New Jersey - day 3... NYC

In New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of. There's nothing you can't do. Now you're in New York. These streets will make you feel brand new. Big lights will inspire you. Let's hear it for New York... (poetry courtesy of Alicia Keys/Jay-Z, Empire State of Mind)

Colby and I took the train all by ourselves into New York City. I was a little bit worried, but that was because I'm from a place with little to no public transportation. Public transportation kicks ass for tourists. Here we are headed into the city:

Navigating the city was easy as pie. Thank goodness Colby is great with maps; we arrived safely at all our destinations. Here we are fresh out of Penn Station and ready to see the city:



And here's our first city photo:



My Mr. Navigator:



We walked from Penn Station to the Empire State Building, stopping at shops along the way. Walking in the city is an experience all its own: the people, the vendors, the traffic. I swear to you, and this isn't an understatement, we were at times the only two people in a crowd speaking English. It was great, like seeing the world in an entirely different light, wondering what people were chatting about. Although, I must say that some emotions are universal in any language and can be easily interpreted: all of us tourists no matter where we were from were amazed by and enthralled by the city.

We had to stop along the way and take some photos in front of the New York Public Library. Anyone remember this building from Ghostbustersn (my favorite movie as a kid)???

The view from the Empire State Building was, here it is again....Amazing!

After Empire State we headed to the Museum of Modern Art. We ate a fabulous lunch there including the best peach raspberry crisp I've ever had. I have to say that while many of the works housed at MoMA are a little too, um, difficult for me to comprehend, seeing Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh took my breath away. I even forgot to snap a photo. Here are some other of our favorites from MoMa:

Chairs that deter thieves - very helpful in the city:





A few of Andy Warhol's very recognizable pieces:




Good old Roy Lichtenstein:




Our day was not yet complete. We still had to stop at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and it was well worth the time. Much to my surprise, the Met had a huge display of works by Alexander McQueen called Savage Grace. Google him right this second if you don't know who he is. Go. Now. Stop reading. Okay, now that you know who he is, you can appreciate how freakin' shit your pants excited I was to see his clothing on display. No photography was allowed, but next time you're at my house I'll show you the book I bought that includes all the pieces in the Met's display.

Here are some other favorites from the Met:






We stepped about 5 feet into Central Par as we were walking about the city:



When we arrived in Time Square I thought I would loose Colby. He was so enthralled by the sights and sounds that he wasn't paying any attention to where he was going and when it was time to walk across the street. He was mesmerized.



We headed back to NJ on a late train for some fried chicken, grits, and corn bread back at casa Sassafras at 10 pm. Seriously people, we were treated like royalty by our hostess.

New Jersey- day 2

Jersey Shore, bitches!

I'm in love with the freakin' ocean. I have to say that the weather during our trip was amazing, and our trip to the shore was nothing short of perfect. Sun, but not to much. Heat, but not too much. Beach goers, but not too many. The water, the breeze, the view of NYC, the lifeguards. Yes, the lifeguards. Baywatch in real life, but only the hot young men. I briefly considered faking drowning.

Check out the view of the city (NYC) from the shore:



Beautiful views of nothing but ocean and sand and trees:







Feet in the ocean and feet in the sand:




I can't decide if I love the hubs or the ocean more.... Kidding, Babe.






Me and the boy:



Shore day was definitely a highlight of our trip.

New Jersey - day 1

Hazy skies over Newark airport, but nothing can get in the way of the view of the water and the trees and the, uh, pollution pouring out of that factory. Welcome to New Jersey.

Our carriage (navy blue Jetta wagon) arrived at the airport to carry us on our journey. My friend SM and her son, "the boy", were nice enough to not only invite us to stay with them but they also chauffeured us around, fed us, did our laundry, taught us to play Angry Birds, and didn't call social services after a week of hearing stories about our children. SM, whom I hadn't seen in 10 years, looks fantastic (and she's single... ladies, she can make fried chicken and uses matching napkins and little cream pitchers when serving coffee. Imagine the possibilities...). The boy was only a toddler the last time we saw him, and you can imagine that much has changed in 10 years. I met SM back at good old Wayne State College (where bright futures begin), and the boy is about the same age as Dade.

We headed to casa Sassafras to drop off our luggage. It was immediately apparent on our first trip together in the Jetta wagon that the Sassafras family and the Vescapades family would be nothing but happy during our little vacation. Colby and the boy were two peas in a pod in the back seat while SM and I talked history and politics and cooking. Our frequent trips in the Jetta wagon were not only informative for me, but I know for a fact that the boy learned at least one new swear word. That's saying a lot considering that a) SM has a potty mouth of her own, and B) he lives in New Jersey. It's a proud moment in the Vescapades house when we can expand the vocabulary of a tween.

