THREE years babe.

I really can't believe it is our third wedding anniversary!  I love the photos I posted for our 2nd anniversary.  This year, Mike found us a lovely, romantic spot to celebrate.  He was trying to save it as a surprise but couldn't hold on very long.  We celebrated a few days early since we will be traveling today for the holiday.  We went to this authentic mexican restuarant (a little theme we have going) up on a hill that is literally right across from the Empire State Building, on the water.  We went really early, so we could get a window seat and see the view in the light first.  As we sat through dinner, it slowly turned dark outside, and we watched Manhattan turn on all of its lights and start glowing in the night.  The view was fabulous.  We ordered guacamole first.   A waiter came over to our table with a tray holding: choppoed chiles, limes, salt, pepper, avacadoes, and a big mortar and pestle, and made the guacamole right in front of us.  It was the best guacamole I have ever had.  Then we ate yummy authentic Mexican meals and shared delicious flan at the end.  We walked around a bit, looking at the Manhattan skyline, all glittering with lights.  It was a lovely evening, celebrating three years of marriage.

Thanks Mike, for being the absolute best partner ever.  We may have been handed a huge challenge, but we are making it happen every day. Happy Three YearS!

pumpkins and squash, some treasures

Well, I can't believe it, but winter is just around the corner.  The autumn season flew by faster than summer, it seems. A whole lot of fall fun and love to be thankful for...

A few fall treasures:

• making butterut squash pear bisque from this cookbook on many nights after a long day at work.  i used a butternut squash trick from here.  Instead of spending all of that time peeling the squash, you just cut it in half, bake it cut side down on a cookie sheet for 40 or so minutes at 375.  While it bakes, you can get the rest of the soup together.  Scoop out the soft squash after it cools right into your soup and blend away!
• Mock Thanksgiving - some what of a tradition at donna's house.  she hosts a few weeks before the real day.  It is festive and fun to visit with everyone and we get to eat thanksgiving dinner twice this month!! Oh and there is a christmas cracker moment - which involves a paper crown wearing contest.  I did not win this year. 

• acorn squash seeds - roasted with salt and paprika - YUM
• sewing and knitting on these chilly evenings as it gets dark earlier and earlier
• this amazing tree - i used to look at it from my home office when we lived across the street.  now i can see it from my bedroom window! the yellows and reds have been making my commute to work so much more enjoyable than usual. 

• The many visits to my farmers' market this fall; getting so much that I could barely carry it all back to my car! 
• Some lovely nephew time, playing in the sunny, fall leaves 
• Pumpkin cranberry muffins using this recipe (substituted 1/4 brown sugar + 1/4 maple syrup for the honey - so less sugar overall and added cranberries from the farmers market and skipped the walnuts!)
• Milk Oolong tea that Mike bought me from a fancy tea place in DC

• Getting ready and excited for visiting for thanksgiving and then for christmas!

{this moment}

Inspired by SouleMama: {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

 (photo taken by my bro - don't want him to get mad for not crediting him!)

DC

I had a meeting in DC this week, so Mike and I drove down early and explored.  We went to the Newseum, drove by the 'Watergate' Hotel and gazed at the Potomac River with colorful trees behind it.  We went to the National Gallery of Art, which might be one of my favorites.  I had never been to the East Building, which contains a fascinating Matisse exhibit and a sparkly lit walkway between the two Buildings, created by Leo Villareal, and an awesome sculpture by Andy Goldsworthy.  I can't believe I had never been to that side of the museum!  

Saturday night, we strolled through DuPont Circle and ate an incredible dinner at an Italian resutaurant - one of the best meals we have had in a really long time.  After some sleep and breakfast, we spent some time at the newly constructed Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial.

After Mike left, I spent a few days attending my conference and finding yummy delicious food, a very special cupcake, freshly made orange soda with just squeezed OJ, and walking around in the beautiful, sunny weather.  I would totally move to DC.  I love it!

weekends

A week ago, Mike, Donna, Michael and I walked a 5K for breast cancer in north Jersey.  OK, I didn't exactly make the entire walk (kind of lame) because of my medication feet pain.  But it was a beautiful fall day and we walked along a river and it felt great. I even got a medal from the survivor tent!! Oh, yes.

The highlight of this past weekend was Major Italian night at donna's.  Eggplant, meatballs, and sunday sauce.  I didn't even have time to take a picture because we were all standing around waiting to dig in.  Mike was fasting all day.  And we got the door prize - the extra tray of eggplant!  I love being Italian.

I managed to do a little baking and writing and napping as well, this weekend.

And roasted a whole bunch of farmers' market fall veggies!

new recipe

I find new recipes on line every day.  I have 100's bookmarked and starred in my email inbox.  I also have a very nice collection of cookbooks...And some weeks, I never try a new recipe.  I want to but for one reason or another, I continue to flag new bites and never actually try most of them.  So, I am going to set an intention to try one fun new recipe a week (at least) from blogs or my cookbooks.

This week, I made pumpkin bread, because I love pumpkin.  I didn't use my cookbooks or any flagged blog pages, but used a recipe sent from my sister, Amy.  It was a yummy bread.  I decreased the sugar by half (!),  added a few chocolate chips instead of walnuts, and used a mix of whole wheat pastry, whole wheat, and all purpose flours.  Yum!

Here is the recipe in case you are in the mood for cranking your oven!

{this moment} - mike's moment actually

Inspired by SouleMama: {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

This is actually Mike's moment, yesterday, in Paterson, near his office.  Can you believe this is 10 miles from my house?!