Lady Antebellum Goodness

Always liked Lady Antebellum, but lately can't get enough of them. Just came across this awesome video from their recent performance at Disneyland, it's great!

Still keeping my fingers crossed that I win tickets to their show next Tuesday at the McKittrick Hotel!!

Food for Thought

Gotta love Yogi tea's for all their teabag wisdom. The latest was this quote:
"Goodness should become human nature, because it is real in nature." 

Isn't that the truth? And so appropriate for this blog! I made it the blogs headline!

It's not so difficult to see the good people have in them and all the good they do. Most people do good things without effort and without wanting recognition. But sometimes it's really hard to see the good in some people when they seem to always disappoint. You have to wonder if they even have it in them to be good. Does everyone have some amount of goodness in them and maybe sometimes don't know how to use it? I sometimes think they don't, but then sometimes think they do. What do you think?

It's definitely food for thought that we should have goodness within us and have to learn how to cultivate it enough that it becomes more automatic. And also to allow ourselves to see more of the good someone has to offer than the bad. Even if that good is a fraction of who they really are at that current point in time. Easier to write than to do, but it's a practice I am really trying with lately with certain people in my life.

Gardening Phase 1

I decided to do some heavier duty gardening this spring/summer in my parents backyard. It's a backyard of history: 

*My grandfather had a little vineyard set up to make his own wine from the grapes. To this day I still find the intricate roots of the grape vine.

*My brothers & I played safely there in the summers (they with their GI Joe's and me with my Barbie's)

*It provided my first patch of dirt there where I experimented with growing vegetables and flowers at the young age of 9: successful were cosmos and string beans - not so successful were pumpkins. 

*We had countless parties there and to this day I have my annual BBQ which has become a staple of summer for many of my friends. 

*There are 2 rosebushes + a lilac tree that are older than I am!

So with all that history, I decided to make some more history this year by creating a successful perennial garden & homegrown veggies. I started last weekend and will be working in patches (to make it less intimidating!): 

The trunk to the right is the lilac tree. Gardening under a tree is a bit difficult, but I got some ferns which hopefully will fill out nicely (white feather hostas and luna moth hostas). There's also some Pampas ornamental grass right in front of that trellis (which will eventually be filled with ivy). They did well last year, I expect them to do well again this year and probably be bigger (they got up to about 2 feet last summer). And that little spec of green all the way to the left is a Black Eyed Susan, one of my favorite garden flowers since they are so hardy and colorful for months. 

The next phase includes: 

*Asparagus Fern 

*Japanese Forest Grass

*Hardy Geranium Bush

*Japanese Blood Grass

*Jasmine Night Blooming Bush

And after that will be my vegetable garden attempt: 

*Summer Squash

*Parsley

*Carrots

*Lettuce

*Arugula

Fingers crossed!

Tortellini with Peas & Radicchio

A quick meal to put together. I made this for a lunch visit, along with a starter of salad. Light, but substantial enough. The radicchio adds more texture than flavor so I'd add pancetta next time to add a bit more flavor. 

Recipe here.

Chicken Rollatini with Spinach

Super easy to make and a healthier version to chicken parmesan. Shared a piece with a co-worker and he liked it a lot (he's a picky eater...).

Click HERE for the recipe. Instead of breadcrumbs, I used panko and mixed it with some shredded parmesan cheese.

NY Botanical Garden's Orchid Show

For Easter, we visited the Orchid Show at the NY Botanical Gardens. It was so beautiful and made me wish I had a green thumb for orchids (I owned one which died within 3 months). I highly recommend the show - - for next year since it ends in a day. Here are some of my favorite photos from the visit: 

Latest Obsessions

I've become a bit dependent on a few things lately - not ashamed of any of them!

This guy has made my apartment the cleanest it's ever been:

I consider myself a good housekeeper, but dust is everywhere. All. The. Time. I scheduled this lovely robot to clean my floors twice a week and haven't found a spec of dust anywhere. Worth every single penny.

***

Allergies? Hung over? Stomach ache? I found the cure-all:

My recipe for a Feel Good Tea: 

1 tbsp Bragg's APV 

1 tsp raw honey 

1 lemon slice, squeezed 

Poor boiling water over the above, stir until honey dissolves. Enjoy! 

Surprisingly, it's a tasty tea concoction and I've been feeling amazing since I've started drinking it (once a day). Felt really run down with allergies two weeks ago, but no more! Even my super sensitive stomach has been loving it. 

Some good articles on the benefits of APV: here, here, and here.

***

Country music radio has finally come to NYC: 

Listen every morning and night. Never thought I'd be a Brooklyn-born/bred-Country-Music Girl. Funny how life turns out. 

***

And similar to the radio station, this TV show: 

Each episode gets better and better. 

***

But really this show is making me crazy excited: 

I just wish it wasn't 1 week on and like 8 weeks off. 

***

And while Homeland is on break, this show is coming in a close second for me: 

Great acting, exciting plots, edge of your seat thrills... it's fantastic! 

52 Cookies: Pt 2

So much updating to do on this blog! Here's part 2 of my cookies from 2011's resolution to bake a new cookie each week! 

Sour Cream Cookies

This recipe came from a book so I'm including the recipe instead of a link. These were good, but only if you put the frosting on! Without the frosting, it's not very special.

1/2 cup of butter
1/2 cup of sour cream
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3-3 2/3 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Cream together butter, sour cream, and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. This dough will be slightly sticky. 

Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface about 1/3 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Bake at 425 degrees for 4-6 minutes. Remove cookies before they start to brown. Cool cookies completely before frosting with butter cream frosting. 

BUTTER CREAM FROSTING

1 stick of butter, room temperature
3 3/4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
3-4 tbsp milk (or cream)
2 tsp vanilla 

Place butter in a large mixing bowl. Beat until light and fluffy, about 30 seconds. Stop mixer before adding sugar to avoid a large mess. Add sugar, 3 tbsp of milk (or cream), and vanilla.  Beat frosting, starting on slow, increasing your speed until frosting is nice and creamy. Add up to 1 more tablespoon of milk (or cream) if frosting is too thick.

from 101 Gourmet Cookies for Everyone, by Wendy Paul

Sweetheart Cookies
Just like a Linzer Tart but SO much easier to make. Equally as delicious!

Rainbow Cookies
It's hard to resist these! They require work and a lot of time. Some people would say "why not just buy them at an Italian bakery?" but I say to them "why buy them when you can bake them?!" I don't mind the effort and these taste nearly like they came from a bakery! I've made these several times already and just change the food coloring if it's for a holiday.

Amish Cookies 
Not sure what's so Amish about these cookies! They're basically a sugar cookie. On speed. Yes, on speed. Overload of sugar. 

Chocolate and Sea Salt Cookies
Someone who tasted this cookie described it as "this is the cookie you eat when your house burns down and your husband leaves you." Here's hoping that nothing tragic like that ever happens and to having a delicious cookie just because. 

Cool Whip Cookies
Big hit. And so easy. 

Lemoncello Cookies 
I'm a big fan of Lemoncello. Needless to say, I'm a big fan of these cookies. 

Nutella Cookies 
I  am also a big fan of Nutella. So these cookies are one of my go-to's and one of the more popular requests!

Lime Meltaways 
I had a lime cookie when I was in Key West one year for a job. It was the best thing I ever tasted. I finally found a recipe that gets pretty close to that love at first bite cookie! 

Banana Cookies
Another thing to do with too ripened bananas! I enjoyed these very much.