Happy 2007 Chistmas & Holidays in New York (and CT. of course)

Hello everyone. Well, thanks to Brett's wonderful Holiday gift to me, you're now looking at the Spigelman Blog. OK, OK, so we've found a new way to torture you (hope not.) Anyway, this is how the photo grams will be delivered to you. Hope you enjoy. And Brett, I love you too.

As with all good things, you start with planning. Here's Brett and Monica on Christmas Eve in our hotel room in NYC, pouring over critical data on our computer. Wellllllllllllll, maybe not.
And we had a really great visit with everyone.

The first order of business? Find a button shop! This is one of Monica's newest passions. Buttons (among many other things.) You'll get a partial explanation of this passion later on in the blog. In the meantime, this is some button shop. Wall to wall buttons, in every price range, all in a little shop a few steps down from the sidewalk somewhere in the East 60s. Run by a Romanian, Slavic something, Bulgarian (take your choice, I couldn't tell from the accent) etc. And they wouldn't let me take a picture of the individual buttons. I know. I asked, They said, "No." I could take a picture of the shop, not individual buttons.
Arteeeests! Oh well. (and it's not just in NY. I've gotten this same reception in a lot of places, that's why I've learned to ask first.)

All right then. Off to visit Alan and Diane. Had lunch around the corner from their town house and then had a nice visit after eating. Alan takes a very "Sgt. Pepper" like pose beside his favorite new appliance. An auto espresso maker. And I might add, I LIKED it very much. I've recently discovered lattes and this machine makes one smooth drink (no steamed milk but Diane used a companion machine to heat the milk very nicely-it's easier than it sounds.)
And did I mention desert? Diane and Monica detoured on the way home to pick up some desert at a small restaurant and it was deeelish. Yes, that's my plate (or what's left of it anyway.) We ended up eating at that place on the day that we left for home (we had a late flight.) I had the best lentil soup there. I can't remember the name of the place (French name) but I sure would like to see them open in Tucson some day.

Next day was Christmas day. Seasonally cold, but no snow flying. Ann and Jim were perfect hosts and here we are doing one of our favorite holiday activities. Stuffing our faces!

Everyone had a job this holiday. And if you weren't assigned a specific job, then it was your job to eat. And no one fell down on that job!
Jim's job was to figure out how to use the new D300 camera (that sounds easier than it is.) Here you can see him looking at a picture that he just took, wondering "how'd I do that?"

I had a job as well. I was the official temperature tester for the prime ribs that were roasting in the oven. This too sounds easier than it was. The purpose bought meat thermometer was an instant read type, but somehow got left in the ribs, in the oven. It didn't like that. It partially melted in protest. Not surprisingly, it was hard to read in that condition. Fortunately, Ann came to the rescue with a back up, oven proof, thermometer. Here's the prime rib just coming out of the oven at just the right temp. Another triumph for modern science.

Ann's job was chief cook and bottle washer. Here she gives a demonstration of the Ginsu knives that would make a samurai nervous, er ah, I mean envious. She really did a great job. We all really enjoyed the wonderful food (and boy was there a lot of it!)

Jim actually had two jobs. The second one was El Carver Supremo. And he wasn't stingy with the servings either. Looks like he's enjoying himself (though probably not as much as all of us who got to eat his servings.)

OK, so one of Monica's passions is now buttons, cause she's really getting into craft making. And she's very good at it. Here she is handling a "surprise ball" that she made (she also knitted Brett a pair of beautiful socks for Christmas, but that's a whole nother story.) Inside of the surprise ball are a bunch of creative and pretty things, including of course, unusual buttons.
I didn't get around to taking pics of what was inside, but Brett really enjoyed it (there he is peering through the window to make sure no harm comes to his surprise ball.)

I thought it would be interesting to take a self portrait of all of us by holding the camera at arms length at the dinner table. I didn't realize how heavy the camera was. Came out kind of fuzzy wuzzy huh? So, you wanna know who was in the picture? Take a look below.


Here we all are again, this time you might recognize a few faces other than yours truly.

Couldn't resist this one of the famous one eyed Ilana, taken by Brett. Yes Ilana, we know we've taken enough photos. Just one more then?

And of course, how can you end your first entry into your brand new blog (believe it or not, Brett manually entered every preceding posting on this blog before surprising me with it) with anything better than the best holiday wishes from the famous Surfaro sisters.
And to all a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.