I’ve been hoping for a substantial amount of snow ever since I moved out East. This weekend it finally came! We took a few walks, made homemade hot chocolate and tortilla soup, and hunkered down with some good books and a few balls of yarn. All-in-all, a pretty good weekend. Here’s some photos from an early morning walk past the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and into Central Park.
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Cape Cod
A couple of weekends ago Scop and I had the pleasure of visiting one of his childhood friends in Cape Cod. Only a few short days after Hurricane Sandy, we were blessed with the most beautiful fall weather. Sunny, yet crisp and cool. I was very thankful for my gloves and scarf, as well as my sunglasses.
Saturday we toured all along the Cape and up to Provincetown at the very tip. We explored beaches, ate a seafood lunch, and wandered through the narrow, gallery-lined main street of Provincetown before settling down to a nice, local dinner at a small wine and jazz bar. And, of course we finished the night with some beer and the Arsenal – Man U. game recorded from the morning.
Sunday morning was a mad sprint to try and catch the morning ferry to Martha’s Vineyard. Unfortunately, we missed it… but we did find a harbor side cafe serving massive lobster omlettes, so we weren’t too disappointed. The ferry ride was gorgeous. The wind was shy which allowed for basking in the sun on the top deck and enjoying the expansive ocean views. As we arrived on the Vineyard we immediately hopped a bus to Oaks Bluff, a small town known for its Gingerbread style cottages. The colorful, small cottages were clustered in circles around a nice green space with a walkway through the middle. It felt like being surrounded by cute, little dollhouses. (Yes Lil’ Broder, this was one instance where we were living in a paper-doll world.) We only had about 40 minutes to explore the town before we had to catch the bus back to Vineyard Haven in time to catch the ferry. Needless to say, our trip to the vineyard was short and sweet. We did get to explore the town of Vineyard Haven for a few minutes before the ferry, and I managed to snap a few photos of all the beautiful, gray shingled homes.
Autumn was the perfect time to visit. The weather was pleasant, the foliage vibrant, and the company…exceptional. Thanks Steve for playing host!
Happy Halloween from NYC
Happy Halloween from a dark and soggy New York City.
Before the storm hit, Scop and I were able to walk through Pumpkin Fest in Central Park this past Saturday. The Fest boasted the largest NY pumpkin, but it must not have been that large because we couldn’t seem to find it. We did however come across two pumpkins carved in the portraits of Obama and Romney, and watched an entertaining marionette show in addition to a few very exhilarating amateur quidditch matches. We also enjoyed some salted caramel ice cream and a Mexican mocha from Van Leeuwen before heading back to carve our own pumpkins. Scop created a very realistic likeness of Homer, and I attempted a more traditional “winking” Jack’O’Lantern.
Well, I better go stock up on some candy in case we have any trick-or-treaters this evening…
City Island
Last weekend Scop and I took a day trip to City Island, a small island off the Bronx. City Island is a quaint area reminiscent of a New England fishing town. The main street running down the center of the island features various seafood restaurants, bait and tackle shops, a few antique shops and general stores, as well as a library, two churches, and a small park next to an ice cream store called Lickety Split (sadly it was closed).
We took the 6 line subway to its last stop and walked through Pelham Bay Park and over the bridge to City Island. It was a gorgeous fall day, and the trees were alive with color. Unfortunately after yesterday’s hurricane, City Island will probably look quite different now than it did on the day of our visit. Here is an image of the storm hitting City Island’s harbor.
We strolled down the main street and enjoyed an excellent brunch buffet in the courtyard of the Black Whale restaurant, which apparently is where the locals go to eat… On our way back we explored the dead end streets that flank each side of City Island. I loved all of the shingled houses which were especially charming with pumpkins perched on porches and autumn leaves scattered about. I’m definitely looking forward to our next visit. We’ve decided to try the seafood and pina coladas at Tony’s Pier.
