It's been getting pretty chilly here in NYC. I fell like I was just wearing shorts 2 weeks ago (oh wait, I was) and now it's already jacket weather! It got cold quick, and I'm not a fan of cold weather. This sudden change in weather makes me wish I was back in Kansas where the winters were extremely mild and unseasonably warm, the two that I experienced were at least.
My apartment doesn't hold heat very well and has been almost as chilly as it is outside! That might be a slight exaggeration, I do think it's been warmer than 50* in here... Nonetheless, I'm naturally cold pretty much all the time and having only a little space heater and only a few warm clothes (I was only supposed to be here for the summer after all) meant that I was drinking a lot of hot chocolate and tea and bundling into the few pairs of sweats I had with me.
Towards the middle of the week things improved with a wonderful care package from my parents, full of sweaters, dress pants, and shoes that I had left at home but now needed for my internship, and the chilly weather, plus a lot of food! Yay for my wonderful parents :)
Then, this morning, the heat was on!! There are two heaters in my apartment, one in the bedroom and one in the living room. Apparently the heat for the whole house goes through these before getting to the rest of the house so I'm not in control of my own heating. My days are shivering in my own apartment are over! (Ok, it wasn't really that bad) In fact, from what I hear it'll be so toasty that I'll probably be wearing shorts around my apartment in the dead of winter--which is fine with me!
Because the heat was on (well, I'm guessing that's why) we had an unexpected visitor (I wasn't expecting him at least): the gas and electric guy. I was still in my pajamas and about to do some yoga when he and Danny, who lives upstairs, came to my door to explain that he needed to come in and check the meters which are conveniently located in my apartment. That was a lil awkward... Mostly because he couldn't find the electrical one and neither Danny or I knew where it was and the guy was in a hurry and impatient with us as he had a big route to do today.
Oh well, we'll look forward to another visit from him next month and for now I'll enjoy basking in the heat :)
Friday, October 12, 2012
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Wildest Moments
Here it is again, another song that is constantly running through my head. Another Resource intern introduced me to it a month or so ago and I've come back around to it, basically listening to it on repeat.
Wildest Moments by Jessie Ware
Monday, October 8, 2012
Salted Caramel Chocolate Cake
It's Mug Monday!!
I've been making recipes in mugs like crazy- partially to find new ones but mostly because they're just so easy! Breakfast, lunch, dessert... Mostly dessert :) I'm getting quite a collection though and it's difficult to only post them once a week! Maybe I'll have to start sharing them more often... but would that take away from Mug Mondays?!
Anyways, I had a request for this recipe after I'd told my mom about it and she mentioned it to a family friend. I found it (where else?) on Pinterest and it's originally from The Family Kitchen.
I've only added caramels but this makes an awesome, basic chocolate cake that would be equally delcious with chocolate chips, crushed up Andes mints, or a variety of additives. Feel free to be creative :)
I've been making recipes in mugs like crazy- partially to find new ones but mostly because they're just so easy! Breakfast, lunch, dessert... Mostly dessert :) I'm getting quite a collection though and it's difficult to only post them once a week! Maybe I'll have to start sharing them more often... but would that take away from Mug Mondays?!
Anyways, I had a request for this recipe after I'd told my mom about it and she mentioned it to a family friend. I found it (where else?) on Pinterest and it's originally from The Family Kitchen.
I've only added caramels but this makes an awesome, basic chocolate cake that would be equally delcious with chocolate chips, crushed up Andes mints, or a variety of additives. Feel free to be creative :)
Salted Caramel Chocolate Mug Cake
4 Tablespoons flour
4 Tablespoons sugar
3 Tablespoons cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg--beaten
3 Tablespoons milk
1 Tablespoon oil
3-4 caramels
In a large mug, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Add the wet ingredients and stir until smooth. *Optional: The original recipe calls for salted caramels but I didn't know such a thing existed. I usually just unwrap the caramels and sprinkle them with some salt to give it the salty-sweet combo.*
Drop the caramels into the batter. (I usually spread them throughout, rather than dropping them all in the middle, because they tend to sink to the bottom.) You could also sprinkle some salt on top of the cake to add to the salty-sweet.
Microwave the cake for about 1 minute and 30 seconds or until it is done. If I had caramel ice cream topping I would probably add that and sea salt on the top after it had cooked.
