Tuesday, March 29, 2011
10 things
10 things I loved today...
1. steamy showers
2. lavender body wash
3. dry shampoo
4. pink toenails
5. getting back to the gym
6. staying lighter later
7. daffodils
8. new film for my camera
9. a book that captured me
10. knowing i'll be laying next to the pool in palm springs in just a few weeks
Feathers
Just What I Needed!
Monday, March 28, 2011
Sunday Morning Breakfast
Friday, March 25, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
March Craft: Terrarium
1. A clean glass vessel. I recommend one large enough to get your hand in, it just makes it a little easier.
2. Plants. Any kind of plants you want they just all have to have the same living/growing requirements.
3. Charcoal, you can find this at any nursery.
4. Rocks, any kind you want. Pretty rocks, or just regular rocks.
5. Sterile Potting Soil, meaning not just from the yard, you dont want bugs or roots, get a fresh bag.
6. Chop Sticks, Trust me you will need them.
Step 1:
Go on an adventure to find all of your items
Step 2:
Clean your vessel with hot soapy water, no cleaner. You dont't want chemical reside killing your plants
Step 3:
Fill the bottom inch or so with rocks for drainage.
Add a layer of charcoal on top of the rocks about 1/2 inch give or take. This is for more drainage.
Add your soil on top of the charcoal, as much as you want depending on the look you are going for.
Ready your plants for their new home. Carefully break up the roots and get rid of most of the soil around plant.
Step 7:
Arrange your plants in their new home. A terrarium should have a front and a back so place accordingly. You can use your chopsticks to place plants, stones or decorations you want in your new terrarium. Try not to touch or get the inside glass dirty, it gets a little hard to clean it off in the end once all your plants are in your vessel.
Step 8:
Find a place to put your terrarium and enjoy!
Water a small amount every couple of weeks. You will know if you have watered too much cause condensation will build up inside, remove top and let dry out a bit and you should be fine. I love the way it looks in front of the window with the light coming through!
New Table, New Reading Corner
I had extra paint left from my last painting project and I couldn't let it go to waste, especially such a great color yellow! I painted this table originally when I was 15 (don't judge) and I have always loved the shape just obviously not my adolescent angst of a painting choice. I needed a small table for my reading corner in the bedroom and this was just perfect, even more perfect that I didn't have to buy something new. And here it is, I love it!
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| The original, so happy to sand this away! |
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| 2 coast of that beautiful yellow |
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| 1 coat of brown |
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| A good album to sand to, Mumford and Sons was my choice on this cloudy day |
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| I love how it came out! |
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| My new cozy reading corner |
March Recipe: Jeffrey's Roast Chicken
After a long, chilly weekend I was craving something roasted and delicious. Back in November Mom and I went to Ina Garten's book sighning for her new cookbook, "How Easy is That?" and she had one of her classics in the book, Jeffrey's Roast Chicken. Ina tells the story of how she loves to make this dish for her beloved husband Jeffrey on a Friday night, well I made it for my beloved on a tuesday and it was wonderful. Every time I roast a chicken I wonder why I don't do it more often, and this recipe even has a yummy gravy to go with. Such an easy, delicious dinner. I highly recommend this recipe for any night of the week. Easy, and really anything roasted is just delicious!
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 1 (4 to 5 pound) roasting chicken
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 lemons
- 1 whole head garlic, cut in 1/2 crosswise
- Good olive oil
- 2 Spanish onions, peeled and thickly sliced
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1/2 cup chicken stock, preferably homemade
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Remove and discard the chicken giblets. Pat the outside dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Cut the lemons in quarters, place 2 quarters in the chicken along with the garlic and reserve the rest of the lemons. Brush the outside of the chicken with olive oil and sprinkle the chicken liberally with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place the chicken in a small (11 by 14-inch) roasting pan. (If the pan is too large, the onions will burn.) Place the reserved lemons and the sliced onions in a large bowl and toss with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Pour the mixture around the chicken in the pan.
Roast the chicken for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and a thigh. Remove the chicken to a platter, cover with aluminum foil, and allow to rest for 10 minutes while you prepare the sauce, leaving the lemons and onions in the pan.
Place the pan on top of the stove and turn the heat to medium-high. Add the wine and stir with a wooden spoon to scrape up the brown bits. Add the stock and sprinkle on the flour, stirring constantly for a minute, until the sauce thickens. Add any juices that collect under the chicken. Carve the chicken onto a platter and serve with the lemons, onions, and warm sauce.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Irish Soda Bread
I don't know where I got this recipe for Irish Soda Bread but I have been making it for years and it is so good and easy. Whether eating it with Corned Beef and Cabbage or the next day with tea and jam you can't go wrong and the best part is it makes two loafs.
