my husband, the style maven

as featured on style.com, in their "capturing the scene at bonnaroo" photo album. he's so hip! and cute! this is likely to be the only fashion-related post i ever make:

hooray for carolyn!

My pal Carolyn's awesome bookshelf is featured on design sponge today... I am so proud of my super-crafty friend (and jealous of all of her tchotchkes)!

http://www.designspongeonline.com/2009/06/before-after-hollys-built-ins-carolyns-bookshelf.html

i hear a symphony

separated at birth: nashville symphony conductor giancarlo guerrero and mad men actor bryan batt (salvatore).

i went to see the nashville symphony with my dad saturday night. they did a schumann piano concerto and rimsky-korsakov's scheherazade. it was SO RAD. aside from the separated-at-birth thing, i noticed a few things:

1. as far as 'fans' are concerned, there's no real diffrence between classical and rock enthusiasts. a girl at our table talked about one of the cellists and the conductor the same way i gush about paul from the walkmen. she noted their enthusiasm and passion and was so excited when the symphony started.
2. cellos are rad. i like pizzacato strings.
3. i kind of miss playing percussion. the music-reading, the practices, the concerts. that was a serious part of my life for 10 (!) years, and even though i always just did it "for fun", i still miss the camradarie of playing in a band/drumline/ensemble.
4. christopher cross is doing a 3-night stint with the symphony in may 2010.
5. i really don't know much about classical music. i'm familair with a few pieces, but i'd like to learn more. rollum's been obsessed with holst's "neptune" lately. also, neptune in general. that's the picture on our desktop right now.
6. classical music must've done something right, since it's managed to stay around for so long.
7. if you ever get the chance to go see the nashville symphony, DO IT. in fact, you should MAKE the chance to go see them. not sure how much normal tickets are though. our seats were free, so i guess that's easy for me to say.
8. you could get food from a buffet and bring it to your table. i felt kinda funny eating a caprese salad and tortellini as the music was playing.
   
9. i'm so ignorant about wine, that i was surprised that my white zinfandel was pink. now i know. (brandon: teach me).
   
10. after scheherezade finished, it was absolutely silent for about 5 seconds before they put down their bows and everyone started to clap. no one even coughed. it was a nice moment.
    

Kasha!

(picture: from the internet)

maybe it's because i'm half jewish. or maybe my distant russian heritage. but this is one of the best comfort foods imaginable. and it doesn't even involve cheese! this is really easy and delicious. don't be afraid of kasha. it rules. (recipe from http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Kasha-Varnishkes-at-Wolffs-in-New-Jersey-40010)

Kasha Varnishkes at Wolff's in New Jersey

Ingredients
2 large onions, sliced in rounds
2 to 3 tablespoons butter
1 large egg or egg white, slightly beaten
1 cup medium or coarse kasha
2 cups water or bouillon
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
3/4 pound large or small bow tie-shaped noodles
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander (optional)

Preparation
1. Sauté the onions in 2 tablespoons of the margarine or chicken fat in a heavy frying pan with a cover until golden. Remove to a plate.
2. Beat the egg in a small mixing bowl and stir in the kasha. Mix, making sure all the grains are coated. Put the kasha in the same frying pan, set over a high heat. Flatten, stir, and break up the egg-coated kasha with a fork or wooden spoon for 2 to 4 minutes or until the egg has dried on the kasha and the kernels brown and mostly separate.
3. Add the water or bouillon, salt, and pepper to the frying pan and bring to a boil. Add the onions, cover tightly, and cook over low heat, steaming the kasha for 10 minutes. Remove the cover, stir, and quickly check to see if the kernels are tender and the liquid has been absorbed. If not, cover and continue steaming for 3 to 5 minutes more.
4. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the bow-tie noodles according to the directions on the package. Drain.
5. When the kasha is ready, combine with the noodles. Adjust the seasoning, sprinkle with the parsley and coriander. If desired, add a bit more margarine or chicken fat.

Gocco'd Thank You Cards

I made these dudes last night, as my contribution for this Gocco card swap.
This is my first time participating in something like this, and I can't wait to see what I get! I need to find a better resource for blank notecards. The ones from Target and Michael's don't really cut it anymore (I used gold-lined Martha Stewart cards from Michael's, and they were $5.99 for 8!) There's gotta be a more affordable way to do it...But I think it looks pretty cute with the gold ink.

In other news, we started a little raised bed garden with tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, and lettuce. I've also got an herb {container} garden on the back porch. Having it has made me feel more settled in this house. We've entertained the idea of {trying to} sell this place in Smyrna and move closer to town, maybe Donelson. Get a 50s brick home with a basement. But because of the housing "situation", I don't know if this is a horrible idea or a good one. So I'm afraid to move forward with anything, even calling the mortgage company. We can be so wishy-washy.

Jam Thumbprint Cookies

Rollum loves these bad boys, so this recipe is my attempt at re-creating them. I bought some almond meal at Trader Joe's last week, so I did a google search for "almond meal thumbprint" and this recipe was first on the list, courtesy of a cute little food blog called pinch my salt. I pretty much followed her recipe (which was actually based on another thumbprint cookie recipe), but see below for the changes I made (to flours & extracts). There's as many jam-filled cookie recipes as there are stars in the sky, but this one turned out pretty darn well - really easy, not a lot of ingredients (i had everything on hand except for raspberry jam), and delicious. They're not really the sort of cookies you want to eat right out of the oven & were a lot better the next day.

