A Hurricane-y Sandy Sunday

I took full advantage of the "impending doom" warnings regarding the apparent Hurricane Sandy that is supposed to hit the tri-state area in the next few hours. It hasn't rained a drop, the breeze is mild, and it's no colder than 55 out - but hey, an excuse to stay inside, right? I certainly hope that this storm is not nearly as bad as is predicted. However, a little rain might be nice, and if the power goes out for a little while I wouldn't mind playing scrabble by candle light and drinking wine.

I claimed that my excuse for staying indoors was the pre-hurricane grayness, but really - it was Adobe Lightroom. I have finally switched from clunky Photoshop (I say clunky only because I'm not that great at it and have an older version)! I am absolutely delighted with this program, and thanks to Adobe I was able to get the student edition for MUCH cheaper with my not-yet deleted Purchase College email address. I got bored with watching the YouTube Lightroom tutorial so I'm no expert yet, but getting there. It makes editing incredibly smooth and intuitive!

Here are a few photos from the week, enjoy! If you are on the East Coast stay safe this week!

The Arlington diner near our apartment. I spend a whole lot of time staring at this place every morning waiting for the looong light on my commute.

Easiest and best peanut butter cookies I've ever made. 1 1/2 cups peanut butter, 1 cup sugar, 1 egg and 1 egg yolk, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp vanilla. Yup, that's it.

Straws and pumpkins.

Leeks. Pre-soup stage.

Lemons and tile.

Dead leaves on the not-so dirty ground.

Candy Apple Chili Pepper Red

Chili peppers have such a fiery alluring appeal. Candy apple red that is so shiny. Unfortunately, their spice can be somewhat harsh especially when chopping them up for a stew (chili in this case). This pretty pepper caused quite the pain in our small kitchen with the lingering pepper oil wafting through the air! I suppose it didn't help that there were also plenty of onions in the mix as well. Ouch. That aside, this pepper made for some pretty photos before its eventual demise in the hot pot.

Vanping (Camping in Style)

Friday night post-work we decided it would be fun to go camping at the Delaware Water Gap (border of NJ and PA - our go-to campground). The campground is about an hour away and always a nice getaway. This particular Friday night it was raining. Rain would generally hamper NORMAL camping trips but us - we don't camp, we van-camp. Or 'vanp'. . . Vanping is the most recent manifestation of the action. Vanping is SO much better than traditional tent camping because you stay dry, don't have to set up (and take down) a wet or dirty tent, and you don't have to sleep on rocks. Basically, you get to sleep in the outdoors without all the fuss of bear or dirt. It's a win-win.

This little weekend jaunt was classed up with olives, wine, cheeses, prosciutto, and delicious bread. The best camping meal, right? In the morning we woke up to birds, sunlight, and beautiful leaves - this was followed by a 4.5 mile run through the campground (along the river I might add) pastries and freshly brewed (french press) coffee. Despite the fact that we forgot our camping stove and had to use a blow torch to heat up the water for the coffee, it was an absolutely idyllic morning. I highly suggest Vanping if you have a van to do it in :-)

View from the campsite

Delaware river while running by

Breakfast of champions (these are all unedited).

Brewing

Instagram-ed 

Saturday Adventures

Last saturday we spent the day in the city - part fun (for me), part work (for Zack) and big part photo taking. We delivered tea cups to a tea shop (yup) in Greenwich village (a favor for one of his colleagues), had amazing fish and chips from A Salt and Battery, and ventured to Queens to fix a client's home. I rode in the passenger seat and took a bajillion photos. It was a perfectly gorgeous day - and so much fun! Hope you enjoy . . .

Toolbag.

Painting a driveway.

The best fish and chips. Ever. Go there. 

Outfit of the day

Shirt: Rugby, Pants: Gap, Watch: Michael Kors

Silvercup Studios from the Queensboro Bridge. 

The official vehicle for Tea and Sympathy

Molasses Cookies and Lemonade

Another beautiful October Sunday. The fall is flying by at record speed but I'm trying to use every excuse to fill our tiny apartment with October scents - pumpkin, cinnamon, apple, molasses - I'll take any reason to turn on the oven! 

I made these molasses spice cookies a few weeks ago - a recipe from the America's Test Kitchen cookbook and we were pleasantly surprised. They weren't as chewy as expected but the flavor developed quite nicely over the following days. I struggled a bit with the crappy oven - I continually re-discover that I can't use the bottom rack in the oven  . . . lame! I hope to eventually learn this lesson without throwing out half of each batch of cookies. 

These cookies taste best when eaten off plates designed with architectural plans

This tablecloth has proved as a nice cover up for our semi-botched table that didn't quite turn out as planned...

Homemade mint lemonade 

Lazy photos (i.e. Instagrams)

My favorite way to spend the weekend as of late is baking in the apartment. Also Sunday mornings reading the Times and drinking fresh coffee with Zack.

Yesterday included pumpkin spice cookies, the french press (regular for me and decaf for him) and the travel section. What better way to spend a morning?

A Food-Free Blog Post??

Lately, I've been the annoying girl with the camera everywhere I go. I think (hope) that it's finally starting to pay off! I hope you won't mind this photo-heavy post, but I wanted to share a few of my recent non-food favorites.

 Last week Zack and went camping with a group of friends. It was a lovely fall weekend in the Catskills which we ended at an adorable German bakery. Our friend Russell was kind enough to let me take pictures of him in the perfect light while we were all waiting for our pastries.

 At our campground there was a very sad sinking rowboat. I had some fun playing around with the colors and textures of the rope and chain link fence. 

 More of Russell and his tea

 The marina at Barnegat Light on LBI. What a perfect september day this was.

Can you tell that my obsession of late has been playing with focal length? f2.7

Stay tuned for some from a recent engagement session, mollasses cookies and lemonade.