that's what shea said

Lola. (Taken with instagram)

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 21:33:23 -0500

Lola. (Taken with instagram)

I am a 31 year old professional. I am a 31 year old...

Thu, 31 May 2012 14:22:19 -0500

I am a 31 year old professional. I am a 31 year old professional. I am a 31 year old professional. (Taken with instagram)

Moving right along...

Sun, 27 May 2012 23:42:00 -0500

The hearth room/kitchen progress continues. Since I’m an avid cook and we entertain quite a bit, this room has been at the top of our list of projects for the new house. While we haven’t even moved into the house yet (June 22 cannot come soon enough), we spent yesterday afternoon there, armed with paint color wheels and tons of ideas.

Here’s the room now:

Instead of making the hearth room a second living room, we’re going to make it our primary dining space.

First came the table, the World Market Tradesman (a closeout special - woo hoo):

(Taken in our current dining room - excuse the second dining table/chairs in the room… they belong to our landlord)

Next came the light fixture:

And today, we added chairs (IKEA Henriksdal) to the “newly acquired” list:

The walls in the kitchen/hearth room are this heavily textured plaster and faux finish situation. I am not a fan. At all. But it turns out that sanding the walls down so they are smooth is pretty far outside our budget, so we’re crossing our fingers and planning to just have them painted.

Say hello to Benjamin Moore Copley Gray:

Here it is in a room:

I’m in love.

Still needed: new cabinet pulls, window treatments (curtains for the french doors and a roman shade above the sink), a wooden mantle to break up all of the brick, and lots of accessories to pull some color into the room.

And that little detail about actually moving in…

Previously:

The Inspiration
The Table
The Light Fixture

Tomatoes, roasted corn, goat cheese, basil, olive oil, balsamic...

Sun, 27 May 2012 22:22:00 -0500

Tomatoes, roasted corn, goat cheese, basil, olive oil, balsamic vinegar

Olde tyme drinks. (Taken with Instagram at Manifesto)

Sat, 26 May 2012 23:59:47 -0500

Olde tyme drinks. (Taken with Instagram at Manifesto)

Oh hello second [major] new house purchase. (Part 1: the table)

Sat, 26 May 2012 10:36:12 -0500

Oh hello second [major] new house purchase.

(Part 1: the table)

Beautiful flowers from my amazing boyfriend. Feeling...

Wed, 23 May 2012 13:58:00 -0500

Beautiful flowers from my amazing boyfriend. Feeling exceptionally loved today.

This weekend: Drinks on the plaza with my best lady friend in...

Mon, 21 May 2012 12:21:00 -0500

This weekend:

Drinks on the plaza with my best lady friend in which I drank a bunch of champagne and she got asked out on a date. I’m a decent wingwoman.
Massive ugly cry in response to the Grey’s Anatomy season finale. I still have not recovered.
Brian bought a new aquarium and it’s not hideous (hooray!). Also I think I finally convinced him that we need a seahorse.
Dinner at Pot Pie, drinks at Bluestem, shenanigans at the Cigar Box, cab ride home.
An intense craving for peel and eat shrimp, corn on the cob and potato salad PLUS a Moscow Mule resulted in trips to three different grocery stores and the realization that ginger beer isn’t actually beer.

Weekend = success.

(25 days until we are homeowners… )

"I had a dream last night that I got an invite to your wedding with Brian… The invite was..."

Mon, 21 May 2012 11:59:00 -0500

“I had a dream last night that I got an invite to your wedding with Brian… The invite was gorgeous and butterflies flew out of it upon opening it… and then it had the Friday Night Lights ”clear eyes, full hearts” saying across the front.”

- An email from Mama Jess

Greatest email ever or greatest email ever?

Summer on a plate.

Sun, 20 May 2012 21:43:04 -0500

Summer on a plate.

I JUST WANT TO BE LIKE YOOOOOOUUUUUU! So I took photos. PLEASE COME TO CHICAGO AND EAT WITH MEEEE!

Wed, 16 May 2012 08:55:33 -0500

I want nothing more than to visit you and shop our way through Chicago and drink delicious beverages and eat all the crab rangoon and talk about our feeeeeeeelings.

Miss you, lady. :(

My high school senior pic. Dug out my yearbook earlier tonight....

Tue, 15 May 2012 22:54:00 -0500

My high school senior pic. Dug out my yearbook earlier tonight. Oh sweet wrinkle-free and carefree days…

It’s totally normal to decide you need to have a signature...

Tue, 15 May 2012 13:32:00 -0500

It’s totally normal to decide you need to have a signature summer cocktail, right?

RIGHT?

Ok, good.

Say hello to the blackberry-mint margarita. It’s just as amazing as it sounds.

