Christmas in New York City is special. The entire city is light with energy and brightness not found in too many other places. While every year Christmas creeps up earlier it’s rather a wonderful time of the year. The energy and spirit of NYC comes alive in ways it doesn’t other times of the year. And this year there are so many things to do in NYC.  Whether you are a tourist or a local, Christmas in NYC is not to be missed. Below are some of my recommendations:

The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is truly spectacular and larger than life. It's also my personal favorite. It’s huge, has twinkling lights and has a Swarovski Crystal tree topper (above picture) that is several feet in diameter. The tree is already up. Last time I saw it there was scaffolding around it. This year it’s getting lit on Wednesday the 29^th and as every year there are lots of festivities surrounding it. The time usually is after 8:30 pm.

I however recommend going in December, not that the crowd won’t be insane but the flow of traffic is better regulated. For a treat stop by Morrell's Wine bar across the street from the skating rink.  

Also across the street from Rock Center is Saks Fifth Avenue with the most incredible Holiday windows in the city. The line goes often goes around the block and it is always worth waiting to see it. Every year the windows are different and have different themes. There are also beautifully lit icicles and stars on the outside of the entire building that go off into a spectacular light show every 15 minutes played to Beethoven.

The Bronx Zoo has a beautiful light display as every year. There are hundreds of illuminated animals (fake of course) and sculptures as well as a lovely fully lit holiday train that is an experience like no other.

Radio City Music Hall has the leggy and fabulous Rockettes in the Christmas Spectacular.  New York City Ballet has The Nutcracker.

Most of the Museums including the Museum of Natural History  & The Met have their own Christmas programming and beautiful holiday displays.

For unusual and gorgeous as well as affordable Christmas presents try some of the best outdoor Holiday shopping experiences in NYC.

Bryant Park has the annual Holiday Fair, Fetes De Noel, which is a European style Holiday Market hawking everything from paintings, photographs, sculptures to hand made jewelry, candles and clothing.

There is also a huge ice skating rink in the middle of the park that is free to skate in but you have to rent the skates, unless you bring your own. Be prepared to wait in a line for hours. The lines at Wollman Rink are significantly shorter. 

Grand Central Terminal also has a similar Holiday Fair in the Vanderbilt Hall. There is a smaller Holiday market in Union Square as well as several other similar experiences that make New York so unique. 

Don’t DRIVE into the city. Gridlock Alert will have you pulling your hair out. There are plenty of options to get around the city.  I highly recommend taking them.

Have a FAB, happy and SAFE holiday season!!

A competent and self-confident person is incapable of jealousy in anything.
Jealousy is invariably a symptom of neurotic insecurity.
--Robert A. Heinlein

I no longer feel the need to lash out at the asshole that was harrassing me thru Thanxgiving weekend because she's in a worse place than me. Last thing I want to do is send traffic to her ridiculous website dedicated to "fixing" me. 

My life is still fantastic and she has to live with the miserable pathetic bitch that she is.  May she find peace within herself and find her own self worth so she won't feel this crippling jealousy she has been harboring towards me for far too long.

Dear obsessed psycho, I wish you 10 times the amount of love and care I get from the world and the people around me. Perhaps then you might learn to see your own horrible flaws and fix yourself before it's too late.

...Of things I can't forget, journeys on a jet...Our wond'rous week in New York and Miami and Santa Fe and Bermuda and Bahamas and Macaca-madness...How lucky I was...

I have so much to be grateful for this thanksgiving...the list could go on but if I was to think of the top 10 things that I'm grateful for in my life without a doubt they are...

1. My family: For my mother who's unfailing faith in me, good cheer and support can only guarantee a victory. My dad who for the first time in years I realize has turned out pretty cool. For being open hearted and open minded and above all loving me. My little brother who is little no more for turning into a big strong and smart grown up who has turned out to be just fine and far more responsible than I give him credit.

2. My friends: For Ashini, Shivani, Nita, Rekha, Rahul, Karthik, Andrea, Margherita, Jessica, Wendy for their wit and humor and laughter and style and unfailing support no matter what.

3. For a little critter that lives with me...Spartacus for his incredible cuddle factor, for those googly eyes, for his goofy antics and energy and for always purring no matter how much I'm growling.

4. For my NEW Home, for making me wake up in the middle of the night sometimes and still think WOW.

5. For work, for having a job I love and am often surprised I get paid for. For the best boss a girl could ask for and a company any woman would be proud to be part of.

