Birthday
weekend (yes, it was a whole weekend) was amazing! It started off with a sweet
lunch and cake and flowers with my office on Friday. Then Eric created the most
beautiful spread of wine, cheese, and desserts for a party on Saturday night. I
chose a dense, flourless chocolate cake with peanut butter icing; he baked it
perfectly. You’d think a cake like that would be the centerpiece, but there was
a whole display of bread and butter radishes. Three different varieties. With
bread. And butter. And four different kinds of salt. I could eat radishes all
day and all night, they make me so happy!
Sunday was
for coffee, farmers market, dumplings and bubble tea for lunch, and then a
drive to an adorable old schoolhouse where we spent the night. When I say “old”
I mean 150 years old. That’s way old! Eric cooked up what we had found at the
farmers market that morning while I cozied up in front of the fireplace with a
glass of champagne and The New Yorker. Is there a better way to spend a rainy birthday? No, no there's not.
We spent
Monday exploring Charlottesville, VA. Two coffeeshops, two vintagestores, one
yarn store, three used book stores, and a delicious sushi dinner later, and I
can confidently say that this was one of the best weekends and best birthdays
ever.
What a
perfect way to kick off a year in which I want to accomplish so so so much!
Thirty
Things to do While I’m Thirty
1:: Take
one photo every day 2::Crochet pretty cowls 3::Alpahbet swap 4::Eat breakfast
with Eric on weekdays 5::sew pretty headbands 6:: read 50 books more
7::Cherry Blossom 10-miler 8::Put stuff in my etsy shop 9::Sell at at least one
craft fair 10::Photo shoot at Palace of Wonders 11::New Yorker covers project
12::Sew a skirt 13::NYC inspiration trip 14::Paint recipe art 15::(Re-)Learn
calligraphy 16::Become more comfortable with Illustrator 17::Make at least one
batch of macarons 18::Attend some combination of 5 yoga and/or dance classes
19::Send a letter or card once a week 20::Find vintage typewriter, suitcases,
record player, polaroid, and/or sewing machine 21::Print & frame 4 photos
each month 22::Make 6 mix CDs 23::Blog at least 10 times per month 24::Learn 5
new bookbinding methods 25::Seriously consider a new tattoo 26::Read and use
The Printmaker’s Bible 27::Learn how to roast a chicken the way Eric does it
28::Collect printing blocks and type 29::Make notecards to keep on hand
30::Send holiday cards
After baking
cookies, making caramels, and drinking hot chocolate for 10 days in a row, and
after spending the last few days with a house full of family and many visits
with friends, today was a little more difficult than planned. At least I got to
put it off for a few hours because my parents’ 8am flight was canceled and
rescheduled for 3pm. We went on a long family walk with the dog and stopped
along the way for pastries and coffee.
Then, on a
stroll through Eastern Market, I finally caught up with the mysterious
letterpress man. I picked up a few beauties that will be perfect for printing Valentines
(thanks, Dad!). Wooden case upon wooden case of type will keep me coming back
every once in a while. Or maybe every week.
If you’re
in DC tonight, please stop by and say hello:
DC
Rollergirls Craft Fair & Holiday Bash
December
12, 8pm-11pm
McFaddens
(2401 Pennsylvania Ave., NW)
I’m putting
finishing touches on stuff for the craft fair tonight. I spent the day printing
on Wednesday and came up with these prints. I love what they mean to me. I’m
always trying to create something new to show my love to friends and family or
make my little world more beautiful. Eric does the same with food. So I thought
up these coordinating prints. I can’t wait to frame them!
I’ve also
been working on some new birthday cards. Mostly, I’ve just loved printing with my
two wood type alphabets lately and wanted to make beautiful words with them.
I hope you
all had a nice weekend. We got to celebrate Eric’s birthday. So fun! Eric spent all day on Saturday building a bench - for real. He's never done anything like that before, and it was perfect! I stayed
up super late on Saturday night (Sunday morning, actually) baking his requested
brownie cake with mocha ganache. And got up way early on Sunday to prepare our
home for almost 20 guests. Four of whom were held up by Eric's fabulous bench. That’s the biggest party we’ve hosted in our home in
a long time. And it was so great to be able to do that again. We served
biscuits and gravy and apple muffins, all from scratch, with the aforementioned
time-intensive cake for dessert (also from scratch).Friends and neighbors and classmates joined us.
