Loving Lately

I finished this gem last night, and couldn't wait to share it with you all. Put it on your to-read list if you loved Rules of Civility and The Paris Wife. And if you're looking for a book club pick, I think this one would give you a lot of chat about.

This artist will create an original watercolor painting based on a favorite recipe. Wouldn't that be an incredible gift? I'm imagining my great-grandmother's brownies, my grandmother's vegetable barley soup, and maybe even pumpkin crunch! Her whole shop is gorgeous.

LAST AND MOST IMPORTANT! We are off to North Carolina tonight to celebrate our dear friends' wedding. Isn't she the cutest?! I get to see some other favorites while we're there, too! And have a Cook Out milkshake (I won't be able get on the plane back home unless that happens). So much to love about this weekend of celebrating.

What are you loving lately?

Postcards from New England

Just a few leaves, mums, and pumpkins for your viewing pleasure :)

Happy Thursday! Has this week been a real doozy for anyone else?!

Day Trip: Salem, MA

Saturday was one of those absolutely gorgeous New England fall days (a puffy vest-no jacket kind of day). We decided to drive up to Salem. I was so impressed! It's much larger than I thought it would be, but its easy to walk the whole downtown and waterfront area in an afternoon.

October is really Salem's month to shine. If you'd like to squeeze in a day full of old New England charm with a dash of zany adults wearing witch hats, I highly suggest a visit.

Introducing Fresh Basil Mini Travel Guides!

Fun news, friends! I put together a mini travel guide on the Berkshires. I've been toying around with writing something like this for a long time, and finally got all the pieces together. It's very low-tech (i.e., no fancy-schmancy design work, though it took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out formatting!), but I thought sharing it this way would work well since it's easy to download and print. I kept it short so that I was only sharing my absolute favorite things in that area. 

There are grand plans to make a few more, too. I'm already working on the New England day-trips mini guide. If you have any suggestions for mini travel guides you'd like to see in the future, please share!

Hope you enjoy!

Home Cooking + Butter Poached

(Source)

A few weeks ago, my friend Jess and I were chatting about Laurie Colwin's Home Cooking. I had included it on my autumn reading list, and she told me she was re-reading it before bed. Well, I finally started a few days ago. It's short and I'm trying my best to savor every page. Colwin is so warm and funny and charming - I just adore her. Perfect chilly evening reading.

And speaking of Jess! She and her friend Laura have recently started blogging together at the decadently named Butter Poached.

Jess is the kind of person you always hope you end up sitting next to at dinner, know what I mean? She's warm and quick and insanely cool. And the writing these ladies are doing is just lovely. Laurie Colwin-esque, if you will. It's a delicious new thing to add to your blog reading rotation :)

Coaching Day at The Mount

Yesterday was Coaching Day at The Mount. The coach owners dressed the part, and very nicely answered questions about their horses and carriages. And I got to pet one! He had a long tail down almost to the ground. (High maintenance pony!)

Can you even imagine owning one of these?!

We took a quick little walk around, remembering different spots we had wedding photos taken, like the shot above at the edge of the woods. It was filled with ferns in July; now the floor is covered in leaves. I'm thrilled that we had a summer wedding, of course, but autumn in the Berkshires is truly special.

Note to Self

(20 years old, and very nervous about life :)

I am in a bit of a funk these days.

Cooking doesn't seem that fun, though I am still making good things for dinner most nights. I cleaned out my closet a few weeks ago, and I'm left feeling like I don't like what I got rid of, but I also don't really like what I kept. I am reading (and reading and reading!), but nothing that's making me feel totally "yay!" There are a few little things I'd like to do around the house, but...eh. Part of this stems from some Bigger Life things that feel a bit out of my control.

We are thinking more seriously about buying a house. But will a not-scary house that we can actually afford come on the market? Will we like being home owners? We've seen a few, and they left me with this feeling:

Embrace the lovely life you have right at this moment.

Because right now, even though parts of my life feel a bit out of control, or just plain ho-hum, I want to ditch this funk and remember my clean, bright, pretty home now. The good dinners I can make each night now. The hours that stretch before me to read and think and see friends and do yoga. The ordinary nights at home with Peter and wine and a favorite show we can watch all together in one big gulp.

*   *   * 

I recently read through an old journal that I've kept very infrequently since I was in college. I usually only write there when I'm upset or mad, which happily isn't too often. Since it's mostly used during tough-ish times, it's certainly a skewed snapshot, but I was stuck by early entries that are filled with worries about being lonely and having a lame life. I was never going to meet anyone fantastic, my friends would realize I was boring, I wouldn't get a fun job.

If I could have told myself that I was going to meet Peter a month before I collected my college diploma, that I would keep all of my dear friends very close, that I would have a series of mostly fun jobs, I would have been shocked and relieved at how beautiful my life is. How lucky I am.

Right now, I'm going to try to tell myself that there are many surprises in store for these next years. But if I could get a preview for how they would turn out, I hope to be shocked and relieved at how happy - how lucky - I continued to be.

On the Agenda

On the agenda this weekend:

• Day-tripping to Concord for a walk around Walden Pond
• Buying mini gourds and pumpkins
• Adding an extra blanket to our bed so we can keep the windows open just a smidgen longer
• Eating our faces off at the Big E
• Finishing this fabulous book 
• Making a batch of creamy sorrel soup

Hope you all have a fantastic final weekend in September! XO

Dinner and a Movie

Peter and I used to be dedicated dining room eaters - at the table, candles lit, cloth napkins, music on - the whole thing. We've lately fallen into a routine of eating at the coffee table and watching a show, and while I know I'm probably supposed to feel bad about this shift, it's pretty fun. When I was a kid, I loved when my sister and I got permission to eat dinner in the family room, usually sitting the floor watching something awesome. Being able to do this whenever I want still feels like a great grown-up perk. 

Earlier this week, I made the rice noodle dish above. I cooked the chicken using this recipe. It filled up the kitchen with smoke, but it was truly amazing. The skin was so crispy and, true to Bon Appetit's claim, it was almost bacon-like! So temporarily remove your smoke detector battery and have at it :) The rest of the dish is just peanut sauce, stir fried broccoli, and scallions.  

While we were ohhing and ahhing over chicken thighs, we watched Jiro Dreams of Sushi (streaming on Netflix!). It is a great look at what it means to be truly passionate about something and hold yourself to incredibly high standards. I am often teasing Peter about his deep perfectionist tendencies, and Jiro made this quality look endearing (though I'm not sure his apprentices would agree). Deeply inspiring, and I highly recommend it.

Saying "Hi!" to the Old 'Hood

We were in New Jersey over the weekend for a baby shower and going away party. On Sunday, I was lucky enough to meet up with some of my dear NYC girlfriends (plus the sweetest little three month old baby!) for brunch. Oh, how I miss them!

When I met up with Peter, we couldn't help but make a little detour and take a quick walk around our old neighborhood.

We obviously needed a coffee fix. We have coffee in Boston, of course, but nothing as good as Gorilla :)

The whole thing made me miss New York very much, but not miss the actual living there part at all. I must go back very soon and get a good, strong fix of the city and all the good food and friends it contains.