A Weekend Away

Last weekend we celebrated my cousin Rachel's wedding,
had a family birthday dinner at Bistrot la Minette,
partied at Dave and Buster's, hung out by the inflatable pool, grilled out
and had a big family dinner, and then the Chambers children
piled in the van and went to the Custard Shack.
(Which I still love doing after all these years)

The wedding was at Normandy Farms, and we were
lucky enough to get a room with a fireplace!
Thankfully it was chilly and rainy so we took
full advantage




















Joel trying to wink, or as he calls it
"the shady eye"

The gals and I at Dave and Buster's

This pool was great, would it have been nice to float around at
the same time? yes. But you gotta take what you can get
in the summer.

It was the kind of weekend that you wish would never end.

Birthday Month: Part 1

There are certain years when I stretch the festivities
of a single birthday into an entire month.  Since this
year will be my 30th Birthday, the celebration has definitely
been extended.  Thankfully, the husband indulges me in
this and has even planned different surprises throughout
the month.

The first was a sunset beer cruise with our dear friends from
Alphabet City Beer Co.   It was amazing, dreamy, and
romantic.  There is something so calming about being out
on the water and seeing the city from the outside.
We were also down in the Financial District, which
we are almost never in.  It was a reminder of how
big the city actually is, and why tourist areas
should always be avoided in NYC.

This was our sailboat, it was built in the 1920's
and at one time had F. Scott Fitzgerald (and probably
Zelda, too) as a passenger.

 We sailed out near Staten Island and got to see
lightning in the Jersey distance, thankfully it
never came our way.  The sun had set by the time we
got closer to the city and as we pulled back into
the marina, "New York, New York" was blasting
and it was kind of perfect.  Doing things like this
only deepens my love for this city.

I love the husband so much for putting all of this
together and indulging my weird love for celebrating
my birthday. He continues to be the best.

Mom Mom's Bread

I had breakfast at Mom Mom's house a few weeks ago,
she made a feast that was definitely big enough for 4 people.
half pound of bacon, 2 scrambled eggs, crepes and strawberries.
Needless to say I didn't eat it all but it was packed up,
along with a loaf of her white bread and nut bread, for me to
take home.
















I've been nibbling on the nut bread every now and again
and on Sunday I sliced up the regular loaf of bread.
I also made a large amount of sea salted butter,  so naturally
I slathered a few pieces with it and enjoyed.
It's the kind of thing that you can eat way too much of
and then trick yourself into thinking it's ok because
your grandmother made it.

As I get older I realize more and more the importance
of food, cooking, and sharing meals.  Another
aspect of that is keeping family recipes alive.
So I think that a small goal for the next year will
to be to start to make some of Mom Mom's recipes.
It took me almost a decade to be able to make scrambled
eggs that were just like hers -and to be fair I didn't really
start cooking until my late 20's so scrambled eggs were still
considered a culinary art. It's never to early to start anything
so I think I'll tackle the pierogi recipe sometime in the very
near future.  Stay Tuned :)

Greenmarket Finds

The Saturday Greenmarket is always a real treat
because it's only 2 blocks away from us. The selection
is more limited but no trains are involved, so I'm happy.
















*milk
*greek yogurt (underneath the chevre)
*chevre (best.goat cheese. ever. seriously.)
*dinosaur kale
*blueberries
*apricots!
*peaches!
*1 red onion
*mint (to make mint chocolate ice cream)
*Persian cucumbers
*1 head of lettuce
*3 ears of corn
*small cut of smoked ham(not pictured)
*dozen eggs(not pictured)
*chicken breasts (not pictured)


Going to the market that is 2 blocks away makes
breakfast even more enjoyable since I don't
have to wait a whole train ride to start making it.
Trips to the Union Sq location typically take about
1-1 1/2 hours. That is a long time when you are hungry.


Now that the smoked ham is available I can go
back to my favorite Saturday breakfast.
Ham & Eggs with Sourdough Toast




















-I added a little avocado because I cannot
get enough of it.  This is heaven.

A Year in Books: June

The List for June is as follows:

*Sirens of Titan-Kurt Vonnegut
*The Great American Ice Cream Book-Paul Dickson
*The Mysterious Sea- Lester del Rey

One of my wine reps and I will do book exchanges
and he gave me Sirens of Titan and I gave him Galapagos.
We both enjoyed our respective reads, and I'll probably
pick up another Vonnegut book this month.  He's one
of the Husband's favorite authors so I know we've got
a bunch of his books around the house.

The next one on the list probably seems odd, and
I suppose it is.  But I love reading the history of
random things, and who doesn't love ice cream?
It was actually a really interesting book, and you get
a list of sundae and soda fountain recipes at the end.
Bonus.

Finally, I read The Mysterious Sea.  I had happened to
meet a producer from Apuglia right around the time
I had gotten to the part about the plates shifting,
sea mountains forming, and the rise and fall of land
in and out of the ocean.  So this producer says that a few feet
down in his soil there is a calcareous layer-meaning that
his land used to be underwater.  I felt like all of my interests
had come full circle and collided with each other.
Wine felt bigger than it ever had before, and while I always knew
about this layer and what it meant, it felt extremely profound
on this particular day.  Wine is history, and that is amazing.

Latest Obesssions

*Cherries.
I feel like the season never lasts as long as I want it to
so I'm eating mass amounts while I can.

*The Husband
I'm perpetually obsessed with him, but he's been
revealing a few birthday month surprises, and it's
made my heart soar. I love this man.

*"I urge you to please notice when you are happy, 
and exclaim or murmur or think at some point
"If this isn't nice I don't know what is"-Kurt Vonnegut
As I get older I find myself enjoying small moments,
sometimes to the point of extreme emotion, just over
really loving life.

*This is Your Brain on Kale
you are what you eat.

*Somm
I really want to see this.

*I'm Waiting Here-David Lynch and Lykke Li
The video is very Lost Highway.

*The first sip of fresh kombucha.
Tangy, bubbly, fermented deliciousness


Happy 4th of July!

Greenmarket Finds

Summer is officially here.
I picked up raspberries, cherries, and blueberries
at the market this morning.  All the good stuff
is finally available! I did go a little crazy on the veggies,
and I ended up missing out on a few things
that we needed, but there's always Saturday.

*half gallon of cream (they had a special and I couldn't resist)
*dozen eggs
*loaf of sourdough
*large bag of shell peas
*cherries
*blueberries
*raspberries
*2 cucumbers
*french breakfast radishes
*crimini mushrooms
*purple carrots
*mint
*cilantro
*beets
*swiss chard
*purple lettuce
*3 ears of corn
*scallions

I actually don't have a meal plan for this week
so I'll just be winging it with all these delicious
ingredients :)