The month in pictures... August 2011

I had so much fun making the photo collages in yesterday's post that I decided to make another one for today! So here are some photos from August 2011!

Thanks for stopping by- I hope you have a great day!

Museum Fridays: A summer in review

Like most people, I started my summer with a plan. You see, I live in one of the most interesting places in the world, and yet because of my awesome job (which I love), I don't often have the time to take advantage of all that NYC has to offer. So this summer, when my office closed for several Fridays in a row, I decided to use that time away from my desk to enjoy a little more of the city... and I decided to have Museum Fridays. The goal was this: I would take the Fridays when I would normally be at work and visit a museum in NYC that I hadn't seen before. It was a really simple idea, and yet it was SO much fun! Not only was I learning all sorts of new information, but I was able to enjoy my local museums without the normal weekend rush that I would encounter while visiting on my 'normal' days away from work (Saturday and Sunday). Now that my summer has drawn to a close, I'll admit that Museum Fridays didn't last nearly as long as I would have liked, but it was a great excuse to get out and explore my town! So today, I thought I'd share a quick overview of my photos from Museum Fridays: Summer 2011, and encourage you to check out any of these awesome museums next time you're in NYC!

I started my Museum Fridays with a visit to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. I had a blast wandering around the deck of the humongous ship checking out all the different aircraft on display. (In case you missed it earlier this summer, you can read more about my visit to the Intrepid here, here, here and here.)

Next on my calendar was my visit to the New York City Tenement Museum. This museum couldn't have been more different from the Intrepid, but it was still a lot of fun. Plus, I learned so much history about immigrant life in NYC! (While I couldn't take pictures inside the museum, you can read about my visit on this post.)

After a couple of vacation weeks, I returned to NYC and made my first trek to the NYC Transit Museum. Even though I had to schlep all the way to Brooklyn to tour an un-air-conditioned museum, this was still one of my favorite stops of the summer. From the amazing variety of subway train cars to the history of this fair city's transit, this hands-on museum is a treat! (If you'd like to check it out again, you can visit this, this and this post.)

Later on in the summer, I visited the Cloisters. I cheated a little bit on this visit as I had travelled up to the Cloisters several years back... however, since my brother was in town I made an exception and took him (on the hottest day of the summer, no less) to visit this beautiful museum of Medieval art. I think the Cloisters are a real 'gem' here in NYC, and I was happy to have the opportunity to share them with my bro! (Feel free to check out my posts on our visit to the Cloisters here and here.)

With only a couple of Fridays left in my summer, I stopped by the American Folk Art Museum for their exhibit on quilts. It was a stunning example of handmade, practical 'art', and I took a ton of pictures. However, I must say that this museum is likely to close soon (due to financial difficulties), so if you're hoping to visit it you should go sooner rather than later!

(I blogged about these beautiful quilts here.)

And in my last Museum Friday, I visited the Museum of the Moving Image. I had an absolute blast wandering around this interesting (and interactive) museum, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes movies or television. (You can read more about this super fun museum- and even see the fastest stop motion video ever- here and here.)

Thanks for joining me in my review of Museum Fridays. I had so much fun this summer- and I'm already making a list of the museums I want to visit next year!

Oh, and many thanks to everyone for their kinds notes yesterday- we consider ourselves so lucky here in NYC to have gotten through the hurricane without any damage! So thanks to everyone who was thinking and praying for us out here on the east coast... we appreciate it a great deal!

Thanks for stopping by- I hope you have a great day!

Goodnight, Irene

We had some interesting weather on the east coast this weekend! Hurricane Irene (which was later downgraded to Tropical Storm Irene) barreled her way up the coast, and since we don't often get such severe weather in NYC, it was a big deal!

All transit was shut down for the weekend, and I (like most New Yorkers) spent the days holed up inside our apartments periodically checking the news to see what the storm was up to.

In my neighborhood the storm started with lots of rain...

So much rain, in fact, that my backyard started to flood.

But I am happy to report that this little bit of flooding was all the storm did to affect me. Considering the damage it caused in other parts of the city, I am a very lucky lady!

Thank you for stopping by- I hope you had a nice weekend!

Not quite QD... but still a great quality!

In my hometown there is a chain of convenience stores called Quality Dairy. In addition to selling their own brand of milk, ice cream, and all sorts of other necessities, they bake the most delicious chocolate chip cookies.

 

I've loved QD's cookies since I was a little girl- they're big, soft, and they melt in your mouth! (Not to mention that they only cost 29 cents a piece... what a deal!) Unfortunately, since I moved away from home over a decade ago, I don't get to enjoy these cookies nearly as often as I'd like. So the other day I came across a recipe online, and the photos looked just like the cookies I remember from home! So as soon as I could, I retreated to my kitchen to see if the cookies tasted as "QD-like" as they looked online!

I'll be perfectly honest- the cookies don't taste anything like QD... but that doesn't mean they weren't delicious!!!

Plus- look how nice they look all stacked up!

The ingredients were pretty basic (I'm really on a kick with that these days!).

I started by melting the butter...

Then I creamed it with two types of sugar...

Before adding the eggs and vanilla.

Meanwhile on a piece of wax paper I measured out some flour, salt and baking powder.

I then added it to the mixing bowl...

Before dumping in some mini-chocolate chips.

Once the dough was finished, I was ready to get it on the cookie tray.

The directions for this particular recipe said that I should measure out a half-cup of dough and role it into a ball.

Then I pulled the dough-ball in half and placed each half on the cookie sheet, with the un-smooth side facing up.

Since the dough-clumps were going to back into large cookies, I made sure to give them plenty of space on the sheet.

And after about 15 minutes in the oven, the cookies were finished.

