I Seymour puppy!

Congrats to our friends Jackie and Tony on the latest addition to their family. We had a blast playing with little Seymour today. French bulldog puppies, their a cute thing...

woods sunrise, beautiful Friday

"liquid bread"

One thing about working outside every day of the year, in winter you learn to really appreciate hot showers and serious stout.

Captain Rude's Blackwater Stout is a product of the Swashbuckler Brewing Company in Manheim, PA. For Christmas my father-in-law hooked us up with a case of their different beers, and all of them have been delicious. Definitely worth keeping your eye out for it wherever your favorite microbrews are sold.

the beasts

Above: Puck in a box

Below: Melvin wants to remind everyone to keep it chill in 2012

orange board, Melvin, New Year's Day sun

My love has to work today so it's just me and the beasts...

the dead florist

Today we were running errands in the nearby neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens. Walking along the busy street we came to a number of stores closed and abandoned. Most were empty or had minimal garbage strewn about their dirty floors. Then I looked in and saw this. Clearly a florist had closed and not bothered to take the perishables, but it looked so much creepier than the reality of what it was. It looked like something from the Twilight Zone, complete with the lit cooler and total absence of life. Needless to say I had to capture the moment.

our first Christmas tree, Astoria, New York

Christmas in PA

Above: Keira was napping when Kate, Jerome and Janaya first arrived. Talk about a perfect gift for the holidays, not quite six months old.
Below: Janaya got her first skateboard - Santa RULES!!!

Driving in PA

Loving being out of the city, in PA for Christmas #1 with the Dunkle clan.
Note: no blizzard in the forecast
Ahhhhhh!

return of the winter sky

Walking down Fifth Avenue after work, kicking off the long holiday weekend, it's a nice walk.

perfecting the Dirty Banana

Since being back from the Caribbean I have been missing the killer bevy of blended cocktails that we enjoyed so I figured there was only one logical thing to do. My loyal Osterizer blender was promptly taken out of retirement and given front and center status on the kitchen counter. One of my first challenges was the Dirty Banana. Thanks to some cross referencing of internet recipes and a few ripe bananas on the shelf I came pretty damn close. This one was good enough to photograph. To answer my friend Greg's question, and for anyone else that might be interested, this is all you need:
1 oz. dark rum
1 oz. Kahlua
2 oz. milk
1 ripe banana
4-5 regular sized ice cubes

Blend for one minute.

Heavenly.