Look Around You!

Merry Crisis!

2011-09-23T21:55:00.002-04:00

224/365
August 14, 2010

Spray painted on a light post in Brooklyn. It's pretty common for people to make stencils and go around with some spray paint (I guess at night) and paint sidewalks, light posts, emergency boxes, etc.

Shep and Hippo

2011-09-23T21:43:00.002-04:00

223/365
August 13, 2010

In the first shot we have Shep on his ridiculously thick bed with part of a raw bone and his mostly unstuffed hippo. He's panting because he's been running around like a wild man with hippo. In the next photo he's shoving his snout under hippo looking for something. He's always fun. As I type this, he's been standing and staring out of the front window for about an hour. It's dark and rainy out, and he doesn't usually stare out with such enthusiasm (unless he sees a neighbor he likes out front) so I wonder what has his attention. Silly dog.

Nightly Craig

2011-09-23T21:29:00.002-04:00

222/365
(taken August 13)
August 12, 2010

I had a very similar picture actually taken on the 12th but the lighting was different and not very flattering so this one is getting posted. He usually spends at least a little bit of every night like this, staring at his computer screen reading blogs or about whatever he's currently fascinated by.

Shep

2011-09-13T22:26:00.002-04:00

221/365
August 11, 2010

On his perch by the window, wondering why I won't get the camera out of his face.

Volunteer tomato

2011-09-13T22:22:00.001-04:00

220/365
August 10, 2010

This little plant popped up in the backyard on its own. I'm guessing a squirrel or bird dropped the seed there. The other photo is of the week's CSA produce. I really liked all the plums we got.

Down by the river

2011-09-13T22:12:00.002-04:00

219/365
(Taken August 7)
August 9, 2010

I took this shot as we walked back from the trail head into town in Cold Spring. The sun was setting and really bright and this nice tree was in the yard of a nice house on the river. I couldn't decide whether I liked the original (first) or edited (second) version better so you get both.

Beware the park monsters!

2011-09-13T21:22:00.002-04:00

218/365
August 8, 2010

Someone, seemingly parks department employees, put up these signs on fences of areas where they don't want people (supposedly for ecological reasons). These made me laugh out loud and I'm sure made a lot of others smile.

All in knots

2011-09-13T21:15:00.002-04:00

217/365
August 7, 2010

A tree we saw while hiking near Cold Spring, NY. We took a MetroNorth train from Manhattan up to this little river town for some hiking. The station is pretty much in town so there was no need for a car. We went to the gear shop and bought a trail map then headed maybe a mile down a road to a trail head. At one point we saw some off-leash dogs and I told Craig I was pretty sure I recognized them. Sure enough, there were some ladies I see occasionally in Prospect Park, also up for a day trip of hiking. Even in a city of 8 million we are always running into to people we know.

Strange fruit

2011-09-13T21:07:00.003-04:00

216/365
(Taken August 3)
August 6, 2010

Or are they vegetables? These are husk cherries, or at least that's what the farmer we get them from calls them. I've seen them labeled as other things other places. They look like little yellowish tomato/tomatillos mixes and are very tiny. I lined up some on the deck rail for this photo.

Deep in the forest

2011-09-13T21:05:00.002-04:00

215/365
August 5, 2010

Actually, these are in our living room every few months. I have a potted plant that these sprout up under every now and then.

Pecans make everything better

2011-09-13T21:02:00.002-04:00

214/365
August 4, 2010

I like to add pecans to cakes and cookies and brownies, but I always toast them some first. They are especially good mixed into the crust when you have a graham cracker pie crust.

CSA Haul for the week

2011-09-13T21:00:00.002-04:00

213/365
August 2, 2010

A representative group of the week's goodies from the CSA. Plenty of corn, tomatoes, peaches, and carrots among other things.

Happy hour

2011-09-13T20:54:00.002-04:00

212/365
(Taken August 1)
August 2, 2010

These lovely old glasses are on display (not in my house) but I don't think they get used. I usually like plain, clear glasses but these are quite charming to me.

Buster

2011-09-13T20:50:00.002-04:00

211/365
August 1, 2010

I've put so many of the animals from my Arkansas trip on here that I couldn't leave Buster out. He's Belle's second in command at my parents' house, and just a good old boy. He went with me on many walks in the woods there.

Gummi bears

2011-09-13T20:20:00.002-04:00

210/365
July 31, 2010

I went to one of those candy stores where you buy candy by the pound in Little Rock and got this bag of goodies. Sadly, they weren't nearly as tasty as Haribo brand gummi candy.

A cool spot

2011-09-13T19:57:00.003-04:00

209/365
July 30, 2010

This is Belle, my parents alpha dog. It was really hot in Arkansas in July (100 F by noon), but she often chose to go outside instead of staying in the air-conditioned house. Obviously she's crazy. At least she chose the cool cement and shade of the garage.

Puppy!

2011-09-13T19:03:00.002-04:00

208/365
July 29, 2010

I'm back, trying to update this a little more. We'll see how far I get.

This is a puppy that my aunt had. It was cute, as puppies tend to be.