Aren't they pretty? I love the way the un-smooth top of the dough baked into a crackly-domed cookie.

And the texture of the cookies was really nice too- very chewy and rich!

So while these weren't the QD cookies I was hoping for, they were still great!

If you'd like to try this recipe someday, here it is:

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe from Brown Eyed Baker, originally from Baking Illustrated

Ingredients:
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) butter, melted and cooled to warm
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1- 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (adjust to taste)

Directions:
Place an oven rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl (or on a piece of waxed paper), and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and both sugars until thoroughly combined. Beat in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla, mixing until well incorporated. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the dry ingredients, and beat only until just combined. Stir in the desired amount of chocolate chips. Measure 1/2 cup of the dough, and roll into a ball. Carefully split the ball of cookie dough in half with your fingers. Place the dough halves on the prepared baking sheets, with the torn edges facing up. Space the dough halves about 2 1/2 inches apart, to allow room for spreading during baking. Bake the cookies in the oven until they are light brown and the edges begin to become just crisp, about 15 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through the baking time. Allow the cookies to cool completely on the baking sheet before removing.

Thanks for stopping by- I hope you have a great weekend!

Shutter surprise!

The other day, I received a slew of Nikon items. My co-workers parents know that I love taking photographs, so when they wanted to get rid of their old film cameras, they gave them to me!

The stash included a camera from the 1970s...

Another from the mid-1990's...

A flash and an additional lens!

As you can imagine, I was beyond thrilled to receive all of these fun "toys!"

After such a wonderful treat, I wanted to make sure that I thanked my co-workers parents appropriately. I think a personalized thank-you note is the best way to convey appreciation when someone gives a thoughtful gift like this. So I put my thinking cap on, used just the materials I had in my craft stash, and created this accordion thank-you note.

I started with some of the most interesting/diverse black and white photos I've taken in the last 6 months. I thought a thank-you note referencing my love of photography would be appropriate in this situation, right?

Then I got to planning. I wanted to use a bunch of photos, but I also didn't want to spend a mint on printing specialty sizes. So I based my "design" on the idea that I'd crop (by hand) each of my 4x6 photos down to a 4x4 square. I also limited my plan to the 8.5x11" black card stock that I had in my stash... and in the end, here's what I came up with:

(I don't always plan out my projects on paper, but when I do I'm reminded how nice it is to not waste my materials on foolish ideas or mis-measured photos.)

And since this project needed to really say "thanks," I made little vellum letters for each photo in the accordion. Having worked at a scrapbook store in college, I'm pretty particular when it comes to using vellum, and I really don't like it when you can see the adhesive through the vellum (and I think even the special vellum adhesive is visible sometimes). So I thought I'd use folded pieces of vellum; that way, the folded piece of vellum could be adhered behind the photo without compromising the vellum. Of course I didn't have any sheets of vellum in my craft stash, so I just used a vellum envelope I had lying around. I used a 1" square craft punch and carefully punched my squares along the edge of the envelope to create little tents. Then I used a large calligraphy pen to spell the phrase "thank you" onto the vellum pieces.

Once the vellum had dried, I glued each piece to the back of the photos and adhered the photos to the black paper accordion I had created.

And in a few minutes, my card was practically finished!

I took the extra step of gluing a piece of ribbon on the back of the card (as a pretty closure)...

And added a special note of "thanks" scribbled over the last photo in the accordion.

I think this special card was the perfect way to thank my co-workers parents for my new (yet old) cameras! I especially think the accordion design would be fun for all sorts of projects, and I can't wait to try it again!

Thanks for stopping by- I hope you have a great day!

CHOPPED!

I must admit: in the summer I tend to get spoiled with the variety of fresh, local vegetables available at the grocery store and I don't take advantage of the produce while it's available and cheap!

So this weekend, I rectified that by making a big bowl of Chopped Salad!

When I lived outside of Chicago, there was a local restaurant that made the best chopped salad. (My mom will vouch for me on this, because she loved going to Gullivers when she visited me and she almost always ordered the chopped salad!) And ever since that amazing place, I've loved chopped salads.

I think the chopped salad is a pretty incredible invention. Not only can it combine a huge variety of ingredients, but the small pieces ensure that every bite is delicious! And with all the incredible veggies available this time of year, I couldn't resist making one! So for my chopped salad, I grabbed some of my favorite vegetables from my fridge (along with the non-veggies: bacon and cheese).

After everything was washed (and the bacon was cooking) I got to chopping. This isn't necessarily the fastest meal to make, since it requires a lot of knife skills (which I don't posses), but the extra time spent at the cutting board is totally worth it!

After I was done peeling/chopping my various veggies, I had a bowl full of tasty 'bits.'

And with a quick stir, everything was incorporated!

So I served up a small bowl of veggies...

And topped it with bits of bacon and tiny cubes of cheese. (I know- a real chopped salad would have the bacon and cheese mixed into the salad... but since I wanted to veggies to keep in the fridge for another meal, I decided to add these 'extras' later.)

After the salad was ready to go, I turned my attention to the dressing. I've recently stumbled upon a great ration for my balsamic/honey vinaigrette (see photo below), and while it may not suit everyone's taste, I just love it! (I could also just be in love with the AWESOME fig balsamic vinegar I have... it's to die for!)

Since I'm old-school, I added all the vinaigrette ingredients to a canning jar and shook it until it was combined...

Before spooning it on top of my chopped salad.

And that my friends...

Is how you make the most delicious chopped salad!

(Looks good, right? I love that every bit can include so many different things!)

The only bad thing about chopped salads? They're gone way too quickly!

Thanks for stopping by- I hope you have a great day!