Things I'm excited about right now:

          

Downton Abbey Christmas Special - somebody get me a sexy farmer please. Just kidding, my city boy is pretty awesome, but I wouldn't say no to a few chickens... 

Quince - I know I'm late to this party, but they make seriously good pie!

Sunday Suppers - does that not look like the coooolest place to work? I'll be hosting my own friendly supper this Sunday, a Feastival if you will, to practice for Thanksgiving and because do you really ever need a good reason to be merry with friends? No, you do not. 

Also... the NJ Turnpike - Typically I am not a fan, but something about driving home for the holidays with Jeff and Taco and a car full of gifts for everyone makes me feel all warn and fuzzy. I am such a winter baby. Actually they all sound good right about now - trains, plains, automobiles, you name it!  

Not exciting, but worth mentioning:

One of my guitar strings snapped a little while ago and I'm embarrassed to say I've never replaced them (owned the thing for a few years) so someone tell me what to buy!! 

That's all for now :-)

CSAwesome!!!

Please forgive me - as I fully intend to gush and be annoyingly happy throughout this entire post. 

Some of you know already, but I joined a CSA. Stands for Community Supported (or shared) Agriculture. Basically - I now pay for all of my veggies for a whole season up front - straight to the farmer to help with upfront production costs. And when the food is all grown up I begin picking up weekly shares :-)

Well this past Tuesday was my first pick up!!!

An array of greens I've never seen/heard of, along with some bok choy and garlic scapes...

friendly looking radishes and little baby garlics!!

Even a little visitor! We had to let him go though. 

He's been released into the wild -aka - whatever green things are left in the pots on our balcony

Dinner consisted of sauteed bok choy with garlic scapes and oyster sauce in broth with won tons :-)

Can't wait to see what shows up next week!! 

An Adventure in the Adirondacks

This post is a long time coming (from Memorial Day Weekend) -
but I couldn't not acknowledge the coolest place I've ever camped!
As you can see, we started off great with the Brawny Paper Towel man as our driver :-)


We spent a cozy six hours crammed into the minivan watching the sun ebb in and out from behind the clouds.   As I'm sure you all remember, the forecast for Memorial Day weekend was not great, but we had our hopes up anyway. Eventually the clouds took over, and gave way to steady rainfall for the rest of the evening.

With or without the rain - Indian Lake is still a sight to behold. We grabbed a pontoon and hopped over to our little island where a warm fire and some pretty good bourbon awaited us.





Once we setup camp under the canopy of trees the rain really wasn't so bad.







Day One ended with a roaring fire and some spiked pine needle tea :-) Success.




Day Two:

We woke up (still bundled from the frigid temp the night before) to Sun!! While we couldn't really call it warm, the sunshine on our faces made everyone extremely happy. We split up into two groups - one for hiking and one for fishing - and took to the pontoon to explore surrounding islands for the afternoon.






When the sun began to set we corralled everyone back onto our own island.
Some continued to fish. All continued to drink into the night :-)




Day Three:

Fish! While it definitely wouldn't feed all twelve of us, we were still impressed with the catch!




Monday was warm and beautiful - everything you want on the last day of a trip.

Even though we spent the morning packing in a hurry to get back to the dock for checkout, we all basked in the warmth as much as we could. Being so bundled up all weekend didn't allow for any tanning, but on Monday we all burnt real fast.


The last shot I took was from the pontoon pulling away from our little island oasis.
All I can say is that I am already mentally packing for my next trip up this summer!

Oh! You Pretty Thing!

There she is, a thing of beauty. Here I find all of my dreams, hopes and aspirations all bundled up into one perfect little carriage house. Only they apparently also belong to someone else.

I read about Haven's Kitchen a few months ago and I immediately knew that it was something special. Yes, coffee shops are great, but so are boutiques, and so are kitchens and event spaces!! I've never been able to choose, and I never really even wanted to - and here is hard proof that I'm not nuts! Haven's Kitchen is just that - a haven for the food obsessed. Founder Alison Schneider offers relevant-yet-casual cooking classes, serves the scrumptious left overs at her coffee bar, sells the same specialty ingredients she uses in house, and hosts oodles of fantastic events on the side! Literally a one stop shop.

I stopped by last Friday for a little pick-me-up as work had been pulling me down a bit, but I couldn't help but grin from ear to ear as I took in all the sights and smells of the shop. I keep thinking that maybe, if I'm lucky, I can have this one day, too.

