Radish and Sugar snap pea slaw

Recently Nick and I took the car out for a drive to see more of Brooklyn and hit up the Greenmarket and the BKLYN Flea. I've been to both and enjoyed myself before but there is something really glorious about seeing that big empty space in the back of the car, knowing we can fill it to the gills with goodies without having to fight weekend subway lags not to mention the crowds.

We picked up some beautiful treats including delicious cheese from a Hudson Valley monger. Regretfully it was our first stop so we had to pass on the Stoneyfield Farms booth including the glass-jug containers the locals were clanking patiently in line while waiting for a refill. I'm loyal to soy-milk but if anything could persuade me it would be those weekly refills!

Other awesome sights were mounds of carrots and radishes, raw crates of asparagus, hand milled bread:

Love this crate, and one of the many flower details of the day,

Yellow oyster mushrooms, folksy hipster bands and the babies who love them, and a cute unnamed bar with Etsy banners abounding mid-way. I picked up my b-day gift from Nick after this stop...

A new bike! I can't believe we did not get a pic of the big event because my smile was as big as the moon that day and I've been enjoying it ever since.

We capped the night off with sauteed oyster, baby bella, and shiitake mushroom, lemon thyme and fresh cheese on baked-that-day bread with a radish and snap pea slaw:

I don't know if it tasted better because we had hand-picked the ingredients from local farms, but this was one of the best takes on pizzas we've had in ages. And the freshness of the slaw...

Oh boy it was good. It even looks radiant, doesn't it? The recipe follows at the end, you'rewelcomeverymuch. Hope you've been enjoying the early summer days as well! xN

Thinly slice 1 red onion and 1 bunch radishes. Soak in ice water, 5 minutes; drain and pat dry. Whisk 4 teaspoons rice vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon each dijon mustard and sugar in a bowl. Whisk in 2 tablespoons vegetable oil and 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil. Add 8 ounces thinly sliced snow peas, the onion and radishes. Season with salt

Happy Birthday Liza

Oh man if only I could, I'd buy this lady the biggest Freez possible. Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sweet Pea

I am obsessed with French Bull dogs. There are two who live in our neighborhood that make me squeal like a teenage girl at a Bieber concert every time I see them. Three sounds like a lot of dog to wrangle but if we ever make the move out of the city, you better believe little Sweet Pea will be joining our clan. Yes that is her name, short for Petunia.

When I saw this video this morning my heart broke a little. I just wanted to yell: Help it!


And also because of the little squeaks at about the 40 second mark... I feel like a bit of a cliche writing about flowers, puppies, and love... at least it beats writing about how unhappy I am in my job right now! Enjoy the squeaks! xN

Sweet smell of love

Things I love this spring-y Wednesday morning:

Waking up to fresh peonies

Stuffing my face in one of them to absorb some of the gorgeous scent and color

Muffin cups in pastel pink and blue

And the homemade oatmeal chocolate chip muffins for breakfast that follow.

Have a delicious day! xN

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter or margarine 

3/4 cup packed brown sugar 

1 egg 

1 cup all-purpose flour 

1 teaspoon baking powder 

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt 

3/4 cup applesauce 

1 cup rolled oats 

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg. Combine

dry ingredients; add alternately with applesauce to the creamed

mixture. Stir in oats and chips. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin

tins 3/4 full. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes.

Finer fruits

New York Botanic Garden Library (c) Repaperie

Some delicious spring reading, Thoreau's Walden:
Most men, even in this comparatively free country, through mere ignorance and mistake, are so occupied with the factitious cares and superfluously coarse labors of life that its finer fruits cannot be plucked by them. Their fingers, from excessive toil, are too clumsy and tremble too much for that. Actually, the laboring man has no leisure for a true integrity day by day; he cannot afford to sustain the manliest relations to men; his labor would be depreciated in the market. He has no time to be anything but a machine. How can he remember well his ignorance - which his growth requires - who has so often to use his knowledge? We should feed and clothe him gratuitously sometimes, and recruit him with our cordials, before we judge of him. The finest qualities of our nature, like the bloom of fruits, can be preserved only by the most delicate handling. Yet we do not treat ourselves nor one another thus tenderly.

Washington vacation rentals

Words to live by! Don't you want to curl up in this room and read all day? I do! Treat yourself tenderly today, especially in this rainy weather. xN

She smelled of daisies

Hello all!

It's been.... intense. Somewhere in the middle of it all I had a birthday and I can't thank you all enough for making me feel so special :-) You are the best. I took a week off from posting following it all to get a grip on my health, sanity, and peace of mind and I can happily report I am doing just fine.

Apologies for leaving you in a lurch but to make up for it, here are some beautiful tunes care of my older brother who is safely back in Sydney after a much-too-quick trip. This is Angus and Julia Stone, the brother and sister duo whose lyrical folk rock romantic tunes make me swoon. Enjoy:
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During my week of no-posting,  I received some beautiful flowers

fell in love with this tree all over again (this is an un-doctored pic!)

and ate some delicious treats... among many other things.

Hope you have all been enjoying this spring as much as I have! xN

Thank you!

You guys! This has been an incredibly trying past two weeks, and will probably continue to be for the next week... but during this madness my 29th bday came and went and I just wanted to say, from the very bottom of this old heart...THANK YOU.

My bff in Boston sent me the sweetest lil book of friendship that brought me tears (I am the QUEEN of sap ... but if you are reading this blog, you probably already know this!) and I wanted to share something wonderful I read:

There are people who take the heart out of you, and there are people who put it back. --Elizabeth David

If you are in a good mindspace that line may not mean much to me, but after such an emotionally grueling week, it meant EVERYTHING. Thank you all so much for giving me back my heart. My dear friends are few and far between but what each of you means to me I could never summarize in work. That goes double for my family and my dear sweet Nick... that man has the patience of a saint. Smooches. xn