Month of Macro: Caesar Salad

I love Caesar salads- they're so tasty: that perfect combination of crunchy croutons, salty cheese, leafy lettuce and delicious dressing totally hits the spot sometimes! So the other day, when I was craving a salad for lunch, I decided to try my hand at homemade Caesar salad dressing.

Unfortunately, anchovies gross me out, so I tried to find a recipe that didn't include them (though I realize that a real Caesar salad dressing would include a few of those slimy little things). Here's what I ended up using:

I started with a bulb of garlic (taking photos of a recipe with my macro lens sure was an interesting experience, btw).

Then I peeled 6 cloves...

And plopped them in my mini-food processor to mince them.

Once the garlic was minced, I added some grainy mustard...

White vinegar...

And mayonnaise.

Once everything was blended together...

I added olive oil (a bit at a time) and pulsed the processor until everything was mixed.

Finally, I added some salt and pepper to taste...

Before pouring it onto my salad and topping with croutons, Parmesan cheese shavings and more pepper!

This dressing was pretty good; however, it uses a lot of garlic! (If you're a wimp like me, you may want to cut back on the number of cloves that the recipe calls for below.) If you're up for an anchovy free dressing recipe, here it is:

Caesar Salad Dressing

Ingredients:
6 cloves garlic, mashed and minced
1 tablespoon mustard
1 tablespoon white Vinegar
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Directions:
Combine garlic, mustard, vinegar and two pinches of salt in a food processor and mix thoroughly. Add mayonnaise and blend together to form a thick base. In a small amounts, add olive oil through hole in lid, blending thoroughly throughout. Scrape dressing with spatula into a bowl and season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour dressing on top of romaine lettuce, topping with shaved Parmesan cheese and croutons. Finish with a dash of freshly-ground pepper.

So while I still have a bit of work to do to find the perfect Caesar salad dressing to fit my tastes (and no-anchovy preference), this option was a tasty experiment!

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

Month of Macro: Sharpies

We're in the midst of orientation at my job, so my macro photo today was taken at my desk...

Have I mentioned recently how much I love my collection of Sharpies? In fact, I love them so much I keep them in color families on my desk- these are the "warm" ones!

Thanks for visiting- I hope you have a great day!

Month of Macro: Spiky succulent

I know I've mentioned this before, but my brother has a really cool succulent garden at his place in Detroit.

Last time I was in town, he not only hooked me up with some cuttings from his plants, but he also took me to his "Succulent Guy" at the Detroit Eastern Market. (On a side-note, I love visiting the market and highly recommend it if you're in the area!)

The "Succulent Guy" sold me a bunch of plants for $1, and they were all SO cool. However, since I have the opposite of a green thumb, I was pretty convinced that they wouldn't last more than a week in NYC.

Lucky for me, they are all thriving!

And this weird little guy (I have no idea what he is) has been a blast to photograph with my new lens!

I can't wait until he gets even bigger (if I can keep him alive for that long)!

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

Month of Macro: Blackberries

Over the weekend, my grocer had a big sale on blackberries ($1 per half pint).

The berries were really lovely...

And I couldn't resist picking up a couple pints.

Plus, they were huge- check this out!

Once I got the berries home, I washed them and attempted a project I've been wanting to try for a while.

This little project used some of my favorite spices, including whole cinnamon sticks.

Unfortunately, I won't know if this project worked for over a month (per the recipe, believe it or not)!

If everything turns out, I'll make sure to share the outcome of this project in a few weeks... and in the meantime, I'll just do my best to be patient (which is not my best quality!)

Thanks for stopping by- I hope you're enjoying your Labor Day weekend!

Month of Macro: Day 2

My month of macro isn't off to the best start (sorry- we're in the midst of orientation at work... so while it is a really fun time of year, it is also very busy). However, I did manage to snap a couple of photos on my way home from work recently.

These flags (American and Greek) fly outside a retirement community center in my neighborhood...

And they make for pretty decent photo-ops after dark!

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

Month of Macro: Day 1

Earlier this summer, I splurged on a little "camera candy."

Isn't it pretty? It can take normal photos like this...

(Yes- I love Shirley Temples!)

But that amazing lens can also to this:

And this:

Wowza, right?

Unfortunately, I'm not using this amazing lens nearly as much as I'd like! Therefore, I'm going to challenge myself to use it every day this month... and I'm going to share those photos right here on this blog. I'll still use my other lenses here and there, but for the most part it'll be this amazing beauty for the next four weeks. So get ready friends, this is my Month of Macro- make sure to stop by throughout September to see how I do!

Thanks for visiting- I hope you have a great day!

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!