Hard bodies

I am not sure what possessed me to take a cardio sculpt class last night and then a step aerobics class this morning. (I think I was avoiding the media law brief, textbook readings and magazine article that I should've been working on instead. See: 'The Art of Procrastination' entry.)

My body is revolting right now. I mean that in every context that the word can be taken. But in this case, the usage that is most fitting is a revolution a la Bastille Day.

I knew the gig was up halfway through the step class this morning, when I saw three old ladies pleasantly kicking my uncoordinated butt. They were perfectly coordinated with the super-fit teacher, hopping up and down, kicking their legs gracefully, bouncing off and on their steps that were twice as high as mine. There I was lost and bewildered, desperately trying to count steps and keep up. Other descriptions that come to mind: pathetic, panting and sweating (not to mention praying), trying to get through that class.

I actually cheered when the class finally came to an end. Sike! The madness wasn't actually over just yet. The choreographed hopping up and down part was over. Next, the instructor wanted us to balance ourselves on top of some large,wobbly, plastic balls. I remember bouncing up and down on those things when I was five or six years old, but they had smooth, rubber handles on them. The gym's version had no cute little handles. We were supposed to "use our core strength to balance" on these maddeningly unwieldy spheres. Yeah right.

Ladies and gentlemen, when I thought it could get no worse, I noticed my ball was actually mocking me. Oh yes, my pained and strained face had actually turned the same shade of crimson as that blasted plastic ball. Who knew humans had chameleon-like properties?

I am proud to say that I made it through that class, and then the instructor asked me "Was this your first class?"

What ever gave her that idea?

A delicious assignment

So I am writing some food blurbs for my internship. And today, I decided to tackle the pumpkin cannoli assignment. So I went to Biscotti's Cafe and Pastry Shop on N. Salina St., in the Little Italy section of Syracuse.

This delightful shop is warm and inviting as soon as you enter. There is a salon type area immediately to the right, with a plush, but gently worn sofa and some Queen Anne style chairs where you can just hang out comfortably for hours. There is also an entire case of gelatto in that room, which is fetching for a whole different reason.

To the left, there are cafe style tables and chairs - 12 settings of two-tops and four-tops spread out around the dining area. The storefront window lets in a great deal of light, and it's nice to be able to see the activity on the street outside, especially if you are working or hanging out with friends inside.

If the ambience of the restaurant isn't enough, the noteworthy sweets greet patrons as soon as they walk in from either the front entrance or the rear one. Nestled in the middle of the shop, there are three enormous glass cases filled top to bottom with tasty sugarey treats. Decadent cakes on the right, fluffy pastries in the middle and colorful cookies on the left.

There is enough mouth-watering action to leave anyone feeling dumbfounded while they try to decide what to choose. I tried the pumpkin cannoli - mainly because that was the object of my assignment for the day. To my delight, the tasty treat was more delicious than I could've predicted.

First of all, the ricotta cheese filling had the perfect consistency. It was light and creamy, and not thick and heavy. It had just the right amount of sweetness to it (and to my delight, it wasn't overly sugary, pumpkin-ey or spicy), and the chocolate chips and powdered sugar dusted on top were the perfect garnish. The pumpkin and spices were nicely subtle, too. Even the crust was flaky and crispy. Nothing about this dessert was overpowering, and therefore each element came together amazingly well.

Speaking with the owners was a treat too - they are graduates of the Culinary Institute of America. They have worked at some of the finest restaurants and hotels in Boston and New York, and they have brought tidbits of culinary expertise from each place to Syracuse. This husband and wife team like to compete with each other by concocting new creations. (The pumpkin cannoli was actually the reaction to a mint-chocolate cannoli, which was created to celebrate St. Patrick's Day three years ago.) As a result, they have plenty of other interesting desserts to offer. There is a Bananas Foster cake and a vegan chocolate mousse. They also have biscotti, but that is to be expected, given the name of the shop.

If dessert is not your thing, Biscotti's also offers homemade soups, salads and sandwiches throughout the day. They also have decent coffee, although it was not quite strong enough to suit my taste. But that divine cannoli easily made up for that minor shortcoming.

If you live in Syracuse and want to check it out, go quickly, because the pumpkin cannolis are seasonal and will only be available till Thanksgiving. Otherwise, they have reasonable hours (open till 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday. Fridays and Saturdays, open till 11 p.m., closed Mondays) offer a comfy place to work, study or hang out.

News promos

Ok I know it must be hard to come up with fresh and creative ideas for local TV news promos, and believe me, I have seen some idiotic ones. (Remember that I lived in Macon, GA and Charleston, SC for some time.) But I believe I saw the absolute DUMBEST promo ever this afternoon. It was for Syracuse station, WTVH, a CBS affiliate. Their take on why we should watch them is that they LIKE HANGING OUT TOGETHER. Their whole ad has absolutely nothing to say about their news coverage. It just shows the news team hanging out and talking about how chummy they are with each other.

