I celebrated my birthday last weekend, and I think it was my first birthday not in Texas (correct me if I’m wrong mom – it’s hard to remember anything from before the late elementary years haha).
Last Saturday I went into the city to see Jenny and eat dim sum! We ate outside at Nom Wah Tea Parlor in Chinatown, and it was soooo good.
I had not had dim sum since March, so this satisfied a deep craving. Afterwards, we walked around and went to Washington Square Park to sit outside. Then I trained home in time to be able to cook dinner and just chill at the apartment! I made these tuna stuffed bell peppers, which I know may not seem the most appetizing based on the ingredient list, but they were very tasty! My friend had mentioned this food blogger to me, so I decided to give one of her recipes a try. I may try more, but I’m pretty content/busy with my current recipe sources!
For the most part, I usually make stuff from Cookie and Kate (who I mention a lot on this blog) or Half Baked Harvest (to satisfy the meat cravings since C+K is strictly vegetarian recipes). They’re both such different bloggers, but together they bring great balance to my life haha. Jake actually got me the cookbooks by both C+K and Half Baked Harvest for my birthday, which is why I’m not really looking for any more new recipes! A fantastic gift on his part, and I have to point out that it’s also probably a smart move on his part because he directly benefits from it *insert crying laughing emoji* I’ve already made one of the C+K soups and have two meals from each book planned for next week’s dinners!
On Sunday, I got to celebrate with Jake, who had to work and miss dim sum on Saturday – I know, booooo work! It was a perfect fall October day. A cold front had blown in overnight, so we bundled up to be able to eat outside still. As we were getting ready to leave to go eat, I got a call from Doordash saying my cupcakes were here. I did not order cupcakes and slightly panicked since Jake had picked up a 7-inch chocolate cake from a local bakery the night before. My lovely friends Jackie and Mackenzie also happened to choose the same local bakery and sent me a dozen cupcakes for my birthday *insert another laughing crying emoji*
The cupcakes have been great because after we finished the cake we moved on to eating the cupcakes. I’ve had dessert pretty much every night since my birthday. I’m loving it, but it definitely is not a sustainable habit. After retrieving these cupcakes, Jake and I made our way to brunch in a town near us.
After brunch, we drove to a place called Mine Hill Preserve. It used to be an iron-making complex in the 1800s, and now it’s a park that people can hike in! The coolest part was the trust that owns the land has put a lot of work into preserving parts of the complex and providing informational signs. It was really fascinating. There is even a whole web of tunnels underneath the site. Spooky!! We thought we would do the whole 3.5 mile loop, but this was an actual hike! Once we realized the sun would probably set before we got back to the car (and having other plans for the day), we back tracked at at a little past the one mile mark. Luckily, we chose the right way to start walking because we got to see the majority of the cool stuff before turning around.
I think one of the coolest parts about this place was the fact that there are mine tunnels that go pretty deep in the ground and are now home to bats! We didn’t see any bats since it was daytime, but it was so neat to try to look down these tunnels! They have metal grating around the side to keep the humans out but let bats fly freely in and out.
I thought this place was super cool. Jake found it online, and it was a perfect birthday adventure! I definitely want to go back, probably next spring or summer once it warms up again. It snowed this past Friday in Connecticut! It was also definitely special to be here during the fall with the pretty leaves. I’m not ready for them to all fall off!
After we got back to the car, we headed home. My high school friends threw me a surprise birthday party over Zoom. If you’re wondering how that worked, Jake told me he wanted to show me something on his laptop. And then it was suddenly opened to Zoom! It was a fun surprise to see everyone together, even if virtually! I chatted with them for a while until dinner time. We just got some Greek food from a place near our apartment and chilled out for the rest of the night. I got to call my family for our weekly Sunday Zoom and saw some photos of me from my first birthday that I don’t really remember ever seeing! Oh, and of course we ate cake.
We watched “Return to Halloweentown,” which I requested because I remembered loving it as a kid. It was definitely a super cheesy Disney original that seemed waaaay cooler and awesome when I was younger. I still enjoyed rewatching it, but it’s just funny to think how I thought it was the greatest movie ever back in 2006 haha!
Thank you all for the birthday wishes! I hope everyone had a nice and safe Halloween, even if you didn’t really “celebrate.” I got to dress up in my costume as a 1920s inspired flapper girl outfit I bought a couple years ago, and Jake got to wear my old cheetah ears and tail (can you tell we didn’t feel like trying this year?!?). We saw Jenny and some of her friends in Prospect Park in Brooklyn.
It was a good time! I’m ready to chill this Sunday though because my watch says we walked over 8 miles! It was the last time I’ll see Jenny for a while, as she’s moving to San Francisco next week. It’s been fun going into the city and seeing her! I’m selfishly sad she’s leaving but also very excited for her!
I am also excited to take it easy the next few weeks before going home for Thanksgiving. I like going to the city, but public transportation during a pandemic is stressful. As cases are rising again, I just want to stay holed up in our apartment!!
Stay safe everyone – thanks for reading! xo.
P.S. – I know I said in my last post that I would post pics of the apartment. I will – I promise! I want to get more on top of my blogging again!
My guess is we always celebrated your b-day in TX because of school.
So much deliciousness! Dad sorry he’s not there to help with the sweets.
Love the Fall color and photos from the hikes.
And Jake wore the cat ears and tail well!