This is too funny. I had seen a couple people post about it and finally watched. I found myself making scrunchy nose faces feeling for the kids. (Via: Dinner: A Love Story)
xx
-h
Farm Share: Week 2
Week 2 of reporting on our Terry’s Berries Farm Share haul. Find Week 1 here.
This week’s share included: radishes, baby turnips, green garlic, potatoes, apples (the last of the Washington crop until fall), asparagus, lettuce, carrots, and Russian kale.
The lettuce, radishes, and turnips will make great salads for lunch this week paired with an apple a day. I will probably grill the asparagus and make cowboy potatoes one night using the garlic. Carrots aren’t my favorite, but I grabbed a couple for possible use in muffins for this weekend when we have guests visiting.
Want to find a CSA near you? Check out this site.
xx
-h
Engagement Present Ideas
If you are anything like us right now, it seems like 2013 is the year of the wedding! We have lots of friends getting engaged, married, and we’re at the beginning stage of those starting to have babies. Thought I would share my favorite engagement gift ideas.
State Love Shadow Box by InvincibleInc – $45
I actually got Rory something similar to this for our first anniversary (paper). Super cute if they are from two different states. There are options on Etsy that can be customized with one state and the town name, the couple’s names, or the date they met.
A Smart Bride is an Organized Bride Planning Notebook – $150
Great for a couple of friends to go in on together for the bride.
Wedding Ring Holder by The Papery Nook – $13
This is a super easy DIY also, you can customize the frame, and background according to the bride’s tastes.
Customized Ring Dish by Promise Pottery – $20
This ring dish is my favorite go-to engagement prezzie. It takes a couple weeks for delivery, but it’s simple and sweet. Plus, it’s a great price point. I personally don’t take my ring off for fear of losing it, but this dish is great for other trinkets bedside like chapstick, earrings, or hairbands.
Guess my friends will know what they’re getting after saying YES!
xx
-h
P.S. When we moved into our house our fave housewarming presents were this slate cheeseboard and a new return address stamp that we LOVE.
Farm Share: Week 1
For almost a year, we have been splitting a farm share from Terry’s Berries in Puyallup with my parents. Every week we pick up a small share of fruits and vegetables at their property. The produce varies and you never know what you’re going to get – “you get what you get and you don’t throw a fit”. It is all organic, locally grown. They also have egg and salad shares available. It has been a great way for us to learn about new vegetables. Plus, since it’s every week, you know you have to use the stuff or you’ll start to have too much! I thought it would be fun to start documenting what we get each week and how we use the items.
This week’s share included: radishes, swiss chard, green garlic, potatoes, apples (the last of the Washington crop until fall), asparagus, baby bok choy, and frozen blueberries.
We then divide this up according to what we like, are planning on making, or have left from the week before.
Last night when we were splitting it up my mom mentioned she had some leftover smoked trout (caught by family friends locally), and asked what I would make with it. I suggested an egg dish/omelet. This morning she said told me they made a smoked trout scramble with green garlic, asparagus, chives (from their garden), and a bit of sharp cheddar. Sounds deeelicious!
Want to find a CSA near you? Check out this site.
xx
-h
Tuesday Shoesday: Reef Flats
Last week my friend sent me a link to these Reef flats. She said she tried a pair on at REI and they were super comfortable, complete with arch support. I was instantly smitten by all the patterns and options including ikat, espadrille, and shoe/sandals like the ones I had back in the day. We couldn’t decide which ones we liked best.
S and I were just talking about how I wanted a pair of nude flats for summer and there are def options for a casual pair from Reef.
xx
-h
Color Run Weekend dilly dally
Yesterday, S and I ran The Color Run in Seattle. It’s a super fun run that is not timed (check out the video from last year’s race here). When you check in you get a swag bag with t-shirt, sweatband, fake tattoo and a packet full of colored powder. At the end, there is a DJ and every 10 minutes or so there is a big countdown to a color throw. Even though it isn’t timed, I tracked us on my phone and we completed the 5k in 29 minutes!
