'Twas the season to jingle and buyeth silly things

Americans so far have really impressed me with their love of shopping and the effort they are willing to go through to get into the holiday festive.  My first month here it was all about shopping for Halloween:  the costume, the pumpkins, death reapers riding scooters, and fake spider webs, the candies, the candy containers, so on.  Then came November and everyone went nuts for Thanksgiving - the turkey, the food ingredient, and more shopping.

Just when I thought the folks must be still getting over the Black Friday/Cyber Monday hangover, the team are back on the national sport coach, energetic and positive as ever - here comes the Christmas shopping!

My Christmas fantasy has always been to have a 'real' Christmas tree.

I remember when I was very young, my grandparents would used to go chop up a random tree every year from a random hill behind their house, manually carried it back home, and decorated it with all sorts of lovely stuff.  Before my cousin Jason was born, I used to be the only kid in the wider family - how everyone went out of their way to spoil me at Christmas time!  Those trees did not look like your traditional Xmas trees in movies and cards, and casual tree logging for bratty grandchildren (ha!) would have been banned years ago - but those simple happy times stayed in my memory bank.  When I was slightly older my parents bought our first artificial tree (still in operation after all these years - they did make things sturdier back in the days) and I have fond memories of opening up presents and wanting to stay up past midnight.  Christmas remains the time of year when you can spoil loved ones without looking excessive and you can do silly things without being judged too much (as everyone else is busy doing their own silly things.  Ugly sweaters anyone?).

After I got married, every year Nelson and I talked about getting a real Xmas tree - but for various reasons we never gone ahead and got one (we did get a Xmas penguin though - and his belly lights up at night).

Darjoy the Xmas penguin
back in our Sydney home.
The beachy summer Xmas is now in
another drawer in my memory bank.

Anyway, now we are in New York, new town, new home, new beginning!  Real tree it is this year!  I was pleasantly surprised to see all these roadside tree shops popping up all over the city.  (and they operate 24 hours!)

The one on 7th Ave even has a little shed.
I checked - no elves inside though.

Come get the tree from Santa.

Trees on standby on 5th Ave.

After staring at numerous trees in all sorts of different sizes, I finally picked a tree which I felt a 'connection' with (cue 'the Bachelor' theme music).  I thought I would just hand over my cash and bring home the bounty - however the elf dude, possibly on working holidays, had to 'tidy up' the tree before putting the tree in my eager arms.

Your tree will be freshly trimmed
and put through the Xmas funnel.

And then it gets wrapped up in
Xmas fishnet stocking.

And then the elf screws on a
water plate and stand at the bottom
of the tree (I never realize I had to water it)

Viola! now we have a tree ready to be
dressed in love.
p.s. it smells divine.

I was a bit concerned I wouldn't be able to find 'interesting' tree ornaments - how wrong was I.  The city is now full of Xmas pop up shops and holiday markets that are overloaded with silly things for the holidays... and more!

Union Square Holiday Market

Chelsea Market Jingle Pop Up Shop

I soon found myself distracted by all the 'if I get someone this, imagine their face when they see this...' goodies.

For the mythical game hunter.

For the keen cyclist who insists on going
for a ride in the winter cold.
(or for the keen bank robber)

For the canine friends who share
their human buddies' hatred/fascination
of Jabba the Hut.

For the special person who already has everything.

For me!
(It has Cyberman and Weeping Angels.
What more could I hope for?)

With all the excitement going on - even Don Don had to come out and soak up the festive atmosphere... (one thing I really like about being in New York is that no one bats an eyelid when I whip out Don Don from my handbag and start propping him in random structures)

In front of Lord & Taylor on 5th Ave.

The gingerbread Haka!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oulQwIP9VQQ

So many cupcakes, so little time...

Two weeks till Santa Claus is coming to town and I think we are ready to jingle!

Baubles, lights, animals, minions, bagels,
you name it...!