Artificial wind

2011-03-23T12:59:00.001-04:00

207/365
July 28, 2010

A cool old fan mounted on the wall inside of a Hot Springs bath house. Mom and I went to Hot Springs for the day to go to Garvin Gardens and have lunch in town.

Pork & Beans

2011-03-23T12:54:00.002-04:00

206/365
July 27, 2010

What's a trip to Arkansas without a trip to a Sam's Club? Shopping for toilet paper or laundry detergent in bulk seems okay, but all of the junk food bulk options can't help the obesity problem. I mean, if I've got a giant tub of cheeseballs I'm going to feel pressure to eat them all before they go bad just as much as if I had a small can of them.

A man and his goat

2011-03-23T12:47:00.002-04:00

205/365
July 26, 2010

I spent a few days in White Hall with my parents. One hot day Mom and I went into Pine Bluff, where I grew up, to visit the studio of James Hayes. James is an AR artist (also a Hendrix alum) that works out of Pine Bluff, mostly blowing glass. After looking around his great studio, he gave me a tour of his pets, including this mellow goat. You can see his website here.

Smoked goodness

2011-03-23T12:33:00.002-04:00

204/365
July 25, 2010

After the family reunion in Missouri, I headed back to southern Arkansas with my folks and we stopped at Coursey's for some of the most amazingly delicious smoked meats I've ever eaten. I got lots of their bacon to bring home. I also ate plenty of the sliced turkey my parents got. Yum. This place is a great reason to visit Arkansas.

Cooking the catch

2010-12-17T19:03:00.001-05:00

203/365
July 24, 2010

This family takes its fish frying seriously almost as seriously as its fishing.

Family Reunion

2010-12-17T18:59:00.002-05:00

202/365
July 23, 2010

A rare teary-eyed moment for Scout in the first shot. I think she just wanted to go to her mom here, she wasn't hurt or suffering anything horrible.

The next shot is just to include a group shot at the reunion digs. Thanks to Aunt Faye and Uncle Bob for being such awesome hosts, on land and lake.

Greer

2010-12-17T18:54:00.002-05:00

201/365
July 22, 2010

Despite the Arkansas heat, Rich and I headed to a playground with his girls to get out of the house for a bit. Greer had fun but I think she was probably cooked by the time she was done running around out there.

Mingus

2010-12-17T18:50:00.002-05:00

200/365
July 21, 2010

Mingus is my brother's first "baby". They got him as a very tiny kitten and he is very into people and very playful. He loves company because it is someone new who might pet him.

Scout

2010-12-17T18:47:00.002-05:00

199/365
July 20, 2010

This is my niece who is one of the most mellow and happiest babies I've ever met.

Airport food

2010-12-17T18:10:00.002-05:00

198/365
July 19, 2010

This was my in-transit lunch as I traveled to Arkansas to visit the family and go to the 2010 Cromwell family reunion.

Mint

2010-12-17T18:08:00.001-05:00

197/365
July 18, 2010

Mint and muddler, pre-mojito.

An iron is an iron

2010-12-17T17:59:00.002-05:00

196/365
July 17, 2010

At some point I bought a flat iron for my hair. I had gotten a haircut that I loved and the person who did it used a flat iron to style it and I seemed to think I would have the skills and patience to mimic his work. Wrong. But the iron did not go to waste. These little tools can be used in a pinch for touch-up ironing of clothes. It's great on shirt collars and those wrinkly button plackets. So if you've got one gathering dust in your closet, get it out, clean off the plates and use it on your clothes in a pinch. The best part is that you don't need an ironing board.

Brooklyn pier 6

2010-12-17T17:46:00.002-05:00

195/365
July 16, 2010

Pier 6 was just revamped as a huge kid-oriented park. There are all kinds of great areas for kids to play, including water features for hot days, but as an adult with no kid, I'm only allowed to go look at the water. This was taken where you can catch a ferry to Governor's Island, which Craig and I did at least once this summer.

Free-cycling

2010-12-17T17:35:00.003-05:00

194/365
July 15, 2010

One of the interesting parts of living somewhere so crowded, is that people tend to put their junk out for others take instead of putting it in the trash. You just put whatever it is that you don't want anymore that you think someone else might want out on your stoop or the sidewalk. Sometimes you put a "free" sign but it usually goes without saying that things sitting out front are up for grabs. Pretty much everything I've ever put out (even electronics with notes that they don't work) has been picked up and we've not had to move it to the trash.

These comics were in a box I passed one day. I was walking Shep so I couldn't really grab a bunch, but I wanted to get a couple. We have a friend here who is really into comics and I thought he would get a kick out of these odd ones. With the recent surge in bedbugs however, I am now scared to pick anything up. These comics were the last thing I picked up.

Cantaloupe

2010-10-27T21:38:00.002-04:00

193/365
July 14, 2010

One of my favorite summer foods. I eat half of it just while cutting it up, usually.

Some much needed rain

2010-10-27T21:33:00.002-04:00

192/365
July 13, 2010

It was a very dry and very hot summer here. Previous summers never seemed too warm but this one has us running our a/c often. This was one of the first rains in weeks or months.

More pizza

2010-10-27T21:23:00.002-04:00

191/365
July 12, 2010

Homemade pizza is still a favorite around here these days.

