First Dinner

For the first home-cooked meal in my new kitchen, I decided to go wild and try my hand at homemade pizza. Inspired by my cousin's recent description and armed with Smitten Kitchen's recipe, I made a goat cheese, zucchini, squash, and shallot pizza, paired with a simple salad.

The pizza dough was surprisingly easy to make. I couldn't believe it when it actually rose! I'm not sure it turned out perfectly - the crust was kind of tough, and overall it seemed pretty salty (we were quite thirsty at the end of the meal), but that's okay. With the delicious and fresh toppings, it still tasted great!

Even though the oven set off the smoke alarm and we drank an entire Brita of water, the meal was tasty and - most importantly - it was a lot of fun! I think I'm going to get used to my new kitchen pretty quickly...

Oh, and Wright decided to top his pizza with some prosciutto. Boys don't eat vegetarian meals, apparently!

Update: This weekend, we're having dinner at Adelaide's and doing a make your own pizza bar! Maybe I'll be able to pick up some pointers for the crust situation...

Making Progress...

Isn't it nice when you feel like everything is falling into place? After a few days of hecticness, the little details start to settle.

Things are starting to feel, well, organized.

My legs may be tired from treks to Bed, Bath, and Beyond...

And my arms may be tired from lifting boxes...

But there is something so comforting about finding a spot to place my little elephant-shaped bottle opener.

And at this point, everything feels so neat, so pulled together.

Things are lined up carefully and elegantly.

But then there's this...

And this......

And I remember that I've still got a TON of work to do. Ah, well. It's the little things that keep me going.

Exploring the Neighborhood

I've been in my new apartment for three days now, and the process of settling in is still ongoing (and probably will be for awhile). There are big things to organize (like getting a couch) and small things to organize (like finding a flatware organizer small enough for my 8 inch wide drawer), but the list really just seems never ending.

One thing that I've really enjoyed is trying to get to know the area around my building. I've been hunting around for the closest (and best) pharmacies, grocery stores, wine shops, restaurants, flower stores, etc. and it's been a lot of fun. There are some great finds - I live very close to the Vietnamese restaurant Bao Noodles, which has one of the best atmospheres I've seen in awhile - and the food stands up to it, too. There's also a great florist around the corner - Gramercy Park Flowers - that is beautiful and high-quality. I'm looking forward to going in there to find a planter for my herb garden this weekend!

There have also been some misses. I'd been peeking into an Italian shop on my street for the past few days, imagining a DiPalo's-like find, but was pretty disappointed in the cheese and meat selection once I finally went in. I bought some fresh pumpkin ravioli, though, so maybe that will improve my opinion on the shop! There's also a butcher shop which sells only organic, grass-fed meat. It closes at 7:00 pm so I haven't gotten in there yet, but it's on the agenda!

This is one of the things I love about New York. I've been staying literally 3 blocks and 2 avenues away from my new apartment - technically in the exact same neighborhood - and yet I've never been to (or noticed) any of the places I just mentioned! Every street, every block is a neighborhood in its own right and has new places to explore. It's exciting.

4th of July Pie!

For the 4th of July, we had a perfectly American, perfectly delicious meal: Ruthie's Fried Chicken (it just doesn't get better than a secret recipe...), Mom's potato salad, corn on the cob, and last but not least, pie!

My feeble attempts at pie were crushed at the hands of these beautiful pies from Pie In the Sky, a delicious, home-grown (literally, in someone's house) pie shop in Cape Neddick, ME. We picked up a blueberry (because we were in Maine, after all) and an apple (because it was 4th of July, after all), and they just couldn't have been more delicious.

While at the bakery, I tried to pick up some tips by sneaking a peek at their baking methods. First, the apples were piled sky high on the pies. Literally, more than double the height of the pie crust (see above that they do cook down). Also, I concluded that they cook these pies for a long, long time. I'm thinking like 4-6 hours. When we went in at 3pm, there were apple pies in the oven (when they opened it, they looked almost cooked to me); they said we'd have to pick them up at 6pm for them to be ready, and even then might be a gamble. So, slow-cooking must be the secret!

In my new kitchen, I have a big marble counter - perfect for rolling out pie dough. While I know it will take many, many tries, I am determined to improve my baking this summer. Wish me luck!

A few updates...

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July! I had a wonderful and relaxing weekend in Maine - filled with lots of delicious food and fun family time. Walks on the beach, tennis, blueberry pancakes, fried chicken, ocean views... who could ask for anything more?

Within 5 minutes of pulling in the driveway at home, however, I was back to reality. I immediately jumped into packing and organizing myself, since the movers are coming (gasp!) on Tuesday. Since I've already bored you with past moving experiences here, I won't go into details. But nevertheless, I am more than excited to get settled into my new digs.

I've gotten an embarrassing amount of questions as to whether or not I actually ordered a lobster roll (and liked it). I had not one, but two lobster rolls this weekend and thoroughly enjoyed them both. Ha, thanks for all of the support...what a difficult life I lead!

Anyway, back to packing and work. I'm missing Maine but at least it's a beautiful day in New York!!