It’s true, old people do smell

 

Check out my blog post on stylelist.com on the latest multitasking fragrance and its magical powers.

 

-Lisa

3-buck what?

 

I'm assuming Troy is Zac Efron's character, but I've never seen High School Musical.

 

 

I don’t know if anyone else has noticed the proliferation of $3 wonders available right now, but I have, and some of them are pretty amazing or at least amusing…

3 Buck Bites: This new site from Citysearch showcases cheap eats in cities across the country that will run you $3.99 or less. Added bonus: You can cast your vote for your favorite inexpensive nosh.

Three Buck Chuck: Charles Shaw, the Trader Joe’s private label wine brand, includes Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Sauvignon Blanc, among other varietals. Bottles go for about $3.99, at least in NYC, and some of them are, at the very least, drinkable. 

3-buck Thursdays:  At bar called Q-Lounge in Phoenix, AZ, there are $3 drink specials on Thursdays.

3-buck copier paper for a cause: Staples has HP Mutlipurpose Breast Cancer Awareness Copy Paper on clearance for $3.90 this week.

3-buck High School Musical Rockin’ Door Hanger: Target is featuring this nifty dry-erace door tag for High Musical enthusiasts at the bargain price of $3.70. 

8-piece order of Chive and Pork Dumplings: Vanessa’s Dumplings on East 14th Street will serve you up a hot meal for just $3.49.

 

-Lisa

The $5 Duane Reade coupon

 

The Duane Reade rewards club card you must swipe at every visit to accumulate points.

 

 

Do you ever look at your receipt from DR and think to yourself, I have almost enough points (it takes 100, at $1/point) to get the $5 reward coupon? It’s funny that because the stores are on every other corner, you don’t feel the need to stock up on things like toilet paper and dish soap. Few of us have the storage space for more than four rolls in our postage-stamp-size apartments anyway. And even though we live in a city where time really does equal money, we continue to spend precious moments browsing the aisles of DR in search of some essential item we need immediately, and we do this at least once a week! Maybe there’s a sense of security in knowing that you can purchase microwave popcorn, laundry detergent, beer and Haagen Dazs all at one store that’s always open. The convenience certainly comes at a price—I know that Bounty paper towel would be half as much at Target. Oh Target, why do you keep us Manhattanites at arms length? Ahh, that’s another post entirely. All I know is, I feel a real sense of accomplishment when I successfully redeem the $5 coupon. Sounds simple, right? Wrong. If the cashier doesn’t remind you that it’s printed on the bottom half of the receipt (I think they’re secretly told not to remind you, so you won’t realize it’s there), you’re likely to throw it away. Or, if you shove it in your wallet with in between your coffee and manicure punch cards, you’ll inevitably forget it’s there, until it’s expired…yes, I believe they expire one month from the date of issue. Or, you’ve forgotten to buy something on your list and you go back to DR later that day , and you find that the coupon can’t be used until the nest day! As you can see, the barriers to entry can be exasperating. For all these reasons, I have to pat myself on the back for making it happen. It’s the little things.

-Lisa

Thank you Will

 

Record breaking ticket sales to see Will Ferrel (Old School is, by far, his best big-screen performance) in You’re Welcome America. A Final Night with George W. Bush aren’t surprising at all. It’s absolutely hilarious, and not in that I’m a Democrat and all Republicans are stupid way. I would venture to say it’s even bipartisan in its humor, it really cuts across the aisle. Not only is Ferrel spot on with his impersonation of 43, he literally ad-libs in character. And what I didn’t know until now, is that Ferrel also wrote the show! Tina Fey better watch her back. Baby daddy is probably already underway. In any case, if at all possible, you should get tickets and see this show, before it closes on March 15. You won’t regret it. Amen.

-Lisa

P.S. The Condee Rice cameo is a show stopper.

Image courtesy nytimes.com.

things to keep in mind for v-day

I received a funny Valentine’s Day press release yesterday with tips from several well-known dentists. Some of them are hilarious and may even score you points in a useless trivia contest. At the very least, read them and laugh:

“Kissing burns 12 calories every 5 seconds, and 3 passionate kisses a day will lead to losing 1 lb a month.  In fact, kissing gets 30 facial muscles working,” says Dr. Emanual Layliev.

I say, kiss all you want, but please don’t do it at the table next to mine.

