The Hunker Games

We New Yorkers are kind of known for complaining about the winter weather. In our defense, these winters can be hard. The high humidity and gusty winds can make the cold air seem much colder than whatever temperature the thermometer claims. Plus, the simple fact that we walk everywhere means that we have to actually be out in that cold weather. A lot.

I'm all for a little bit of cathartic complaining, which is why I was so surprised in Colorado to see people actually enjoying the winter. After a few snow shoeing expeditions and half a dozen outdoor bonfires, I kind of saw their point. When my trip came to an end, and I headed back to New York, I made a decision to try my very hardest to look for ways to enjoy the winter. 

This weekend put me to the test. Winter arrived late this year, but when it hit, it hit hard, with 2 feet of snow, freezing wind, and a citywide mandate shutting down all transportation. And thus began our weekend of winter.

And you know what? I enjoyed it. I made my way to a friend's house where a few of us gathered to hunker down and ride out the worst of it (or as my friend called it, The Hunker Games). There was coffee to drink and comfort food to eat, a dog to play with, and lots of knitting. 

I got to wake my friend up with a snowball, start an art project, and hug a baby. 

When it was safe to venture outside, we were met with picturesque walks in the snow, bars with wood burning stoves, hot apple cider, free snacks, and So. Much. Quiet.

I can't promise I'll make it through the rest of the winter without complaining. I'm sure I'll be more than ready for spring when it arrives. But for now, I think my little goal of finding some joy in this weather is off to a pretty good start. 

Beets

Whenever I plan to cook beets, I think "ugh, is this going to be worth dealing with stained everything for the rest of the day?"

It always is. 

First snow in Brooklyn!

Pictured: World's tiniest snowman

National taco pizza day

What is it about making dinner with someone that transforms this chore into a fun art project? Last night I joined a friend for one of our favorite rituals, making homemade pizza. Normally, I wouldn't even consider taking on a recipe that takes 2 and a half hours on a weeknight, but pizza with Natalie is always worth the wait. 

Although our pizzas are always a team effort, if I'm being honest, Natalie is the true pizza artist, and I am just her loyal sous chef. Our pizza nights have become an ever evolving tradition. They usually include a revolving door of our favorite pizza eaters, Natalie's newest music playlist (almost always some variation of 90s hip hop), occasionally a board game (I still maintain that if "senu" isn't a Scrabble word, it should be), and whatever pizza toppings we've come up with that night. 

For the actual pizza, there have never been recipes used, but the end result is almost always the product of meticulous planning over the course of several days. Questions like "what if we used eggplant instead of sausage?" And "would kimchi pizza be too weird?" are passed back and forth for days. The end result is always unique and delicious and completely our own creation (I still maintain that our Thanksgiving leftover pizza should be a tradition unto itself). 

Just like with most things in life, it's nice to have a little bit of tradition to accompany all that novelty. For us, that tradition is Natalie's taco pizza. Our pizza night menu planning almost always starts with Natalie saying "Well obviously we're gonna make a taco pizza too, right?" Obviously. 

When I arrived on this particular pizza night, Natalie was excited to inform me that according to her Facebook feed, she and I had been making this exact pizza on this exact day last year. She promptly dubbed this day (January 13) National Taco Pizza Day, and with that, a tradition was born. 

For anyone who would like to observe what I can only assume will become a very important national holiday, here's an approximation of our recipe...

Natalie's Taco Pizza

Disclaimer: like I said, no actual recipes are used on pizza night, so all quantities are subject to variation. Go with your gut.

Ingredients assembled before cooking:

Flour for sprinkling on the pan 

Pizza dough (homemade or frozen are fine)

1 can refried beans

Jalapeños

1 onion, diced and sautéed 

Ground beef (optional) cooked prior to assembling the pizza 

Cheddar cheese

Red pepper flakes 

Olives (optional)

Diced tomatoes 

Bake the pizza (I can't give any details on the temperature or length, because the numbers on Natalie's oven have been worn away. You just have to feel it. Or, you know, follow the instructions that came with the dough if you bought it).

Let pizza cool for a few minutes

Ingredients added after cooking:

Diced avocado 

Sour cream

Hot sauce 

For obvious reasons, the ingredients in this recipe do not live up to my usual food goals. They're not particularly healthy or local or home grown, but what can I say? Every once in a while, a girl needs to make a taco pizza with her friend. 

Happy National Taco Pizza Day!!! 

