Santa Fe Overview

If you follow me on Instagram or have read any of my last few posts, you may know that I went to Santa Fe for the first time a few weeks ago. I'm pleased to announce that I'm in love with Santa Fe and the South West. Wide, open spaces, green hatch chiles and Georgia O'Keefe. The South West gets me. I also just could not get over all of the orange blue - aka one of my favorite color palettes to ever exist. Here's a little overview of our trip, including the most ridiculous travel arrangements I've ever made.

Day 1: Drive 2 hours to Harrisburg. Drive 1 1/2 hours to Baltimore. Fly to Albuquerque. Drive to Santa Fe. Dinner at Rudy's BBQ.

Day 2: Breakfast at Starbucks (sorry, not sorry). Grocery shopping. Hiking at Bandelier National Monument. Visit the Georgia O'Keefe Museum. Dinner at Tomasita's.

Day 3: Hike Mount Taylor. Delivery pizza from Rooftop Pizzeria.

Day 4: Breakfast at the Plaza Cafe. Hike Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks. Dinner at Blue Corn Brewery.

Day 5: Explored Santa Fe plaza. Dinner at Il Piatto.

This was my first big girl vacation without my parents. I went with my best friend from college and we had the absolute best time. We were lucky enough to stay at my aunt and uncle's condo, which made the trip shockingly and pleasantly affordable. Between the sun, girl time, food, drinks and of course one hell of a summit, I can back blissfully relaxed and dreaming of my next trip to Santa Fe. Hopefully I can go when they're roasting hatch chiles and when I can attempt to summit Baldy. I can't wait for my next big girl vacation. And to tell you more about some of our explorations and meals.

My New Life

Well, I finally did it. I bit the bullet and finally moved out of my parent's house. I'm now officially a New Yorker. This is my front door - isn't it cute! Yes, it was snowing the day I moved in. And four times since.

A Little Behind

Oh hey, hi. I climbed Mt Washington over the weekend. And, it was amaaaaaaaaazing. I want to tell you all about it and the best post-hike meal I've ever had. But, I'm a little behind. So, apologies for the delay and here's a pic from the summit.

Throwback Thursday - Labor Day Weekend

Please ignore my finger. Fire Island.

How about we go back to last weekend? Consider me the newest Long Island fan. My first trip was fantastic.

Days of sun and fun and sand. And my first game of volleyball. College friends and new friends and dogs. Star Wars and a Harry Potter marathon. And lots and lots of puzzles.

Mini golf and boat rides. Food and cookies. A car ride in the rain and pizza. Dogs and frisbee and wiffle ball. Collecting muscles and walks on the beach. Playing in the waves and chicken. Surprisingly few games of mafia and some GRE math prep.

Let's go back. I'm already looking forward to next year. I'm so reluctant to admit this trip is over that I haven't unpacked yet. Which I probably need to do seeing as I'm doing a complete 360 and leaving for New Hampshire tomorrow. I'm thinking that bathing suit isn't going to be very useful.

Labor Day

Happy Labor Day - from Long Island

Love & Links - August 30

How is it actually possible that August is over already? I literally cannot believe it. Literally. Also, I'm late with this one - because some weeks hit you on the head. Today, I'm on Long Island celebrating the last days of summer and an almost vacation from work. But, this is what I've loved from the web this week.



Last weekend I hosted a Tacos.Tacos.Tacos. party - or a taco bar and game night. I'm already planning my next one with these tacos. But above tacos, I want to make these tostadas.

I love these raspberry scones. So cute.

This ribs, but wings.

Frozen salted smores sandwiches, you're kidding me.

These shrimp rolls - herb brown butter mayo, yes please.

A new chocolate chip cookie recipe? Always.

It's been a while since I've made some donuts.

These pretty, pretty tarts. I might just have to try.

Throwback Thursday: Double Blueberry Muffins

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Blueberries haven't always been my favorite. I used to leave the sad little tin of sad little blueberries out of the blueberry muffin box mix. They freaked me out. Apparently at one point in time I loved them. And, I'm slowly but surely on my way back. I eat them raw, in oatmeal, folded into pancakes, added to lemony cheesecake cupcakes, as hand pies and my most favorite bumpy blueberry pie.

But, there's one recipe that will always be my first blueberry love. These double blueberry muffins are ah-may-zing. The muffin itself is dense and light all at the same time because of a perfect use of buttermilk. They're moist but not heavy. And, there's the perfect amount of blueberries. Double blueberries.

First, you fold in a few handfuls of fresh berries because duh. And, then, the secret - a dollop of blueberry preserves are nestled on top of the batter and topped with a little batter hat.