2010-10-18T22:08:00.002-04:00

190/365
July 11, 2010

Water lilies in the Brooklyn Botanical Garden with pretty much all color but green removed in editing.

R.I.P. Stanley-Bob

2010-10-18T21:58:00.002-04:00

189/365
July 9, 2010

A sad day here. He was the best gecko. Out of all the years I had him (close to 10 years) he was always gentle and nice until he went to the vet. He had to have surgery (yes I let them do surgery on my gecko) one winter and when he came out of anesthesia he bit the vet and left quite the row of little holes. The vet forgave him because she was just happy he survived and was that spunky. I had to sign a form saying I understood he was very likely to die in surgery. I had to take him back for some check-ups and he tried to bite her every time but not once in our 10 years has tried to bite me. He is missed.

This is his empty tank after we cleaned it out.

party time

2010-10-18T21:42:00.003-04:00

188/365
July 9, 2010

One of the first people we met when we moved to NYC was Leo, who worked at the company where Craig works. He quit the company years ago but we would run into him periodically (he moved not only to Brooklyn, but a few blocks from us). This summer he took a new job abroad so this was a little going away gathering at Soda, a bar in Prospect Heights. This shot is some guy I don't know, Burns, Charles (he was happier than he looks in this picture), and Craig.

Pizza!

2010-09-28T23:27:00.002-04:00

187/365
July 8, 2010

Okay, so finally a post about one of the best cooking classes ever. On a whim, I decided I needed a break from school classes and signed up for a pizza class at the Brooklyn Kitchen. This is one of the best decisions I've ever made. A couple of guys from a popular Brooklyn pizzeria showed us some tricks to making NY-style pizza in a home oven. We've had many home-made pizza's now and I even made some while visiting my folks in Arkansas. Pizza right out of the oven is unbeatable.

Before cooking:

After cooking:

Cary Brothers

2010-09-28T23:22:00.002-04:00

186/365
July 7, 2010

Excuse the poor point and shoot shot, but I rarely lug my main camera to watch bands play unless they are playing a short walk from home. A friend wanted to see Greg Laswell so we joined. It turned out that one of the opening acts was the Cary Brothers, who you might know for their song "Blue Eyes" on the Garden State soundtrack. There were three acts and they were all basically the same guys, just different leads. A fun show in the far corners of Williamsburg.

A much needed haircut

2010-09-28T23:20:00.002-04:00

185/365
July 6, 2010

I had not had a haircut for at least a year and half, so I decided it was time. Luckily, our friend and neighbor just finished school for such things and is very good at it. She came over and cut my hair in our kitchen. I don't love pictures of myself so the only reason I'm posting this is because it was my only picture for that day. Months later and this cut still looks good.

Craig in our 6th Ave rental

2010-09-28T23:18:00.001-04:00

184/365
July 5, 2010

An average evening for Craig, watching smash videos online.

Sunflower

2010-09-07T22:16:00.001-04:00

183/365
July 4, 2010

Just a close-up of one of the many sunflowers we've had in the house this summer. Some came from the CSA, the rest from the farmer's market.

Inside the Old American Can Factory

2010-09-06T18:53:00.002-04:00

182/365
July 3, 2010

This is a building that is now used by lots of artists for studio space. I've been in part of it a couple of times, but this night we went to watch short films on the roof. It was a really nice night and a large crowd showed up for the films, and even people in the nearby hotel came out on their balconies to watch. This shot is in a dark hallway, where I went on a scavenger hunt for a bathroom. It's a charming building.

My microplane

2010-09-06T18:48:00.002-04:00

181/365
July 2, 2010

I don't know why I did not buy one of these sooner. It's great for grating garlic, nutmeg, ginger, onion, lemons, etc. AND it's easy to clean. If you cook much with any of those ingredients, get a microplane grater/zester.

bike closet

2010-09-06T18:39:00.002-04:00

180/365
July 1, 2010

One of the points of our current rental that helped hook us was the under the stoop storage. We wanted an easily accessible spot to store bikes without having to drag them through the house, which is hard here since they don't actually fit through the hallway. It's outside but our bikes are protected from rain and snow, and behind a locked gate, so perfect. The house we are trying to buy also has stoop storage. Every bit of possible storage is used in NYC.

Moving?

2010-09-06T18:28:00.001-04:00

179/365
June 30, 2010

We have been looking at places to buy all around our neighborhood and nearby for a while. For a year or so, I knew too much information on every available property in the area over a certain size. We saw condos and coops and strange things in basements and I showed Craig the movie "The Money Pit". We went to tons of open houses and finally found a place that seemed like our best option. We've had an offer accepted on the home that goes with this door. If all goes well, there will be many, many more pictures of the house in the future.

CSA

2010-09-06T18:22:00.002-04:00

178/365
June 29, 2010

This week's share included cherries, snapdragons, a sage plant, broccoli, kohlrabi, green onions, garlic scapes, kale, radishes, snow peas, and some other greens.

Hot, hot, hot

2010-09-06T18:17:00.001-04:00

177/365
June 28, 2010

A whopping 86 degrees in our apartment at 9:30pm. I told you it was hot.