6. For WNYC, for enriching my life in ways I never thought possible, for giving me culture and humor and politics and arts and music and food and books and Car Talk.

7. For Sepia Mutiny, for reminding me, assuring me and bringing out the brown in me in ways I didn't know existed.

8. For New York City. Everyone should be lucky to live here at some point in their life. For it's insanity and noise and culture and passion. It's a wild and warm city and one I can't imagine not being part of. Forget Paris, I will always have New York.

9. For being a WOMAN, for being a strong woman, and for all things in my life that contribute to it.

10. For being an AMERICAN and an INDIAN. What a wonderous combination it is. I'm thankful for having realized I can be both and not one or the other. Thankful for being brown in my non Indian life and for being American in my Indian life. What a beautiful, complex, difficult, messed up, interesting and full of life way of existence.

Tonite I went out in the pouring rain and had dinner with my family and it was just lovely.

Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving.

No turkey for me this year. I'm not making one nor eating one. I'm spending Thanksgiving with my dad and stepmom and her family. They are all vegetarian so a turkey is out of the question.

However as previous years I have had several requests for my Martha & Me turkey recipe so I figured I may as well post it.

Need:

·          1 20 lb turkey

·          2 sticks of unsalted butter

·          1 bottle of California Chardonnay

(You can substitute the wine with Beer. I recommend for this time of the year Sam Adams Octoberfest or Winter Lager.

Cream Stout actually is best but I don't always find it.)

·          1 bag of carrots

·          1 bag of celery

·          1 bunch of each fresh: Mint, Thyme, Basil

·          1 branch of kadipatta

·          5 bay leaves

·          30 whole cloves

·          3 lemons

·          2 teaspoons of cinnamon powder

·          2 teaspoons of brown sugar

·          1 cup red Indian chili powder (level of spice according to your palate)

·          ½ cup of garam masala

·          NOTE:  I recommend buying the masalas from the Indian store and not an American store.

·          Salt

·          Pepper

·          3 squares of Cheesecloth – 1 sq foot each

Prep:

·          Losen the skin of the turkey from the inside so that it is still attached to the turkey on the ends but there is space between the skin and the turkey.

·          Premake a frozen roll of unsalted butter with Indian red chili powder & finely chopped fresh mint. Soften 1 stick of butter and mix with 2 teaspoons of the powder & the mint. After everything is mixed well put it in a ziplock bag, squeeze it to the end and make a roll of it and stick it in the freezer. When it's all set, cut the plastic off and you have a "log" of spiced butter. Cut it into coins/slices.

·          Stick the coins of butter under the skin all over evenly.

·          Remember to fold the wingtips under.

·          Put 3/4 of the log on the outside of the turkey under the skin. Use 1/4 of the log to rub on the inside of the turkey, in the cavity and on the legs/wings.

·          Stick the whole cloves in a pattern that looks like a ham pattern on the outside of the turkey to sort of secure the loose skin onto the turkey and seal the butter coins in.

·          Sprinkle salt & pepper all over the turkey on the inside and out.

·          Line the bottom of the pan with the raw long chopped carrots and celery. Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon of garam masala on it & 1 teaspoon of chili power on it.

·          In a bowl melt 1 stick of butter and mix with 1 cup of the wine, mix and add the 3 squares of cheesecloth and let soak.

Pouch: 3 whole cut lemons, thyme, basil, mint, bay leaves and kadipatta and stick it inside the turkey, in the cavity. Putting everything inside the pouch allows you to throw the pouch out after cooking without a mess.

Notes:

·          I'm not a big fan of stuffing a raw turkey with uncooked veggies or other things so I put a herb pouch inside the turkey.

·          I highly recommend tying your turkey legs. It makes for the best presentation. And make it a small bow, it will be quick to get off without trying to cut it and bruise the skin of the turkey.

·          Make sure to fold the wings under the breast.

·          Remember to use a pop up timer you can find anywhere and insert it in the chunkiest of part/breast of the turkey.

·          You should baste and turn your turkey every 20 – 30 minutes. Because you have fabric inside the oven it tends to dry up fast and can catch fire. The key is to keep it wet all the time.

·          The turkey should be turned 180 degrees thru the entire cooking. Legs in first, turned on one side in one hour, the other side in the next hour and in the last hour the breast in first.

Cooking:

·          Pour yourself a glass of the wine, to drink DOH!

