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Amy Chen

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Schooley's Mountain

October 9, 2014

This place has been begging for a blog entry since before I even started blogging. I discovered Schooley’s Mountain Park this summer, about a month ago – when I was researching new local places to explore. My parents / younger brother aren’t as adventuresome as I am … (I’m basically the alien of the family), so this place (among many other nearby places) have never been explored despite living here all my life. Spending 4 years at school in NYC had me conditioned (aka spoiled) to go out and do things every chance I had because the city always had something going on. After graduating and coming back home, I missed that thrill – and was determined to find “hidden gems” of suburban NJ. This is by far the best gem I found this summer, and I think it currently holds the spot of “favorite happy place” in my heart. I often come here now on the weekends with my mom, but I’ve only taken two solo trips to the park: September 2 and yesterday (October 8). Those 2 solo trips were by far the best – and take the cake.

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In wanderlust Tags hiking, Schooley's Mountain, New Jersey, overlook, waterfall

Apple Bread

September 29, 2014

Last Friday I baked apple bread for the first time ever. I’ve made many variations of banana bread before, but I’ve never even heard of apple bread until I started researching quick/easy apple recipes last week. I went apple-picking recently, and I have been wanting to bake something with the apples since bringing them home from the farm. They basically have been sitting in a box in the kitchen begging for me to bake something yummy with them. My first thoughts involved attempting a salted caramel apple pie because I’ve also never baked an apple pie before… but my lazy ass didn’t feel like it. I feel like you really have to be in the mood to commit time into making the perfect pie, and I guess I wasn’t feelin’ it last Friday. I made my first pie ever this summer (a blueberry pie), and it was fun and delicious and everything, but it took me the span of 3 days to make it between getting all the ingredients, making the dough from scratch, letting the dough set in the fridge, prepping the filling, cutting / weaving the lattices, and then FINALLY putting it in the oven. It was a lot of work – work that my lazy ass didn’t feel like doing at the end of last week. I do want to attempt an apple pie some day, but last Friday was not that day. Let’s be real – we all have our lazy days. Maybe I’ll feel more motivated for a special occasion … (Thanksgiving, mayhaps?)

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In food Tags apples, apple picking, baking, fall, autumn, recipe, apple bread, food styling, prop styling
amy_chen_design_alstede_farms_1

An Afternoon at Alstede

September 22, 2014

Yesterday, I spent an afternoon at Alstede Farms (Chester, NJ) – and it was seriously the best day. It was the perfect mix of food and adventure, so it was right up my alley. ;)

The leaves in New Jersey are starting to change colors, and the air is finally getting crisper and cooler. Fall is my favorite season, and it’s finally arrived! I’ve never been to Alstede before, and can’t believe my family has never gone since we only live about 20 minutes away. While I was there, I overheard people talking about how they had come from hours and hours away. After spending the afternoon there, I totally don’t blame them for coming from so far away. It’s absolutely worth it.

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In food, wanderlust Tags fall, apple picking, pick your own, PYO, CSA, organic, farming, eat local, clean eating, New Jersey, Chester, agriculture, jersey fresh, corn, harvest, farm, Alstede Farms, eat clean, butterfly, monarch butterfly, donkey, healthy eating, pumpkin picking, pumpkins, pumpkin patch, fruits, veggies, farmland, sunflower, ice cream, doughnut, peacock, pig
amy_chen_design_guacamole.JPG

MY GO-TO GUACAMOLE RECIPE

September 16, 2014

I wasn’t planning to write my second blog entry so soon, but today is a very special and important day: National Guacamole Day – so I made an exception! 

Guac is one of my favorite things to both make and eat. It’s easy to make and also healthy for you – what more could ya ask for? It’s something I taught myself how to make through experimenting and made often while I was away at college. I've made it on my desk multiple times when other people were in the kitchen LOL - no need for fancy facilities or tools! ;)

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In food Tags food, guacamole, national guacamole day, guac, noms
A fortune I opened the day after starting this blog; I shit you not. 

A fortune I opened the day after starting this blog; I shit you not. 

What are YOU waiting for?

September 15, 2014

Today’s the day. I’ve decided I FINALLY, actually, seriously, really am going to start a blog. It is something I have contemplated for months and months… and I am finally taking the damn plunge. I’ve thought about it so many times before, and I constantly made excuses and put it off. What is the “theme” of my blog going to be? What will I name it? Will anyone really read it? Will anyone care? Am I a good enough writer? The whole world is going to judge the shit out of me. I’m going to wait until I have a full-time steady job. I’m going to wait until I have my own apartment so I have a prettier interior to photograph. I’m going to wait until I have things to blog about. I’m going to wait until people know who I am. No more waiting.

