The beautiful stars at the Time Warner Center are a sign we are not so far from th Holidays. There is a Christmas anticipation everywhere you go in New York City, even though the weather has been unusually warm for this time of the year.
I hope everyone has a restful Thanksgiving, because I certanly did. From eating at the Oak Room in the Plaza hotel, going for Bellini's at Cipriani's, shopping on black Friday, having Japanese desserts and Kyotofu, trailing at Eleven Madison Park, and enjoying my favorite caffč latte at Stumptown. Was it restful? Maybe not quite, but I enjoyed it.

It is quince time!
I was so excited when I saw them on the Union Square Greenmarket last weekend in NYC. Their perfume filled up my room and it reminded me of home. My mum would always make quince jam and it was, and still is one of my favorites.
Quince is such an unusual fruit, very astringent and tart, but wonderful when cooked. There are numerous things you could do with it. It is mostly known as ''Membrillo'', Quince paste, or as we call it in Dalmatia (southern region of Croatia) - ''Kotonjada'' or Quince cheese. It pairs so well with a Brie type of cheese or something like Manchego.
What I did was just simple quince jam, which is basically quince cut in one-bite chunks and then placed in a pot (rice cooker in my case - yes that thing is magical, you can do anything in it!) with a little water and sugar to taste. Once it was cooked, which is quite fast, I blended it, poured into jars, and voila!

As you might already know, Açaí is a berry packed with antioxidants much more than red wine, blueberries and pomegranate. It contains three different types of fatty acids: omega 3, omega 6, and omega 9!
I buy the frozen puree in little packets and blend it with bananas, milk and some agave syrup or honey and there you have your antioxidant booster!

The top is garnished with some Açaí powder and dehydrated banana chips. I know it looks like chocolate, but Açaí is dark purple and it's interesting how it turned out brown on the photo.

I can feel the rough New York winter approaching very rapidly and it is the perfect time for steel cut oats in the chilly mornings. As much as I love to have my smoothies or bread with butter and different jams, I love to have a big bowl of hot, smooth and comforting steel cut oats.
It takes a bit longer to cook than the regular oatmeal, but it's so worth it. I cook them in water and some salt (1 oats:4 water) for about 30-40 minutes. You can throw in a vanilla bean as well, works really well. Keep the lid on and towards the end make sure you stir.
When I serve it, I like to add some milk since it gives more of a creamy texture. There are numerous toppings you can add to it. I like it just plain with agave syrup with a good latte ;)

I was lucky enough to go apple picking in the last weekend of the apple season. There were five to six different varieties and each one of them was so distinct in flavor that I enjoyed going from tree to tree tasting them and picking my favorite. No that I ate a lot of them, I felt slightly nauseous. I just love apples!



The farm we visited is called ''Mead Orchards'' which is 4 miles north of Red Hook, NY. Depending on the season, there are different dates of harvest for certain fruits, so you have an opportunity to go and pick your own throughout the year, except now...








As you can tell, we had lots of fun, and we accomplished to do the jump and capture it perfectly!