punkin party

when the clock struck fall and the world exploded with pumpkin, my kitchen became a center for it all. pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin risotto, pumpkin baked oatmeal, opening night* pumpkin bread. pumpkin pumpkin. pumpkiny pumpkin braised with pumpkin, topped with pumpkin tartare, finished with extra virgin pumpkin. 

in my old age i've become staunchly seasonal, to the point where i nearly had a meltdown about realizing that it's now slightly too late to bake a pflaumenkuchen, to the point where i visited upwards of four grocery stores prematurely in search for pumpkin for pumpkin challah on rosh hashanah. {severe and sincere props to my new favorite, the 5th avenue key food... i know.} i love that pumpkin season is here. love it times a trillion. it just makes me want to dance in leg warmers to sufjan stevens near a fireplace all night long.

-yeh!!! 

*if you follow me on the twitters, you know that i simply won't shut up about dog days and how it premiered this weekend. it was so amazing to be able to just play through the thing without pausing to adjust lights or intonation or other tech things. so many times i wanted to just burst into tears about some of them arias. but, boy oh boy, was i nervous! still, the idea of playing in a performance that isn't a school performance and that will potentially be reviewed by lotsa people gives me the nervous i-can-only-eat-matzoh-ball-soup tummy. i love it though and i hope that maybe you will see it?

morning magic

my mornings are typically spent at home: writing articles, studying music, editing photos, testing recipes. it's my little bit of playtime before i head to an office, and lately this has included more oatmeal than even a picky five-year-old could fathom.

but today i called in sick for my own morning. we'll call it an executive decision. i got out my favorite dishes {the egg cups from zaanse schaanse, the cheese board from amsterdam, the plate from *hehe* staten island}, stirred a bit of halva spread into my yogurt, and took the extra bit of time to sprinkle just the right amount of salt and pepper onto my medium boiled egg.

i'd say it was magic. the kind you can't plan. the kind that seems to be happening more and more these days. maybe it's the brooklyn air?

after a second {or third} espresso, i put on my sweater* to be on my way to manhattan, but not before stopping at a little bakery for half of a miche and a chocolate chip shortbread.

-yeh!

*someone gimme a barf bag, i could puke in excitement over this newly arrived sweater weather.

p.s. love this giant 

nicholas ford hagen & robert leonardo knopper

until further notice: "nick & nop" 

for the past four days one song has played on repeat in my head and for the first time since my lovefest with "the trapeze swinger," i don't mind. i sing it in the shower and while i'm riding my bike down the river... and on the subway and while i'm fixing dinner.

it is nicholas ford hagen's "the one is you." 

it wouldn't be a far stretch to say that i'd get married just so this could accompany my first dance. {alas, marrying apartments is illegal still.}

***

and if that's not enough, rob recently joined nick as his cajón accompanist. they made their debut last weekend at a bike shop that is also a brewery and i'd say it marked a yummy start. so yummy that i couldn't help having them over for some goat cheese and a rooftop photo shoot. 

***

so go have a listen because they're wonderful and one day they will be famouser.

"the one is you" by nicholas ford hagen 

 

-yeh! 

juilliard in june

i spent the past week in iowa with an amazing handful of my former schoolmates, rehearsing and performing the annual juilliard in june program {organized by michael}. it was a fantastic and beautiful week of new pieces, romping around rural parts, and sitting in plush chairs and drinking whiskey as the others serenaded me with schubert. 

most nights ended in lying on the grass, staring up at the stars.

lovely is an understatement. it was an entire week of holy-moly-i-do-this-for-a-living? topped with mayonnaise and tacos {but more on this later}.

-yeh!