Shipping Cookies

I made cookies over the weekend and decided to ship some of the extras to a friend. On Valentine's Day when I shipped cookies it was tough for me to think of a good way to send them to ensure they wouldn't arrive stale. This is especially hard when I send treats to California.  The thought of going through the trouble of sending the cookies and having them arrive stale is embarrassing and sad (considering how long the trek to my post office is). I decided to do a little research and ended up using a combination of advice from this Martha article.  

1. I packaged the cookies in a folded envelope using wax paper and tightly creased the edged to lock out air.

2. The packet was then moved to a sandwich takeout box from a recent lunch.

3. Martha has a line of cute pastry twine (along with even cuter kitchen supplies I covet).  I ordered this mini set from Amazon. The twine is helpful in preventing the cookies from coming loose within the outer box.

4. Once the box was tied closed with the twine, I found a sticker from my collection and secured it to the knot. I also thought a stamp would be fun, or a card could be slipped under the twine for a birthday/holiday/etc. 

The entire brown box was moved to a larger box for shipping.  Fingers crossed these cookies don't arrive stale! 

A new book I ordered arrived today...

I came across this book in a review, and although it's probably a light read, the concept interests me. The author writes about her move to Chicago to be with her boyfriend, and how she set out to make new friends similar to the ones she had in past cities. I have been in Philly for close to 3 years, but I can't say I have figured out the best way to make lifelong friends in a new city. I feel lucky to have best friends around the country that I chat with pretty much every day through email, phone, facebook, etc., but there is something to be said for friends nearby you can hang out with on a whim. 

I think the hardest part about getting married and moving to a new city is not being able to live with girls. I  lived in dorms and apartments throughout college filled with girlfriends. In San Diego, we had 5 girls living in a 2 room apartment! There are so many wonderful things about sharing a home with the person you love, but the dynamic is definitely different with female roommates. Guys don't help you when you need an honest opinion on a last minute outfit (or better yet, lend you something new to wear when you have a "bored clothing crisis"), stay up late to watch reality TV paired with wine and ice cream, and this may only be the case for me, but I definitely miss the gossip sessions.  I'm lucky if Chasen gives me a shrug and a smile when I excitedly tell him about people we knew from college that I found out are now dating.  I love him for his apathy toward gossip, but I definitely miss the face to face gossip sessions I had with girlfriends in college. 

In the novel, Bertsche goes on fifty-two "friend dates" in an attempt to create lasting relationships. The idea of a match.com scenario with a platonic twist is oddly appealing to me. Instead of being fearful of coming across as the "weird, desperate girl" asking for a one on one hangout, both parties can admit openly they are interested in making new friends. On the flip-side, I've joined meetup.com for book clubs and soccer teams, but that seems safer to me based on the group aspect. A one on one date with a friend might lead to a clinger relationship, and we all know how hard it can be to lose clingy friends. I'm interested to see how things panned out for Bertsche and if she had success, because even though I now have some friends in Philly to meet up with for weekend shopping trips, I'm bound to have to move again in a year and start this process all over again!

Is it really March?!?

The weather has been unbelievably beautiful.

We had dinner at an Italian wine bar in Manyunk and ate OUTSIDE!

On Saturday a 5 mile walk around the city was paired with ice cream and necessary SUNSCREEN.

Every single window in our apartment was opened, and all of the window boxes were filled with new life.

I realize the winter was not one of the worst in the record books, but I did not expect it to be this nice until at least mid-April. Philadelphia is bustling with life again, and I'm beginning to remember all of the things I enjoy about the city that are forgotten during winter commutes to work. Even just hearing the birds in the morning puts me in a better mood for my day. Here's to hoping Spring sticks around and summer is slow to come!

~Agiato in Manyunk ~Window boxes and trees in bloom ~Bredenbecks ice cream ~the park on our street was FILLED with children ~frittatas ~ a window box to come home to ~an attempt at this pasta sauce

A weekend with the St. Johns

Some great shots from the weekend...

Favorite moments from the weekend include...

