Wrapping Up Summer 2010

Although it is 90 degrees at 7:15pm, September is upon us.  I've had a wonderful summer, you won't find any complaints here--ok maybe I'll complain that it was really too hot and that I didn't get enough beach days, but other than that it was spectacular.  From short trips to Maine and Connecticut, to camping by the beach on Long Island, to spending time in my garden and my kitchen, it sure will be difficult to transition from Summer to Fall.

It's not only the seasons that are transitioning, I'm personally at a transition point, with Heather my very dear friend leaving our apartment to move back to San Fransisco and then on to the Peace Corps, Danielle and I are welcoming a new roommate and saying goodbye to another that we've felt grateful to build a home with.  Needless to say, I've felt particularly nostalgic and mushy lately.  At times like these, it's so nice to look back with gratitude and love for what you have in your life.

I'm certainly grateful for these lovely ladies, this picture comes from a benefit for POTS the organization Heather worked at for many years.

On that note, I'd like to do a quick round up of some things I've made and done this summer, things I'm so grateful to be able to do and experience.  There's no time for full recipes as I'm under the gun to get packing for a trip I'm taking (more on that later) so I'll just share some photos with you:



About a month ago, we hosted community dinner in our apartment and it was hot hot hot!  It was too hot to turn on the oven, so I made a lovely icebox cake--so easy and so delicious!!

For another community dinner, I made a yummy cake with molasses and blueberries!  So good if you love molasses and since it requires frozen blueberries, you can use any that you picked during the summer and froze for later, you'll love this--I might post the recipe later because it is just so good.

Also!  Book club turned one!!  That was back in June and we had a celebratory feast and a cake with all the fabulous ladies present.  Danielle and I hosted it here at our apartment and everyone had a great time.

Heather and I explored the entrances to old Native American caves in Inwood Hill Park on one of my vacation days from work, it was so fun!  There are still wild places on the island of Manhattan.

My garden is.....well it's still growing!!  I wish I could get over there more often, but it doesn't seem to mind too much.  Cucumbers are dead and gone but my tomatoes are finally starting to come in and our basil is still bushy!

Last night, neighbors hosted a birthday party for Ena, the woman who runs our community garden.  She turned 80, but you could have fooled me!  She doesn't look a day over 65 and I think it's all that time she spends busy in her garden.  I made chocolate zucchini cake!  It was yummy and moist, wouldn't even know that a vegetable was in it unless you made the cake yourself--a whole 3 cups of shredded zucchini....I wonder if it cancels out the eggs and sugar in there??

Well that's a pretty good recap of summer activities!  I'm on to my next adventure so I won't be writing again until the end of the month.  I'll be heading to Romania for about 10 days with Heather to revisit some places we volunteered during our time at Fordham.  After that we'll be meeting up with my friend Donna in Amsterdam.  Donna lives in Germany so she'll spend time with us in Amsterdam and then the 3 of us will travel together to spend a little time in Augsburg where she lives. 

Have a wonderful September and ease on into the transition to Fall.  The good news is that with any luck, we'll have an equally lovely summer season next year.