<3

Pizza for sale, and good music too!

The New Music Bake Sale is coming up next weekend and to support boyfriend's percussion quartet [ensemble, et al.] I'm making pizza. Not just any pizza. My mom's pizza. Actually, I should probably give my nonna credit, but my mom is the one that kicked it up a notch.

home made crust

whole plum tomatoes (preserved from last august)

caramelized onions

olives

capers

lots of extra virgin olive oil

and a sprinkling of pecorino romano cheese

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I love leisurely weekend meals with the family when my mom bakes bread and we snack on cheese and home cured olives. We spend hours on end in the kitchen just chatting and drinking wine and eventually the antipasti bowl needs a refill. 

In the cold winter months she's been making a lot of soups. This lentil soup below is one of my more delicious memories of the recent past. And of course the pizza with fennel and goat cheese wasn't bad either!

Anyway, I'll be baking away next week preparing for the bake sale - it's at Roulette in Brooklyn. Come support local musicians!!! And eat tasty baked goods!!

After A Long Weekend

Man I'm tired.

The kind of tired that feels like comfy blanket, and you're so drained because you spent every last drop of energy having a reeeeealy good time.
And it's good :-)

Boyfriend and I, along with a motley crew of friends, drove up to Mattapoisett, MA (an hour outside of Boston) last weekend. Our good friend Mandy grew up surrounded by trees and llamas and the beach!

  

After arriving late Friday night, we all went quickly to bed so we'd be ready for Nashoba Valley on Saturday morning. Once we were set with our lift tickets and activity of choice, we hit the slopes - bunny hill first. 

Saturday night we spend back at Mandy's house for a home cooked meal where we all played a part. Mandy made the pasta while people took turns managing the playlist, a few others set the table, and Matt and I prepared the salad. Oh yeah, and someone was also in charge of keeping the wine glasses full. 

I couldn't help but notice all of the lovely trinkets in Mandy's kitchen. It really was a lovely home!

Sunday morning we woke to a blizzard!!! The snow was coming down hard and we definitely procrastinated a bit after breakfast but it didn't stop us from getting to Boston for the afternoon. We had a leisurely lunch on Newbury Street and then we spent some time at Trident Books. (We had hoped to explore a bit more but it really was just too cold to go very far) Eventually our exhaustion from skiing set in so we all needed an extra boost of caffeine. I took mine in the form of a pot of tea. Russian Caravan black tea. 

We did eventually take the T over to Faneuil Hall but it was closed for the evening. 

Still, it looked awfully pretty in the snow. 

Monday meant the impending drive back to New York, but before we packed our bags we took a stroll through Mandy's backyard to enjoy the landscape one last time. We ran around in the snow and marveled at how beautiful the beach was covered in ice. I'd say it was a very successful trip :-)

lucky in love

Valentines Day is shrouded in myth and legend from martyrs to Roman lore. It's all intriguing and definitely fun to read about, but for me the day is about family - in all forms. Everybody's got someone to love if they really think about it.

Have a lovely evening and please - Love the one you're with!!

Winter Wonderland

This Saturday I found myself waking up at a leisurely 9:30am to snow! Lovely pure white snow! On the ground! This just added to my excitement for the day - you see - I already had plans to trek up to the Bandshell at Central Park for Winter Jam: a man-made snow-shoeing hot-cocoa-filled extravaganza!!

Gore Mountain pumped in lots of snow on top of a nice foundation that mother nature laid down over night. If you were under the age of 10, or just really eager and willing to wait in a looooong line, you could rent show shoes, cross country skis, or even try your hand at quidditch. My favorite part had to be the doggy snow zone! Not only could you watch the array of adorable pups running around with their owners but you could adopt! On the spot!

Both Mayor's Alliance and North Shore had vans on site with a plethora of dogs and cats of all sizes. One particularly sweet pup named Bear caught our attention. He gave my friend Steve a big smooch :-)

Bear really was a sweet dog. We gave him some treats but eventually had to continue on our way. It's now two days later and I keep finding myself seeking out his adoption page. If I'm not careful (and against my better judgement) I might just take him!

wake up call

The more comfortable I get at this desk job the more worried I become.

