7 Things For a Happy Monday

1) A cloudy, chilly morning. Maybe not so great for swimming lessons at 10:30am (imagine a pool full of screaming, shivering toddlers clutching at their mothers) but great for me none the less. "June Gloom" already? Sounds good to me!

2) Gardenias in bloom. Gardenias are one of my most loved things on this planet. They were our wedding flower!

3) Greek-style honey yogurt. And plums. Daaaang.

4) Paper cutting while the babe naps. Can't wait to show you what I'm working on.

5) Plans for cafe curtains in the kitchen!

6) Bootcamp class tonight. Yay! I haven't worked out since last Thursday and I've got so much pent up energy needing to get out!

7) Pushing Daisies is back! Well, sort of. It's still been cancelled, but ABC is finally airing the last 3 episodes that have been shot. The first one was on last Saturday night and the other two will be on the next two Saturdays! It makes me happy...but sad. After this it really will be over. :(

And...A Few More Favorites

I'm working on going through approximately one million photos so I can finally actually post about something crafty (did you know this is supposed to be a craft blog?) In the meantime, to keep this blog a-rollin', I'm going to share a few more favorites. I know you like it.

1) I just finished this book and I LOOOVED it. Read it. Did that convince you?

2) The summer heat is not a favorite. The summer produce is a favorite. The next many months are going to be a fiery furnace, but if it means we get delicious veggies out of the deal then it'll be worth the general misery.




3) My kickboxing and boot camp classes! I have never liked exercising. Actually, that's not accurate -- I've always DETESTED exercising. The feeling of my heart beating fast, being out of breath and sweating was my worst nightmare. But something has changed. Maybe it's the motivation I'm getting from seeing and feeling my body getting stronger. Maybe it's because I have so much more energy during the day. Maybe I've brainwashed myself. Whatever it is, I love it and I'm stoked. I actually look forward to my classes and that, my dears, is truly saying something.


4) Any and all news relating to this:




5) The Greek Style Fig Yogurt from Trader Joe's has been a passion of mine for about the past year. I had it for breakfast every single morning for months. And then when I got a little tired of that, I just had it for a snack or dessert at least a few times per week. It's been a good old stand-by and we had some really great times together.

Recently, however, I have not been able to find it in TJs. They had the honey and the apricot-mango but there was no sign of either the fig nor the strawberry (another favorite). I feared the worst.

Discontinuation.

I finally asked the dude at the desk and he confirmed that it has indeed been discontinued. I'm so distraught. How could TJ do this to me?

I feel so betrayed.

What We Did...

...in Utah in April.

Saw a parrot driving a truck



Attended my beautiful cousin's beautiful wedding
(which John photographed)



Sis-tahs!

Did some creepy things with non-creepy people

$10 if you can tell me where we are with Mr. Brick Pants. Another $10 if you'll ignore the fact that I look like I could ingest Sheena in a single bite.

Got snowed on?

This is me saying "Seriously, UT? Snow? In April?"

But really, I enjoyed every minute of it.

Went bowling with sibs


Somehow the end scores weren't all that surprising.

The baby-child got injured



Ate cupcakes. And a lot of Indian and Thai food.

Some More Favorites

1) I don't know what is up with the maple theme around here lately, other than it is a delicious flavor and why not? We tried these cookies from Trader Joe's and all three of us are now addicted. They are INSANE. In fact, John just ate one and said it was "retarded" it was so good. And William cries and cries when I won't let him eat any more.




2) I knew it would happen, but didn't do anything to prevent it. I finished the entire Outlander series 4 months before the next (last?) book comes out. And now I'm going nuts. I guess the plus side is that I can now do other things. They've been a little all-consuming. But I'm definitely counting down the days to Sept 22 when the new book will be released!




3) We finally got rid of the ugly, stinky, giant couches that were in our living room and moved our pretty couch in. I'm soooo happy. I just stand here and look at it with a smile on my face. It's so lovely and proportional and not-stinky. I want to squeeze its guts out I'm so happy. And now all I need is the perfect armchair, which I will hunt tirelessly for and blog incessantly about.


One of these days that fireplace will be finished and will no longer be a huge, gaping black hole.


And one more thing...

