Silent Saturday - It is British!

For more photographs on travel in UK, check out my post from an earlier visit.

Just another tart!

Apologies for skipping my Silent post last week. I ended up traveling across the pond for a bit. More on that in a bit, in another post. For now, I just wanted to leave you with a quick, healthy everyday meal.

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Happy Valentine's Day!

Ok! I confess, we don't really celebrate this day.

Not because we have some moral issue against the callous commercialism enveloping this day or the fact that everything around you is cloyingly pink or I-am-a-HOT-vampire-I-want-to-draw-your-blood red or because it's too cute and teens-y for a 30 something couple whose anniversary only just went past.

No... It's just that we are lazy!

And yes, all of that above.



I have no problem with dedicating a day to the one you love. In the age of calendars and smart phones, such Block-the-Date ideas are perhaps the needed thing. With all that constant reminders, if you really don't get the point or forget the date, I mean, you really need to make a neuro appointment, stat!

But, I do rebel against the idea of having everything being boxed into that rather stereo typed heart... everything from chocolate truffles filled with overly sweet strawberry juice to cards that overflow with mushyness to the same shaped diamonds!!


All I really want, is to just say..

I love you.

I thank you for being in my life.

So, dear reader of my blog. That is all I want to say to you!


Happy Valentine's Day to you and your loved ones!

Continue for the recipe

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Silent Saturday - A walk through the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA)

Solace....

I have a gift. Not talent, gift.

I can create magic in the kitchen. No, there is no need for modesty. It isn't about me. It is OF me. It is about the generations of spectacular home cooks I inherit from. I take pride and am thankful for that gift.

Because without it, I would sink into the depths of unspeakable abyss...





When my life insists on turning tables on me, I know I can still trust my hands. They are small, yet, they are strong.

I take solace in them. In knowing that I can walk into my kitchen, take out the flour, butter, sugar, eggs, turn my oven on, and they won't fail me... even when all else does...





So I bake. I knead. I whisk. I cook. I live in the moment. I forget. I come alive.

This weekend... I smiled...

Croissants, meringues, steamed buns, pickled pork belly, semifreddo, custard, baked pears, savory pull apart bread... yes...all in one weekend.





And, so I will... until I no longer can... Because I owe it to my gift.


For the recipe..

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Silent Saturday - This is New York!

In love with iPhonography!


Central Park on a recent sunny, Winter day


Many NYers read on their commute... I should..but don't :)


Bleecker Street station - approaching train


Take a break.. Have Coffee!

For more of my iPhone photo feed, follow me on instagram - @ashafsk