Today,
Eric took the day off to come to my swearing in ceremony. We got dressed up,
went to the courthouse, and followed up the ceremony with a stop at one of our
favorite coffee shops before a long walk home. I started packaging things for
this weekend’s craft fair and then we went out for mussels (for the second day
in a row). Now I’m back at craft fair prep, probably until the wee hours of the
morning.
When I was
single I shared an apartment with my friend, Jeff, for a while. It was one of
the most fun living situations. We lived in a fabulous location, smack dab in
the middle of our respective favorite bars. We hosted parties and dinners and
had lots of guests stop by. I had my own bathroom and I decorated in outrageous
shades of pink. A hot pink bath mat, a pink and purple shower curtain with a
black cat on it, and these prints from Ikea on the wall.
I took out
the pink prints and filled the frames with some of our food photos from France.
Now they’re hanging on the wall in our dining room. And we’re finally able to
use the table. We thrifted a few chairs a couple weeks ago, and I’m on the
lookout for some cool red fabric to reupholster them. Eric has plans to build a
bench this weekend. We’ve had this table sitting, unused, for three years. We
love that we can use it for every meal and for entertaining now!
Wow. I am
feeling so rested and ready for this week. We biked around our new neighborhood
on Saturday looking for good food options. We’ve found lots of fun restaurants
in the two weeks we’ve been here, and South Mountain Creamery still delivers
our milk, but a lot of the local farmers markets are closing for the winter. We
wanted to find a place to get yummy local meat and bread and were so happy to
find P & C market a short bike ride away. And for Italian meats, cheeses,
olive oil and pasta, we’re now going to head to A. Litteri.
We got our
kitchen up and running this weekend. There were lots of warm delicious smells
wafting around the new house. Eric cooked a pork shoulder in the crockpot on
Thursday and a saag paneer (with fresh cheese) on Sunday while I worked on some handmade gifts. I am a lucky woman!
We also got the washer and dryer up and running: Eric is a lucky man. He has
piles and piles of clean socks now :)
the changing
of seasons is an exciting time at the farmers market. for the last couple weeks
we’ve picked up produce we hadn’t seen in months, but we haven’t been able to
keep up with our purchases. so last night we had a “let’s find out what’s in
the fridge and eat it” adventure. this is something i hated when i was in law school because i just wanted to eat comfort food all the time. eric was happy i was on board with the plan last night.
it was
awesome. eric cooked rye berries and I made a salad from the berries,
parsley, a couple crazy looking carrots, and sautéed onions. I shelled lima beans and eric cooked them in a bit of butter. we had steamed turnips and kohlrabi with dill bovre from keswick.
this
weekend was filled with kitty love (they are so cute together now), new iphones
for me and the mr., lots of coffee dates, and delicious pizza at seventh hill
in eastern market. the pizza was fantastic (fresh artichokes!!!) and I loved the design of the logo
and menu. you can watch the chef toss pizza dough in the open kitchen, and
while the pies are baking he walks around the restaurant chatting with guests. it’s wonderful.
oh, and passing
the bar. I found out from a letter in the mailbox when we got home on friday
night. I was so relieved. friends were already on their way to our place for a
visit, so we chilled a bottle of champagne and opened it to celebrate with
then. now i'm ready for the week, armed with this fabulous little song. i love everything about it!
did i
mention there were also apples at the pumpkin patch? there were. on monday night
i chopped up an apple, split the pieces between 2 ramekins, sprinkled some
brown sugar and butter on the top and then: instant apple crisp. last night, i wanted
more. despite a sagging shelf full of wonderful cookbooks and access to
millions of internet recipes, I decided to wing it.
i think i'm
going to try this approach to cooking more often. it was so rewarding to have a
delicious apple crisp that was entirely my own creation. i can’t really
remember amounts or steps followed but i know i used three apples, butter, cinnamon,
brown sugar, dried cranberries, honey, a spoonful of apple cider (turned out to
be unnecessary*), and some flour to hold the crisp together.
