I'll keep this brief, because it's cold outside. The window of the living room is ajar and the gusts of air are icy. My wool blanket is helping. (So is the glass of prosecco.) But my bed upstairs is no doubt warmer, and I'll cozily tuck the edges of the comforter around my sock-clad feet.
Read moreTOASTED CASHEW + MARZIPAN BLONDIES
A crowd of people stand waiting at the corner of West Houston Street for the light to turn green. I've just emerged from the subway. It's only 6:30 but the evening sky is already quickly turning inky and black. I walked a block in the cold air to the Citibike station and inserted my key, waiting for the welcome ping! as the light turns green and the bike unlocks, releasing the front tire. I hop on and cycle slowly to the edge of the street, pausing with the throngs of commuters.
Read moreCOOK'S ILLUSTRATED BLONDIES
It's Sunday night. The weather has been stubborn all day, as angsty as a frustrated teenager. I woke up to dark gray skies. The trees lining our street bent and shivered in the heavy gusts of winds coming off the bay. The rain thudded against the windows. When I padded downstairs in slippers and pajamas, the kitchen skylight was being pelted with water: a persistent tap-tap-tap of heavy raindrops.
Read morePerfect Chocolate Chip Cookies
A few things I love lately are surprising, and others wholly unsurprising. I hope they brighten up your October in some unexpected way. I hope something here makes you smile, or feel a pang of the good kind of nostalgia, or gives you a little shiver of comfort. The sort of comfort that makes you sink into yourself: The same sensation you get when it's chilly outside and you wrap a sweater tightly around yourself, or when you're cold and you step into a warm storefront, or when you smell the aroma of garlic and olive oil cooking on the stove.
Read moreCornmeal Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies
What I'm loving: The warmth of just-tumbled clothes from the dryer. Today is unexpectedly chilly, with a gray drizzle that stops and starts, set against a similarly slate gray sky. I pull on my softest long-sleeved t-shirt, an old heather gray one that's worn around the cuffs and neck, emblazoned with the name of my college.
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