I've always aimed to work within the realm of creativity, yet as I get older I find myself becoming more and more reserved. I carry with me many of the same goals but I've become scared to even approach some of them. What began as lofty aspirations have diminished into "projects" on an ever growing to-do list that I fear I'll never get to.

I have decided to stop this spiral before it's too late. Instead of sitting here worrying about what my place in life will be I will approach things from a new angle. I will unlearn the routine that began as comfort and became crutch. I will proactively seek out new opportunities for growth and have faith that I may find myself organically.

This process will certainly take time - but I'm hoping that a jump start in spirit will guide me to a place where I can feel good about myself and my contributions.

Weekend Recap

Happy Inauguration Day!!!! I especially enjoyed James Taylor's 20 seconds of limelight this morning :-)



I had a pretty awesome weekend - did a lot of cooking.

On Friday I tried out a recipe for General Tso's Chicken which my boyfriend devoured! I will definitely be adding a copy to my permanent recipe box. I found the recipe on yahoo last week but I tweaked it a bit so my adapted recipe is as follows:

Serves 4

1 cup      all-purpose flour
1/2 cup   panko bread crumb
1 tsp.      sea salt
1 tsp.      freshly ground black pepper
2 cups     milk
1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed and diced into 1" chunks
1 cup      water
1/3 cup   soy sauce
1/8 cup   apricot jam
1/8 cup    honey
3 tbsp.    hoisin sauce
1 tbsp.    chinese cooking vinegar
2 tbsp.    cornstarch
2 tsp.      vegetable oil, plus 1/2" in saute pan
4 garlic   cloves, finely grated
1 tbsp.    fresh ginger, finely grated
1/4 tsp.   red pepper flakes

1. Cover chicken pieces in shallow bowl with milk - set aside

2. Combine flour, bread crumb, salt and black pepper in shallow dish - set aside

3. Whisk water, soy sauce, jam, honey, hoisin sauce, vinegar, and cornstarch until well combined in a medium sized bowl - set aside

4. Heat 2 tsp. oil in a large saute pan over medium heat, add garlic, ginger, and pepper flakes. Cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Whisk in soy sauce mixture, bring to a boil then lower to simmer and cook until thickened, 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat and keep warm.

5. Meanwhile, heat 1/2" oil in large skillet over medium heat. Dredge milk-soaked chicken through flour mixture and pan fry in oil until browned and chicken pieces register 160 degrees on an instant read thermometer, about 5-7 minutes. (Turn once to fry both sides)

6. When chicken is cooked, return the sauce to a burner over medium heat and toss with the chicken to coat. Serve with steamed rice.
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Saturday night we had some friends over for food and drink so I cooked down some fruit that I had to make a nice bright simple syrup to go in our cocktails :-)

(a handful each of blueberries and pitted cherries, simmered with the juice of a lemon and 1 cup of sugar)

Surprisingly - Sunday morning I woke up early and eager to bake! I found a quick biscuit recipe on thechew.com c/o Michael Symon. I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing - snacking on biscuits, eggs, and other accoutrements . Here is a peak at how they turned out.

photos + fish

Day three after the Golden Globes and the photos just keep on coming. So far a collection of instagrams posted by the stars themselves have been my favorite. Get a couple of drinks in them and the celebs exhibit the same silly behavior as us normal. Keeping it real....ish.

For Dinner tonight I plan on trying to find Snakehead Fish.

This half land/half water based fish is actually a nuisance, wreaking havoc on important frog and bird species, and apparently the texture and taste closely resembles that of Swordfish, which is largely over fished and typically high in mercury. So while making myself a tasty meal I'll also be helping the environment.

Looking forward to hitting the grocery store after work... wish me luck!

Ramblings from a Receptionist

I started my morning by filtering through the usual news outlets.

I scan HuffPost headlines, read down the Yahoo homepage, and even take a stab at FT.com - all with GMA playing in the background. As a receptionist to a company that doesn't receive very many phone calls, I have ample time to surf around.

After lunch I switch channels to MSNBC and I start browsing the many blogs I frequent. All these people going on adventures, having fascinating discoveries and concocting mouthwatering new recipes to try!
How does one keep track of it all?!?!

Being sick of scribbling on post-it notes and jotting spur-of-the-moment ideas down on scrap paper to just get pushed into a pile and never seen again - I figure I might as well join the blogosphere and put my own two cents in for once.

So here I go. Ramblings from a Receptionist...