Reddish Velvet Beet Cupcakes with Bourbon Cream Cheese Icing

My friend Jamie had a big birthday last week, so we celebrated in style. She loves red velvet cupcakes (she is from the South after all), but I don't really like the idea of adding red food dye, and the natural food coloring available at Whole Foods was prohibitively expensive. I love using beets in baked goods, so I went ahead and made this version of red velvet cupcakes, minus the food coloring, and with the addition of 1/3 cup cooked and pureed...

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The Trials of Faux-Vegetarianism

Some time ago in the past couple years I pledged to try to only eat meat that is sustainably raised. Because I'm grossed out by the idea of eating meat from an animal that spent its life in a dirty crowded small space pumped with corn feed and antibiotics grosses me out. And because thoughtful, ethical, sustainable farms leave less of a trace on the planet. However, try is the key word there.I keep my pledge in my own home by only buying meat from the farmers market. I keep it by eating out at restaurants that source their food from local and organic...

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Art from Art

During my car-free weekend upstate, I also spent a rainy day at the Dia Beacon, a contemporary art museum. It wasn't really my kind of thing. Lots of minimalist artwork that doesn't look like art (think geometric shapes with simple variations) and lots of handouts so full of pretentious gobbledygook that all I could do was scoff at them; the museum's words didn't help me understand any better how this stuff could be art. But I DID like the huge Richard...

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Bannerman's Island

The weekend before the move, instead packing like intelligent, well-prepared people would have done, I split town to escape. After all the driving and traffic of earlier trips in July, I planned a car-free getaway to make the weekend as stress-less as possible (and eco-friendly).I spent the weekend in Cold Spring and Beacon, an easy and beautiful trainride away from New York City. Both towns have main streets and several attractions within walking...

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Dog Beach

Tucked away in a corner of a lily-padded pond toward the south end of the Long Meadow in Prospect Park is a wonderful dog beach. I don't know how this beach came to be, but whoever thought of the idea is brilliant! We took Milo there last Saturday. Apparently he loved to swim in the lake when he was a baby puppy growing up in the woods of the Adirondacks before he came to Brooklyn.It was the perfect activity for such a hot day, now that New York...

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First Dinner

Last weekend was my first in the new apartment, and on Saturday morning I hit up the farmers market less than 2 blocks (!) away for some pretty flowers and the makings of our first dinner:Sandshark marinated in lemon juice, olive oil, mustard, thyme, salt, and pepperCorn on the cob and potatoesall cooked on the grill for simplicity's sakewith a nice red wine saved for this special occasion.The sandshark was a pretty rare find. It's a white fish,...

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Bohemian Luxe Camping

I was totally enamored with this campsite at Grey Fox...it looks like something straight of a magazine and has everything you'd want in a home away from home. Colorful print fabrics, plenty of comfy seating nooks, secondhand decor, potted plants, and even a chandelier! I'm happy to learn that their labor of love won the festival award for the best campsite! Click here to see more inspirational detail shots.What do you like to bring with you on camping...

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The Sites of Grey Fox

With all the zillions of campsite crowded into one farm for Grey Fox, it was also fun to walk through the rows of tents, RVs, and buses, and marvel at the inventive ways people managed to personalize their temporary dwellings.This group built their structure using birch logs!It must be fun to sleep in a teepeeand take outdoor showersBut stay tuned tomorrow morning for my favorite campsite of them all...

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The Faces of Grey Fox

Grey Fox Festival was filled with people of all ages and sizes from babies to old hippies and all kinds of characters. Lots of groups of families and friends. A true testament to being young at heart no matter their age. I got to play with my new SLR camera, and there was a lot of opportunity to practice candid shots.i loved this girl's outf...

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