Life, or Something Like It

I suddenly looked at the calendar the other day and realized we were nearly through July... how did that happen?! Summer is my favorite season by far, but August has always been bittersweet for me because while it's still warm, it reminds me that my favorite two months are behind us and won't be back for a long while.

Back in the college days, August always meant Bed Bath & Beyond, packing up, and leaving New York but now that I'm an "adult" (or so they tell me) August is less final, and more of a continuation of summer. Moral of the story- summer is flying by way too quickly and I'm going to do my darndest to embrace August & take full advantage of what's left of summer.

So, to that end I've put together a Summer 2012 Bucket List, and figured I'd share it with y'all with the hope that you'd keep me accountable. I've always wanted to make a bucket list but never have, and since this blog, and life these days, is all about firsts- I figured, no time like the present! So, now without further adieu, let's get listing:

• Take another trip to Fire Island
• Make s'mores in the outdoor fire pit
• Go night swimming
• Attend at least 2 Yankee games before the end of the season
• See fireworks one more time
• Go camping/sleep on the beach (this one might be tough..but I'll try)
• Have a beach bonfire (another long shot)
• Annual Lewis family trip to Rye Playland
• Swim in the ocean
• Eat chocolate italian ices, the real kind
• Catch fireflies (that used to be so fun)
• An evening run along the hudson
• Spend a day on the high line
• Eat at the Boat Basin Cafe
• Go kayaking on the hudson

I think that's a pretty good place to start, seeing as I have a full time job and all, and hope that I can get each of these things done- and maybe even add a few more classics to the mix! If anyone wants in on the above dreaminess...feel free to give a shout, I like company! I promise to let you all know as I accomplish these things and add new adventures to my repertoire.

On a more serious note- as many of you know, our baby puppy Lia had a bit of a health scare last week as she battled a bout of Parvo virus. The outpouring of love and support that we received, truly touched me and made me completely aware of how many friends we have, and can count on, in times of need. I'm happy to report that Lia has rebounded incredibly well with the help of a dedicated staff at the Cornell Veterinary Center and according to my parents- she's back to her old self. I'm heading home this weekend for some R&R in the "country" and can't wait to spend time with my favorite floppy eared gal. Pictures to come...I promise.

In other news- life in June and July has been pretty great. We're settled in our apartment and loving it more and more each day; Work is busy- in the best way possible with a crazy BlackRock project challenging even the most seasoned ad men; I sold my first ever Never Enough Icing cake, and from what I've been told, it was a big hit!; I'm dating a guy I actually really like (shocking, right?) and so far- it's going incredibly well; I've got some vacation time planned in the next few weeks and can't wait to kick back and enjoy the warm weather while it lasts. 

Updates to come on the Summer bucket list. Wish me luck.

Stay fly.

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There's No Place Like Home

The Summer is by far my favorite season. Warmer temperatures, cuter clothes, longer days, better food, no need for a jacket and endless weekend possibilities.

As an avid swimmer and self-proclaimed sun worshiper, the Summer is my happy place. Over the last few weeks I've been taking full advantage of my favorite season with a weekend trip to Fire Island, and most recently, a phenomenal overnight trip to Westchester with my PIC.

For those of you who know me, you know what Fire Island means to me. I grew up spending one full month each summer there, and whether I realized it or not, that place became a part of who I am. It's my happy place. The place I associate the best memories with and the place that captured the best part of my childhood. My sister and I spent days running barefoot through town, eating ice cream cones bigger than we were, swimming in the bay, catching fire flies, stubbing our toes, rolling in the sand, jumping from lifeguard stands, scratching bug bites, running with our dogs and showering outside. There really is no place like it.

The best place on earth

Hello relaxation

Now that I'm older and don't have the luxury of a month-long break from reality, I do what I can to spend as much time as possible on fire island each summer. Whether it be day trips, weekends or a share house- I've managed to get back there every summer for the last 4 years.

This summer I organized a weekend house with a group of friends and let me tell you- we had the BEST time. We relaxed, grilled delicious food, enjoyed homemade sangria, double scoop ice cream cones, runs through the sand, amazing sunsets, morning walks through town, bike rides at dusk and sleeping with the windows open- ocean breeze and all. It was extremely hard for all of us to pack up and head back to the concrete jungle, and then to work the following Monday, but it was great to get away for the weekend and to be reminded that such a magical place does exist not too far from home.

