The case for Meredith and McDreamy

It amazes me how many people hate the Meredith-McDreamy element of Grey's Anatomy. "Meredith is whiny and selfish. I wish she'd die."

Then why do those Meredith Grey haters continue to watch a show where they can't stand the narrator and main character?

I realize that I've always taken the side of the underdog/more-guilty-party. That's probably why I would've been a crappy lawyer. When I had to choose my moot court assignment, I chose to defend the guy who wanted to break into an apartment building to steal artwork off the walls and in doing so, punched a woman in the elevator to keep her quiet. I was the only person in my class to choose his side.

Back on track, some say, "Meredith and McDreamy are so selfish and mean. I mean, he's married!" I love the way people love to malign their relationship. Hello, Derek is in Seattle because he walked in on his wife doing the nasty with his best friend (a.k.a. McSteamy). If I had to compare the badness of Meredith and Derek together in the season two finale with Addison and McSteamy, I'd say Addison's affair was worse. First, she said it didn't mean anything, and second, she ruined a best friendship in addition to her own marriage. At least Meredith and Derek love each other.

If we want to argue about them being selfish and self-centered, let's look at several of the other characters on the show.

Some might say, "Oh, Izzie is so nice and bubbly. She cares about her patients!" While watching season one in its entirety in CA (my host had never seen Grey's before, my cousin and I saw Izzie's destructive tendency to become inappropriately attached to patients from the first couple episodes. To satisfy her need to be a "good person," Izzie has flaunted rules (i.e. doing a transfusion on the braindead guy in the illegal bike race episode and let's not forget stealing a heart from UNOS, which indirectly resulted in Burke being shot and possibly ruining the rest of his surgical career). Even Addison tried to teach Izzie a lesson about becoming too attached to patients and clearly, she chose not to learn the lesson because the heart transplant disaster took place at the end of the season.

After everything Izzie did last season, I'll be pretty angry if they let her back into the surgical residency program. It's really not like Denny was dying and needed the heart. She committed fraud to get him the heart from UNOS! Hey everybody! Izzie stole an organ because she went insane (remember the tearful scene where she coerces Denny to agree to her harebrained scheme? "WHAT ABOUT ME? WHAT ABOUT ME WHEN YOU GO INTO THE LIGHT? ::SOB:: SO PLEASE DO THIS FOR ME!") Yeah, talk to me about selfish and irresponsible now.

Let's also not forget her involvement in the awful Meredith-George incident.

And here comes probably the most "me first" person in the whole bunch: Cristina. In the beginning of her relationship with Burke, she used the personal leverage to get in on the record-breaking tumor surgery. Incidents like that are why they have rules against attendings dating interns. At least Meredith never did that.

In the end, it seems as though everyone has their moments of selfishness (some more than others). We're human; we're not perfect. And as TV characters, the flaws are exaggerated for our viewing pleasure. Deal with it. I could probably rant some more about how people need to see that Meredith and McDreamy are not the bad guys of the show, but people believe what they want to believe (me, for example, writing an essay-length blog post about a TV show), and it's not worth raising my blood pressure.

Stella

While staying in San Jose, I got to play with my hosts' dachshunds, Frankie and Stella (from the same litter). Unfortunately, Stella was sick while I was visiting and we made a few visits to the vet and a veterinary specialist. She took a turn for the worse on Sunday night just before I left for the airport, with fluid having built up in her lungs.

Last night, Stella passed away at the animal clinic due to respiratory distress and her undiagnosed GI disease that caused the fluid buildup. She was only six years old.

I didn't see Stella at her best, so her brother Frankie did most of the attention hogging. He'd whine when he wasn't in a human's company and enjoyed belly rubs at all times. I hope he adjusts okay.

Wedding gowns galore

So the main reason my cousin and I are in San Jose is for the bridal shopping. She's looking for a dress and I'm bossier than she is. It was very much like the episode of Sex and the City where Charlotte's shopping at Vera Wang with her wedding gown stylist Anthony.

We were at a boutique where the customer service was subpar and the consultant kept bringing dresses that didn't meet my cousin's qualifications. I butted in and said, "So this is the last one before lunch?" At another place, I pointed out gowns for the consultant to pull out of stock for my cousin. I think I'd like to be a wedding gown stylist! I'm bossy and I have excellent taste!

Finally, we made a second visit to this boutique and tried on a dress we passed over yesterday because the train was supposed to be very long. When she came out, it was gorgeous and the dress on the top of her list faded away to the point where it seemed "blah" when she tried it on again. I was very happy when she decided that it was "the one."

Where am I?

Greetings from California!

I'm visiting my cousin for the next few days, so posts will be a bit scarce until I get back to NY.

