Working hard or hardly working?

The semester is officially over, and it has been a crazy one. Even though my schoolwork and my homelife have been pretty intense, I've really been trying to get the most out of the time I spend living in the city. Below is a haphazard list of some of my favorite adventures from the past five months-I wonder what next semester will bring!

-Moulin Rouge Singalong with Kelly and Erik
-Pool at Oceans 8 Billiards
-Tea & Sympathy and the Skyline with Aunt Mary
-Dinners with Brad
-Brooklyn Boulders climbing with Nathan, Sarah, and Maribeth
-Start of the year hotel dance party
-Bar with Bocce-Ball
-The Promenade
-Charades with Sam, Kelly, Maribeth, Sarah, Josh and Nathan
-Beer Garden
-Yankee Game
-Polish Food with mom and dad
-Gallery Tours
-10J Party
-Bootie Party at Le Poisson Rouge
-CivPro class taught by a lawyer who won a case in the Supreme Court (Goodyear!)
-Brunch with Busi- seeing Zack and/or Cody
-Alumni art gallery mixer
-Surprise visit from Carina (with very expensive and odd vegan food)
-Lunch with Aunt Ceil, Luke, Farley and Gentree at The Farm
-Weekend in MA, (Aunt B's Ceremony, meeting Martha Coakley, making pumpkin bread pudding)
-Creepy Thai Restaurant with Mikaela, Olivia and Caitlin
-Mountain Stage Music Contest with Sarah, Nate, and Mike to see Hannah and Maggie
-LALSA beer and pretzels
-Family Dinners in 10J
-Learning how to make Espresso and cooking a lot
-Home- seeing live blues music at The Viking
-Visiting The Rabbit Hole piano bar with Mikaela and Olivia
-Exploring the Met
-Promenade Puppy Halloween parade
-Legal Aid Society mixer at Debevoise and Plimpton
-Smith event at the Yale Club to welcome President McCartney
-Lunch with Emily at 30 Rock overlooking the tree at Rockefeller Center
-Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir Performance
-Promenade Christmas Tree Lighting
-Messiah at Lincoln Center with Rachel

My Favorite Scenes from When Harry Met Sally

When Harry Met Sally is one of my all time favorite movies. I've seen it dozens of times, and in each viewing new things jump out at me that make me love the movie more. It's honest and raw depiction of love and relationships is embodied by witty banter, subtle gestures, and what is viewed as a cinematic love letter to New York City itself. Below are some of my favorite scenes. 

How beautiful is the Met in this scene? This iconic spot overlooking Central Park is one of my favorite places, and I'm sure that watching this scene explains why. With a view like that, you just gotta feel a little love for the City. Also, Pecaaahhhhn Pieeeeee. 

I need to add this video because I always reference it and noone (other than my Smithies) ever knows what I am talking about. Now you, my reader, know why I keep yelling "Baby Fish Mouth!"

This is real to the letter. (Even though the audio doesn't line up.)

So is this.

And finally, every single one of these. What more could love be? What more could you want?

So, yeah. Love. NYC. When Harry Met Sally. That about sums it up.

Quiche!

 Hello blog!! Recently I have found myself in a pretty stressed out state of mind so I've deliberately tried to make time for calming things. In between finals, family and getting ready for the holidays, this has been a little easier said than done. Today, however, on the day I completed my final class of my first semester at law school, I will take some time to write a post to you.

This past Sunday I spent the morning making a quiche. I used my Aunt Jo's recipe, as handed over to my mom, with some added flair. It ended up being a feta and swiss spinach quiche with caramelized onion. It was very, very delicious, if I do say so myself... Which I do.

(As you can tell from my cooking posts, I am not a five star chef- ordering pizza as a back up is always a real possibility for me. If the recipes I post are so easy that even I can make them, have faith that you can too- even if you're a proud member of the can't cook club!)

Ingredients

Premade Pie Crust
Breadcrumbs

2 Tbsp Flour
4 Eggs
3/4 Cup Half & Half or Heavy Cream
3/4 Cup Milk
Salt
Cayenne Pepper
Nutmeg

1 Package Frozen Chopped Spinach

1 Onion
Balsamic Vinegar
Sugar
Butter

So, the first step is making the custard. All you do is mix the flour, half & half, milk, salt, cayenne pepper, nutmeg and eggs together.  Unfortunately (or fortunately?) for us all, this recipe has been passed down to us by a bunch of Italian women, so we will never know for sure what the exact measurements of salt, cayenne pepper or nutmeg are. I just eyeball it.

