Oops...

Yes, we are delinquent bloggers.  It's not that we don't have exciting days--on the contrary, quite a few things have happened since the winter... but between school and work, who has time to chronicle these things?

Today was an exciting day for our family... but all of my joy is squashed in the patheticness of our journalling attempts.  Sad.

So maybe we'll write our thoughts tomorrow.  Putting it off has worked well thus far, as you can see.

Family Night--Culinary Battle

A couple of months ago I was really jonesing for some grilled cheese, as recently-discovered slightly lactose intolerant people are prone to do. Matt had the idea to make ultimate grilled cheese sandwiches--I suggested we make it into a competition.

The following ensued:

[what's grilled cheese without a good tomato soup?]

[check my fancy technique]

[my sandwich, the "deconstructed" loaded baked potato: sweet potato chips, caramelized onions, maple turkey bacon, scallion mayo, Australian cheddar, and waaaaay too much Asiago, on some kind of roll of goodness]

[Matt's sandwich: smoked gouda, monterrey Jack, sharp white cheddar, fried cilantro, anaheim peppers, and "real" bacon, on a loaf of Brooklyn's finest]

I had taken one picture of his sandwich, but Matt made me take this one to be sure I adequately captured the gooeyness. What a goof.

When we tasted our finished products, Matt ended up with one of these...

[why you so smug?]

And I was left with this:

[boo! a boo-boo!]

Not to be outdone in my primary domain (because of course my main job is cooking, and not, ya know, going to school or getting degrees or anything silly like that), I swore that I would redeem myself--and tonight I had my chance! The challenge: 40 minutes to make one appetizer and one dessert, with only items in our pantry (even though we love you, Garden Gourmet!).

Matt's appetizer used some rosemary thyme-ish biscuits that we got for free from Clinton Street Baking Company for waiting a long time (for the best pancakes you or I will ever have, seriously), griddled with the bacon grease. He also smeared on this cranberry apple chutney we picked up at the Inwood Farmers Market--pretty amazing stuff, if you can get your hands on it.

The end result: Open-faced Bacon Cranberry Muffin (such a creative name, really)

[only three ingredients whaaaaat]

My appetizer was pretty snazzy if I do say so myself: Acorn squash stuffing with turkey bacon (just can't get rid of the stuff fast enough) and apples, topped with wilted spinach and a poached egg. I haven't died yet, so I must have cooked the egg pretty well.

[oooh nice]

Matt called his dessert a healthy version of a sundae because it had yogurt in it--but I don't know how healthy it is when it also has marshmallows, white chocolate, strawberries, and these AWESOME Fig Newton Thins which you must try if you haven't already...

My dessert was a "flash-fried" cheesecake bite with orange marmalade and aforementioned chutney, with graham cracker crust--with red pepper chocolate sauce!

[it was better than it looks, trust]

So who won this time? The objective judges thought that the appetizers were neck and neck, although one smart Southern judge felt like the stuffing had the edge...

[judge two

and judge one]

The judges loved both desserts, but the "healthy" sundae was a little lighter than the cheesecake ball.

And the winner is...

[the cursed victory dance]

Matt is seriously holding out on his cooking skills. Why isn't he making my food everyday?

If anyone has ideas for cooking challenges so I can BEAT THIS MAN, I am open to them. Save my title? Please?

Embracing the Linsanity (Part 2)

After watching Jeremy Lin distribute the ball on Wednesday night against the Kings, I was amazed at the dramatic paradigm shift in the Knicks' style of play. Ball movement, players looking to pass first, real teamwork basketball. It was a breath of fresh air, and entirely different from the incessant iso plays run while Melo played his ineffective "point-forward" position. The offense flowed naturally. Teammates were in synch, on the same wavelength, synergy was achieved. As wonderful and inspiring the playmaking of Lin was, my favorite part of this whole experience was finally going to a game with Kimberly and watching the home team WIN for once. Ugh, the trials of being a Mets fan. My only question now, can Lin play shortstop?

Embracing the Linsanity (Part 1)

Congratulations to Matt for making his blogging debut! And it is cogent, coherent, and concise, as he likes to say.

So maybe by now you've seen one or two opinions about Jeremy Lin:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Larry Wilmore's Lin-Grown Toenail
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

But of course, Matt ached to form an opinion on his own. Since he has a penchant for getting me awesomely extravagant birthday/holiday experiences (Fulfill a lifelong dream to walk up to the top of the Statue of Liberty? Sure! Shall we plan two years in advance to go to an Aretha Franklin concert? Why not?), I wanted to make this happen for him. I went to bed eyeing a pair of tickets in the 100 section of Madison Square Garden at $150; 12 hours, a last minute shot at the buzzer, and a $400 bid later, I let that dream go and bought some overpriced nosebleeds.