Jam Thumbprints

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/3 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup almond meal (trader joe's is way cheaper than bob's red mill)
1/2 cup (or so...) of whatever jam suits your fancy. (i combined about 1/4 cup apricot preserves & 1/4 cup raspberry jam)

1. Using a mixer, cream together butter, sugar, vanilla and almond extract until light and fluffy.
2. Whisk together flours and almond meal, then add to butter mixture and blend well.
3. Shape dough into a log, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 350.
5. Lightly butter cookie sheet(s) and line with parchment paper. Roll about a teaspoon of dough into a ball & place on cookie sheet. Make an indendation with your thumb in the center of the ball.
6. Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly brown. Cool on wire rack.
7. Fill cookies with jam and enjoy!

gocco baby shower invites

my sister carrie is hosting a baby shower in a few weeks, and i had the opportunity to design and create the invites using my gocco. the mom-to-be likes baby elephants, so i doodled the little dude on the invite. i played around with fonts and was going to use the "boring joined" font for the whole thing (it's the font i used for their names), but it looked better to split it up with the helvetica. the picture doesn't really show the colors too well - i used 4X6 single-panel cards in light blue, light green and a few in white (just in case...) with the dark blue/navy gocco ink. i blurred out pertinent info in case carrie has any stalker-ish ex-boyfriends that happen to visit my blog (ha ha).

to veg or not to veg

i am debating going vegetarian. i've been a proud meat eater all my life. i love hot dogs and my dad's meatloaf, meatballs, and beef stew. but a few weeks ago, i ate a greasy cheeseburger at rotiers and haven't touched red meat since. i know those burgers are supposed to be greasy - that's what makes them good - but i just felt pretty horrible after i ate it. the past few weeks, i've had a bit of chicken and some turkey sandwiches from subway, but i (think i) could happily leave those behind with no problem. (i'd miss bacon more than i would chicken). so now i'm grappling with the decision: go full-on with vegetarianism, or don't label myself as anything, and if i want an occasional turkey-bacon-avocado sandwich, i'll have one?

kind of related: i'm involved in a "biggest loser" competition at work. it began the first of the year, with official weigh-ins once a month, and i've lost about 10 lbs. For the first time ever, i feel like i'm approaching weight loss in a healthy manner. i've never had an eating disorder or anything, but i've tried the south beach diet several times and it ends up doing more harm than good. i realize i'm not willing to choose to have the will power necessary for maintaining such a strict diet:
do phase one --> lose 6 lbs in a week --> follow diet for a few weeks --> stop diet --> gain it back + some.
now it's different. i've been consistently (well, 90% of the time...) using www.thedailyplate.com, entering the foods i eat and the exercise i do/calories i burn. it makes me think twice before eating an oreo every time i pass by the package on the coffee table. BUT, i've also allowed myself to indulge in pizza & sweets, as long as i stay within my calories for the day. it makes me look at the big picture - if i know i'm going out for mexican food for dinner, i'll eat salads and other healthy food that day. or i'll walk on the treadmill for an extra 30 minutes. i've become more aware about just how bad most (restaurant and package) food is, with all the high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils.

last thing i want to do is become preachy though. but i can tell the habits i'm picking up now are the right ones. and the weight loss (as slow as it has been) that has resulted is only an added bonus. i didn't enter the contest at work to win a lot of money (there's monthly $ to be had, as well as the overall grand prize in june). if so, i'd have been on the south beach bus weeks ago, depriving myself of bread and pasta and sorbet. no fun. i'm actually enjoying exercising. now that the weather is nice, i've been taking daily 2 mile walks around my neighborhood. went back to yoga tonight for the first time in weeks (schedule conflicts and that regrettable ingrown toenail kept me from going for awhile).

i'll try to update the blog with my progress over the next couple months. until then, i may post some recipes and stuff...

almond joy

almonds and almond-related products rule. lately, i've been enjoying:

• almond milk with my cereal (corn flakes + muesli)

• trader joe's spicy & tangy almonds (flavored with tabasco sauce and lemon juice. it's weird that i like these so much, because i don't really like the flavor of tabasco. go figure. but these nuts are good.)

• 

i haven't tried almond butter, but i'm sure i'd like it. i'd also like to get some almond flour and try baking with it.

hooray for almonds!

Find the Common Link

what do these five movies have in common?  find the common link!

if you said "movies you've watched in the past two weeks", you are correct!  our normal dvd viewing consists of a constant rotation of 'freaks and geeks' and 'arrested development'. together, rollum and i never romantic comedies. rarely action movies. 'darjeeling' is the only "regular" one out of the bunch. here's what i discovered though: i can watch all the romantic comedies i want as long as i rub rollum's feet while doing so.  and i'll watch action movies as long as we eat oatmeal cookies while doing so (but seriously, mel gibson does a fine job in that movie!  that scene in his trailer when he's about to...you know...totally oscar-worthy!)  other thoughts: 'dan in real life' is really lame.  'flashdance' is an inappropriate film for a 6-year-old (my dad co-wrote a song in the movie, so i saw it in the theater when it first came out. i recall there were no open seats so i had to sit in the aisle). 

ps: we combined christmas money gifts and got a new 32" flat screen. hence the increased movie viewing. that, and my 2-week vacation from work.