Ingredients:

A handful of blackberries (10-ish)
8-10 mint leaves
Ice
3 oz. good tequila blanco (that’s two shots for ya)
1-2 limes, juiced
Agave nectar to taste
Club soda

In a cocktail shaker, muddle the blackberries. Add the mint, ice, lime juice, and agave nectar. Shake well. Pour over ice and top off with club soda. Stir. Garnish with additional berries if your little heart desires.

Find a good porch or patio.

Sip.

Enjoy.

Serves 2. Or yourself twice.

Sometimes you just need to pour yourself a tall glass of bourbon, run a hot bubble bath and let it go.

Mon, 14 May 2012 20:24:50 -0500

Just let it go.

Pesto, Caramelized Onion, Mushroom & Tomato Pizza with Mozzarella Stuffed Crust

Mon, 14 May 2012 09:50:00 -0500

It all started when I asked Brian what he wanted for dinner.

“Pesto pizza,” was his immediate reply. It’s his favorite thing in my dinner-making repertoire.

After returning from Trader Joe’s with a few necessary ingredients, I popped my head into the living room where he was enjoying yet another Dr. Who marathon and proposed a deviation from the plan.

“So what do you think about adding caramelized onions and sautéed mushrooms to the pizza?”

He enthusiastically agreed and then offered another modification. “What if you used some of the string cheese in the fridge to make it a stuffed crust pizza?”

I was sold. Immediately.

And the result? Possibly the most delicious pizza yet.

Ingredients

For the pesto:

1 cup loosely packed fresh basil
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp pine nuts (sometimes I throw in some walnuts too)
2 tbsp grated parmesan
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

For the pizza:

1 ball homemade or store-bought pizza dough (I love Trader Joe’s)
3-4 pieces of string cheese
Pesto
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, sliced
1 pint cremini mushrooms
1 cup (or so) shredded mozzarella
1 tomato, sliced

Place a pizza stone on the bottom rack of the oven. Preheat the oven to 550 degrees or the hottest temperature your oven will go up to. Yes, sweating will be involved later.

Next up? The pesto. It’s so easy to make at home and tastes a million times better than store-bought. Though I will confess to enjoying the Bartoli variety on more than one occasion. Just throw a handful of basil, some pine nuts and even a few walnuts, two cloves of garlic, grated parmigiano reggiano, and a generous drizzle of olive oil into a food processor and pulse to combine until emulsified and deeeelicious.

Then start caramelizing the onions in a bit of olive oil. I used one medium-sized yellow onion. The key to good caramelization is cooking the onion on a low temperature for a long time. You could even slice the onion into thinner pieces using a mandoline if you wanted to speed things up a bit.

When done, remove the onions from the heat, scoop into a bowl and set aside. Next up? Mushrooms. I looooove sautéed mushrooms.

Add another drizzle of olive oil into the same pan. Add one pint of sliced mushrooms and cook until they look a little something like this:

(Confession: the photo above was borrowed from this pasta post. Whoops.)

Now comes the tricky part. Also the part I failed to photograph. Roll out and stretch the pizza dough as thin as you can on a pizza peel (or a piece of foil - easy because you can just throw the whole thing in the oven). Take 3-4 pieces of string cheese and split them down the middle, placing them around the edge of the dough and rolling the dough over so the cheese is covered.

Slide the dough onto the pizza stone and cook for about 3 minutes. This allows for a crispier crust and is much easier to manage when adding toppings.

Remove the par-baked crust from the oven and start adding toppings. First a generous layer of pesto followed by the caramelized onions. mushrooms, cheese and tomatoes.

Bake for another 7-10 minutes until the cheese is bubbly and golden brown.

Slice and enjoy!

It was a food nerd kind of weekend. Recipes to come! Sneak...

Sun, 13 May 2012 20:32:52 -0500

It was a food nerd kind of weekend.

Recipes to come!

Sneak preview: that’s a pesto, caramelized onion, mushroom and tomato pizza with a stuffed crust. Yes, stuffed crust.

Happy Mother’s Day to my beautiful mom! She’s my...

Sun, 13 May 2012 10:16:00 -0500

Happy Mother’s Day to my beautiful mom!

She’s my best friend, my confidante and the person who most consistently laughs at my jokes. Plus she completely embodies that whole unconditional love thing.

I wish more than anything that I could be spoiling her with brunch and Starbucks one-pump mochas and pedicures today.

I love you, Fran!*

*not her real name

This is why President Obama’s stance on gay marriage...

Thu, 10 May 2012 00:57:54 -0500

This is why President Obama’s stance on gay marriage matters.

"You need at least one friend who will help you move a body. No judgment. There in a second. No..."

Wed, 09 May 2012 11:10:24 -0500

“You need at least one friend who will help you move a body. No judgment. There in a second. No explanation.”

- Brené Brown

lonelycoast: If ever there were two things meant to go...

Tue, 08 May 2012 19:10:15 -0500

lonelycoast:

If ever there were two things meant to go together, it’s pugs and sombreros.

Amen.