I think this is what they call "having issues"

I made Meyer Lemon and Blackberry cupcakes (recipe below). I frosted each cupcake with icing from "The Joy of Cooking"--basically 1 cup of powdered sugar with 1.5 tablespoons of lemon juice--then topped each one with a sliver of lemon peel.

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1⁄2 tsp. baking soda
1⁄2 tsp. baking powder
1⁄2 tsp. salt
1⁄4 cup zest and juice of one Meyer lemon
3⁄4 cup buttermilk (I actually used applesauce instead and it worked just fine)
1⁄2 cup butter, softened
3⁄4 cup orange blossom honey*
2 large eggs
1⁄2 pint blackberries (the original recipe calls for raspberries, but blackberries were just as good)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and set aside.

Combine lemon zest and juice, and buttermilk/applesauce in a separate bowl and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, cream butter until fluffy. Add honey and mix well. Then add eggs, one at a time.

Add half of the reserved dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix on low until just combined.

With mixer running on low, slowly add the lemon mixture. Add remaining dry ingredients until combined. Gently fold in raspberries. Fill paper-lined muffin tins 2⁄3 full. Bake 18-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack, then ice.

Dude.

I Can Has Cheezburger? cracks my shit up.

27, Yo

It's been a wonderful birthday this year. I took today off work because it's my birthday and because Chris gets MLK day off, so I figured I'd give myself a three-day weekend that we could both enjoy together.

Saturday, we were supposed to have this MONSTER snowstorm. Two to four inches is what they were predicting, and instead we got a slight dusting. Kind of a bummer that we didn't get more, but I'm just happy that we got a little taste of snow this year. Because of the dire weather predictions and knowing that the roads here could be a mess because people can't drive in rain, let alone snow, we decided to stay in most of Saturday. I got a lot of cleaning and decluttering done, and that's just the kind of thing that makes a homebody like me quite happy.

Chris and I got back from the mall, got cleaned up and headed out for dinner. We went to Jibarra and it was one of those things where as soon as we walked in the door, we knew we were in for a good experience. They didn't have a table immediately available for us, so we had some drinks at the bar. I had the Pear-Cilantro Margarita and Chris had the Blood Orange Margarita. Both were awesome.

When we were seated for dinner, we opted to get a bottle of the Moet White Star, which ended up being the perfect compliment to both our meals, despite the fact that our meals couldn't have been more different. I had the Fajita de Arrachera (grilled Premium Angus Beef Skirt Steak served with sautéed bell peppers, onion, and tomato on top of corn tortillas and black onion-ash oil with a cactus paddle salad) and Chris had the Ravioles de Huitlacoche (homemade Huitlacoche [Mexican Truffle] ravioli in a creamy cheese-epazote sauce and pan seared wild-caught scallops). Both dishes were unreal. The steak for my fajitas was tender and the scallops from Chris's dish were like buttah and practically melted in your mouth. So. good.

We wrapped the evening up with dessert. I had the Buñuelos con Cremas (a small tower of crunchy flour sheets served with two fruit pastry creams and fresh fruits finished with piloncillo syrup) and Chris had the Mil Hojas de cajeta y plátano (thousand layer cake of puff pastry with a caramelized goat milk reduction and escabeche plantain ice cream). I wish we had taken pictures of everything.

On today's agenda: gym visit, reading some of "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle," baking a cake or cupcakes, and huge-ass scallops for dinner. I love birthdays.

Amaryllis Transformation

Last weekend:


Today:

What kind of crazy mixed up science stuff is this???

Like Sleeping on a Cloud

Despite the fact that my birthday is still a week away, I opened my first birthday present yesterday. I had put a featherbead on my Amazon wish list and when a huge box labeled DOWN LITE arrived on my doorstep, I figured opening the box wouldn't exactly ruin any surprise.


Oh. My. God. It's like heaven. It's soft and poofy and warm and just lovely. Plus, there's a "Spring/Summer" side and a "Fall/Winter" side made from different materials so that you don't drown in a pool of your own sweat in the summer (which is likely to happen here in North Carolina).