Yards

2010-09-06T18:05:00.002-04:00

176/365
June 27, 2010

The views from our deck.

Our place is on the avenue and the look out the back is pretty much straight down the middle of the block. This shot is over the tops of lots of backyards.

Looking north to a well-kept yard.

Looking south to a somewhat neglected yard. They only use it for clothes drying.

A magical cooling bed

2010-09-06T17:55:00.002-04:00

175/365
June 26, 2010

It's not really magical, but it is great. It's a dog "cooling" bed. You fill it with water, which is good at pulling heat away from us (to put it really simply) and it keeps the dog (or me, if I happen to lie on it) cool. This summer has been far warmer than our previous 5 summers here and Shep has been miserable, hence the bed.

The Waffle building

2010-09-02T23:10:00.002-04:00

174/365
June 25, 2010

This is supposedly the southernmost building on Manhattan (the street number is 1) and it happens to be where Craig's office is located these days. I think they are on the 33 floor or so, with another floor or two above or below. We always describe it as the "waffly looking building" when trying to help people pick it out from the other tall, grey buildings.

I'm not on a boat

2010-09-02T23:06:00.002-04:00

173/365
(Taken June 25)
June 24, 2010

I was in Battery Park (I think I went to Craig's office nearby to take him something he needed, but I don't remember why I was there). There were lots of boats out on the water and I wished I were on one of them. I'm now determined to get a group of friends together for a boat tour either up the Hudson or around Brooklyn for a few hours. If not this summer, next! There are options from 6 people up to huge groups.

Taco Salad

2010-09-02T23:03:00.002-04:00

172/365
June 23, 2010

A tasty dinner inspired by the CSA greens.

Another CSA share

2010-09-02T22:59:00.003-04:00

171/365
June 23, 2010

The CSA share for this week included: a mixed bouquet, kohlrabi (yeah, I had no idea what that one is either), strawberries, kale, bok choy, spinach, lettuce, and garlic scapes. It was a very greens-heavy week.

Produce department

2010-09-02T22:49:00.002-04:00

170/365
June 21, 2010

A market around the corner from us has been revamping the store. Part of that includes changing the store name to Smart and Healthy, which I think is funny. I wonder if people feel healthier for shopping there (it's just got the regular stuff). One thing they did is add this outdoor area for produce. You'll pretty much only see produce in sidewalk stands at groceries here.

The city, in an effort to encourage people to have and choose healthier foods, makes it pretty easy for stores to get permits for sidewalk displays if they only use the space for produce. (See, I learned *something* in school). Space is hard to come by here, and grocery stores tend to have small aisles and use every bit of space to stock as much as possible. Being able to add space outside is important to store owners, and in areas where there is little fresh produce, the residents gain more food options. I also think a nice display makes the stretch of sidewalk look nicer.

Super bad

2010-08-19T21:51:00.003-04:00

169/365
June 20, 2010

I almost got into a squabble over this photo. This shirt, which I've seen elsewhere, was in a booth at the 7th Avenue fair. I liked the image of the silly shirt with a brownstone in the background. The woman at the booth got mad and told me I had to ask her permission to take the picture, and I (nicely) told her I didn't . If the shirt had been on her, it would have been nice for me to ask her but at present you can still take a picture in a public space (the street) in NYC, legally.

Dangerous doors

2010-08-19T21:44:00.002-04:00

168/365
June 19, 2010

A building in downtown Brooklyn. I think it's in the process of being torn down I think, and this row of doors just open to nothing.

2010-08-18T22:05:00.002-04:00

167/365
June 18, 2010

I planted the garden back in May and you could see a lot of dirt back then. This photo is a little blurry, but you can see that the impatiens are coming in nicely. I love my colorful backyard.

Hydrangea flowers

2010-08-18T21:59:00.002-04:00

166/365
June 17, 2010

I cut these from the bush in the yard. The raw photo was kind of boring, so I thought this was a good one to play with in editing. I really like the finished product here, but maybe I'm just biased.

More home made pizza

2010-08-18T21:53:00.003-04:00

165/365
June 16, 2010

This is another decent attempt at pizza, but this was before my pizza class so it wasn't amazing. I used sourdough starter for to make the crust and then let the dough sit for 24 hours before baking to let the flavor ripen. Boy did it ripen! The taste of the crust almost overpowered all of the toppings, but Craig really liked it. This is pre-baking.

CSA week 1

2010-08-18T21:39:00.002-04:00

164/365
June 15, 2010

I mentioned the CSA in an earlier post. This week I got more than we needed with the regular share plus the make-up share for the failed first week delivery.

Some of the stuff I got this week: strawberries, various greens (kale, bok choy, spinach, vitamin greens, lettuce), turnips, radishes, green onions, garlic scapes (the green part of garlic plants), cut flowers, and a pot of mixed herb plants. I probably left some greens out of the list, but you get the idea.

