Flowers, Camera, Wedding!

I'll be back soon with longer posts and more details about things happening around here. For now there have been three important events:

1) I went to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden's Annual Cherry Festival. The blooms really were a sight to behold, as was the smell of all the blooming lilacs (one of my favorite smells).

2) My Mister really is the BEST ever, and he surprised me on the closing of our house with a very important gift. A new camera!

3) The Frankel's got married, and although I don't have as many pictures as I would like, a lovely time was had by all over the long Memorial Day weekend.

Now welcome June! It's hard to believe you're being ushered in with 90 degree plus days.

Randomness

I've been having some random thoughts lately about my general well-being. Allow me to share:

• I was recently informed I have a cavity. I was 12 when I got my first and only cavity so far.
• I'll be riding in a limo next weekend for the first time. I'm 31 years old and have never rode in a limo before. Anyone else think this is as odd as I do? Bueller? Bueller? Anyone?
• I'm suffering from a small cold, and I haven't had one in over a year. At the first sign of illness, I immediately ran out to Walgreens and spent over $50 on cold remedy products. Why yes, I DID need that new waterpik water pulsator!? Thanks for asking!
• I got my nails painted earlier this week in a color called "fondola gondola." The week before it was "dim sum plum." Apparently, I'm either craving soup dumplings or a trip to Venice. Frankly, I'll take either.

There you have it. Thanks for stopping a moment in my noodle brain.

Officially Official

After 376 days, I can honestly say, "this house is not my home!" That's right people, it's officially official, the mister and I FINALLY sold our house in Milan. We made a lot of happy memories in that house, but I can't exactly say I'm sad to see this chapter close. We have been through hell and high water trying to sell this house in a terrible market, and the taste it's left in my mouth is less than desirable. Maybe someday well down the road, we'll consider purchasing again. For now, we're more than happy to rent here in New York, and will NOT miss having to do things like mow the lawn or tend to the ever growing weeds in the garden! Of course there are things I'll miss. But for now, I'm glad the place can be someone else's hassle.

RIP 826 Barnswallow (circa 2003-2010)

Now with that, I'm off to drink the 3 bottles of cava and prosecco I've got chilling in my fridge. Hurray!! 

Happenings

Hello there! It's been a while. Things have been interesting here in Brooklyn. April was pretty much a non-stop slew of visitors and the arrival of spring. Among Casa Zawacki's guests were the other Zawacki's (our first child visitors!) including this hilarious guy:

Having the children here was beyond fun. Between trips to the zoo, the aquarium, lots of giggle stroller rides, the park, the library, celebrating Sylvie's 5th birthday, and watching about a million "eeeba's" pass on the street (2 y/o code for city buses), nobody was bored for a minute. I just wish those small fries could be here visiting all the time!

After the kids and my brother & sister-in-law came and went, it was time for another visit with Liz, who was in town over the Easter weekend with her boyfriend Jason. What was unexpected however, was the SURPRISE visit from my friend Erin, who came all the way to NYC from Munich, Germany for work! It was sooooooooo nice to have her stay with us for a few days and get to show her our cool little 'hood. It was also a great excuse for me to actually cook an Easter meal.

Finally, I've been working on a few little projects here and there. I got some fantastic new city street art (thanks again Kristal!), and I wanted to get it framed and hung in a special place. I'm really happy with the results, and seeing these pictures on their shelf make me smile every morning.

"Cause Diamonds are a Girls best friend"

It's somewhat possible that my love for brown paper packages tied up in strings has been replaced by robin's egg blue boxes tied up in white ribbon. Never in my life, did I ever think I'd set foot into a glitzy jewelers like Tiffany & Co., willing and able to purchase something! But my Bestie really is the bestest in the whole wide world, and she thought my 31st Birthday was simply the perfect time to get me a Tiffany's gift card. Armed with a gift card of her own, we headed together to 5th Avenue in the big city to have an adventure. It was certainly an experience that I'll never forget.

