The January Blues

I'm trying to ease into a diet. I'm sure you can tell immediately how well I'm doing. The problem with having gone to culinary school is that I'm usually able to make a meal out of anything left in the fridge. And it's not usually very healthy...

Real florist work here: processing 1,000 roses. It smelled fantastic. My arms look like the cat clawed up me

Fried Bacon and Egg Sandwich

Try it with any cheese combo that sounds good. Blue cheese or cheddar would be a big winner here. 

• 2 pieces of bread
• 1 tsp canola oil
• 3 pieces of bacon
• 1 egg
• 2 tbl cream cheese
• 1 slice havarti
• 2 slices gruyere
• 1 scallion, cut on the diagonal

Toast your bread. Heat a large skillet over high heat. Add canola oil. Fry bacon in hot oil until crispy on both sides- about 3 minutes on each. Drain on some paper towels. Crack egg into a small bowl. Pour egg into hot bacon fat and fry for about 3 minutes. Finish the eggs by seasoning with salt and pepper and spooning the bacon fat over the egg yolk. If desired, drain the egg on more paper towel. Smear the cream cheese on the toast and top with the cheese. If necessary, throw the toast back into the toaster/ under broiler to melt the cheese. Top the cheese with a few pieces of scallion and the fried egg. 

Flowers in the snow

2013 has been rough thus far. New year's eve was spent on the couch, one passed out, the other eating Velveeta cheese dip and watching Brave. Food poisoning soon followed and then some serious allergies (the world's subtle hint that I need to vacuum?)

But things are looking up. Rumor has it that it should be warming up around these parts and spending a morning with bright flowers and equally bright food and people is always a welcome diversion. 

Trying to bring back Baby's Breath

Suddenly Last Summer

I am 9 days away from graduating from Culinary School. (!!!) That's really all I can say about that right now because I'm trying to keep it all together until I am finally out, graduated and free!! 

It has been a busy and wonderful summer. A summer of new cocktails: The Singapore Sling

Flower arranging at home in Virginia

A wildflower bouquet on the farm

That also had a couple of puppies.  Labrador/ Chow mix= be still my heart

And lazy rivers to swim in

And a sweet horse that is all grown up!

 Arrangements for paying customers too

We kept a promise to ourselves to go to the beach whenever we possibly could

Which required a trip through the brambles

Kris's patented Beach Sandwich: potato roll, ham, "american cheese", mayo and mustard. So mushy, salty and delicious

Maggie has slowly been getting fluffier

The yard has filled in as well

I got some giant hibiscus flowers

Giant basil leaves

And tiny tomatoes

We had some visitors. One of which had never been to New York before!

We took them up 30 Rock for the best view in the city

And they took us to the US Open 

Which also had a pretty darn good view

 Hope you've had an exciting summer too!

Surfside Screens

Jeremy and I had a little dinner party. We came up with a menu for a fictional drive-in movie theatre called Surfside Screens in Nag's Head, NC. Here's a peek into the evening

Filleting fish that afternoon

Fried pickles

Blueberry muffins in the bread bowl

Hot chocolate to finish the night

Spring in New York

Bonjour! Just dropping in to say hello! Here is what has been going on since last we spoke!

Someone had a birthday- Me. I did. It was awesome. 

I got to play with this guy!

His name is Winston

We spent a few days in a very sleepy Montauk

We got to drive through the Hamptons before the summer rush. It was pretty darn fancy.

The lighthouse museum was closed. That's what you get when you travel on a Monday.

So we enjoyed the seaweed and the beach 

Pictures from the brambles

We found some dinosaurs on the way back

Maggie cost us a trip to the Vet on Easter Sunday and about a month's rent on kitty dental work

Doped-up Maggie spent some time trying not to knock into the walls of our bedroom. We felt so bad about the whole thing that we kinda bought her a dresser so she could see out the bedroom window. 

I've since mounted a staghorn fern over the bed and I'm in love with it. It's like sleeping in the rainforest every night.

And with some hats on the wall and a rug pillaged from my brother's, the bedroom is just about complete!

As for the backyard-

Check this out!! We got some Christmas lights hung over the patio and I've been collecting tins for plants.

And we had our first BBQ. 

It was delicious!