Nothing Better Than Fresh Bread

A French-style bakery opened earlier this week less than a mile and a half down the road from us. As anyone who knows me well can imagine, I am pretty darn excited about it. If there is one thing I could wish for in this world, it's that everyone should have easy access to freshly baked bread. It's just one of many things the French got right when it comes to breakfast and food indulgence (along with cheese, champagne, and dessert), and I've never been able to understand why here in America people just can't seem to wrap their brains around buying freshly baked bread on a regular basis instead of heavily preserved 'bread' loaves that are made to last for weeks on end. Needless to say, I am beyond excited about having a bakery that can provide such things within walking distance.

I took a walk up there earlier today but was saddened to find that they had already sold out of all their buttery pastries (I was really hoping for a pain au chocolat!) and opted for a baguette instead. Can I just comment on how silly I felt once I realized I was walking down the street, baguette in hand, with a striped shirt and hat on? Way to perpetuate ridiculous French stereotypes, Marine!


By the time I got back to the apartment, half of the baguette had already been consumed. I must confess though, I shared some of it with my very happy co-workers when I stopped in there for an iced tea break on the way home. Then I sliced it up and spread a little honey on one slice, and some strawberry preserves on another... absolute deliciousness. I may not have gotten my pain au chocolat, but dammit, I made a point of enjoying myself none the less. The bread was crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, and still warm too... I can't think of anything better for an afternoon snack.


Other than walking nearly 3 miles, I've spent most of my day off relaxing. I did a short yoga sequence upon waking up this morning, after eating some cereal with strawberries and catching up on some reading. (Yes, I'm still working my way through Life of Pi, but I'm almost done, I swear! Then it's on to something else.)

Here's a little collage for anyone who's curious about what I do at work:


(all photos except for bottom left are from yelp.com)
A few weeks ago we had a customer who drove a pretty long way to come to the shop because she had heard so many good things about us. Well, we gave her a demonstration of what we do and she took some really decent photos on her iphone which she proceeded to post on Yelp. So yes, that is my arm and hands in those photos! ...can you pour hearts on top of people's lattes? I can! And I can bake things too! Man, my life is pretty sweet.

Not to rub it in or anything... :P

Herbs and Farmers Market Season

One week ago we took a trip to our local Target's garden center and picked out a couple of different indoor-growing-friendly herbs and a bag of soil. We also got suckered in by two lonely garden gnomes that were hanging out on a nearby shelf... they only cost $15 each so we couldn't resist. (And if you know anything about gnomes... buying just one when there's a pair standing there is completely out of the question. You don't want to encounter the gnome curse! Trust me, you're much better off leaving no one behind.)


What? Haven't we told you about our gnome collection? Yeah, we're those people.


The two colorful ones on the outside are the newest addition to the family. Gnomie East and Gnomie West were acquired from Home Goods last summer. The tall guy is the oldest Gnomie - I found him at another Home Goods a few years ago; he's the only one that has actually spent time outside, but one day we hope to have a real garden for them all to look over.


We picked up a few packets of cat grass to bring a little of the outdoors indoors. It's really simple to grow, and it grows super fast! It's a nice addition to the living room, sitting in a couple of small pots along the windowsill.


We planted some basil, rosemary, and oregano. So far, only the oregano has sprouted, but the basil is starting to peek through the dirt as of yesterday.


Although I'm not a big fan of the heat that summer brings, I am a huge fan of all the local fresh fruits and veggies that I'm able to find more easily lately! I picked up strawberries, cherries, spring onions, and honey on my most recent trip to the farmer's market.



On last week's trip I had picked up some strawberries and asparagus. Here's what I ended up doing with the asparagus:


I boiled it for just a few minutes, keeping it crisp and crunchy, and then I topped it with a simple lemon dijon mustard vinaigrette. We served them along side hasselback potatoes and pan-fried catfish. The potatoes ended up being undercooked but everything else was absolutely delicious!


We purchased the catfish from our local market, where we also bought some chipped steak from our usual meat vendor. Here's our take on the Philly cheesesteak: chipped steak with sweet red peppers and muenster cheese on a cheesy foccaccia roll with a little bit of honey mustard.


I'll end this photo-heavy post on a sweet note. How does a slice of lemon bundt cake sound? It's even better topped with fresh strawberries and hand-whipped cream. I know it's summer, but that doesn't mean we can't all indulge just a little bit!

