SOCSunday: My Funny Valentine

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I was running errands at Target and I ran into the seasonal section - VALENTINES! All pink, red and a lot of heart shaped things, I couldn't resist. $5 for 5 heart shaped boxes of chocolates with messages? Why not? Maybe I could get away with a box of chocolate hearts for my Bunny Valentine (husband.)

Here are my finds - and possibly some suggestions for that special someone in your life!

I think this is a "nice way" of saying "im breaking up with you"
on valentine's day...

High Maintenance Valentine.

Affirmation or Denial? You pick.

For the "HIGH PERFORMANCE" Cassanova -
This reminds me of cheaters!!!

This one's for my hubby - because this looks like the spastic body
movements that i pass off as dancing to annoy him while he watches TV.

Is the world really this jaded? HAH! I salute the creative director who gave a go signal on this dramatic line of products. Clearly I was alternating between laughter and shaking my head in disbelief, and back to laughing again at Target.

Happy Valentine's Day! (in advance)
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This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…

• Set a timer and write for 5 minutes only. 
• Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.
• Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.
• Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post.
• Visit your fellow bloggers and show some love.

SOC Sunday: Kids at the FIRST Lego League Brooklyn Qualifying Tournament

I had the pleasure of taking event photos for the FIRST Lego League Tournament Brooklyn Qualifier 2012 last Saturday. This is an inter-school competition for the schools in the Borough of Brooklyn. The top 20 teams in this competition move on to the bigger competition where they compete with the top schools from the other boroughs of New York City.

The competition even baffles me because I cannot program a Lego Mindstorm NXT but these 4th graders can! To be surrounded by bright young minds is a humbling experience indeed.

Here are some of the photos from the event:

They program the robots to go though missions on this mat.
See this girl use two laptops to fine tune her robot.

Teamwork
They were asked to line up in alphabetical order of first names, blindfolded.
Observation judges watch each team in action and also interview them
to discuss how they functioned as a team. They identify teams that best
demonstrate enthusiasm, spirit, partnership, respect to their teammates
and others, and gracious professionalism.

Project Presentation
The teams complete a research project related to the topic of the year.
This is followed up by a presentation, and a timed question and answer
period. Teams can use props in their presentation like this muscle suit.

One team even made a website!

Technical Interview
Each team has a timed interview with a team of judges to discuss the
design and operation of their robot. Judges look for teams whose
work stands oud because of innovation and navigational consistency.

This is what they build and program. Lego Mindstorm NXT.

Robotics? Not just for boys. 

Their banners say it all. 

Pep talk to soothe frustrations. Kid in the middle was awesome.

Too short to reach over the table? Resourcefulness at its best.

It's not child's play. Really.

Stress levels run high for these kids.

YAY!

Woohoo!

YEAAAH!

I know it is disheartening to know that some of the teams did not make it to the citywide competition, however all of them walk out of the competition as winners. 

Thumb's up!

More competition photos here:
FIRST Lego League Brooklyn Qualifier 2012
FIRST Lego League Brooklyn Qualifier 2012 - Participant Portraits
FIRST Lego League Brooklyn Qualifier 2012 - Volunteer Portraits


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This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…

• Set a timer and write for 5 minutes only. 
• Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.
• Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.
• Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post.
• Visit your fellow bloggers and show some love.

Cheap Makeup Organizers

After moving to this present apartment, I was happy to have three huge medicine cabinets with "moviestar"  lighting. I know it is a dream come true to most women but the storage is less than 4" deep. I scoured through stores and I couldnt find anything that would fit, or was cheap. So for a while, I my stuff was always in danger of falling into the toilet bowl by sheer force of gravity.

Using my bathroom mirrors make me feel like a moviestar!

This is what some of my makeup looks like inside the medicine cabinets:

The solution came to me when I was cleaning up. My husband loves Crystal Light, and as I was arranging the recyclables, the thought hit me!

So here are the steps:

Buy Crystal Light.

Peel off the entire label

Tada! You have  your translucent container!

Here it is back in my medicine cabinet.

The reason why I have two different heights of containers still baffle me, because the three other containers on the left are also from Crystal Light. I guess they changed their packaging to a taller one. I love the fact that my organizers come "free with purchase" and that even if i put something short in it, like a lipstick, I find it right away.

These containers are practically weightless and they are very thin - they dont take much space and they go straight up and no wasted space at the bottom. 

Lunch at Eleven Madison Park

Lunching at Eleven Madison Park is a true joy. Here's is the progression of our meal, which we had on August 23, 2011.

There has been news of EMP changing its menu & pricing sometime late 2012. Please note that the prices and the dishes in this meal are the ones that I paid for and had at the time of this post. 

While waiting, we munched on these "cheese profiteroles"

(in quotes, because I forgot what they are called)

This is what the menu looks like.

All they ask is you pick one ingredient per column.

Dave and I strategically picked the two best things per column-

to get a taste of everything we wanted! 

Parmesan Lavosh

Tomato Tea w/ Thyme and Lemon Verbena

Goat Cheese Lollipop with Beet Powder,

Goat Cheese Croquettes and Goat Cheese Dipping Sauce

Cross Section of the Goat Cheese Lollipop

Smoked Sturgeon Sabayon with Chives and Smoked Sturgeon (its all inside.)

After this Course, we were whisked into the kitchen, for this special treat. This right here is one of the perks of dining with my husband. He made friends with one of the FOH staff of Eleven Madison Park. She had the day off that day, but she arranged this for us.

We stood right in front of him as he made us a wonderful concoction.

This is what the inside of the kitchen looks like.

I love that they have that sign at the back wall. MAKE IT NICE!

Oooh, just like a science experiment

Here's the finished greatness of a cocktail.

With Liquid Nitrogen, we can freeze alcohol.

 (No, it is not a giant macaron-it looks like half of one.)

or at least the parts that get in direct contact with it. OH SO AMAZING!

Bottom's up!

We went back to our seats and the meal continued on with...

This is the amazing bread that just crumbled to heavenliness.

I still regret not finishing it.

Cow's Milk Butter, Fleur de Sel and Goat's Milk Butter to go with the Fresh Bread

Rabbit Rillete with Pistachio Toast and Candied Pistachio

Octopus braised with Chorizo, Purple Potato

Loup de Mer (Branzino)

Lobster Lasagna

The Beef Course

The Pork Course

As a palate cleanser to end our lunch and get on with the dessert, we had these nice paper coasters on a saucer as a signal for us to await for something special.

True enough a mixologist pushed a bar on wheels and started making us a vanilla malted egg cream, tableside.

Tada! Vanilla Malted Egg Cream

With our palates primed for dessert, we eagerly awaited for the wonderful decadence to end our meal.

The Apricot Dessert

The Chocolate Course, Mmmm. 

To finally end our meal, we had Sesame Brittle, Macarons and Pate de Fruits

Spending $80 per person (+tax and tip, Aug 20Eleven price) for a lunch sounds like a bit much, but for a meal that looks like this, I honestly think that it is a steal. I would really love to go back.

Thank you, Eleven Madison Park. It was one of the best meals I have had in my life!

Eleven Madison Park

Eleven Madison Ave

New York NY

212 889 0905

***** 

Disclaimer:

This post is NOT sponsored in any way, shape or form. All the photos and opinions are mine. All rights reserved. 

The extra cocktail we had in the kitchen we had is an extended courtesy of Eleven Madison Park. This is extended to us because Dave is friends with one of the staff. THAT COURSE IS NOT PART OF THE REGULAR LUNCH TASTING MENU.