Our first stop after a quick freshening up at casa Sassafras was Princeton, NJ. I learned that unlike NE where communities are separated by miles farmland, in NJ communities blend together forming one seemingly huge city made up of lots of smaller towns. NJ is densely populated, so it only makes sense that folks are living one on top of the other among Dunkin Donuts and Walgreens. Princeton was filled with great little shops, and taking a photo in front of the university was the closest I'll ever get to an Ivy League education.




The evening's meal was delicious, one of many meals that I neither cooked or cleaned up. Holla! I also got my first NJ bug bite. Sadly, I did not turn into Spiderwoman.

Time for a Vacay

Nervous. I'm really, really nervous. And anxious. And excited. Tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn I'll be on a plane and New Jersey bound.

My kids have been away from me for a week before. They've stayed at grandma and grandpa's before. Never have those two been combined with me being states away requiring flights to get home. It's a pretty scary thought.

On that note, one of tension and excitement, I will depart tomorrow morning. In the end I know I'll survive, and the kids will be fine. Maybe it's my dad and stepmom I should be worried about. After all, they'll be the ones living with 8 kids in their house... They'll be the ones in need of a vacation.

Cherries

Colby brought me a gift last Friday evening, a lovely hand-painted cherry decoration. One of Colby's coworkers makes wooden signs and decorations, but this was her first attempt at making cherries. I'd say she did a pretty darn good job. Now I just have to find the perfect spot for it.

Pretzel Crusted Chicken

I haven't shared a recipe in quite awhile, so I thought I should share my version of fried chicken. I don't actually make fried chicken on the bone because I'm not confident I could get the chicken cooked all the way through before it's burnt on the outside. Lord knows I am notorious for overcooking meat due to my fear of consuming raw, tainted meat. Instead, I've taken a recipe from Rachael Ray, tweaked it a little, and ended up with a version of fried chicken that the kids love.

What you need:
Chicken breast tenders or chicken breast cut in strips
Pretzels
eggs
spinach or broccoli puree (optional)

First, I put the chicken tenders in a heavy duty plastic baggie and flatten them by pounding them with a big can of stewed tomatoes. Hey, it works. Sprinkle them with some pepper and leave them sit while you prepare the breading.

Dump some of your favorite pretzels into a food processor and buzz them until they are a fine crumb. It's noisy and takes about a minute or so, but you don't want many big chunks in your breading. Add anything into your crumbs that you'd like: cayenne, thyme, pepper, oregano and parmesan cheese, whatever.

Of course, to bread anything you need to have something wet and sticky to hold the crumbs to the chicken. I use eggs beaten together with either spinach puree or broccoli puree. You can use just eggs if you want, but it never hurts to add in a little extra veggie that no one will ever notice.

Heat a large heavy duty saucepan over medium heat. I test the oil to see if it's hot enough by dropping in a little chunk of bread. Next comes the messy part. Dip each chicken finger in the pretzel crumbs, then in the eggs, then back in the crumbs. I set them on a big plate and dip them all before I start frying. Crumbs, egg, crumbs. Rinse and repeat til all the strips are breaded.

Fry each chicken strip until it's nice and brown flipping them over half way through cooking time. It doesn't take long because the chicken breast has been pounded thin.

It's really yummy and worth the grease smell that will linger in the house for a day or two.

Lost in "Fun"

After making the second dumbest purchase of my life (a very reduced priced set of passes to Lost in Fun) I loaded the kids up, headed to South Lincoln, and began a "fun" afternoon. Soren spilled her chocolate milk all over herself at Panera Bread. The boys threatened each others' lives repeatedly making me look like I'm running some kind of home-based mini mafia. It was pouring rain, so we had no better place to be than Lost in Fun. Besides maybe hell. Same difference.

For those of you who don't know what it is, Lost on Fun is like a (air conditioned!!) park with climbing toys and bounce houses. The kids love it, while mom gets a headache form all the yelling and a backache from pushing the tire swing.

Hey, it's all for the kids, right?

Well, I found on this trip that the kids are now old enough that I can spend quite a bit of time sitting on a bench reading my book. Hmmm. Maybe this can be fun after all. As much as I miss having a baby and often wish for those days back, the more the kids grow the easier it is on me to take them places.

In my defense, I have to mention that I have only one photo of the boys because I didn't even see them. They were off doing boy things and didn't even stop to say hello. Brody did beg for quarters for the arcade, but beyond that, the boys were truly lost in fun. When it was time to leave both boys were sweat covered despite the chill in the air. Lots of fun was obviously had.


The girls, on the other hand, didn't wander far from me and my spot on the bench. They enjoyed the swimgs most, which isn't surprising. Even though we have lots of things to do in our backyard, the girls are always asking for Daddy to build them a swing.

If this isn't the face of fun, I don't know what is.



I'm pretty sure I pushed Soren for a solid hour on the tire swing.


Lots of smiles!



I still have five punches left on my reduced priced pass card, so there will be at more trip to Lost in Fun in the future. Maybe this isn't such a bad deal after all.