“Cavities are no different than a common cold.  Yes, natural causes of cavities include bacteria, sugar, and not brushing, but you can increase risk of cavities by kissing someone who has no history of cavities based on the level of bacteria in their saliva. The good news is, you can also build up immunities to cavities by kissing someone who is more cavity-prone,” explains Dr. Jeffrey Golub-Evans.

So please, please ask your date about his or her dental health before leaning in.

The last tip, not surprisingly, is my favorite tip and all the more reason to indulge in the 70% cacao dark chocolate bar in my fridge,

“While chocolate does contain sugar, researchers have concluded the cocoa bean in chocolate will inhibit tooth decay, ” offers Dr. Mickey Bernstein.

As far as I’m concerned, Valentine’s Day is pretty cheesy. All those prix-fixe menus with heart-shaped desserts and supposed aphrodisiacs are enough to make me hurl. Every woman wants to be wooed, but some of us prefer a little more creativity and quirkiness with our romance. For anyone who is still thinking about how to celebrate the “holiday,” consider surprising your significant other with breakfast in bed (cappuccino and croissants from Balthazar), a movie date (anything but Revolutionary Road), a home-cooked meal (pasta bolognese), or even a walk in the park followed by a glass of wine at a cozy neighborhood spot (Danal).

-Lisa

Image courtesy www.extrahelping.org.

Turtle finally got something right

Never underestimate the power of cool sneakers. They can turn Gap jeans into an anti-establishment fashion statement. I have been woefully without such footwear since a trip to the dog park benched my old Pumas permanently. This weekend I discovered a groovy store called Classic Kicks. A friend recommended I check it out since the store was having a friends and family sale and they carry a well-edited selection of old school styles from Vans, Nike, Puma and more. If you blink while walking down Elizabeth Street, you’ll miss it. It’s on a quiet block (between Bleecker and Houston), right near the 6-train stop on Bleecker. As soon as I walked in, I got the feeling that Turtle, from Entourage, would know about this place. As a short girl with very small feet, I often have a tough time finding great sneakers in my size. Usually all the ones in 5 or 5.5 are the horrendous models with pink or turquoise or lavender accents. Even worse—many stores don’t even carry anything below a size 6. The nerve! Just because some of us have small feet doesn’t mean we’ll settle for lame colors and designs. Sometimes I go online to solve the problem, but buying shoes without trying them on is tricky and very often results in me standing in the painful line at the post office shipping them back. Luckily, Classic Kicks had a pretty solid pair of retro Nike basketball high-tops with silver swooshes. I’m slightly apprehensive about breaking them in because I fear the high-top portion of the shoe will literally rub me the wrong way—a risk I’m willing to take. Looks like this week will be warm enough to ditch the Uggs and debut the kicks.

-Lisa

Special delivery

My orange crush finally arrived this past weekend. In case you missed my earlier ode, I’m talking about my newly purchased Le Creuset 6.75-quart French Oval Oven. It’s glorious and it was half off. In honor of its arrival and the Superbowl, I christened it with a phenomenal white chicken chili recipe from Yum Yum. It’s filled with shredded chicken, white beans, corn, cumin, chili powder, etc. This isn’t one of those simmer all day dishes; it’s fast and easy and a really nice alternative to the usual ground beef version. I’m thinking about tonight’s dinner already and seriously considering braised chicken legs and thighs for my next Le Creuset experience. I’m googling new recipes while I’m writing this, and have quickly come across one for bone-in chicken thighs with balsamic vinegar and porcini mushrooms, from Dean & Deluca, that looks fantastic. I can smell it already. Of course, like every good French-inspired dish, this one involves bacon and red wine. If there’s one thing you learn in your first month at the French Culinary Institute, it’s that savory dishes always require bacon, butter, or both. Thank you, Chef Rogers.

On an unrelated topic, I was on the F train this morning and was looking over the shoulder of another straphanger who was reading a magazine. It was written in both French and English and appeared to be about food, so I kept looking. It was an article about cheese-making school that drew me in. I was so intrigued that I asked her which magazine she was reading and was pretty surprised to see that it was enRoute, the Air Canada magazine. Who would have thought? It was glossy and well designed and had me wondering if Canadians aren’t surviving the publishing crisis better than we are. As luck would have it, the very nice rider handed her copy over to me as she got off the train. I’m taking it as a sign that I’m meant to go to cheese-making school.

