My backyard...

The bummer about apartments is not having a yard... fortunately, I can't really complain.


Hello, National Cathedral - you beautiful thing, you. Just across the street and full of beautiful gardens, a sequestered labyrinth of old brick buildings, and wide lawns - what more could you ask for?



It's so easy to forget that all this is hidden behind the cathedral's towering facade that I have to admit that I don't make it over there quite as often as I'd like. But it's a great place to read a book or take a stroll and it was truly a breath of fresh air this weekend.


To the last lingering days of summer...

Caught by the wind...

I feel as if the earth is pulling me outside as DC's hot summer turns into a cool and beautiful fall. I always find the change of seasons to be an inspiring time and this poem wonderfully voices my sense of quiet elation as autumn presents a new beginning.

Flying
By Richard Wilbur

Treetops are not so high
Nor I so low
That I don't instinctively know
How it would be to fly

Through gaps that the wind makes, when
The leaves arouse
And there is a lifting of boughs
That settle and lift again.

Whatever my kind may be,
It is not absurd
To confuse myself with a bird
For the space of a reverie:

My species never flew,
But I somehow know
It is something that long ago
I almost adapted to.

A good excuse to use your oven in July...

I've returned!!

After several months of weddings, travels, and moving-out-of-my-house-and-then-into-a-new-apartment, I think I've finally caught my breath.

Actually, I can't wait to show you some pictures of my new neighborhood and Pete and I's apartment... I just haven't had a chance to take any pictures yet! Haha. Oh well - maybe this weekend... you're going to die when you see some of these houses...

I did manage to snap one shot in this past week though... this month's Daring Bakers challenge!!


The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

One thing I have learned about my new apartment is that using the oven makes the kitchen unbearably hot, so I have to admit that I wasn't particularly thrilled about baking anything this month. The idea of drizzling hot chocolate over hot marshmallow goo quickly bit the dust. But while I'm pretty sure the temperature hit about 400 degrees, I have to admit that the Milan cookies were a pretty perfect summer treat. To keep the ganache on the wafers, I threw the cookies in the fridge, which cooled them off, held them together, and gave them a great texture.

Gale's recipe called for lemon and orange extracts, and I personally am not a huge fan of mixing fruit with chocolate, so I replace the lemon extract with one tablespoon of almond extract and put about a tablespoon of coffee grinds (instant coffee would be good too) in the ganache instead of the orange. (If you don't like coffee, I'd nix the grounds or add just a half teaspoon to enhance the chocolate without making it taste like a cuppa jo.)

The recipe for the Milans and the Marshmallow craziness can be found on Nicole's site or on the Food Network website.

If you summon the courage to brave the heat this summer, I would strongly recommend pouring yourself a glass of cold brew when you're done and kicking your feet up by the fan. (What? You have air conditioning? Well, aren't you just Mrs. Fancy-Pants...)