Sep 25
Yesterday I also made some yummy treats for this morning. Two loaves of cinnamon raisin swirl bread.
When we sliced it this morning there were lots of oohs and aahs over the yummy looking swirls. Needless to say there were smiles all around over this mornings breakfast.
Sep 24
Mmmm… So I’m terrible at taking pictures still, so you don’t get to see the oven roasted honey and thyme chicken breasts accompanied by shallots and garlic. Or the fantastic imported Greek olive homemade tapenade served with locally made rosemary and sea salt baguette.
But! You can see dessert. An extremely yummy marsala chocolate cake with a vanilla mascarpone whipped cream.
Sep 22
Tonight was filled with yummy pizza goodness!
Let’s just say one of the toppings was shallots sautéed in olive oil with rosemary. And gruyere cheese!!!
We had the standard meat lovers and a sausage and mushroom.
Then I made a vegetarian (spinach, sundried tomatoes, shallots and herbs), and a meat version with sausage instead of spinach.
Sep 18
It’s becoming somewhat of a tradition around here to have lazy Sunday morning breakfasts. Brian’s work schedule means he usually doesn’t have to leave until 11 or so, which means breakfast is a yummy necessity.
This morning I made pancake without burning even a single one =) they were most excellent.
Sep 10
Today I revisited the idea of starting up gardening…. I named my rosemary, is that weird?
I also started the dry rub marinade on the pork bellies we’re having for dinner tomorrow night =)
Jul 29
Fashion Fashion, jewelry, organize No Comments
So I decided to take a queue from my sister and organize my jewelry on my wall like art! =)
I figure this way I can see and find jewelry when I’m getting dressed!
Jan 07
Life chicken, eggs, farm, hen, house No Comments
Well, technically it was yesterday, but the point still applies. I was invited yesterday morning to go with Boyfriend”s mom out to the barn to milk goats as I had expressed an interesting in learning how. It was actually kind of fun and there was definitely a sense of satisfaction at having actually milked a goat from start to finish by myself.
We also went around the yard looking for where the chickens are laying their eggs. They are no longer staying in the hen house as it”s not predator proof at the moment so locking them in there at night is like sentencing them to death. We were lucky enough to find some, but unfortunately it appears that is no longer where they are laying their eggs, they just used it for a short time.I”m eager to find their new place as farm fresh eggs from free range chickens are soooo much better than the store bought kind. I never realized how much of a difference there was until we had to start buying store eggs again….They”re so water-y and yellow as opposed to the wonderful, rich, thick orange of the farm eggs.
Ah well, maybe when it warms up I can con Boyfriend into teaching me how to build things and make a new hen house.
Jan 07
Cooking, Life buffet, New years, snack food No Comments
Our festivities were fairly quiet around here for our New Years celebration. Boyfriend and I didn”t even make it until midnight before falling asleep =P
I did create a spread of foods though, as we had planned to have friends over (their kid was sick, unfortunately, so they weren”t able to make it).
From left to right: Cheese platter with pickled herring, chips and mom”s famous clam dip, grilled french bread (for the cheese and herring), spiced devil eggs (I used chili powder in them – the girl who HATES spicy food – and they are pretty darn good), fresh french bread with a pile of herbs in the center awaiting olive oil, chocolate chip cookies (I swear these have crack in them, they are sooooooo good), and oreo truffles =)
Hope everyone”s new year was as good as mine!
Dec 22
Life, Project: Trailer kitchen, makeover No Comments
Life has definitely been very hectic since we moved in to our place at the beginning of this month, but not that we”re starting to be pretty settled in it”s time to begin looking for the next project we want to work on.
And when I say “we”, I mean me. I”ve decided I want to try and do the entire project by myself with very minimal assistance from Boyfriend. The Kitchen is where I spend the majority of my time at the moment, it”s the room in the house where the internet access is the best and I”ve been loving learning how to cook and bake. I love our kitchen, especially when compared to how it originally looked.
See? Do you notice the awful “trailer-style” wall paper? The gunk and the crap that accumulated throughout the place? The lack of a floor with more substance than plywood?
To see our kitchen now you would hardly recognize it as being the same room!
See what I mean? We”ve done so much work on it and it looks lovely now =) BUT! It is in fact still a work in progress and not how we (me) eventually want it to look permanently. Now that we”ve unpacked mostly I can finally start my project on making this room the perfect kitchen ^_^
Let”s begin!
My fantastic paint skills have attempted to point out which areas I”m talking about and number them to help make this easier. =P
1. I really like our fan, but there are a few things I want to change about it. Firstly, the design you see on the fan blades is really cute, but faded. I”d like to outline it with a reflective gold foil paint. I”m not a huge fan of the light fixture for it and I”ve seen a few tutorials online (that I now cannot find the link too =P) for cute light fixture replacements (some made out of plastic salad bowls!). I”d also like to make some cute fan pulls to replace the current dated set.
2. We really like our curtains, but I”d like to sew a valance to go across the top in a rich, deep blue. We”ve found that blue looks amazing against our walls and we already have off white ceramic dishware with blue lines around the edges.
3. See the discussion of replacement light fixtures for the ceiling fan =)
4. Now we get to the good stuff. I”m going to remove the doors on these three cupboards. We store our usually dishware here: cups, plates, bowls, etc. and I think opening these guys up would be really cool and make the kitchen seem larger. I”m also going to the be painting the base of all the cabinets white. The doors of cabinets throughout the kitchen are going to be painted a deep blue to that matches the valance for the window. I”m likely to leave a white stenciled design on the edges next to the cabinet pulls. BONUS: Waste not, want not. I”ll be re purposing the doors into a serving tray. There are some awesome tutorials using cupboard that are then painted and door handles added to create adorable serving trays!
5. New light switch plates for the room! I”m leaning towards some cute looking copper ones.
6. I”d like to redo the counter tops throughout the kitchen. The current countertops are just wood laminate that has been attached using wood glue to a counter base. I”m not looking to completely replace the counter tops as the dollar cost on that is entirely too high, but I would like to look into placing a different kind of laminate over the current set up. I”ve also seen some adorable tutorials for covering your counter with pennies and resin. I”m not wanting to do that exactly, but a variation perhaps with something else. I”m also going to be putting up a backsplash around the back wall, and behind the stove. BONUS: Someone repainted their kitchen aid mixer using appliance spray paint and a stencil and I”m vaguely considering trying this.
7. A curtain! We need one. Our current “curtain” is, in fact, a dress.
8. New cabinet hardware for the drawers and cabinets throughout the kitchen.
9. This is the last section of floor to be finished in the kitchen. I also want to try and make an small rug for in front of the sink. I”ve seen tutorials using woven placemats that are sewn together. They look pretty adorable =)
Extra”s not pictured:
Repainting the fridge using the same concept as the kitchen aid. Appliance spray paint seems like a very nifty thing.
I want to try and get a pack of stencils that are all within the same design “theme”, but each stencil is different. I want to try and bring some pattern into the kitchen, I”m looking at doing so with the backsplash, stencil designs on the bottom corner of the cabinets, and potentially, the corner of the fridge and freezer.
Needless to say, I”m going to be very busy for a little while, but I am very excited!! Lots of pics as I”m working!
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