Dinner at Joe's Shanghai

2010-08-18T21:30:00.003-04:00

163/365
June 14, 2010

A friend we made from Craig's grad program at UNC, Leo, was stopping through NYC with his girlfriend so we met them for dinner. They are both Chinese (as in born and raised there) and she lived in NYC for a while a few years ago and was craving real Chinese food so we went to Joe's Shanghai. It's known for its dumplings (at least that's what I had heard about), among other things. Leo's girlfriend chose most of the food, starting with dumplings and ending with this fish. The colors from the fish dish were so overwhelming (orangey fried crust and read sauces) that I had to make it black and white to make it more tolerable. I am not an adventurous eater, but I tried everything but the fish. To make sure I didn't go hungry, I ordered myself the nice plain chicken and broccoli dish pictured below the fish. I think we were all very full by the end.

Through the stairs

2010-08-18T21:27:00.002-04:00

162/365
June 13, 2010

This is another shot taken while waiting for a train that never came (at least during the 30 minutes I waited) at the Jay Street station. I eventually took those stairs up and walked to another station.

A whole lot of pride

2010-08-18T21:18:00.002-04:00

161/365
June 12, 2010

One of the many street fairs/festivals around here is the pride weekend fair. It happens on the road along the park (they close streets for these fairs) and there are the usual street fair booths with food, jewelry, sheets and this event also has things like churches (that are gay friendly) and health vans.

This guy is apparently a fixture at the event. He just cracked me up with his outfit, the parrot on his head, and the poodle in the stroller. By the way, a dog in a stroller is far from uncommon here. I think most of the dogs in strollers are old and not very mobile with owners who take them out for fresh air.

Oops

2010-08-15T21:58:00.003-04:00

160/365
June 11, 2010

Deck, meet fire. Fire, meet deck. This has now been fixed but it ruined our mood for grilling for a while. I focused on the flowers for the shot on purpose-I'd rather not think about that hole incident much.

A feast fit for a dog

2010-08-15T21:47:00.002-04:00

159/365
June 10, 2010

Sometimes Shep gets sick, with um, digestive issues. When all of your dog's time outside is chaperoned my you, and you pick up his poop, you know when the pup is sick. Vets suggest feeding a bland diet to keep from further upsetting the stomach. A bland diet however, requires effort and time so I just make a batch of it if I run out and keep portions in the freezer. Luckily Shep doesn't need this often, but when he does, I want him "stopped up" ASAP since he is stuck in the house when we're gone.

The basic idea is chicken (no skin--fat is bad for an upset dog stomach), rice, some fiber (I use sweet potato, some dogs like pumpkin), and oats. I usually cook the chicken in water, remove any fat and bones, shred the chicken and then cook the rice, potatoes and oats in the chicken water then mix it all together. Shep's pallet is not too refined, so there is really no such thing as overcooking any of the ingredients. I then add water to it when I feed him to get more fluids in him.

Cheese dip

2010-08-15T21:40:00.002-04:00

158/365
(taken June 21)
June 9, 2010

The recipe for this cheese-dip came from an Arkansas cookbook I was gifted years ago. One of the recipes was for "Stoby's Clone Cheese Dip". Stoby's is a small restaurant in a few towns in Arkansas. People go gaga for their dip and this recipe is pretty close, though I like my version, which has lots of tomato and cumin, better. People tend to have a strong feeling on the dip, and we love it in this house. I often make a batch for bbq's.

If you want, I can post the recipe but I am too lazy to do that right now. I will tell you it has coffee creamer, which is its most surprising ingredient.

Sad, empty bag

2010-08-15T20:55:00.002-04:00

157/365
June 8, 2010

I joined the Park Slope CSA (community shared agriculture) this year. A group of people, several hundred for this neighborhood's, people join and partner with a farmer and pay that farmer before the season for produce throughout the growing season in the area. I am doing the vegetable, fruit, and flower shares with ours. You get whatever is available to be picked that week.

This Tuesday was my first pick-up day and I was very excited to see what I would get. Sadly, when I arrived at the pick-up spot, there was no food. NOTHING! The delivery truck got lost going to an earlier stop (they provide for multiple CSAs and maybe some restaurants?) and did not make it out to us, their farthest stop. I was crushed. To make up we would get a double share the next week. Not an ideal solution--a lot of the next week's share went bad before we could eat it. I'm just glad that wasn't one of my days to work the distribution booth and have to tell all those people they had to go home empty-handed.

Anyway, hopefully this will be my only empty bag picture for the CSA.

Grilled vegetables

2010-08-15T20:44:00.002-04:00

156/365
June 7, 2010

We love grilled meals. My aunt Faye and her family gave me a gift certificate to Pampered Chef for Christmas and one of the things I got with it was the basket below (photo snagged from their website). It seems kind of small when I look at it, but we can get enough vegetables for several people in it. It's great because you can just drop the veggies in, which is much faster than skewering that many little pieces.

For the veggies, I usually just cut them all and toss them in a ziploc with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice (because I seem to add this to everything these days), and some kind of dry seasoning (salt+pepper, or some mixed seasoning for vegetables) and leave it all in the refrigerator for a few hours. The results are always tasty.

Meat lover's pizza

2010-08-15T20:40:00.003-04:00

154/365
June 7, 2010

This beauty is Craig's pizza from our dinner at Fornino. I posted this one on my Flickr account a while back and it has gotten quite a few views, and I'm guessing those views are from people who want a slice of it. And yes, there have been many pizza photos, and there are more to come since I've been learning to make better pizza at home.