·          Preheat oven to 450 degrees. The smaller the oven and bigger the turkey the lower the heat required, the bigger the oven and smaller the turkey the higher the heat required. So cooking times vary anywhere between 2 ½ to 4 hours.

·          Place turkey, legs first, in oven. Cook for 30 minutes.

·          After 30 minutes a lot of the butter under the skin will have melted into the skin and the turkey will have started to drip a little.

·          Lift cheesecloth out of liquid, and squeeze it slightly, leaving it very damp. Spread it evenly over the breast and about halfway down the sides of the turkey; it can cover some of the leg area.

·          Add the remaining of the bottle of wine to the pan where the drippings are collecting over the veggies.

·          Reduce oven temp to 350 degrees and continue cooking for 2 ½ more hours basting every 20 - 30 minutes and watching the pan.

·          Your pan will start filling up soon with the spicy turkey drippings, wine mixed with the masala and the celery and carrots. This is your basting liquid and can be used for the base of your gravy eventually. Using a good pastry brush & baster, baste cheesecloth and exposed parts of turkey The carrots and celery prevent your pan from turning into a burning mess and the boiling of veggies creates a steam under your turkey so the heat isn't so dry.

·          The last half hour of the cooking remove the cloth, when your turkey is almost done. Sprinkle a mix of brown sugar, cinammon & red chili over the turkey and finish roasting the turkey and letting it brown without the cheesecloth. Baste before you sprinkle with the mix.

Once upon a time, in 2002, there was a 32 lb turkey that was eaten in 20 minutes...

Happy eating everyone....

You know that saying 'Everything that could go wrong will!' yeah that crazy Murphy! Well today seems to be my lucky day. At the moment I'm a little tickled that this hasn't sent me over the edge and I'm still in fairly good spirits.

I got home (to Queens from Manhattan via a train and a mile hike that I take voluntarily) to find out that I had no house keys. So I promply walked the mile back ,hopped on the train and went back to the office. Repeat the whole thing again, get home, walk into the lobby of the building and encounter 6 inches of water. @$##%$67i$%#%@$#!@$&%*^!

There is a massive water main break and the crew in the building has been trying for 20 minutes to put it out. It seems to be coming from my line so I have a mild heartattack. I stand there baffled, the water is gushing like it does when there is a break on the street. It's massive. No elevators. Eventually I walk up. All 23 flights. It actually was a lot better than I anticipated. I'm sure I wont feel the same tomorrow morning. I'm freaked out at this point that there is water in my apartment somehow. There isn't. The cat is dry, so is the apartment.

Phew. I make the customary trip to the loo and voila, no water! Doh...of course. OK there was enough for one flush. I just fixed some quick dinner and I'm giving it till 10:00 for the water to come back on before I bail on my apartment and look for a strategic place to stay tonite. Go stay with my dad, too far, pain in the ass, but I'll get treated like a princess, stay with my brother, but will have to take the bus in the morning or Jig and Bhavesh and get in the city with Bhavesh tomorrow morning or stay with Aman and take the same route I do everday. Either ways it means hauling all my shit to get ready for one day to someone's house. Grrrr...and believe it or not I'm still in good spirits.

Why you ask? Well because I know there is yet a 3rd thing that is to go wrong still. Waiting and counting. Stay tuned.

Update 1: 10:19 pm (just as I was about to pack up)

The water is back. It looks like shit colored and smells like it too. I ran it for 20 minutes but turned it off because I felt guilty for wasting so much water. Still crappy looking.

The cat jumped up (for god knows what) in the bathroom and knocked a huge ceramic dish down. Shattered all over the floor. Does that count as Snafu # 3?

It isn't even Thanksgiving yet and my December is starting to fill up fast. It's such a New York city disease. People plan ahead and plan big and the socialite that I am its nearly impossible for me to turn down social invitiations.

On top of the 5 events in the first 2 weeks including my own birthday I also have a department dinner and a divisional party the week of December 4th, and the L'Oreal annual Holiday party on December 13th and not counting at least 3 or 4 more invitations that I am expecting will materialize in the next week or two.

By the time Christmas and New Years rolls around I will have had enough alcohol to make me a lush again. And considering last night I have already gotten a headstart. I'm not bothering to make any plans for New Years this year, as I didnt last year and the year before, plans happen to me. It's pointless for me to try to take that bull by the horns.

Yeah I know 'Boo hoo' you say...but think of all the glittery crap I have to coordinate in such a short period of time! What? You don't think that takes work?

