The Big Apple

I love New York City and while I have friends there, I will visit!

The first weekend of June I flew to NYC and stayed with my good friend Darra in Brooklyn. We had a blast! It had been over a year since we last saw each other. I arrived Friday night into JFK after a little rain delay. That night we hit up the corner bar for some dinner and drinks (where they had Goefel Kolsh on tap and Adam is supremely jealous!) and some serious catch-up! Then Sat afternoon we went to Williamsburg, Brooklyn for the Renegade Craft Fair which was very cool. Darra bought a sweet necklace and I left empty handed. Then we went into Manhattan to check on play times/prices. The show we wanted to see was sold out so we went to plan b which was Ave Q. We got there in time to add our names to the raffle (at 5:30 you put your name in a bucket and at 6 they draw names and sell 12 tickets for half price). And my name was pulled first! Yea! Two tickets, front row, center. A little close for comfort but it was still fun. By the time the play was out, we were both exhausted and headed back to Brooklyn.

Sunday morning we went for brunch at this great place right by Darra's apt. Then went to buy tickets for the boat tour around Manhattan. Luckily it was a beautiful day. We really enjoyed the tour although it was a bit long, 3 hrs. After we met up with Anna in Soho for dinner. We ate at a completely random place but by the time we were done with dinner, speed dating was happening! So of course we had to stay and watch for a while :) What a funny experience! Makes me very happy to be married!

Darra and I on the boat.

I believe this is the Brooklyn Bridge.

Manhattan.

Lady Liberty.

Out to dinner with Darra and Anna in Soho.

This is a bunch of Trump condo buildings. I just read in some mag that Jon (from Jon and Kate) is rumored to be looking at buying on of these condos.

And for those that watch How I Met Your Mother, this is a for real crooked apt building, possible down wind from the sewage treatment plant :)

Then Monday came abound and Darra had to work so I was planning on going in with her and seeing what school, 1st grade special ed., was like in the inner city. Well, neither of us slept well and D forgot to alert the principal that I was coming so she called in sick. Can't say I was too bummed about this :) So we went back to bed and then met up with Anna again in Soho and did some shopping. I left later that evening. It was an awesome trip! But next, Darra has to visit me!

Garden

My garden is growing! I started the seeds a few months ago and now there are beans! I am very excited about this.

They are so tiny!

I have planted tomatoes, peppers, beans, spinach, summer squash, melon, and some herbs. So far so good.

Ann Arbor

While in Mich we stayed one night in Ann Arbor. It was awesome!! We got there in time for church. They had this new thing on the wall where we signed our names.

And we are so cool because we could sign at the same time :)

Gaia!!

Oh I miss Ann Arbor....

Jessica and Dan's Wedding

The wedding was beautiful! We had so much fun! But my camera didn't do the best job..... some of the pictures are a little blurry. Whoops!

Jessica was looking gorgeous!!!

Wedding!

We're off to Detroit for a wedding! I am so excited! Haven't seen these girls in a long time!

Congratulations Jessica and Dan!

It should be a fun weekend.

Lemons

I don't take a lot of pictures. And I have found, of the pictures that I do take, a vast majority of them are food. This is something my mother-in-law finds quite amusing. But hey, I enjoy food!

As some may know, it has been citrus season here in Cali for the past few months. It is really interesting to be able to go in the back yard and pick an orange or drive by trees just dripping with lemons. Not something you see everyday in Michigan. Well, one of my patients had a "lemon" tree in his yard so full that the branches were breaking so he brought a huge bag in for the office. I say "lemons" because they did not resemble any lemons I have seen before. They were so cleverly disguised that my boss started to eat one thinking it was a mandarin orange only to spit it out in disgust! No one at work really wanted them so I took the bag home. I wasn't really sure what I was going to do with them but I was up for the challenge!

First I made a lemon poppy seed cake. Not so good. I don't think the lemon flavor was strong enough.

Next I made lots of lemonade. This was very good! I basically just made some simple syrup and mixed it with juice and water till it was right. It also had a great color because of the orange lemons. But no picture :(

Then I made lemon curd. This was interesting and very good. It took a long time. The recipe is from Peace Meals that I got from Michelle for my birthday.

Lemon Curd

5 egg yolks

1 cup sugar
4 lemons, zested and juiced
1 stick butter

Heat up the base of your double boiler over med/high. In a metal bowl (mine was glass- not sure if this is a big deal) combine the egg yolks and sugar, wisk till smooth. Measure juice (should have 1/3 c) and add to egg mixture along with zest. Wisk till smooth. Reduce heat to med/low and place bowl on double boiler. Stir till thickened, approx 16 mins (or in my case, 30!). Once the mixture is lighter in color and coats the back of a spoon, remove from heat and stir in the butter one small piece at a time. Wait to add the next till the first has dissolved. Put in the fridge for 2 wks or freeze.

Then I made lemon cupcakes with lemon butter cream frosting! They were good. I think Adam ate 8. I took the rest to work. To make the cupcakes I just added zest to vanilla cake mix. The frosting recipe also came out of Peace Meals.

Lemon Butter Cream
1 cup butter at room temp
3 cups powdered sugar
2 t milk
1/4 cup curd

Cream the butter on med till light and fluffy. Gradually add the sugar, then add milk and blend till smooth. Add curd and mix till well blended.

With the lemons I also made lemon risotto with shrimp and asparagus. I don't remember where that recipe came from. Adam loved this!

And I made chicken. This was super good and easy. I got the inspiration from thekitchn.com and the recipe is from Jamie Oliver (I made slight changes).

Chicken in Milk

1 whole chicken (I used 5lb)

1 pt milk (I used 2%)

10 cloves garlic with skin on

1 cinnamon stick (I used ground)

handful fresh sage

zest of two lemons

1 T butter

1 T olive oil

Heat oven to 375. Put the oil and butter in the pot you will be baking the chicken and heat up over med/high. Brown all sides of chicken. Take off heat and add the rest of ingredients. Cook with or without lid for 1.5 -2 hours basting occasionally. Yum!

Jamie's webpage with recipe

To go with this I made the Pioneer Woman's roasted garlic mash potatoes. Yum!

Bible memorizer

A while ago, I wrote a program for Windows to help me memorize bible verses while on my computer at work. It has been really helpful over time to have that scripture reminder while at work, so I figured I would share it with you all in case you have any need for that. It's free, so don't worry about having to pay any money.

Here is a link to the website I created for it

The basic idea of the program is that it automatically provides you 5 verses of the day that it downloads from various Verse of the Day websites. You can either select one of these as your verse of the day or you can add your own (which it will automatically download if you have an internet connection). After you have selected a verse for today, it will pop up occasionally in the corner of your screen as a reminder for you to be reading it. If you want, you can test yourself and see how well you know the verse. If you want more info, just folllow the link above and there is a walkthrough on that page.

As always, let me know if you have any suggestions or any problems with the program. I hope it helps you all.