4) The cosmos must really love me. For there to be a place that serves three completely random and unrelated things, which happen to be three of my very favorite things on the planet, is just too much of a coincidence. I think it's a sign that I'm loved by some higher power. There's really no other explanation for something like this. Which also means that I must go here and consume said goods as often as possible. So let's go!




This weekend we're off to San Diego to go to the zoo and the beach with my mom and youngest brother. Can't wait! Have a wonderful weekend!

Just Some New Favorites

1) A certain little lady introduced me to this yogurt while we were staying at her house a couple of months ago. I can only find this brand at Whole Foods, but Trader Joe's also carries a maple yogurt that is just as delicious. It's like having dessert for breakfast, which is always a good idea.


And speaking of yogurt, I've been making these yogurt popsicles for William and he's nuts for them. I bought this Tupperware popsicle set probably about 8 years ago and have never used it. It's getting a lot of good use now, though! I just spoon yogurt (lately it's been the maple!) into the little molds, stick the sticks in and freeze. Since it's gotten so hot here, it's nice to have a healthy, cold snack for the kid (as opposed to that ice cream you see there).



2) Love my new water bottle. We've become addicted to bottled water around here and it's a disturbing trend. I got William a Sigg water bottle a year ago and we've loved it. This week I finally got my own. It's the greatest. Plus -- pretty!




3) The newest member of my vintage luggage family. Since my green one now transports my toiletries when on a trip, I needed another one for my sewing notions. I'm so lucky that the antique store near my parents' house always seems to have a good selection!



4) Taylor Swift. What can I say? I'm a little bit obsessed with her. She's adorable and her songs make me cry like a little girl. The song in the video below is like, unlistenable. I bawl my eyes out every time. Enjoy! Haha

Thursday Already?

Had to show off my produce box from Saturday. We just switched to the small box -- the big box is about twice as much and it was impossible for us to use it all. Anyway, isn't it pretty?

Tragedy struck last night though when I forgot about the asparagus grilling-in-a-tin-foil-packet and all of those lovely spears got steamed to a mushy mess. I was so sad. :(

I need to find something to do with more red cabbage. Anyone have any suggestions?

And in other news, there are give-aways going on at Hey Lucy all this week (it's not too late to enter for the ones from Mon and Tues) in celebration of her birthday. Go check it out! Lots of good stuff.

Wee Artichoke

Two weeks ago we began to get all of our produce delivered from local organic farms. It has been amazing. Everything is so fresh, pretty, yummy and seasonal. And, since we just receive whatever is ripe that week, we've had the opportunity to try a lot of things that we'd never had before.

In this week's box we got a bunch of baby artichokes. Neither John nor myself had much experience with artichokes apart from artichoke dip and I wasn't sure what to do with them.

Enter my new favorite recipe blog! Simply Recipes has so many amazing looking things -- one of which was the baby artichoke recipe we tried last night. There are several other recipes I'll be trying this week to use the leeks and chard that we also got in this week's box of produce.

These artichokes were amazingly tasty. I'm really hoping we get some more in the next couple weeks before they go out of season so we can have this dish again. I ate two servings on my own. I probably could have eaten it all. I've included the recipe below with my changes -- it differs slightly from the original recipe.


Sauteed Baby Artichokes

Ingredients
2 pounds baby artichokes
Bowl of water with 3 cups of ice water and 3 tablespoons of white vinegar

1 cup of water
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped
2 green onions (scallions), chopped, including the green ends
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
a dash of Herbes de Provence -- I just did a could sprinkles of thyme and basil cause that's all I had
1/2 teaspoon salt
several grinds of fresh ground pepper
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Rinse the baby artichokes. Set out a bowl with 3 cups of ice-cold water and the vinegar. Working on the artichokes one by one, cut off the stem to 1/4-inch from the base; peel back and remove the petals until only the top third of the cone tip is pale green green. Cut off the pale green tips. Trim off any remaining green from base of artichoke. Halve or quarter the artichokes, depending on their size and drop in the bowl of acidified water (to prevent discoloration).

Drain artichokes. In a large skillet, heat the artichokes and 1 cup of water to boiling. Cover and simmer 3-5 minutes, depending on the size of the artichokes. Drain well.

Using the same skillet, heat to medium high and add the olive oil. Add the artichokes, onions, garlic, and herbs. Cook for five minutes, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle on 1 Tbsp lemon juice, salt and pepper. Put in serving bowl, sprinkle freshly grated Parmesan cheese on top.

