Sunday, January 29, 2012

Custard Quest


Shake Shack, our replacement In-N-Out Burger, has a rotating "Frozen Custard of the Day" schedule that varies by month. Today was the last Saturday that their Salted Caramel flavor was available, which Devin and I are both mildly obsessed with, so we took a walk through a (comparatively) warm Central Park down to 77th Street.

The park looks incredibly different from last weekend, when everything was coated in snow! It was truly magical to walk through all that fluffy frozen stuff, blue shadows of trees and lamposts striping the surface of the white world. However, all that water has rejuvenated the grass, which is now tentatively green. And the leafless winter trees make you realize that the park really is smack dab in the middle of a big city. No canopy of green to mask the buildings.

But look!

A hawk! Besides this big fella, we saw bluejays, fat little brown finches, cardinals, and bunches of plump squirrels.

When you're on a quest, it's a good idea to survey the landscape from a lofty vantage point.

Ducks in the now thawed Pool, paddling through branches and clouds.

Today's high was 45 degrees F, which is warmer than usual. I just needed fleece tights, shearling-lined boots, a dress, a sweater, a faux-fur trimmed knitted coat, a white stole, and a woolen hat with ear flaps, that's all.




This hat belonged to my mom, back when she lived in Oregon and went skiing regularly. It's toasty, and the ear flaps have llamas on them!





Blue sky! Thank goodness.


And our final prize: The super amazing Salted Caramel frozen custard. It may not look that impressive, but it's delicious! Buttery, caramely, creamy, and...you guessed it...salty. The salt is actually the best part about it. Try baking chocolate chip cookies without any salt, and you'll realize how important it is in emphasizing the sweetness. Actually, don't do that, because then you'll end up with a batch sup-par cookies. Just take my word for it.

Mission accomplished!

Saturday, January 28, 2012

In and Out of Doors

My last Instagram post. These were taken last week, when it looked like spring inside my apartment and winter outside of it.

Pink hyacinths on the table.

Berries buried in banks of snow.

Detail of my bedside table.

Detail of rocks on Central Park West.
Branches inside.

Branches outside.

Laura indoors.

Laura outdoors.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Riverside Park in January

We're back in Manhattan! And it is cold. Apparently it wasn't this frigid until we arrived from sunny California. Oh well, it's been interesting learning to layer as many items of clothing as possible on top of each other, and then reverse the process once returning indoors. I left my camera's charger 3,000 miles away, so I decided to start playing around with Instagram for the time being. Here we have Riverside Park at dusk, after a slight thaw.


















Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Just Like the Fambly Cat

Some family time before I headed back East. Here's my parent's back yard, my little brother (who isn't so little anymore), our rabbit Ishi, and our childhood cat, Whiskers!



A California backyard in winter = a rampage of citrus. Navel oranges and Meyer lemons!



This picture pretty much sums up our relationship.

Bunny! So soft!

What a good kitty.




I'm going to miss you guys!