* i did,
however, take a giant gulp of cider from the half-gallon jug, which was a
totally essential step.
After a few days in NYC, we headed directly to Northern Maine. We spent the rest of the week at my parents' house, all the way at the tippy top of the state. One morning I got up to pack a picnic lunch for the whole family and we canoed all day long. Until it was time for ice cream. We spent a few hours on the lake with my aunt and uncle - they even let Mr. Moggie captain the boat for a while. And we always seem to be in town for the annual Muskie Derby and Ploye Festival. Seriously. We ended our time in the north by attending a 55th wedding anniversary party for my dad's aunt and uncle. So. Ridiculously. Cute.
The rest of our stay in Maine we were in Bar Harbor. We had a few relaxing days, dining out with my parents, reading on the lawn while the waves crashed below, and devouring lobsters. It was wonderful!
Whew. We've landed. I spent the last week getting through piles of laundry leftover after our trips to New York, Maine, and then France. More importantly, I spent lots of time printing and clipping photos to add to the mini-books I built up while we were traveling.
We started out in New York so I'll share my NYC mini-book today. We spent the weekend with friends in Greenpoint and tagged along their normal weekend routines. Like tamales at Beaner Bar on Saturday morning. And coffee at Abraco on Sunday morning. We wandered around Brooklyn all day on Saturday, in the company of Jenny, Walter, the fabulous Jen of McFlashpants. In the evening we had an earth shattering meal at the new Graffiti. On Sunday we shopped in lower Manhattan, went to the Brooklyn Flea, and shared a lovely dinner with friends hosted by the lovely Sarah (& JT). The trip was a perfect way to start our summer travels.
Part of the Coffee Adventure, where I review area coffeeshops based on totally random factors while I study for the bar. Food & Drink. Typically I've started my reviews with "location" and while Peregrine's location is quite nice, the coffee is where it's at. Since I started my coffee shop tour, I've been to Peregrine Espresso twice. But I'd been there one other time. During my holiday break after fall exams Mr. Moggie and I spent a day wandering around the city. It was one of those unseasonably warm December days, and we started the morning in Eastern Market. We popped into Peregrine for some coffee. I ordered a vanilla latte but then got distracted by cute t-shirts and bacon chocolate. Yes, bacon chocolate. I'd heard the coffee at Peregrine was serious; Counter Culture is their roaster, I think I read that the owners had been affiliated with Murky Coffee, and I knew that they didn't stock traditional coffee syrups. The only flavor they'd add to a drink was a vanilla syrup they'd infused themselves. I'd say that's pretty serious. But, like I said, there were t-shirts. So when I took that first sip of vanilla latte while looking for a cute tee in my size, I wasn't really paying attention. Until the coffee hit my mouth. And blew my mind. Hands down, it was the best coffee drink I'd ever had. Fast forward several months and I still remembered thinking the coffee was the best ever, but couldn't exactly remember the taste. That's a tough situation because my expectations were really high, but I was worried they were unrealistic. Not to worry. My second vanilla latte from Peregrine (this one iced), following the first by about 7 months, did not disappoint. The third time I visited Mr. Moggie and I shared a large, tasty cinnamon bun. Peregrine gets their offered food (predominantly sweets) from a few different area bakeries. But you won't care. Because you will drink their coffee and it will change your life. Location: Peregrine is in the old Murky Coffee space in Eastern Market. It is mere steps from the Eastern Market Metro stop and if you are there for the market, you will walk right by Peregrine. Except, after reading the above review of the coffee, you will not walk by. You will walk in and buy a coffee. And a t shirt. It's a wonderful neighborhood. I've found some great finds at the Market. Like my favorite winter hat. And the pearls I wore in my wedding. And the cute handmade bags I gave as bridesmaid's gifts. Another favorite in the neighborhood is Capitol Hill Books. On our wander-y winter day, Mr. Moggie and I spent hours in the used book store. I was looking for cool old map books; he was looking for cool old cookbooks. The Market Lunch in the market building is perfect for a greasy breakfast. And I hear someone sells old letterpress type in the neighborhood, but it's still a mystery to me.
