Thursday, September 7, 2017

Only in New York

It had been 6 years of debating whether to go back or not, but my husband decided he wanted to go home for his birthday weekend, which also happened to be Labor Day weekend.

Home is New York City.

A few days in New York City can stay with you for a lifetime.

Entering New Jersey, you can see the NYC skyline. A little surreal!

He found a hotel in New Jersey that provided bus service to NYC in as little time as 20 minutes.No crossing the George Washington bridge, waiting for 2 hours to get into the city. We did have to go through the Lincoln Tunnel everyday though, which kinda freaked me out.

I survived.

Our hotel had the prettiest flowers on the walkway. Anyone know what these are?


And this was a sight for weary, cold bodies after walking the city all day......Free!


The night we arrived we drove into Hoboken, NJ for dinner and a stroll along the pier there.


The skyline from across the Hudson River was fabulous.





We were excited to find Carlo's Bake Shop, of Cake Boss fame. We loved the show, but not the baked goods in this shop so much.

Actually they were tasteless and stale.


The next day we were in Times Square with a lot of familiar and some unfamiliar sights. The NYPD barricades on the sidewalks are new, due to the recent tragedies of pedestrians being run over by wayward cars.


The police were all over and were ready, in full riot gear, hands on rifles.



One of my favorite shows to watch in the morning....


My husband got tickets to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. Kind of a creepy thought to me, to see life size wax figures of celebrities and other famous people. Only a few looked like themselves to me.

Like Pharrell Williams, minus a hat.


Trump looked pretty good too (the picture came out too blurry). And how can you miss with ET? My husband, always clowning around....


Woody Allen....eh


Just to show you the size of the Hulk.....he was not made of wax.


We had time before our next adventure, The Ride, so we went to Chelsea Market which is in an old meat packing warehouse in the meat packing district.


I saw a few pairs of these feet around the market....not sure what they represent. Not sure I want to know.


The Ride is a sightseeing tour on a bus that is like a theatre with one side all windows that face out to the street.  

We had two girls doing the narrative on the sights and they made it so much fun with their banter back and forth and their theatrical antics. To add more fun, every now and then on the street, a person would start singing or dancing (all part of the tour) and interact with the people on the bus. The picture below shows a saxophonist with a guy that came along and started singing to the music. 



At Columbus Circle, a ballerina with a lit up tutu was dancing and bumped into a man walking. He took her in his arms and they both danced ballet in front of the fountain.

I won't give anymore of that away. It was a lot of fun.

One of the highlights of my trip was to meet Amy, who blogs at Ms Toody Goo Shoes, in person. We met in a cute coffee shop, Le Pain Quotidien across from Bryant Park.


My desire and goal is to meet as many blog friends as possible and Amy was the first! We had a nice chat over coffee and high calorie treats!


Another highlight happened that same day when we went to see the Broadway musical, Beautiful. I just love Carole King and have listened to her album Tapestry faithfully since it came out. Also, recently I saw Carole King: Tapestry – Captured Live at Hyde Park London at the movie theatre. She is in her early 70's and boy, she's still got it!!

The musical was fabulous!


Some random pictures from walking around the city.

"Give me your tired, your poor, your bananas....."


My son will take one of each please.....



No comment.


So at the beginning of this post I mentioned that a trip to NYC can impress you for a lifetime.

Our visit to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum is one of those that will play back over and over in my mind.


We've all seen the pictures the media put out at the time, of the engraved names, and heard the playback of that fateful day many times. 


But to walk into that museum with hundreds of other people and have no one speaking, surrounded by pictures and soundtracks and actual pieces of the buildings, was a sobering event. It was a dreary, rainy day outside and it was dark and somber inside.

The pictures are just to give an idea of the magnitude of the museum and the events that happened on that very ground.

Ground Zero








Most striking to me were the names engraved around the reflection pool.


Todd Beamer, a hero known for trying to avert the terrorists.


I saw a few of these.......and her unborn child......so sad


and a few of these.....



But there is always hope and this tree is a symbol of that. It is called the Survivor Tree, found in all the rubble, still alive and was nursed back to health and brought back here.


These are just a few of the many things you can do and see in New York City. There are links if you want to check any of them out.

If it's spectacular, weird or unbelievable, it may just fit in the category of "only in New York".

Monday, August 21, 2017

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Got Zucchini??

In the Northeast growing season now is the time to harvest the abundance of Zucchini in our gardens.

Here in Upstate New York we are always looking for new recipes to use this versatile squash.