I guess I wasn't totally sure what to expect when we set foot into Tiffany's, but what I certainly did NOT expect was to be treated so well. They've got their customer service down to a science! Never once were we treated like lesser customers because we weren't buying 20k engagement rings, and every salesperson was enthusiastic about letting us try on whatever we wanted. There certainly is something magical as well about all those glass cases, all the glittering jewels, and all the white gloves of the sales personnel as they're constantly cleaning and polishing!
It was tough to look at so many beautiful things and have to choose, but after a long look around the store, my heart was simply set on something from the Paloma Picasso line. An odd choice for someone like me who isn't particularly a fan of either Picasso's paintings nor a bunch of hearts! But this sterling silver piece just spoke to me for some reason. It needed to be around my neck.

Difficult to photograph, but intricate and gorgeous in person!

A few more walks around the store, and Kristal feasted her eyes on another lovely sterling silver piece, a graduated necklace. It seemed a bit dramatic to me in the case, but once it made it's way around Kristal's neck, we both knew she had to have it! She says she feels a bit like June Cleaver when she wears it, and I think that simply adds to it's glamor.

All in all, I honestly couldn't have asked for a better birthday gift. I'm getting to an age where "things" aren't as important to me as experiences are, and Kristal really knocked it out of the park this year in finding me something that accomplished both! As a wise woman once said "Your memories are your jewels," and this one I'll treasure always.

Thanks Kristal (and Rick), for a wonderful birthday experience!

Bulking up

Blog world, I have a problem. That problem is an overwhelming need to purchase and consume bulk snacks. Over the last few weeks here in Brooklyn, while on weekly walks to work, I have discovered a secret mecca of deliciousness. Okay, really, it's not so secret, since it seems to be busy all the time, but it certainly was secret to me. Behold, Sahadi's.

Sahadi's is everything I dreamed a small grocery could be. It's exactly what I hoped I would be exposed to living in a big city, and I really couldn't be happier about it. So what makes Sahadi's so awesome? The bulk bins! Lately I've been favoring the fruit and nut options, but there are so many other awesome things like olives by the pound, grains galore, spices and pretty much anything for your baking needs. And the prices! Oh be still my heart. The prices are actually quite low given everything else in this expensive city. Where else do you think I can get an entire pound of dried bananas for only $1.75?? Other fantastic finds for me have included both dark chocolate covered orange peel (a very personal Parisian favorite) and ginger (good for tummy aches!), dried kiwi, strawberries, peaches, pineapple, and green peas! They're probably not actually peas, more likely dried, roasted and lightly salted chickpeas. All I know is that I am eating them by the bucketful, and I don't feel a single bit bad about it.

The best part about all these bulk snacks, is that they just make me HAPPY. Going to Sahadi's is now something of a weekly ritual, and I look forward to it. The things I buy are mostly good for me (sugared dried pineapple aside, but it's soooooooooo yummy), and I feel lucky to have access to such an overwhelming supply of tasty treats. I hope you're able to find your own little slice of snack happiness in your neck of the woods, and if not, be sure to come visit mine! I'll make sure you get the hook-up.

Banana chips

Dried peaches

Pineapple

Kiwi (the seeds are the best!)

Roasted, salted & flavored chickpeas

Dried strawberries

Dark Chocolate covered ginger on the left, orange peel on the right

The very best pie

Is not filled with fruit and surrounded by a flaky pastry crust, but is instead spread with fresh marinara, sprinkled with cheeses, topped with oil and basil, and baked in an extremely hot coal oven.

I'm declaring it now, this is the best pizza I've ever eaten. Lucky for me, it's from the South Brooklyn Pizza company that just opened a block from our apartment. I'm in a state of happy tummy bliss.

Sneak attack

Something very sneaky arrived in my mailbox today.

I like surprises. Especially ones from exotic places.

An early birthday present from my Brother!

Are you kidding me??

He knows just how to both make me smile AND get under my skin. How in the world am I ever going to finish a puzzle with pieces this small!? I think I'll be saving this gift for a reaaaaaaally long rainy weekend.

