Random Pictures

Greenwich Village

Subway tiles

The great lawn in Central Park

In Rockafeller Plaza

Columbus Circle

Other side of Columbus Circle

Central Park

SouthWest corner of Central Park

Hurricane Irene

It's been a busy week, so I'll do multiple posts to stay updated.

Last weekend, New York was preparing for hurricane Irene. It would be accurate to say, most people I came across were freaking out a little bit, as this part of the country really doesn't deal with hurricanes much and didn't know what to expect/ do to prepare.

Ariel flew up to ride out the storm with me because 1) She didn't want me and the girls to be alone and 2) She's not so secretly a wannabe storm chaser.

Ariel enjoying the storm... 

We put some cardboard on the windows just in case the glass broke for some reason. I wasn't expecting the  storm of the century or anything, but I did expect some power outages and flooding. Areas of Manhattan and Brooklyn that were directly on the water were evacuated, but luckily I don't fall into that group and was able to ride it out inside my apartment as the storm came through Sunday.

The wind is definitely a different experience up here on the 5th floor. It's louder and sways the building a little, but all bark and no bite as far as damage in the neighborhood. Some parts of Brooklyn had flooding and power issues, but I never even lost power for a minute.

Storm rolling in

Damage in Fort Greene (neighborhood next to mine)

The one hassle was the subways being shut down as a precaution on Saturday at noon. That tends to limit what I have access to, so the weekend was spent mostly inside.

Overall, it wasn't as a big storm as weather forecasters were predicting, and even though parts of Long Island and Queens were still without power a few days later, but most everything was back to normal on Monday.

Daily Ritual

My cats only enjoy fresh running water. They could be wandering the desert for days and they would still turn their noses up at a bowl of water. What they demand is a bathtub or sink faucet. Everyday I turn the faucet on, which triggers Violet and Zooey to come running. Violet is the alpha cat in this household, so she takes her turn first. Once she's done Zooey gets a chance. This whole routine is repeated in the afternoon and at night as well. (note: I do leave a bowl of water by the food bowl just in case I'm gone and they get desperate enough.)

Here's how it goes:

Violet hogging water

Zooey waiting patiently

Still drinking....

Finally, Zooey's turn

Zucchini Blossoms

Well, I finally gathered enough courage to attempt fried zucchini blossoms. I mixed ricotta and parmesan cheese with some fresh chopped basil and a splash of milk. I scooped a spoonful into the zucchini blossom.

Next I twisted the petals to seal the blossom. Then, I dipped the blossom in an egg and milk mixture and rolled it in flour. Using tongs I placed the blossom in a shallow layer of hot canola oil.

I let the blossom cook for about 2 minutes before flipping it and cooking it 2 minutes on the opposite side. Using the tongs, I then took the blossom out and let it cool on a paper towel. 

I had made some marinara last week so I used it as dipping sauce.

Overall, it wasn't nearly as difficult as I'd expected and tasted amazing. The recipe will quickly be added to my repeat list!

Earthquake?

Since I grew up in Florida, I am not quite up on my earthquake drills. So, when my building started swaying, and my TV started shaking, I really didn't know what to think. At first I thought that a subway was under my building and then realized there are no lines that run under my building so that didn't make sense... I looked out the window to check if I could see any other buildings shaking. It only lasted 30 seconds.  Very weird experience. I thought I was crazy until I started getting texts from people asking if I was OK. No damage, although maybe that's just because I'm lazy and haven't hung anything up yet.

Apparently Violet knows her earthquake drills, she went to the doorway.

Morning Run

Today I went running in Central park for the second time. Last time I ran the outer perimeter, this time I ran the loop around the reservoir. The loop is a little over a mile and half, so I ran the loop twice. It was a really great run, with some great views.

View from the trail toward the west side.

I ran one of my better times for that distance, so I rewarded myself with a manicure. I went to a place in Cobble Hill in Brooklyn and it turned out to be amazing. Manicures there include a mini back massage... without costing more than I would have payed for just a manicure in Auburn. I will definitely be going back.

Mixin' it up 

Fort Greene Market

The only thing I wanted to do today was try out one of the Brooklyn Farmer's markets. As the semester progresses I hope to check out all the markets and find a favorite. I decided on the Fort Greene Market because it's only two stops away. Unfortunately, the G train was being worked on today, which meant everything slowed down. It took me two hours to go to the market and back. Good thing I didn't have anything else on my to-do list today...

The market was small, but had plenty of vegetable and fruit stands, bread, honey, eggs, cheese, etc. Everything was local and looked amazing. I ended up with some doughnut peaches, which are mini almost doughnut shaped versions of regular peaches, a half dozen eggs, zucchini blossoms (there will be a post soon about the adventure of cooking them), and apple cider.

The tomatoes were out in full force and looked so pretty I had to take a few pictures.

And finally, a picture of the zucchini blossoms!