-Lisa

Incredible shrinking counter top

Over the past year I seem to have accumulated a few kitchen gadgets/appliances that have taken over my teeny tiny counter top. In addition to our old-school small toaster oven, along came the electric kettle enabling Max’s staggering Mighty Leaf green tea habit. Then I received the amazing penguin seltzer maker for my birthday, making daily trips to the market for countless liters of seltzer unnecessary. I rejoiced in the earth-friendly reusable glass bottles, while conveniently blocking out the carbon footprint Williams-Sonoma shipping makes. I do love the penguin, but it’s just shy of enormous. More recently, I procured a Keurig one-cup coffee brewer. I’ve had regular coffee makers (they routinely collected dust because whenever I decided to brew a pot, I was either out of milk or out of coffee grounds) and a French press (I never really liked the coffee it produced.) I’ve spent absurd amounts of money buying so-so cups of coffee at all of my neighborhood haunts. It’s annoying to have to go out on days like these, just to get my morning caffeine fix. I finally caved and did a ton of internet research on the single-cup brewers and settled on mine, not the most basic model, but not even close to the fanciest. Then came the daunting task of choosing which K-cups to buy…the options are dizzying: bold, organic, hazelnut, fair trade, Columbian, Kenyan, French roast, etc. I chose a very boring Green Mountain variety in regular and decaf. They’re ok. Nothing like a cup from 71 Irving or Joe, but the cost and convenience of making it in my own home sort of balances out the flavor shortcomings. I’m sure there are better brands or varieties, I just don’t have the time and energy to vet them. So if anyone has a favorite non-flavored K-cup they’d like to share, I’m open to suggestions. In the meantime, the aforementioned life-altering appliances have diminished my two square feet of counter space to six square inches.

-Lisa

At last, my love has come along

I’m back from Miami, where I enjoyed a long weekend of hanging with girlfriends, relaxing by the pool with my Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch Sunblock SPF 45, and generally feeling really lucky to have escaped NYC winter, even for a short time. What I didn’t predict was the fulfillment of a cookware dream. Oh Le Creuset 6.75-quart French oval oven in flame, how I have pined for you. When my friend Steffie suggested we check out the outlets at Sawgrass Mills, I had no idea I would be browsing the candy colored coffers of my first Le Creuset outlet store. The average outlet shopper probably saunters right by this shrine to cast iron on her way to Neiman’s Last Call. Not me. I made a beeline for it and took my time evaluating their offerings, scouring the shelves for true bargains (not the I’m at the outlet/sample sale/warehouse so it seems like the time to buy something buys). Lo and behold, I came across the “seconds” section in the back of the store. These are slightly damaged items the factory deems unsuitable for sale in traditional retail stores, but to the naked eye, they’re 99.9% as good as the others. As luck would have it, they had my dream pot in stock in seconds. She’s a real beauty, if I do say so. Fortunately, the store ships the ridiculously heavy cookware to you and I’ll be reunited with it in a matter of days. I’m already thinking about the new dishes I’ll be cooking: the short ribs, the chicken thighs, the pulled pork…let the braising begin!

-Lisa

buh bye 43, hello 44

Yup, the day has finally come when we will welcome Obama as our 44th president. It’s meaningful to me to be able to say that I had some small part in the political process that lead to this historic day. Max (my husband) felt strongly that we help with campaign efforts in a swing state such as Pennsylvania or Ohio. I wasn’t that interested in going door to door and, quite frankly, I wanted to spend my Saturday doing other things. I’m glad I caved and agreed to join him in PA for the day, where we made calls to prospective volunteers who had attended a Biden event the day before. We were stationed at a campaign office in a town in Buck’s County ironically called Bristol. It was a good day. We made hundreds of calls and spoke to passionate people, even if some didn’t appreciate our bothering them at home on their day off. The point is we are proud to have made an effort to join the “movement for change.” However cliché that sounds, it’s exciting and exhilarating.

-Lisa

P.S. Re: my dismal dinner from two days ago, last night, I managed to cobble together a much more palatable dish with the leftover chicken and broccoli. I threw the offending food in a pan with some canned chopped tomato, a little olive oil and a few chopped green olives. I don’t have a name for the dish, but it wasn’t bad and it saved us from ordering in and eating all those demonic carbs

Photo courtesy http://www.runwaytochange.com/.