Subzero Temps, Not Spirits!

Ooooof. As you might have heard it's been a *little* cold across the country, particularly in the midwest and northeast. Today it was positively balmy with high of 11 degrees. The low temps peaked yesterday at around -16 wind chill. Ewwww.

That hasn't dulled our 2014 spirits! Saturday we played in the snow and took in and appreciated that we get to experience all the seasons up here - even when winter gets us a little down in the dumps. Some beautiful pictures of us in Central Park below:

Brrrrrrrr. I'm ready for spring now.

End of Summer Gazpacho

So arriving back in New York City after an amazing week in Costa Rica I realized something...

Summer is ending.

[sigh]

If I were still in sunny Florida I'd have another month (or two, or three) of summer weather to look forward to. But NYC is already getting temperature dips. So, to commemorate the last few days (maybe a week? maybe two? I'm hopeful...) of summer, here is my favorite summer soup recipe: gazpacho! My mom introduced me to her recipe years ago, and it's one of our summer staples. It makes a ton, keeps for over a week (or more, I'm not sure actually, it never lasts longer than a week because it's so good!)

It's an assembly-only recipe so it's foolproof, even for someone like me who doesn't love to cook. You start off will all your ingredients - fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, green pepper, onion, garlic, and lemon - plus dry ingredients including salt, pepper, sugar - and a few wet ingredients - water, v8 juice, tabasco sauce, olive oil, and white wine vinegar - and a half an hour later (depending on your dicing skills) you have yourself gazpacho!

A couple notes: first, I recommend making it the day before so all the flavors meld together. Second, as you can see below, I recommend dicing all your veggies first, THEN adding the wet ingredients, and lastly the dry ingredients. If you start with the water and V8 juice, all your veggies will splash as you add them in. Makes a mess (trust me on this one)!

Finally, enjoy the gazpacho while it's still warm out... nothing like cold refreshing (and HEALTHY) soup on a hot day :) It also works great for parties - or picnics in the park. We've done both!


Fresh Ingredients:

• 4 medium tomatoes, minced
• 1 green pepper, minced
• 1/4 cup onion, minced
• 3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• 2 cucumbers, peeled and minced

Wet Ingredients: 

• 2 cups water
• 2 cups V8 juice
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon tabasco

Dry Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Spring in the City

Not a lot of time to post - but here are a few photos of our amazing spring in the city! We've been to the high line, Central Park, and more!

Starting Off 2012!

2012 started off at our favorite Mexican restaurant - Rosa Mexicano. We dressed up and hit the town, ordered our favorite food and a couple margaritas. Super fun, just how we like it!

Next up - my sister Jenni came to town! We started off taking in the Museum of Natural History with our good friends Amanda and Steven:

We also went out to celebrate Jenni's (sigh) 23rd birthday... if she is 23 that means I'm really getting old. We went to a new place - Buddakan (SATC fans will know it as the restaurant where Carrie and Big had their rehearsal dinner):

Next up in January we had a nice snowstorm! It was not like the Nor'easter blizzard of last year, but that was fine by us! We spent a Sunday in Central Park, which was virtually deserted - enjoyed the beautiful snow!

 And finally, the first weekend in February was Superbowl Sunday! It was a rematch of the 2008 Patriots-Giants Superbowl and the Patriots were looking for revenge... but my giants won! We took to the streets of the city afterwards and people were so excited - it was awesome to be a part of it. Definitely one of those bucket-list type things you can say you've done - lived in a city that won the superbowl! It doesn't hurt that I'm a huge Giants fan and I love my New York teams!

All in all, 2012 is off to an amazing start! More updates soon on my trip home to Florida, upcoming adventures, and more!

Lovely Fall

It has been a lovely fall in New York City! We've spent a lot of time in Central Park photographing the trees :). That's one of the things I love about living up north - getting to see all the seasons! Of course, in NYC that means 3 months of seemingly endless winter misery, from January to March. That, I could live without. By March I'd just assume it be spring with flowers and sunshine - but last year it snowed on April 1st (not an April Fools joke, though it seemed like one!). That time of year, I really miss Florida. But one of the best things is fall, where all the leaves change. I love the colors - the yellow, orange and red. You don't get leaves like that in Florida - they tend to just turn brown. It's a tradeoff, with fall and spring as the upside to winter (in my opinions!) Anyway, we have some really lovely pictures of the leaves below:







We were also excited to celebrate the engagement of our good friends Josh and Melissa! They both went to college with Nate - Josh was Nate's college roommate, and Melissa is also from Gainesville like us! It was awesome to celebrate with them (at a yummy Mexican restaurant!).

Josh, Melissa, Me, & Nate at Dos Caminos

Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall

Sigh.

I mourn the loss of summer. This week apparently marks the beginning of fall, which in our household is met with mixed feelings. Most of these fillings being bitterness.

Let me explain: Nate and I are both Floridians. We grew up in a year of mostly summer, 2 days of fall and spring, and a usually weak and mild winter that lasts all of a couple months. We are thin-skinned for cold weather.

I ADORE fall. But fall reminds me winter is coming. And I just hate the northern winters. They depress me. I miss the sunshine. I hate puffer jackets that leave you shapeless. I hate wearing only boots for at least a month on end. I miss flip flops, dresses, the green and the warmth. Mostly, I am a total wimp.

I will do my best to enjoy the fall and not totally dread the coming winter... because I love December, I loved the snow the day after Christmas (magical!). But after New Year's, I'm over it. Bring on the spring. Except no spring. February. No spring. March. Maybe a nice day here and there. But no spring. Still snow. April. RAIN. More sadness. Then May. We emerge from the winter depression with thoughts of outdoor happy hours, sunshine, picnics in the park...

For now, I'll try to enjoy the crisp weather, the cool nights sitting outside, the changing leaves...

Goodbye summer, hello fall...