The seats actually weren't that bad, if I do so say so myself...

[yes, this is as close to knicks colors as I can get, and yes, that is a Mets hat my darling husband is sporting]

Lin making his entrance (missed it, probably):

[By the way, did you know the Knicks have a hype man?! And he doubles as a 15th string player?! Wise investment.]

Jimmer was the only pale face on the Kings bench, so he stuck out like a sore thumb! But even he got some playing time. As usual, he was solid at free throws, but I don't think he took a lot of the big shots people were used to seeing from him at BYU. I couldn't help but think that he looked like a confused white guy out on the court. Still, I was glad that he got some applause from the tough Knicks crowd when he did get a shot (him being a hometown guy and all).

[doing what he does best]

Here was the final score--the Knicks got sloppy and let Isaiah Thomas (who they booed all night!) get a last-second shot...

Not that I claim to be a basketball expert, but there did seem to be a magic on the court when Lin had the ball. In those brief moments when Lin was taking a breather, the other players couldn't manage to find the same rhythm; when Lin was there, it was definitely a well-oiled machine. Even the turnovers were pretty looking. He ended the game with 10 points and 13 assists--I guess after tonight's game (28 points! 14 assists!) that these stats aren't as amazing... but come on, that's better than you could do.

If you really want a laugh, you should check out this video of the half-time show. Three girls were duking it out for teh KIDZ BOP STAR OF TOMORROW, oH mY gOsHeS! And [spoiler alert] the winner? The thirteen-year old Asian pianist. So much for crushing stereotypes, Lin.

A New York State of Mind

We have had so much fun this past week! It definitely has been one of those (prolonged) moments that make you proud to live in such a wonderful city.

On Wednesday, a friend from school and I went down to Pace University to hear a speech from Dr. Bernice King, the last-surviving daughter of Martin Luther King, Jr. It was a great way to start Black History Month. I was on some serious CP time (colored people time=at least half an hour late), but luckily so were they, so we got to hear most of the speech. Dr. King was five years old when her father died, so she doesn't actually remember too much about him--in fact, she shared a story about not warming up to him as a toddler!--but she devoted her life to following in his footsteps during her teenage years.

Most of her speech talked about how America was in decline because its people have become selfish or apathetic, instead of looking outward to help others. She quoted her father, saying, "We must rapidly begin the shift from a 'thing-oriented' society to a 'people-oriented' society." I remember when I first moved to the city, I was still able to carry on casual conversations with strangers I met (until, of course, I learned that not everyone's intentions were the best); now, you can barely catch a sidewards glance from someone, let alone have a dialogue with people while their heads are buried and their ears stuffed with headphones. Sure, technology is wonderful, but are we so eager to get the newest and fastest things that we miss the personal connections that these very things were meant to facilitate?

During the question and answer session, someone asked her to share some of the lessons that she learned from her parents. While she did impart some gems (e.g., Her father's quote that "true peace is not the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice"; or her mother's constant admonition that she refrain from making decisions in anger), she said that the most profound influence on her was the fact that every moment in the King household was a teaching moment, and that her parents truly practiced what they preached in the public sphere. I can only hope to leave as lasting a legacy that is full of integrity--notwithstanding some personal allegations to Rev. Dr. King's character...

There is so much more I could share from what she said; she spoke of forgiveness, of reaching across the table, of the dangers of pride, of the changing role of the church, of reforming education, and even of Occupy Wall Street. I think the best thing that came from the event, though, was the conversation my school friend and I had on the car ride back up to Washington Heights. I guess people can speak with glasses half-empty and think of all the progress that needs to be made, but the fact that a Black Mormon and a 2nd generation American Jew can sit in the same car and talk about social justice just shows you that maybe we're doing okay, on the whole.