Decor and Seating: When I was at Peregrine the Friday of the Independence Day holiday weekend, I sat at the back counter and worked on some multiple choice questions and flash cards. The seat was comfy, and others around me were having friendly conversations or working from their laptops. The shop was bustling but lots of people just stopped in for coffee to go. I was totally comfortable spending a couple hours studying away while sipping coffee and eating pastries. The next time I visited, I sat at a table near the front window. I longed to be outside since it was a beautiful day (and Peregrine has outdoor seating), but I knew I wouldn't get any studying done out there, so I just enjoyed the view. I used my laptop to work on some outlines for studying and monitored my email with the free wifi. It's a pretty good place to study. I'd shy away from taking up a table for too long on the weekend since it seems pretty busy, but on a quiet week day, it seemed fine. It can get a little chilly, so bring an extra layer if you plan to stay for a bit.
Music: Anecdote - I've been listening to Passion Pit a lot lately. After I'd been studying at Peregrine for a while, I got it in my head that I had to hear PP's Seaweed Song RIGHT THEN. So I pulled out my earbuds to listen to it on my computer, but before I had a chance to set it up, the song came on over the speakers in the shop. Not kidding. It was perfect. So yeah, the music is good, if not a little eery.
One more story: One day last spring, I wore my Peregrine Espresso shirt to class. After class I walked over to Murky Coffee* for some evening studying. I'd forgotten what I was wearing until the barista chided me for wearing the Peregrine shirt to a different coffee shop. I think he was kidding but he had an awfully convincing poker face and I offered feebly, "I can zip up my hoodie if you'll let me stay." Overall: Go to Peregrine and drink coffee. It will be awesome.
* The Murky folks appear to be opening up a new shop called Chinatown Coffee Company in mere days. I'm pretty excited to check it out! You should be, too.
I guess this means the bar exam is just two weeks away. Yikes!
Here's some strange logic. Since today is France's national holiday, and Mr. Moggie and I are headed to France in August, I'm sharing photos from the celebration of our own national holiday ten days ago.
We started with a lazy lunch at the bar at Liberty Tavern, sampling a couple of their delicious pizzas and a few of the cocktails on the menu. After a fancy cocktail or two, Mr. Moggie inevitably ordered The Blue Collar, which is a shot of Virginia Gentleman and a chaser of PBR. Pure class. I had Liberty's take on the Hemingway Daquiri.
Later that evening, we celebrated with friends in the District. Mr. Moggie dressed a rabbit for grilling, along with some squash blossoms. We finally made use of all the mint growing on our fire escape to make moijtos and juleps. Hip hooray for National Holidays!!
To continue my DC coffee shop reviews, here's how I feel about Baked & Wired.
Location: B & W is on Thomas Jefferson Street in Georgetown, near Barnes & Noble and Snap (where to get your crepe and bubble tea fix). It's a perfect stop off the beaten path during a shopping day. And it's not far from Paper Source, so I love the excuse to stock up on pretty paper after a cupcake break. Food and Drink. Cupcakes! Cupcakes! Cupcakes! That's what this place does well. And also coffee. I've been there twice in the last couple weeks, and both times I've eaten a Pretty Bitchin' cupcake. That's what the chocolate cake/peanut butter icing cupcakes are called. DELICIOUS! The cake is moist and springy, the icing tasty and flavorful without being overly sweet. And it's the perfect companion for my signature drink, the iced vanilla latte. B&W is a place that takes pride in the brew it serves, for sure. Last time I was there, I ordered my latte from a barista-in-training. When I went over to the next room to pay (cupcakes and cashier on one side, coffee on the other), the cashier (manager? baker?) urged me to taste the coffee and give immediate feedback. He wanted to make sure the training coffee was as good as the shop's usual. And it was! I used to work in an office building across the street from B&W, and I'm sad that I didn't appreciate coffee back then, or know the cupcake wonders this place held/holds. Decor and Seating: The shop is sunny and bakery-cute. Cupcakes and other treats are displayed in glass cake stands and everything is clean, shiny, and bright. They sell coffee beans for home brewing and also pet treats. There are two sitting rooms, one with couches and lounge chairs, the other with a counter, a large table, and a shelf with stools. The first time I visited, my friend and I stayed for a few hours and felt pretty comfortable, but judging from signs I saw there more recently, they'd prefer for guests to sit and sip and eat their sweets and then move on. Which is what I did yesterday. I sat and studied while I ate my cupcake and drank my latte...and then moved on to a new study spot. Bonus: Cute pink bike out front. Bonus bonus: chalk board outside always has something fun.
