Happy Anniversary Gorgeous

I have this habit of going for long stretches of time without writing and then i do write and i have a million things to say...but as not to over load all of you, i write and then put it in the draft section of my blog. Well when i do this i sometimes forget to go back a few days later and upload. SO this leads to this post. Last year i wrote an anniversary blog. I wrote it weeks early and then promptly forget to post and i have just recently uncovered it a few months ago. This is last years anniversary blog, and in honor of my two years of writing here is a new anniversary blog.

10/30/08
It's official i've been writing for a year about living here in the big apple. Who knew i could write (i guess that's still debatable), who knew i had the ability to keep something like this going for a year (no really, i've never kept a diary or journal i'm a non-finisher) and who knew i was actually doing stuff that some people find interesting enough to read....FOR A YEAR!

I guess this means i have to say something profound about writing or living here or something, but i guess the only real thing i can say is that living here has taught me a lot about who i am. Although really, I guess i could say that a year of life in general can teach you a lot yourself, but i really think that it's NYC. Here is where profound thoughts should occur, but instead i have a top ten list. Kinda like David Letterman...well isn't that new yorky

Top 10 reasons why i love NYC

10) Sitting in central park in the middle of the city not hearing any sounds of being in a big city
9) Walking for miles and miles not realizing how much ground has been covered
8) How friendly people are. Although they may not be new yorkers, but i'm sure they are
7) You can get pretty much any time of food that exists
6) Delivery of pretty much anything (food, clothing, furniture)
5) People watching
4) Everything is open late night
3) Riding the trains...on the weekend it's kinda like a painful game, how long will it take to get from point A-B. You can read so much and get anywhere faster than above ground
2) The amazing friends i've made

And the number 1 reason i love NYC
1) It's the craziest most bizarre city I know....how often would a gal like me get a chance to live here?!

10/30/09
Two years and how much has changed. Not only have i finished school, but i've moved to a whole new city. I contemplated changing the name of the blog, but then realized that i like the big apple still and unless something major happens that name sticks. Therefore in honor of my move to Brooklyn where their motto is "how sweet it is" i will give my Why Brooklyn is sooooooo sweet top 10 list.

Why Brooklyn is soooooo sweet top 10 list
10) Less traffic, less people, less noise *at night at least
9) Just as close to downtown nyc, but not nearly as much hassle or frustration while on the train
8) the park...oh how i love Prospect park
7) Prospect Park farmers market
6) neighborhoods, with backyards and kids playing in the street
5) stars... i can see the stars at night soooo beautiful
4) is it possible to be not as dirty or smoggy? Don't get me wrong it's still gross though
3) independent-designers, stores, salons, restaurants...they are EVERYWHERE!
2) i'm finally living with J (corny yes, but it's so much better than riding the train 50 minutes back and forth multiple times a week)

And the number 1 reason why Brooklyn is soooooooooooooooo sweet
1) I get to have all the great things about Brooklyn and also know that NYC is still so close i can go there if i need to!

Giving bread a go

A few weeks ago i went to a 2 part cooking class given by King Arthur Flour (KAF). The first half taught us how to make bread, the second half taught us how to make pie dough/crust. For a lot of people (myself included) this stuff is really scary. The part about letting it rise and how long is good enough for kneading. Hint 1:there is a King Arthur emergency hotline for baking 911's. She said the hotline would be starting to have weekend and late night hours soon because of the upcoming holidays. Don't you just love America!!

I kept postponing my first experience. I kind of blamed the lack of a food processor to help as an excuse...but darn that KAF. She pretty much said you don't need a food processor or mixer. All of it can be done by hand. REALLY?! Well i guess our ancestors did it, i guess i can too.

My wonderful friend Chelsea took the plunge first and then shared her recipe for what i was told is a French bread. I'm sure hers turned out like one....mine was kind of just bread like. HEY i'll take any form of bread shape, it was my first go! Since then i've become brave and done it again! Each time it gets better and i become more brave. This week i've decided to tackle something in the filled bread section. We'll see how that one goes.

Anyhoo, here are shots from my bread experience.

This is rising yeast. Smells like a brewery...wonder why!


My dough was supposed to be in the shape of a ball...and not soupy. Well it stuck together, but not as a ball. This is the dough in it's oil bath during the rising process.



Couple hours later it's risen and ready for baking!!


TADA! Fancy huh!

Fall Flavors

I've never really been a fan of fall veggies. Sweet potatoes (was recently added a few years back to the good list), squash, eggplant, root veggies never really made my list of favorites. Walking in the farmers market though the colors just call to me and i thought this year i'm going to give it a try. I'll try something i don't usually like, try a recipe with stuff i enjoy and maybe, just maybe i can add a new vegetable to my like section and make my dislike section smaller.

A few weeks back i made an eggplant concoction (i followed someone's recipe...i haven't the slightest clue how to make something like that). I just don't like the texture, strange hard outside, mushy gross inside, seeds tasted bitter and yucky (i'm such a child). I made it twice thinking maybe i messed it up. nope i still don't like it. I think i'll have to skin it and cut out the seeds. hmmmm it's really too bad because eggplant is such a pretty color.