Have you guys seen the app #imaunicorn? If not, download it right now. Basically you can add stickers to any photo. Stickers including unicorn horns. When we were in Vegas for C’s bachelorette party a couple months ago we were unicorning every photo. So when S and I saw the Runicorn we were like PICS!
By the end of the race and the post-race party you are totally COVERED in a rainbow.
Post-run, we showered and hit the Ballard Farmer’s Market to grab flowers for our mom and headed down for dinner with the fam.
Have a wonderful week!
xx
-h
Craigslist Finds: Mid-Century Steals
Chicka chicka CL deals in the house! Mid-century modern = timeless. Here are a couple recent CL finds.
Ward Bennett Chair ($100) probably could negotiate to $75. The perfect side chair because you can easily switch out cushions/pillows to change up the look. It looks like it’s in great condition with no missing parts in the netting. Was posted 3 days ago and hasn’t been swooped yet.
Mersman End Table Set ($65 for 2!). LOVE those Greek key style pulls. Would make great sofa tables or night stands. These babies will probably get picked up pretty quickly at that price.
Drexel “Campaign” Style Desk ($75). Original campaign style had brass accents and pulls so this might be a re-production. I would check that it’s solid and probably offer $60. The worst they can say is no. This would be great to paint a bright color and take the pulls back to brass. Like this one in mint.
Happy CL-ing and happy Friday!
Be wonderful.
xx
-h
Running – there will be days
Since I started training for the RnR Seattle half marathon, I’ve been spending a lot more time pounding the pavement around my neighborhood. It’s funny how once you have a route you start to get used to it, we’ve living in our house for just over a year, and we always walk pretty much the same route with Judge or when we’re taking a stroll together. Last night I had an “easy” 3 on my training schedule and I didn’t feel like doing any hills. This is pretty much impossible because we basically live on top of the neighborhood hill, all streets lead to the waterfront areas. I did 6 miles on Saturday and was still feeling it, and mostly, I was being lazy since it was like 80 degrees out.
I headed out from my house and my legs felt like bricks, I got down the street from the house and suddenly I felt a presence behind me, turning around, I realized Judge, had hurdled the fence apparently and wanted to join me. I turned around and locked him back inside the fence, and then headed out again.
Half mile from the house, I started doubting myself, thoughts entering my head in millisecond rounds:
- What was I thinking, agreeing to this?
- I hate running.
- My calves are cramping.
- I can barely run 3 miles, what makes me think I can run 13?!
- I wonder if this will ever be easy.
- What is easy running?
- What should I eat for dinner?
- Have I earned my dinner yet?
- What should I bake this weekend?
I headed further from the house in a different direction then normal, at 12 mins in, I thought, oh jeez, I’ve probably only gone like a mile.
Closer to the end of my loop, I got toward the house, I realized I wasn’t even near the 3 miles mark so went the other direction. I passed my favorite froyo place and genuinely considered stopping (not complaining, but it was quite unseasonably warm yesterday). I thought about how I could just tell them I’d be back to pay later and leave my house key, but then I thought, how would I get into the house. By that point, I was past the froyo place and rounding the corner back into our neighborhood. I looked at my watch and calculated that I had probably finally hit 2.5 miles and tried to turn the speed up. My legs felt like they were bodies tied to cinder blocks being tossed into a river. I started to wonder what runners high felt like, definitely the opposite of what I was feeling. I finally finished and I had done 3 in 30 minutes - 10:08 miles, which is slower then I did my 6 on Saturday, but still good. R and I talked about how there will be days like that, where even though my legs feel heavy, I’ll surprise myself.
I had planned on going to yoga this morning but stayed up too late recipe testing grapefruit muffins. But rest is just as important as exercise…right?