-On the way to get Shamrock shakes at McDonald's, Griffin said:  "You know why I hate McDonald's? Because it makes you Faht!"

-Teddy was perplexed after he asked Jeff to show a waitress Baby Simon, and she seemed less than interested.  "Why wouldn't she care about a baby??..."

-Will bugging Meg until she agreed to order him a new Easter suit.  What 8 year old boy wouldn't want a new classy suit to add to the rotation?

-Griffin shouting angrily after we received 2 less than desirable burnt takeout pizzas: "You know why I hate this pizza?!  It's BURN-DED!"

-In Albany the boys went to a car show and got their faces painted and balloon animals made.  On the way home, Griffin said, "The balloon guy was cweepy, but he was a good blower!"

I may have spoken too soon

Ironically, after my last post about Spring, the air took a sudden dip in temperature, and I went back to my hefty jacket and cold weather blues.  My coping skills this winter have included eating hearty lunches and dinners to stave off the cold. Chile is an easy favorite, but I found myself bored with the classic crock pot chile. Crock pots are simple, but I feel they can be a lazy substitute for actual cooking, and sometimes the ingredients are put to better use if you spend the time with a real recipe.  My absolute favorite chile recipe that I had been dying to make is one that my sister Jo has made for Chase and I several times since our move to Philly. Some of Jo and Tom's recipes intimidate me, but I finally got up the courage to ask for this particular chile recipe, and I found it to be extremely simple and satisfying--once I worked out all the kinks!

Pierce Street Chili

Even after hosting friends for dinner and sending several containers back with Chase this week, the recipe yields a HUGE amount of chile for leftovers.  We will be freezing the rest and hopefully only pulling it out if there is another chill during the Spring.

Wine bar up the street

Spring is coming...

Because yesterday was the first day of March, I decided to get myself excited with a little Spring inspiration!

1. Fun Spring clothes! 

There is something so rewarding about the first warm morning after winter when you can pull on open-toed sandals, wear a dress without tights, or just walk to work with only a cardigan or light blazer.  No oversized jackets, pesky mittens, or sweaty boots needed.  Below are some of the trends I'm most excited to buy and wear this Spring.

1.  Colored denim ~ 2.  Poppy blazers ~ 3.  Fun spring dresses-no tights needed ~ 4.  Open toed sandals.  I first saw these here and fell in love. ~  5.  Scalloped anything!

2.  Exercising outside.

I recently began (very recently) running again, and because of the weather, I mainly use the treadmill at my gym. I think I might be able to summon some more motivation at the thought of running in warmer weather, surrounded by pretty flowers and growing grass.  I think. 

(Side note-this girl portrays more of a skip in her step than can be expected of me. It should also be known that Philadelphia might have a slightly different backdrop than the one shown below.)

3.  Happy hours OUTSIDE and experimenting with fun warm weather drinks!

Last summer, I basically turned into a mixologist experimenter with mixed drinks after purchasing a Shaker and a drink recipe book.  Every night when Chasen came home from work, I would meet him with a new conconction.  Some were good (shown here and here) and some lacked in taste at all. Chasen's favorite from the summer was limoncello and champagne, which we have continued to drink in the winter. I'm secretly hoping my new downstairs neighbor won't be a hog about our front porch and will allow us some nights for our own little happy hour at home. She's welcome to join in!

4. Open windows!

I love when the weather is nice enough to open all the windows in the apartment and let out the stuffiness. At night when I'm in bed, and I can hear people walking home from restaurants, or out with their dogs and such, I feel like our neighborhood is so much more alive. I've never been a huge advocate of air conditioners, and even though the Philly summers force us to use them come late June, I always take pleasure in the few months before that I can lay on the couch and feel the breezes come in through the windows.

5.  Produce is SO much better when the weather becomes nice.

It's a delightful thought that soon I will be able to go to the farmer's open markets in my neighborhood without having to pick through apples and potatoes that bring zero motivation to cook. As soon as things warm up enough, I plan to buy bunches of flowers and lots of fresh produce to welcome in the new season.