The Thanksgiving Sonata

Fall is nearing the end - the days are shorter and the air crisp.  Shops have put up their Christmas lights and decorations (and play those dreadful Christmas music non stop at all hours).  We are still reasonably blessed by the weather god and have been enjoying the sunny, dry days without freezing our noses and ears off yet.  

I have managed to not jump on the wrong train/wrong direction for at least two weeks in a row now and know exactly how to get home by looking at which intersection I am standing at without having to rely on Google Map.  All in all I am really enjoying New York and myself.  Before we left Sydney I was predicting my first nervous breakdown (when it finally hits me that I am in the US of A) on Halloween, with the whacky costumes and pumpkins and all that.  Halloween came and went - and now I was about to embrace my first Thanksgiving Sonata.

Allegro - the Balloons

One of the biggest attraction in NYC at this time of the year is the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade.  The joyful floats and music performances set families up for the big dinner ahead.  Giant balloons are the super stars of the parade and get the most attention.  If you are more a night owl than early bird like myself, the event not to be missed, is the Thanksgiving Balloon Inflation near the American Museum of Natural History, the day before Thanksgiving.

Nelson left work uncharacteristically early that evening and we set out to Upper West side to check out the balloons.  There was a massive crowd and the lines went in zig-zag manner between Central Park West and Columbus Ave.  Everyone was in high spirits though and we moved briskly towards the balloons.

I couldn't help but cracked up a bit when I saw the balloons though.  They were obviously all tied down low after the inflation so they wouldn't get blown away easily - however this means most of the balloon characters were either on their sides or on their tummies.  And with all of them side by side it looked like every balloon was drunk or passing out after a wild party.

Do I want fries with my beer?
Yes please.
*Burp*

Just let me have a quick snooze
before I get up and give
Charlie Brown a hard time.
*Belch*

Finn and Jake from Adventure Time
 managed to stay high after all the partying.
(mind you they have had plenty
of training of being high - if you have
watched the cartoon you would
know what I mean)

Even Power Ranger lost control
of his body and disgracefully
displayed his bottom for the whole world
to see.  Can you imagine the poor kids and
their traumatic memories from this night?

After our dose of Helium assisted Thanksgiving goodness Nelson and I went to Grace Street (West 32nd Street in Korea Town) and tried their famous 'shaved snow' - just to make sure we felt cold enough before walking home.

Milk flavored shaved snow with red bean
mini mochi and cooked taro.
Hardcore winter dessert indeed.

Andante - the Feast

We had every intention to go watch the actual parade.  However when I woke up in bed the parade was long finished.  (Dear Macy: would you consider having an afternoon parade next year - please?) This means I was to immerse myself in the Thanksgiving tradition of dedicating the whole day to cooking.  (And risking having nothing to eat after 5 hours of hard-slog)

First up was of course, the bird.  I had a bit of a shock when I went to the supermarket the day before to check out the turkey.  They were HUGE.   The biggest bird-related item I had ever cooked in an oven were some honey soy chicken thighs and I felt trying to 'do' a turkey would have been way too steep a curve for me.  (There was also the question: would a turkey fit into my tiny oven?!) Nevertheless, to have a finely cooked winged animal is a Thanksgiving requirement, so I ended up buying a HUGE chicken (please see below exhibit A).

Exhibit A

Moment of truth was when I had to pull out the poor chicken's guts with my bare hands.  Oh, the gagging sensation to voluntarily put my precious right hand into its bottom!!!  I closed my eyes and held my breath and forcibly grabbed something I could feel, tugged, and pulled!

The thing that came out, was actually a heat-sealed plastic pack with the gizzard and neck in it.  I almost cried some grateful tears!  Only if I knew I didn't have to de-gut the chicken I would have been able to sleep so much better the night before.

I made some quick stuffing with bread crumbs, herb, celery and onion and lovingly rubbed Big Bird with butter all over - now it looks like it is ready for some first class sun-baking!

In an emergency, assume the brace position
and prepare for crash landing.