Serves 4.


If you're going to try this recipe, please go look at the original here so you can see the step-by-step pictures. And check out the rest of the site! I'm very excited to try more recipes.

P.S. Photo from the Simply Recipes blog.

Thank You, St. Patrick

Well, seeing as how we're not the green-beer-swilling-type, I instead just finished eating a lot of food. Irish food. Or, what Americans think is Irish food, anyway. I don't know how accurate it is but I do know that it is delicious.

The feast was gobbled up before I was able to take any photos but it consisted of:

Corned Beef
Boiled Cabbage
Roasted Potatoes
Roasted Asparagus
Sparkling Limeade
Cupcakes

It was pretty incredible, if I do say so myself. Also, I think St. Patrick's Day may be my favorite holiday as the entire meal took about 15 minutes total of my actual time. The rest of the time it just tended to itself. That just doesn't happen with Easter or Thanksgiving or Christmas foods. They are all so much more time consuming what with the grating, stirring, rising, rolling out, etc.



Also, a word about the cupcakes. This morning I woke up really wanting to bake. I love baking but can only do it occasionally -- only when I'm able to spread the calories around to other people rather than ingesting them all myself.

I found the cupcake recipe on a food blog I love, Whipped. They are POM Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting. POM as in POM Wonderful Pomegranate juice. The POM juice actually replaces the butter and eggs that would normally be in a cupcake batter. Vegan! (Just don't mind the frosting -- definitely not vegan.) So I had to try them.

But, upon first taste out of the oven, I was pretty disappointed. They didn't seem very moist, the tops got hard/crispy and they did not want to come out of the cupcake liners without a struggle. However, I couldn't imagine throwing out 30 cupcakes. So, I frosted them with some green-tinted cream cheese icing, dressed them up with a peppermint leaf from the garden (woot!) and distributed them among our friends. Feeling just a little bit reluctant. I do not want to be known for dry cupcakes.



However, it seems that a combination of Refrigeration and Time worked some magic and by the time I tried another one after dinner -- moist! soft! no struggle! It was really pretty great. Mostly the cream cheese frosting could make anything edible, but they were pretty good after all.

I don't know that I'll make these particular cupcakes again -- they weren't the best ever -- but they were definitely worth eating. :) I don't know what I could have done to make them turn out differently. If you happen to try this recipe, please report back with your results!

So, Happy St. Patty's day everyone and HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY to my sister Bethany! (I ate a cupcake, or two, in your honor, Beth.)

For the Perfect Thursday Afternoon

1) Rainy and grey outside
2) A well-napped mommy and baby
3) Vegetable Masala burgers from Trader Joe's
4) Baked Sweet Potato Fries
5) A mug of chai
6) Pushing Daises extra features
7) Plans for some paper cutting

*Content sigh*

Three Things for a Wednesday

#1 Okay, so I got all excited about this Fontifier thing -- it makes a font of your handwriting! Morgan turned me on to it and hers looks so cute!

However, I have a freaky cursive-print combo going on and my font looks nothing like my handwriting. I'm so disappointed. I wanted a carafont so badly.

Let's compare, shall we?

Exhibit A: My actual handwriting

Exhibit B: My so-called font



Clearly, my actual handwriting is far superior. The "font" looks like a 9 year-old boy's handwriting. Oh well. Please try it yourselves and let me know how it turns out! (Christen -- your handwriting would be perfect for a font! Please oh please! And share it with me!!)


#2


This is my favorite dessert right now. Dang they're good. And only 60 calories. Woot!(Unless Trader Joe's is lying to me again...)


#3 And last, but certainly not least, look what I got! Thank goodness for the invention of DVDs so this preciousness can be preserved by me forever.


Anyone want to come over and mourn the loss of one of the few pin-pricks of light in this cruel world?

Warning: Self-Pity Ahead

Have we talked about how my husband is the best ever? If not, we really should. Because he is. John just took the babe somewhere so I could have some much needed time alone. He was out of town all weekend so I was a single parent -- which was totally fine, but it was tiring to never get a break. And then last night and today William was just way more cranky and sensitive than usual. I got probably 5 hours of actual sleep last night. And I need more than that. I'm tired. And spent. So thank you, sweetie, for giving me a little time.