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| It might look like regular chocolate cake, but it has a secret! |
Enjoy!!
Happy Days at Hill Country
One really cool thing about working at Hill Country is that celebrities are frequent visitors!
Living in New York, I could, and probably do, walk by celebrities on the sidewalk every day and have no idea-- there's just so many people and honestly, they usually look just like anyone else. I can pick models out of the crowd but television stars, musicians, and actors are a little trickier.
Which is why working in a nicer restaurant is great! Celebrities often eat there (Idina Menzel, Neil Diamond, Jesse Jackson, John Legend are just a few I've heard about in the last couple weeks) and someone is bound to recognize them and spread the word that so-and-so is sitting at table 43.
I'd been working at HC about 3 weeks before my first celeb sighting. It was Jaclyn Smith, one of the original Charlie's Angels. I was at the cash register and had no idea who she was or that she was even famous as I searched for a Small tank top she was buying for her daughter. Luckily, she was more in the other cashier's era and he urgently whispered "Do you know who that is?!"
I've been waiting for another celebrity to come in and, hopefully, to actually know who they were and recognize them. This weekend I got my wish!
I worked a double Saturday and while I was on my break and eating downstairs, a server came over to tell Ebony and I that The Fonz was there! Honestly, I've never seen Happy Days, but I do know who The Fonz is and have seen some of Harry Winkler's movies. I happened to end my break and get back to work right as he was leaving which led to me being the one to check him out at the cash register! I was pretty stoked to actually talk to him a little.
He was super nice and shorter in person than I would have thought (although I hear they always are!)-- I had a good 4 inches on him in my cowgirl boots! Here Comes the Boom is his latest movie coming out soon and he was recommending that to everyone. He also said he loved the place and will be back so maybe I'll get to see him again!
It definitely added some excitement to the evening and is a fun fact to tell people!
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Day 2 and Cafe R
Today was my second day at my new internship and it went really well! Maybe even better than yesterday because I was past the first day and already knew what I was supposed to be doing.
It's amazing the differences between the two places already. Everything from the atmosphere, to the work, to the style and setup, the office itself, the size of the operation, the hours and people... I'm thankful for my time at Resource, I had a good experience there and definitely learned a lot, but I'm happy to be in a new environment.
Now, because I love food and am completely in love with the food opportunities open to me in New York, I have to talk about my lunch today. At Resource I packed my lunch pretty much every day to save money, and I'll probably do that a lot at WeSell as well. But this morning time got away from me and there was no time to pack. So, come lunch time (which was actually more like early suppertime), I explored a little and found that there's this awesome deli/cafe, Cafe R, right across the street from my building!
I was always impressed by Bridge Fresh, the deli we frequented in DUMBO, but this, this was ridiculous. Literally any food you could imagine or want was at this place. The sign for a sushi special attracted me and at first all I saw was sushi and Chinese food, which you could order at counters and have made right in front of you. Then I noticed how big the place was and how many more counters and signs there were. Then I noticed the buffet of food ($6.65 per pound) in the middle. Then I saw the little grocery area. Then the packaged foods under the counters (like Easy Mac and Chef Boyardee). Then I realized there was a whole other side lined with counters. And these counters where you could order food were in addition to the coolers and cases in the middle where you could grab ready-made sandwiches and sushi and fruit salads and cookies and wraps and... well you get the idea.
Basically this place was overwhelming, but in a very good way. After glancing at the menus for sushi, Chinese, soup, Teriyaki, and Korean I decided on some orange chicken with lo mein. It was prepared right in front of me and delicious! Plus I could only eat about half and had leftovers-yay!
It's amazing the differences between the two places already. Everything from the atmosphere, to the work, to the style and setup, the office itself, the size of the operation, the hours and people... I'm thankful for my time at Resource, I had a good experience there and definitely learned a lot, but I'm happy to be in a new environment.
Now, because I love food and am completely in love with the food opportunities open to me in New York, I have to talk about my lunch today. At Resource I packed my lunch pretty much every day to save money, and I'll probably do that a lot at WeSell as well. But this morning time got away from me and there was no time to pack. So, come lunch time (which was actually more like early suppertime), I explored a little and found that there's this awesome deli/cafe, Cafe R, right across the street from my building!
