deflation and doubt. I read in Weight Watchers Magazine that eating sugar just makes your brain want more and more of it.

I started last Thursday. This Thursday, Valentine's Day, is my planned sweet day. I do not intend to skip chocolate on February 14!

I do feel better and it does simplify life. I'm not scrambling frantically through cabinets, like a crack addict. At Starbucks, CVS and elsewhere, I've ruled out sweet things and chocolate. So it was no to the Oreos on sale, the trail mix with M&Ms in it, the Kit Kat bar. And it was no without agony, or strings attached. So far, so good.

Good night.

TCOY

1. Boot camp in the dome. We did 75 push-ups today!
2. Nap.
3. Healthy meals.

Sweetheart

Nineteen years ago, the week of Valentine's Day 1994, a young woman was living in a Montclair apartment with her husband of three years. They did fun things, ate in fancy restaurants, stayed in nice inns. They took long bike rides and even went quahogging* once in Cape Cod Bay, which required rising before dawn. But they wanted a baby, hoped for a baby.

The woman was worried. Would it ever happen? Every month, there was her period, back again, like an unwanted valentine. But Valentine's Day was coming, so she bought cheerful red paper doily hearts at the stationery store and cupid stickers and made pretty decorations that she taped on the old front door to their apartment. It made her happy, and she hoped it would also please the neighbors who passed this door on the way to their apartments upstairs.

By the next Valentine's Day, they were expecting. By the one after, a rosy-cheeked baby girl was there with them. And now, now she is 17. Looking at colleges for next year.

The woman and her husband will live alone again, but for their fluffy white dog. Tonight she made valentines with Martha Stewart iridescent glitter hearts and stars and glittering glue. [It's just glue, her teen girl in the short plaid skirt said of the fancy name.] Still, at her mother's request, she joined in, cutting, gluing and glittering. The woman got her husband to join in, too, even though he was busy writing a book, even on Sunday night. And then the mother placed a special sparkly valentine on the front door of their little house, thinking it would charm the girl's friends, and the mail carrier, too.

Next year, she thought, I will send her a valentine at school, and lots of other mail, a lot with glitter on it, so she knows I'm never far away. So she can picture me at home, happily crafting valentines in our cozy kitchen. So she knows I am okay and that home is still safe and warm.

Good night.

*Quahogging is another way to say clam-digging up in New England. Quahogs are hard-shelled clams.

TCOY

1. Church. Felt good.
2. Nice walk in snow after church. Also felt good, cleared head.
3. Simple iced coffee @ Starbucks.
   

Rolling: The Sessions

William H. Macy as Father Brendan.

Sug and I had the couch to ourselves for most of the night so I caught "The Sessions" on demand. It's based on the true story of Mark O'Brien, who was struck with polio at age 6 and spent most of his life in an iron lung. Helen Hunt plays the sex surrogate he hires to fulfill his urge to become a man--lose his virginity--at age 38. [The movie starts in 1988; O'Brien died in 1999.]

John Hawkes is striking and likable in the starring role. William H. Macy plays long-haired Father Brendan, a Catholic priest in California who befriends O'Brien and is a sounding board for his fervent wishes. Macy is riveting, and their relationship is fascinating to a dyed-in-the-wool Catholic like me, especially since they meet at church for most of their talks, and Father Brendan tries to think of what Jesus would say.

Hunt is great, with a thick Boston accent that the real surrogate is known for. She is also completely nude in many shots and while she's beautiful, what's interesting is that it takes on a kind of clinical, not erotic, veil, like sex surrogacy itself. Rhea Perlman has a little jewel of a role, too.

What a compelling piece of work. I hopped right on google and found the article it was based on, written by Mark O'Brien and called ON SEEING A SEX SURROGATE.

Good night.

TCOY

1. Good tooth care.
2. Made a Weight Watchers slow cooker recipe--pulled pork with coleslaw on whole wheat bun. Really good.