I've had a rough day, emotionally, too. Remember this clothing crises/melt-down I had, eerily enough, exactly one year ago (it actually was September 22 -- creepy!)? Well, it basically happened again today. I'm just so discouraged. I'm in this horrible in-between stage where nothing fits. Stores do not carry my size. "Normal" stores don't carry anything big enough and "plus-size" stores don't carry anything small enough. Am I the only person who wears this size??

So anyway, I was trying to find a skirt or a new pair of jeans. I tried on several pairs at varying stores and it was just ridiculous. I ended up in a horrible mood wanting to either kill myself or kill the whole world. My wardrobe right now is so pathetic. It consists of one pair of ill-fitting jeans, about 5 t-shirts in varying degrees of disintegration (I'm never buying clothing from Target again) and a couple cardigan-type things that are not weather appropriate yet. Anyway, it sucks. I'm pissed. I'll just have to continue looking and feeling like an idiot for the next few months (as I have for the past year) until I get down to a "normal" size. Blah.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I love love love this fabric combo! This will be turned into something for a baby shower coming up...



Anyway. Moving on. Saturday was EXCELLENT. I went to my favorite local quilting shop to spend my birthday money and was instantly greeted by a display of my favorite designer's fabrics! Heather Bailey just came out with a new line and I've been dying to get my hands on some. The quilting shop did not previously carry her stuff, so I figured I'd have to buy it online. I'm so happy!! Plus, it turns out that the shop gives you a percentage discount of half of your age if it's the week of your birthday! I had no idea before going in there and it was very exciting.



I also got some Amy Butler fabric which I'm stoked on. I hadn't seen her there at the quilting shop before either. Woot!

Another exciting thing: Back on December 26, 2006 our favorite Indian restaurant burned to the ground. It was heartbreaking. Luckily, we had just eaten there days before. Happily, this Indian restaurant happens to in the same center as my quilting shop and while I was there on Saturday I saw that the restaurant was back in business! Every month or so we'd drive by to check on the rebuild progress and I could see that it was close to being done last time. So, last night John met me and William there and we had some amazing chicken curry and chicken makhini (sp?). Yum! No other place can beat it. William liked it, too!




As for my quilt progress, it's coming along. It's far from perfect, but I think it's going to be cute. If I had actually like, read any sort of instruction before starting it probably would be better, but it's not too bad. Now I know all the things I should have done differently by learning the hard way.



I got some fabric for the backing that doesn't exactly match or even really go with the front, but I loved it too much. Plus, this quilt is for me, so it goes together if I say it does. And I think I've decided to tie rather than quilt it. I was looking at these two quilts I have that were made in the 1930's and they are both tied and there's just something so nice and home-y about them. I guess I'll have to research how to tie a quilt without one of those big frames. Embroidery hoop??

So, anyway, happy fall, you peeps. I'm so happy that it's now officially autumn and I am hoping for some appropriate weather soon.

Also, my sister Beth recently introduced me to the devil incarnate: Fried Ice Cream Ice Cream. It's just store brand but it is quite possibly one of the best things I've ever eaten. The cinnamon/honey combo rocks my socks off. And also makes it impossible to fit into clothing, apparently.

A Tragedy

Something happened today. Something that has never before happened in my lifetime. To me, anyway. It was devastating and a bit traumatic. Are you ready for this?

I threw 7/8 of a pie in the trash. Can you believe that? A pie.

Last Friday I made a pie with delicious peaches from the farmer's market. I was so excited about the peaches. And so excited about the pie. I ate a piece the night I made it and it was amazing.

So what happened, you ask? It seems that in my house I am the only one not immune to the call of baked goods. Whenever I make bread or muffins or pie or pretty much anything besides cookies, I am the only one that eats any of it. Which means I can't bake nearly as often as I would like. So anyway, that's what happened this time. Apparently no one else was interested in the pie.

Sadly, I am on a pretty strict "diet" (I don't want to call it a diet -- cause it's not -- it just entails NOT eating an entire pie by myself). So, I ate one slice and then managed to not eat any more. And then this morning I was going to be really naughty and eat a piece of pie for breakfast. As luck would have it, the entire pie was just a soggy, sick mess. The crust was soaked and it was stale and just really gross (which I suppose should be expected for a 5 day old pie). So, I tossed the pie in the trash. Actually, I had to have John do it cause I was so traumatized.

So there you have it. It's a sad day.