The Ides of Ice Cream

It's starting to feel like spring here in New York. We've had a few days throughout the last 2 weeks where the temperature was in the mid 50's! Sunny and breezy and lovely this weekend. So what better way to celebrate the start of spring than with ice cream? Because clearly, on the first warm day in your city, you go out and buy an ice cream maker like me, yes? Wait, normal people don't just buy kitchen appliances on a whim? They're missing out!
Anyway, with said new ice cream maker, I knew I had to make something really worthy. I could have scoured the internets in search of ultimate recipes, but instead I headed over to the bookstore to browse the cookbook section (since we know how I feel about cookbookery). I came across this lovely book, which I tell you, is the most beautiful cookbook I've purchased in a long time.

The directions in the book are spot-on, the images are mouth-watering, and the recipes, oh the recipes! I glanced at a recipe in the book for making speculoos cookies, and immediately I was sold. I've talked about my love of speculoos before yes? It all started while visiting my friend Erin in Belgium. She has a small obsession with the spicy Belgian gingerbread, and introduced me to it's wonders. If you've ever flown Delta before, you may have come across speculoos yourself, as their complimentary Biscoff cookies are similar. Anyway, speculoos is awesome, and I imagined it could be even more awesome in ice cream form. So I got to work on a basic fleur de Lait ice cream recipe and added some spoonfuls of speculoos spread while it cooked (sorry, only available here in NY at the Wafels & Dinges truck). It made a fantastic base, which I then quickly dumped into the ice cream maker to spin and freeze while I waited. I added a few chopped up speculoos cookies to the mixture just before the ice cream was frozen, and presto chango, ice cream!

Mmmm, speculoos ice cream

I can't wait to try my hand at other recipes after seeing how fantastic this turned out. The Mister has requested both plain chocolate and creamsicle, and I have visions of plenty of summer sorbets with berries from the farmer's market. Yeah ice cream.

One Line, Five Years

A few weeks ago while I was wandering around Brooklyn, I happened to stop into the Paper Source (for those of you unfamiliar with it, PS is a large-city based store filled to the brim with all things paper, among choice small gifts and paper accessories like stamps, glitter, stickers, etc). Whenever I find myself in this store, I always feel inspired. Inspiration was a welcome thing recently too, as I've been feeling pretty uncreative. I know everyone has weeks where creativity comes and goes, but it certainly feels like a while since I've been really excited about something. Usually I get geeked about trying a new recipe, making bento, cleaning and organizing, working on scrapbook pages, or going out for drinks and spending time discussing life with other gals. Lately though, I haven't really been able to enjoy any of those things. Blame it on the life of a working girl, and at that, a lady who's still trying to find her way back to "normal" in this new city life. But while I am trying pretty hard not to beat myself up over not feeling creative, I'm also looking to find inspiration in anything I can. Enter: the One Line a Day book.

Writing in general is one of my least favorite things to do. When I do write, I always worry about how I'm being perceived as the words escape my brain and make their way out. I worry that what I write is too "flowery" and not enough to the point (can I help it that I'm an engineer that usually thinks in bullet points?) I worry that how I'm feeling about something and it's relative importance (or lack thereof) doesn't come across on paper as it does in my head. Mostly though, I worry that there's no structure to what I'm writing, and my words end up coming across as my thoughts are most of the time; scattered. I tend to overthink, and I definitely overanalyze. Knowing just a few things about the creative process and psychology though, I know despite my fears that it's so important to just get ideas and thoughts and feelings out. So for that reason, I was really inspired and excited for the first time in a long time when I stumbled upon the above little gem. The concept of the book is simple. Every day, for five years, you write down one line. There doesn't have to be a flow of ideas, the thoughts aren't meant to be cohesive, and in the end, nobody but me is going to read it so there's no fear of perception. Each page is separated by date as well, so at the end of five years, you can look back on any given day and see your progression over time.

I'm hoping that writing in this book each day will help me to recover some of my creative brain glitter that's gone missing lately. It's only been 10 days, but so far so good. I'm excited to see where this project takes me, and to see if blogging will outlast the book!