Chelsea Market Picnic

Last weekend, in the midsts of a heat wave, we subwayed down to the Chelsea Market with some friends. Above are our spoils: Fresh baguettes, melty cheese from Buon Italia, red raspberries, and sparkling apple cider.

After wandering around the indoor market, we made our way to the High Line, where the sun looked like this. The High Line is an old elevated freight train track that's been transformed into a pedestrian pathway, complete with restaurants, benches, plants, trees, and fountains.

Free bread from the Chelsea Market! The stand was closing for the day, and giving away the unsold loaves. My brain switched into angry mob mode and I grabbed a bunch.

Amy's Bread, you were good to us!

Devin soaking up some sun.

I smeared the cheese on the whole wheat baguette and topped it with berries. Perfect picnic fare.

Plus this.

One of our friend's white baguette and gouda cheese.

The view of the bay from our spot.

Our other friend's baguette and double-cream brie!

Post-picnic, seeking some shade.

Street view.

Timetravel Vacation Part II

Another blast from the not-so-distant past, when bare legs were a viable option: I bring you the San José Rose Garden in very early August 2011! It's won some prizes. Kinda a big deal in the world of rose gardens.

Summertime Flashback

I'm slowly coming to terms with the fact that seasons obey the calendar year here. Leaves and flowers aren't going to appear on trees until early April, whereas in California trees have been blossoming and leafing since January. In lieu of the realization that spring isn't going to happen until it's actually spring, I thought I'd share some photos from July in California. I'm not going to be going anywhere warm for Spring Break in a few weeks, so this will be my pretend vacation through space and time. These were taken seven months ago at the Elizabeth Gamble Garden in Palo Alto.

House (or Apartment) into Home

So many antioxidants it makes my head spin! Late summer when stone fruit and berries collide is definitely my favorite fruit-season.

I've discovered that there are three (inanimate) ingredients that make me feel at home, no matter where that home might be. Flowers, fruit, and food! Today we did some serious, for-real grocery shopping at Trader Joe's on 72nd Street, which I am madly in love with. I already adored TJ's, but its prices are so much lower and quality so much higher than anything else in the neighborhood that I've become a little obsessed with it. And then later, I cooked my first real dinner in the apartment! I'd previously made a few things here and there (oatmeal, scrambled eggs, tuna salad), but not an actual meal.

On the menu: Indian Summer Frittata with corn, bell pepper, jalapeño, kalamata olives, tomatoes, and basil, homemade guacamole, tortilla chips, salsa, and August Fruit Crumble with plums, figs, black cherries, and strawberries. The frittata was so good we both had seconds...and it has so many seasonal veggies! (Frittata and crumble from Mollie Katzen's "Still Life with Menu.")


I love how the interior of a ripe fig looks like an amethyst geode or a crystal cavern.

Add some sunset-colored snapdragons, and I'm set.