What's your game plan?

A game of Things? 99? Left right and center?

Those too, but Judy has something else in mind. Downsizing. No one could argue with the soundness of her goal which is to sell the house and move to a condo. After all, she doesn't need all that room now that she's alone and married to no one but her golf clubs and her Rossignols.

Judy's got it made with her two ski trips a year amongst others. Thanks to Tiger for this thing called economic golfcession but I doubt that Judy will even worry about that. As soon as the sunny weather sets in, Maria and Celine will be there to make the journey with her. Notice how I said sunny, not warm. The cold doesn't seem to faze these golf addicts that's why.

So here we are invited to Judy's for dinner and an evening of fun and games or so we're promised. Rather than fuss about it, I decided to join all seven of the Ya-Yas. Declining will simply not do the trick trust me. Just so you know I've also graduated from being a moron to being the butt of jokes at their card games.

A hostess gift wasn't an issue, it's trying to remember to bring it with us that is the problem. Sometimes that ginkgo doesn't kick in, this time it did. That's the cheesecake that Maria already baked for our board meeting. The meeting was rescheduled because Alex begged off, all because his eyelids remained shut after taking the red-eye from Vegas the night before.

Ah so! You took a vacation, we labored here while you're gone and now you want to reschedule? And how about this cake? We can't let this go to waste. And that's why I said yes to Judy's invite (just kidding!). Talk about labor of love, Maria had to make an extra trip to the store for a pint of strawberries. Her usual blueberry topping could send Judy to anaphylactic shock and we wanted none of that.




"Is this your farewell party?" Celine asked. I couldn't keep a straight face when Judy jolted with a "No, I'm not old and dying yet. It's a farewell to my house". Oops! Who said farewell is synonymous to death? I signaled Celine not to push Judy's button, at least not until after we've stuffed our faces with that ham she was baking. She skillfully managed to quell Judy's annoyance so we ended up enjoying her delicious ham served with sides of mushrooms, green beans with slivered almonds, sweet potatoes and potatoes.

I rushed to the kitchen and scooped out the drippings from the pan and to everyone's surprise poured some of that into the several pieces of ham on my plate. Ever heard of au jus on ham? Join me and my weird palate! That was a good meal, you outdid yourself again Judy.

It was Carol's first time to meet Celine all it took was one question to get her going. "What did you do before retiring?" Air force, art school, teaching, social work, raise a kid, etc. Well, some are really born to be big. Is there something else that you haven't done, Celine? After this game of getting to know you, we moved on to cards and games.

As if emerging from a deep coma, I panicked at the sight of a deck of cards and three more games I'm not familiar with. They called them Left right and center, 99 and Things. Joan rattled off the rules and as expected of me, nothing registered. You see I have no skills for following instructions, so let's just get with it with a dry run then I'll wing it. Thank you Sheila for warning me that Bridge, a totally different animal, can mean frustration for me. That's helpful!

Things was fun, a no-brainer and most of our answers were hilarious. Pick a topic, get everyone's response, read them out loud and guess who said what. Just say whatever comes to mind. "What tires you out?" That was a breeze for Dorothy. The perfect question. It's a gimme. She's the marrying type, I'd say the most among us, three times to be exact and she's such a good sport about it. And guess who (ahem) won the first game? The newbie, yours truly.

I guess I know my friends enough to be able to predict their answers; trouble is they can also read me like a book. I reserved my half-baked sentiments about the other two games; Left right and center sounded like the provocative political radio program and it's not, and 99 is boring. It's no wonder everyone wandered off to their side-bar chats leaving Carol our mistress of ceremonies with no choice but to hold up that placard that reads "Take a f_____n' card" whenever somebody forgets to grab one from the pile!

I tell you these ladies are a riot, but they're alive and witty. Thanks for the company. Just in time, since I'm starting to turn to Jeanne Robertson for some laughs to shake off the dark winter moods. Thanks to Chantal, I guess this is what they do in Texas to beat the blues. Check out that Robertson woman, she is hysterical. But I wouldn't trade you guys for a Southern humorist.

On a serious note, Carol and Judy are both looking into moving out of their respective homes into either a Co-op or Condo. It won't be easy giving up all that space that they enjoy now. And the memories attached to all the belongings that they won't be able to take with them, they'll stay forever.

Whatever Judy's plan is, I'm not her daughter Karen so I'm not part of it. I know I'm not inheriting this miniature ceramic house which is part of her collection. You better check my purse on my way out!

Carmen, you're a bad girl!

Oh Carmen, you're the ultimate bad girl!

The orchestra played the rousing overture, the famous Les Toreadors which we'll recognize as the breakneck soundtrack for the Bad News Bears. It was the most exciting few seconds of prelude to one of the best written and produced opera ever. It's full of the hit tunes we are familiar with like Habanera (sung here by Maria Callas) and the Toreador song.

The black stage curtain opened right at its bright red slit into an almost erotic pas de deux by a couple from American Ballet Theatre's best. What followed was a fiery performance by the stunning mezzo Elina Garanca as Carmen and tenor Roberto Alagna as Don Jose. The set reminded me of the Roman Coliseum. Crumbling at certain spots, it revolves at the turntable into different looks between Acts the most dramatic of which was the final scene inside the bullring.