My real favorite part though comes at the end. Pour melted butter over top of the baked muffins and sprinkle with citrus zest that has been rubbed in sugar. The first time I used lemon, which is classic and delicious. But, this past time I used orange zest that had a very pleasant, bright zing.

Done. Recipe available here.

Connecticut

This one time I went to West Hartford, Connecticut a million years ago (ok, a month and a half) and I didn't tell you anything about it! AND I did lots of wonderful food things. Truth be told, I had to update the software on my computer to be able to download photos and it took me a long time to be able to figure it out. Anyways, a few years ago my best friend (H) from middle school and her family moved all the (3 hours) away to Connecticut. Every summer I go out to visit them, and it's always wonderful.

Here we go - this was my long weekend in West Hartford.

I took a lovely Amtrak ride out to West Hartford. It was stressful. I miss timed my trek to Penn Station and near missed the train. I was running off the subway and through the station. And then the track number wasn't listed when I got there. I was in full panic mode. But, I looked up the number was listed a line basically formed around me. I found a nice window seat and got to watch the sun set as I ate my dinner and watched 100 episodes of How I Met Your Mother.

The next morning we went and worked out - so much fun! I love getting some exercise in. Then, H and I hit Dunkin' Donuts for iced coffee and a free donut (it was National Donut Day). Then we began our drive to the Book Barn in Niantic. The Book Barn is my new favorite book store. It was huuuuge. It actually has four locations (one outside and three store fronts). There's cats and books everywhere. Better yet, they have multiple copies of almost everything and they're super cheap ($1 and up).

We continued along the Connecticut coast to get my first ever Lobster Roll from Skippers Seafood in Niantic. Let me just tell you about lobster roll. I'm now obsessed. It was life changing. It's so simple, and I fully plan on making my own ASAP. It was a butter toasted roll, and fresh lobster topped with more melted butter. It came with a side of a nice light coleslaw and some chips. And we just had to get curly fries. Because curly fries, duh.

For dinner, we meandered to town for a night of tacos and drinks at BarTaco. I started with a Port Chester Reviver while we waited for a table outside. They were using the coolest machine to squeeze citrus and make fresh drinks (margaritas!). Then, we got guacamole and some chips to nom on while we waited for tacos. What I loved about this was you could order tacos one at a time as opposed to a more standard two or three at a time - so I got to try and love four different tacos. I had the baja fish, spicy chorizo, portobello with queso fresco and curry shrimp.

The next day we had a relaxing morning and munched on some greek yogurt and nectarines. I read Bag of Bones for a bit and then we hit the center of town to walk around the Celebrate! WH festival (that punctuation was driving me crazy - it should be Celebrate WH!). I always admire the flowers at H's house - her mom does such a wonderful job gardening, and there's a great story about her mom's rose bush (for another day_. For lunch on this unbelievably hot day we slurped down some unbelievably refreshing watermelon lemonade (an unexpected, delicious surprise - something else I'd like to recreate) as well as Mexican grilled corn (another first, new obsession and thing I'd like to make).

After returning from the fair, we planned to make dinner with some of the new cookbooks we purchased at the Book Barn, and then hit an Asian market (another first for me - we don't have one near me), picked up some shrimp chips to munch on and unpacked at home. We then went to the regular grocery store (which had really cool price guns that - you scan all the bar codes in your cart and then scan the cash register at the end and pay. So easy and fun!) and grabbed some beer (I have a new favorite). We returned home and began the several hours of cooking. H is probably one of my favorite people to cook with. We cranked some tunes, munched on the way and joked around, but stayed out of each other's way. We made an Asian cole slaw salad (unbelievably fresh), rice, shrimp and shrimp and pork dumplings and pork buns. It was soooooo yummy. Things I will be definitely making again.

That night, when I went to pack I realized just how many books I bought/borrowed from H's family. Packing was... difficult. Fortunately, H's family loaned me a reusable shopping bag to lug everything home in. I always seem to leave there with more than I came with. Last time it was cowboy boots and Hulk hands.

The next morning I hopped on the train home and my parents picked me up in Newark. And that was my lovely weekend in Connecticut. I can't wait to visit them again. And make all of those yummy food. Also, a sign off with the most adorable picture of H's grandma's dog, Buddy. THIS GUY.

Just a Touch of Vertigo

Any Arrested Development fans out there? I've come down with just a touch of vertigo. 

I do not own the above GIF or its content.