I was always impressed by Bridge Fresh, the deli we frequented in DUMBO, but this, this was ridiculous. Literally any food you could imagine or want was at this place. The sign for a sushi special attracted me and at first all I saw was sushi and Chinese food, which you could order at counters and have made right in front of you. Then I noticed how big the place was and how many more counters and signs there were. Then I noticed the buffet of food ($6.65 per pound) in the middle. Then I saw the little grocery area. Then the packaged foods under the counters (like Easy Mac and Chef Boyardee). Then I realized there was a whole other side lined with counters. And these counters where you could order food were in addition to the coolers and cases in the middle where you could grab ready-made sandwiches and sushi and fruit salads and cookies and wraps and... well you get the idea.
Basically this place was overwhelming, but in a very good way. After glancing at the menus for sushi, Chinese, soup, Teriyaki, and Korean I decided on some orange chicken with lo mein. It was prepared right in front of me and delicious! Plus I could only eat about half and had leftovers-yay!
They had seating at both ends of the place, so I stayed there to eat and gawked at all the food options. Pizza, a bakery, "American grill", Mediterranean, hot sandwiches, cold sandwiches (both having pitas, paninis, and wraps), Mexican, Philly Steak, breakfast bar, pasta bar, beverage bar, salad bar, smoothie bar... I, of course, looked them up online later and, although they don't have a website (guess they need a good web designer's help ;), I did find their Facebook page which even shows their specials for every week!
Maybe no one else finds this interesting and I'm sorry if that's the case but I am a lover of food--places like this amaze me and are just another fantastic thing about New York :)
If I don't post for a few days it's because I'm crazy busy working at HC. Pulling a double tomorrow and Saturday plus working normally Friday and Sunday. Gotta make the money to buy these new clothes I want so bad! Haha, or at least to buy lunch for myself every once and awhile ;)
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Internship #2
So remember that exciting thing I promised to "talk more about later" last weekend? I'm finally going to talk about it.
Two Fridays ago, I had an interview for an internship at WeSell.com, a large advertising and event hosting site located in Manhattan. I felt like the interview had gone really well, but didn't really want to share too much until I had heard something back from them, preferably something positive.
I had been told I would hear from them after about a week and when I didn't hear from them right on Friday (or Saturday... or Sunday) I got a little disheartened. I mean, I felt very good after that interview! But that's life I guess... Who actually gets the first thing they interview for?
Friends advised me to follow up so I planned to call them back today. Well, last night, right in the middle of writing my Mug Monday post, I got a phone call and what do you know, it was David over at WeSell inviting me back and wondering if I could start today! I was ecstatic! I literally jumped up and down and screamed a little, which isn't something I do, like ever.
After fretting over the definition of "Business Casual" I figured out an outfit (I've been longing for new clothes and eager to do some shopping in NYC and now I actually have an excuse to get some new, professional clothes!) and headed off for my first day today! It was awesome. I actually have my own desk, complete with dual monitors! Everyone seems pretty friendly and it's such a professional setting, while being young and fun. Best of all, just the little taste of graphic design work I got to do today made me excited and remember how much I love graphic design. Oh, and did I mention it's a paid internship? A rarity, I assure you.
I'm ready for a new venture and so excited to be doing graphic design work! This is such an answer to prayer and I just wonder what else is in store for me...
Two Fridays ago, I had an interview for an internship at WeSell.com, a large advertising and event hosting site located in Manhattan. I felt like the interview had gone really well, but didn't really want to share too much until I had heard something back from them, preferably something positive.
I had been told I would hear from them after about a week and when I didn't hear from them right on Friday (or Saturday... or Sunday) I got a little disheartened. I mean, I felt very good after that interview! But that's life I guess... Who actually gets the first thing they interview for?
Friends advised me to follow up so I planned to call them back today. Well, last night, right in the middle of writing my Mug Monday post, I got a phone call and what do you know, it was David over at WeSell inviting me back and wondering if I could start today! I was ecstatic! I literally jumped up and down and screamed a little, which isn't something I do, like ever.
After fretting over the definition of "Business Casual" I figured out an outfit (I've been longing for new clothes and eager to do some shopping in NYC and now I actually have an excuse to get some new, professional clothes!) and headed off for my first day today! It was awesome. I actually have my own desk, complete with dual monitors! Everyone seems pretty friendly and it's such a professional setting, while being young and fun. Best of all, just the little taste of graphic design work I got to do today made me excited and remember how much I love graphic design. Oh, and did I mention it's a paid internship? A rarity, I assure you.