But! Speaking of pie -- Pushing Daisies is coming back in exactly 2 weeks and I can. not. wait!!!

A Little Lassi

Whenever I eat at an Indian restaurant, I like to get a lassi -- usually mango. Lassi is sort of a smoothie made with yogurt. And apparently, second only to chai, lassi is the most popular drink in India. Good to know.

I found a recipe for Mango Lassi in a recent issue of Mothering and had to try it. It is delicious! Although it's actually really not the same as lassi you'll get at an Indian restaurant -- which I'm sure isn't super authentic anyway. Here's my version:

Mango Lassi

1/4 cup plain, non-fat yogurt
1/4 cup low-fat milk
4 ice cubes
1/2 cup - 3/4 cup mango, cubed (I use Trader Joe's frozen mango and just throw in whatever looks good)
1 tablespoon honey (I've never measured, I just squirt some in there)

Blender it until smooth. This is a good serving for one. Double or triple or whatever for more peeps. I've also thrown in half a banana before and it makes it kind of more creamy or something. Both ways are good.

I have this and a piece of whole wheat toast for breakfast most mornings now and it is a great way to start the day! Enjoy my friends!

Spreadably Smooth and Delicious

I've been eating obscene amounts of this:



like this:


and like this:

It's Probably Just a Food Baby. Did You Have a Big Lunch?

We had chicken salad croissant sandwiches for dinner. Yum. They were good. I could eat them all day. I don't remember where I got this recipe. I've had it forever but only made it a couple times. I will be making it more often, however. I have changed a few things from the original recipe and have it for you here. Did I mention, yum?

Chicken Salad

1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, halved
2 apples, peeled and chopped (or, about 1/2 cup red grapes, halved)
2 stalks celery, diced
1 tablespoon green onion, chopped
2/3 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons curry powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
a couple grinds fresh black pepper

In a large skillet, pour 1 inch deep water and bring to
a bare simmer. Add chicken breasts. Gently poach until
internal temperature reaches 170 degrees, 8-10 minutes.
Remove chicken, let cool 5 minutes. Cut chicken into
small pieces.

In large bowl toss apples, celery and green onion. In a
small bowl whisk together mayonnaise, mustard, salt and
pepper until well blended.

In a small skillet, toast curry powder over high heat,
about 2 minutes. Stir curry into mayonnaise mixture.
Add chicken and mayonnaise mixture to apples, celery
and green onions. Fold together with a rubber spatula.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours to chill
and allow flavors to blend.

Serve on a bed of lettuce or on croissants as a sandwich.



Also, one of my best friends from Back In The Day, Kaja, just posted this recipe for No-Bake Cookies on her blog today. Heavens I hadn't had them in many a year, so of course I had to make some. I wonder if they're just like, a Utah thing. No one I've talked to here has ever heard of them.

No-Bake Cookies

2 cups sugar
4 tablespoons cocoa
1 stick butter
1/2 cup milk
1 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups quick oats

Bring first 4 ingredients to a boil in a large saucepan, for one minute.
Remove from heat and add peanut butter and vanilla. Fold in oats.
Scoop out onto wax paper and allow to set.

I like to put mine in the freezer! Yum! And kind of weird!

Many Things

I'm still working on getting decent photos of some of the finished rooms of our new place. So, until then, here is a list of things for you.

1. My favorite breakfast lately. Trader Joe's Greek-style Fig Yogurt and a banana. I can't stop eating it.



2. I want this tricycle for William so bad it hurts. I think $230 is perfectly reasonable, don't you? It's from Poshtots. Don't ask me how I got on their mailing list, but everything is ridiculously cute and ridiculously expensive. Thanks, Satan!



3. There are lots of babies on the way! We have no less than four couple-friends who are due between now and September (three of which are having boys!) I just placed an order with Superbuzzy for these fabrics to make some little blankets. The only problem is...I want to keep them all for myself!




I just have to find a fabric for the back side of this last one. No idea what to do.

4. More fabric. These ones are for me! Don't have any plans for them yet, but I couldn't pass them up!




That's all for now...but if things go according to plan, I might have something exciting to show off later today!! Now I'm off to Home Depot (heaven help us, I'm so sick of that place) and Target (please no!). Have a lovely Saturday!!

P.S. It's 83 degrees and windy here. My most despised weather of all. Yuck.