Archive for the ‘Thankful November’ Category
{Thankful November} 5: Coffee
November 5th, 2011 | Rachel
Join me in the comments or on your own blog as I give thanks every day this month.
Photo by Valerie Schooling
Last Saturday, New York City had a freak October snow storm the morning after Steve and I returned from our trip to California. We didn’t have plans until that evening (a black tie masquerade, since it was Halloween weekend), so we plugged in the Christmas tree*, put a Christmas jazz record on the player** and brewed a French press of fresh ground coffee from Verve Coffee Roasters while Steve cooked breakfast.
Is there anything better on a snowy, lazy morning than lounging on the sofa with a cup of coffee?
I submit that there is not.
As with pies, coffee represents different things for different people. For some, it means a lazy Saturday morning reading a book at home. For others, it may mean a rendez-vous with an old friend to catch up on life. For others it may represent late nights finishing a semester’s worth of homework. Sometimes I drink coffee when I’m tired, but mostly I drink it when I have a place to sit and time to daydream or write lists.
When I was in college and later law school, I was a regular patron at coffee shops in each of my respective university towns. In Athens, Georgia, it was Hot Corner Cafe, which was conveniently open 24 hours a day. I distinctly remember sitting down at a table around 6:00pm one evening and starting a 10-page paper that was due the next day. In law school, it was Open Eye Cafe in Carrboro, North Carolina. Open Eye wasn’t open all night, but it did have a smartly dressed goth barista that I had a crush on despite the fact that he was considerably younger than I was.
New York City doesn’t have the same kind of coffee shops as those college towns, which I suspect has something to do with the egregiously expensive real estate. When I do feel the urge to leave my apartment and read a book over a cup of coffee, I usually head to Stumptown in the Ace Hotel or Cafe Grumpy in Chelsea. Both have amazing coffee and interesting baristas with cool tattoos. Most of the time I just get my coffee fix at the bakery where I have free access to an unlimited supply of freshly ground coffee and espresso.
Now that the weather is getting colder, coffee is getting that much more enjoyable.
Thank you, coffee!
Cappuccino and cookie from Stumptown
*This particular Christmas tree has been up since my first Christmas with Steve… two years ago. Steve does not recognize an end to the Christmas season, however up until this week I had the tree hiding in a dark corner.
**We are celebrating the Christmas season a month early because Steve is going to be on his ship most of December.
{Thankful November} 4: Pie
November 4th, 2011 | Rachel
Join me in the comments or on your own blog as I give thanks every day this month.
Mini Apple Pies
I started making pies back in 2007 during my final year of law school. Although I wasn’t a pie connoisseur growing up and do not have a history of pie-making in my family, I was drawn to the American tradition, visual simplicity and endless versatility of making pies. Plus people seemed to think it was hard, and I like a challenge.
I started out with Pie: 300 Tried-and-True Recipes for Delicious Homemade Pie by Ken Haedrich, which is a great resource for getting started in this realm of baking (except for the fact that it is so heavy and all of my colored photo pages fell out on the first day). Focusing initially on the innards of my pies, I made the first several using store-bought pie crusts (the ones that come in rolls and are found either in the dessert area of the freezer section or the butter section of the grocery store). Honestly, if you have limited space or time or just don’t like cleaning up floury messes, I think the pre-made crusts are a perfectly decent substitute.
My first pie was an apple pie, inspired by the cover of that month’s Martha Stewart Living. I made four or five of them before moving on to cherry (mostly because I wanted to use a cherry pitter), caramel walnut, maple custard, port and plum, fig and grape and many others. Like I said, the versatility of pies is endless.
I briefly dreamed of opening a pie shop, particularly after watching the movie Waitress, but I don’t think I enjoy eating pie enough to have it be my sole focus. That being said, my absolute favorite thing at Three Green Ducks is the cherry pie, and I am about 10% finished with a pie recipe book I want to publish (I’m also 10% finished with a book about my first year dating in New York, City but that is for another day).
Pie represents a lot of things to a lot of people. For many, it reminds them of their grandmothers who made the best apple pie in town. For others, it means summer picnics and the Fourth of July. For others, it is a sign of apple-picking season or family reunions or the end of an amazing home-cooked dinner. Whatever it is, pie is good, and I am thankful for it.
Here are some favorites I’ve made in the past few years:
Caramel Walnut
Blackberry Sour Cream
Classic Cherry With Floating Crust
Triple Strawberry
Apple Pie (replica of cover of Martha Stewart Living)
What does pie mean to you?
{Thankful November} 3: MAC Lady Danger Lipstick
November 3rd, 2011 | Rachel
Join me in the comments or on your own blog as I give thanks every day this month.
I know, it seems trite in the wake of my previous post about my family to be writing about a lipstick shade, but I consider it to be one of my greatest finds over the past five years. It is timeless and versatile, and anyone who likes looking a little bit glam should have it in your arsenal.
I think red lipstick is one of those magical things that has a greater effect psychologically than it does physically. I’ve seen it happen with other people, and I feel it happen to myself when I put it on.
I don’t know when or why I first started wearing red lipstick. It was some time after I moved to New York. I started experimenting with different brands to see which one actually stayed on, and one fateful day I stopped by the MAC counter at Bloomingdales to see what they had to offer. The makeup artist immediately directly me to a classic shade of red called Russian Red. She said it was the color used the most in magazine spreads and advertisements. I decided to give it a go.
Russian Red should have a cult following. It is the perfect shade of red — not too orangey, not too purple — and stays on all day. On more than one occasion I have been eating dinner with someone who stopped halfway through to comment on the fact that the color was still on my lips and not on my glass. Its a matte, so some people might find it to be a little dry, but that is what helps it stay on so long.
