Making up lost time

JR and I are clearly making up for all grill time we lost while living in NY. This is a pretty standard meal for us these day (as in pretty much every night!) We grill up some meat (chicken, steak, burgers, sausages etc) and some vegetables (corn, peppers, onions, asparagus etc) and then I make up a salad. It's amazing, and I love it. I will never live without a grill again.

Best New Job EVER!

What could be better than a new job where the kitchen is stocked better than your kitchen at home? I could not believe my eyes the first day at my new job. The kitchen literally has EVERYTHING I COULD EVER WANT TO EAT!

You might think "well sure, if you want to eat junk food all day," but that is totally not the case. It has so many options, I find something new every day. It's also not just the kitchen in our office, every floor of the WHOLE building has kitchens that are free for all.


So far in my first week, I have found,

- Fat Free Fig Newtons, 100 calorie packs of Oreos and Chip Ahoy
- Fresh fruit - bananas, peaches, plums, apples, pears
- baby carrots
- 4 types of cereal in our kitchen and at least 10 in the kitchen upstairs
- 3 kinds of single serving cheese (string cheese, the kind in wax, and Cracker Barrel)
- 4 kinds of yogurt including Greek Yogurt, fat free yogurt, and the kind that comes with granola on the top
- Klondike Bars, ice cream Milky Ways, frozen fruit bars
- Easy Mac & Cheese
- 5 kinds of granola bars
- M&Ms and Skittles
- Stacey's Pita Chips, baked Lays, Pretzels, Cheetos, Pirates Booty, Pringles, Ritz with Cheese AND Peanut Butter
- Milano Cookies
- 3 kinds of fruit snacks
- Bagels and cream cheese
- Any kind of soda you want, and 3 kinds of flavored seltzer
- Juice boxes, including Paul Newman's Lemonade

And that is having only explored our kitchen thoroughly. As I continue to explore others and find more I will update the list.

Farmers Markets

There is little that makes me happier, on a weekend morning in the summer, than getting up early and heading to the Farmer's Market. I love the energy and vibe at a good market. It's so healthy and green.

I have been lucky to live near a couple great Farmer's Markets since I lived in Germany in college. The markets in Germany should be famous. In Freiburg, where I studied, the large market in the cathedral plaza went on every day and in each neighborhood there were markets that went on during the weekends.


It's possible my love of a good market started when I was in Freiburg. I could walk around that market for hours enjoying the piles of fresh fruit and vegetables, amazing baked breads, cheese and sausages, pottery, jewelery, dried fruit and nuts. You name it, they had it.


When we moved out to Brooklyn, JR's sister had told us about the market at Grand Army Plaza. I loved living a block away from it and early on Saturday's I would slip out and buy as much food as I could carry (and sometimes more.) This time of year was the best. I could get fresh fish that had been caught less than 24 hours before, ripe cherries, piles of snap peas, and peaches and strawberries that were out of this world.


Yesterday, I headed up to the Union Square Farmer's Market with JB and AB. It was my first time checking it out, and I came away thrilled. It is much smaller than both the Frieburg and the Grand Army Plaza markets, but the quality and variety of foods is amazing and the vibe was great.


There were 3 significant fruit and vegetable stands, a honey and tea stand, a bread stand and a chocolate stand. I was able to get some beautiful beets that I roasted for a salad last night, juicy, delicious cherries, some wonderful American cucumbers, shelling peas and these amazing green garlic spirals (I can't remember what they were called for the life of me!) It was great to be there and I ma thrilled to continue to be lucky enough to be near a beautiful Farmer's Market.