The opera was sung in French but set in Seville with its exotic costumes of the period revealing the gypsies in their frocks as factory workers or in long skirts with beautiful shawl as dancers. The matadors paraded in their colorful costumes in the final act while the chorus worked hard at singing while pushing against the barricade of soldiers to get a glimpse of the toreadors.

I imagine it to be a most difficult part for Elina Garanca in Act IV as she sung while down on the floor and then got up with that heavy and long mantilla trailing several feet behind her. That showed her physical strength, all happening while being pushed and shoved by Don Jose.

Her voice was powerful. She was a flirt, whether she was seducing Don Jose with the dance of Seguidilla or suggestively squatting on the ground. Credits for an outstanding performance are due the fabulous soprano Barbara Frittoli as Micaela. Ditto for the tenor Teddy Tahu Rhodes replacing Mariusz Kwiecien today playing the role of Escamillo, the toreador.

The dancers from the American Ballet Theatre and the Metropolitan Opera's orchestra and the singers are a matched pair. With nearly four hours of sheer high note entertainment but only one intermission it was no surprise that I didn't hear any complaints at the restroom line.

Forget about that evening gown in your closet, jeans are acceptable attire. Carmen is for everyone and a perfect treat for the first time opera-goer.

Baddest girl Carmen won the hearts of many. Brava!

Move over cupcake

Nothing against cupcakes, we know they're the in thing these days, but who doesn't love brownies?

It'll be fine with me if I never see another flake of snow and it looks like I'm going to get my wish soon. Forty degrees outside is good enough reason for me to rush and get to The Cellar at Macy's for a baking demo. Rose and I met at the Church of St. Francis of Assisi for some much needed blessing before our attempt at breaking bread with the great chefs of NY.

It's a baker's dozen at The Cellar this month. The list of culinary talent showing off their best is long, unfortunately we're not one of them, but 'will work on it, he he! At today's demo it was the team of Nato and Matt of Baked bakery in Red Hook, Brooklyn. They whipped up some heavenly brownies. Not just your ordinary brownie, my friend, it's decadent chocolatey, fudgy and as Noris would say - puedo levantare el muerto!

For that bakery-perfect cookies and such, skip all the food networks and specialized cookbooks (although I'll admit that I love Cook's Illustrated Magazine, it's all science stuff for those folks at the magazine), according to some people in the audience Baked has the best recipe.

It's not so much the recipe and the instructions but the essential dos and don'ts that the partners at Baked shared with us that really counted. To scoop-and-sweep or not that is the question. How many times to rotate the pan while baking. Bittersweet chocolate or just plain dark. These little things and there's lots of them that matter big. I kid you not. Or else you'll end up with a heap of hockey pucks or slabs of mishaps not even fit as toys for your pet!

The road to perfect baking is threatened with plenty of pitfalls. Believe me I have horror stories I could tell you from my past as a rookie. There's that dough that just refused to rise, the cookie that wasn't so smart, the cake that was neither an angel nor a devil, and so on.

Watch it. From the looks of it, I think Rose is going to embark into a bake-a-thon as soon as she gets home. She grabbed a few baking tools from Macy's, this is dangerous. Let's see what she can come up with aside from her favorite biscuit. I have yet to taste that. Hey Rose, Matt said to rotate the pan inside the oven not outside. I hope you didn't buy the salad spinner for that purpose - rotating. Just kidding, or not!

These brownies are to die for. Easy to make, even Angie at the Zoo can whip it up. I get it that she's not into wasting precious time in the kitchen and that's okay too. No mixer necessary, just start off with your very best chocolate after all that's what makes brownies a hit.

Here it is, from the folks at Baked adapted from their new book Baked New Frontiers in Baking:

The Baked Brownie

Yield : 24 brownies

Baked Note: A great brownie is easy to make, but you have to be aware of several factors. 1. Use a dark cocoa powder, like Valrhona. A pale light colored cocoa does not have enough depth. 2. Make sure your eggs are at room temperature and do not over beat them into the batter. 3. Make sure you check your brownies often while baking. Once the brownies are over baked slightly, they have reached the point of no return.

1 1/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons dark cocoa powder

11 ounces dark chocolate (60-70%) cut into 1 inch cubes

1 teaspoon instant espresso powder

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

5 large eggs at room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Butter the sides and bottom of a glass or light colored metal pan 9x13x2

In medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and cocoa powder.

Configure a large sized double boiler. Place the chocolate, butter, and instant espresso powder in the bowl of the double boiler and stir occasionally until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and combined. Turn off the heat, but keep the bowl over the water of the double boiler and add both sugars. Whisk the sugars until completely combined and remove the bowl from the pan. Mixture should be room temperature.

Add 3 eggs to the chocolate/butter mixture and whisk until just combined. Add remaining eggs and whisk until just combined. Add vanilla and stir until combined. Do not over beat the batter at this stage or your brownies will be cakey.

Sprinkle the flour/cocoa/salt mixture over the chocolate. Using a spatula (Do not use a whisk) fold the dry into the wet until there is just a trace of the flour/cocoa mix visible.

