endings and beginnings

So, it has been a little quiet around here lately.

Totally silent, in fact.

Do you ever have those weeks (or months, as the case may be) where everything just happens all at the same time?  Well, that happened to me about a month ago.  In a span of about three weeks, I volunteered to make all of the flowers for my best friend's wedding (more on that next post!), applied for a job, interviewed on the phone and in person, completed an application project, and stayed up to all hours of the night making the wedding flowers.  After many hot glue gun burns, occasional cursing, a lot of help from my mom, and a lot of tea, the flowers were finished and my mom and I went careening down the highway to Pennsylvania to deliver them.  

We had to pull over so that I could take a call, and somewhere on the side of the road in Pennsylvania, I accepted a job offer!  Then, after some cheering and lots of hugs, my mom and I were back on the road.  The flowers arrived intact, my best friend and her now-husband and I played Mario Party, and I collapsed on their couch and slept the sleep of the totally exhausted.  The wedding was wonderful-- but that deserves its own post.

 

On my last day at my previous job, my coworkers threw a going-away tea party!  It was so thoughtful and sweet and I was absolutely blown away by the amount of effort that went into making this celebration happen.  

 

One of my coworkers' husbands has a catering side business, and he made the most delicious cucumber and watercress tea sandwiches, as well as radish and cream cheese sandwiches and tiny peanut butter and honey sandwiches!  

 

Another coworker, Lindsay, made mini-cupcakes!  My friend Stephanie spear-headed the party planning and she knows how much I love miniature foods-- I think tiny foods are so cute!  Steph knows me so well.   

 

Of course, there were teacups and doilies and lots of varieties of tea to choose from.  

My coworkers also presented me with a beautiful bouquet of white roses and blue hydrangeas-- my favorite flower!  

I was absolutely floored by the wonderful send-off from my coworkers.  In case any of you guys stumble across this, thank you so much!  I still smile every time I remember this incredible party.

As for my new job, well... I absolutely love it.  I wake up every day excited to go to work and contribute to the amazing team that I am lucky enough to be part of.  I have been in my new position for almost a month-- I can't believe how quickly the time is flying by!  

One last little note-- as you may have noticed, I've redesigned my blog!  I'd love to hear any comments about the new look!

What's new with you?  Any exciting news in your life recently?

♥

strawberry basil scones

 

Hi friends!  Today I’d like to share recent baking success: Strawberry Basil Scones.

I adapted the recipe from this one, featured on Happyolks (which is a wonderfully sincere and very enjoyable blog! Definitely go check it out.  And their video for this recipe is adorable.)

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups flour

2 Tbsp packed brown sugar

1 Tbsp baking powder

A pinch of freshly ground sea salt

½ cup cold butter, cut into chunks (leave this in the fridge until you’re ready to use it!)

1 ½ cups fresh strawberries, cut into small pieces

4 Tbsp minced basil (or more, if you would like your scones on the zesty side)

½ cup milk

2 eggs

1 Tbsp white sugar

Preheat oven to 400° F.  In a large mixing bowl, mix the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and sea salt.  Cut in the chunks of butter using a pastry blending tool or your fingers.  Add in strawberries and basil.  In a small bowl, mix eggs and milk.  Add to flour mixture and stir together until the dough is uniformly mixed.  You might have to use your hands to get all of the flour incorporated with the egg and milk mixture. 

 

Put the mixture onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet.  Press it into a 1” thick circle.  Cut the circle into wedges—I cut mine into 8 wedges, but they were pretty big, so I’ll probably cut the circle into 12 wedges next time.  Brush the top with a bit more milk and sprinkle the white sugar on top.  Pop the whole thing into the freezer for 15 minutes, then bake for 20-25 minutes. (Check your scones after 20 minutes—my oven is a little on the slower side).  You can tell the scones are finished baking when a knife inserted near the center comes out clean, and the top of the scones looks matte, not shiny.

These are especially delicious warm with a bit of butter!  They can stay at room temperature for about a day in a covered dish.  After that, they should be refrigerated.  These scones also freeze very nicely, and can be thawed and warmed up for a sweet, summery snack at a moment's notice.

I hope you're having a lovely week so far!

♥

nutella swirl banana bread

Today I'd like to share a successful baking experiment:  Nutella Swirl Banana Bread!  It's sweet without being cloying, and it is super-easy to make.  The prep time is literally ten minutes.

I based this recipe off my mom's delicious banana bread recipe, which she adapted from a cookbook put out by the Montessori school where my brother and I went to preschool.  I love the thought of passing my own version of one of my family's favorites along to you!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

a pinch of salt

3/4 cup sugar

3 tsp. cinnamon (or, if you don't feel like measuring it out, a few generous shakes)

1 tsp nutmeg (not in a measuring mood?  one good shake ought to be about right.)