What the crap? I don't care that a news team LIKES each other. I want the bloody news, for pete's sake. Maybe they have nothing positive to say about their news coverage? Every local station, in a mediocre or metropolitan market, is always touting their Emmys and other awards. How come this station isn't doing that? Does that mean they have no awards? Or maybe they have no news skills? Who knows? But they REALLY like each other. Isn't that swell?

It's a good enough promo to make me never want to watch that channel at local news time. Although part of me wants to watch it and make my critiques on this blog... stay tuned.

Coupling: Hillary Clinton and Jansport

Yesterday was very odd. First, I slept through my first class, which is something I haven't done in years. Usually it happens when I am so tired that in my sleep-induced haze I turn off the alarm unwittingly. So I missed the class, but managed to get up in time to do everything else that I had planned for the day. But I knew it was going to be a strange day.

When I arrived at the Post-Standard around 1pm yesterday, there were a lot of suits hanging around outside. They were looking at me strangely as I got closer to the building, but I figured there must be something going on at the courthouse or federal building, which are both nearby.

After walking into the lobby, oddly, there was a crowd of about 10 P-S employees hanging around, and looking slightly nervous, for no apparent reason. I walked right up to my security guard buddy and told him that I'd forgotten my ID. I was kind of stunned when he told me to wait because he couldn't help me right then. I'm not a very patient person, so I was slightly annoyed until I saw Senator Clinton walking into the building surrounded by the suits. That was my Eureka! moment.

She was surprisingly tiny and seemingly gracious, as she shook everyone's hand. When she got to me (because everyone else was doing it and I was completely unprepared for this kind of scene) I stuck mine out and said "It's a pleasure to meet you." She noted that it was her pleasure to meet me too. Ahem. And then she disappeared up the stairs with the secret service guys, and everyone in the lobby relaxed.

So that was that. Strange, but interesting. She seemed really friendly and warm, and she also seemed to genuinely know many of the people in the lobby. Apparently she comes to the P-S for editorial board meetings quite often. What struck me as really odd, is that there wasn't nearly the amount of security that surrounds the President or other dignitaries. She only had about 15 people with her.

Of course, there may have been fewer of them. It was hard to tell because they seemed to be following me aound the building that day. For example, when I went to get lunch, the sandwich-making lady told me that the Secret Service had cleaned her out of bottled water and tomatoes, both of which I wanted. Those bastards!

And now to tie my subjects together.

When I got home, there was a large Priority Mail envelope resting on my door. I couldn't figure out what it could be, because I hadn't ordered anything big and squishy lately. When I opened it, I saw that it was a fancy new Jansport backpack in a strange color (not what I would've chosen, but it's free, so I will deal with it.) I had sent my old forest green colored one back to them last week, because it had developed a tear that pickpockets would love.



Jansport has a policy of repairing or replacing your 'pack, unless the damage was caused by normal wear and tear. In that case, you're on your own. To be honest, I kind of thought my tear fell into the usual wear and tear category, because I've had the thing for 12 years. It had travelled all over the world with me, and it probably was ready for retirement.

Because they couldn't repair my old one, they sent me a fancy new one in a different shade of olive green. They even sent me an APOLOGY for not having my original color in stock! What is even more exciting is that the new pack has the same pocket features that I had gotten to love with the old one. Jansport, you are wonderful. (Feel free to send any high-paying endorsement deals my way.)

Clearly Jansport and Sen. Clinton have nothing in common, other than both surprising me, albeit pleasantly, in the same day.

Sidenote: it's suddenly gotten cold here. And what worries me is that I think THIS WEATHER is cold at 50 degrees, I am going to die in the next few months. A professor told me today that in February, 39 degrees will seem WARM. UGH.

The Art of Procrastination

So I have midterms tomorrow in two of my more reading-intensive classes, Media Law and Critcal Methods of Film and TV. The latter has easier reading but the instructor's exams are notoriously difficult. The former is just a lot of Constitutional history and case memorization. Both classes have a shit-ton of reading material, and naturally both classes are on the same day, and so, incidentally, are their mid-term exams.

Therefore, I have been buried in coffee shops and book stores for the past five days preparing for these two tests, but I am not finished yet. It's kind of daunting for a procrastinator like myself to work, even that far in advance, but you see, I'm nowhere close to being prepared at this point. (And that's because I haven't really been keeping up with everything weekly, like I should have been doing: Procrastination.)