The whole house!

Best friends at the beach!

In the midst of crazy heat waves, family stresses and work deadlines, it was wonderful to have time away to remember what really makes me happy. I often get caught up (who doesn't?) in the daily grind  but a few days on fire island did my body good. If you haven't been there, I highly recommend you go. It's a place unlike any other I've been, where people are friendly, shoes are optional, everyone knows your name and a big night out means leaving the house for sunset at the dock.

Until next time Fair Harbor...

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Let them Eat Cake

To say it's been a busy few weeks would not even come close to describing the mania of my life. Between moving, trying to do as much baking as possible, traveling for the 4th of July and my moms birthday, work being beyond crazy...I've barely had time to sleep (not joking) let alone anything else.

Amidst all of the craziness though, some amazing cakes have gone out my doors and what better way to kick off thursday than to share them?!

First, there was my grandparents anniversary cake. A few weeks ago my grandparents celebrated 65 years of marriage. 65!!! We threw them a surprise party despite repeated protestation and in spite of the dragging feet...everyone had a blast. When we first started planning for the party, I knew I wanted to make a stand out cake. Something elegant but 'wow' that would also feed about 40 people. I began browsing Pinterest, my go to for inspiration, and my gosh did I find it. I took a few recipes and a few inspiration pieces from several sources and finally settled on a four-tier vanilla cake with white chocolate buttercream. Wait for it...with an Ombre' design and roses from top to bottom.

When I first showed my mom pictures of what I wanted to do, she was supportive but skeptical. I think she thought it would be tough and that if it didn't come out the way I wanted it to, I'd be upset (she knows me too well- I'm a baking perfectionist even if it means re-baking something several times, more on that in a bit). Despite some hesitation, I started on the cake a few days in advance with plans of freezing the layers until the day before the party at which point I'd frost and decorate it.

Armed with cake flour, sugar, a sifter and more butter than i'll admit we were ready to bake (my mom helped!!). In my constant pursuit of the perfect vanilla cake, I wanted to try a new recipe, one I'd found in my many hours of baking research. My mom discouraged me- telling me I should just use her simple, tried and true vanilla cake recipe (which I find too dense) but I refused. So,  we followed the new recipe to a T, meticulously colored each of the four layers a varying shade of purple, and popped them in the oven. Since we only have two 8" cake rounds we had to do the pan preparation and baking in two batches- two pans at a time. When the first two layers came out- something didn't look right. The cakes had fallen in the middle. We let them cool and tried baking the second batch- paying close attention to cooking time. Again, the same thing happened. Being the perfectionist that I am, I promptly threw away all four layers (after tasting them and being truly repulsed), blaming the failure on the new recipe, and told my mom the next time, we would use her recipe. The next morning we did the whole thing again, but this time with my mom's recipe, and whaddya know- the same thing happened. A few raised voices, and a google search later we discovered our baking powder was expired (who knew?!) and yep...had to start over. So, on the third attempt, we tried my new recipe again and voila, it worked. That was easy.

Fast forward the making of a few batches of white chocolate buttercream (heaven), stacking and filling the layers with raspberry jam, tinting three separate bowls of buttercream three unique shades of purple, crumb coating the cake and frosting it...we had a winner. A big time winner. Hands down the most beautiful, most perfectly executed cake I've ever made. To say it was easy would be lying, but the feeling of accomplishment and the amount of fun I had making it- couldn't be replaced.

The masterpiece

Cutting it open!

A full piece!

 

My family at the party with the cake!

Next there was an Independence day cake. Only a few short weeks after the anniversary cake, my mind started turning on what to make to celebrate the 4th of July. My parents hosted a block party at our house and I was in charge of dessert. I knew I wanted to make something festive for the holiday but also something lite since we'd be sitting outside. I opted for a three layer white fluffy vanilla cake from my baking idol, Sweetapolita, filled and frosted with a self-created whipped vanilla frosting (it's super airy & perfect for summer) with berries between each layer and around the borders. 