Friday started out great right from the start, since I found a parking spot on Thursday that I wouldn't have to move from for street cleaning (which is a BIG DEAL, non-New Yorkers!). It left me free to venture down to Columbia for the Mormonism and American Politics Conference. I recognized a few of the names, but apparently having so many scholars of Mormonism together in the same room was also a BIG DEAL. Like, parking space on steroids. It was big enough to warrant its own Twitter hashtag (#mapconf, for the social media savvy of our three readers). I missed most of the lecture that I wanted to see because of a very important phone call, but I did face my fears and speak to the presenter afterwards! But there were a lot of highlights to the event:

• After giving his lecture on the Mormon race problem (which, sadly, is the one I missed), Max Mueller asked the audience if they felt that Mitt Romney should be responsible for addressing race in an Obama-esque speech. One woman in the audience stepped up to the challenge, openly expressing her fears that such an event would further cement the Mormon=conservative myth, which makes it harder for liberal Mormons like her to feel at peace. Personally, I feel that asking Mitt to do something that no one in the Church can explain effectively (due to lack of education? lack of awareness?) is just another way of trying to goad him into egging his own face. I mean, we've seen his word vomit when people bring up how much money he makes...
• David Campbell presented many interesting statistics comparing LDS to other religious and ethnic groups in America. The most surprising to the (non-Mormon) audience? A study showed that the opinion of LDS people can shift upon hearing explicit instruction from church headquarters on which stance to take. What can we say? We follow the prophet--even if we don't agree. Other statistics showed that while Mormons are more likely to be against legalizing gay marriage, they are also more likely than other religious groups to support civil unions.
• Claudia Bushman collected some amazing oral histories of California women during Prop 8. Her stories beautifully captured the ambiguity that plagued many church members. One woman, trying to balance the spiritual fidelity to her church with her moral responsibility to love and care for her gay son, said, "It's a good thing I have two hands." Joanna Brooks followed up with more Prop 8 talk, suggesting that the church's history of polygamy and past threats to temple marriage informed their "underground" action in support of the proposition. She used the term "outed" to describe church members' surprise at the negative public reactions, which I don't think some people in the audience responded well to. She also said that polygamy was to LDS history as slavery is to American history, which I did not respond well to.
• The editors of a new documentary, "Religious Test," showed a lengthy and well-produced trailer. The overwhelming response of the public was that the interviews were a little too "vanilla." The editors countered that they're limited by their Utah population. Fair enough. They interviewed me for the movie (at the suggestion of a very nice AA Mormonophile), so we'll see if I get my 15 seconds of fame.

The conference was two days, which meant two trips to Kitchenette. I did not take any pictures because my food was gone before I knew it... But please, PLEASE do yourself a favor and go to this restaurant. So good. How can you go wrong at a place that sells crisp, grilled cornbread and a mac n' cheese BLT?

(and, ya know, when this greets you at the door... can't argue too much.)

The first day I had a turkey meatloaf sandwich with a side of mashed butternut squash (!!!). The next day, I had turkey chipotle hash with two perfectly overeasy eggs and a grilled biscuit, while Matt had some tasty creme brulee French Toast, which he washed down with a Peanut Butter Blondie milkshake. It was pretty crowded on both days (perhaps if it was a kitchen, it would be less crowded... *rim shot*), but still gave off a cool vibe with its mismatched chairs and repurposed polka-dot doors for tables. They even serve the drinks in Mason jars! I can't decide if that's a little overwrought, or over-fab.

Probably my favorite thing about the weekend (besides church, of course) was our free Night at the Apollo. Amateur Night is on a Wednesday, so there was no booing involved, but not that you would need it--the Apollo (and Target) was hosting a Community Sing with TAKE 6! Which, if you don't know, is pretty much the most epic a capella group ever:

I mean, really. Just look them up.

It was really a fun time, and my feet were keeping time with every beat. The boys tried their best, but there wasn't too much community singing going on with their music (the arrangements were too hard!), so they ended the concert with a EWF/Stevie Wonder/Michael Jackson montage... any of those artists would be able to stand on their own for a finale, but all four??? Wow. My little heart almost couldn't take it. If only I could have recorded it! It was a concert I would have paid good money for, but we got to go for free!

This week I'm gearing up for school work, interviews, and housekeeping, and Matt's got his hands tied with his school's quality review. Suffice it to say, we won't be partying so much this week. Hopefully the good times we had this week will tide us over!

New Year, New Beginnings...and New Blog!

Happy New Year from the Teitters!

We are very excited to start an online journal for all our friends and family who are far away from us. We started this thing up a long time ago and are just getting around to posting on it. Hopefully we won't bore too many...

Right now, we are putting off preparing to hit the road back up to New York from the Old North state, so we must bid adieu, but more to come from us later!

We hope that everyone has had a restful holiday, and has had quality time with family and friends.

Here's a bit of an uplift for those of you still stuck in 2011: