Easter in NJ

We had a blast celebrating Easter in NJ. The weather was perfect and the food was delicious. Before dinner, we enjoyed some buffalo chicken wings, cheese, crackers and wine. The meal consisted of ham, potato salad (yum!), sedek, shrimp rosoto and kielbasa. For desert, we had sponge cake, banana cream pie, nut roll and cookies.  

Pictured: (back row) Jeff, Guillaume, Pete, Liz, George, Kathryn, Amy and Sue. (front row) Heather, Jill, Paige, Aunt Kathryn, and Bob.

Neema

Recently, Mark sent a picture of little Neema. Look how adorable she is! She got a nice new outfit from France from her friend Nasser.

A New Family Member in Budimir

We have a new family member in Budimir! Zofia had a daughter. Her name is Karolina (Caroline) and she was born on monday 31/3/2009 at 2:00 p.m. Welcome, Karolina! We look forward to seeing pictures of her!

The Andrews Sisters Out on the Town in NYC

Last week, Amy came to visit me in NYC. The first night we hung out and chatted at some local bars, such as Vol de Nuit. The next day, we had lunch with Jeff at Galaxy (YUM!) and then walked around the city enjoying the fact that neither of us had to work. The day was warm and sunny and pleasant. We had to stop by my apartment to get Amy something less warm to wear.

First stop was Evolution, an art and science store in Soho, that Jeff recommended for Amy a long time ago. Despite the fact that it was during the afternoon on a weekday, the store was crowded. I suppose they were mostly tourists. The walls were covered with stuffed animals -- monkeys and birds and wolves. There were thousands of shiny bugs in glass cases. It made me a little nauseous. Upstairs, we saw real human skeletons -- a male, a female with a fetus, and a five-year-old kid. It was interesting and creepy at the same time. Amy turned from the skeletons and went to the case of stuffed birds pointing out one that was native to Australia.

From there, we headed to Kiosk, another small and interesting shop. Tara told me about this one a few months ago. It's interesting because many of the products on sale are part of a changing exhibit. Some of the objects are always there.

After that we were ready to have a beer at Eight Mile Creek, an Australian Bar in Soho, but it wasn't open, yet. We continued walking around Soho and Nolita and then up the Bowery. We passed some of the grittier parts of the City until we eventually passed Houston and entered the lower part of the East Village. On the way, we passed the New Museum and took a photo. We stopped to have a lambic and a blonde beer at dba, where there is a large outdoor garden. The after work crowd was beginning to fill it up.

Soon it became too chilly to be outside, so we headed to PDT, a local speakeasy. To enter PDT, you need to go into the (fake) phone booth at Crif Dogs, a hot dog stand. You press the button on the phone and a wall opens up. If you don't have reservations, you can try to grab a stool at the bar. The bartenders, who look like they are from the 1920s, are skilled mixologists and can whip up some cool drinks. We were fortunate enough to land a small table.

Amy ordered the Cranberry Cobbler and I ordered the Persephone. The cranberry cobbler was like a grown-up slushie. Tons of ice with some cranberries and mint on top. It was delicious. My drink was a little strong and a bit difficult to drink, but fruity. Amy ordered one of the famous hot dogs, which appears through a little door behind the bar from the hot dog stand. These dogs are not like any you've had before. Amy ordered the Chang Dog, which has kimchi on it and was designed by the Momofoku chef, David Chang.

After that Amy headed back to NJ on the train. All in all, we had a great time!

Grandma Elsie and Aunt Kathryn

Here is an nice picture of Grandma Elsie and Aunt Kathryn. I think it was taken in December of 2002.

Flashback to 1984

I found some old pictures of the family. These are from my first holy communion in 1984. At that time we belonged to St. Peter the Apostle Church, which was a little old white church in Parsippany. That church was knocked down 10 or 20 years ago around the time we moved from there and replaced with a huge modern one. I haven't been back there in ages.

In the picture above, you will see me as a 8-year-old in my communion get up with my parents, my grandparents, Aunt Kathryn, Uncle Jim and my cousin Peter. We all look so young!

Skiing in Colorado

In early February, Guillaume and I and some friends took a trip to Colorado to go skiing. We enjoyed great weather and had an excellent time.

After flying into Denver, we got our rental car and immediately headed to Idaho Springs in order to grab some lunch and a beer at the TommyKnocker brewery. Idaho Springs looks like it hasn't changed much since it was founded in the 1800s. The brewery gets its name from the TommyKnocker spirits that haunted the gold miners back when Idaho Springs was a gold mining town. While our waiter was a bit of a space cadet, the food was good and their beer was delicious. We bought ourselves a "piglet", which is like a small cardboard keg, of the Tommy Knocker Ale (I think) to take home with us. All the breweries in the area seem to sell these piglet things.

About 45 minutes or so later, we arrived in Dillon, where we picked up the keys to our condo that we found on vrbo.com. Our condo was located at the base of the mountain in Keystone. We decided that we would stay in Keystone because I had stayed there before with my former roommate, Lindsay, and also because of its proximity to other nice mountains, such as Breckenridge and Vail.

The condo was excellent! It had a nice kitchen, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a balcony, a gas fireplace and access to a hot tub. We could see Keystone mountain from our balcony. There were long icicles hanging from the snow-blanketed roof. A short bus ride took us to the village where there are restaurants and shops. We could walk to the base lifts.

We arrived on Saturday and the next day was Super Bowl Sunday, so we decided to stay close to home. The football lovers stopped skiing early to watch the game at a dive bar conveniently located near our condo. The Goat was an interesting place and was filled with locals. A BBQ snack bar was attached to it. The menu included Tater Tots and our dinner cost us about $7 total. Needless to say, we only spent one night at The Goat.

On Monday, we hit Breckenridge. It was a brutally cold and windy day. Despite our millions of layers, we could still feel the wind coming through our jackets. We hid our faces behind masks and gators and shivered on the chairlift. During lunch, the more expert skiers hit the bowls while Claudina and I waited in the lodge. The views from the lodge windows were gorgeous.

The next morning we woke up with aching calves and spent the next few days in Keystone. Eventually, we headed to Vail to experience the chi-chi village and try some new trails. Vail was very,very, very nice, but the trails seemed a bit flatter and more crowded. We had dinner in a nice French restaurant in the village. All in all it was an excellent day.

Back at Keystone, we skied our favorite slopes and ate at the Snake River Saloon. Before dinner, we shot some pool as we waited for a table to open up. It was quite crowded and had a different (better) atmosphere than The Goat. I ate a delicious steak and Guillaume tried the pork with black cherry sauce. It was really good. Another night, we went to the BigHorn Steakhouse where I had a delicious rack of lamb. Yum.

As usual, the vacation was over way too quickly. I can't wait to go skiing again.