Now with Big Bird firmly tucked inside the oven, it was time to sort out dessert.  Unlike my parents, who are both fantastic non-for-profit bakers, I have had a string of epic fails when it comes to baking.  I spent a long time searching all over the internet hoping to find a really easy and hard-to-screw up pie recipe, and found something called 'the Chef's Apple Pie'.  Seems fitting to have an apple pie for the first Thanksgiving in the Big Apple!

Making the syrup with brown sugar,
butter, and cinnamon.

I haven't had to peel an apple for so long!

Disaster stroked when I opened the Pie Dough packaging.  Now why didn't anyone tell me I had to thaw the pie crust beforehand?!  And that I had to thaw it in room temperature?!  Oh dear oh dear oh dear what do I do?  (Google says whatever I do - don't put it in the microwave)

I guess I will just wait - I have all day...
I hate you Organic Pie Dough.

By the time I finally had the pie ready to be baked (I really butchered the pie crust though) I had to cook it together with Big Bird and the potatoes - bunk bed style. I hoped for best that the pie wouldn't smell like chicken and the potatoes wouldn't smell like apples....

NYC apartment style roasting.
Everyone gets cooked on top of another.

Final result:  Everything was cooked - no half raw Big Bird and no one died of food poisoning.  

Chicken was surprisingly good.
Potatoes slightly burnt.
The pie looked like it was made by a 6 year old
but tasted okay!
(I was so creative I even made a pig to sit on
top of the pie with cashew nuts for eyes)

Rondo - the Shopping

The Thanksgiving experience would not be complete unless you have participated in the Black Friday/Cyber Monday craze.

Instead of going to the shop and end up street-fighting strangers over long johns or sneakers that are not even my size, I decided to fight my battles in front of the computer and smugly have companies tricking me into buying lots of things I didn't need (yes - the more you buy the more you save!).

After working hard at my desk/kitchen island for a day (only if I could do this for a living), I am now a proud owner of 3 x hedgehog Christmas Tree ornaments and two pairs of socks with English Bulldogs prints (can't survive winter without those I am sure), and a couple of t-shirts that I probably won't get to wear until May next year, provided that I will remember I have them.

I call this Thanksgiving Sonata a success!

Hedgehog friends - don't knock it till you try it!

It's Never Just About the Ball

POR-ZIN-GIIIIIS!

For someone who is rubbish at all sports and have on-going nightmares of high school PE classes, it always fascinates me how sports can 'unite a nation'.  (Invictus anyone?)  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invictus_(film)
I myself is no one to judge - I felt pretty proud to hold a Kiwi passport in both 2011 and a few weeks ago when the All Blacks won the Rugby World Cup back to back (part of it was because Nelson supported the Wallabies - nothing works up my patriotism like a competition between husband and wife hahaha).

In my younger days I never understood 'what the point is' when a bunch of grown men bust their balls fighting for one ball, and the crowd who go absolutely gaga for it.  However, now older and wiser (do not dispute me on the wiser bit please), I feel I am starting to appreciate the value such sports brings - and it's never just about the ball is it?

I have been looking forward to go see a NBA game ever since I found out our apartment is only 15 minutes walking distance from America's most famous 'garden'.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madison_Square_Garden  This night we were going to find out who was the better team - New York Knicks or Charlotte Hornets?  (I heard from my friends neither team is hot at the moment.  I love rooting for the underdog unfortunately at this stage it was not clear who the top dog was)

Now let me share the lessons of my maiden voyage into the world of NBA with you:

1) Don't starve yourself:
Before we got ourselves immersed in the game, important business needed to be taken care of: i.e. hotdog and beer.  Unfortunately (or fortunately depends on your outlook on life) the beer counter does not accept my Australian Driver's License and asked to see a passport before selling me beer.  (Who brings a passport to go see a basketball game!?) Hence you can see in below photo that I had to settle for a 'soda'.  I bought a yummy hot pretzel to make up for it though.

Ketchup and mustard squeezing
really is harder than you may think.

