October Weddings

We personally think that October is a fabulous month in which to be wedded in marital bliss :) We're glad our cousin Dan and his bride Maya agree! Their wedding on October 4th in Hoboken, NY was a lot of fun. They were married on a grassy pier overlooking the NYC skyline - cocktails, dinner, dancing, and cigar bar to follow! No matter how you slice it, cigars smell like burnt a*s, so despite the dashing figures we cut, neither of us will be making a habit of it! It was fun to see family and party-hardy with the Steeves side. Jess vowed to outlast the girls and stay awake but didn't quite make it - I think Nally won that bet.

Speaking of October Weddings . . . we celebrated our first year anniversary this past Monday October 13th! It was a beautiful day and we happened to have a lot of family in the area, so we spent the day hiking around Green Lakes State Park (where Jesse 'accidentally' got us lost so we ended up walking out onto a golf course) with Mom, Dad, Liz, and our family friend Patrick.

A leisurely lunch at Alto Cinco' s followed and then we finished up the night - once we'd packed Mom and Dad on their way back to Jersey - with a true Brooklyn-style Horror Fest! For those of you who haven't had the pleasure yet, a Brooklyn Horror Fest is comprised of bad (preferrably B-grade) horror movies, good beer, and Ben and Jerry's icecream. We made it a mini-marathon and watched two back to back - 'The Ruins' and then 'Shutter' - and we only had to stop the first movie once for me because the cutting-creepy-cursed-mayan-killing-vines-out-of-my-own-flesh-with-a-hunting-knife-stuff was getting to be a LITTLE MUCH for my queaze-factor.

So yes! We did spend our actual anniversary watching horror movies with family, but we did end up doing the fancy dinner downtown earlier this week - sushi at 'Ambrosia'! We were also hoping for some year-old wedding cake (cheesecake - the best I've had!) but Patrick "couldn't find it" when he was housesitting for Kat at home in Jersey. Whatever, Patrick - I know you found that luscious cheesecake and served it to your dinner guests!!!

:)

Love to you all
Caitlin and Jess

PS - How do you like these mini-posts?? Let's get some comments! :)

Syracuse Regional Market

September also brought our first trip to the Central New York Regional Market. Think several big, long pavilions, packed mostly with fresh produce, milks and cheeses, specialty spices, wines . . .We weren't in a big shopping mood but we mostly wandered around, enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells. We did pick up some funny 'torpedo' red onions and a pumpkin or two that eventually ended up in a yummy soup (quite a few of you had it since we had to cart it everywhere we went for about a week due to the quintuplet-batch we made!).

Cider Day at the Stovers felt like a much-needed vacation for all. I happily stuffed myself on such eclectic fare as chinese spare ribs, pineapple salsa (thank you, Damian!), the requisite sausage and peppers on a roll, and (seemingly) gallons of fresh pressed apple cider. And yes, you CAN stuff yourself on cider. I don't know how, but cousin Margaret and I were waddling around half the party, waiting for enough digestion to occur so we could go back for another glassful! I'll have to refer you to Miss Nally for pictures - she has quite a few fabulous ones of the ladies posing with official Cider Day apples - authenticity guaranteed. Also, there MAY have been some apple juggling . . .but you didn't hear it from me, it's just the word on the street.

So that will bring September to a close for now - our first in Syracuse! I guess there will be a lot of 'firsts' this year - I'm afraid you'll have to put up with that for a while! That's the catch, the rub about being a captive audience - YOU ARE AT OUR MERCY!!! (in terms of we rely on you all to care about our goings-on here otherwise we are blogging into the void!)

Well I guess you can tell I'm feeling a bit punchy tonight - love to you all! More will follow - we have to make it through the first part of October before we can start posting about current events.

Muah :)

We Are Not MIA!

Eep! It's been inexcusably long since our last post - and there's been plenty going on in the months of September and October! I've decided to not overload everyone with one gi-normous post but instead to do a bunch of smallish ones - makes for more enjoyable perusing, right?

As I'm writing this, Jess and I are bundled up in sweatshirts, wool socks, and winter hats; cheerily in denial about the need to turn on the heat already! We're going to hold out for as long as possible, ie warm blankets, hot cider, and snuggling!

Where to start since our last post . . . we hosted newly-weds in September! Our fantabulous friends Jill and Tom came up to visit Syracuse, bearing updates and honeymoon pictures of their first month as a married couple. We love Jill and Tom and it was extra fun trading early-marriage stories and post-wedding escapades! Plus, we got to share two of our favorite Syracuse-area pasttimes with them - wine touring and berry picking! With Wally loaded down with friends, wine, raspberries, and orchard apples, we even took in a peek at Taughannock Falls.

To add to the fun, The Aunts (Renee and Jan!) were up in the area for a Master Gardener's lecture, so Saturday night we had a full house at 203 Hawthorne! In addition to the good food and wine we debuted Renee's berry crisp recipe and made a heaping double batch that night, starring a that-day-fresh-picked mix of raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries from Grisamore Farms. Though Jill and Tom had to scoot the next day, we got to keep The Aunts for a while longer with bribes of shopping and an inaugural trip to Dinosaur BBQ. Has anyone heard of 'salt potatoes' before? They're big up here in the Syracuse area - makes sense considering Syracuse was the salt capital of America in the early 1800's - and are basically just whole, skins-on potatoes boiled in super salty water. We had them 'cajun-style' with spices and the requisite melted butter for dipping - delish!

I could keep going, but the Giants game calls - so does studying for my Movement exam! Plus, I have to keep you all in suspense - just what HAVE Jesse and Caitlin been doing for these past few weeks? What kind of shenanigans could they possibly have gotten into? Stay tuned, folks.