Merry Christmas!

Wishing you and yours a very merry Christmas!  These digital SLR images are from Christmas 2010 (featuring our Philly condo windowsills that I still miss).

 

December 2010

In just a few days we’ll be heading to my parents’ house in New Jersey for Christmas.  I’m definitely looking forward to a few days away and having some time to recharge before 2013.  These are some of my favorite digital SLR images from December 2010 in NJ.  I’m hoping for a little snow before we say good-bye to 2012.

We belong to each other.

It has been difficult for me to fully process the horror of what happened in Newtown, Connecticut this past Friday.  I think of those innocent children, only six- and seven-years-old, and of the teachers and administrators who lost their lives trying to protect their students, and all I can think is “why.”  Such senseless loss of life. 

It is hard to accept that one human being could do this to another.  I keep asking myself: How does this happen?  What can we do to prevent this from happening again?  In the days following the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School, I came across this quote by Mother Teresa.  It has stayed with me.

Snaps: Christmas in our NYC Apartment

I can hardly believe that Christmas is less than two weeks away...  I love this festive time of year, and although our New York City apartment doesn’t have the space for too much in terms of Christmas decorations (makes me miss our Philly windowsills – to be revisited in a future post!), I still like putting a little bit of the holiday touch in our living space.  These are a few Instagram snaps of some bits of Christmas in our daily lives.

From top: (1) Christmas tree coffee cup, (2) first gift wrap of Christmas 2012, (3) our pile of Christmas ornaments, sans tree, (4) blurred twinkle lights

On the Menu | 2

I’m in full-on Christmas mode (Christmas music, twinkle lights, evergreen candles...), but somehow found myself putting together a menu that felt more appropriate for summer or fall than winter.  I only discovered kale a few years ago, but it’s now one of my favorite vegetables (a flash sauté in very hot olive oil, finish with lemon juice and a dash of sea salt – delicious!).  I’ve made spaghetti with braised kale (recipe via Bon Appetit) several times, so I’m sure to like the spaghetti with kale and lemon recipe I’ve linked to below.

Sources:

(1) cava sangria

(2) clams in a light fennel & shallot broth

(3) spaghetti with kale & lemon

(4) fried donuts  

Snaps: ABV

Recently, our good friends introduced us to this great little place called ABV on the Upper East Side (97th and Lexington).  Delicious food, good drinks, cool and relaxed vibe... my kind of place.  Here are a few iPhone snaps from our leisurely meal at the bar at ABV. 

Above: edited with VSCO Cam and Snapseed

Some food recs - everything we got was terrific: kirby (cucumber) kimchi, super fries (topped with caramelized onions & dik dik sauce), fish tacos, fall gnocchi (I think this was my favorite of the night), and for dessert – pot de crème (fruition chocolate, Turkish coffee, & charred fluff).

Recipe Files: Bon Appetit’s Oven-Roasted Flounder with Bok Choy, Cilantro, and Lime

This recipe is from the “Fast, Easy, Fresh” section of the Decmeber 2012 issue of Bon Appetit magazine.  The preparation is really straightforward, and the end result incredibly delicious. The sauce alone – soy sauce, rice vinegar, lime juice, scallion, ginger, and cilantro (with some vegetable oil whisked in) – was just amazing.  I will definitely be making this flounder dish again.  Click here for the recipe on Bon Appetit’s website.

iPhone photo edited with Snapseed