So, thanks mom and daddy! You just made our lives quite a bit better.

Christmas Recap

Christmas 2007 was fantastic. It's a great time of the year anyway, but being surrounded by your favorite people and having a few days off work to hang out with those people, it just doesn't get much better. And to get presents on top of that??? Icing on the cake, buddy.

Chris and I got far too much cool stuff and we've been enjoying all of it. Between coats, and sweaters, and food, and candles, and books (the books! my god there's a lot!), and DVDs and stuff, we've been having a good time.

Chris and I had been wanting a digital SLR, but mainly due to the kitchen remodel, we decided to postpone that for a bit. But when I got a nice bonus at work, I sneakily bought this guy for the two of us from Amazon:

For the price, I'm not sure it gets better than this. It takes great pictures, as evidenced by the fact that my brother Rob uses this camera and his pictures are always phenomenal.

Anyway, I'm still learning how to use this bad boy, but it's allowed me already to take some good photos.

The Definition of "Squeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

I'm pretty sure that "squeeeeeeeeeee!" is the noise that eeked out of my mouth yesterday when I opened the box that contained this beauty.
I've been wanting a red bag forever and this seemed to fit the bill as an early birthday present, especially after it went on sale. I've talked about Hayden-Harnett bags here, here, and here and this bag has the same wonderful hardware, perfect stitching, and quality leather as my other H-H bag. For what you get, I think these bags are a great buy, especially if you can get them on sale.

Crafty McCraftersons

So the last few days I have been frantically sewing in order to finish these stockings on time to get them shipped to Michigan. I'm really not sure why I do this to myself, other than that I love hand-crafted things.

I made stockings for my husband's nieces and nephews. It took me about a month to finish Cecelia's (so. many. sequins!) and then last weekend I realized it was 2 weeks until Christmas and I had 3 more to do. So I started sewing fast. I did some of the larger chunks on the machine, but the smaller pieces (i.e. most of the stockings) had to be done by hand and by an act of God, I got them done and shipped off today.

My paternal grandmother made me an incredibly intricate stocking made out of felt and gobs of sequins (see picture below), back when she was alive. I've had the stocking ever since and it's one of those few prized posessions that I have.

My stocking looked awfully lonely on the mantel, so I made one for Chris after we got married.

Then Bryan moved out here and he needed one too. I swear, I almost went blind making his--it's a lot of sequins.

Naturally I had to make some for the nieces and nephews. So without further ado, here they are:

Closeup of the little itty-bitty teeny-tiny mouse in the corner:

I'm really pleased with all of them, but I really love Elise's. There are a lot of details that don't show up in the photos: the tutu on the ballerina is actual tulle trim; all of the little presents have bows on them; the ballerina has little pink lips; and nutcracker on Evan's has some cool trim on the uniform.

Christmas Wish List

As promised to my mom, here is my Christmas wishlist for 2007. I have wishlists set up on Amazon and Anthropologie, which should now be accessible.

Clockwise from left to right: Bird of Paradise pajama pants, $48 from Anthropologie; Blue Peacock 5" Plate, $48 from John Derian; Birds and Nests Wall Calendar, $22 from Anthropologie; Gaiam Dryer Balls, $18 from Amazon; Method Home for the Holidays kit, $40 from Method; Natural Wonders wall calendar, $22 from Anthropologie; Shag floor cushions, $59 from West Elm

Lost Season 3, $38.99 from Amazon; Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, $22 from Amazon; The Deadliest Catch Season 2 and Season 3, $50 each from Discovery Store; Blue Planet, $28 from Amazon

Green Tilework Button Up, $68 from Anthropologie; Frilled Button Up, $78 from Anthropologie; Shoestring cardigan in red and black, $68 each from Anthropologie; Snapdragons skirt, $88 from Anthropologie; Button-Tab hoodie, $118 from Anthropologie

A Thousand Splendid Suns, $14.27 from Amazon; Schulz and Peanuts, $20.97 from Amazon; The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court, $16.77 from Amazon; Into The Wild, $8.37 from Amazon; Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, $16.17 from Amazon

Panasonic Lumix Digital Camera, $241 from Amazon

80G video iPod, $235 from Amazon

Tiny Gold Rings

In my search for pretty organic-looking gold jewelry, I came across a ton of teeny-tiny gold rings in the Sundance Catalog. I'm not too much a fan of the clothes in the catalog, but I like a lot of the jewelry.