Pour the mixture into the pan and smooth the top with your spatula. Bake the brownies for 30 minutes (rotate the pan half-way through the baking) and check to make sure the brownies are done when the toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs.

Cool the brownies completely before cutting and serving.

That wasn't so difficult, was it?

Baby it's cold outside!

The trouble with the weather is that you can never predict it with pinpoint accuracy. This time, it's North Texas that has been hit hard so I really have no reason to complain since lately all we've gotten is a few dusting of snow. Wrong. It's still too damn cold for me to be out there. I sort of dropped out from my scheduled activities and totally broke my routine.

Cold snaps can quickly degenerate into wicked weather that can in turn give you a patch of the blues. Let's see how we can smother that with some not so simple solutions. One by engaging in winter sports or joining the Polar Bear Club. My genes unfortunately were not designed for sporting or bathing in the frigid Coney Island waters, so that ain't happening.

Or you can put some good music on, but watch that Eric Clapton's guitar riff doesn't send you into an even steeper drop in emotions. Try Rod Stewart, Sting or John Mayer.

Or you can bake and eat all you can and watch your weight ratchet up like the Big Losers on one of those reality shows. You'll bounce back, guaranteed but only like a blubber ball. Individual results may vary!

Or you can sit and slowly turn into a frozen slug by watching all of Kurosawa's finest or episodes of Deadliest Catch fishing for king crabs on the Bering Sea. That was something else. How did they film that? It's no small feat dropping those crab pots and working under those treacherous icy conditions. Be thankful for your job, others have it far worse than you. The cameramen filming the episodes, the deckhands and fishermen braving the extreme winter weather in Alaska must be in danger all the time. It's hard to tell these days but I hope that's not all scripted reality show.

Or you can go to the mall and walk several laps to shed off those holiday pounds, then stop by Ikea to meet nice strangers. Yeah, he's an Englishman. I went to Ikea to return a rug only to be greeted with a long line at the entrance. What's this? A glut on storage bins and shelving? So I approached this tall, lean fellow who looked like he's an employee. He was minding the self-checkout lane for those of us who can't aim that bar code reader right. These scanners you either love them or hate them.

"So what's the line for?", I asked.

"Oh, it's the Malm 5-drawer chest now on sale for $49.99", he answered.

"I love your British accent; did you just move to New York?", I asked without blushing.

"I love yours too and I'm from Massapequa (Long Island). Originally from California, he chuckled," and where are you from?"

And we both broke into laughter. It was a brief but warm conversation, so refreshing to see good cheer in this era of rushed city life.

It's also a gift some people have. There are those who are skilled in dealing with strangers, I mean making small talk. I'm no social butterfly but I've encountered a few of the friendly ones. Shy I am, but sometimes all it takes is a little hello. Try it, it's more fun than finding a wall to stare at and ignoring that person next to you. Unless they look like they wanna be left alone.

Mr. Noname Englishman, you were friendly, ' sorry but:

I really can't stay

So really I'd better scurry

Baby it's cold outside

Deal with it. It's cold but don't let the blues kick you in the behind.

(*Credits: Picture was taken by Maria at the New Year's Day plunge of not exactly the Long Beach Polar Bear Club members. Sorry I missed the event and a chance to meet Judy's mom. Long Beach is her home. )

The big clean-up 2010

Here's a good place to start, clean up the mess the revelers left behind after the rare blue moon New Year's celebration in Times Square. It might also be a good idea to take down all the holiday decorations. Given the number of trips I need to make to the garage to hide these boxes of ornaments, followed by the big haul of the poor tree to the dumpster, I better get going before another nor'easter gets dumped on our doorstep.

'Tis the season to undecorate, close the books on 2009 and start with a clean slate which is something easier said than done. Speaking of clean-ups too bad I can't undo one of the events of last year and wipe off the mess as if it never occured. Sounds serious? Naah.

It was no walk in the park but something we were able to nip. At last year's election of the board I was grateful to have been inducted for the second term. Unfortunately some people found it difficult to admit losing. One thing led to another and a dissident group of five was born which kicked off a series of unpleasant events. There were no dodging of stones or bullets. That would be just unmanly, wouldn't it? Just childish antics, lies, lies, more lies which kept the board volleying every single attack. What a waste of our time, really. And may I remind you that this is a payless, thankless volunteer job.

It went on for a good five months but we prevailed. Might I add that we did scare the crap out of them. One thing I learned from this is to never judge anything by its cover. The size of a human's skull is not evidence of the presence of any frontal lobe. I guess I was asking for too much. Seriously!

Another lesson I learned is that good deeds do not go unnoticed, people that matter will stand by you, then life will go on or shall I say business as usual. Now if I click my way back to 2009, with the exception of this annoyance it was a very good year.

Peering into the crystal ball, I see a bright 2010. It will not be free of conflicts, disappointments, or unrealized grand expectations. That computer will not boot up, clothes won't fit, relatives will overstay their visit, we will overshoot our budget but we wont quit, instead face these challenges head-on. Just promise me good health and peace I'll be good with that.

Settle down people and tidy up for the New Year.
Happy 2010 everyone!