New York in January

My mom came to visit me last weekend. We had a glorious time watching movies, shoe shopping and wandering around the city. [Side note, Quartet was a delightful, sweet movie - I so recommend!]  The temperature on Sunday was unseasonably warm (only to turn ridiculously cold on Monday) so a stroll through Central Park and down to Chelsea was quite enjoyable. It was nice to get my camera outside of my house for a while and see some outdoors in the natural light. Enjoy!

Mochaccino from Le Pain Quotidien

Flatiron

My mom and her delicious salad

Flatiron (next to Eataly - Eataly post up next!)

Central Park

Central Park Ducks

Coffee Time

One of my favorite weekend rituals is making fresh coffee in the french press. Coffee in a french press always tastes better than an auto-drip. It's the simplest method for making coffee and requires minimal effort.

There's something about the pretty little glass jar that makes all the difference. Making coffee in a french press couldn't be simpler - it certainly takes less time than it took for me to take all these photos.

For a one serving french press I use 2 heaping scoops of fresh coarse ground french roast (or another dark roast).

Add coffee to french press

Fill french press with boiling water

Set timer for 4 minutes

Press coffee and ... done!

I like to add half and half (I hate skim or low fat milk in my coffee - yuck) and NO sugar, but that's just my taste! Sometimes a little cinnamon is nice - especially if you choose to steam the milk. Enjoy!

Homemade Limeade

Limes are so pretty. They're like little green lemons with more flavor.

The other night I made a delightful limeade with these pretty little citrus fruits. I used 3 simply ingredients. Fresh limes, amber agave nectar, and water (well technically I also used ice, but I think that can go under the category of water). This recipe couldn't be any simpler.

For 2 servings:

3 Limes

3 TB Agave Nectar 

1 Qt. Water

Juice the limes 

Stir in the agave until it dissolves

Add water

Pour over ice!

Instagrams of Late

It's Sunday AND sunny! I'm off to adventure in the city for the day with my mom but first I thought I would share with you some of my new favorite instagrams of the last couple weeks.

In other news I'm trying to play around with html a little bit more, and I've somehow managed to get my photos side by side. Not sure if I will be able to do it again though!
Enjoy!

From left to right, top to bottom:

margarita step one, strawberry margarita, early morning run, morning latte, flower from lunch, a recent drawing in a series I've been working on, movie night, my newest coworker: tired puppy, my new jade plant for my new desk at work, carriage outside work,
beginning stages of the third drawing (with Rose), morning commute.

Lazy River

A lazy river to start the weekend off the right way. 

It might be cold and grey up here in the northeast, but blue skies, calm waters, and balmy air are always in the future.

New Orleans, LA

This Week: List Form

Since I love making lists . . . to-do lists, wish lists, more to-do lists . . . I thought I'd share this week's thoughts in list form.

Missing: Warm sunny weather. I'd really like a sunny beach right now. It's not that it's cold (it really isn't - it was 57 degrees this week) but it's grey, rainy, damp, and dark all the time. The caribbean would be awesome, but I'd be psyched with just Tampa at this point.

Wanting: To take more photos. I think I've been lazy with photo taking recently. I need to get out of the apartment and take more well-lit, interesting photographs. 

Enjoying: Listening to This American Life. I've managed to catch a few really great shows recently - it's been a great running buddy this week.

Needing: To vacuum. But seriously. Well maybe I need a new vacuum - which is a totally lame purchase and NOT at the top of my things-I-want-to-buy list.

Loving: Smoothies for breakfast

Amazing: The new puppy at work. She's a 12 week old collie/german shepherd and she is a ball of cuddly, soft, delightful puppy smell and puppy fur. TOO CUTE. 

Seriously. Best new coworker ever.

Green Smoothie

Our big Christmas gift this year was a bright, shiny red Vitamix blender from my parents. There has barely been a day since Christmas that we haven't used it.

Today's concoction: a tropical green smoothie. The result? A fantastic color and pretty darn delicious.
You don't need a fancy blender for this but it blends it much faster.

Tropical Green Smoothie

Makes enough for 2 pint size cups

2 bananas

1 cup frozen mango

1/2 cup frozen peaches

1 cup rice milk

1/2 cup chopped fresh kale

1 heaping scoop greens powder (I use Garden of Life Super Green formula)

2 TB of maple syrup

1 tsp of vanilla

Blend until smooth and enjoy! 

Happy Monday! He's about as thrilled as I am . . .

Sunday Morning Coffee

A week and two days later and I still can't quite kick this cold (or whatever I have). Maybe my "ignore it, occasionally take Vitamin C, hope it goes away" approach isn't the best plan. Regardless, my lazy, sneezy, cough-filled Sunday morning has been bolstered by this homemade "latte." 

We don't have an espresso maker or a fancy milk steamer, but I can make really strong and delicious organic coffee in the french press, heat milk and use the other french press to froth the milk. Add a little cocoa powder and a dash of cinnamon and . . . a WAY better beverage than anything Starbucks could come up with. I also made a  decaf Chai tea latte for my caffeine intolerant boy. He was delighted. Happy lazy Sunday!