Back when I was in medical school, Sam and I won a trip to New York for the Dave Letterman Show. We were flown up on a chartered airplane along with a hundred or so others from Miami, all to be part of a Miami audience for the show. It was our first time in New York City, and it was a whirlwind. We attended the taping of the show, ate a slice of pizza for dinner, and took a bus tour the next morning. We had just an hour or so left to wander through Central Park, which was brimming with pastel-colored tulips at the time. And then we flew back to Miami. Although the trip only lasted about 24-hours, I fell in love with the city.

This weekend, we went to New York for our third time – just three nights quick nights – and it was glorious. I really needed some time away from home, and this weekend went a long way towards soothing my soul. I met friends that I’d only known through this amazing virtual world of food blogging and the magic that is Twitter. Gail, Jen and Mike, Jen, Jennie, Kim, Chris and Karen, Ken, and Winnie – such a wonderful group of people who were just as warm and genuine in person as I knew they would be. We greeted each other with hugs and it was like we’d known each other for years. I miss them already.

We also connected with our long-time friends Christy and Chad, and experienced a couple of their favorite cocktail spots plus an incredible teeny-tiny Italian restaurant where I tasted tripe for the first time in my life. And loved it, by the way.

After only three hours of sleep last night, we took the earliest flight back to Atlanta, and then home to Florida where we peeled off our sweaters and wished we had worn shorts and flip flops. At home, we were greeted by Madeline and Oliver, who showered us with hugs and kisses and didn’t want to leave our laps.

Really, it was the perfect weekend.

[Note: For more information on the photos, clicking on a photo will take you to my Flickr photostream. Also, there would have been more photos, but I accidentally left my favorite point-and-shoot camera in the back of a taxi on Saturday night. Ouch, did that hurt.]

It’s a foggy morning here in north Florida. Looking outside from my spot on the sofa, I can see a few orange marigold flowers peeking out from the raised bed garden in the corner of our back yard. The marigolds were my daughter’s idea. She likes a spot of color in the garden, and I don’t blame her. We planted those marigolds yesterday, nestled them in between the new cherry tomato plants and some yellow and green bell pepper plants. Both kids helped me in the garden yesterday, eagerly scooping up garden soil with their shovels and buckets, watering the new plants, and collecting acorns and weeds into piles. And, at their request, we also planted a new little strawberry plant and a blueberry bush. I’m not very optimistic about how those two will do, but I couldn’t tell them no.

Beside me on the sofa is Madeline, covered up in a red blanket, and warm with fever. Since we don’t have a sitter who is available during the day, I missed work to be home with her. I feel incredible guilt about missing my own clinic – canceling on patients who depend on me to be there for them – but I know that my daughter must come first. It’s a perpetual dilemma, of course, this balancing of work and family. I wish I could say that I’ve mastered it, but I can’t. And, I’m not even sure — can it really ever be mastered?

We’re spending the early part of the day here on the sofa, watching Nick Jr and Disney movies. A trip to the pediatrician will happen later. When it warms up a bit, I’ll drag Madeline outside for some fresh air and sunlight. We’ll water the newly planted garden, and we might rock in the rocking chairs on the front porch.

And, if Madeline is feeling up for it, I’ll share with her these apricot-almond shortbread bars.

I adapted this recipe from this one in Bon Appétit. Preserves are used as part of the topping. I used the peach-apricot preserves you see here, but plain apricot preserves would work just as well. The almond paste is a key ingredient. The sweet almond flavor works well with the sweet and tangy apricot preserves, and the sliced almonds give a bit of crunch to the texture. The base is shortbread, something I’m hooked on. If there exists a more simple yet perfect cookie than shortbread, I have not found it.

The weather has become just about perfect here in north Florida. The mornings are still cool, but the afternoon temperatures have been getting up into the 70s and low 80s. The days are getting longer, and our azaleas and dogwoods and redbud trees are in full bloom. When I get home from work, neighborhood kids are outside playing and people are walking their dogs or jogging. In fact, swing by my house around 6:30 in the evening and you’re likely to find me in one of our white Cracker Barrel rocking chairs, with the latest edition of a food magazine in one hand, a glass of wine or iced tea in the other, while Maddie and Oliver play in the front yard.

Of course, if you look a little closer, you’ll notice that my white rocking chair is covered in a yellowish-green film of pollen from the oak trees. So don’t look that close, please.

I’ve started running due to some much needed peer pressure from a friend at work. I wake at 5am three days a week, somehow find the energy to extract myself from the bed, and after some blurry moments in the bathroom, I head out the door wearing my headphones and carrying a small flashlight. The early mornings are dark, dimly lit by the moon’s light, and the sky is filled with stars. The neighborhood is quiet, and there are only a handful of other walkers and runners out.  After four weeks of this routine, it’s a morning ritual I’ve come to depend on. (I was going to say cherish, but I’m not at that point yet.)

Perhaps I can blame the extra endorphins generated from that runner’s high, or maybe it’s just because I really like to bake, but I decided to bake up a batch of cookies for my colleagues at work last week. My goal was to incorporate oatmeal and peanut butter into a chocolate chip cookie. I made some modifications to this recipe from Gourmet magazine and ended up with a pretty darn amazing cookie.

When baked just for 15 minutes and cooled completely on a rack, these cookies are firm on the outside and soft and tender on the inside. If you just can’t wait for the cookies to cool, you’ll be rewarded with melted chocolate on your fingers as you break off a warm chunk to put in your mouth.