Collections

I am a collector. I always have been. Even as a kid, I was always collecting something. For me, it's never really seemed to matter much what I was collecting - rocks, shells, dolls, stamps, tea cups, sea glass, Legos, buttons, lawn gnomes, scrap metal, glass bottles, bones - I've always been on the hunt for something. 

I'm often reminded by my minimalist parents and more tidy roommates that these ever growing piles of useless stuff do not make everyone as happy as they make me, which is why it's so refreshing to stumble across fellow collectors.

Recently, I was thrilled to find myself in company of kindred spirits when a friend convinced me to participate in the Brooklyn Historical Society's Collector's Night. It's an annual event where anyone who wants to can set up a table of their personal collection. The end result is a room full of collections that are beautiful (Hawaiian artifacts, Broadway costumes), unique (vintage cartoons, pizza boxes, taxidermy dressed in Christmas outfits), or just plain weird (I'm looking at YOU, rare penis collector). My friend and I teamed up to present a mixed table of our 2 collections, his matchbooks and my bugs and bones. 

I should've take more pictures of the collection displays. I definitely slacked on that. But to be honest, although the collections were really impressive, (including at least one world record holder) I think that what I loved most about the event was that it didn't seem to matter what someone collected, or whether the other people in the room shared that interest. What mattered was that they collected something. More so than the objects themselves, people were interested in details about the collecting process. How did you start this collection? How do you organize them? Do you research each piece? Does your roommate mind? What else do you collect? They understood the instinct. Like I said, kindred spirits.

Patience and knitting

When I tell people I'm a knitter, the most common response I get is some variation of "I don't have the patience to knit." I've always found this response to be a little funny, because I don't usually think of myself as a particularly patient person. I mean, I can be patient when it counts. I'm patient with crying children and friends who need to rehash the same stories a few times. I try hard to be patient about my loved ones imperfections and with people who need to yell at someone because they're clearly having a hard day.... But if the subway gets delayed 5 minutes? Forget it. I'm the least patient person on earth.

...Enter knitting. Knitting is a craft that I don't think I ever would have picked up on my own. I sort of fell into it, but it stuck in large part because it helped me fill those little moments of impatience with something that felt pleasant and even productive. Suddenly I could throw a project in my bag, and wasted time didn't feel wasted anymore. Waiting for a very late subway, or standing in line at the post office, or sitting at an empty lunch table waiting for that friend who's always 40 minutes late - suddenly these moments weren't a hassle anymore. I could fill them with something fun, and creative, and even a little relaxing.

Now, I carry a knitting project almost everywhere I go. It's a constant companion that has made a million of the little inconveniences of living in New York disappear. It's helped me get closer to becoming the patient person I try to be, because yes, that subway delay might make me 10 minutes late for work, but that's 10 more minutes of knitting I get to do in the morning, and who could complain about that?

This particular project has already accompanied me on 1 airplane, countless subway rides, a trip to the doctor, several lunch breaks, and a few social gatherings. So far it's managed to keep me (relatively) patient the entire time. 

A little change of plans

I had planned to have a quiet Christmas break at home. I had planned to clean my apartment, check a few of the more dreaded items off my To Do list, make some gingerbread cookies, and enjoy the unseasonably warm New York weather (72 degrees on Christmas Eve!). I had planned to do a few productive things and a whole lot of nothing.

But of course, nothing ever goes quite according to plan. Just one day into my Christmas break, I got an urgent call for help from a friend, packed a bag for Colorado, and the plan went out the window. 

Not that I'm complaining. Have you ever been to Colorado? As far as I can tell, pretty much the entire state looks like this...

So instead of a little bit of work and a whole lot of nothing, my days were filled with a little bit of nursing a loved one back to health...

And knitting in front of fireplaces (so many fireplaces!)

And snow shoeing through a national park

And belated Christmas trees

And thrift shops full of taxidermy

And long drives through snowy mountain towns, and hot coffee 3 times a day, and reconnecting with an old friend, and cooking elaborate meals I never have time to make. Yup. My vacation was both incredibly full and incredibly relaxing in so many unexpected ways.

I hope my next vacation plans get thrown  out the window in favor of something unexpected too. 

Welcome

Welcome to my little corner of the internet. I'm not sure exactly what this blog will become, other than a place for me to document my weird little projects and collections, but if you happen to have stumbled upon it, I'm glad you're here. Make yourself at home.