I just woke up! It's literally the middle of the day. The last time I got home past 1:00 am was months ago. The last time I got home past 5:30am was quite possibly years ago. I so need to get out more. The night just kept going from one place to the next and so on. We ended up walking around most of the lower east side and had just the best time ever. And the festivities only ended because I was about to turn into a pumpkin.

What a fantastic time I had at the Sepia Mutiny Meetup last night. The evening went well over 12 hours for me. I got to hang with not just people I admire for the shit they write but who are absolutely adorable in person. I finally got to meet Siddhartha Mitter, Mr WNYC, for the first time and he is as fabulous in person as his voice and as I imagined. Some pictures below. I can't wait to see Preston's pictures considering he is the brilliant pro and our paparazzi for the night.

It's been a rough few weeks of sorts. Things I put in the back of my head, dealt with privately and didn't really want to talk about much. My mom's health has kept me up at nights and given me excuses to eat badly, not work out and being unhealthy. I've been wallowing in that misery for what seems like nearly all summer. There are always distractions; thank god for the rest of life, but at the end of the day when I'm alone that one big issue weighs on my mind.

My mother is very close to needing a kidney transplant. Her creatine levels are very low and she has become very anemic. All this above and beyond her pain from her arthiritis has made her very weak. My mother is incredibly brave and has suffered thru years of pain and surgeries and she's only 55. But it's painful to hear her be in pain and not do well. My brother and I aren't a match. Her brothers and sisters haven't exactly been forthcoming about helping her out. They are all a match. I know giving up a organ is a tough choice. I just know that if my brother needed an organ from me there would not be a shadow of doubt in my mind about it.

Organ donation in India, especially in the state of Maharashtra is hairy. Because of past abuses by people who were selling organs and doctors who were stealing them the rules and regulations allow one to get an organ only thru a National registry or relatives. The registry only allows organs to be sought thru cadavers and Hindus do not allow for the desecration of the body before cremation so people are generally not open to donating organs of dead relatives. It's a vicious loop of rules and regulations, most certainly necessary, but one that I desperately wish I could break for my mother.

It's mostly been harder because of the physical distance. This is my home, that is hers. I am not in a position in my life to simply quit this and move. I just bought a new home. I am not financially able to simply take months off and go take care of her. That has been the biggest guilt factor. I feel inadequate and helpless and pathetic. Worrying has managed to piss all over other areas of my life that haven't been broken. And as always the people in my life have been the most incredible support. My father has surprised me. And my girlfriends and even my boys have been just amazing. Even coworkers and my boss, the best boss a girl could ask for, has been great. I can't complain about the other areas of my life. People are and have always been very good to me.

I finally arranged for her to start an alternative pain management acupuncture program which she says is helping her. It gives me a little false sense of satisfaction that I'm doing something. I'm also seeing someone in search of ways to support my mother emotionally. I want to be able to support my mother, make her feel better and not lose my sanity in the process. It has been incredibly helpful. I feel a renewed sense of hope. I know this will work out. I know someone from the family will come forward and help my mother. I have faith in all those people for whom she has done so much in her life. I have faith in relationships that bind people. I know because in my heart I so strongly believe that if I was in need tomorrow there will be people there to help me. I know I will be there for the people I love.

Last night for the first time in a long time I felt open and free and light in a social setting. All set to come home to a glass of Kir, a new addiction, I had no plans for Friday night. It has been a rough week. Between jury duty, travel, vacation & training my entire department has been out including my boss and his boss. It was empowering to hold the fort down but definitely draining. I got pulled in a lot of directions, and meetings on portfolios I don't manage. I also got dragged into a lot of top level decisionmaking I was not necessarily prepared for. I actually did great. I perform well under pressure. Throw me in a pit of fire and I will come out with a great meal. But the week exhausted me. I was tired. Mentally and physically.

When Karthik called and asked me out for a drink I nearly said no. This morning I'm glad I didn't. I needed it. It was a good night. We watched the Knicks kick Miami's ass and drank too many Martinis. Karthik is such an antidote to feeling blue. He certainly knows how to cheer a girl up and make her feel special. I slept in this morning and woke up to the cat growling because there were men on my balcony. After a mini heartattack I closed the blinds and went back to bed. SM meetup tonite. Having lunch with my dad and brother tomorrow. I feel good. Even my mom sounded good this morning on the phone. I know things are going to be OK.