fancy cafe visit

 

i've been wanting to show janet cafe lysée on 21st street; so today we walked over and had coffee and matcha and shared two pastries . . 

my "signature" lysée latte (made with their toasted brown rice milk) and their classic pastry: korean toasted brown rice mousse with pecans, hazelnuts and caramel. 

on the bottom right is their matcha white chocolate chip cookie with strawberry jam, and on the top left is their summer "floating island" - matcha espresso with yuzu sorbet. the cafe is the creation of chef eunji lee who combines korean ingredients with a french touch. she explains her inspiration on the cafe's website which you can read here.

we walked home through washington square . . when we first left the cafe, the breeze out on the street felt so cool that i waved my arms in the air and exclaimed that i had goose bumps. a person in new york city can go through three months of summer and never feel cold - not once! there have been times in the past when i have packed to visit my sister or for a trip upstate or to the berkshires in massachusetts that i did not even consider bringing a sweat shirt or sweater or a long sleeved shirt only to face a cool day or cold night and have to borrow something or actually buy something. so now i know fall is definitely on the way because i was actually cold for a moment when leaving the cafe. of course we warmed up quickly after turning left onto broadway and walking in the sunshine.

i also stopped at the union square green market and found prune plums! they were quite expensive . . but i bought two pounds worth and hope to make a delicious plum cake.

tuesday night

 
the six year olds had their little recital today for parents and siblings. it went very well. everyone had a fun time. anna was missing and charlotte filled in for her. they performed march of the wooden soldiers, the sugar plum fairy, the candle dance and the russian dance. afterwards, i walked with ellen to the morton williams store and picked up a few christmas treats (carrs' crackers, pfeffernüsse cookies and stollen). ellen was getting her dinner (roasted brussel sprouts which she has with brown rice).

at 7:15 greg and i met korrina at 8th and broadway and had dinner together at uncle ted's.

the beautiful waning gibbous moon . . 

wash waiting for korrina to throw his little rocket toy for him. 

at the beach with friends

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(meanwhile, in nyc:

greg ran into a dancefest in washington square)

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back at the beach:

janine and i stopped at an art gallery opening . . 

(lost on purpose, acrylic and oil on canvas - janine's favorite)

i saw two shooting stars saturday night, the 10th, part of the perseids meteor shower.

listening to the crickets and katydids . . 

sunday:

early monday morning:

saying good-bye to janine . .

monday afternoon . . waiting for the technician to arrive to service the oil burner . . 

reading goldfish on vacation (!) by sally lloyd-jones.

tuesday . . at the bay with jason . . 

wednesday morning . . 9 am . . last day at the shore . . 

helping jason fasten his surfboard to the roof of the his car before we got on the road home.

home again . . after hours in traffic!

happy to see greg and the cats again and to have a delicious plate of spaghetti and meatballs.

errands and a dinner guest

i went in search of fresh zucchini today for the red bean and quinoa chili i was making for dinner this evening. eva's jonathan has been in town for an internship he's doing, and we invited him for a visit. thus, i walked to the union square green market and then through washington square to stop at a gluten free bakery on sullivan street. there were three bands playing in different corners of the park, along with a hula hoop artist and lots of people with dogs and babies. summer will be officially here this coming thursday!

the feline dental chew sticks arrived today and cricket could smell the silvervine herb they were packed in through the packaging.

pluto kept me company while i made the chili . . 

it was very nice catching up with jonathan and hearing about his studies and his plans for the next year.

and chanda arrived home in time to have dessert with us (and cricket?) . . lemon sorbetto from our local ice cream shop (julietta's) and vanilla bean ice cream from the grocery store.