It's the end of the year as we know it

[gwyn]

One last post for 2009, and a hello from DC. I will not be sorry to see this year go. I don't have any hope that 2010 will be different, but here's hoping anyhow. Yesterday was a day trip up to NYC, which was lovely and fun although OMG cold, so cold, I thought I would die coming out of Penn Station. Picked up some Kusmi violet tea (that I can't wait to try, but there are no tea making supplies here) at Dean & Deluca, and some treats, and the bestest cheese I have ever tried. The bad part is that now I have to try to figure out how I can get more of that cheese when I'm home with no D&D and they don't mail order this one. I bonded with the cheese guy.

Went to Bull Run/Manassas the day before that, and it was so cold I felt like I was dying. The wind coming up off the valley was hideous, and the wind chill temp was about 12, they said, though it felt even less. We were the only idiots dumb enough to go traipsing around the field, but there were cannons to be photographed and houses to investigate, and at one point the wind was so bitter and we were so agonizingly cold we took shelter behind Stonewall Jackson. Keith thinks it will make for a very good story.

Today we're off to his office and then the Corcoran for a Sargent exhibit, if we can get there before they close early. Not sure we're doing anything for New Year's, but I'm feeling kind of crappy from vertigo, so I'm not sure there's much I want to do more than just sit here and eat my D&D bounty and watch Keen Eddie. We'll probably go the WWII memorial and Roosevelt island on the holiday since most of everything else will be closed. There was an icy sleet last night, but I hear it might warm up to a balmy 38 today.

OMG I want to read Yuletide stories! I notice that after the reveal, no one ever seems to post recs, though I don't understand that. I'm looking forward to reading and catching up though.

Comments

[varina8.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you are having a good trip. Have a happy new year!

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

I was! I just love visiting New York, even when it's this bitterly bone-crushingly cold, it makes everything else just so much better.

[kadymae.livejournal.com]

Ralph and I love the Corcoran.

What is the cheese called?

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

It's called Ossau Iraty, it's a French sheep's milk aged cheese. I think I might be able to order it elsewhere online, but will have to ask the cheese people at my local fromage counter if they might be able to pick it up. It's wonderful, has a slightly nutty undertone, a little salty like most ewe's milk cheeses, and slightly acidic quality on finish.

[klia.livejournal.com]

Hope you guys have a fun and relaxing NYE!

[belmanoir.livejournal.com]

happy new year! what kind of cheese is it? i can talk to the cheese guy at my store and see if he knows anything about it...

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

It's a French sheep's milk cheese called Ossau Iraty. I've never seen it before at the cheese counter at Metropolitan Market, which is where I have discovered most of the ones I love. I picked up another slice at the Washington DC D&D when I had the chance, and it looks like there may be some places I can order it online, but I would much rather get it in a store, I think.

[black-bird-777.livejournal.com]

Looking forward to a report about the Sargent show! Hope you have an easy trip home.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

You know, I have to say, it wasn't quite as exciting as I thought it might be, but it might just have been that I'd seen some of the best paintings in that show we saw in LA. There were definitely a lot of other things -- his time in Brittany, for instance, and some of the draftsman drawings of ships were stunning, but overall, it wasn't quite the experience I had hoped for. The reproduction quality on the book was disappointing to me, as well, so I didn't pick up the book like I often do. Wierdly, I enjoyed the regular gallery stuff at the Renwick, which focuses more on crafts, a lot more -- I totally didn't expect that at all. I fell in love again with a painter whom no one has ever heard of and who it's impossible get prints of. Sigh. This happens to me every time I go to galleries in other cities.