Clomid

I've finally moved up to the next level of fertility drug. I was on Metformin for a while to try to regulate my periods, but that didn't work at all. Then we moved, then I had to find a new doctor, then the holidays, blah blah blah. I've started the first round of Clomid, and the new doctor (who is funny and wears bow ties) is optimistic.

Which is good. But I'm not sure how I feel about the possibility of getting pregnant, you know, NOW.

That's how smart I am

Last night was our first real snowfall in New England, a good three inches. I was working last night, and watched as the snow kept piling up. They hadn't scraped the roads yet, so I was really worried about getting home safely, as I had a big hill to navigate.

I got home fine. I was so worried about driving home in a snowstorm that I did it with my lights off.

That's how smart I am.

Momofuku Ko

On Tuesday, I managed to snag a reservation at Momofuku Ko in New York.

For those who don't know, Momofuku Ko is one of David Chang's restaurants, has two Michelin stars, and is consistently the hardest restaurant in New York to get a reservation to. There's no phone--there's only an online lottery for reservations, and since the restaurant only has 14 seats, and only takes reservations seven days in advance, the 14 seats that become available every day at 10 am are immediately gone. I've been playing reservation roulette with them for FOUR YEARS, and this is the first time I got lucky.

Amazingly enough, I was planning to be in New York on Tuesday anyway to see friends. So that worked out really well.

The food was incredible. There's no menu, you just take what the chefs--who are working right in front of you--give you, and everyone gets the same thing. You can choose a beverage pairing; my friend and I split one, and it was fine, but they charged us $95 for one beverage pairing which was almost as much as the food cost ($125). Verdict: not worth $95. (Mostly wines, a couple of beers, a sake, the best one was the first one, a huckleberry negroni.) Stick with the food.

They also don't allow you to take pictures. So no pictures.

Here are the courses, in order: (The chefs spoke quickly, so I'm sure there are key ingredients missing for each of these. But you get the general drift.)
1. Salsify puree with black truffle
2. A chiccarone (pork rind) with salt
3. Oyster with green apple and coconut vinaigrette
4. Fried whole shrimp with some kind of mayo
5. Shortbread with chicken liver mousse
6. Curry fish consomme with shrimp
7. Spanish mackerel with ginger pickled shallots
8. Gruyere consomme with brioche, bone marrow, candied lemon zest
9. A soft-boiled egg with caviar and chips
10. Ricotta cavatelli with fried beef tongue and horseradish
11. Trout with rutabaga mayo, panko, radishes
12. Shaved frozen foie gras with pine nut brittle and lychee
13. Duck with pomegranate glaze, braised pumpernickel, spicy greens
14. Some kind of crazy Asian citrus fruit sorbet with Earl Grey panna cotta
15. Passionfruit meringue, coconut custard, Thai basil

I couldn't even begin to finish all that food.

I liked the ambiance, too: very chill and casual, but with high-class food, and I got to watch the chefs work, which I really like.

Would I ever go back? Probably not, but not because I didn't enjoy myself--only because it took me four years to get a seat there. But you should definitely try for a reservation. The $125 is totally worth it.

Sometimes you just gotta take the bull by the horns

Not much to report this week--I had a friend from work over for dinner Monday night. We had alligator gumbo, a raw winter greens salad, and a nice bottle of wine. Work has been slow, as it historically is in January. I'm worried about money, and especially worried that we're going to owe a big pile of money to the IRS this year, as restaurant paychecks are miniscule (we live on tips, you know) and federal withholding only comes out of the $2 an hour I officially earn, not out of the tips. And yes, the credit card tips get reported.

I'm taking my one day off this week and going into New York for the day to see some friends. It's been too long, my day off never coordinates with my hubby's days off, and so rather than wait any longer, I'm just going there by myself. It's way easier that way, even if it does mean I'll be driving home in the middle of the night after a very long day of socializing.

Oh, and you'll be glad to know my mashed thumb has finally stopped hurting, though it's still navy blue and fairly garish.

Ow!

The other night at work, I closed a large heavy door on my thumb.

Not intentionally, of course--it banged shut, on my thumb, before I could move my hand completely out of the way. But now my right thumb is swollen, exceptionally painful, and my thumbnail is a particularly vivid shade of navy blue.

So, it may be a while before I can use that hand fully again. I'm afraid I'll have a completely disfigured fingernail for a while. Fortunately, the pain is tamping down to a dull roar. When it first happened, it hurt so much I actually got queasy. (And then still had to work a regular shift, opening wine bottles and carrying hot plates and writing things down. I popped six ibuprofen in as many hours.) Today I can at least type without wanting to cry. So hopefully I'll be able to cook and clean and button my pants properly and all those things you sort of need working thumbs for.

In other news, I've invited a couple gals I work with over for dinner Monday night--it'll be my first attempt at entertaining in the new place.

A holiday retrospective

It was a good Christmas this year. No one got sick, no one went into premature labor, and we had a good long visit with my stepson. It was the first time we'd had an actual Christmas with him, by ourselves--I think all his previous Christmases were spent at my in-laws' in Missouri.

To cut down on the travel this year, we spent a week at home in Providence, and another week with my family in Virginia. I spent the entire week in Providence working, as did my husband, so my stepson didn't do much besides play video games all day. DH took him to see a play one night, and they both enjoyed that. We opened presents on Christmas Eve, I worked that night, and the next morning we drove to Virginia.

Highlights from the week:

1. Shooting lessons. My dad, who has enough weaponry and gun knowledge to fend off the zombie apocalypse, got us all out on a skeet range for a first gun lesson. Me, DH, and Stepson. Yes, folks, I shot a gun. For the first time in my life. And I got the second skeet. My stepson was a little more leery of the whole thing, but he loved the BB gun in the backyard. We may get him a BB gun for Christmas next year.

2. The family, natch. My sister is pregnant, my two nieces met each other for the first time, and we spent several days with the extended family in the mountains. Unfortunately, my grandmother has been in poor health for some months; I'm afraid this may very well have been her last Christmas with us. There were no shenanigans from her this year--no racial epithets, no funny stories, no getting drunk on hooch.

3. After much debate, we decided our future family compound will be located in Austin, TX. We needed some place near a tech center and gaming center both (so my husband and brother-in-law can find jobs), but also a place where land is cheap and it's warm. We debated the upper Rockies (Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado) simply because it's so beautiful, but ultimately those would have been too cold. There's too much traffic around Atlanta and DC, I'm not a huge fan of Raleigh/Durham, and it's not New Orleans is either a tech center or a gaming center. Austin was the only place that fit the bill. So we'll summer in the upper Rockies instead.

Now, after spending the week eating and drinking, playing cards with my uncles and giggling with my baby nieces, I'm ready for a day or two of reading and relaxing before going back into my crazy work schedule on Tuesday. I've eaten more junk food this week than I usually eat in a year, and I need a couple of big salads to make up for it.