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SNAPSHOTS!

It’s been awhile since I’ve shared my instagrams with you all. I know many of you follow me on the IG, but I also know some of you do not (Hi, Aunt Wendy!), so here’s a look at my life lately according to my iPhone…

One:

A few months ago, we got this Chemix coffee maker. Now that we’ve been using it for awhile, I think it’s safe to say that we love it A LOT. It’s specially designed to make quite literally, the perfect coffee. And it does– every single cup has been SO delicious. You can read more about the details here.

Two:

My favorite dessert in college was crisp bar, so whenever fall rolls around apple crisp is what I’m most drawn to making with my apple stash. I made this apple crisp a few weeks ago and it mimicked our dining hall apple crisp to a T– plus it’s gluten-free! The recipe made two pie-dish fulls, one which I made right on the spot and one which we froze and cooked up for dessert this week. YUM.

Here’s the recipe:

Gluten Free Apple Crisp
(adapted from Not Your Average Baker, originally adapted from Joy the Baker’s Man Bait Apple Crisp)

Ingredients:

8-9 golden delicious apples
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 2/3 cup brown sugar
2 2/3 cup Gluten Free all purpose baking flour
2/3 cup Udi’s Gluten Free Granola
2 sticks unsalted butter, slightly softened

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease two pie dishes.
2. In a small dish combine 3 teaspoons of the cinnamon, and 6 tablespoons of granulated sugar.
3. Peel and core apples. Place in a large bowl and toss with the cinnamon sugar mixture.
4. In a second large bowl mix the brown sugar, flour, granola, and pecans until well combined. Combine butter into topping mixture using pastry blender (or a fork, which is all I had).
5. Take one cup of the topping and toss with apples. Once throughly tossed, the apples can be placed into the baking dishes. (Remember, I cooked one of the crisps and froze the other.)
6. Pour remaining topping over top of the apples and bake for 55-65 minutes (I actually had to cook it about 20-25 minutes longer). The top should brown and the apples bubbling.
7. Let cool 15 minutes or so before serving. Initially the filling will look a little runny, but the liquid will reabsorb into the filling as it is cools..

Three:

Abbie recently wrote this post about this donut shop in North Cambridge. Since reading her rave review I have been twice, and the donuts are everything donuts should be and more. I’m usually a sucker for chocolate glaze, and their chocolate glaze is tasty TASTY, but I honestly love love loooved their original honey glaze. So classic and soft and delicious. The best donuts I’ve had in a long time!

Four:

Remember that glorious weekend last spring when I went to New York City for three days? Remember when I met Colleen and Molly for brunch? Well, I also met their friend Tina and so now, according to the rules of friendship, Tina is my friend, too. LOVE making new friends like that. Just love. So when Tina told me she was coming to Boston for work, we planned to meet at Sel de La Terre to have drinks and dinner together. I hadn’t been in a few years, but remembered it having a great atmosphere and good drinks and I remembered right. We both had the hamburger, shared a meat and cheese plate, threw back a few glasses of wine, and IT WAS WONDERFUL.

Five:

If you’re ever around Central Square and you’re looking for a great brunch/lunch spot look no further than Brookline Lunch. It’s easily one of our favorite spots ever and worth the trip even if you aren’t right around Central. Make the trip! See for yourself!

Six:

I don’t know if I’ve made this clear on the blog, but Zanner is the real cook around these parts. I am nothing but a measly eater, in all seriousness. He cooks, I eat. And I’m completely okay with it. Wonderously thankful, even. Cooking is not something I have found to be particularly passionate about, so the fact that Zan loves it is simply icing on the cake. Yesterday “The Top Chef” made this Julia Child inspired pegboard wall in our kitchen. He’s been talking about doing this project for awhile, and he finally got all the supplies to finish. I’m super excited about it and think it gives a whole new feel to our kitchen. Fun, right?

Seven:

Like my new wool hat? Straight from Oona’s in Harvard Square. It’s a vintage-lovers dream in there and I easily spent the better part of an hour trying to convince myself not to buy EVERYTHING. There’s the outpost store in Inman Square, too, which I have not personally visited, but have been told it’s worth a trip. Also, check out their blog— it’s fun!

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OH! And that artwork up top? It was made by one of my first graders! Can you believe it? How beautiful and frameworthy is that?! It was a “Winter Tree” watercolor, tempura paint, and chalk project and I promise you every single one turned out museum-ready. As I was passing them out to my students I just kept saying things like, “WOW!” and “I LOVE THIS!” and “THIS IS AMAZINGGGG!”. I adore the art teacher at my school and I think she does the most wonderful work with the kids. They are so lucky to have her.

In other very important news: THREE DAYS.

In three days we will all be stuffing our faces with unGodly amounts of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and that delicious marshmallow topped sweet potato creation.

AND PIE. My goodness, let’s not forget the pie.

I arrived in New York late last Thursday night practically giddy with excitement about the weekend ahead of me. A weekend with my best friends? I’ll take it any day.

Have you ever spent time in Brooklyn?

It’s such a fun spot, with all of the awesome and none of the crowds. And it was nice to have a change of pace, too, since the last time I visited the city. My friend Rebecca lives in Park Slope and I spent the day Friday with her and her oldest friend from childhood, Sharon.

We had a blast, just the three of us, sipping coffee and popping into shops. Beck’s just one of those people who’s easy to be around. The kind you end up laughing with over the littlest things, plus she’s always got a killer story to tell. Oh, I love her stories. When she’s through telling them I always end up thinking one of two things: Only you, or, only in New York.

And Sharon? I feel like I’ve known her for years. Love that in a new friend.

We were totally spontaneous on this day and every one of us was loving it.

I feel like I’m an excitable person, and Sharon and Rebecca are too, plus Sharon was visiting from San Francisco, so she was eager to experience anything and everything that came her way. About halfway into our morning, while thinking of possible things to do, Beck offered up the idea of going to Coney Island.

Do you know it?

Think world’s famous hot dogs and lots of amusement park rides.

Well, I was sold! Plus, I’d never been before, so what better time than now? I’m a firm believer in the whole “live in the moment” mentality, and it was easy to see my companions were too, so in no time we were heading toward the subway and on our way to the land of fun. I decided last night Coney Island is getting it’s own post because 1) I took a ridiculous amount of pictures there and 2) it’s just that special.

Here’s some of my favorite shots from Friday in Brooklyn: