Well, now I know better

I should have figured that since there are about 10x as many people in Brooklyn than there are in Cincinnati, I should have bought 10x as much candy. I got cleaned out in 35 minutes. Ryan isn't home from work yet, so I had to sit on the stoop myself. I lit some cute, halloween candles and met some neighbors, including Patti Smith's drummer's wife. Awesome.

Brownie Cupcake Bites 2 Points Plus

Here we are in our 2nd installment in testing out Weight Watchers Points Plus recipes from the weekly meetings! This was the recipe for this past week, October 23rd - 29th, 2011.

 The original recipe for36 mini cupcakes was changed by me to make 12 larger cupcakes. This affected the points plus value. Yes,

 Yes, this muffin tin is really well-loved. Probably older than me.

 The end resulting cupcake didn't need a proportionately larger amount of cool whip for the frosting, so that brought the points plus down a little.

 They were super dense and fudgey. We used Duncan Hines brand brownie mix.

They were scarey good!

I made the following modifications, which affected the points plus value:
- I used a 19.2 ounce box of brownie mix instead of 21.
- I decreased the amount of icing by about 1/3. Anymore wouldn't have fit on top of each cupcake.
- I baked them about 5 minutes longer than the original directions. Just because of their size.

Mine ended up as 6 points plus with the things I changed in e-tools.

I highly recommend them! I'll keep making them all year

Things that are fun in Brooklyn

 Ryan had grown a pretty hefty beard since moving here, and he shaved it off the other day. He left this funny little side soul patch for a minute so that I could take a picture.

 Huey tries to sleep in the funniest places. Here he is in a napkin holder. His favorite is the little book-sized boxes that amazon sends!

 I had a friend growing up named Kasia, so I took this for her. I think it's pretty popular Polish name. There is also a Kasia brand butter.

 This is how parking lots work! Build everything up, since you can't build out!

Hope you enjoyed these pictures of what I've found fun! Do you take pictures of all the random stuff you see?

Weight Watcher's Cider Braised Chicken Thighs with Sweet Potatoes and Sage 8 PP+

 I'm going to start posting all of the Weight Watchers recipes that I make. I'm in a rut with WW. I still go every week, but I've plateau-ed with my weight loss. It's no mystery though. It's definitely because I've been drinking tons of beer, eating out and being a lazy bum. BUT NO MORE!

 Every week when you attend a weight watchers meeting, you get a little magazine and there is a featured recipe in it. I make almost all of them, so I thought you might enjoy seeing them. I always make adjustments using e-tools, so I'll outline those, too. Here we have Cider Braised Chicken Thighs with Sweet Potatoes for 8 Points Plus. We loved it! You can find the recipe on Weightwatchers.com

I made the following changes to the recipe ( I LOVE that about e-tools!):
- It serves 4 instead of 6. Why? Because I don't like eating the same thing 3 days in a row. 2 is good, and since there are only 2 peeps in this home, 4 is better than 6.
- I used boneless, skinless breasts instead of thighs. Why? Because Key Food in Greenpoint was out of thighs.
- I used vegetable oil instead of canola. Why? because that's what I had.
- I used a large red onion instead of shallots. Why? Key Food didn't have shallots. Of course they didn't.
- I used some dry bouillon instead of stock. Why? I had it.
- I didn't use any sage because I thought I had some, and totally didn't.
- I used dried thyme.

Wow. I really made this recipe my own. Also, this bumped the points plus value up to 11.

Well, that was unexpected!

It snowed for the 1st time in NYC in October in 9 years! This was also the heaviest 1st snowfall we've had in 60 years.

It wasn't just normal snowfall. Ryan described it as snowballs falling from the sky and punching you in the face.

We only went out once, to get brunch at Keg & Lantern, which we do every weekend. There was only one poor waitress working. These people in the photo below had the right idea with the umbrellas. A guy walking behind us said "This isn't fun, happy, fluffy snow. This is sad snow." Ha. He was right. At least we never lost power. The power lines in Brooklyn are underground (genius. Why isn't the rest of the country like that?)