Apple Picking
For the past five years my mom and I have always gone apple picking each fall. We would head to the Fruit Loop to pick from the trees just past Hood River, or we’d go to the orchards a bit closer to home in Woodburn. Apple picking is a tradition I have grown to love as a gesture to usher in the coming of Autumn. Fall is my favorite season, and I missed it terribly when I was away at school in Southern California for four years. When I returned back to the Pacific Northwest I was even more enthralled by nature’s transformation into Fall. Perhaps this is one of those instances where absence made my heart grow fonder… but I still find it quite charming how the trees gussy themselves up in colorful frocks for one last hurrah before winter.
Needless to say, when I moved to New York I was most excited about experiencing autumn. Although, NYC isn’t quite New England, the changing of the colors remains spectacular. And carrying on with tradition, Scop and I went apple picking a few weeks back to welcome in the season.
We rode the train about an hour north up the Hudson River Valley, and then walked three miles from the train station to Harvest Moon Farm & Orchard. Apparently apple picking on the east coast is a bit more of a production than what I’m familiar with. Harvest Moon had a bouncy castle and pony rides for the wee ones, and a live bluegrass band played while people gnawed on whole turkey legs from one of the food stands. However, I must say they did have some pretty delicious apple cider (not too sweet) and delectable apple cider doughnuts.
We picked Sparta Mac, Mutsu IdaRed, Pippins, and Golden Delicious Apples. We brought back about 75 apples in all…and they have given us quite the bounty. We made applesauce, baked apples, an apple pie, apple butter, and I am saving one last Pippin to make apple scones to bring to a friend in Cape Cod this coming weekend. All in all, I would say it was quite the successful trip. And so, wherever you are, I hope you’re enjoying the season with an apple or two!
Blackberry Gin Fizz
With summer on it’s way out I felt it was time to enjoy the weather and sunshine one more time. What better way to do that than drink cocktails! Also since it’s Labor Day I figured it could be a fun way to celebrate not having to work (even though I am currently unemployed anyways)
Here I have a recipe for a Blackberry Gin Fizz. It’s pretty sweet and fruity but tasty nonetheless.
This is the recipe that I used but I didn’t make as much as it calls for because we didn’t have enough Gin.
1 6-oz. container blackberries
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups gin
1 cup fresh lime juice
and club soda
8 Sprigs Thai basil or sweet basil
puree blackberries and sugar in a blender. Let stand, stirring occasionally until sugar is dissolved, about 10 minutes. If your super intense you can strain the puree through a fine-mesh sieve into a pitcher and discard seeds. Stir gin and lime juice into a pitcher. Divide drink among ice filled glasses; top with soda and garnish each with a basil sprig. Enjoy!
Dutch Oven Bread
I first began to make bread when my brother and now sister-in-law gave me a pizza stone for Christmas. Thanks Marsh and Megs, I sure love my pizza stone! I would bake free form loaves of sweet potato bread and crusty white bread on my stone. But, when I saw this beautiful dutch oven bread video on Kinfolk about a year ago, I knew I wanted to branch out in my bread making and try my hand at sourdough bread baked in a dutch oven.
My first step in my venture into making sourdough bread was making a starter, naturally. A starter is a small batch of your general bread making ingredients, flour, water, yeast, and in my case lebne, a thick middle eastern yogurt-like cheese. (There are many different starter recipes, and you can even order starters online, or take a portion from a generous friend’s starter). The starter ingredients are mixed together and allowed to sit out, loosely covered, to ferment for 3 to 5 days. This process allows the starter to cultivate wild yeast, which is what provides the rich and unique flavors of artisan bread.
After carefully monitoring and feeding my starter for about a week, I rolled up my shirtsleeves and tried making my first loaf of dutch oven sourdough bread. I used this recipe, and it turned out great! The color and the texture of the bread were wonderful, not to mention the flavor. The dutch oven really seemed to help the bread rise to its fullest and cook evenly. I don’t think I’ll be buying bread from the grocery store anytime soon…
Peach Cobbler in Jam Jars
I love jars. Old glass pop bottles, Adam’s peanut butter jars, mason jars, those massive glass jugs filled with cheap wine, really anything cylindrical and made of glass. I just recently recycled half a dozen old soda pop bottles I had been collecting since high school. I did not however recycle the 10 Dry Soda Bottles I’ve been hoarding since my Seattle days. I can’t give them up just yet, wouldn’t they make perfect little vases?
