Oh, did I say we were having a mild winter so far? Because it turned so unbelievably cold today, it shocked us back into reality. Sun, then hail, then clouds, then sun, then flurries, then sun. What a strange day. Lucky 13.

It’s mid-January already. Mid January!! And I’m only now feeling like I’m waking up from some kind of post-holiday slumber. I entered the New Year lethargic, out of sorts and without any goals for the year. I’ve never been very good at making a list of goals for the new year (unlike my mother who never wavers on this!), at least not on paper, but then again, I am not one to make lists at all. Is it strange that I’ve never wanted or needed any sort of organization tool, calendar, or datebook? That I never write anything down? It’s all stays in my head and for the most part that’s worked…at least until I start becoming forgetful in my old age.
 
But today, I feel a little more alive. I started a design project for a dance company, and many more projects for work are being lined up. Schedules so far are vague and they could very well fall unfavorably (meaning all at once) or things can fall through again like they did in the Fall, and while it is admittedly giving me anxiety, it is making me feel something again. For the first time since our holiday rush ended and the hard month of December passed, I am feeling a glimmer and a sense that this will be a good year, whereas I have felt nothing before.
 
Maybe I am ready to mentally make note of some goals:
 
1. Buy less. I don’t spend gobs of money on stuff in general, but I can still do better on buying stuff we don’t really need.
2. Play with my new Polaroid camera (first test shot above).
3. Eat less meat and dairy. I’m not saying I’m going back to being a vegan, or even making the decision to eliminate meat and dairy from my diet completely, but I’m choosing to not eat it these days. It won’t be hard. I rarely crave cheese, and I almost downright dislike the taste of butter right now.
4. Make sure to set aside time to get those side projects done, which always gets pushed to the back when there is a lack of time…but when is there ever enough time?
 
Btw, today is lucky Friday the 13, which I always believe to be a lucky day. I booked a trip for Winter Break next month. We’re going to LA!

Maybe it’s the mid-winter blues (though I have to say, we are having such a mild winter in New York after the past few insanely snowy and frigid winters, that I feel like I have no right to complain – temps near 60 again today!), but I’ve been daydreaming a lot about traveling. It’s so hard you know, with the business, school schedules, my unpredictable freelance schedule blah blah that the excuses loom large and become big hurdles that make it seem impossible outside of our yearly August trips to the Northwest. So instead, I start planning imaginary trips, browse hotels, search plane tickets in the hopes that something will click or that I’ll book something completely spontaneous.

What trips do you have planned this year? We have 2 big things happening in 2012: a big birthday for a certain member of our household and a big anniversary. I had fantasies of going to Hawaii to celebrate these 2 events as it’s been 10 years since we were last there and Mia is DYING to go because she has all these plans to live there when she’s a grown up, but airline tickets aren’t as cheap as they used to be (Mark and I once found $200 roundtrip tickets to Honolulu from NYC non-stop! Craziness) and now there are 4 airplane tickets to pay for. Traveling as a family has gotten very expensive. There was also talk of going to Disney World for Winter Break, but it was decided that it’s not affordable right now.
 
So there is the road trip option which worked fantastic for us last year when we went to the Outer Banks in May. I’d like to plan something for Spring Break which comes early this year in the beginning of April if my work schedule cooperates. The weather will still be cool unless we go south again, but I need a change of scenery. I want to look at something different, a different skyline, different buildings, different trees, walk different streets. Go somewhere unfamiliar. See something I’ve never seen before. Something to break out of our daily routine that for the most part is comforting, but sometimes can be stifling.

This is our last bundle of goodies from my friend Tami who owns and designs clothes through her company Ismodern. We’ve been very lucky to have Tami give the girls a set of clothes from each season since I met her back in 2005. It’s always a burst of color when we open the boxes and pull out each item of clothing…and thank god. If it were up to me, the girls would only wear solids and grays because that’s what I gravitate towards without even thinking, so Tami always provides a welcome punch of color and pattern to their wardrobe. Aside from the generous packages every season, I’ve been happy to have supported her business by purchasing clothes, gifts and referring anyone who asks where the girls get their clothes (Claudine’s fuzzy white poncho from the New Year’s Day post is from Tami and I just had to buy one for Mia because it is so very cozy).
 