Before I was a New Yorker, I was just someone who visited New York

Ryan bought me roses for my first visit to see him. That makes 2 times total in our whole relationship, but that's O.K. with me because it just makes me sad when they die. This way, I didn't have to see them die, because I was gone by the time that happened!

Ryan was staying in a sublet before I moved up there. It had the most awesome kitchen I've ever seen! Only the fridge had been updated since the 70s. Possibley 60s.

Be careful with that shag carpet, you could get lost in it!!

It was more of a dijon color than these photos let on.

I am always jealous of the double oven!

...what the hell is an automatic meat probe? This was a feature of the oven.

And Ryan had to take a tourist photo of me, since I took one of him.

And we'll finish up with a couple pictures of our favorite watering hole, Black Rabbit! I love the antlers on the walls and the things in jars!

Tourists in our own city

 The standard Times Square shot. Everyone needs one of these, so we figured we'd get it out of the way.

 I've always seen pictures of this, but I had no idea how beautiful it was up close. And huge.

 Also enormous up close. We didn't realize that it was below street level and completely missed it at first.

 When Ryan dies, this is where he will go to heaven. He is still a registered Lego-Maniac.

 I actually go to FAO Schwartz a lot because they have the cleanest bathrooms in Midtown and the ones in Central Park are beyond frightening.

 St. Patrick's Cathedral. I light a candle for Ryan's Dad.

 I took this picture because I thought this giant head was incredibly creepy, but I really like the way it turned out.

 For the love of carbonated juice. If you have Fizzy Lizzy where you live, you must buy a case. Grapefruit is my favorite and it's the only thing I want to consume anymore. Ever. With rum.

Forget the falafel cart*, I'll take extra butter for my 8 pounder, please.

*Don't actually forget the falafel cart. I love you, Halal lamb over rice with salad and Tzaziki sauce at 2 in the morning...When you live in NYC, you'll understand this, too.

Wrock out with your wand out

I can't wait to blog about this! I will take so many pictures and HAVE NO SHAME!

I have cute cats and I make the best meatloaf you've ever tasted.

 Godel in my desk area. Licking the bills to makes sure they've been paid.

 Keeping my computer warm. Yes, I have a 10 year old Sony Vaio. Yes, it's very slow. Yes, I'm emotionally attached to it.

 In various states of sleep and getting cat hair all over the dining room table.This actually kind of reminds me of "Curl Up."

Would you just look at that? Sour Cream and Onion Mashed Potatoes and Glazed Meatloaf. That's tomato gravy in the little boat. Ryan always requests this for his birthday, and I'm more than willing to comply. In addition to using all these beautiful pieces of fiesta ware, I tried new recipes for everything. My favorite cooking mag of all time, Cook's Country didn't let me down. Do you guys know about this? It's from the makers of America's Test Kitchen. You should run yourself to a bookstore right now and discover the loveliestness that it is. Every recipe is tested so many times that it's IMPOSSIBLE to screw it up!

"THE" Library

 I wanted to climb on a lion, but they were actually pretty inaccessible. And big. Really Big.

 All I could think about was the enormous wasted space. I guess it was pretty. They were having a centennial celebration.

 So much art. Everywhere.

 I waited for ghosts. None came.

 I would love to take book requests all day from here.

 I wouldn't mind rainy days in New York if I could look up at work and just see this. It hasn't rained here in 7 days and I think that's some kind of record.

 What?!?!?! Look who's here! The originals!

I'm NOT a Winnie the Pooh fan by ANY means. I actually distance myself from Disney as much as possible, but for children's literature, there's no denying the historic significance of these little dudes.

They looked so well loved. All the imagination that was oozing out of them left me a little weepy.

I'm so happy to be getting all of these photos off the camera. They've been on there for so long! I hope you're enjoying all of them!