2 Tbsp. butter

2 eggs

2 bananas

3 generous spoonfuls of Nutella

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mix together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

3. In another bowl, mix together the sugar, eggs, and butter. (To be perfectly honest, sometimes I just mix them in with the dry ingredients right off the bat.  It doesn't seem to do any harm.)

4. Mash the bananas and add them to the sugar, eggs and butter.

5. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together.

6. Pour the batter into a greased and floured loaf pan.

7. Warm three generous spoonfuls of Nutella in a microwave or a saucepan-- don't boil it, you just want it to be warm enough to be easily stirred, about the consistency of hot fudge.

8. Drizzle the Nutella over the batter in the pan, then use a knife or a silicone spatula to marble it throughout the top layer of bread batter.

9. Bake for 50 minutes-- my oven is generally a little slow, so I had to leave my banana bread in for a little longer.  You'll know it's done when a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.  

10. After the bread cools (for as long as you can stand waiting), run a knife around the edge of the loaf pan to easily pop the banana bread out.  

11. Enjoy! 

I hope you enjoy this delicious treat!  It's so exciting when an experiment turns out well.

What's baking in your kitchen lately?

♥

rosemary bread

I mentioned in this week's Much Love Monday post that I was feeling the urge to bake some bread...

gathering the ingredients

...so I did!

I used this recipe for rosemary bread, with a few adaptations-- for instance, I omitted the corn meal because a) I don't like the texture and b) I didn't have any.  So that worked out well.

mixing, mixing, mixing

I also used about twice the amount of rosemary than the recipe calls for-- some for mixing into the dough, and some to sprinkle on top.

waiting for the dough to rise...

I'm so pleased with how the bread turned out!  It was cold and chilly outside, and the baking bread filled the house with such a warm, comforting scent.

the crust came out nice and chewy, and the inside was perfectly soft.

I hope you're having a wonderful, cozy afternoon on this autumn day!

♥

snippets

dewy spiderweb-- this ivy is gone now, it was cut a few days after I took this picture.  I hope the little guy or girl who made this beautiful structure has found a new home and is enjoying redecorating!

snuggly cats.  Aww.

Hydrangeas are one of my favorite flowers-- I love the soft cream and pink of this one!

Zucchini bread made from our garden zucchini.

The park fountain.

♥

blueberry breakfast

Yesterday morning...

...we made blueberry muffins for breakfast.

such a delicious start to the day!
♥

graduation part two!

♥Just a few more snaps from the day of graduation♥

cute bike plates on the Jane Hotel bicycles

graduation day breakfast at the Jane's lovely Café Gitane-- mmm!

hot chocolate with the café's logo in cocoa-- so cute and sooo delicious

pretty embossed wallpaper in the stairwell-- I love little touches like this!

the beautiful corsage my mom gave me to wear during the ceremony, and my decorated cap

Thank you so much for all the graduation well-wishes, everyone, and thank you so much for joining me on the past four years and into the future.  Your support and kind words mean so much to me.

Now, on to the next adventure!

♥

'tis the season...

♥

...for peppermint hot chocolate!  I'm usually more of an independently-owned-café kind of girl, but the peppermint hot chocolate from Starbucks is by far my favorite holiday-themed treat.

pumpkin treats were fun, but now it's time for my favorite flavoring.  yesssss!

what's your favorite holiday-themed treat?

♥

from the weekend

Hi lovelies!  As I mentioned, my wonderful mom came to the city for a long weekend.  It was so much fun!  We met up with my super-fantastically-awesome cousin Kaleigh for some of our wandering around on Friday...

...and here are a few of the things we encountered.

adorable sign for a store that I always mean to go in but somehow never d0... note to self: go into store when next in the West Village.

view from the High Line

hummus, falafel, and pitas from Hummus Place- my mom and I both opted for the hummus with mushrooms.  which is incredibly delicious.

angry robot building-topper guy!  grrrr!

pretty color-arranged music books at the Julliard bookstore

It was so great to have some family time.  I can't wait to see my mom and Kaleigh again.  Yay!

♥

shortcut to mushrooms

We found my very favorite kind of mushroom yesterday!  So, so delicious.

♥

my idea of a super bowl post

I don't know the first thing about sports, especially football.  But if, for some strange reason, I ever have a super bowl party, I will absolutely make these adorable little sandwiches for it.  Which will thrill everyone who is trying to watch football while I keep distracting them with cute little sandwiches, I'm sure.

sandwich cutters and stamps from here

edit:  These are now on their way to me.  I swear, I don't know how it happened.  I'll just think of them as my reward for not buying anything at Anthropologie yesterday despite lots of post-holiday sales (hidden talent:  purchase rationalization and justification!).

happy birthday dad!

It's my Dad's birthday today!  He's the best best best Dad ever.

Love you Dad!

photo credits will be added later in the week