Wait. No, really. My mom and I simultaneously contracted a virus that has manifested itself in the nervous system as vertigo. Or that's what the doctor told us. It's... unpleasant. I haven't eaten a real meal since last Tuesday. I wanted to bake the cool flag cake from Food52 for a July 4th party, but instead spent almost the entire last week in bed. With a horrible stomachache and fatigue you wouldn't believe.

It's the vertigo. I've watched every episode of TV. I watched so many shows on Netflix that it stopped auto-playing. Even Netflix was telling me I'd had enough. I'm now a connoisseur of chicken broth and noodle soups. I haven't had anything that wasn't beige or red dye #40 in the longest time. I'm dreaming of it.

Between the fatigue and the nausea I somehow I missed the pick-up of our first CSA basket, and am currently missing the cooking and consuming of those ingredients. We did however get two pints of fresh New Jersey blueberries. I see pies and blueberry muffins and galettes in our future. The very near future. I'm hoping to perfect my pie crust technique this summer. I'm also doing allllll of the fruit shortcakes. I have two recipes that I've been hoping to share with you - one from my super cool old cookbook that was published in 1915 and one from my head. Both for strawberries. But, that old cookbook suggested a peach shortcake - which got me wondering, what else can you shortcake?

As always, I have plans that are way bigger than actually feasible. But, we'll see. Last year we got some sour cherries and I made my first ever galette. I'm hoping we'll get some more this year because I've discovered that I quite like cherries. I'm planning to document the CSA as best I can this year. Maybe I'll make some charts. I love a good Excel grid.

Also Boyfriend brought me the most gorgeous flowers today - yellow lilies (a sure favorite) and plum and violet orchids. I cannot get over them.

To say

To say it's been a while since I posted might be an understatement. It might also be an exaggeration. It's one of those things where I just can't sometimes. I just can't get the motivation or find the words. Especially lately.

How I feel jaded when I live here is beyond me. Red Mill, Clinton, NJ This is my town.

I've been feeling a little ... run down. Beaten up (not physically). Jaded. Old. It could be that I finally (yes, finally) turned 23 (I don't think that's it) or that I've had some long hours lately (but I love my job). I think its just that I'm looking for a change. Something exciting again. After all, I've been living at home and working in That Big City for almost 2 years (1 year, 50 weeks, if we're being technical about it).

I think it might be time to move out. On the one hand, I'm saving so much money that it's very hard to move out. Plus the proximity to boyfriend and many of my friends from high school makes it that much harder. But, at the same time - I kind of feel stuck here. FINE. I just want to move out so I can do my own grocery shopping. I'm so fortunate to be able to live in my parent's house and that dinner is always ready when I get home (and by that I mean it's been ready and sitting out for about 2 hours since I get home after 8), but to me real autonomy is preparing and cooking my own meals.

And I want it. I just dream of being in control of that. Which is odd, because most people I know hate the idea. I do my best to cook on the weekends, but so does my sister and my dad. Which makes the kitchen a little crowded and sometimes there's a kerfuffle over who gets to cook dinner. We're odd that way.

Anyways, my point in all this was. I haven't written. And I'll do better.

Maybe.

elbow

Last night I went to perhaps the best concert of my entire life at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia. Honestly, one of the top ten experiences of my life, despite some anxiety beforehand. We saw elbow. Knee opened for them - Head and Shoulders couldn't make it because they had bad dandruff.

Just kidding. We did see elbow though. John Grant opened for them - he seemed like a cool and very interesting guy. Boyfriend and his friend really like elbow - if I were to be truthful, I hadn't listened to them much prior to the concert. I only recognized three songs they played, but I really liked their whole set.

They're one of the few bands that is better live than on CD. The lead singer (and John Grant also) has a gorgeous voice. And the members of the band seem like they're genuinely best friends in real life. He interacted with the audience. There was a couple their who loved elbow so much they used one song as their wedding song - and yelled up to the stage asking elbow to play it. Ironically, it was the next song played. Heartwarming and adorable. Also live strings.

The venue was pretty cool too. It had a nice assortment of standing room and bleacher seating. We got there 5 minutes before John Grant started singing and we ended up standing in the third row from the front.

So. go listen to "Grounds for Divorce" and "One Day Like This" and any other elbow song you can find. And also maybe visit the Electric Factory.

No words --

That 3 PM Wall

So today I started working at 1:45 AM. and I stopped working at 8:30 PM (save a few short breaks). On these rare and oh so pleasant days that 3 PM Wall I hit seems that much harder.

Every day around 3 PM I get a little sleepy and work seems that much more difficult. But, today called for one thing and one thing only (ok it's actually three things). Iced coffee in a Flash cup and delicious strawberry bread my mom bought from the Amish in Florida.

