There's a mug of tea steaming on the windowsill to my left. It’s quiet in my apartment but cheerful noises from the street outside drift up through my open window on the warm breeze. Children shout from the school next door. A delivery truck rumbles past, then another. A far-away siren, the thump of trash cans hauled to the sidewalk, a girl giggling as she waits in the long line outside the bakery downstairs.
Read moreMUSHROOM & KALE FRITTATA
Last night: New York City. At a bar in Tribeca, I drink two prickly pear margaritas in quick succession; the alcohol heightens my senses. I need food, and I step outside into the night to hail a cab.
Heading uptown: The streets rush past in a blur of neon lights. In mere minutes I speed past dozens of neighborhoods, hundreds of apartments, thousands of people.
Read moreWHISKEY SALTED CARAMEL CINNAMON ROLLS
The weather lately feels like a moody teenager, swinging wildly between seasons: a hot, sunny morning one day then a raging rain storm lashing at my windows the next.
In Vermont last week, the air was crisp and cool to match the fall foliage. I drove home by way of the Hudson Valley, spending a few days with friends. I needed a wool hat to counter the chill; we spent the evenings outside in the hot tub, steam rising in the cold air, or camped out drinking wine around the outdoor fire pit. And yet today, buttery sun is pouring in through my windows. I wore a t-shirt to run in Central Park. The clock at Columbus Circle read 72 degrees at 10 AM.
Read moreTEQUILA SUNSET
I went to a wedding on Saturday on a little island off the southwest Florida coast. When the party ended, we piled into an old-fashioned open-air trolley to drive the 10 minutes back to our hotel.
The sky was brimming with stars. Every inch of the blackness overhead was saturated with stars, so many that they almost seemed to blend into shimmering swaths of light. We rode the trolley with the hot, humid night air pressing in on us. The road was dark and quiet, lined with palm trees that loomed above us, black and spiky and tropical-looking.
Read morePOUND CAKE + A DAY IN NYC
You don’t need a guide to New York City. There are a million in existence, and you likely have friends to tell you where to go and what to eat. But yet, it pains me to see the streams of tourists heading to Times Square or Fifth Avenue, missing some of the city’s best gems. Sure, if you want to eat at Red Lobster and see bright lights, do it. But I always think it’s nice to see the quieter, less traveled parts of a city as a visitor. If I designed a day for someone visiting –provided they didn’t need to do bucket list things like go to the Met or eat at Katz’s—here’s what I’d do. This isn’t quintessential New York and it doesn’t check any famous boxes. But it’s a collection of seriously fantastic and pretty places that are worth seeing:
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