meatless monday: crispy pan-fried beans with wilted greens

super simple meatless dinner, crispy pan-fried beans with wilted greens. we used kale instead of swiss chard because that is what we had on hand. topped with a poached egg and we were both happy and full.

[picture via thekitchn]

valentine's date staycation

Elliott and I weren't together on Valentine's Day (I was holed up in New Jersey). And to be honest, we've just had a pretty hectic past six weeks. Not complaining, but between the food poisoning, Luke staying with us, the week in New Jersey, and Elliott working long hours on an [extra] project, we needed a little break.

So Saturday, we headed into the city and had dinner at The Standard Grill and stayed the night at the Standard Hotel in the meatpacking district. The hotel (and the whole neighborhood) is pretty trendy, not really our scene, but it was fun to shake things up. The person who checked us in at the hotel said he had seen more locals checking in that night then out-of-towners, so I guess we were in good company. The food was honestly just okay. We've had some delicious meals in New York for birthdays and holidays (and every time we eat at Roebling, obvs) and this was just okay. But we still had a good time, and, honestly you could do a lot worse than eating mediocre eggs benedict in bed. On Sunday we walked up and down the High Line in the sunshine before heading back home.

Cathedral

I read Cathedral for my book club this week. 

I had read What We Talk About When We Talk About Love for fifty-two, and I was happy to read more short stories by Raymond Carver. While reading "A Small, Good Thing," I realized that the same story was in What We Talk About When We Talk About Love (titled "The Bath"), but the new version in Cathedral was longer, and so much more beautiful. It ended with hope and strength, and I was so happy that there was more to the story.

These quotes are from "Fever," a story about a man caring for his two children after his wife had left them.

He shook his head. That seemed the saddest thing of all to him now--that whatever they did from now on, each would do it without the other.

It was then, as he stood at the window, that he felt something come to an end. It had to do with Eileen and the life before this. Had he ever waved at her? He must have, of course, he knew he had, yet he could not remember just now. But he understood it was over, and he felt able to let her go. He was sure their life together had happened in the way he said it had. But it was something that had passed. And that passing--though it had seemed impossible and he'd fought against it--would become a part of him now, too, as surely as anything else he'd left behind. 

oklahoma in pictures

Elliott found an old Canon AE-1, 35mm, at his parent's house when we were home for the holidays. 

He's been taking a few pictures with it, learning how to use it, and he snapped the above photos while we were visiting friends in Oklahoma. I especially love the last photo.

WE DID A DIY

Well, Elliott did. We don't do a lot of DIY, for many reasons not the least of which is that we don't have a lot of extra space (no garage to store stuff, or spray paint, etc.). It also stresses me out to have a project that is half-finished. I can't really start something and not finish it in the same sitting. (I suppose that is more of a personal/personality issue.) Anyway, I really wanted some type of storage for my necklaces. I had a lot of necklaces that I was always forgetting about because they were stashed in a jewelry box. And I wasn't thrilled with any of the options I had seen shopping around. But, I did come across this DIY Necklace Display on For Me For You and Elliott said he could easily make it for me. We didn't salvage a piece of wood in Brooklyn (Elliott ordered a piece from PLYWERK), but I think the finished product still looks pretty good. This is DIY I can get behind!