30 June 2009

Do my eyes deceive me?

So cool for the Gaslight Anthem...
I'm sure this was a dream come true - for Brian in particular.


My home & love of my life - stars...
The Gaslight Anthem "The '59 Sound"

24 June 2009

There's a new site in town



There's a new food website out called Good Bite. It's a collaboration of food bloggers showing food & recipes as "...delicious made easy." The little bit of browsing I've done has already proven fruitful (pun intended). I've already got a new quick-dinner recipe lined up for a night when I'm too tired/lazy after my commute to get elaborate (hint, it's the recipe by Shauna James Ahern). I'll be going back for more, no doubt.



Good Bite is brought to you by Deca TV. Go check them out!

23 June 2009

Say goodbye to an icon


Kodak will retire its stock of Kodachrome.


Photo courtesy of The Kodachrome Project

Father's Day - 21 June 2009


Quintessential Lake


My apple and the tree he fell from - so thankful for that


Spying


Shucking fresh from the farm, Dirty Jersey, corn


The If Only... is the only place to be


Finding lost things on the roof


The next generation - sadly missing Jimmy O'


Smiling? I hope so...


Sean & Nathan - keepin' it youthful


Dads


I think my own dad would have liked it here. He was with me in spirit.

I heart Chocolate

We went to the Lake for Father's Day. It was a laid back, pot-luck affair. (Thankfully it did NOT rain!! I'm beginning to think we live in the Pacific Northwest and not NJ) My contributions were a quinoa dish and brownie bites - both vegan and gluten-free. My recipes came from THE Gluten-free Goddess herself, Karina Allrich. I have to say, her blog is one of my all-time favorite places to visit and I go there almost daily. Karina is a fount of knowledge, not to mention a hilarious and witty story teller. You're not only guaranteed great recipes but also a hearty dose of laughter.

I had to modify the brownie recipe to exclude the blueberries. Otherwise, there is no way on this green earth that M would have ingested a single one. He's not a fan of blueberries, to say the very least. This allowed me to up the chocolate chip content though, and I don't think anyone complained about that. Plus, instead of using a half-cup of water, I added some left over coffee and it was more like a half-cup of coffee water - to enhance the flavor of the chocolate.

Here's my endeavor...



I copied the recipe onto some scrap paper - but I'll be printing this out to add to my binder - it's most DEFINITELY a keeper!















Not the most beautiful photos to illustrate such a tasty treat, but I did my best. And, of course I forgot to take photos of the quinoa dish - but if you want to see how lovely it can be - please skip on over to Karina's when you're done here. You won't be sorry.

03 June 2009

Can you find your phone number?


Back from the days before the internet and needing to dial the area code first. Oh yeah, and mobile phones.

02 June 2009

Two for two

In the spring M said he'd like for us to go camping on the Outer Banks once every month until the fall. We managed to squeak in our May trip on the very last weekend of the month, this time traveling with friends.








This little green guy tried to get a ride home with us the next day but we thought it best that he stay behind. We'll see you at A9 another time, friend.

01 June 2009

Memorial weekend baking

I made some cookies and cupcakes over the Memorial Day weekend. The cookie recipe is from Elana's Pantry. I modified it by using almond meal instead of almond flour. The cookies were good (or "not bad" according to M - and you don't even know what a HUGE compliment this is considering the past disasters that are my gluten-free cookies) - they had a distinct texture from using meal over flour. I would bake them again and try it with the almond flour. Next time they'll be better.








Then I made cupcakes for Tini's birthday... THESE were DELICIOUS!!! Tini said they were the best I've ever made. I used the Basic Chocolate Cupcake recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and subbed out the All-purpose flour with Gluten-free Bob's Redmill blend and added some Xanthan gum. I also used almond milk and not soy. I added a few other ingredients in the form of spices - but I'm keeping that a secret. I made ganache for the frosting but I forgot to take a photo of it and I also forgot to photograph a finished cupcake. I was traveling with them and didn't do the final assembly until much later at a party - and by that time I was drunk, so there you go.