But…this is Tami’s last collection and our last package as she is shutting down Ismodern as soon as she clears her inventory (so if you want to get shopping, now is the time). Sadly, the children’s clothing industry isn’t what it used to be like it was back in the mid-2000s, and the economy isn’t what it used to be either. We’ll miss these clothes when the girls outgrow them, but I’m excited to see what Tami does next!

For those who don’t know, Zoë is the restaurant here in New York where I really got my start working with pastry, first as an assistant and later as the pastry chef.  Seems like a million years ago especially since it has been closed for two years, but it’s where many of my fellow cooks and chefs got their start too, and some of my friends have started their own businesses, notably Dynamo Donuts and Sotto LA out in California. 
 
The first hour or two of each work day at Zoë was spent making these breadsticks (also called grissini in Italian), which were served as bar snacks.  It was a real chore, but it was also a nice way to start a work day, getting into a rhythm and gearing up for a potentially long night.  For some reason, I felt like making these on this year’s New Years Eve, as a snack, and as an activity for the kids.  It is easiest to roll and cut the breadsticks using a pasta machine (cutting them with the fettuccine attachment), and my kids sure love using the pasta machine (a rare occurrence).  I have adapted the recipe slightly, reducing the quantity down from the 20 pounds of flour we used to make, and changing the seasoning a bit.  We used to mix in all sorts of chopped fresh herbs to the dough, so if you want to do that just add about 1/4 cup of any kind of chopped fresh herbs you have.  They are crispy, savory, cheesy, and fun, especially if you can get them really long like I can – although it does take some practice.

Breadsticks (makes about 40-50 pieces, approximately)

2/3 cup warm water

1 package active dry yeast (2-1/4 teaspoons)

A few shakes of tabasco sauce

2-1/3 cups all purpose flour

6 Tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

1-1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon ground thyme

1/4 teaspoon ground sage

Olive oil and kosher salt for brushing and sprinkling before baking

In the bowl of an electric mixer, dissolve the yeast in the warm water and let it sit for a few minutes.  Stir in the tabasco, then mix in the remaining ingredients.  Mix for several minutes on low speed using the dough hook.  The dough will be fairly stiff, but smooth.  Transfer to a bowl, cover, and let it rise for a few hours, or preferably overnight.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Set up your pasta machine with the fettuccine attachment.  Divide the dough into four pieces.  Flatten one of the pieces and lightly flour both sides.  Run through the pasta machine set to the widest setting.  Fold the rolled dough in thirds, turn 90 degrees and run through the machine again.  The goal is to have a nice rectangle shape so that the breadsticks will be fairly uniform in length.  Flour the dough lightly again, then run through the fettuccine attachment of your pasta machine, catching them as they come through the other side.  Separate them and lay onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving at least 1/2-inch between each one.  Repeat the rolling and cutting process with the remaining dough.  You will need two or three baking sheets to bake all of them.  (If you don’t have a pasta machine, the dough can be rolled and cut by hand, but that will be more difficult as the dough is fairly stiff).

When all the breadsticks have been rolled and cut, lightly brush them with olive oil, and sprinkle with a small amount of kosher salt. 
 

 
Bake in the preheated oven for about 10-15 minutes, or until just starting to darken slightly.  They are better when overcooked rather than undercooked, as undercooked breadsticks will be doughy instead of crispy.  Remove from the oven and let cool completely.  Use immediately, or they will stay fresh for several days.

Another year…and 2012 will be our 5th year in business. What was that about businesses having a better statistic of surviving every year that it stays in business? Let’s hope so. I was reading the year end tally of businesses that have closed around our neighborhood, mostly restaurants which I guess is not surprising, and it was a depressingly long list. The majority of business owners stated that they simply couldn’t afford the rent increase. Any way you spin it, it’s sad to think about people losing something they worked hard to build. Likewise, a few more of my friends – not brick and mortar stores – decided to close up their businesses last year as well. Makes you think about your own current affairs and why we decide to push on.