For some reason, the adrenaline rush of finishing something last-minute allows me to learn faster, think more clearly and even produce better results. Maybe that's why I loved breaking news situations at CNN. I had to think on my feet, and fast.

But anyway, after three hours at Barnes and Noble this afternoon, I had to take a break. So I strolled the aisles, hoping that I would be inspired to return to the books soon. Instead, I spent an entire hour reading a book on Procrastination. And now I'm back at home, preparing dinner while my books taunt me for neglecting them (slightly) all semester. On the other hand, Veronica Mars is about to start...

"Good" Yankee barbeque?

Oh yes. It exists.




This place has been written up in numerous travel mags - I even saw it in Sky, Delta's in-flight mag, a couple of months ago. But I didn't believe it until tonight. I went with some friends from school, and we dove in for the full experience.

We started with appetizers - cornbread and fried green tomatoes. The cornbread was a little too crumbly and dry for my taste, but it had been baked with honey on top, so it was forgiveable. I don't think they knew to bake it in a skillet with bacon grease, though. That always gives a nice salty crust to the 'bread, which was missing in tonight's concoction. But still, the tomatoes were excellent. Fried with bread crumbs instead of cornmeal, they were served on a bed of lettuce with cayenne buttermilk ranch dressing (YUM!) and some parmesean cheese sprinkled on top. All the Southerners at our table agreed that this was the (how do the kids these days say it?) BOMB.

We all ordered the pulled pork sandwiches with different sides. I got mashed potatoes and cole slaw. The slaw wasn't too sweet, which is something I don't really like about Southern slaw. The mash had a great kick from an abundance of black pepper, so both sides were good. The sandwich itself was delicious, too. The chain's signature bbq sauce is quite tasty, although not nearly as "asskicking" as it promises on the menu. It was spicy (could've had more kick, if you ask me), but not overpowering. The meat was also really tender but flavorless if you got a piece without sauce. I added plenty of sauce to my sandwich, and I really enjoyed the whole meal.

We each tried a different dessert as well - I had some chocolate pie thing, which was basically chocolate pudding on an oreo crust with whipped cream and chocolate chips on top. It was sinfully delectable. The others had equally yummy things - pumpkin cheesecake, vanilla rice pudding and sweet potato pie. Mine was the best, though. (Sorry Jacque, Nancy and Carl, but it's true.) Now I am sitting on the couch, wishing I'd not eaten quite so much while staring at the seemingly starved actors on Grey's Anatomy. I bet they never pig out on barbeque with their friends...

Oh Canada.

Indeed.

I went to Montreal last weekend, and I chose the perfect weekend to do it. The weather was crisp and cool, but comfortable. The leaves were changing, probably at their peak, and the drive up was stunning as a result. I didn't take a whole lot of pictures because I didn't think that photos would do the scenery justice.

Incidentally, I drove through the Thousand Islands area (which Johanna, the director of my program, tells me is where the awful salad dressing of the same name was created) before driving into Canada. It is really scenic and beautiful. So much so, that I don't really know how to describe it accurately. I can't wait to go back in the spring to really check it out. There is a winery tour around that area, which would be cool to check out too. Any takers?

So back to the Canada trip. I have to say, it reminded me of the road trips that my family took when my brother and I were little. We had a lot of fun (when we weren't fighting or driving my parents batty), and my father would drive us all over the country to see places like Disney World, Washington DC and Niagara Falls. When I started driving, I always felt that same sense of adventure that inherently brought my father to this country over thirty years ago.

In my early twenties, my friend Anne and I drove all over the South, checking out random places for lots of dumb reasons, but mostly to curb our sense of adventure. We had a blast, listening to music, talking, trying new restaurants, talking our way into the Ryman Auditorium and getting to know new places.

As I've gotten older, driving has become more of a chore. Sometimes I really hate having to drive to get anywhere, much less make a road trip. (I really wish we had a better train system in the US, but that's another blog topic.) But this Canada trip somehow gave me a new sense of adventure and purpose. Maybe it was because I was conquering a path I'd not taken before. I certainly have never DRIVEN into Canada before (at least not when I was cogniscent - I think my family did it once when I was still in diapers.) And I had never seen upstate New York in such beauty. It was really exciting - like the first time I landed in Prague by myself.

So while it was really wonderful catching up with my aunt, uncle and cousins in Montreal, it was really exhilarating to drive into Canada. There are a freaking LOT of geese and birds though. My car looks like it was attacked by paintball guns filled with bird shit instead of paint. By the way, Montreal is THE place to go for breads, pastries, cheeses and wines. And yellow watermelon, apparently. Yummmm. Ok, I'd better get to the gym now to work off some of that pate that was immensely delicious...