I thought I had shared the recipe for this light and airy summer chocolate cake, but when I searched my blog, I guess I didn't. I did share a recipe for Zucchini Bread, which is equally delicious.


I found this recipe in my all time favorite recipe book Applehood and Motherpie. It was published in the 1980's by The Junior League of Rochester, New York.

I have not made one bad recipe out of it yet. As a matter of fact, all of the recipes I've made are phenomenal.

Really.

I actually have a copy of it and it's companion For Goodness Taste available to purchase in my Etsy shop here.

Edit 8/22 - These are sold! A sweet blogger friend couldn't resist and bought them!

You can see how airy and moist this cake is....


 and the cinnamon is an unexpected delicious addition....


Add some chocolate glaze or frosting and it is a great summer dessert. Hey, chocolate is a great dessert any time but this feels summery because of the zucchini :-)



So on to the recipe, which is pretty easy too....


Chocolate Zucchini Cake
2 cups sugar
¾ cup oil
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups coarsely shredded zucchini
2 ½ cups flour
½ cup cocoa
2 ½ tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
½ cup milk

In large bowl beat sugar, oil, and eggs. Add vanilla and zucchini.
Mix dry ingredients together. Add alternately with milk to zucchini mixture. Blend well.
Pour into a 10 inch tube or Bundt pan. Bake. Allow to stand 10 minutes, then remove from pan.

Temp: 350
Time: 50 to 60 minutes

For the chocolate glaze I used my favorite go-to recipe. 
It makes a lot so I halved it. For chocolate frosting
you have to play around a little, substituting 
cocoa powder for some of the confectioner's sugar.

All Purpose Frosting/Glaze

2 2/3 cup confectioners sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon flavoring (almond, lemon, vanilla) OPTIONAL
Hot water

Combine all ingredients except water. Slowly add a little hot water 
till frosting is smooth. 



If you find yourself with an abundance of Zucchini at the end of the summer, I hope you try this chocolate cake. 


Monday, August 14, 2017

The Magnificent Sunflower

Who doesn't love the sight of a bright, big yellow Sunflower?



Or a whole field of them?



On our honeymoon tour of Italy 21 years ago, we were in the stupid bus when we passed by fields and fields of sunflowers on both sides of the road. I wanted to stop and get out to see them up close but we had a schedule to stick to :-(

I finally got my chance.

On a perfect summer evening between 6:30 and 7:00 p.m. (the best part of the day in my opinion) we arrived at Frederick's Farm in Clifton Springs, NY, a 16 minute drive from our house. I did not know it even existed until my daughter posted a picture of herself and my granddaughter there. Oh, the joys of social media!



The draw to the farm was the hayride through the field but when we realized the line was an hour and a half wait, we decided, like many others, just to walk the paths through the field and get an up close and personal look.

The view from waiting in the line was too much for us and we had to just go to the Sunflowers!


It was a great decision!

I was amazed at how every single sunflower in this huge field were all facing one way, away from the sun.


Well, except for one little one who seems to have lost his way...


I googled it and found out that during their growth, sunflowers track the sun and tilt towards it (called heliotropism). Once they bloom, they face East, which is what they were doing here.

I found out some other fun facts about Sunflowers.....

They are native to North America



Each Sunflower head is made up of 1,000's of tiny smaller flowers.


They are the state flower of Kansas...


They are the only flower with the word "flower" in their name.


They grow quite large.
The record for the tallest Sunflower is 30'1" grown in Germany in 2014.
The largest head can be up to a foot and a half.


While we were on the path the wagon was heading our way and didn't look like it was going to slow down. My husband, son and I, along with others on the path, had to jump inside the Sunflowers to get out of the way...there was that little space on either side.

I got some great pictures!


 That's my son and husband after the wagon passed.


I stayed inside a little longer...



The only downfall of not riding in the wagon is
that they all got to pick some Sunflowers to take home.


But that's okay.

Actually I am allergic to my favorite flower and I was already getting tingly sinuses 
and a scratchy throat.

It was all worth it.

I got to be out in perfect weather with some great scenery, beautiful, magnificent Sunflowers and a treat at the end.





AnnMarie xoxo

I am linking up with these great blog parties:

Cooking and Crafting with J & J
Happiness is Homemade
Tuesdays With a Twist
Wow Us Wednesday
Show and Share
Share Your Cup
Share Your Style
No Rules Weekend Blog Party
Home Sweet Home
Anything Goes Pink Saturday
Best of the Weekend