This bread.. I will be replicating. This is one of the very few times when my mom was wrong about something. She said that it wasn't life changing and I oh so very much disagree. Life changing - maybe it's because I'm sort of morally opposed to strawberries in bread. Blueberries and blackberries are ok in bread, but strawberries freak me out a little bit (even though I've definitely made strawberry muffins). Even though I love fresh strawberries.

I should have learned my lesson by now. Especially since I shared a delicious strawberry muffin with my dad in New Zealand in March 2013 at one of the places we stayed. but for whatever reason, this bread sold me.

I promise to post a recipe soon. maybe. I really shouldn't be making promises I might not be able to keep.

Also, does anyone know a good iced coffee recipe? I'm on the hunt.

Remember that one time..

Remember that one time I said I was going to try to be consistent about things? And then how I was radio silent for a month? Like not even a peep?

Even my Instagram has been uncharacteristically quiet. It's not that I haven't thought about posting. I think I only had like 5 Instagram posts in all of April. Five. That's way less than my normal.

It's not that I haven't even had anything to post about. In the past month I've gone to happy hour, hosted a pizza game night, gone to a Mad Men themed party, gone to Rutger's Ag Field Day and a Ukranian Easter Egg Ceremony. Oh, and our rescue dog tried to play tug of war with my ponytail bun.

I just haven't. Maybe it's because work has been crazy busy. Like Crazy. Maybe it's because I severely lack on follow through. Maybe its because I'm flaky, but in a wonderful way - like a good biscuit, or a croissant.

But, I will share one thing with you before I sign off - as I sit here typing in my backyard, chatting with my dad on perhaps the world's most gorgeous Saturday morning waiting for Boyfriend to get here so we can go thrifting - I have an irrational fear of bees.

A lot of people claim to be afraid of bees. But, trust me no one is afraid like I am. I mean, I'm a generally fearful person. I have a healthy fear of nature (thought I love it) and an unhealthy fear of bees. Most people have a fight or flight response. I freeze in an absolute panic and have to force myself to move. This, I've always known, but reinforced last fall at a haunted hay ride/corn maze.

The bees chased me away from the picnic table on our deck. My dad watched and laughed. And this is my perfect Saturday. Also, we're discussing purchasing wetsuits. And I promise to post more recipes soon. Maybe.

A Year Ago This

Because a year ago I was here (New Zealand) doing this (hiking Tongariro aka Mt Doom) with them (my dad, little sister and one of her friends).

Because so much has changed in such a short year, but I would give almost anything to go back for a moment. 

Because it truly was one of the most grand adventures and a memory I'll hold onto forever. 

Because some things aren't perfect and we love them anyways and we need them anyways. 

Because one day I'll be back and I'll plan the trip my way. But because nothing will ever replace the inaugural most perfect imperfect trip to New Zealand. 

Media Monday - March 17

As many of you have probably seen, Sheryl Sandberg (COO, Facebook and author of Lean In) has linked up with Anna Maria Chavez (CEO, the Girl Scouts), Beyonce and Condoleezza Rice to ban the word bossy. Fortunately, among the significant media coverage of this move are dissenting opinions which argue against the ban.

I personally agree with Peggy Drexler’s op ed on CNN. Drexler argues that while Sandberg makes valid points, including that “bossy” is disproportionately directed at girls and women, usually with negative connotations, “the problem isn’t the word itself, but how and when the word is used.”

Sandberg’s “Ban Bossy” campaign would be much more effective and powerful if instead of trying to ban the word – which may just foster the use of “bitchy,” “cold” or “aggressive” to be used in its place – focusing on how to reclaim and positive nature of “bossiness.”

Drexler goes on to state that: In fact, moving to abolish the word "bossy" risks sending the message that there's something wrong with those characteristics associated with bossiness: taking charge and speaking your mind.

Drexler closes with a powerful lesson for children, teachers and parents – “there is pride in being opinionated, motivated and motivating – that is, bossy. There is also pride in being not-so-bossy, and in  recognizing whatever other specific traits make them special, whether they go on to become leaders or not. There’s a word to describe that too: individuality.”

Media Monday - March 10

GUYS. 1 in 10 Americans thinks HTML is an STD. Wait… really? For today’s Media Monday, I thought we’d chat about this. I’m not exactly technologically savvy. I don’t really know a lot about HTML, despite taking a very beginner course about it in college. But, I do know this. It’s NOT an STD. [Really ironic timing with last week’s episode of Brooklyn 99, when Boyle shares his STDs… Save The Date cards, duh…].