I'm ready for a new venture and so excited to be doing graphic design work! This is such an answer to prayer and I just wonder what else is in store for me...
Monday, October 1, 2012
Weekend Visits and Apple Upside Down Cake
Hey All!
It seems like forever since I've posted. Hope everyone had a great weekend!
I've had a lot of excitement the last few days! Over the weekend, a couple of my friends going to school in Virginia drove up for a visit. They brought a guy friend who had two friends from Germany who were on holiday in NYC. It was a fun weekend of seeing old friends as well as making new ones!
We packed a ton of stuff into Saturday: Central Park, Times Square, lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co, Grand Central Station, snacks from Crumbs bakery, Staten Island Ferry, Little Italy, supper at Puglia's, the Brooklyn Bridge... And that's not even including all the extra things we saw/did on the way to those places--street performers, street fairs, we even stumbled across the Pagan Pride Day gathering in Battery Park!
It was a busy, wonderful day followed by a relaxing Sunday brunch at Argo Tea on 58th Street, before they headed back to college.
I'll talk more about the other exciting stuff tomorrow! Because tonight, it's Mug Monday.
Inspired by the fall weather and the fact that I was going to have guests, I bought a bag of locally grown, gala apples and yum! My inspiration has carried through to finding tasty fall recipes using these apples.
Today I'd like to share a recipe I found for Coffee Cup Upside Down Cake. This recipe originally came from The Wichita Eagle (which made me like it all the more as I went to college 45 minutes from Wichita) and appeared in an article featuring four mug recipes, all of which look pretty delicious.
When I think of Upside Down Cake, I always think of pineapple but I thought that using apple would be a nice tribute to fall and that, likewise, the caramel-y topping would pay a nice tribute to the apples :) I was not disappointed.
It seems like forever since I've posted. Hope everyone had a great weekend!
I've had a lot of excitement the last few days! Over the weekend, a couple of my friends going to school in Virginia drove up for a visit. They brought a guy friend who had two friends from Germany who were on holiday in NYC. It was a fun weekend of seeing old friends as well as making new ones!
We packed a ton of stuff into Saturday: Central Park, Times Square, lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co, Grand Central Station, snacks from Crumbs bakery, Staten Island Ferry, Little Italy, supper at Puglia's, the Brooklyn Bridge... And that's not even including all the extra things we saw/did on the way to those places--street performers, street fairs, we even stumbled across the Pagan Pride Day gathering in Battery Park!
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| Getting a great view of the Manhattan nighttime skyline from the Brooklyn Bridge |
I'll talk more about the other exciting stuff tomorrow! Because tonight, it's Mug Monday.
Inspired by the fall weather and the fact that I was going to have guests, I bought a bag of locally grown, gala apples and yum! My inspiration has carried through to finding tasty fall recipes using these apples.
Today I'd like to share a recipe I found for Coffee Cup Upside Down Cake. This recipe originally came from The Wichita Eagle (which made me like it all the more as I went to college 45 minutes from Wichita) and appeared in an article featuring four mug recipes, all of which look pretty delicious.
When I think of Upside Down Cake, I always think of pineapple but I thought that using apple would be a nice tribute to fall and that, likewise, the caramel-y topping would pay a nice tribute to the apples :) I was not disappointed.
Apple Upside Down Mug Cake
2 Tablespoons butter, divided
3 Tablespoons brown sugar, divided
1/2 apple, thinly sliced
1/2 egg
2 Tablespoons milk
Few drops vanilla
1/4 cup flour + 1/4 teaspoon baking powder + 2 shakes salt
(or 1/4 cup self-rising flour)
2 pinches cinnamon
Lay apple slices, 1 tablespoon of the butter, 2 tablespoons brown sugar in the bottom of a coffee mug. Microwave for 1 minute. Using a fork, mix remaining butter with sugar until creamy. Add egg, milk, and vanilla. Add flour and cinnamon and stir until smooth.
Swirl the coffee mug to coat all the apples with the sugary butter mixture. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Pour batter into cup and microwave for 1 minute or until the cake is done.
If you want to actually see the apples and prettiness of this cake, take a small plate and place it upside down on the top of the mug. Holding the plate to the mug, flip them over so that the cake falls onto the plate, apples up.
Yum! Happy Fall, happy Monday, happy baking, happy eating :)
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