Showing posts with label Baltimore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baltimore. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Spring Break



The best part of working in education is the school breaks. I worry that I’m getting too used to having at least a week off for Christmas, and again in the spring; I’ve had this luxury for the last 20 years! Spring break this year was such an amazing change of pace and break in the routine.

I started it off with a trip home to New Jersey to spend time with my parents, brothers, nieces and nephew. I squeezed in time to see friends from NJ and felt like we picked up where we had last left off without skipping a beat. From there, it was back to Baltimore to run some errands, do some spring cleaning and spend time with Scott (and watch Game of Thrones, of course).

From Baltimore, I went to DC to see Scott and go to a National’s game with his parents. We then had dinner at Smoke –n- Barrel, an amazing BBQ place in Adam’s Morgan. They have THE BEST vegan wings I’ve ever tasted (and not to mention a smoked tofu sandwich and vegan spare ribs) so make sure you grab a meal there if you find yourself in DC.

From DC I megabussed my way to Pittsburgh to spend time with Caitlin and Missy who I haven’t seen since right after our graduation last year. This past year has flown by.

Here are a few bits and pieces from my break. Can we please make spring break a mandatory aspect of working life?


Walking around the Inner Harbor. This place is so beautiful in the spring.


 My old home in Pittsburgh! I still miss that tiny beaut with those hardwood floors and SO. much. sunlight.


No trip to Pittsburgh is complete without a stop at Oh Yeah!



Sunday, March 17, 2013

St. Patrick's Day & Vegan Irish Potatoes

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I'll spare you all my gushing over how much I love Ireland and miss it there, or how many family traditions surrounding St. Patrick's Day I can rattle off. Instead, I'll boil it down to just one tradition. This is, quite possibly, the Philadelphia area's best kept secret - Irish potatoes.


Irish potatoes are a small creamy coconut candy covered in cinnamon. They get their name from their resemblance to potatoes. Aside from their appearance, there is nothing potatoey or particularly Irish about them! They are super easy and quick to make, and absurdly addictive. If you do nothing else this St. Patrick's Day, whip up a batch of these! Your friends and family will thank you (if you decide to share)!

Vegan Irish Potatoes

4 ounces cream cheese (I used Tofutti brand)
1/4 cup vegan butter, softened (I used Earth Balance brand)
3 3/4 cup confectioner sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 bag flaked coconut (14 oz)
Cinnamon

1. Beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth.
2. Add confectioner sugar and vanilla extract and beat until well combined.
3. Add in the coconut and mix well.
4. Roll approximately 1-2TBSP of mixture into small "potatoes" and roll in cinnamon until covered.
5. Place in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to chill.

Please let me know if you try these! I'd love to hear your thoughts!

I hope everyone has a very happy St. Patrick's Day! Here a few pictures from the St. Patrick's Day parade last Sunday in Mt. Vernon, Baltimore to get you in the spirit!








Monday, February 18, 2013

Valentine's Day










This Valentine's Day was perfect - dinner at an Afghan restaurant called The Helmand followed by a self-guided love tour at The Walter's Art Museum. We finished our night with homemade dessert - a blueberry spice pie with coconut ice cream. The best part? - I spent it with the perfect guy. Happy belated Valentine's Day!

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

On Photography and Fish

On Friday night, after a long day of work, I picked up my camera and instantly felt a rush of happiness. My new interest has been such a source of joy for me.

For Christmas, my mom gave me a Canon EOS Rebel T3. I couldn't be more grateful. I knew about this gift long before Christmas morning and pleaded with my mom not to buy it - its way too expensive, I repeatedly told her. She always countered my argument with things like, it's time you did something for you and you'll never splurge and buy it for yourself - so its the best kind of gift. She wasn't taking no for an answer.

My dad very nonchalantly chimed in, "so how long have you been interested in photography? You know your pop pop loved taking photos." He then preceded to dig in a drawer and pull out a beautiful SLR camera from the 50's that my grandfather had owned. I melted. My dad explained that my grandfather had bought the camera for himself and had even set up a make-shift dark room in his home to develop his own photos. When hard times hit, he sold nearly anything of value that he owned to make a few extra dollars for his family, except for his camera. He must have really loved his camera to hold on to it through those hard times. My interest in photography took on a new wealth of meaning.

