Sunday thoughts

We have nothing planned today and it feels wonderful. As I write this, I've already fed and walked the pup before the forecasted rain, made myself some coffee, and caught up on a couple of episodes of The Daily Show.

For a little bit of life lately, I'll start with this recipe for super swirly cinnamon bread that I made yesterday. I came across it on Instagram on Friday and knew I had to make it for Kev. He loves cinnamon bread and I thought, wouldn't this be a great surprise? However with my poor surprise-secret-keeping skills, I'd not only shared the picture with him but also told him of all of my plans and asked whether we had any nutmeg at home by the time I left work. 

@food52 on instagram

Though the swirl was a bit off-center, my loaf came out looking just like this! 

It has started to rain outside now and I can hear the light rain bouncing off of our AC unit. As soon as I picked my head up to face the window, I started to hear the noises of city-apartment living: cars going by outside, the jingle of dog leashes, our porter taking the recycling out of the refuse closet on our floor. 

At the belated Chinese New Year dinner with Kev's family last night, I found out that two of our cousin-couples had dreams of eventually living upstate. This is something that Kev and I have talked about as well. We haven't seriously looked into it, but that idea has rooted in the backs of our minds and I think we both day dream about it every so often. It makes me excited for spring to arrive so that we can pack into the car for day trips up the Hudson Valley for hiking and fairs again. 

Art by Libby VanderPloeg

In the meantime, I'll pass the rest of this winter with those February to-dos, which are coming along swimmingly. Below is the apple dutch baby I made last weekend. 

I'll also be able to put a dent in a book I purchased in January about the hunt for the La Ciudad Blanca (The White City) in Honduras while I sit in the jury room on Tuesday for jury duty. I'd read two riveting articles about it over the years in the New Yorker and snapped up a first edition of the book published by the articles' author. 

....

That light rain has turned to light snow now. It's almost 11am and I'm off to hang with Hux at the window for a bit and then we'll both jump into bed and gently nudge Kev into the day!