Vouchercloud.net, a coupons website, conducted a study to determine how knowledgeable users are when it comes to tech terms. And the answer would be… not very. Apparently a lot of people need to learn some tech terms. Even my mom, who once picked up her phone after receiving a text message and said “hello,” [CAVEAT: I love my mom. She’s one of my best friends and she thought this was funny.] knew these people were hilariously wrong.

Some of the other findings include:

• 77% of respondents could not identify what SEO means. SEO stands for "Search-Engine Optimization" [Family consensus of two engineers, myself and my mom – this one was a hard one, don’t know if all of us would have picked the right answer either.] 27% identified "gigabyte" as an insect commonly found in South America. A gigabyte is a measurement unit for the storage capacity of an electronic device. [1 in 4 people. SERIOUSLY?]
• 42% said they believed a "motherboard" was "the deck of a cruise ship." A motherboard is usually a circuit board that holds many of the key components of a computer.
• 23% thought an "MP3" was a "Star Wars" robot. It is actually an audio file. [I’ve never seen Star Wars and even I know its C3PO]
• 18% identified "Blu-ray" as a marine animal. It is a disc format typically used to store high-definition videos.
• 15% said they believed "software" is comfortable clothing. Software is a general term for computer programs. [More people think software is clothing than HTML is a disease.. how is this possible?]
• 12% said "USB" is the acronym for a European country. In fact, USB is a type of connector.
• Despite the incorrect answers, 61% of the respondents said it is important to have a good knowledge of technology in this day and age. 

Would you have known the answers to these questions?

Thrift Store Finds: Feb 25

This past weekend we went thirfting. It's never quite as exciting as Mackelmore might make it seem, but I found some pretty nice finds. As you'll see below, I found two air tight glass bottles - I have plans to make homemade vanilla in at least one of them. A really nifty blue triangle bottle - I can't wait to cut fresh flowers and put them in it on my desk at work. A copper pineapple mold - which I plan to hang on my kitchen wall.. when I have one...

And finally, a nice stack of new books, including several Stephen King finds. I'd consider it a success.

All for less than $7! I'm in the market for some DIY supplies, so keep an eye out for future updates!

Searing Pain

Searing pain. I might be exaggerating a touch. But let me just say, I can’t move without pain originating from some part of my body. Mostly my legs. During my much-needed and far-too-quick sleep Friday night (ok it was Saturday morning technically – I went to bed at 5:30 AM) I woke up in the middle of the night (morning) with a Charley horse beyond belief. Fortunately, I was so tired it seems like a very vague memory or horrible dream.

But the pain in left calf persists. And Saturday, on roughly 4 hours of sleep, it was beyond gorgeous out for the first time in who knows how long. And my mind said, “I must run. I must run with the dog who might run away and try to eat a bird. Running will help my leg.” So, after mixing up my very first batch of croissant dough and setting it aside to rise, I ran with Gracie – our gorgeous 2 year old Golden Retriever that we rescued in November.  Gracie normally pulls and pulls and pulls on walks, but she was surprisingly good on a run. She stayed close enough and only got underfoot a handful of times. Unfortunately, before one of these times on the last hill of our run (I could see my house), I thought Gracie might enjoy if we picked up some speed. And then it happened. It felt like an eternity as I wobbled and tried to catch my balance on the way to the ground.

It was probably only a few seconds as I flailed, still holding on to the leash (Gracie’s a runner) and saw the asphalt pavement getting closer and closer. I somehow landed face down (fortunately not on my face this time) on my left hip, right knee and both palms. As I tried to regain what little composure I had once hand, I checked my knee and my hands – a little blood, but nothing too damaging, I looked up and saw Gracie’s terrified face. Laying by my side in deep concern and panic.

So now, I’m still sprawled on the ground, saying “we’re ok Gracie, we’re ok.” And we were. We finished our run. We even did a cool down walk, until I noticed the blood dripping down my leg and thought I ought not to traumatize the neighbor kids. So, we walked back home and after my mom wiped the horrified look off her face asked my dad to snap a pic (see below).

Accident prone as always. But, croissants are delicious. And now that all of my legs and body parts hurt, the only solution seems to go for a short jog tonight on the treadmill. (Which I have also been known to fall off of.)

Best Gift Ever

I'm now the very proud owner of the below, gorgeous mortar and pestle. Courtesy of Boyfriend for Valentine's Day. I can't wait to make guac and smash other things in it.

#hegetsme

I've been wanting to buy one for a while, but haven't thought of it as a particularly practical thing to by myself. In fact, it was going to be my next Kitchen Dreams post. I'll show you what I made him for Valentine's Day later this week.