I wish I could sit down with my pop pop and talk photography over a cup of coffee. I'm sure he'd be amazed by the technology we take for granted (we can see pictures before they're developed - what?!) and I'm sure he'd be able to teach me so much. 

When I opened the box under the tree, I instantly fell in love. I took pictures of everything I could find in my house on Christmas morning, toggling between the various modes and zooming in and out. You can see some of those photos here.

Two weekends ago, I attended a workshop by Okello Dunkley called, "Take your camera off program mode!" This amazing 3-hour-long workshop quickly introduced me to aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and choosing your own focus. He challenged us to take our cameras off of auto modes and shoot in manual. 

On Friday, Scott and I headed to the Baltimore Aquarium and I grasped my camera nervously. I found the thought of switching to an auto mode creeping in my head. I made a firm decision to quiet that pestering notion and sweat my way through manual mode for the night, and I'm so glad I did. I kept grinning at Scott and telling him how much I loved the challenge of taking a great photo as I continually changed settings. 

Below are a few favorites from that night. They're not perfect, but I love them. I'm so excited to keep learning.









All photos taken by me, except for the last one, which was taken by a sweet stranger!

PS I've been reflecting a whole lot on learning; I'm excited to to post about it soon!


Sunday, January 27, 2013

Winter Weekends


The first month of 2013 is coming to a close. Scott has had a break from school, so we took advantage of his slightly lighter workload and packed our month full of mini weekend adventures. We kicked off the month with a quick trip to New York to see Steel Train’s “good-bye (for now)” show. We woke up early, drove from Baltimore to Trenton and then took a train into the city. We spent the day with a good friend exploring parts of Brooklyn and Manhattan and eating our weight in vegan food. In a matter of hours we ate at Champs Diner, an all vegan diner in Brooklyn, drooled over amazing vegan donuts at Dunwell Donut Shop, and visited the popular bakery, Babycakes, in the Lower East Side before eating falafel for dinner. With full stomachs we headed to the Bowery Ballroom and sung and danced our butts off to give Steel Train a warm good-bye.







Next up was a weekend in Philadelphia. Back in October, Scott and I saw the Walkmen in DC (if you haven’t heard of them, go listen to their newest album ‘Heaven’). We got to the venue early to be close to the stage, but unfortunately found ourselves behind the 9:30 club’s new sound system. The sound was projected right over our heads making it impossible to hear the lead singer’s (extremely talented) vocals. Scott surprised me with tickets to their show in Philly for our anniversary and made plans for us to make a weekend of it.

The Walkmen show in Philly was unbelievable; the band was accompanied by horns on a few songs which made their music even more amazing live. The next day we went on the Mural Arts Program Love Letter Train Tour (which deserves its own post! It’s a must-see for anyone visiting Philly!), visited the Mutter Museum with friends, and ended the night with the fanciest of dinners. Scott treated me to dinner at Vedge, a “modern vegetable restaurant” in Philadelphia. The food at this restaurant was so unique and delicious. It was pricey but so worth it; the chef was so talented that I know I could never recreate the menu at home. We each ordered 3 small-ish plates and split them down the middle. We had things like salt roasted gold beets with avocado, smoked tofu, rye, capers, and creamy cucumber. We had no idea what we would get when we ordered each item off the menu, but we were pleased every. single. time. Highly recommend this place. Oh, and the company was pretty wonderful, too.












After two fun weekends going to concerts and exploring east coast cities with our friends, Scott and I had some catching up to do with work. We spent a weekend in Rehoboth Beach, DE working our way through piles of progress notes, log notes, and problem sets, but made sure to fit in time to visit Dogfish Head and walk along the beach and the boards. There are few things I love more than the beach in the winter; we really needed this calm backdrop during a busy, stressful weekend. Driving back home may have been my favorite part though; I love having the uninterrupted time to just be with one another and converse about everything under the sun. We spent most of the ride reminiscing which always leads to an instant happiness boost.











This last weekend in January was full of friends. We stayed in Baltimore and spent a night celebrating the engagement of two good friends with sushi and sangria. On Saturday, my very best friend Heather was in town with her hubby and baby boy! We spent the afternoon showing off Baltimore and catching up. At night, we got dinner and played hilarious games over a few glasses of wine with some new friends. I ended the weekend with a photography class (more on that later!), a lunch date, and a little relaxing.





Here’s to a February that’s just as exciting!