Fornino grilled pizza

2010-08-10T22:42:00.003-04:00

154/365
June 5, 2010

I posted this on my flickr page at some point, but it deserves to be posted twice. Fornino is a popular pizza joint in another neighborhood and they recently opened a fancy pizza joint here, it's grilled not baked. We went out to celebrate a friend graduating from a program and had an entertaining evening.

As usual, I had a cheeseless pizza and it was very good.

Jay Street station

2010-08-10T22:36:00.002-04:00

153/365
(for June 4)
June 7, 2010

There are two reasons I end up on the platform at this station. One is that I'm transferring to an A train to go to the wonderful B&H photography store. That's a good reason to be at the Jay Street/Borough Hall station. The other reason is that there is a problem with the F line, which is my main line to take. This day it was the latter, unfortunately. I was on an F home when it stopped here and emptied us out, then no others were coming for a long time. Luckily it was nice out so I just went outside and walked to an R station, which is my back-up line for getting home.

"Charcoal kills trees"

2010-08-10T22:17:00.003-04:00

152/365
(for June 3)
May 16, 2010

The Parks Department has a new campaign up to save trees. In the summer, particularly on weekends, the park fills with people grilling and picnicking. Grilling is allowed in some areas, and not in most. A big problem with grillers is that they dump their coals right where they are instead of in the designated bins (which aren't helped by idiots who put trash in them). Many coals get dumped at the bottom of trees. In response to this, the department put these ribbons around the trees in popular grilling spots. There are also signs with a cartoon of a sad-faced tree with the "charcoal kills trees" message in many languages.

Personally, I don't think this is near the top of pressing issues in the park because I'm out there every morning and don't see that many coals dumped on trees. They are dumped in inappropriate areas (and I've stepped in them while still hot), but I just haven't seen much on trees. The mounds of trash left by the grillers is my big issue. (See an example here) They bring and leave tons of stuff: platters of food, bags of raw meat, grills, chairs, wrappers, cakes, dirty diapers, etc. I think they need many more trash dumpsters (cans are too easily stolen) and to ticket people littering. We've seen plenty of them just tossing used plates, cups, and the like on the ground so it shouldn't be that hard.

Beautiful mess (aka pound cake)

2010-08-09T22:24:00.002-04:00

151/365
(for June 2)
June 12, 2010

I decided to make this pound cake kind of late in the evening to go with fresh strawberries we'd bought that day. The recipe (from Southern Living) called to bake the cake almost two hours. I was not going to stay awake long enough to bake it, let it cool, and consume it so I foolishly upped the temperature a little in the oven and cooked for a shorter time. The texture and doneness were excellent (as was the flavor-I think I've found a new favorite pound cake recipe) but as you can see, I had a ton of trouble getting it out of the pan. Hopefully next time I make it according to the actual instructions it will come out of the pan without force.

It went perfectly with strawberries and fresh whipped cream, as seen here.

Duck, duck, duck

2010-08-08T21:52:00.002-04:00

150/365
(for June 1)
June 12, 2010

This little flock is one of the few groups of ducks in Prospect Park this summer. I've never seen any that look like this. What are they?? I'm guessing some hybrid, but of what I'm not sure.

R.I.P.

2010-08-08T21:45:00.002-04:00

149/365
(for May 31)
June 12, 2010

Someone made this little grave marker to put by the stump left by a very large, old tree that used to stand there. I think the marker was made from a piece of the trunk. I'm not sure if this tree died on its own or if it was one of the casualties of the big spring storm of 2010, but I thought this marker was cute and kind of funny.

Sunday shopping

2010-08-08T21:33:00.003-04:00

148/365
(for May 30)
May 16, 2010

A big farmers market happens on Saturdays near our place, but I'm alway happy when the smaller Sunday market reappears in the spring. If I miss the Saturday market or realize I didn't get enough of something (like the strawberries) I can go to this market for it. When will I learn that I can never buy too many strawberries?

Roof-boarding

2010-08-08T21:25:00.002-04:00

147/365
(for May 29)
June 12, 2010

This building is in Prospect Park (*our* park) near the Audubon House and as far as I can tell, is used for nothing since we've lived here, until this day. A bunch of kids with skateboards were hanging out on the roof this sunny weekend and occasionally sending a board down, sans rider luckily.

Waiting man

2010-08-08T21:09:00.003-04:00

146/365
(for May 28)
taken June 12, 2010

This guy was just sitting in a chair, seemingly in his own world, at a concert in the park.

Fancy fair rides

2010-07-14T09:54:00.002-04:00

145/365
May 16, 2010

This ride at the 5th Avenue Street Fair was actually just set up in the back of a truck. There was no motor, only a man rocking it back and forth. It looked pretty silly.

Swans

2010-07-14T09:44:00.003-04:00

144/365
June 12, 2010

The waterfowl of Prospect Park frequently make the local news. There are two swan "families" in the park, with a mated pair and their cygnets. One pair is more aggressive and apparently bullies the other pair and some swan fans hang out in the park and monitor the swans, and I think, try to keep the two groups apart. Swans are large and strong and I keep my distance when they have cygnets around to protect. Apparently a swan took out a small dog once and nearly drowned a pitbull. Once we were feeding the swans and geese and some little kids came over and were feeding them with us when the cob (adult male) rushed at us all puffed up. The kids ran behind Craig and I just threw the rest of the food at him. Don't mess with the swans!

This group looked kind of picturesque with the adults on each end of the cygnets and the nice background.

Smurftastic

2010-07-13T22:07:00.003-04:00

143/365
May 8, 2010

This waterfall in Prospect Park is a popular spot for wedding pictures, but it usually doesn't have all of these flowers around it. A Smurfs movie is in production and some scenes were being shot in Prospect Park in the area of this waterfall. For the shoot they put lots of real and fake flowers everywhere. I wish they would have left the real ones there because they looked nice there.

Apparently a real cat(s) was used for Gargamel's (sp?) cat, and Shep wanted to hunt it. While I was walking him in this area the cat trainers had a cat running between crates and I had to drag Shep away. The main thing I remember about the Smurfs is that the word "smurf" was stuck into all kinds of words, like fantastic was smurftastic and terrific was smurfarific.

Mrs. Toad

2010-07-13T21:57:00.002-04:00

142/365
May 24, 2010

This huge toad hung out in our garden for about a week. I was happy imagining it eating bugs. Sadly, it went away after a while.

I used to flush them out of their little tunnels with a hose and gather them up in a bucket. I think I tried to make little habitats for them with plants from the yard and gather bugs to feed them, but they never seemed content with this so I would let them go. I'm pretty sure my cruel hobby of flooding toads out of their homes means I might make a good government bigwig. Did anyone else go on toad hunts as a kid?

Park Slope rooftops

2010-07-13T21:48:00.002-04:00

141/365
May 23, 2010

We attended the (2nd?) annual Southern Fried Brunch at a friend's place, and most of the time was spent on the roof of the building. There were things like biscuits and fried chicken. I love the views of Brooklyn from rooftops.

frustration!

2010-07-13T21:39:00.002-04:00

Part of what has kept me from updating the blog lately is frustration. Every so often I empty my memory card from the camera into my photo library and I don't always look through it immediately, especially when there are hundreds of photos. Somewhere along the way, a lot of photos have gone missing! I'm not sure if the problem is on the card itself, the upload process, or something to do with iphoto. Right now I suspect that something is wrong with my iphoto and I'm losing pictures there but I haven't had the patience to fool with it.

So, there is a week or so in a row where all my photos are gone! I'm going to dig through pictures from other days to fill in the blanks because the big gap is giving me a big case of the sads. I'll keep the #/365 going, but the dates won't be in exact order.

Hopefully I'll post a bunch in the next couple of days and hopefully I will get the problem sorted out as well.

Again with the cupcakes

2010-07-13T20:41:00.002-04:00

140/365
May 22, 2010

Yep, that's a shelf full of more cupcakes just waiting for me to add some delicious buttercream icing. We were going to a party and I of course offered to bring a dessert so I could practice the icing more. This time I used a tres leches cake recipe for the cupcakes and soaked them with a tres leches sauce before adding the vanilla icing.

Speed Racer

2010-07-13T19:54:00.003-04:00

139/365
May 21, 2010

Grad school can have field trips. For the zoonoses class I took, one of our speakers was the head vet at the Wildlife Conservation Society (Bronx Zoo and the other NYC zoos) and he gave us a tour of the animal hospital at the Bronx Zoo. We could not take photos during the tour, but afterwards we walked around the zoo. I don't really love taking pictures of animals in zoos, but I took a few for the 365. I like how the blur makes it kind of look like the turtle is fast.

Mice

2010-07-05T23:03:00.002-04:00

138/365
May 20, 2010

Mice have been a part of life since moving to the city. Some apartments were relatively rodent free (no place is truly free of them here) with them just using our place as a connector from the basement to the gross apartments above us and other times we've had them partying it up. In our rent-stabilized place they really moved in. Despite no evidence of them eating in our place, based on my extensive search and the exterminators, they seemed to be ever-present. Shep is an excellent mouser, but I wanted a way to really get rid of them and the mouse zapper, as I call it, is the best solution (barring being able to fill ALL holes).

In this picture Shep is proudly playing with the mouse (only one seen so far here, in two years) he caught. Below is a shot of the wonderful mouse-zapper.

Petunias and mini-petunias

2010-07-05T22:54:00.003-04:00

137/365
May 16, 2010*

*New rule for my 365 postings: the picture may not be from the day up in order. If I miss a day or just like multiple pictures from one day that I like better than another nearby day, I'll post that one. This is the case for picture 137.

This is one of my favorite flower baskets this summer. It has million bells (which look like miniature petunias, and may be closely related but I'm not sure) and some red petunias. I can only plant petunias in containers because our endless snail population eats them to the ground in a few days if I plant them in the yard. It takes them a while to get into the planters so I have a chance to grab them and toss them into the beer bowl of death.