First row (left to right): Spot of Sparkle ring, $180; Relic diamond ring, $890
Second row: Glowing Leaf ring, $990; Diamond Disk ring, $1,900; Applause ring, $1,100; Take Wing Double White Champagne ring, $750
Third row: Take Wing Champagne solitaire, $340; Diamond Ring quintet, $590; Diamond Clover ring, $420; Circle of Diamonds, $690

$aving Up

I think I'm in love.
I need this John Robshaw quilt in my life. I first saw it on the Design*Sponge sneak peak awhile back and I have not been able to get it out of my head, which is a really good indication for me that it's not going to be a foolish purchase. It'll mean I'll have to repaint our bedroom, but I'm fine with that because I'm getting tired of the blue. Anyway, here's the room with the red ikat quilt:



I normally don't like to copy people because I like some originality, but then again I rarely find a picture of a room that a) I want to duplicate and b) looks like something that Chris and I would actually have in our house.

All the Fun, None of the Calories!

How cool is this? You start with a basic virtual gingerbread house...

Then you add candy...

And once you're done, you can just make another (and another and another and another...)!

Try it here!

What I Want Now

One of my favorite parts of Lucky magazine was where all the various editors show the stuff they want right now. Lucky is no longer nearly as cool as it used to be, but the part where each editor picks a trend and shows a bunch of different variations is still one of my favorite parts of the magazine, so I thought I'd make my own version here. Anyway, what I want right now is lacy, organic-looking, gold jewelry. I'd love to find some more affordable variations.

Clockwise from top left:
Yayoi Forest Lacy Hemisphere ring, $236 from Catbird NYC
Yayoi Forest Lacy Triangle necklace, $130 from Catbird NYCErica Molinari branch bangle, $1,580 from Fragments
Celebes Ring, $198 from the Sundance catalog
Paper Fig Shell Necklace: $300 from Catbird NYC
Alex Woo Narissa cuff with diamonds, $7,878 from AlexWoo.com (yeah, not gonna happen)

Thanksgiving Breakfast

Because our kitchen is so small, I usually let Chris do his thang on Thanksgiving, since it actually does more harm than good when I get in there. But this year I did a bit of cooking just so he didn't have to do it all.

The brother-in-law announced that he'd bring a chocolate rum torte for dessert, but since Thanksgiving isn't Thanksgiving without a pumpkin I decided to make one. I stuck to the recipe on the back of the Libby's pumpkin and just added 2 and a half teaspoons of Trader Joe's ginger spread to liven it up a bit.

For appetizers, I made my favorite cream cheese stuffed dates topped with walnuts. I also topped some brie with the same TJ's ginger spread to smear on crackers (good and EASY).

For breakfast, I made maple cornbread topped with bacon and scallions. For extra flavor, we added a bit more maple syrup just to top it off. So. damn. good.

photo courtesy of Bryan, recipe courtesy of domino magazine

Maple Cornbread with Bacon and Scallions

2 tbsp. butter, plus 4 tbsp. melted
8 slices bacon, cut into ¼" pieces
2 scallions, thinly sliced
1½ cups whole milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
½ cup maple syrup
1½ cups stone-ground yellow cornmeal
½ cup all-purpose flour
1½ tsp. double-acting baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 425°. Grease a 10" cast-iron skillet (if it's new, season first according to the manufacturer's instructions) with 2 tablespoons butter. Heat a medium-size frying pan over medium heat, add the bacon and cook until it begins to get crispy, about 6 minutes. Add the scallions and continue to cook, stirring often, for 2 more minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. In a large bowl, combine the milk, egg, maple syrup and 4 tablespoons melted butter. In a separate bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; stir with a fork. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, and stir gently to combine. It's okay if some lumps remain—do not overmix. Pour the batter into the buttered skillet, sprinkle the cooked bacon and scallions on top, and bake until set in the middle, about 25 minutes.

