Back In The City...

Darien U-Haul's us back after 12 hours at Ikea

...our new apartment is nearly put together! It's quite different living with three instead of one apartment-mate, but I'd say different for the better ^_^ Shann took a peek into all four rooms yesterday and pointed out that each room fit perfectly into a season. Steph is Spring with a plushy green & white bed and pastel clothing hung on an adorable coat rack. Darien (who created a remarkable amount of storage space from little room) covers Fall with a cozy warm ambiance in shades of deep red. With cheerful bright solids and photos of our home island, Shann is doubtlessly Summer. That leaves me at Winter, much appropriate with a golden mirror and icy tones. I'm quick to admit the whole 'seasons' thing is cheesy, but I thought it was cute how at all was completely unplanned.

The living room is currently a work in progress. We have a red sofa stretching across the white wall and a homey brown leather rocking chair along the brick walls. There's some confusion as to where to put the coffee table/do we need a coffee table, but I'm sure that will be figured out soon enough. We are still without internet, spending nights at wifi friendly spots nearby - Oko, Veselka, Gramstand, and Vinny Vincenz. We occasionally catch signal from the neighbor's internet, though it goes on and off. Some network names around us are pretty hilarious, but the one that we get the strongest signal from is, "the panty burglars." Darien's reaction to the name, which coupled fear with sarcasm, sent us in peals of laughter while we briefly considered titling out network, "the boxer burglars."

Steph and I, 10am, Ikea water ferry...we didn't look nearly this refreshed on the 10pm ferry back...

All four of us took at loooong trip to the Red Hook Ikea last week. We were on the very first ferry out and, sure enough, on the very last ferry back. Having spent a total of 12 hours at Ikea, we naturally consumed all of breakfast, lunch, and dinner within the confines of this home furnishing warehouse.

Sweedish meatballs for lunch, cinnamon buns for an afternoon snack, hot dogs for dinner, and soft serve for dessert I kid you not! Instead of having the furniture delivered as originally planned, Darien suggested rented a U-Haul and bravely volunteered to drive us back to the city. You must understand, this was a very impressive feat given the fact that we've never ever ever driven a car, much less U-Haul van, outside of the Aloha State. We got a bit lost in the beginning, the BQE was nothing short of nerve-racking...but we made it home in good time AND managed to take all out furniture, assembly line style up to the apartment. Two friendly neighbor boys carried up the sofa, saving us a good deal of sweat - we'll be sure to bake them cookies in return.

I've been getting into the habit of cooking more, which not only allows me to better control what I eat and how much I eat, but also provides a great sense of satisfaction and serenity.

I've dilly dallyed away a fair amount of time at the Greenmarket over the last few weeks, eating up the last of summer berries and drinking by morning hours with chocolate and coffee milk from Ronnybrook Dairy.

For a solid three nights in a row last week, I made Panzanella for dinner using this recipe found on Serious Eats. Aside from a simple burrata, tomato, and pesto concoction, I couldn't imagine a better way to feature gorgeous summer heirlooms but to chop and toss with garlic infused cubes of Balthazar baguettes and a touch of balsamic and Maldon. The few extra grates of Parmesan might have been a tad more than most would recommend, but oh man was it delicious.

Other days I'll throw together a simple pasta composed of flavours I crave - last night it was garlic, spinach and plenty of anchovies. Nothing like snuggling up with a warm bowl of pasta and a good novel.

P.S.
Thanks Shann, for climbing up on the walls (spiderman style!) to store all our suitcases the other night :)