On Family, Sisters, and Growing Up

We don't talk about family much on the blog - Shawn comes from a relatively small family and most of my extended family still resides over seas in France, so neither one of us has much family to speak of. Both of our immediate families live just one state over and we make a point to visit on a fairly regular basis, but otherwise, it's just the two of us. So I'm going to dedicate this post to my lovely younger sister who left home on Friday for her first year of college!


sisters being crazy, circa 2005

I am the oldest of three children - five years older than my sister, six years older than my brother. Growing up, I definitely felt the differences in age; the two of them were always very close, but I was always slightly too old to relate to them. They grew up and into their personalities while I was away at college, so I feel like I missed out on that transition from child to mini-adult, the crucial time to be an older sister. When I moved back home after college, they were no longer the childish minds from four years prior - they were developing their own philosophies on life and I could actually talk to them as peers - something I'd waited years for! And now, my little sister is starting a new journey on her own, and I'm sitting in the sidelines again, waiting for the moment to be a big sister if she needs me to be.


for reference, a more recent picture of my sister

She was kind enough to come visit last week so that we could hang out one more time before she left on Friday. We had planned on driving into center city and going thrifting, and then bringing home our finds and altering them on my sewing machine - I had looked into it and written down a few thrift stores to check out, and that's exactly what we set out to do. We parked near the first store (Circle of Hope Thrift), only to find an empty shell of a building where it was supposed to be. So we got back in the car and drove up towards the next store (Philly Vintage), parked in (what we later realized was a really pricey) lot, and walked over to the store's location... only to find yet another empty building! Slightly disheartened and running short on time by this point, we decided to abandon our plans and just walk around the city to kill some time and hopefully stumble upon something interesting. And stumble we did!


Second Time Around thrift store; picture borrowed from yelp.com

With fifteen minutes left before needing to be back at the parking lot, we finally found a thrift store. Second Time Around, to be exact (the irony is just too much). We just browsed, since we had to keep it quick, but this is definitely a find! The selection is beyond amazing and the prices are decent (I hate consignment shops that take themselves too seriously and charge nothing less than $30 for crappy old clothes...) If we had no time limit, we definitely would have been there a while and gone home with a few pieces. There's always next time!


yummy gelato from Capogiro!

Another great find - Capogiro Gelato. One of my co-workers used to work there and always praises them, so when we happened to stumble upon it, there was no way I could just walk past without stopping in for a taste! And taste we did! Like any good gelato place, they let you sample as many flavors as you want, and they let you pick two different flavors for the small cups - I settled on Nutella and Banana Rhum, and my sister got Dark Chocolate and Lime Sorbetto. Both were delicious, and gelato was definitely a good choice over the coffeeshop we were originally going to seek out.

Even though the day did not go as planned (when do plans ever go right?), it was still a whole lot of fun and I got to spend it all with my sister. I appreciate times spent with my siblings more now than I ever did - funny how that works. And now we have a few ideas on where to go next time she visits!

Do you have any siblings? How close are you in age, and do you feel age makes a difference in your relationship with them? Tell us a story about growing up in your family! Or a story about a day that didn't go as planned.

Thoughts on Moving - Part 2 - The Pieces Fit?!

Alright, picking up where I left off...

A few months into the city search we set our sights on Philadelphia. I know, I know, I shot the idea down at first but somehow Shawn eventually convinced me to at least consider it. And with a reluctant sigh, I did. Now, you're probably wondering why I was so against the idea of moving to Philadelphia at first. You are, aren't you? Well, I used to be of the belief that Philly is dirty and dangerous and too long of a drive to get to because of traffic. Why? I don't know, I guess other people's opinions of the city led me to believe as such. Well, I must say I've been proven wrong.

My only real complaint about Philly and its surrounding areas is that driving anywhere sucks! The highways are always backed up and getting in and out of the city is nearly impossible at most hours of the day. But it gets a little better once you get closer to the suburbs, where we are.

But I'm getting side tracked here - lets get back to the point, about how it all came together. We visited Philly a few times and I started looking for jobs on craigslist… and that's how I met Tim Noble, of Town Hall Coffee in Merion Station. The place was still being put together at the time, but he liked me enough to guarantee me a job whenever Shawn and I could find a place to live. And so the apartment hunt began.

We initially looked at some places in center city but then decided it'd be best to find a place closer to my job. It only took three tries before we found it, and when we saw the place we immediately knew that was it, it just felt right. So after an agonizing two weeks of feeling like we were in limbo (between finding out the place was ours, to the day we picked up the keys), and then an even more agonizing unexpected three days wait that forced us to move in over 2 days instead of 4… and after several trips to Ikea and Target and local grocery stores, we finally, finally, feel completely moved in. I'd say I feel at home too, but I honestly feel like I'm on vacation in someone else's home with all my belongings in it… it's slowly dawning on me that we live here and all this is ours, and it's just us, and it's fantastic!

And the job? It's awesome! The guys I work with are great and I love being able to interact with customers again. It's great to be a part of something so new! And I get to bake scones too! It's all very exciting.

And so, finally, after months of searching, much frustration, an overabundance of stress, and a lot of patience, the pieces fit.

:)


Italian hoagies for lunch on the makeshift table; Day Two