Next up is the Caramelized Onion. I had similarly vague instruction on this one from my brother William, who spent some time at culinary school before going back to get his PhD in Chemistry. He directed me to cut up an onion and saute it with balsamic vinegar and sugar. I did this with butter, and guessed about the amount of balsamic vinegar and sugar. I did a tablespoon of sugar, and then added some more because I thought it needed it... turns out it didn't. It still tasted fine, but that was a little too sweet for my taste. I ended up draining a little of the balsamic vinegar too. In the end, these problems weren't fatal.

Defrost the spinach and drain the water out of it. You have to squeeze it out over the sink until it has no extra liquid. Then layer it into the pie crust (I get pre-made, but I will do fresh one day when I have time), and put the onions on top.

Once the veggies are down, put on your cheese of choice. I did swiss and feta, and I am telling you- the feta makes it. (Learned that trick from my momma!) 

Once you have the cheese and veggies in, pour the custard on top. I keep the pie on a cookie sheet so its easy to move around. Then you sprinkle bread crumbs onto the top. 

Here are pictures of the recipe. It looks like it was written in invisible ink! Will and I had to spend about an hour trying to figure out what the hell it said. Notice the stain marks-- my Aunt Jo (or was it Aunt Lois?) was over one summer, and I was looking for a recipe in a cookbook. She came over and opened right up to the page. When I ask her how she found it so easily, she told me just to open up to the pages with the most stains on it because you know those are the recipes most used. She was right- all of our most used recipes are like that. 

Let the quiche bake for about 35-45 minutes at 350 Degrees. Be careful putting it in the oven or the egg mixture may spill out!! (Not that I'm speaking from experience or anything...)

                                              

You can tell the quiche is done when its toasted brown nicely around the edge, like in the picture below.

For the record, Snickers doesn't care for quiche.

Once the quiche was made I packed it up and took it to Brad and Jill's for breakfast and tea!

It was delicious.

                                             

Similarly to Snickers, Brad and Jill's sassy little girl cat Waffles does not like quiche either. What do cats know anyway?

So here's some of what has been up

So, blog, I suppose it has been a long time since I've posted. I will give you a little run down on all my things, and we can see where this post goes. 

First thing I will say is over the past few weeks Smith had Mountain Day. This is a school holiday in which the president of the school wakes up and proclaims that the world is too beautiful to be in class all day and we should go apple picking instead. I am always VERY nostalgic for this holiday because of course, like all Smith things, it holds the dearest place in my heart. Over all it just makes me miss all of the things.

  I was actually afraid of Mountain Day happening this year because since my break with K Smith things have been hitting me pretty hard. Somehow the way it went down for me was so…fitting? It was just right. I wake up and live life as normal- no clue its Mountain Day because I didn’t get the e-mail yet and didn’t have a Facebook. I go to class, but it gets out early. When I leave the school I realize there is a farmers market, and since I had a little extra time I went to it and got APPLE CIDER and a HONEYCRISP APPLE. Just on my own accord. I carry on with my business, and then my friend ME texts me “Happy Mountain Day!” What are the chances? On the one day I go get apple goods at a farmers market. I had never done that before, it was just such a strange coincidence. AND when a current Smithie called me later that night in effort to get me to donate to the school, I was out at an LGBT networking event and kinda drunk, so the phone call was fun too. I think she thought I was crazy, but it was fun.  But back on point, the apple coincidence was a big deal to me- I think you may need to be a Smithie to understand….

Another good thing is I had some lovely visits—My friend E spent the night, we watched Clueless and just gabbed. Some things are always the same (from 4^th grade to 17^th).

Also, I got a call out of the blue from my friend C who lives far away! Met her at a super expensive vegan restaurant. That was quite the experience. This is the first time I saw C in over a year, and seeing her made me feel a little more normal. Is my life starting to fall back into place? Maybe? Please?

This is the food I got—it was interesting. That white stuff- not quite sure what it is- wasn’t that good, but the rest of the stuff was.

The tea was an interesting experience. I asked for milk and sugar, but instead I got Cashew Milk and Agave…..O_O I have to say, it wasn’t half bad!!

I also went to a farmers market with my Aunt Ceil, godson Luke, his sister Gentree and his dad Farley. We ate at a restaurant called The Farm--- it was so nice and chill. I loved the atmosphere and the food was fantastic. I would DEFINITELY recommend it. I got the adult grilled cheese.

I met with some friends and went to a couple of bars… This video pretty much says it all….

 Here is the special goose I told you about in my previous goose post. My mom has since named him Francis after St. Francis, who I think is the saint for animals.

This is the new toy my dad has to try and get rid of Francis. It’s a paintball gun…. My dad is insane.

                                   

Finally, here is my cat. Isn’t he cute?!