Farmer's Market

I've never really been much of a Farmer's Market kind of girl. In New York, the prices were much higher than I could get at the Food Coop we belonged to so it wasn't ever a place I'd go for produce. Since leaving the amazing Park Slope Coop (*tear), I've been exploring my grocery shopping options here in Portland. I've also been learning to accept that fact that my grocery bill seems to be up about $25 a week in order to buy food similar to what I was buying at the Food Coop in Brooklyn. (Seth sweetly reminds me that this is okay because our cost of living has gone down in other areas - for example, going out to eat is MUCH cheaper now than it was before!)

For now, I think I've figured out a plan for our shopping. I go grocery shopping for most of our groceries at New Seasons - a locally owned grocery store that claims to be "the friendliest in town" & seems to be a pretty pleasant place so far! I've been going to a small coop called People's Coop for bulk items (I had such high hopes for this coop thinking maybe it was like the one in Brooklyn, but no, not so much...) For produce, I head to the Farmer's Market on Saturday morning in Downtown Portland. I spend about $20 and get almost all the produce we need for the week while supporting local farmers! (I just have to figure out an alternative plan for the weekends when I can't go to the Farmer's Market... and I'm sure I'll have to revise my shopping plan later this winter when produce isn't as bountiful!) 

Today's scores from the Farmer's Market included: scallions, yukon gold and red potatoes, kale, red leaf lettuce, rainier (I think) cherries, a pint of blueberries, a zucchini, a squash, 2 pints of raspberries (for the price of one - that guy sure made my day!!), and green beens. I never really figured out what I was paying for produce in New York - I'd be curious to know how it compares. 

Oooo these delicious looking heirlooms that I have to steer clear of... How tempted I am to buy you for a favorite summer sandwich - baguette, mozzarella, heirlooms and basil (and sometime some kalamata olive spread or hummus)... If only my baby-induced heartburn wasn't so miserable!

Baby Shower

One of our favorite couples, Pete and Christina, is expecting their first baby (a boy!) later this summer! Saturday, the girls got together to celebrate Christina and her baby belly over lunch at Fiore (yum!) in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. I wish I'd taken a photo of the wrapping I'd done. I have a hard time actually buying wrapping paper or gift bags. It seems so wasteful to me, even if it's the norm. 

Usually, I repurpose brown paper bags. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to pull it off, but I decided to give it a try. I took a brown paper bag, wrapped the present. Then I found blue rickrack and criss-crossed it around the package. Next, I pulled pages from an old book that I've repurposed for various art projects. I put a number of pages together and cut them into larger circles. I then used the leftover halves and cut smaller circles. Using my scissors, I cut slits into the circles and started folding the edges up in various ways. Then I stapled the circles together in the middle. I took two more funky strings I had (green and orange), tied them in a small bow, and also stapled them to the circles. I attached this paper bow to the rickrack and voila! Another successful wrapping job without having to buy wrapping paper :)  I promise to take a photo next time! 

One of my favorite parts of the shower and this restaurant is a delicious lemon tart. I am now yearning the divine sweet tart now. YUM!

Calexico

About 2 years ago, Seth and I went on adventure to try these yummy tacos I'd heard about online. Unfortunately, when we arrived, the place was closed. This morning, as we were trying to think of how we'd spend our day, I remembered the tacos (plus, I saw a mention to a taco crawl, awesome idea, on this blog). It took a moment for me to find exactly what the place was and where it was (thank goodness for the photos I take, I finally found it in my archives ;)

Anyway, this afternoon, we headed to Carroll Gardens to try the tacos at Calexico. They were definitely delicious! I had the Carne Asada taco & pinto bean taco, and Seth had the chicken taco. Plus, they have their own beer brewed by 6 Point.

AND they have a cart at the Brooklyn Bridge Park... Next time I'm there, I'll definitely be getting a taco!

Foggy View of the Brooklyn Bridge

Another day of foggy, rainy weather (with this morning being downright horrible!!) Yet, tonight was filled with dinner and catching up, reminiscing and enjoying the company of a good friend! Makes me think back to the two years we worked together and realize how much I miss working with her!

Tonight, we ate at Bubby's, a restaurant with a view of the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges in Dumbo. In less than 10 weeks, we'll be celebrating her and her fiance's marriage there!! (CAN'T WAIT!) :)

Two more days until Spring Break starts and less than a week until I get to cuddle up my new baby nephew and shower him with smooches!