Ramp butter

2010-07-04T23:15:00.002-04:00

136/365
May 18, 2010

I used the last of my ramps to make my own ramp butter. The recipe called for a lot of lemon juice, and I used probably less than half of what it called for but it was still too much. The butter is good (um, it's still butter with tasty flavors), but the lemon flavor is almost as strong as the ramp flavor.

Summer dessert

2010-07-04T23:10:00.003-04:00

135/365
May 17, 2010

Fresh local strawberries, cream cheese pound cake, and fresh whipped cream. That is all.

Mmm, good.

2010-07-04T22:55:00.002-04:00

134/365
May 16, 2010

Pulled pork and smoked beef brisket sandwiches. These were two of the tastiest things we've had at a street fair here. A new steakhouse in the neighborhood was serving these along with some other quirky items like hot beef sundaes and pork parfaits.

I think the frost is gone

2010-06-22T11:46:00.003-04:00

133/365
May 15, 2010

I'm not sure why those last two posts are showing up backwards, but I'm sure you're all smart enough to handle it.

This is one of my little patches of dirt at our apartment right after I planted impatiens. Later I'll post their progress. In the past they have really taken over the area so I hope they do it again.

Missing file

2010-06-22T11:30:00.002-04:00

131/365
May 13, 2010

Another missing photo. I don't always use the same camera or even the same memory card in a the same camera and I think I've lost some images. I really thought I had only missed one day recently, but with several missing days, I think I lost some photos.

A break from news on oil spills and bombings

2010-06-22T11:28:00.003-04:00

132/365
May 14, 2010

As it might look, this was a last minute photo.

The Onion is a weekly satirical newspaper. I read it online for years and never even thought of it as being available in print. BUT, here in New York, it's one of the free papers in the boxes on the corners. I pick it up every week and it floats around our apartment as we both read it. The first half is fake news stories and the second half is interviews and reviews of mostly music and movies. One of my favorite sections is the horoscopes. They are dark and witty, and nothing like "real" horoscopes. Some of the videos on the Onion website are hilarious and worth a few minutes for the laughs.

Some horoscopes from this week's Onion:
Capricorn
You never thought you'd end up a billionaire, living in a palatial mansion, and jet-setting around the world. So it's no real disappointment, when you don't.
Aquarius
Your lucky compound modifiers for this week are: long-term, hard-fought and military-history.
Pisces
Lately it seems like nobody respects your feelings, but why don't you just shut up for a second and let the stars worry about it.

Home Pedicure

2010-06-14T13:49:00.004-04:00

130/365
May 12, 2010

I feel naked if my toenails are not painted in the summer and on display in sandals. The problem is that getting a pedicure in a nail salon has always kind of grossed me out, and my public health classes have only confirmed my fears (skin fungus anyone?). Is anyone else grossed out by sticking your feet in a tub that has housed many other feet or using a polish brush that has painted the nails of strangers? Am I the only one?

I am thus left to do my own nails. No matter how many times I paint them, my skills seem to have shown zero improvement, but I have at least perfected my whole technique. I basically just paint the top of the whole toe, as seen in this photo, and use a toothpick to outline the nail. Once it dries, it is pretty easy to wipe the polish off of the skin. Wearing socks and sneakers for a long walk or jog helps the process, as does a warm bath. After the excess paint is wiped off, the end product usually looks good, in my opinion. Anyone else use this method or want to teach me a better way?

Animal Cruelty

2010-06-14T13:35:00.003-04:00

129/365
May 11, 2010

That's the title Shep would give these photos, but I disagree. The first one is him, in the bathroom after realizing he's about to get put in the tub for a bath. He is refusing to look at me because he is not happy and a little nervous (he hates getting wet). The second one is kind of blurry because the humidity in the bathroom fogged up my lens, but you can still see how happy he is to be clean -insert sarcasm-. I let him get a few shakes out before taking the second picture so you don't get to see him totally drenched and skinny. It sure is hard to get all of that hair wet, but he has no trouble shaking the water off all over the house.

Mexican hot chocolate

2010-06-14T13:30:00.002-04:00

128/365
May 10, 2010

This has been a great product to have in my pantry. You can mix it with milk to make a spicy hot chocolate. I've also put it in cake frosting for a spicy taste with a little texture from it's crunchy bits. It's also good on vanilla ice-cream. All of my chocolate frostings have had this as the chocolate portion lately, for the record.

Are you getting hungry, yet?

2010-06-14T13:19:00.002-04:00

127/365
May 9, 2010

This is one of my new favorite cookies. There's usually some sort of cookie or cake (all home-made of course) to eat when I visit my folks, and when I went in April, one of the sweets was lemon cookies. They were delicious so I got the recipe for Lemon Ice-box Cookies and made some soon after getting home to Brooklyn. This dough is good a one to make in bulk then freeze rolls of it. Just pull a roll out, slice, and bake when you need cookies for a party or a snack. The dough is a little sticky to work with, so using wax paper to roll it in makes things easier.

Craig gets dirty

2010-06-13T23:58:00.002-04:00

126/365
May 8, 2010

(Remember, I missed 125 somehow, or lost the file)

Every now and then, Craig gets a burst of energy and does something useful around the house. He disappeared outside for a while and I went out to find him putting the new garden shears we bought, to work. That pile of greenery above his head is all trash.