2) You don't need to know the players to enjoy the game:
Even after some pretty intense studying of the players, I only managed to remember Carmelo 'Melo' Anthony (and that is mainly because of his nickname - Taiwanese news calls him 'sweet melon' - how can I forget a guy named after a fruit).  I shouldn't have worried - not only the MC (?) reads out names in an overly dramatic manner such as 'Affffff-la-llooooooo!!!!' when said player a) goes onto court b) scores c) gets a penalty d) leaves court, but the fans also yell out names when someone scores/demanding someone to get off the bench and play.  Throughout the game 'Por-ziiiiing-iiiiis' was chanted hundreds of times whenever the young player had the ball - I think he saved the game that night.

3) Fans are there to win over as long as you play well:

Kristaps Porzingis, man of the hour, who scored 29 points, was the crowd's favourite of the night.  I was heart-warmed by people cheering for the kid.  However only back in late June this year, he was booed by New York fans when drafted by the Knicks team.  How time changed so quickly in this day and age.  Porzingis only recorded his double digit score 2 weeks before this game and he managed to play like a superstar and have the whole stadium shouting his name.  Well done!

4) Having said that, fans don't stay behind you forever:

Madison Square Garden was where Linsanity started 3 years ago and the garden was crazy about Jeremy Lin.  Apparently this game was the first time Lin came back to play at MSG ever since, for a different team.  He was booed when he went onto the court.  The saying of 'enjoy it while you can' applies even more so for these professional athletes.  (I actually find the Knicks fans reasonably civilised - there were a lot of excited shouting and booing.  However no swearing and no throwing plastic cups around and no drunken behaviour) I was amazed by Lin's hair though - how much hair gel must he have used before each game?!  That is some serious dedication.  

If a girl gets touched like that the dude
would so get into trouble.

5) Teams sometimes pick players of similar names just to confuse the audience:

For majority of the first 40 minutes or so, I was feeling more uncertain by the second if Jeremy Lin was really an Asian guy like I thought (he was the only NBA player I have heard of before I did any research on the players).  I was pretty sure I kept seeing a black guy putting the ball into the hoop and the MC (can someone tell me who that dramatically-speaking guy is please?) will yell out 'score by Jeremy Lin!'  Even Nelson was a bit confused - until when Lin was not even on the court we somehow realised there was another player called Jeremy Lamb.  Why?  Why?  Why are you doing this to us?!!!!

6) Appreciate the couch coaches (def. someone who thinks they play sports better than people on TV and proceeds to coach them from the comfort of their couch):

There were two ladies who sat behind us who were behaving like your typical couch coaches, but with a motherly flavour.  'Carmelo now let the kids play.' 'Carmelo you have gone past your prime, just pass the ball.' 'Carmelo - that is unacceptable!' (you have to imagine the audio in your head with the African American twang - it is gold)  I was pissing myself laughing (inside) - although our friend Eric advised us the ladies knew what they were talking about.  Poor Carmelo - people can be such ageist eh?  :-)

7) Enjoy the entertainment:

I don't know my NBAs from NFLs but I feel the line between sports and entertainment has become quite blurry these days.  Going to a game is so much more than the game - it is very much about supporting a favourite player, showing love for your city, catching up with your friends between times booing the other team, and simply soaking in the atmosphere.  The game organiser did not disappoint either, during every time-out there were mini quiz games being played, cheerleaders coming out with rocket guns shooting free t-shirts to the audiences, etc.  Between the sets we also saw a pretty intense game played by kids who were trained in a charity basketball program.  We were never bored for a minute throughout the night.  

8) Be part of the crowd:

It is truly an experience when hundreds of thousands of people all cheer for the one team.  And yes it is more fun when you stand up and shout and clap your hands real hard!

After such a wonderful experience (thanks to both teams) we have since bought tickets to an Ice Hockey game in mid-December (New York Rangers vs Edmonton Oilers).  

At this rate, I am optimistic that one day I might understand and appreciate Cricket, the number 2* weird sport in the world.

* No.1 weird sport has gotta be Curling, hands down.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curling