Needless to say, when I first arrived on the east coast and saw Scop’s “juice glasses” that he’d collected and cleaned from all his consumption of Bonne Maman jam, I was excited about all the delicious culinary promise these jars held. I’ve enjoyed yogurt drizzled in honey, indulged in ice cream topped with cookie crumbles, I’ve sipped wine and savored mojitos, and I’ve dunked cookies in ice cold milk, all from these old jam jars. I have also found them to be the perfect picnic companion for beverages or a fresh batch of hummus. So when I decided to make cobbler with some NY peaches I got from the farmer’s market this week, I knew there was no better way to enjoy this cobbler than in its own little jam jar!
I used this recipe for the peach filling, which I then topped with a few extra blueberries I had hanging around. I halved the recipe and added a little vanilla, ground cloves and a good pinch extra of cinnamon and nutmeg. I used this recipe for the topping from a fellow lover of cobbler in jars. I cut the recipe by three as I was only making 4 individual cobblers. Top with a little vanilla bean ice cream and enjoy!
Farm and Goat Sitting
A few weeks ago I had the privilege of goatsitting on Scop’s Dad’s farm while he and his wife were on vacation.
They live in a beautiful old, stone farmhouse with the most incredible (and huge) fireplace. I quite enjoyed life on the farm while I was there… Waking up early to feed and water the goats, harvesting and cooking with the fresh vegetables from their garden, watering the plants every evening, and enjoying the sunset and dinner underneath the pergola on their deck. I made homemade bread, pizza and ice cream. We even fired up the grill one Sunday afternoon to make carne asada tortas with refried black beans, jalapenos, fresh garden tomatoes, sour cream, gauco, and cheese, all piled on a kaiser bun. They were deliciously messy! Unfortunately I did not take any photos of my culinary expeditions, but here are a few of the farm early one foggy morning, and of course I had to snap a few of the goats!
Enjoying a Saturday morning breakfast of hay
The light brown kid on the left was my favorite
Backpacking in the Cascades
We almost went on this trip a couple weeks ago, but when the weather forecast called for rain, we were easily persuaded to push it back a couple weeks and stay home instead. This weekend, the forecast was sun, sun, sun…and hot weather for Seattle. So we went for it! Our apartment is very difficult to be in when it’s hot in Seattle anyway (we’re on the top floor with little ventilation and no AC), so it was the perfect solution! Our plan was to head east Friday after work, stay in a campground near Skykomish, WA. Wake up early Saturday, hike 8 (ish) miles to a remote lake, camp at the lake, and hike back out Sunday.
On Friday, we headed east to our campground, which turned out to be full when we arrived (oops). So we drove down quite a few forest roads, looking for a place to pitch our tent and sleep. One turn took us up a steep hill to where the power lines passed through the forest, but no luck for a flat-ish clearing. We went back down the mountain, and we found this place…a rare clearing. The ground was hard as a rock, but it was relatively flat and would work great (and was free). We quickly put the tent up as the sun was setting, and got inside before the bugs could find us.
The next morning, we woke up and headed south of Skykomish on a few more unpaved forest roads to find the trail head. The drive was pretty, and seemed to go on forever! After a little over an hour of searching, we found the starting point.
We hiked along the trail, hoping to end at Marmot Lake (about 8 miles in). The hike was through shaded forest areas, with many streams and creeks to cross over. The hike was full of steep rises and falls in elevation. Unfortunately, we didn’t have an elevation guide for the trail we were attempting to complete…so we didn’t quite know what to expect. We stopped to eat pita, hummus, and trail mix for lunch. Yumm….
We made it about 5 or 6 miles in and decided we were ready for a break (about and our muscles were already very tired. So we set up camp next to a creek/river, and enjoyed the peace and quiet for the rest of the evening. For dinner we made quinoa with peanut sauce.
On Sunday, the hike out was relatively quick until the last half mile being just about straight uphill. Boy were we tired and hot. But we made it! All in all, it was a fun trip. If we did it again, we’d probably take an extra day and try to get all the way to the lake. Also, we’d try to have a better idea of what the trail is like (steep/flat) before starting out.
gathernear 