Music: I heard an awful lot of Michael Jackson music there a couple weeks ago, which doesn't say anything about this particular establishment since I've been hearing MJ tunes everywhere lately! Another time, I think they had some NPR music show (as opposed to talk radio) on, but I was pretty engrossed in whatever I was studying so I can't really be sure. Bottom line: The music isn't offensive, but it didn't stand out. It's all about the cupcakes; who can be bothered with music?!?
Overall: Cupcakes. eat them. love them. enjoy the delicious coffee. and then move along and go get yourself a pretty dress a few blocks away at Anthropologie. Or a sweet tank top from American Apparel across the street.
As part of the Coffee Adventure, on Sunday Mr. Moggie and I visited Big Bear Cafe in Bloomingdale. I felt instantly comfortable when I walked in the door. In fact, this is from my Twitter: checking out big bear cafe...it's only been 2 minutes, but i kind of love it here.
Here's a rundown of some of the shop's features:
Location: 1st and R Streets, NW in the Bloomingdale neighborhood, east of Shaw. We hadn't really ventured out there much before. There's not a whole lot out there except for lots of cute townhouses. We took Metro to Shaw and it was a 6-block walk. Apparently there's a farmers market on the same corner every Sunday morning. The neighborhood boasts lots of community spirit, but there weren't a whole lot of people out and about for a nice Sunday afternoon. We did see a few folks out walking their dogs on our way back to Metro later in the evening. Decor and seating: We chose the large table in the middle of the exposed-brick-walled shop that felt like a living room. Several smaller tables lined the perimeter of the room along with a couple of vintage chairs and a comfy-looking couch. Big Bear also has outdoor seating and stools along the counter. There were tons of windows and the doors were wide open. I love ceiling fans and there were several sending a cool breeze throughout the shop. It was easy to spread out and work at the table, which is always great for a Sunday afternoon at a coffee shop. Almost everyone there had a laptop; there was free wifi. Did I mention the ceiling fans? Bliss.
Food and Drink: I had a vanilla latte, my standard coffee drink. I got it iced. It was delicious. Big Bear serves counter culture coffee. The espresso was incredibly tasty and there was no evidence of burnt beans. The vanilla flavor was subtle and not overly sweet. I'm pretty picky about my dairy products, and the milk held up to my standards. All the milk at Big Bear comes from Trickling Springs. We didn't try any of the food, but I'll certainly be back to taste the sandwiches and salads. I have high expectations since the coffee was so good and the owner seems to take similar care with choosing ingredients and preparing food, sourcing the kitchen from the Big Bear Garden, local bakeries, and local farms. A blurry photo of my delicious iced vanilla latte. Music: The music was loud. I can't say if it's always like that, but I can say that for the most part the selection was good. They played some new takes on the oldies while we were there, as well as some really enjoyable tunes. I wish I could say more about the music, but I didn't recognize a lot of it; I just liked it. I see this as valuable since if I spend enough time there, I might discover some new bands. If you're looking for a place to study and need absolute quiet, this is not the place for you; I like loud music to drown out other distractions so I was pretty content to study while tapping my foot to the music at Big Bear.
Closing time: This is the only factor I saw as a downside. The shop closes at 6pm every night. I'm pretty productive in the evening to nighttime hours so I like it when coffee shops are open until 9 or 10. However, I think the neighborhood borders on the unsafe after dark, so perhaps the early closing time is for the best.
I am definitely going back. In fact, I think I'd be content to stop my search for the perfect coffee shop here. However, that would be unfair to the other contenders. And how amazing would it be if shop after shop kept blowing my mind?
