happy birthday, stoopie!!!

confession: i used to keep much better track of stoop's age when it was unclear who was older so that i could exclaim something to the effect of "you think i'm older? stoop is a whole 25 years old!" but now that she has shorter hair and a big giant rock on her finger i don't have to worry about much. except for my calculations, which, if they're correct, say that she is 27 today.

sheesh. 

a lot is going to happen this year. she's gonna have to use four syllables when she tells people her age, she's going to--spoiler alert--receive a t-shirt from me with a whole bunch of front stoops all over it, and she's getting married!!!!

holy guacamole. i need a donut. 

happy birthday, stoopie!!!!!

-yeh!!!!

second guesses and summer dresses

a politic-free tuesday list 

when, as if i suddenly just became my mother, pumpkin scones appeared on the brunch table at the too-early hour of sunday before noon.

after a night of sipping away sandy and eating midnight chicken buns with rob over conversations of chemistry and the future,

and meeting the human behind one of my most favorite blogs, meg. 

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the smell that is happening in my kitchen right now, as onions and sauerkraut cook down for pierogies. {that when i google "what is the plural form of..." the first guess that comes up is "moose."}

and the other dumplings that i'm working on for the violet's winter issue!

and the live dumpling-making soundtrack that is going on in my living room right now.

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the i-woke-up-at-4am bagel topped with the generic brand nutella that has crunchy bits of nougat mixed in. 

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crisp morning runs.

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celebrating the life of elliott carter: remembering the absolutely enjoyable hours spent on his improvisation for solo timpani that got my butt into college, sitting in a box seat when i was five to see my dad play his clarinet concerto, recognizing that, yes, elliott carter spent his 103 years right. rest in piece.

-yeh

cheering up the neighborhood

holy buckets, i am lucky.

my entire neighborhood survived sandy with just a few fallen trees and leaves. no power outages, no flooding. everybody is safe. 

stoop's flight has been delayed a million thousand times, which means more culinary creations for me. additionally, her and i are now gilmore girls scholars.

yesterday we ventured out to survey the damage and support local restaurants. we also took our customary two stoops on a stoop photo, only all of the stoops were wet so it was actually a two stoops on the van leeuwen bench photo.

-yeh

two stoops in a hurricane

stoop is obviously trapped here for an indefinite amount of time.

so in true stoop fashion we've thrown a curry party, a pumpkin/speculoos cookie party, a frittata party, and are now planning a dumpling party. everyone was invited but no one can get here, so it's just us, our respective plaid-wearing boyz, and roommate megan who is also wearing plaid. more dumplings for us, this militia household is not going to starve.

prior to the world ending though, we had such a lovely romp around the neighborhood! pretzel dumplings at talde, bougey greek yogurt at culture, bacon + maple syrup + smoked mozzarella + pecan pizza at brooklyn central. and the future mr. stoop got a black eye! what a man.

ok stoop's phyllo lesson is about to start.

-yeh!