With an abundance of fruits and veggies in season (and the garden in full swing), Summer is my most creative time of year in the kitchen. There is so much to play with. I love getting my hands on ingredients I’ve never worked with before whenever possible, and the curiosity to explore is heightened. Overall I’m just more inspired to try new recipes (and make some up, too). Today’s post is a round up of summer recipes I tried for the first time, favorites I make every year, and some of my own made up creations.
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Strawberry Picking, Peony Peeping, Park Frolicking
It’s been a month and a half since I last wrote in this space (sorry!) May and the first half of June have been busy - with every ounce of my spare time and energy allocated to rebuilding the garden. I talked a little bit about how I had to dig up my established garden beds of 6 years in my last post, and won’t bore you with the details in this post - but I feel like I’m coming up and out on the other side of it for some air finally. Maybe my next post will be a full garden update?
For today’s post, I wanted to share some photos from a day out in Long Valley, NJ earlier this month. It was such a beautiful, sunny, “top 10” day - which has felt like a rarity this year. If you live here on the east coast, you know it’s felt a whole lot more like the PNW and has been unseasonably wet for us. I’m not mad about it though - everything is so green and lush. But when I saw a day like this in the forecast? I knew it couldn’t go to waste.
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Color Hunting in Coney Island!
I've been wanting to do a Coney Island blog post for quite some time - it's one of my favorite spots in NY! I LOVE that it is so far removed from the typical "hustle" of the city - as it's located at the veryyyy bottom of Brooklyn. The subway ride is pretty long, but if you're in great company - it goes by pretty quickly! ;) I made quite a few trips out there this summer with my fellow color-hunting friend Ruth (@bigntoasty). I took soooooo many photos each time I went, and I am finally gettin' my shit together to compile them all into a cohesive post!
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Alstede Farms Sunflower Maze (So Long Summer!)
It's hard to believe that it's already OCTOBER! Where did summer go?!
I realize that last Wednesday was the *official* start of fall.. and it's no longer sunflower maze season but corn maze season now lol, but I still feel like I have sooooo many un-blogged summer adventures! I'm backtracking a little bit today to a solo adventure I had in July at Alstede Farms. If you've been following my blog for a little while, you may remember my post from last fall about this place. It's one of my favorite farms in the area because of how big it is, and there always seems to be something fun going on during all 4 seasons! When I heard that they had a massive sunflower maze, I had to check it out because until this I had actually never been to one before!
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New York / New Jersey Ice Cream Bucket List
Ice cream is by far my biggest summer guilty pleasure. I could literally probably eat my weight in it... ha. This summer in particular, I made it my mission to try as many different ice cream shops in my area (NJ / NY) as possible. For those of you who follow me on Instagram, you are probably already aware of my ice cream obsession. I keep an ongoing "Ice Cream Bucket List" on my phone's notes app, and am constantly adding new places to try! I was able to uncover some of the best ice cream I've ever eaten this summer, and now I'm here to share the SCOOP with you! ;)
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Destination: Exit 0 (Cape May + Wildwood)
Last week, I went on a little Jersey shore road trip for 4 days down to Cape May and Wildwood. It was hands down one of the best adventures of my life. Growing up, my family often took day trips down to the beach - but we never once stayed overnight. I've only had the opportunity to actually wake up the next morning to a beach once or twice (ever)... so you can probably imagine my excitement lol. I've lived in NJ my whole life (with the exception of 4 years spent in NY for school), but I have never been that far south in the state. As I've mentioned in previous blog posts, my family isn't big on travel - so any opportunity I get to experience something new (even if it's not in a new state or country) - is one that I embrace with arms open wide. I treat even small, local, day to day things like grand adventures.
I ran myself so ragged the entire time - wanting to experience and explore as much as possible before we had to head home (because even 4 days was not enough). We did basically all of our exploring on foot, which was probably a good thing because I totally ate like.. 2 or 3 times my weight in all the amazing food the area had to offer.. ha. There wasn't really any "down time" and I didn't even actually sit on the beach or swim in either of the hotel pools for the entire time we were there.. lol.
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Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ
Last month, I made a trip down to Asbury Park with my dad to celebrate the opening night of Jersey Collective's first gallery show. I've lived in New Jersey all my life (with the exception of 4 years spent in NY for school), and it's kinda silly that I've never been to the town Bruce Springsteen named his 1973 debut album ("Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ") after. In other words, this trip was loooong overdue haha! Growing up, my family often made trips down to Point Pleasant -- and now, we typically head to Long Branch for our summer beach escape. I had no idea that Asbury Park was so close to those other two Jersey shore points... until I looked at a map (lol). For some reason I always thought that Asbury Park was farther south! Clearly my sense of geography is terrible..
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DIY Drink Pinwheels
Happy JULY! (I know. I shit my pants this morning too. How is it actually July already?!?!) This year is FLYING by! ANYWAYS, I am super stoked because this coming weekend is 4th of July weekend - one of my absolute favorite holidays. I mean, I love all the holidays - but I especially love the 4th! What's not to love about the ultimate summer celebration dedicated to America?! Food on the grill, cold drink in hand, beach / pool lounging, fireworks, sunshine, the list goes on... !
Lately I have been really into making pretty drinks / making my drinks look pretty! Everyone is probably familiar with the classic "drink umbrella." I love putting them in my drinks throughout summertime, but I wanted something a bit more *MERICA* (and less tropical vacay) for the 4th - so I decided to make drink pinwheels!
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Honey Basil Pineapple Banana Smoothie
Summer = smoothie season! And since summer started on Sunday... 'tis the season! ;) My blender and I are *besties* during summatime -- and there is nothing more refreshing than a cold fruit smoothie to cool you down on a hot and sunny day! Plus, they're a great way to get vitamins and nutrients into your body (giving you a healthy boost of energy) - so you can't go wrong!
Yesterday, I was in the experimentin' mood and decided to add a few things that I don't normally throw in to my Monday morning breakfast smoothie. The first of these things was basil. We recently bought a basil plant, so I have been adding it into all sorts of things - and let me tell ya - fresh herbs are a TOTAL game changer. They add this irresistible layer of freshness to just about anything - and did not disappoint in this smoothie combo! The second thing I added was honey - because I knew honey / pineapple and honey / banana were great pairs. I suspected that when the 3 combined together, it would be nothing short of mAgiCaL. I also added a little bit of vanilla extract because, well, who doesn't love vanilla extract?! The end result was diviiiiiiiiine to say the least!
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