A Week in Pictures

[Memory candles at St. Patricks Cathedral][Festive candies at Godiva][The tree at Rockefeller Center, finally up and beginning to get groomed and decorated][The lego store with a model of the ice rink at Rockefeller Center][Everything is festive, even coffee cups!]

Traditions of Winter

[Christmas]

Winter and the holiday season has arrived! It is getting harder and harder to get out of bed in the morning and leave the warmth of our apartment for the freezing cold air outside. But every season comes with it’s perks – and Winter has a ton of them.

Here is a list of just of a few of the things that I am looking forward to this Winter:

[My birthday][Our annual gingerbread house building party]
[Snowboarding][Watching the Yule log station-on demand][Frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity][Playing in the snow][Santacon]
[Christmas movies and music]
[Building a snowman][Decorating Christmas cookies][Visiting the tree at Rockefeller Center]

New York Cheesecake

I love cheesecake – but for me it’s one of those delicious treats that I don’t eat very often. Cheesecake is so decadent, rich and creamy and I always associate it with holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. Since we were having a very low-key Thanksgiving this year, I decided to be daring and try to make the cheesecake on my own (since there wouldn’t be too many people around if it came out bad).  I wanted to make a classic New York cheesecake, Juniors/Cheesecake Factory style. I used the crust recipe from here and the cheesecake recipe from here.  A perfect graham cracker crust with a thick and creamy center, and I topped mine off with a very thin layer of sour cream. Since this was my first time, there are a few things I just learned along the way that weren’t noted in the recipe. Here are two extra tips for cheesecake-making-virgins: I made this the day before we were eating it – but two days later the cheesecake was much better and more seasoned. Also, take out of the fridge about an hour before serving for a creamier cheesecake.  

A Week in Pictures

[Even the stairs are sweet at Dylan’s Candy Bar]

[Boxty wedges from one of my favorite neighborhood Irish pubs][The Thanksgiving parade][Cool graffiti on the side of a building][The confetti-lined street after the parade]

Happy Thanksgiving!

It’s always great to take a break from our chaotic lives and just sit back and enjoy some quality time with family and friends. This year we had a quiet Thanksgiving at my parents house – we spent the day reminiscing, laughing, being extremely gluttonous, and playing one of our favorite games. It’s days like these were I can really see how lucky I am.

The things I am most thankful for this year are:

[My family][BaDing][Amazing friends][My little angel pup]

What are you thankful for this year?

Turkey Cupcakes

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays throughout the year. Naturally, at our feast, I’m in charge if bringing a few of the desserts. The first thing I made was these turkey-topper cupcakes. These weren’t that difficult to make, but they did take a decent amount of time. I followed these instructions for the toppers, with a few small changes (I used junior mints instead of whoppers, I added candy corn wings, etc) to give it a little extra. I can never resist anything chocolate and made with Reese’s! Hopefully they will survive the car ride and arrive at my parents in one piece.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Green

[An upside-down flower tree in Washington, D.C.]

Etsy: Celadon Home

I found Celadon Home on Etsy when I was browsing a few months back. I had been just waiting for an occasion to buy something from them. I finally got the opportunity when a good friend of mine got engaged recently. After ordering this piece, all I had to do was pick a picture and send it to Michelle with the date, initials, and the color heart I wanted for her to customize the piece. I couldn’t even wait to see it, and when it finally arrived it was just as beautiful as I had imagined it would be. Michelle was so easy to work with, and I can’t wait to order from her again! We headed off to the engagement party this past weekend and my friends absolutely loved the gift and said it was the perfect addition to their new home.  You should all go and check out her store here. Love it!

French Fries

You all have a veryyyyy special treat today. Before the hurricane the only thing I bought from the supermarket was a giant bag of potatoes and some beer. The beer is gone, but the potatoes are still in the fridge. We have been making everything possible with potatoes; hash-browns, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, you name it.  BaDing decided to take it to the next level and try his hand with french fries – which was a first for him. Just like me, whenever I don’t know how to do something, I refer to YouTube. He found this video, but decided to deep fry them instead of bake them. Here’s a creation straight from BaDing’s culinary kitchen…. and he didn’t even mind that I was annoyingly getting in his way and snapping pictures while he was trying to cook! The perfect side to the delicious cheeseburger he made me 🙂I’m so proud. He’s the best!

Traveling and History

[The Great Pyramids of Giza, Egypt]

The world is filled with amazing places to see – both natural and man-made. I read about so many places and wonder how it’s possible for these places to have such an amazing history. How were these places even built? How did they last so long? I wonder what took place there thousands of years ago. I can’t help but wonder. Here are a few places that I would love to visit, based on their history.

[The Parthenon, Greece][St. Basil Cathedral, Moscow][Stonehenge, England][Taj Mahal, India][Machu Picchu, Peru][Sistine Chapel, Italy][Colosseum, Rome][The Great Wall of China, China][Petra, Jordan]

images via [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]