Make today wonderful!
xx
-h
Tuesday Shoesday: Festival Chic
As summer approaches we are in prime time for festivals. With Coachella kicking off the 2013 season where I drool, gag, lust and horror over the celebrities outfits posted all over the internet and magazines. Then after pouring over my instagram full of friends attending Stagecoach this past weekend, I couldn’t help my excitement for the upcoming summer of Sassquatch, Beer Fests, Tastes of and Bites of, Block Parties and Food Truck Meet-Ups. Being who I am…I wonder…what shoes best fit these occasions, and how does one achieve “Festival Chic”?
I think being Festival Chic is about rocking the things you love that you can’t wear in the dreary winter months. Bright colors, odd patterns, fringe – all at a fraction of the size that is normally acceptable in public? I think it’s about feeling great in something you can wear the whole time. I say this from the personal experience at The Gorge Amphitheater where the walk to and from camping is at least a mile. Whatever festival you are attending this summer – here are my picks for shoes.
For the hippie-chic look. Planning on spending most time on flat ground and out of the grass. Perfectly paired with a maxi skirt or dress. -Steve Madden $110
For the rustic chic look with a few color options including yellow. Great with shorts and skinny jeans. – Anthropologie $89
Classic Toms with a Boho twist – Crochet. Perfect for shorts, skinnies, leggings, maxis, minis and anything in between. – Toms $58
Sure, Birkenstock doesn’t always get a lot of love, but honestly – How can you not love the new colors that come in this Earth Momma Chic shoe? Super comfortable – you could even wear them to The Gorge! -Birkenstock $120
Happy Festivalling!
xoxo
-S
Sunday Dinner: Stuffed Peppers
I usually like to make something for dinner on Sunday night that will have enough leftovers to be my lunch for the week. Whatever I make sets the tone for the week and it’s nice to not have to think about throwing something together or resorting to unhealthy choices during the day. This weekend was relaxing but active, so I wanted comfort food. Stuffed peppers have always been one of my favorite dishes that my mom makes, but through the years I’ve added a few twists of my own.
Stuffed Peppers
-Preheat oven to 350.
Ingredients
- 3 bell peppers
- 1 package ground turkey
- 1 package frozen Trader Joe’s brown rice – they sell this in boxes in the frozen section and they come in individually microwavable packages. It cuts the brown rice prep time down to 3 mins instead of an hour. You can also use regular brown rice of course, cook according to directions.
- 1 small can corn
- 1/2 onion chopped
- 1 can tomato soup mixed with 1/2 can milk or about a 1.5 cups of pre-made tomato soup (I like the Pacific kind in the box).
- grated cheddar cheese
-Wash and de-seed 3 bell peppers (red is my favorite, but if you prefer green, yellow, or orange go for it) and cut them in half hot-dog ways – see above photo.
- Brown the turkey and drain off excessive fat.
- Meanwhile microwave the frozen rice, or if you’re using normal brown rice, cook that.
- In the same pan you used for the turkey saute the onion until it’s translucent and has softened.
- Add the drained corn to the onion and sauté. Sprinkle with about 2 teaspoons of cumin and 1 teaspoon chili powder.
- In a big bowl mix the turkey with the onion and corn and add the rice. Taste it at this point and if it needs more flavor add more cumin and chili powder.
- Arrange the pepper halves in a baking dish and fill them with the turkey, rice, onion, and corn mixture.
- Gently pour the tomato soup over the top of the peppers letting it fill in the crevices, it’s okay if it spills over a little.
Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until peppers are soft. In the last 5 minutes of baking sprinkle with grated cheese and cook until melted.
Let cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.
I love these because they are very easy to change according to what you have in your fridge or cupboard. I’ve added chopped black olives, mushrooms, green chilies, chopped spinach, or chopped tomato to the insides mixture before, all with great results.
There will probably be quite a bit of filling leftover, I usually freeze part of it or just put in the fridge and use for tacos, add it to chili, or just eat it straight.
Looking forward to a low-key week on my end with lots of running, gym and yoga time.
xx
-h