Cats in trees

We got a new cat tree for Morty and Eli. Since rearranging the furniture in the bedroom, the kitties no longer have a perch to watch rush hour traffic. To spare them the torment of having to stand on their hindpaws to look out the window, we moved the cat tree we had by the backyard window to the bedroom. It worked out quite well. However, Eli would stand by the backyard window and meow pitifully about how he couldn't look out the window in comfort as well.

Of course, the only solution was to buy another cat tree, which we did yesterday after brunch at Blue Water Grill. We put the old cat tree in its old position and the new one went by the front window, where Morty promptly monopolized it for his personal lounging (see picture above).

Eventually, with some force from Josh, Eli was shown that he was also allowed in the new cat tree. How much of him actually winds up in the cat tree depends on how much Morty decides to spread out though. You can see how Eli oozes over the side of the bed. I jokingly call the bed a roasting pan because Eli's nickname is Wheatloaf (something to do with him being Eli-Weli and feeling like a little meatloaf when you hold him). You know, there's a Wheatloaf in the pan. Whatever. They're spoiled rotten.

When life gives you basil, make pesto

I went to the farmer's market in Union Square on Saturday (after buying a pair of boots at DSW!). It's a shame that I didn't take advantage of this market as much as I should have when I lived in Manhattan, but no use crying over spilled milk. I bought this HUGE bunch of basil for $2. You can see my hand holding it in the picture above. It's more like a bouquet rather than a bunch. So I used a bit of the basil in chicken stew and then made pesto today.

I also made cookies this afternoon using Alton Brown's recipe for puffy chocolate chip cookies. I normally use the chewy version, but had to use up my cake flour. The puffy ones are good fresh from the oven, but a few hours later, they weren't as cakey anymore. I'll stick to the chewy ones from now on.

Pancetta and Parmesan Torte

For dinner tonight, I made Giada de Laurentiis' pancetta and parmesan torte. It was remarkably fast and easy to make, and makes for a dramatic presentation. And pancetta baking with parmesan cheese? I cannot describe just how mouthwatering the aroma coming from the oven was.

The only problem with the recipe is that it didn't call for you to blind bake the crust (the refrigerated pre-made kind) before filling it. I found that the bottom crust was a little too soft after baking for my taste, although it was not uncooked. I was worried about this when the recipe didn't call for the crust to be blind baked, and it turns out that one of the recipe reviewers (I should've read more carefully) had this problem and said that the crust should be baked for 10-15 minutes to keep it crispy all over. I will be doing this next time.

Apart from the crust, the torte was absolutely delicious. It's super fast and simple to make. The pancetta is the only thing you have to cook. After that, it's just chopping a little parsley and mixing up the milk, cream, and eggs with the pancetta, cheese, and parsley.

I highly recommend anyone to try making this dish! It'd be great with a salad on the side.

Really?

how jedi are you? :: by lawrie malen

4 hours or 4 months

I finally finished my airy scarf! True, I started it over four months ago, and the pattern said that it was a four-hour project, but it's done!

Fashion Show

Yesterday, my mom invited me to go to a fashion show with her. She does sample and pattern making on a freelance basis to designers. Last season, she was working at Cynthia Steffe and was surprised to find out that she was allowed to go to the fashion show. Unfortunately, she didn't know that she could take me with her, so I said I really wanted to go next season.

When I got into the tent at Bryant Park, it was hard not to gawk and try to recognize famous people. At first, we were standing at the side, behind all the chairs because we were important enough to warrant seats, but the organizers let us fill in seats later. It turns out that there was someone famous at the show and the guy next to me guessed that it was Emilie de Ravin of Lost. Since I don't watch Lost, I couldn't confirm, but Amber saw my pictures and she says it's "Annoying Claire from Lost.

The fashion show was great and lasted only 10 minutes. The music was boomingly loud, making the entire room vibrate. It was just like on TV! I'm such a dork.

Apple Cake Tatin, Part Deux

Check out the caramelization on that baby!

I made apple cake tatin again earlier this week on Tuesday. It's the same recipe I made this past weekend for Jennie and Julie's dinner. I planned to make it to celebrate Josh's first day as a teacher, but then decided to double the recipe and bring one to work. I think I need to turn the cake out sooner than after 15 minutes of cooling because the second cake had more stickage than the first.

I picked the prettier cake (the first one out of the pan) to go to the office. The cake disappeared very quickly. You can see the cake to the right, packed up in its foil lined box. I skipped the powdered sugar this time around. Anyways, hours after the cake was gone, one of the crazy people I work with came up to my desk and said, "I understand that I missed some of your baked goods this morning." I gave her this blank look because I didn't see the point in her telling me this. I don't bring in several cakes to feed the entire company. It's first come, first serve. You snooze, you lose. You get the point. I told her I'd brought in an apple cake and she kept making sad faces at me, like maybe I'd hidden a slice in my desk drawer. I didn't offer anything else for conversation, so she went away eventually.