Irish Soda Bread
-5 cups sifted unbleached flour
-3/4 cup sugar
-2 teaspoons baking powder
-1 1/2 teaspoons salt
-1 teaspoon baking soda
-1/4 lb butter (1stick)
-2 1/2 cups buttermilk
-1 large egg, beaten
1. Preheat oven to 350' and generously butter 2 loaf pans
2. Stir flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda
3. Cut the butter into the flour mixture until grainy
4. Add buttermilk and egg to flour
5. Mix together and shape
6. Bake for 1 hour or until golden on top
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Sunday Morning Skype Date
Restoration Hardware
Lazy Sunday
Friday, March 18, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Don't Be Ranunculus!
Love this time of year having Ranunculus in the house and seeing them out and about. Such a happy little flower, definitely one of my faves!
Its About Time
I've been looking for a clock for our bedroom for a while, our iphones are really the only clock/alarm we have in the bedroom. Saw this designer on a design blog and loved this clock! It finally came in the mail over the weekend and now lives over the closet in our room. Check out his other cool designs he has for clocks, all done on old records.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Chocolate Peanut-Butter Cups
All I am going to say is that these are one of the most delicious thing I have ever had in my life! Had I of know they were so easy to do I would of been making them for years. Only four (five if you count the salt) ingredients to create Heaven, I love how simple and delicious these childhood favorites are to create. I think I might add them to my handmade Christmas gifts next year! Oh and there is no way you can have just one!
The Ingredients
- 3 cups chocolate
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted
- 1/4 cup graham crackers, crushed
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
1. Line a muffin pan with 12 paper liners. Set aside.
2. Melt 1 1/2 cups of the chocolate in a double boiler. Alternately, you could do this using a microwave, melting the chocolate in short bursts. Remove the bowl of melted chocolate from the stove and turn off the heat.
3. Using the back of a spoon or a pastry brush, paint a layer of melted chocolate onto the bottoms and sides of the paper liners. Don’t skimp on chocolate here; coat the liners generously. Set the bowl aside with any remaining melted chocolate left in it.
4. Put the muffin pan in the refrigerator for 20 minutes while you make the peanut-butter filling.
5. In a mixing bowl, combine the peanut butter, crushed graham crackers, powdered sugar and salt. Stir with a spoon until well combined.
6. Return the bowl used to melt the chocolate to the top of the double boiler. Turn the heat to medium-high. Add the remaining 1 1/2 cups of chocolate and melt.
7. Meanwhile, divide peanut-butter mixture into 12 even amounts. (I used a cutting board while doing this to have a surface to rest the mounds on.)
8. Remove the muffin pan from the refrigerator. Put one mound into each paper liner. Tap down each mound with your fingertips to “nest” it into the chocolate bottom.
9. By now, the chocolate added to the double boiler should all be melted. Using a spoon, dollop the top of each peanut butter mixture mound with a generous portion of chocolate.
10. Use the back of a teaspoon to smooth out the tops (alternately, use the spoon to make a swirl atop each cup).
11. Place the muffin pan in the refrigerator. Within one hour, your cups should be set, depending how cold your fridge runs.
12. Remove the pan from the refrigerator. Consume with gusto, or exercise extreme restraint and gift to others!
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| Paint a layer of chocolate in each cup then chill in fridge for about 20 min |
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| Mix peanut-butter, crushed graham crackers, powdered sugar and salt |
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| Remove shells from fridge and add peanut-butter mixture, cover with chocolate and return to fridge to set |
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| Enjoy with a large glass of milk! Recipe Via Design Sponge |
And I named him Francisco
This Has No Purpose
A couple weeks ago in the early morning on my way to my folks house I drove by this sign on Golden Lantern and had to stop and take a picture. Wish you could see what it said a bit better. Thought it was a funny bit of vandalism that made me smile at 7am.
Tomato, Watermelon, and Basil Salad
Recipe from Giada De Laurentiis' New Italian Favorites cookbook
Ingredients- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 (4 to 5 pound) watermelon, cut into 32 (1 1/2-inch cubes
- 32 small basil leaves (or torn larger leaves)
- 16 cherry tomatoes, halved
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- Kosher salt
- Special equipment: 16 (6-inch) skewers
Directions
Combine the balsamic vinegar and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved. Turn off the heat and set aside to cool.
Starting with the watermelon squares, push the watermelon to the very tip of the skewer. Then skewer a basil leaf, then a tomato half. Continue with another watermelon, basil leaf, and tomato half. Place the skewer on a serving platter so it stands upright, using the lowest watermelon square as a base. Continue with the remaining skewers.
Drizzle the skewers with the reserved balsamic syrup and the olive oil. Sprinkle with coarse salt. Serve.
This recipe is for the skewers but can be made the same by just putting everything together in one bowl.
Here's a picture of the curry we had. Definitely not traditional with the zucchinis and squash but I created it after a curry I had had in Portland. I love the texture of all of the vegis and it could be made without the chicken for a vegetarian.
Monday, March 14, 2011
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