Next i thought i'd make something with butternut squash. I found this recipe on "www.allrecipes.com". I love that place! So i really have no idea how to make squash based products. I had NO idea that the seeds were in the bulbous part. I always thought they were throughout the entire squash. Hence my picture. I was so amazed (does anyone know about cooking the seeds? They looked like pumpkin seeds!!).




I decided on soup, to ease myself into the veggie. It was squash with corn, rice, ground sausage and other delicious things. It was so yum i know i'll make this again!! hearty, flavorful, delish!



I was so happy with the flavor i bought another one today. I also bought an acorn squash...my next tester!! Soon enough i'll add parsnip...they were so pretty today i should have just bought them.

New digs

As my graduate degree came to a close and the search for a job began, so did entertaining the thought of moving. I obviously like to create a lot of stress all at one time because not only was i willing to apply and interview for jobs, hunt for a new apartment and then pack/move it all, i also wanted to take a vacation before any of this madness began. When would i have the chance to be this free ever again? Probably never.

J and I moved the beginning of August and yes i should have written sooner, but i knew all of you expected pictures. Unlike some of my friends i'm not nearly as organized and i don't unpack in a matter of hours. This required over a month (okay fine more than that) and some painting and lengthy discussions of where to hang stuff....sigh, i'm glad we are finally (almost) done!

And without further adieu i present St. Marks Ave apartment. Third floor walk up in Brooklyn New York. One bedroom, a work/storage/bike room (not pictured due to mess), kitchen with space (!!!), cozy living room with dining room and office combo.

My new toy!

You know sometimes you just need to buy yourself a prezzie...this was my prezzie. I forgot to write about it weeks ago, but we have been having fun. Here are the deets.
White Wizard is my Kitchen Aid Artisan mixer. She's got 325 Watts of power, 10 speeds, tilting head, 3 tools, 5 quart stainless steel bowl...pretty special gal to me.

My favorite part is that she could be considered adopted ("Refurbished" is the technical name). This means that she wasn't wanted for some reason and was returned to the Kitchen Aid store. She could have been a surprise wedding present or faulty in some way, what i do know is that they took her apart looked for anything broken and sent her to me (for a very discounted price). Some people could have dings or imperfections on their mixer, but White Wizard came in perfect condition.

It took a lot of time to decide what i should make first. Our first time together should be special and create something memorable. I decided to go with my favorite cookie...oatmeal chocolate chip. Unlike my most recent cookie making experience this one came out a million times better! We ate all the cookies right away. Actually i ate a pile before i left town and then Joe played the faithful role of disposal.

potato, beet, pobeeto

Last week at the farmers market i wanted to buy beets. I had this vision of a warm beet salad with goats cheese. I looked at all the bags of organized veggies and picked out my bag...under the sign that said beets.
Today for lunch i started boiling my beets in anticipation of my yummy salad. After 30 min i come to check on them and notice an odd thing. The water is still pretty clear, just tinged with purple/red. I knew it had been boiling so i couldn't figure out if they were just taking a long time or were botched. I poked one with a fork and instantly knew i didn't have beets boiling, but potatoes. But when i pulled out the fork it was covered in a purple mush....a purpley potato mush. i poked another...maybe it's just the one odd one...ALL OF THEM!!! what else do you do with overly boiled potatoes but turn them into mashed potatoes.

This actually brought back flashbacks to a time when my brother decided to make our family dinner. Chef Wholay (as he referred to himself) was making bbq ribs, mashed potatoes and salad. This was during the days when Heinz ketchup made the "fun" and probably highly toxic ketchups that were colored. Our favorite was the green one. To go on this theme Evan decided to dye the mashed potatoes blue and the salad thankfully was just salad, green and red (lettuce and tomatoes). Your brain doesn't know what to think when it takes a bite of green bbq ribs, or blue mashed potatoes. It says "this tastes great" but thinks, "oh god this is going to be nasty". These potatoes did the same thing. They taste exactly like potatoes, but have that crazy purple color. The color in the photo isn't as pronounced as it was orginially because i put in cream cheese (purple + white=light purple). But tell me what you think....would you have guessed it was a beet or would you have known it was a purple potatoe (ps: when did purple potatoes come around?! I only know of the red ones).

nature existing in the city

For those who do not know your insects this is a Praying Mantis...best known for its abilities to stay ridiculously still, camouflage like it's no bodies business and for the females to eat the heads off of their latest sexual partner. Pretty classy creatures.
For two days i watched this Praying Mantis sitting in a flower box doing nothing. I thought it was frozen or dried out...until i came home one day to see it sitting in front of the door. If i was brave enough i would have put a penny down so you had an idea of it's size and height, but let's be honest...i can kill them, but ewwwww i'm not risking its little talon scratching or even poking at me. NAST! Let's just say it was much larger than i EVER expected them to be...at least 4.5 inches long and an inch off the ground.
Instead i'll whip out my camera and document it. Sadly, by the time Joe came home around 6 it was gone. Idea 1) smushed by someone in my building (doubtful as there was no bug goo on the stoop, idea 2) the daycare kids took it inside as a "pet" (doubtful as the person who runs the show down there could careless about enlightening the children) or 3) it found it's newest partner and went off gallivanting into the sunset ie: a rat came and ate it.
It's a REAL mystery!!