Rockaway Beach, Queens

Pin It now! Yes, we actually left Brooklyn on a weekend and yes, we actually went to Queens.  Have you been to Rockaway Beach?  I've always heard about it, and recently it's been dubbed the Hipster Hamptons, but I imagined it as being grimy like Coney Island (sorry it's true), but it's beautiful.  The beach is clean and gorgeous.  It's not too crowded and you can get there by public transportation.  It reminded me a lot of the nice Jersey Shore.  I hope we can get back there once more before the end of the summer.

Scenes From the Weekend

Pin It now! Dinner at Radagast and pool with friends we haven't seen in a long time.  Visit to Bayside to see my parents' new apartment renovations.  House party with lots of food, drinks and dancing.  Baking spiced pear muffins.
Spiced Pear Muffins - from The Kitchn (Makes 12 muffins)
1/2 cup (4 oz) packed brown sugar
1/4 cup (2oz) white sugar
1 stick (4 oz) unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (5 oz) all-purpose flour
1 cup (5 oz) whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (4 oz) milk
2 to 2 1/2 cups pears, unpeeled and diced small (2 medium-sized pears, about 11 oz whole)
Cinnamon-and-Sugar for sprinkling on top
Optional: 1/4 cup chopped candied ginger, 1/2 cup chopped nuts, 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

1. Heat your oven to 425°F. Spray the top of your muffin tin with non-stick coating and place muffin cups in all the wells.
2. In a mixer on high speed, cream together the sugars and the softened butter until they resemble fluffy frosting, about 1 minute. Mix in the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated, about 1 minute each. Mix in the vanilla extract.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, spices, and salt. With the mixer on low speed, mix 1/3 of the flour mixture into the butter-sugar mixture followed by 1/3 of the milk. Continue alternating between the flour and the milk, mixing just until the flour is incorporated. It's ok if there is still some flour on the sides of the bowl. Do not over-mix
4. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula and stir gently to incorporate the last of the flour. Add the diced pears all at once and fold them into the batter.
5. Divide the batter between the muffin cups. The batter will fill the cups and mound slightly on top. Sprinkle the tops with cinnamon and sugar.
6. Place the muffin tin in the oven and immediately turn down the heat to 400°F. Bake for 20-25 minutes, rotating the pan once in the middle of baking. The muffins are done with the tops looked cracked and toasted, and when a toothpick inserted in the middle of one of the muffins comes out clean.Let the muffins cool enough to handle, then transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling. Leftover muffins can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days or frozen for up to three months.

52 Weeks: Week 8, Queensboro Bridge

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The Queensboro Bridge is one of the NYC bridges that is usually ignored except when you need to get from Manhattan to Queens or vice versa.  It's not sexy.  It's not historic.  It's not made of blue steel.  It's a cantilever bridge built in 1909.  But I love how it looks and it seems to hide wthin the Queens buildings.  (I couldn't decide on which photo to use - you'll get a double dose this week.)

The Weekend

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My trips to TJMaxx have become weekly occurrences.  I end up returning a lot of things though (I hope they don't track people who do multiple returns because I'm the queen of returns).  This week, I found hand towels for the guest bathroom that match the shape and color of the tiles perfectly.  I bought a few pillows and there's a dark hunter green one that I've fallen in love with.  The problem is...there was only one.  My Mom is on the lookout for another one in the NJ store.  Keep your eyes open my darlings!  There was also a pair of robin egg blue lamps which I regret not buying.  They are so adorable and perfect for the living room.  Other finds that I passed on: emerald green accent chair (a little steep at $499), bright spring pillows, dusty grey/blue pillows that would be great for the bedroom and a few more lamps.

Other finds that I passed on: emerald green accent chair (a little steep at $499), bright spring pillows, dusty grey/blue pillows that would be great for the bedroom and a few more lamps. 

After a fabulous night out with Cyndi, which was full of dancing and laughs (mostly at the expense of others), I headed home proudly at 2:30am.  I haven't been out that late for a long time and I have to say that I was really proud for staying out so late.  Plus, it was one of those great nights where we just randomly picked a place to start at and ended up dancing to Justin Bieber ("baby baby baby") while drinking Malibu Baybreezes (ok, I didn't but it sounded better if I did too).  Top night.

On Sunday, I went with my parents to their soon-to-be home in Queens.  They're trying to sell the house in NJ ('tears') and will be heading back to Queens.  The new place needs a complete overhaul and re-do (which I'll be posting about as its own MMINY series of course), but it was great to see the "before".  The previous owner was an older lady who has since moved into a nursing home.  She's been there since the building went co-op many many years ago.  A lot of the furniture is old and dated, but there were a few really wonderful pieces that I hope my parents keep and update.  One was a set of upholstered Victorian-style chairs.  How beautiful would these look if they got a little modern update - maybe a darker stain with a different fabric?  Another piece was a solid wood bureau.  It is beautifully ornate and I think a dark stain would bring it back to the current decade.  More to come...

Today, after a delicious brunch of cream of tomato soup (with basil oil that absolutely made it yummy) and a bresaola and fig jam paninni with M and C at inoteca in Gramercy, we headed to Housing Works on 23rd Street.  There was the cutest set of loveseats.  Perfect for the den...  I also saw a very similar-looking set of antiqued dressers to the ones in the Queens apartment.

By the way, a side note... I've always pronounced bresaeola as "brah-jzol"  with two syllables (it's the Jersey in me).  The waitress looked at me and corrected me.  I asked hubby how he pronounces it...the same as I do (it's the S.I. in him).  I googled it and in "real" Italian, it's pronounced "bres-sai-o-la".  Who knew.

The Amazing Maize Maze

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The French asked hubby and I whether we wanted to head to Queens for the Amazing Maize Maze at the Queens County Farm Museum.  They planned everything for us (it was nice to not plan something for once) so of course we said yes and followed them to Queens.  Seriously, I love this city!  It's amazing how many cool things you find to do in a weekend.  The team organizing the event made it into a fun obstacle course where you had to find nine mailboxes that had pieces of a puzzle that made up a picture of the maze.  At the end we were running around like kids with a flag trying get all our pieces.  The French went back again with flashlights after it got dark out.  Loved it!