The cake went off without a hitch. It was easy to make, easy to tint, easy to layer and the frosting went on like a dream. Amazingly smooth and creamy, and perfectly white, something I often struggle with when working with butter-based frostings. The neighbors absolutely loved it and I'm happy to report that when I returned home a few days later...there was none left! These have definitely moved up the ranks on my list of go-to's.

Whipped vanilla frosting with a blueberry ring along the top and a raspberry-blackberry border.

The amazing red, white & blue layers came to life with the white frosting

So, that's what I've been up to for the last few weeks, in the baking world at least. Stay tuned for a fabulous cake currently in the works for my PIC's birthday and my first PAYING cake gig which I'm making for my roommates' boyfriends' company potluck. Exciting things are happening here! My life may be hectic and I may make cakes at 2 in the morning but baking is what I was born to do, and it feels really nice to know that.

Have a great weekend everyone- I'm off to fire island tomorrow for a few days of beach, sand, sun and relaxation...hello Summer!

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A picture's worth a thousand words

Morning mom followers. The moment you've all been waiting for has finally arrived. The big apartment reveal! We're in love with how it's turned out as well as with our FANTASTIC new neighborhood. We are so happy to be here, quite proud of our decorating skills, and in desperate need of things to fill our built in shelves (hint hint). Enjoy!

Building entrance. Don't mind if we do!

                                  Entryway to the apartment                       Long hallway into the living room

                                      Living room (notice: empty shelves)                          S and S live here 

Our amazing dining room and IKEA pantry

                           My amazing oasis aka my bedroom. Gray walls, black & white art, white bedding

PIC's Anthropolgie room. Fantastic head board & bright colors!

Our new block. Hello home, we love you.

Our backyard. We think we'll stay awhile

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If you need me, I'll be in the unloading zone.

Sorry for the extended absence dedicated blogobites. It's been a crazy week and a half.

The fun kicked off last Thursday when the PIC and I started out for our new abode. Paint cans, mops, brooms, gloves, and keys in hand ready to tackle whatever we encountered, +95 degree heat and we were very excited! 8 hours later we emerged sweaty, tired and in desperate need of showers but the place was definitely sparkling. The night continued with packing up the our entire old apartment, throwing away about 15 black trash bags worth of who knows what, disassembling furniture, dust busting dust bunnies bigger than me and finding things we'd been "looking for" for a while. Around 3am we called it a night and climbed into bed amped for our 6am wake-up call.

6am rolled around more quickly than either of us would have liked so we headed out for a much needed coffee run. About 20 seconds after exiting the apartment, my darling PIC informed me that she had shut the door...without our keys. Just what everyone needs at 7am on moving day.  Luckily we were able to track down our guardian angel, also known as Zollie our super, and had the door jimmied open in no time. The movers arrived at 9am and the loading began. My parents and great friend Marlee' were kind enough to come in to help and by 2pm EVERYTHING was successfully moved from the old apartment to the new apartment, albeit a mirror that Derek the mover forgot was on his truck.

We logged many hours, consumed an excessive number of hale & hearty salads, made an obscene number of trips up and down stairs, tripped many fuses and spent all of our money- but in one weekend we did the impossible. We moved everything in, unpacked, organized and decluttered our beautiful new apartment. Home for 2, coming right up.

The apartment has come together perfectly. We've managed to throw away all of our trash, at receptacles located away from our building (we're too afraid of the recycling rules- no i'm not kidding), put everything in its place, hung our clothes (only one minor closet rod incident), built IKEA furniture, re-wired electrics and befriended our neighbors. Not a bad few days.

The PIC and I are both SO beyond happy with our new apartment, our friendship and our impecable design sense and can't wait to have everyone (my blog following is still small enough that I can say that) over for a house warming soiree soon. Trust me, you want to wait for it to cool down- we live in a steam room.

The process of moving can be very stressful and can often times bring out the worst in people but I feel so incredible lucky to report that the PIC's were not subject to any of this. We have moved with smiles on our faces (almost the whole time) and have shared more laughs in the last week than most people share in a lifetime.  Our friendship may have come as a surprise to both of us but our living styles, sense of humor, fashion sense, relaxed attitude, TV tastes and culinary preferences are so spot on that I couldn't imagine a more perfect partner in crime to share this crazy experience with.

Stay tuned... pictures and a cake post to come.

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