Cold Sunday & Carrot Cake Muffins

New York is COOOOOOLD today! That wind is bitter. I was so cold that I actually ran to go to the places I had to go to a couple times today!

Despite working most of the day, I made time this evening to try out a new recipe. I was inspired after stopping by this blog this morning... She mentioned making carrot cake, and curiosity got me looking for a good recipe. I found this one on epicurious.com. Below, I wrote out the tweaks I made to the recipe.

Added:
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground clove
vanilla
drained, crushed pineapple
substituted apple sauce and plain yogurt for the oil
substituted powdered ginger for minced ginger
substituted maple cream cheese with a maple cream that was given to me from a co-worker's hometown (This stuff is divine! Maple syrup is one of my FAVES!)

These changes came from the reviews. (Which is my favorite thing about getting recipes from sites like epicurious... LOVE seeing what people do to make the recipe better! I've also discovered how much I enjoy baking & cooking lately!)

And the outcome rating of the cupcakes: YUMMY! Seth and I both loved them (we both just downed 2 each... and I'm sure one or two more will disappear tonight!)

Next on the baking list: Homemade Banana Bread - Just need a loaf pan!

Yum! Yum! Bread in 5!

Bread in 5, as in bread in 5 minutes!

I don't necessarily consider myself an amazing cook (striving to be, though). And making bread just sounds a bit out of my ability... I'd had this yummy artisan bread many a'times - anytime we eat at my sister-in-law and brother-in-law's, Jac makes it... And it ROCKS. She sent me the recipe MONTHS ago... but it's long and scary. I'd bought the ingredients, but never attempted. Until yesterday. Let me tell you... I am shocked at how truly easy this bread is to make & it's so yummy I can hardly believe I had anything to do with it!

Here's the link: Artisan Bread in 5 minutes

Just to give you the short and the sweet of it (it's really much easier than the long recipe lets on...):

1. Mix first 4 ingredients & let rise for 2 hours. Decide if you'll bake or refrigerate.
2. Pull of grapefruit size chunk of dough. Put on flat, cornmeal covered surface for 40 minutes before baking. 20 minutes before baking, preheat oven at 450 with baking stone inside and shallow pan (to eventually hold water) inside.
3. Put dough in oven & water in shallow pan. Bake 30 minutes or until brown (knock on the bottom of the bread, if it sounds hollow, you're done.)
4. EAT IT!

It really is that easy. (**Thanks Jac!)

Rainy Day in Brooklyn

The view out our living room window... It's a tad rainy today! We'd made plans to meet some friends for brunch in Dumbo, and the thought of heading out into this weather to subway it over made me kind of blahh! Until they text to offer a ride :)

We haven't seen the couple we are meeting up with for soooo terribly long! They live in Queens and even though we have mutual friends, we still don't see each other often. I'd invited them to Seth's surprise dinner last weekend, but a stomach bug kept them home.

Our brunch destination is Bubby's in Dumbo. It is located between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges and has the most amazing views. I had always admired it, but only recently ate dinner there with a good friend. She's using it as her wedding venue (when hearing about how amazing it is for a wedding venue, I kinda got the urge to have another wedding - with Seth, of course :)

Donuts, Shopping, Stickers

Family trip to Austin area today. One of our first stops this morning was a donut place with the biggest donuts I've ever seen!

The muffin on the left is a normal sized muffin, in case you need a point of reference.

The sisters before shopping. Like my teal sweater?? My siblings gave it to me yesterday for my birthday!! It was such an amazing present! I had mentioned how much I loved it in passing and was shocked to be holding it right before blowing out the candles for my birthday!

Below is a photo of mom, Em, and me.

Ohhhh the things we do to entertain ourselves. Here's my dad at lunch. The torture this time was not coming from the children :)

think coffee

I often find myself in Union Square craving a nice iced coffee... There are 2 Starbucks that are right off the park that can fulfill my desires. And they work, if they must. But I'd much prefer to go to a more "local" coffee shop. (I really don't LOVE Starbucks.) Last weekend, after watching Sex and the City 2 with a friend, we walked up 4th Avenue to catch the subway and walked right by this coffee shop! Friday, after work, I finally had the chance to check it out. I'm soooo happy to report that I no longer must go to Starbucks!! I'll be getting my iced joe at Think Coffee from now on!