I leave you with this from the Big Bear website: Regarding not stocking Splenda [I only noticed honey and raw sugar as sweeteners] - our milk is sweet, and our coffee isn't bitter, so give it a try without the sugar! Mr. Moggie reading at Big Bear, researching for our trip to Provence in August.
I was totally inspired by Elise's Adventure last week. I've fallen behind in my studies for the bar exam and part of the reason is that I've found it hard to get some good study time in on the weekends. With my beloved Murky Coffee closed and my general distaste for the library at my law school on weekends, it's been difficult to sit for many hours and get lots of work done. Both study spots were/are within a few blocks of my apartment. For the last few years, I've kept a growinglistofareacoffeeshops I've wanted to try. They are scattered in different neighborhoods throughout the city (and surrounding areas) but the one thing they all share is that people in the know report that the best coffee is served at them. With the need for a new study spot, I've got more reason to give them all a try. For the next few weeks I'll be visiting area coffee shops and reporting back on the blog. I'll definitely write about the quality of the coffee, the availability of work space and free wireless, and the volume and type of music played. I may discuss other factors as they strike me from shop to shop. For example, today I went to Big Bear Cafe, and realized that all good coffee shops should have ceiling fans. I'll also record my thoughts about the coffee shops in this neat little book I created this weekend. The paper is all from Paper Source - from their in-store 12x12 selection. I cut the sheets down to 10x12 so the pages are 6x10. Then I used some 5x9 cutouts to cover up the white backside of the paper. This the first time I tried sewing a binding. It worked quite nicely, but I covered it up with some tape to be sure. On the outside, I used random strips of a variety of Happy Tape I had on hand and for the middle pages I used a strip of packing tape from Tape Swell. Decorative tape has quickly become one of my favorite products to have at my desk. If you're into that sort of thing, it's definitely worth the purchase - it's inexpensive and super versatile. I'll post my (glowing) review of Big Bear Cafe tomorrow.
I've spent a ridiculous number of hours at Murky Coffee's Arlington
shop in the last three years. This last semester, I loved studying
there on Saturday nights during the hours leading up to closing
time. I loved watching people head out for the nigh, and enjoyed the
space more and more as it got later and quieter. I'd get a head start
on my work for the week, enjoy some quiet time, and fill up on caffeine so I could
head out for dancing or hanging out with friends later in the night.
The Arlington shop closes later this week, so tonight was my last
quiet, productive, Murky kind of Saturday night. Leaving there tonight
had more of an effect on me than leaving my last class ever on
Thursday, though perhaps it was because I was walking into a
downpouring thunderstorm. Here's the music that kept me company during
my last Murky Saturday.
Spring 2009 Exam Playlist
Rain...Bishop Allen
Dog Days Are Over...Florence and The Machine
South China Moon...Bishop Allen
When Life Gives Me Lemons I Make Lemonade...The Boy Least Likely To
Natural Man...Harlem Shakes
A Balloon On a Broken String...The Boy Least Likely To
Maurine...Say Hi
Technicolor Health...Harlem Shakes
TFO...Harlem Shakes
Nothing But Change, Pt. 1...Harlem Shakes
Either/Or...Wild Sweet Orange
Sunlight...Harlem Shakes
Angel, Won't You Call Me?...The Decemberists
O Valencia!...The Decemberists
Running Out...Mates of State
Losing Streak...Eeels
Live it Out...Metric
Gimme Sympathy...Metric
Sick Muse...Metric
Stadium Love...Metric
That paper sale was serious. A box of 100 arturo flat cards: $5. Unbelievable! After the happy paper moment, it was too early to hop on the metro to head to the studio so i stopped for some frozen yogurt and ate it in the park. I got to the studio just in time to sit down for afternoon tea with other volunteers and some of the Pyramid staff and I spent the afternoon sorting type, which turned out to be incredibly relaxing. Then I came home and popped in the yoga DVD for a little stretching session with eoin finn. A tasty dinner of leftover homemade pizza and a chocolate truffle (also homemade by Mr. Moggie) and I'm actually sleepy at an appropriate time with a whole stack of library books staring from the nightstand. *Contented sigh*
I leave you with a screen grab of this awesome Etsy treasury. Good night!