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In real talk Tags Austin Kleon, Show Your Work!, blog, motivation
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AMYVENTURES

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POPULAR POSTS

Blog
The Summer It Turned Yummy
The Summer It Turned Yummy
about 4 months ago
Recess in Cape May
Recess in Cape May
about 7 months ago
Strawberry Picking, Peony Peeping, Park Frolicking
Strawberry Picking, Peony Peeping, Park Frolicking
about 7 months ago
Spring Things
Spring Things
about 9 months ago
Cemetery Season: Poetry Month + The Grief of April
Cemetery Season: Poetry Month + The Grief of April
about 9 months ago
Solo Day Trip to Seaside Heights
Solo Day Trip to Seaside Heights
about 10 months ago
Reframing a "Mundane Chore" as an Adventure: Visiting a New Grocery Store
Reframing a "Mundane Chore" as an Adventure: Visiting a New Grocery Store
about 10 months ago
Creating In Community
Creating In Community
about 10 months ago
A Sunny Sunday for the Soul in NYC
A Sunny Sunday for the Soul in NYC
about 11 months ago
Christmas Cookies 2024
Christmas Cookies 2024
about a year ago

INSTAGRAM

@AMYVENTURES
a very fun ✨girls day✨ / joint birthday celebration with @rebeccaedenphoto and @sarabryn 🥳🎈🎂

@12.matcha - for matcha lattes (duh), matcha / hojicha / mango ice cream, and yuzu madeleine 🍵
@liz.christy.garden - was so surprised to see the snowdro
a look back on 2025 through my junk journal (I finally finished the last few holiday spreads last night 🎀) - I’ve kept written journals my whole life, but this was my first full year of journaling in this format, and it is really fun to flip t
this year’s christmas cookies officially wrapped 🍪🎀✨ each year I feel like I’m always refining the line up 😏 this year included:

- classic gingerbread 
- brown butter salted chocolate chunk
- peppermint chocolate s’more
- chewy
the most beautiful post-christmas snow day 🥹❄️✨

#snowday #jerseycollective #winterwonderland
last weekend’s snow day itinerary in nyc ❄️

1-3 @rockefellercenter tree & fountains were so magical dusted in snow 🥹
4-5 @radiocitymusichall for #rockettes100 💃
6-9 @newyorkpalace - be sure to stop into the lobby and see the gingerbread
sunday is for sweet treats 😏 (especially when nothing else is open yet in the morning 😅) 

☃️ @chachamatcha peppermint matcha lattes (hot & iced)
🥐 @libraebakery halvah chocolate croissant (cut in halvah to share)
🙃 @supermoonbakehouse scalli
a round up of (mostly christmas) cookies from the archive for #nationalcookieday 🤗🍪👩🏻‍🍳 currently scheming this year’s cookies (the list of what I want to make seems to grow every year) 🙃 it’s kinda wild to look back on some of
some bits of november 🍂 enjoyed every last bloom before hard frost 🌸, every drop of sunlight before darkness at 4:30 🥲, frolicking in the first snow(s) ❄️, and welcoming cozy crafting / cooking / couch season 😏✂️🍪 hard to believe it’s alre
october in new jersey 🍂🍁🧡✨

#jerseycollective #october #njinbloom #northjerseyadventures #fall #autumn
couldn’t have asked for a better last day of the fall festival at @riamedefarm 🥹🍂🍎 thanks for having us, and congrats on wrapping a great season! 🫶

next weekend, it’s Christmas at the farm ✨🎄✨ stop by and shop 70+ local artisan vend
ate like we just ran the nyc marathon 🍳🥓🥞🍔🥔 (none of us ran the marathon) 😅 thanks for a top tier sunday brunch @billslunch 😋

#sundaybrunch #chesternj #northjerseyeats #diner #billsluncheonette #njeats #jerseycollective #brunch
go go juice from @chachamatcha and dinner at @sarabryn’s go to casual thai spot @nanathaistreet before seeing @sabrinacarpenter at @thegarden 💋(night 1/5) @oliviadeano was a treat as one of the openers 🫶 still not over the skyline bodysuit 🌃
this lopsided pumpkin was at the bottom of the bin (left behind after all the more perfect pumpkins had been chosen) 🥲 - I decided to take him home and turn him into the 🫠 emoji (feels particularly fitting for 2025 😅)

happy halloween! ✨🎃✨

#pump
a couple spooky sights from a walk with @bigntoasty this past weekend 👻 on our way to the new @inciardimachines at @bloomingdales 🛍️ (played $18 of quarters… and pretty sure ballerina man is even more of a myth than the headless horseman 💀?
a very fun ✨girls day✨ / joint birthday celebration with @rebeccaedenphoto and @sarabryn 🥳🎈🎂

