The Fourth.

July 4th.

Walking.

It begins walking home from the office when it's dark and all you can think about is getting settled into your space again. Walking past the girls in heels and minidresses gussied up and ready for the night while you are lost in your own world of tired exhaustion. Walking past the old woman who is out with her dog once more before the end of the day. Walking and listening to the same song that plays over and over that matches your paces and is turned up so that you can't hear any nighttime city noises. Walking when the light says not to because you have timed it perfectly and know you can just make it without getting hit by the constant stream of cabs. Walking to the beers you'll have on your roof. Walking and knowing that you have one block until you can see your building. Walking in zigzags to make it home quicker avoiding slow tourists taking their time. Walking past the paparazzi that always seem to stand on the corner steps away from where you buy groceries. Walking the same way day after day it becomes second nature and you don't know how you get from point a to point b. Walking to your door and smoothly putting the key in the door. Walking up the stairs and collapsing through your door onto the bed. Walking to the end of your day.

Plain & Simple.

Sometimes the most plain and simple food hits the spot after two long days in the park. Even though it only takes a few minutes, cooking at home is so much more satisfying once in a while than going out.

Looking Up.

Sometimes in cities it's easy to forget that there remains a world above eye level, or pavement level; sometimes you just have to look up.

Life.

Canal House Cooking.

Recently Canal House Cooking put out their first book and it does not disappoint. I might be kind of biased because i've had a chance to hang out with the lovely ladies of Canal House Cooking a time or two, and they might have sat me in front of their fireplace and gave me cookies and tea, but that doesn't mean i can't be blown away by their beautiful work. The book is chock full of amazing summer recipes and stunning photography and illustrations. I want to cook every single thing in this book. Buy it here!

Future Needs.

Someday one of these will be mine. It will sit next to my wooden box full of hand written recipes. It will mix gingerbread, and chocolate chip cookies, and pound cake. It will make everything i need to make bellies of loved ones full. 

&

Sometimes the things that you lust after just finally need to become a reality. This is especially true when they are things that you hope will be around in your life for a very, very long time. Getting this today made me a happier person. Long live the ampersand. 

Dads.

If there's one thing today that is absolutely swell... it's my dad. Happy father's day.

Nature Always Wins.

This past week my house in pennsylvania flooded and it caught me off guard more than i thought it would. Houses flood all of the time... people deal with this constantly, right? But when it's your things that are affected you go into immediate panic mode and when you're far away it feels even worse. I didn't know what was ruined, what was salvageable. Dozens of my books that i'd collected over the years at school would have their pages pressed together, my grandfather's photos soggily stuck to their pages, rugs full of water underfoot. It's strange to see decades spread out in empty spaces of your house all mingling together. Textbooks on dada next to class photos of my grandfather from high school, Fitzgerald novels next to polaroids from the 80s of family trips to Disney World. History comes together, nature always wins.

Snippets.