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!

Branches and Berries

This was the best I could do in terms of getting our apartment into the holiday spirit, since I'm not spending Christmas in New York. Beautiful branches bedecked with bright berries, some evergreen accents, white mums, daisies, roses, and Queen Anne's lace. The green and white bits are from a Trader Joe's bouquet I deconstructed.






Also, an oak branch, some pears from the ever-diminishing farmer's market, and a Virgen de Guadalupe candle we got at Rite Aide to play cards by.

Central Park in November

There has been some apologizing going on for the state of autumn in Manhattan this year…“we skipped fall,” “leaves are really better upstate,” etc. I refuse to accept this! After having been constantly told that the fall I experience in California isn’t fall at all*, I want some legit leaf action! I’ve been (a little obsessively) checking the Current Foliage Report on the official I ♥ NY website, and it told me that this week is supposed to be the real deal. To Central Park!

(*Disclaimer: lots of leaves turn spectacularly red and orange and gold in the Bay Area, so I'm not entirely sure what those West Coast complainers are on about. That said, the East Coast is doing a pretty good job of fall.)

Spot the Devin!

There's some give and take--spectacular leaves in exchange for daylight. New York is considerably further north than Silicon Valley, so after the time change it's already pitch black at 5 PM, and it can only get darker. This is making us treasure each fleeting hour of sunlight all the more.