@12.matcha - for matcha lattes (duh), matcha / hojicha / mango ice cream, and yuzu madeleine 🍵
@liz.christy.garden - was so surprised to see the snowdro
love a good rainy day to deep clean the kitchen 🫧😌🌧️🧼✨ … can’t remember the last time the sink was free from dirty dishes or the counter was this spotless 😅 - thanks @mrsmeyerscleanday for the assist (and making the house smell like
a look back on 2025 through my junk journal (I finally finished the last few holiday spreads last night 🎀) - I’ve kept written journals my whole life, but this was my first full year of journaling in this format, and it is really fun to flip t this year’s christmas cookies officially wrapped 🍪🎀✨ each year I feel like I’m always refining the line up 😏 this year included:

- classic gingerbread 
- brown butter salted chocolate chunk
- peppermint chocolate s’more
- chewy the most beautiful post-christmas snow day 🥹❄️✨

#snowday #jerseycollective #winterwonderland
do you want the cookie box tour? 😘🍪🎀

#christmascookies #holidaybaking #cookiebox
last weekend’s snow day itinerary in nyc ❄️

1-3 @rockefellercenter tree & fountains were so magical dusted in snow 🥹
4-5 @radiocitymusichall for #rockettes100 💃
6-9 @newyorkpalace - be sure to stop into the lobby and see the gingerbread
nothing more magical than nyc at christmas time in the snow 🥹🏙️❄️🎄🦌✨☕️ 

#rockettes100 #rockefellerchristmastree #nycchristmas radio city music hall, rockettes, rockefeller center, bryant park, macys, no chewing allowed hot cocoa
Christmas crafting with @takearecess craft mocktail peppermint bark’tini ✂️🎄🥂🎀✨

15% off with code “amyventures”

https://app.devotion.club/brand/recess/amyventures

#origamitutorial #christmascraft #origamiart diy christmas deco
sunday is for sweet treats 😏 (especially when nothing else is open yet in the morning 😅) 

☃️ @chachamatcha peppermint matcha lattes (hot & iced)
🥐 @libraebakery halvah chocolate croissant (cut in halvah to share)
🙃 @supermoonbakehouse scalli
my emotional support savory pastry of choice for all holiday gatherings / functions: curry puffs 🙃 if you’ve been following me for awhile, you’ve probably seen them before 😅 I thought it was long overdue time to show you how to make the
a round up of (mostly christmas) cookies from the archive for #nationalcookieday 🤗🍪👩🏻‍🍳 currently scheming this year’s cookies (the list of what I want to make seems to grow every year) 🙃 it’s kinda wild to look back on some of some bits of november 🍂 enjoyed every last bloom before hard frost 🌸, every drop of sunlight before darkness at 4:30 🥲, frolicking in the first snow(s) ❄️, and welcoming cozy crafting / cooking / couch season 😏✂️🍪 hard to believe it’s alre
put up the tree this week in honor of our first snow flurries ❄️ (and to cope with it getting dark now before 5 pm 🥲)

sipped on @takearecess’s new (very yummy) holiday mocktail ✨ peppermint bark ‘tini ✨ while I decorated 🎄 garnished wi
october in new jersey 🍂🍁🧡✨

#jerseycollective #october #njinbloom #northjerseyadventures #fall #autumn couldn’t have asked for a better last day of the fall festival at @riamedefarm 🥹🍂🍎 thanks for having us, and congrats on wrapping a great season! 🫶

next weekend, it’s Christmas at the farm ✨🎄✨ stop by and shop 70+ local artisan vend ate like we just ran the nyc marathon 🍳🥓🥞🍔🥔 (none of us ran the marathon) 😅 thanks for a top tier sunday brunch @billslunch 😋

#sundaybrunch #chesternj #northjerseyeats #diner #billsluncheonette #njeats #jerseycollective #brunch go go juice from @chachamatcha and dinner at @sarabryn’s go to casual thai spot @nanathaistreet before seeing @sabrinacarpenter at @thegarden 💋(night 1/5) @oliviadeano was a treat as one of the openers 🫶 still not over the skyline bodysuit 🌃 this lopsided pumpkin was at the bottom of the bin (left behind after all the more perfect pumpkins had been chosen) 🥲 - I decided to take him home and turn him into the 🫠 emoji (feels particularly fitting for 2025 😅)

happy halloween! ✨🎃✨

#pump a couple spooky sights from a walk with @bigntoasty this past weekend 👻 on our way to the new @inciardimachines at @bloomingdales 🛍️ (played $18 of quarters… and pretty sure ballerina man is even more of a myth than the headless horseman 💀?

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Amy Chen (unless otherwise stated). If you decide to reference anything from my blog / website, please give proper credit. Thank you! :)


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