I'm Pretty Sure This Will Cause Some Trouble for my Dad

We made more much-needed progress on the kitchen today: we needed to put in two more base cabinets to make some room in the living room before we host 8 people for Thanksgiving on Thursday. These two cabinets made us a bit nervous because it dealt with the sink, which means plumbing is involved! And, really, who doesn't love plumbing???

We started off the morning by installing the ribbed glass panels in the wall cabinet:

(The drywall has since been patched.) I'm pretty sure we had this done before 8 am, but who's keeping track?

Next we removed the countertop and took out the two base cabinets. Not too difficult. And installing the new base cabinets really wasn't all that bad either. We had everything installed and the plumbing reattached by 4 pm.

Here's the end result, which I'm pretty sure is going to mean a complete kitchen remodel for my parents in either of their two kitchens, since I'm pretty sure this is what my mom's wanted for the past 15 years at least.

We have two (count them, TWO!) drawers that fully pull out. Daddy, are you taking notes?

And...behold! A doo-hickey that holds the sponges!!!

That, my friends, is living.

Poised to Strike!

Tee hee! This cat reminds me of the Ol'.

Kitchen Remodel Update #1

Last weekend we broke ground on the kitchen remodel. We removed two base cabinets and replaced them with two glorious new base cabinets filled with drawers, drawers, and more drawers. We have acres of space now. Which is weird because we're not altering the footprint of the kitchen or really even changing the layout all that much.

We'll do two more base cabinets this weekend so we can make room in the living room for the 8 people who'll be at our house for Thanksgiving next week. Pressure? Nah!

Last night, Chris and I replaced our first wall cabinet. We totally thought we had it done on the first try only to remember that we hadn't left room for the piece of moulding that goes around the top. So we took the cabinet down and tried again. We thought we had it fixed on the second try, only to find out that the door wouldn't open because we had butted the cabinet right up to the wall next to it. So we had to take it down again. The third time was a charm.

Anywho...here are some pics. We installed some drawer pulls tonight, which was more difficult than we expected (expect to hear that phrase repeatedly over the next few weeks). And because it's officially Beaujolais Day, we celebrated:

Before

New cabinets. The glass isn't installed yet, but LOOK!!! New hardware!!!

Drawer pulls and wine

Kitchen Inspiration

Here's the design board I created for our kitchen. The kitchen cabinets are white and will have ribbed glass inserts on the top cabinets. We're going to paint the walls the sage-y green below. And we already have the red KitchenAid mixer and steak knives (love!), which I think will complement the green nicely. I'm going to make some curtains for the windows in the Amy Butler fabrics. And finally, we'll be getting dark grey Corian countertops and we're still trying to figure out the backsplash. Huzzah. I'll post tons of before and after pics, so don't you worry.

Hyperventilating

Well, as you can see from Chris's blog, the new kitchen cabinets took over our house yesterday. I'm already feeling a little overwhelmed, so why not just really push myself over the edge and make a list of everything I'd like to do in our house?

1. Kitchen Remodel
2. Install crown moulding in hallway, guest rooms
3. Patch kitchen ceiling and re-paint (done)
4. Patch living room ceiling and re-repaint
5. Paint kitchen green
6. Install moulding in breakfast nook
7. Replace screen doors
8. Repaint front door
9. New carpet in bedrooms
10. New Pergo in hallway
11. Stain front and back decks
12. Add window to master bedroom
13. Sitting area for master bedroom (under new window)
14. New closet system in master bedroom
15. New desk in office
16. Buy computer desk for guest bedroom
17. Buy flat screen monitor for computer desk in guest bedroom
18. New entertainment center
19. New tv some day
20. Recover living room chair

Thank You For Your Patients

This post has nothing to do with anything (as opposed to every other post on this blog, which is oh-so-relevant), but this picture makes me laugh.