Seriously, if you want my cake that badly, pay me to bake you one, and I'll do it. Maybe I sound mean, but this woman comes back for multiple servings, like handfuls of cookies, and giggles while pretending to sneak off. And then she goes on about how she's very careful about what she eats. The cake and cookies are for everyone, and I don't bake in such huge quantities that everyone can double-fist cookies. Other people miss out on the cookies completely because of this hogging. Equal cookies for all! Oh look. Now I'm a cookie communist.

Get busy

It seems as though I have inadvertently planned a busy Labor Day weekend.

On Friday, Josh was finally hired at an excellent high school here in Brooklyn. He's a Teaching Fellow, and his job searching experience has been less than inspiring. For all of NYCTF's idealistic goals and messages of "NYC needs teachers!", it seems as though many fellows have had problems finding jobs. The common theme of most interviews (if you get one), is to have a nice interview with a principal, and be told that a decision will be made in the next few days. And then you never hear from him/her again. Josh would sometimes call to follow up, and would get dodged, or some bullcrap story (i.e. "I really like you, and I want you to call me tomorrow, because I should have an answer then.") that left him with hope for the position. I figured that the principals didn't want to have to tell candidates they were rejected.

In Josh's case, he didn't have a job by August 31st, so he was placed in the teacher reserve, meaning that he was placed in a school as a permanent substitute. If the need for a sub arose, he would have to step in, no matter what subject. Luckily, he was called for an interview while twiddling his thumbs on the first staff day this past Thursday (all the "real" teachers were setting up their classrooms). By the end of Friday, Josh was employed and didn't have to stay at the school with roaches the size of half a hotdog.

On Friday night, we went to see the Amazing Jonathan at a Comedy Central taping. Unfortunately, we had to wait a really long time. Luckily, we just made the cutoff for getting into the first taping. One of my coworkers also went, but he/she chose the 8:30 show. Being that we got out at 9:30 from our 6:30 taping, I doubt he/she had an enjoyable experience. I'm sure I'll hear the complaints on Tuesday.

When Saturday morning rolled around, I went to Bliss Soho for my facial, courtesy of my most wonderful cousin, Jessica. The locker room was a bit cramped (20 lockers shoved into a space the size of two coffee tables), and clients arrived in clumps because of how appointments are scheduled. Getting naked in front of strangers is bad enough, but being in such close quarters while doing so is a lot more awkward. After that, my experience at Bliss was lovely and if I had income to throw around on regular treatments, I would.... but I don't.

After Bliss, I had to purchase another bottle of real vanilla extract. I can't believe how fast I went through the last bottle. I blame it on all the baking I've done for work. $20 is a lot of money to spend on a bottle of vanilla, but it makes a real difference over the $5 imitation kind you find on your supermarket shelf. I can't go back to the fake vanilla. Josh thinks I should buy the 32 oz. bottle. From there, it was on to the Japanese market to buy curry mix (it's good comfort food when the weather is cool, as it has been of late) and then to Broadway Panhandler to pick up cake boxes. Broadway Panhandler was supposed to move sometime this summer, but it turns out they won't be in their new location until September.

I went to lunch at Les Halles Downtown because I missed their fries so much, and enjoyed the rest of Darcy & Elizabeth while dining. I went home because I was carrying too many bags, and after a break, went out to Atlantic Terminal to buy a pie dish from Target (no one returns my pie dishes) and Mario Kart DS. Whew! Quite a lot done on a day when the remains of a tropical storm was blasting through the area.

Today, I prepared for the mini potluck dinner being held at Jennie and Julie's place. I say mini potluck because I'm the only person bringing something. I decided to try a new recipe: Ina Garten's Apple Cake Tatin. It's her spin on the classic French tarte tatin. Granny Smith apple slices go in the bottom of the pie dish, with caramel syrup is poured over them, and a vanilla cake batter on top of that. After cooling a bit, the cake is then turned out, like a pineapple upside-down cake. I dusted it with confectioner's sugar like the recipe said, but I think it looked nicer without the dusting (that's why there aren't any pictures of the entire cake). I was afraid that the caramel would make a hard layer, but it mixed in a bit with the cake batter and just flavored the top of the cake with caramel instead.

Jennie and Julie served up a roast chicken with green beans and mashed potatoes. Even though the gravy didn't work out, the meal was delicious. And dessert turned out to be lovely as well. The three of us were guinea pigs, and were pleasantly surprised that it wasn't too sweet, despite all that caramel I poured over those apples.