After two years of Russian Red, I returned to the MAC store this past spring to see if they had something a little different to try. I told them I loved the timelessness of Russian Red but wanted something a little more funky. That day I was introduced to my newest love, Lady Danger.
Lady Danger is a much brighter shade of red with a distinct orange hue. I’ve had random people on the subway and in stores and even customers at work ask me what the shade is. For anyone out there who is already a lover of red lipstick, Lady Danger is fun way to mix it up.
Lady Danger on the red carpet
Lady Danger at the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island
Lady Danger on Cinco de Mayo
Lady Danger on everyone!
Perhaps you think red lipstick is too bold or conspicuous for you. Perhaps you have a negative connotation associated with red lipstick. Whatever your hang up is, open your mind enough to try it just once. I think you are going to like what you see.
Thank you MAC Cosmetics and thank you Lady Danger!
{Thankful November} 2: My Family
November 2nd, 2011 | Rachel
Join me in the comments or on your own blog as I give thanks every day this month.
I was born into a family of engineers whose names all start with the letter “J”. Perhaps it was no coincidence that I was named Rachel because I definitely did not inherit my parents’ (Jay and Jackie) technically-minded brains the way my brother did (Josh).
My mom and me supporting my cousin Julia at the Miss Oklahoma Pageant (2007)
My mother majored in mathematics as an undergrad, got a masters in industrial engineering, and is now finishing up a doctorate in software engineering (all at Auburn University). My dad studied civil engineering at the same university and has worked as a civil engineer for various facets of the federal government my whole life. He’s actually currently using his engineering expertise over in Afghanistan.
And this is my dad’s excited face
My brother studied mechanical engineering at Clemson University before moving out to Seattle to work for Boeing as a stress analyst, and at one point moved down to Las Vegas to do the same for a crazy billionaire who is trying to develop the world’s first space hotel. He is now back in Auburn getting a masters in something aviation-related. Its hard to keep up with what he is doing because when he talks about it, my poor liberal arts-minded brain can only comprehend about 1/4 of the words coming out of his mouth.
My brother and me on a first day of school (late-90s)
My brother and me at my cousin Paul’s wedding (2009)
Even with their respective methodological geniuses, the Three J’s also have active right sides of their brains. They all are lovers and participants of music (mostly singing at this point, although my dad can play just about any instrument with strings). My brother and my dad share my love of cooking (albeit in a very America’s Test Kitchen kind of way, such as my brother’s use of fancy thermometers to figure out exactly how hot the pan is).
My mother was the queen of DIY growing up, making everything from Halloween costumes to birthday cakes to a three-story mansion for my Barbie dolls out of a bookshelf to matching Auburn University outfits for my brother and me. She even sewed her own wedding dress. She’s also the reason my brother and I always had impressively polished projects in school. She wouldn’t do them for us, but she would give us advice and stay up with us into the wee hours of the night as we scrambled to finish them before class the next day (procrastination is a trait my brother and I share).
My family has definitely shaped me into the person I am today. My parents have always been extremely supportive without being the slightest bit pushy (much to my annoyance when I asked to get paid for my good grades… they refused and said they’d love me no matter what my grades were). They fostered an environment where my brother and I could decide what we wanted to do and have the support to make it happen.
I wanted to play piano? I got a piano and lessons. I wanted to switch to violin? I got a (rented) violin and signed up for the strings program at school. I wanted to be in band? I got a clarinet, years of band fees, transportation, and a personal cheer squad. I wanted to go to the Air Force Academy? I got a personal trainer (my dad) to help me get in shape for the fitness test (ultimately I decided I wanted a more “normal” college experience and went to The University of Georgia).
Going to law school was 100% my idea, but the Three J’s immediately got behind me, emotionally and financially. And now that life is once more veering off into a completely different direction, they are still there. My dad and I were driving to Charleston last Christmas when I shared with him my growing uncertainty about working at the law firm. His response: “I know you rose to financial success very quickly, but eventually you are going to have to figure out what makes you happy.”
Late this summer when my parents were visiting me in New York before my dad headed off to Afghanistan, they again affirmed their support in whatever I decided to do with my life, and when I told my dad I felt like I was losing my mind for leaving the legal field, he assured me that going to law school and practicing for several years was time well-spent and has given me practical knowledge that I will take with me no matter what I do.
Particularly at this junction in life, the Three J’s are lot to be thankful for. (Did I mention my mom volunteered to drive to New York from Alabama to help me move even though her schedule is slammed with school? I declined her generous offer.)
Thank you mom, dad and brother!
With my parents at my cousin Julia’s wedding (2009)
Me with the fam at my high school graduation (2001)
Me with the fam at my law school graduation (2008)
The Hundleys – Christmas 2010
{Thankful November} 1: The Basics
November 2nd, 2011 | Rachel
I just started this on Facebook and realized it’d be easier to record for posterity if I moved it to this blog. For this month, I am giving thanks to something specific every day. I’d love for you to join me in the comments or in your own blog!
Today (which I am still considering to be November 1 due to my night owl habits), I am thankful for the very basics: a roof over my head, a comfortable place to sleep and never having to worry about having enough food to eat.
Photos of my last apartment in New York City
These are photos from my last apartment in the city. Sorry about the quality… they were taken with my iPhone 3GS (ugh… so passé!). Randomly, this apartment was featured in Time Out New York Magazine last year. As a result, if you google 2BR Murray Hill, I’m the first search result.
Thank you also to my former law school classmate Jeni Smith for the idea behind Thankful November (who got the idea from one of her friends). In my recent transition from the corporate legal world to bakery owner, I’ve already been making lists of things that I am thankful for in an effort to reconnect with my own core values. Now its time to go public.
What about you? What are you thankful for today?
