Grandma's Apple Cake.

This weekend i borrowed my Grandmother's recipe book. For some reason i'd been craving an apple cake she used to make all the time when i was little. After a trip to the orchard to pick up a bushel of apples to make apple butter, i thought i'd use some leftovers to make this cake. It was also a great excuse to write down the recipes of hers i love the most.

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Grandma's Apple Cake

3 c flour

¼ c orange juice

1 T baking powder

2 c sugar

4 eggs

2 ½ t vanilla

1 t salt

4 apples peeled and sliced

¾ c sugar mixed with 1 t cinnamon

Place all ingredients in large bowl except apples and cinnamon sugar. Mix until just combined. Pour half of the batter into greased tube or bundt pan, add ½ the apples and cinnamon sugar, repeat. Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until tester comes out clean. 

Slowing Down.

(evening drinks staples, mom's birthday, a visit to the apple orchard, my favorite alley, bffs)

Since i've been back home, there's been a lull here. A lull because things have finally slowed down after months and months of going nonstop. Going to France, and Greece, having best friends visit, and packing up life in London to move back across the pond. It was all amazing, but it left me exhausted beyond belief. I don't think it hit me until a few days ago when i realized no matter what i was doing during the day i was still tired. Slowing down has been nice, but hard. I've forgotten how to not be running around all day long, and i think it's important to remember. What a crazy time the last few months have been.

To Be Home.

Being home means being greeted by this lovely lady. My how i've missed my dog. 

Just Because.

(Source)

Kris Atomic's blog is great. Especially when she posts pictures of your friends in skeleton suits.

The Last Week.

(sorry about the instagram photos)

Things have been silent around here, but i promise there is an excuse. The past few weeks, months even, have been a complete whirlwind all culminating in me moving back to the states from england. This meant lots of meeting for drinks, museum visits, and walking around the city as much as possible. It also meant trying to cram in eating at all of my favorite restaurants and ones i've meant to go to the whole time i've been living there. There were steaks and burgers with bone marrow tucked inside, pulled pork and beef brisket from Pitt Cue Trailer, Dim Sum at Yauatcha, and quiet breakfasts at St. John Bread and Wine as well as ones at home. I will miss so many things about London, most of all the people, but some of these restaurants will also be sorely missed. 

A Grecian Adventure.

The Things You Do.

Makeshift.

A French Summer Jaunt.

Last week, along with 27 others, i found myself amongst hollyhocks and sandy beaches and houses where all of the shudders are varying shades of sea foam green. Ile de Ré is full of bicycles and donkeys who wear striped trousers and picturesque marinas, and when visited with so many friends it begins to feel a bit unreal. There was the 4th of July barbecue complete with burgers and homemade brioche buns and cobbler and onion rings, days spent on the beach and nights spent drinking rosé and playing foosball. And then to top it all off i went to Paris afterwards and re-fell in love with the city and again found myself feeling like my surroundings looked a bit surreal. Maybe it's just France.