Tag: family

Carrot Cake (I totally won an award)

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Last week I made carrot cake for our friendsgiving and another one for Jay’s office Thanksgiving.  Turns out they were doing a contest and my cake won!! Yes…we won a carving knife, and not a trip to the Bahamas…but still, it won!!

I wanted to share the recipe to this amazing cake (thanks Mom for always sharing your recipes and being the best non-professional cook ever)…

CARROT CAKE

What you need:

For Cake:
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

3 eggs
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup oil
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla

1 – 8 1/4 oz can of crushed pineapple (drained)
2 cups grated carrots
1 cup chopped nuts (optional…but totally adds to it)

DIRECTIONS
preheat to 350

First sift the first four dry ingredients together (I don’t have a sifter, I just fluff it around a bit with a fork)

(like my picture shadow in that?!)

In a separate bowl beat the eggs.  Then beat the sugar, oil, buttermilk, and vanilla into the eggs…

Once that is ready to go mix the egg mixture and dry ingredients together…

Now grate up those carrots! This is by far the worst part but it pays off! Once the carrots are grated mix the carrots, pineapple, and nuts into the egg/flour mixture..

Beautiful!

Pour into a lightly greased pan (I used baking Pam) and bake for 55 minutes.

Time for the FROSTING!

What you need:
1 – 8 oz cream cheese softened
1/4 lb butter softened
1/2 to 1 lb powdered sugar (depending on taste)
1 tsp vanilla

Go ahead and leave out the cream cheese and butter while the cake cooks so it can soften. Wait patiently…drink wine…yum…

Ok now your cake is baked…let it cool!

Mix up your frosting while the cake is cooling.  Mix the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together.  Gradually stir in the powdered sugar.  This is the best part because you get to stop and taste check.  I only use about a 1/2 lb of the powdered sugar, but if you are a sweet tooth you may want more…

Then frost!

Now you are all done and ready to enjoy the best cake you will ever have…

I would have taken a picture of it cut open to eat, but by the time we got to friendsgiving we ate it all too fast!

Everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

xo- J

Brooklyn Family

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This weekend my parents came to visit Saturday for a fun day in my neighborhood.  We had crazy delicious lunch at Brooklyn Bowl, walked around with the pup, went to the flea market park, and enjoyed being with each other.  It was a great day and I missed them so much when they left.  Below are some fun ones from the day…

Even with that busy day I managed to get the new letters I got at Anthropologie up in our bathroom.  So cute!

Saturday evening Jay got home from Boston!  I was so happy to have him back home, so was our man…

Sunday we had brunch with Tyler and his girlfriend Leah.  Rondo even got to come later.  Here we are sitting on the outside of the bar while they were inside!

Another perfect fall weekend!

Festival

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As usual, another busy week here in NYC.  Monday Jay and I went to see The Master. It was fantastic! I had a quick dinner alone at Grey Dog before meeting him and had the best chicken sandwich in existence.  See proof below…

Tuesday Jay cooked dinner (thank you thank you Jay) and he let me watch The Vow.  Best. Night. Ever.  (ha).  Here’s Rondo on Tuesday after stealing my hair tie.  Guilty much?


Wednesday for my friend’s birthday we went to the San Gennaro Festival in Little Italy at lunch.  We both had massive sausage sandwiches (regretted that later) and walked around checking out all the vendors…

Then happy hour with friends last night, which turned into way later night than expected and a nice headache this morning.  Whoops.  Oh yea, and more guilt from this guy…


Tonight Jay and I are seeing Delta Spirit and Dr.Dog in Central Park.  Like I said earlier, busy week!

New do!

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I can’t believe the weekend is over…it went way too quickly.  Friday Rondo and I went to visit M&D in NJ for the night.  Mom and I had tasty breakfast went on a hike with Rondo, did some shopping, got to Trader Joe’s (yay!), and dyed my hair.  Rondo loves being in the grass so much, I feel bad bringing him back to the city.

I came home Saturday for a good friend’s birthday, and had a lazy Sunday before Jay got back from Cape Cod.  I baked cookies, made chicken & rice dinner in the crock pot, watched Bachelorette, and took a long walk around the neighborhood with the little guy.

My favorite is the one of Rondo on the porch.  While I was putting away clothes he decided to take the bathroom mat onto the balcony for more comfortable sunbathing…that is how I found him.  Too funny.

And here is the new hair…I love it!

Surprise Face!

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The past couple days have been busy with work for both Jay and I.  This means delivery dinner and early to bed.  At least someone has been enjoying this beautiful fall sunshine while we are working…

I have managed to get Rondo to the dog park every night, which is actually, completely, selfish.  Taking that hour after work for him to run around means no playing fetch in the hallway for hours when we want to watch SOA.  Definitely worth it.  Here is a great building we pass buy on our walk to the park…

Here it is…the (best) surprise face from Reggie’s surprise party this weekend.  This is right when he walked in the door…terrified and so fantastic!

One last thing… NY Mag has a great article about South Williamsburg and all of the amazing new restaurants, bars, and real estate being built.  I love my neighborhood!  Check out the article here.

Rainy Day…

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It’s a crummy day in New York.  It’s dark, pouring down rain, steamy, and the whole city is mourning the summer (doesn’t make for a pleasant commute let me tell you).  And when you are trying to leave for work and this little guy has decided to take a morning nap on you…it’s nearly impossible to leave.


This rainy day has me reflecting on the fantastic summer we just had… We moved into an apartment together, adopted about the best puppy in the world, traveled to weddings, parties, showers, visited friends and family all over, and even managed to enjoy our neighborhood a bit.  For all the times I can be grumpy or upset, looking back at these pictures from the summer makes me realize how fortunate I am to have my family, Jay, Rondo, and amazing friends.  Here’s to next summer being as great as summer 2012 and to pumpkin flavored everything starting now that it’s fall!  Below are a bunch of my favorites from this summer…

Is Summer Really Over?

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This weekend was wonderful!  Rondo and I went home to my parents house and got to relax, go on long walks, run all over the park, take naps, and enjoy driving around in the car (his new favorite).  Sunday the whole family went to the beach for a delicious brunch and to enjoy the last moments of summer before school starts again for Mom and summer Friday’s end for me.

Rondo was EXHAUSTED after all of the long walks, running, and playing outside he did this weekend.  He is so cute (especially when he is sleeping).  But when we got home on Monday and he saw Jay, he forgot about all the fun we had together and only wanted to cuddle his Papa.


In other news, my plants at home survived the weekend alone which made me really happy.  My herb garden is even starting to grow!

It’s hard to be back at work today, to leave Jay and the pup when all we want to do is snuggle at home.  At least I have homemade blueberry cake for breakfast and some yummy pumpkin cider waiting at home (fall is coming!).

Rondo

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Let me formally introduce you to Rondo.  Our little monster menace and cutest boy in the world.  We are totally in love with him…even when he brings the toilet paper all the way into the living room, bites out his stitches, steals our dinner, and bites our ankles (maybe not the last one)!