Newport, Rhode Island & Big Moves

Here are some photos from my trip to Newport, Rhode Island a couple of weekends ago. Scott and I had a great time exploring the historic town and beaches in the surrounding area.  I am in love with all the colonial architecture and the colors of the houses.



 





One of the big highlights of the weekend for both of us was having a drink at White Horse Taven, the oldest tavern in America. It is just a little out of the way of the main town area, and that may have to do with it not being filled with tourists. The tavern has been open since 1673! It's amazing to see the centuries old flags and handwritten documents they have inside.



The other highlight of the weekend was the realization that we're actually going to live in this amazing place together!

Yep. I'm excited/bittersweet/nostalgic/feeling all of the feelings about announcing that I'm officially moving to Newport at the end of September and leaving NYC, my home for the last 6 years. I created a NYC Bucket List of a bunch of things I want to do before the big move and have been trying to tick off as many of these as possible. If one of these "challenges" sounds fun to you, join me! I would love to see you before I leave.

Local Attraction: Finding Love In Your Radius

My favorite thing on the internet right now is Local Attraction, a web series based on Tinder.

Connor Hines (who is also the show's writer) is hysterical portraying the various male archetypes of NYC. Supposedly he's aiming for 8 episodes in total and has a Kickstarter fund that is killing it.

Be sure to check out Skye & Whitney and Maeve & Trent.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSSQJ3dPPCQ&list=UUZB9ihI9dJNRg3OOVrhvVxg&index=4[/embed]

Shoe Crush.

If you follow me on Pinterest, it's probably apparent that I just discovered Swedish Hasbeens and have a huge crush on this brand.

 

Experiments in Spiralizing

After a few months of following food blogger Ali Maffucci's blog Inspiralized and Instagram account (@inspiralized) and admiring the photos of beautiful, vegetable-based dishes she makes, I guess you could say I was "inspiralized"  to buy a Paderno Spiralizer and try it out for myself.

Basically, a Spiralizer is a tool that turns vegetables into "noodles" very quickly and easily. Zucchini noodles aka "zoodles" seem to be the most popular vegetable to spiralize, but you can also make noodles out of beets, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots and other veggies.

Here's a quick demo of how it works:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3aKSoRxUwM

 

I tried out my Spiralizer for the first time last weekend on some zucchini & squash I got at the Columbus Avenue Greenmarket, a local farmer's market in my neighborhood.

[caption id="attachment_358" align="aligncenter" width="620"] Zucchini & Squash from Columbus Ave Greenmarket[/caption]

The tool comes with 3 different blades (A, B & C).   Blade A makes thick flat spirals that remind me of flower petals a little bit. Blade B (my favorite blade) makes well formed, rounded, long spiraling noodles. Blade C makes short, thin noodles that are more like shreds.




[caption id="attachment_356" align="aligncenter" width="300"] "Zoodles" from A, B and C.[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_357" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Blade A cut[/caption]

I took all the noodles I created and added them to this meat sauce recipe from Nerd Fitness, but substituted ground turkey for the ground beef.  I also used my red onions instead of a regular onion. (Sorry, I don't have a pic of the finished dish.)

I love this tool so far and plan on experimenting with it a lot more. Stay tuned for some detailed recipes!

If you're interested in trying a Spiralizer out too, you can get one on Amazon for <$40.

 

Blackfish and Dollar Voting

Very happy to see the power of investigative journalism & dollar voting coming together in the case of SeaWorld. According to a second quarter earnings report released this week, SeaWorld shares have dropped 30% since 2013, a plummet directly attributed to the award-winning documentary Blackfish released last year by CNN Films.  I watched this film earlier this year and admit I was moved to tears.



From HuffPo:

"Revenue declined 1.5 percent to $405.2 million. Analysts expected $447.7 million.

SeaWorld shares dropped $8.41, or 30 percent, to $19.74 in midday trading. The stock is down 31 percent this year."

If you haven't seen the film, get in on Netflix and grab a big box of tissues.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_oLOePrjKo