 
Maybe you’ve noticed (or maybe you haven’t since we did it quietly), but we increased the prices of our products when we restocked after the holidays. It’s a modest 50 cent increase on most packages and the first price increase since we started in 2008. After 4 years we decided it was time (any maybe overdue). The price of ingredients, particularly butter, have increased each year, yet we just absorbed it rather than passing it on to our customers. Our kitchen rent last year has impacted our numbers as well in a big way. When I really look at the books, it’s a bit disheartening to see how much we actually get to keep as small business owners, after our expenses are paid off. Food businesses have it the worst, I think, and it just seems to get tougher. It makes me think that our goal of having the business support us in full is harder to achieve than I thought unless we make some big moves. It makes it that much hard to quit designing, not when the earning potential and the lack of any real expenses make it so much more profitable. That reality is settling in, but our method of operation has always been slow and steady and while it isn’t really taking us anywhere extraordinary, we are still here…and profitable.

2 other bits of news: There’s a new store in South Williamsburg at 110 Broadway called Gourmet Guild that is carrying our products. The store focuses on local and regional products and has a different arrangement with their vendors than normal wholesale. As a result, we are able to sell some products in the store that aren’t available in other retail outlets such as our Earl Grey Sandwich Cookies (fresh delivery made today!), our calendars, prints and tea towels. We may also be bringing in the Classic Sampler Gift Boxes which many people have asked about in stores, so go check it out and support our local businesses and purveyors.
 
Also for this weekend, Mark is joining a bunch of other local small businesses in an Artisan Market hosted by Williams Sonoma Columbus Circle from 12-4 this Saturday, January 7th (yeah yeah, I realize the irony in posting this right in the same post about supporting the small guy. SIGH)

20 degree temperature drop today. But on New Years Eve and New Year’s Day it was warm and 50 and we decided to go to Coney Island. Are these people really swimming in the ocean? Yes! The Polar Bear Club does a New Year’s Day swim every year and since it wasn’t freezing outside, we decided to come watch.
 

You know how certain plans work out better in your mind than in real life? I’m glad we went. It was good to see the ocean, to see the horizon and see the sunlight sparkle on the water. It just so happens that there was a party going on around us so it wasn’t exactly peaceful as I imagined it, but it was festive!
 
I’ve done brief year end reviews in the past, mostly in pictures, but I think I’ll skip that this year. I want to look ahead. 2011 was definitely less drama filled than 2010. Let’s keep that up.

I thought I would have to work right on December 26th on a new project, but in fact I didn’t end up working the entire week. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t do much at all.
 
I went to sleep very late almost every night (3am!) but slept in till 9 or 10pm. The girls did not wake me up.
 

The Wall Street Journal picked up a story about our calendars online and in print over the weekend and I sold a bunch of calendars.
 
I finally bit the bullet and bought a new and bigger dining room table and chairs that I’ve been wanting to buy for the past 3 years. Sure, the table ended up being backordered, but after 3 years, what’s another 5 weeks?
 
I went and bought our plane tickets to our annual August Seattle trip because I found a good deal. I bought trip insurance for the first time because geez, that is more than half a year away.
 
TOY PURGE!
 
The weather stayed mild and sunny and it was a pleasure to walk around Central Park and climb big rocks and watch ice skaters at Wollman Rink (even though it’s now TRUMP Wollman Rink – when did this happen, have I been living under a rock) and watch tourists snap all sorts of pictures of themselves in front of…trees.
 
Despite swearing we’ll never go to midtown during the month of December if we can avoid it, we found ourselves doing just that very thing because we forget that it’s special kind of hell reserved only for the holidays, but this year, not only do we survive the crowds and walking against a wall of people coming at you down Fifth avenue, it’s bearable because of the nice weather.
 
Continuing on with the “why are we doing this” line of holiday activities, we ducked into Trump Towers (what) for a little ice cream break in the cafe. Sure, Claudine had a mini tantrum when she realized that what she really wanted was lime sorbet and not coconut (grrr), but other than that, it was almost pleasant to sit there, stare at the Christmas tree and listen to holiday music even though I was asking myself “why are we here” pretty much the whole time.
 
The tree at Rockefeller Center, which in past years has always been a bit of a let down when we go see it in person, looked more enchanting this year. Maybe because as we were walking away towards the Subway Station the tree started *twinkling*.
 
By the way, doesn’t Claudine look fancy in her shiny new silver coat? She looks like a little lady.
 
Happy new year.