J Crew Nailing it (per usual)

Loving these color combos! And those pants are gasp worthy.

Black Bean Brownies

Soo, I've been experimenting a little more in the kitchen lately. What's interesting to me about cooking is the creativity involved in making something both healthy and delicious for yourself and those around you. It's easy to throw a stick of butter and a cup of sugar into some flour and make it taste delicious. But when you get creative with textures and flavors, you can use healthy ingredients to both satisfy and nourish. Thus, these brownies! They use avocado, black beans, dates and pecans, etc and while they're not sturdy enough to bring to work, they didn't last long enough to sprinkle cocoa on the top. Mmm.

September Photo Making

My pal the raven outside of Edgar Allen Poe's place. After this photo he whispered "nevermore" in my ear.

Snowy Fall Weekend

Cumin salted pumpkin seeds

Apple pie inspired by this rye flour galette

Brown rice crust quiche, with filling from here

Improvised lasagne with homemade ricotta from Mark Bittman, and sauce from here (this was actually two weeks ago)

New Cookbook

Just got this in the mail and can't wait to cook all recipes now!!

Skincare

I've been taking a more diy approach to skincare lately, initially inspired by oil cleansing. Oil is a better solvent for the oil and dirt on your skin than water is, so cleansing oils are actually more effective than traditional water based solutions. And since the oils I'm using are high in antioxidants I feel like my skin is getting the vitamins it needs. AND, no chemicals - later parabens. I mixed 2/3 parts extra virgin cold pressed olive oil with a little less than 1/3 castor oil, some sweet almond oil, rosemary and lavender. I'm also planning to make the scrub below for winter showers. Yay for healthy, easy and cheap solutions for caring for your body!

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Article here

Bean Cookies

Yes, that's right. Try them, they're delicious!

Some things I have made and liked lately

Fresh Applesauce

Ginger Applesauce Cake

Spaghetti Squash with Turkey Meatballs

Norwegian Apple Cake

Green Curry Chicken Potpie

Apple, Oatmeal, Gouda Cookies

Karen Walker

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Bill Carman

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Oh Parks & Rec

You slay me

Food Revolution Success!

Gilt Taste did an updated post on the effectiveness of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution 2009 series in Huntington, West Virginia. As skeptical as residents were at the time, it seems the show's principles took hold and things have really changed for the better. Lunch is prepared mostly from scratch everyday with great results, and the program has expanded to surrounding counties. Read the whole article, and start a food revolution! I love it.

Jill Stuart Colors, Spring 2012

I know I am late here, but this has been sitting on my desktop for a couple weeks and I am still enjoying the colors.

Views of NY

From above

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More More

So few hours in the day to see through all of the things I want to explore, like my little blog here. However, I try to keep this in mind:

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