Today was a brilliant, sunny 68 degrees. I woke up and walked to yoga class without a jacket. Ninety minutes later, I walked home, drenched in sweat and on a little bit of an exercise high. I confess that I might have given a slightly superior look to all those bleary-eyed people slowly waking up over coffee in the local diner. But to the people already lined up at my local bakery (the one with the EXCEPTIONAL scone-sized cookies), I gave them all a mental high five. Those people have their priorities in order: Warm cookie > commute.
Read moreLEMON ROSEMARY MUFFINS
It's getting late in the day. The evening sun filters down in spirals and shafts of fading light. Soon, dusky shadows will appear. Right now the sky is suffused with pink, the sun melting in golden streaks into the rapidly oncoming dark.
Read moreS'MORES PIE
Nothing says summer like the smell of a campfire. Watching a fire burn is incredibly mesmerizing: the rapidly licking flames disappearing into the ether in a jumble of colors that turn from neon blue to deep red. Campfires were special occasions on the farm: we'd have our cookouts down by the first pond. My dad set up a small circle of weathered stones, and we’d trek down from the kitchen holding plates of burgers and homemade buns and squeeze bottles of ketchup.
Read moreASPARAGUS & CHEESE QUICHE
This weekend it snowed: fat, heavy flakes that pelted downwind and hit my car windshield with a satisfying splatter. I drove from New York to Philadelphia, and the sky turned from a faded gray to a darkly ominous slate to complete white-out. The rain started somewhere in New Jersey. Driving in the rain can be soothing, the rhythmic swooshing of the windshield wipers, the cozy cocoon of warmth in your car. I put on quiet music. My sister slept in the backseat, her hair rumpled, waking up every few minutes to watch the towns tick by: Edison, New Brunswick, South Orange.
Read moreClassic Chocolate Chip Cookies
I’m sitting out here on my terrace, high above the street. Four stories below, the backyards of ground-floor apartments form a mosaic, dotted with outdoor grills and brick-bordered gardens. A man across the street sits in a lawn chair, reading a book. I can hear a girl talking on the phone. The couple next door is outside watering their geraniums in the waning sunshine. A pair of fat bumblebees twirl lazily overhead. From the street, the scent of warm chocolate chip cookies wafts up on the breeze.
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