No Sparing the Gus

For some reason, I've only recently realized how much I love asparagus and how much Seth loves it as well (I think he knew prior to today!). Last week, while walking by this wonderful fresh veggie and fruit market, we decided to stop in and get a few things for our dinner... asparagus being one. With plenty left over from the yummy salad, I decided tonight I'd boil them up before they went bad in the back of my fridge (as forgotten food tends to go when pushed to the back of the fridge...)

On a side note, I've always had terrible luck with finding good avocados at the market we shop at. It is probably my only major complaint of the place. After getting sub par avocados, I stopped back in tonight to find soft, perfect feeling avocados sitting right on top of the normal pile... to my shock (never felt them give when I squeeze!) I bought some up and made guacamole for Mr. and me to go with our asparagus and home-made New Way burgers! Maybe an interesting mix of food, but I was very satisfied eating three of my favorite foods on a Monday night!

Betty Bakery in Boerum Hill

While wondering the streets of Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, we found ourselves peering into the window of a charming bakery called Betty Bakery. My stepmom, who dreams of opening her own bakery shop (of the sorts) someday marveled at the cakes in the windows. As I was taking pictures, one of the people working in the bakery came out and invited us in to take pictures from within the bakery. She was so kind and willing to let me click my little heart out as we admired all the beautiful cakes and yearned for all the sweet treats.

This cake was so fun with the strips and flower details! We absolutely loved the "I do" that ran around the layers!

Mastering roses is on the list for cake decorating.

These beautiful cakes made me wish I'd put a little more into our wedding cake...

I really liked this one, but maybe a few less cake petals.

Loved the coffee stop!

The little birds were too cute. Of course I didn't leave without one... a little blue one... and of course, I haven't eaten him. :)

This bakery isn't too far from our place... I might have to find my way back there for a sweet treat!

Dinner Party

Last night, we were so lucky to join friends for a wonderful dinner party Friday evening. Lauren made an amazing pasta and Vicky a delicious salad. There were plenty of bottles of wine to go around. Including a new find, a sweet German Riesling called Kees-Kieren Mia Riesling Lieblich. I've been leaning towards red wine lately, so it's nice to go back to white and make a find! I guess buying a bottle because I like the label wasn't such a bad idea after all!

Sick Cabbage

8/365 Sick Cabbage, originally uploaded by brklynphoto.

I pulled this out of the back of my fridge... sadly, it got pushed to the back last week and forgotten. This cabbage isn't the only one sick looking today, Mr. is too. His second day of being miserable with a cold, sore throat, and fever. I figured I'd be safer photographing the cabbage rather than him. :)

This photo was day 8 of my project 365. This cabbage is now residing in the garbage. Au revoir, Cabbage! And hopefully, au revoir to sickness!

To Playa on Friday Night

Friday night ended up being more eventful than I had planned or imagined I could handle. My teaching partner and her boyfriend drove down from north of the city for dinner, and we were joined by a couple other friends. Our dinner destination was Playa, a new restaurant in Park Slope at the corner of 5th Ave and President St. The evening was filled with great conversations, well-deserved end of the week drinks, delicious guacamole, and even some octopus (see picture above).

The food wasn't too bad. The guac was great. We enjoyed spicy popcorn while waiting and were treated to a cheese bread, compliments the house (probably because of the long wait on our food). It seemed that our food took a little longer than it should have, and with all the food I had prior to getting my entree, I was almost too full to eat the Chicken and Avacodo Arepa I had ordered.

After dinner, we joined a few friends at the Patio, a bar that I hadn't been to before. We were only there for a moment before we headed to a friend's place to drink and play games. Our night ended around 2 as Seth and I made our way home. We headed home with all intentions of going to bed, until we greeted some of our neighbors outside the building... As we got cold standing outside talking, we all decided we'd head inside to hang out a little longer. The hours of the night faded into morning - I had officially been up for more than 24 hours. Despite my exhaustion, the night was great fun, and S and I are excited at the prospect of making some new friends, and even better, friends that are so close!

Since I moved to NY, I've had many moments where I've missed home and missed our circle of friends (immensely). While I still miss them all, daily, I'm excited that our friendships have grown and continue to expand here in NY.

To the Deli for Kindness

I think from now on I'm going to stop by the grocery store after a bad day. The deli man is really kind. ...It may seem weird to some of you, but I never had the deli people offer a sample before I bought my meats and cheeses... I know it's simply a grocery deli counter, and more than likely, I'll still get the same meat, even after the sample... but it's also nice to have someone be kind... Kind interactions don't come as often here in this city as they do in the Midwest. (And truly good customer service is HARD to find here!)

