A few photos from the Cookie Swap:

Andrea’s tree… with Christmas gifts already wrapped on December 10th.  Are you kidding me?  I hadn’t even started my shopping yet at that point!

Awesome tower of cookies that Andrea and her mom made – including homemade marshmallows!

The hostess with mostest.  This is possibly the happiest I’ve ever seen Andrea – I think she was several drinks in at this point, so that makes sense

Photos from last weekend – the Annual Baking Extravaganza with Mom:

I made Oatmeal Cranberry White Chip Cookies  on my own before heading over to my parents’ house (yes, just about every cookie I make has oatmeal in it).  They had already made four different kinds over there without me.

They were also looking pretty festive over there – pretty impressive since they just moved into the new house a few weeks ago!

The beginnings of Pecan Tassies…  these cookies are the worst to make, but they’re so good to eat!  I guess it’s worth it.

Here’s a picture of Dad supervising…  I have a picture of mom, hard at work, too, but it’s not the most flattering photo, so I won’t post it.  She actually looks kind of pissed – certainly not as happy as Andrea looks in the photo above.  Clearly we hadn’t had enough to drink yet.

Actually, after all that work, I think we’ve all earned my normal Christmas Eve tradition of celebrating with a few Gin and Tonics!

Merry X-Mas from The World According to Kate!

It looks like I easily have the entire Northeast region covered thanks to my recent visit to Portland, ME (which can be read about here and here too), in which we seriously did nothing but eat and drink all weekend long (not that there’s anything wrong with that)!  Now, on to conquer the rest of America’s beer towns!

A few pictures from our various beer adventures over the years:

PS – Kevin will most likely kill me if he sees the picture I posted of him, but when I found it, I really had to share it.  I love it

So I had some research to do…  I knew I definitely wanted to get outside a bit and enjoy the Spring weather (even though the days I took off weren’t the Springiest days we’ve had recently), so I thought maybe a hike of some sort would be a good idea.  After some careful consideration Thursday morning, I decided that we would check out East Rock Park , because somehow the whole time that we lived in Hamden (which is less than a 10 minute drive from the park), we never managed to get there.

The weather wasn’t exactly perfect – a little bit cool and cloudy (and a couple of drops of rain here and there), but it was still great to get outside.  Kevin doesn’t exactly do heat well anyway, so it was probably for the best.

Here are a few pictures I took with my iPhone (more can be seen in my “Recent Photos” section):

All in all, it was a very pleasant afternoon which we followed up with a late lunch/early dinner at Delaney’s Tap Room.  Good times… and I didn’t even have to spend my day in my pajamas watching Kev play GTA 4

Anyway, I just wanted to check in, because a few regular readers (hi mom and dad) have been harassing me about not updating in awhile and I know they would want to see all the pictures I took while I wasn’t sitting in front of my computer in my cramped sweltering office.

Oh, and as someone who spent four years studying political science, I find this VERY sexy

What really is exciting, though,  is that we will now be able to entertain and be social outside now that everything has been cleaned up and the flowers and vegetables and the whatnot have all  been planted.  The balcony is one of my favorite parts of  our current apartment.  We have lots of space to plant things, a place to sit outside and read,  a place to entertain guests, and the cats enjoy hanging out there with us as well:)

I took a few pictures this morning and have posted them below.  More can be seen on my Recent Photos page (as soon as I upload them!).  Take special note of the garden box on a cart that is now holding our two tomato plants… Kevin and his dad built that!  Pretty neat, huh?

Also, because it is now officially porch drinking season, I wanted to direct your attention to a great article I came across on Apartment Therapy, detailing some guidelines for Porch Drinking Etiquette.  If you have a porch, balcony or deck, and you like to hang out there in the Summer months and drink,  then you should consider adhering to some or all of these rules.

A few of my personal favorites from the list include:

- Everybody’s welcome on the porch. There’s a time and a place for exclusivity: middle school. On the porch, your influence extends only as far as your generosity.

- Greet your neighbors as they come in and out of their front doors, which are, after all directly adjacent to your drinking area. Not to do so will create a weirdness force-field for all future interactions.

- Clean up after yourself, but don’t scrub too hard. A porch should never feel too clean to spill a beer on.

Apartment Therapy: Porch Drinking Etiquette

]]> http://worldaccordingtokate.com/2009/05/31/porch-drinking-season-has-arrived/feed/ 6 http://worldaccordingtokate.com/2009/05/17/its-only-natural/ http://worldaccordingtokate.com/2009/05/17/its-only-natural/#comments Sun, 17 May 2009 14:26:43 +0000 Kate Czlapinski http://worldaccordingtokate.com/?p=841 Friday was another gorgeous day and, as I’ve mentioned I had kind of a rough week, so Kevin and I decided we needed to go out that night and get some dinner and drinks after I logged off from work. Because it was so gorgeous out, my only prerequisite was that the place we chose [...]]]> Friday was another gorgeous day and, as I’ve mentioned I had kind of a rough week, so Kevin and I decided we needed to go out that night and get some dinner and drinks after I logged off from work. Because it was so gorgeous out, my only prerequisite was that the place we chose had outdoor seating. After much debate, we chose It’s Only Natural in Middletown, CT. It’s Only Natural specializes in vegetarian and vegan food and it is absolutely amazing what they can do to satisfy even the confirmed carnivores out there.

When we got there, it was hopping (it was Friday night, after all), but we were seated immediately and got the last available seating out back on their patio. In normal Kevin fashion, he immediately grabbed the beverage menu upon taking our seats. It’s Only Natural has an interesting selection of beer.  Kevin chose the Peak Espresso Amber Ale and I ordered the Sam Smith Cherry Ale. Both were quite delicious.

Neither Kevin nor I had eaten much that day, so we were starving and decided to order an appetizer. After looking over the menu for awhile (there were so many interesting choices!), we decided on the nachos – which come with red bean chili, tofu sour cream, salsa and your choice of cheese. They did not disappoint and filled us up quite nicely.

For our meals, Kevin and I each ordered our usuals there. I had the Cali Melt Wrap, which can also be served on their homemade whole wheat bread. The wrap was awesome- served warm, with hummus, your choice of cheese ( I chose Mozzarella), mushrooms, and avocados. Kevin had the ION Burger, which is probably the best veggie burger anywhere (and I know my veggie burgers) and is also served on their whole wheat bread. Both were served with a heaping pile of their sweet potato fries, which are really phenomenal and in my opinion the star of the meal.

The waitstaff is friendly and knowledgeable and the decor is cozy and fun, with the works of local artists adorning the walls and the patio was really cute, too. I highly recommend It’s Only Natural for any vegetarian or vegan or  for anyone like Kevin or myself who just like to try something a little different once in awhile.

Here are a few pictures from our evening:

Oh, and the cats liked them too!

After some deliberation, we decided to play a game of Balderdash – a fun game in which players create definitions for words and they then have to guess which is the correct definition. I must say, I don’t know if it was all the wine that was imbibed before and during the game, but I really enjoyed myself.

Other events of the evening include an argument between Tom and myself, in which I had to defend the city of Philadelphia – because PHILADELPHIA IS JUST AS GREAT A CITY – if not A GREATER CITY than BOSTON. And I soberly stand by my argument. However, I’m told that in my drunken state I was particularly amusing. I’m glad I could entertain everyone – that’s what I’m here for.

Here is a picture taken by Heather with her new Blackberry from last night of me enjoying our game night with already wine-stained teeth – and the evening had only just begun!