sass cake.

I never understand how some people find it hard to answer the traditional interview question: "What are some of your biggest flaws?" I guess I am my own biggest critic, but I immediately answer in my head, "Umm...Where should I start?"

By far - my biggest, ugly, misfortunate trait is impatience. I hate to wait. As much as I try to channel my yoga breath and summon positivity - sometimes, it just doesn't come. For instance:

Traffic: Damn you, Park Avenue.

The rainbow wheel of death on my Macbook.

When clients people don't email me back fast enough.

The U.S. Postal Service: Belated birthday cards are my nightmare.

Food delivery: I devour it before the delivery man has even reached the 4th floor on his way down.

Chipped nail polish: When one is chipped, they all have to go. Now. 

Crossing the street: I literally hurl myself before impending traffic and sprint across at yellow to avoid waiting. 

When people can't just say what they mean.

When people talk in circles, reiterating their point (that I heard the first time), wasting more time, and they're starting to make me think that they just like to hear themselves talk...

And there I go. My blood is boiling as I type this. What is wrong with me? Before you write me off as a complete psycho, I promise I am not this nuts in every patience-testing situation. For example: 

Waiting in line just to get inside Trader Joes: True story. And yes, worth the wait. Especially since I just traveled 50+ blocks to get there.

The insane crowd at Starbucks in the mornings: I get it. Coffee is a NECESSITY. Worth the wait. 

Waiting on the phone with (insert company) customer service: My cell phone, the cable company, name it. Your website makes absolutely no sense and I'd like to speak to a real person, please. Go ahead, take your time. I've got alllll night. 

I write this because it's apparent that my impatience has been fully interpreted by those around me as sass*. In treating my impatience as disease, my sass is how I cope with its debilitating effects. However, it doesn't help that I am the worst liar on the planet and I'm very bad at concealing any of my thoughts with a straight face.

With that insight into my life, I bring you sass cake. It's actually an apple spice cake, but I am making it for some folks who I've been serving up some sass to recently. They deserve a break from my banter and a serving of this cake instead, which is delicious. 

I used a fantastic recipe called Applesauce Spice Cake w/ Brown Butter-Cream Cheese Frosting which immediately caught my eye. Browning butter is easy and it makes everything better. I swear. I used a bigger pan than recommended which worked out perfectly (8x12) and doubled the frosting portion. Only road block I ran into was waiting on the cake to cool so I could finally frost it...

Browned Butter

Apple seed in the sauce.

 

holiday feast with Sunday Suppers.

Have you paged through the beautiful photography on Sunday Suppers? That's what got me hooked. The photographs and all the food. Oh man, the food. Colorful, fresh, lovely.

Last Sunday I went over to Williamsburg to learn how to make a Holiday Feast with Karen of Sunday Suppers and Top Chef alum Camille Becerra. Both women were so nice and welcoming. Great company for a Sunday afternoon.

Camille is an exceptional teacher and chef. It's been a while since I took any kind of cooking class, and I was surprised at how excited and refreshed I felt to learn a few new things, like:
-How to smoke things at home. In this case, almonds.
-When seasoning meat for cooking: Pepper first. Salt last.
-Marinated cheese is a brilliant thing.

I highly recommend subscribing to SS, and attending a class if you are in the area. The space, for starters, is gorgeous. White, clean, rustic. It is an ideal environment for cooking and photography. In a small class of about 20 people or less, it's a great way to hang out with and meet new people. Most importantly, you get to EAT.

Right as we walked in, we were greeted with hot, spiced apple cider and some fresh bread with ricotta in a dish with olive oil and pepper. My heart started to flutter after I downed my first glass of cider and saw all of the fresh, local produce. I love cooking with fresh ingredients, especially ones I am not familiar with (persimmon? sign me up). I was all over the place chopping, taking pictures, observing, and listening that I almost forgot the whole idea was to enjoy the meal at the end.

The Menu:

Kombucha Squash Soup with cumin crème and  smoked almonds

Fall Fruits Salad with persimmon, pear, radish, arugula, and marinated ricotta-salata
Stuffed Turkey Breast with chestnut, currant and sage

Bone Marrow-Swiss Chard Gratin

Cranberry Quince Chutney

Pumpkin Creme Brulee

Chef Camille Becerra smoking almonds

let it snow.

It's the holiday season...

Despite the fact that I've been humming that song all day, I can't help but mourn the loss of Fall. What happened, Fall? Why did you leave me so soon? I thought things were going so well.

I digress.

A blanket has snow has covered the city for the first time this season and I feel as if it's Christmas Eve. My less than seasonal upbringing down south never prepared me for this. Real New Yorkers called my first winter here (last winter) "mild" and said I was lucky for missing out on the typical harsh winter that never came. My walk home tonight was cold and wet but I couldn't help but get a little giddy when big chunky snowflakes landed on my coat.

Mother Nature has been out in full force these past few weeks, and looks like she's got a true Northeast winter in store for me. Until next year, Fall.

Below are some photos I took from the one lonely snow we got during the last "mild" winter in Manhattan:

here comes the sun.

From my Pinterest board via

I'm sure you've read all about Hurricane Sandy by now and seen all the gruesome aftermath pictures. Being from Florida, I'm no stranger to power loss, howling winds and flooded neighborhoods. We'd joke with our cousins in Virginia that instead of snow days, we had "hurricane days"growing up - at least one every year where we lived on the Gulf. I remember plenty of candle-lit dinners and days without TV (the agony!)

I can thankfully say that my neighborhood here in New York was barely impacted. We still have our power and more apples, peanut butter and bottled water than we can consume (those are my hurricane supplies). The pizza place across the street stayed open late into Monday night, and delivered our dinner while waited for the rain to finish falling. Subways and trains are still down, so despite the sunny weather that's finally arrived, I'm working from home with Josh while the city puts itself back together again.

In the mean time, I'm thinking about and praying for all the people in those pictures and everyone who's suffered a loss.

From my Pinterest board via