Peanuts, Earl Grey, & Red Velvet Cupcakes

1:54 a.m. It's too late for my own good, especially since we are leaving for Vermont tomorrow, and we'll be staying up late to ring in 2009 (weird to think, considering every other time I write the date, I write everything but 2008 -- 2006, 2007, and even recently 2003... How is my mind that far behind?).

After spending my day taking care of all (well, almost all) the things I've put off for a week, I headed to the city to visit Stephanie, who finally made it back from Florida just in time for me to be heading to Vermont! Tonight, we decided to check out her neighborhood. I'd been over to her place once before, and the walk between the subway stop and her apartment kind of scared me. (Every new place does though...) It was a bit shady, so I couldn't quite imagine what we'd find around... She lives on the Lower East Side. It's NYC... Of course, we'd find something cool to do.

That, we did. A few bars, $3 Blue Moons, a basket of peanuts (right after I mentioned needing a bar that had peanuts!), a wonderful cake shop, with a mug of hot tea to wrap up our evening. We also met some nice people - at the bar and sweet stop. I can't wait until I can go back! The feel of the neighborhood was chill, young, fun.

In an attempt to keep our sanity, about a month ago, Stephanie and I vowed to meet at least once a week after work. I think I might push to meet in her neighborhood more often! :)

Al Di La

Seth and I joined four of our friends for a dinner date on Friday evening. A few of us met for wine before dinner, while we waited for everyone to get back to Brooklyn after work. While debating on our dinner destination, we decided we try the eminent Italian restaurant, Al Di La, on the corner of 5th and Carroll. Seth and I hadn't eaten there yet, but were very familiar with its reputation, even being told by passers-by one day when Seth and I stopped to look at the menu that it was the best restaurant on the Slope (until another set of people told us of the hour wait).

Despite the fact that there Would be a wait, we decided to put our names in Friday night. They said they'd call, and we stayed at our friend's house enjoying wine and conversations while waiting. Unfortunately, because of a misunderstanding, our hour wait turned into a two hour wait... It was beyond worth it! Everything was amazing! A few bottles of wine, mussels, bread, and soup for appetizers, and amazing dishes all around for the main course. Seth and V had a wonderful ragu. L and S had one of the nightly specials, one I would have enjoyed completely, had I ordered it. I don't know what it was called, but I believe it had potatoes in it. P had a steak dish that was just as wonderful as all the other meals... Yet, not quite as wonderful as mine! I had the Best ravioli Ever! The ravioli was filled with a squash and was beyond divine.

The evening was perfect, filled with good wine, good food, but most importantly, good friends. We even had a special toast (probably prompted by all the wine :) to the amazing dinner with our amazing group of friends and a wish that we have many more dinners together in the years to come!

First Pies

I made my first pies all by myself tonight! They weren't completely from scratch, one apple pie and one blueberry. I got a little help with the crust. I'm not sure how successful they are in the taste area, but we'll know tomorrow when we enjoy our Thanksgiving feast.

I have to say, I've been very excited for Thanksgiving. We are keeping it "low key" and staying in Brooklyn. (Minus our trip to the city to see the parade!!!) Although it will only be 3 for the feast (going to Bric's), we are going all out... Ham (no turkey, not ready for that step - plus I'm not a big fan of turkey meat), stuffing, green bean casserole (a must for the husband), yams, mashed potatoes, rolls, cranberries, apply cider, wine, pies, cream corn. It will be the first time I've ever done much for Thanksgiving dinner... so far it's been fun, and because I spent time preparing for tomorrow, we only have a few more things to do before our feast tomorrow afternoon. :)

13 for Brunch

I spend my weekdays looking forward to Saturday brunch. Usually it's a small get-together and almost always takes place at a French place a couple corners down, A.O.C. Bistro. They have the best french toast (as I'm sure I've mentioned before). Today, it was quite an event... 13 in all. Here's part of our group (minus V and me) getting ready to disperse after 2 hours of chatting, laughing, french toast eating, coffee drinking brunch fun. :)

Spooky Trail Mix

During our afternoon Halloween Celebration my students made a wonderful trail mix. I've been snacking on the extra trail mix all weekend! It was a perfect combination of treats!